Typically in this space we talk about some of the players that are moving the needle for us this season in a positive direction, though Dalton Del Don discussed some fallers last week. I'm going to continue in that direction to talk about a few others that I'm starting to write off. This is potentially more dangerous than buying into players that are showing some signs of breaking out, in that when you give up on that player, and someone else "buys lowest", that player is actively hurting you twice - first with his awful performance for you, and then by helping your opponent. Nonetheless, anytime we're acquiring a player that we believe in, we're necessarily discarding others. We have to make that difficult choice of getting rid of a player we once liked, for whatever reason. In many cases, it might be an injury that fundamentally changes a player's value, even beyond the projected period of his absence. In other cases, it's a loss of a role or the emergence of a contender for that role. Here are some of those players that I've lost faith in believing that they'll turn it around.

Jonathan Broxton- This one is pretty easy - Broxton threw only two perfect innings all season before going on the DL last week with elbow problems, his velocity was down considerably (his average fastball this year was 94.1 mph, down from 95.3 last season and 97.8 in 2009), and so was his strikeout rate. Maybe it's possible that he'll be as good as new after a six-week absence, but given that these problems started from the onset of the season and not somewhere after he had already built up a decent workload, I'm dubious. Moreover, it's unlikely that he's going to evolve as a pitcher and adjust to his diminishing skills. The Dodgers have multiple alternatives to replace him, much like the Cardinals do in replacing Ryan Franklin. It's decreasingly likely that he'll be able to regain his closer's job with the Dodgers.

Alexi Casilla- This was Casilla's first big chance to play regularly at the start of the season, and I looked at him as a nice late source of speed from a scarce position. As an added bonus, he qualified as both a second baseman and a shortstop heading into most drafts. Unfortunately, like many of his Twins teammates, he's tanked, hitting .177/.233/.253 to begin the season. He has attempted just three stolen bases so far - a direct correlation to him not getting on base that frequently. He has been out of the starting lineup for two of the last three games, a good sign of what's to come once Tsuyoshi Nishioka returns from the DL.

Magglio Ordonez- There's a risk that I'm prematurely calling Ordonez out, so this is more of a downgrade recommendation than one to cut Ordonez. The argument here is less that his skills have diminished and more that I think his ankle woes that have hampered his production will persist throughout the season. Even though I don't own him in any of my 14 (yes, 14) leagues, I'm rooting for him because he lost a year-and-half of his prime years to injury. It's his injury past that leads me to believe that he won't shake the ongoing ankle woes so readily.

Kevin Kouzmanoff- Kouzmanoff is young enough that he shouldn't have fallen off the cliff already, but he's already losing playing time to Andy LaRoche, and his roster spot with the A's might also be at risk once Adam Rosales is ready to return from the DL. It's not just that Kouzmanoff is tanking again at the plate for the A's, but also his defense, once his calling card with the A's, has also been poor. There are a lot of parallels to Kouzmanoff's career to that of Garrett Atkins, who fell off the map in a hurry and was cut midseason last year by the Orioles as a 30-year old, and hasn't resurfaced since. Like Casilla, Kouzmanoff was really only an option in deeper mixed and AL-only leagues to begin with, but his time is pretty close to being done.

Those are just a handful of players where I'm losing faith - which players fit that description for you? Conversely, which slow starters are you holding the line on, be it in the form of keeping them on your roster, or in the form of not accepting lowball trade offers?