The glass is half full for these guys

I've always been a glass-half-full kind of guy. I try to focus on the positive and find something good in a lousy situation. It's gotten me through more than one rough patch in my life, and it's also made my fantasy seasons a lot more bearable.

Trust me, I know a 162-game calendar sometimes seems to drag on for an eternity, especially when your team is languishing on the outer fringes of contention. You've probably got an All-Star or two on your roster who, whether because of injuries or bad luck or plain old incompetence, hasn't lived up to your expectations and has you seriously considering sending them some hate mail. But instead of obsessing over the 80 or so games in which that player's already failed to perform, try focusing on the untapped potential that rests in the 80 still to come.

Here are some first-half underachievers who should have brighter days and half-full glasses ahead:

• I am shocked - no, downright flabbergasted - by Miguel Cabrera's mediocre numbers to this point. I had him pegged as a top-three fantasy producer this year, and boy, has my face been red since the Detroit Tigers' tailspin began on Day One. Cabrera's stats aren't terrible - .276, 11 homers, 45 RBIs - but they aren't what anyone had in mind when they drafted him in the first round. Simply put, Cabrera's better than this, and though an MVP season is now out of the question, Cabrera still has the tools to raise that average 30 points and tack on at least 55-60 more RBIs, making me look just a little smarter in the process.

• Gary Sheffield is another huge disappointment and a key factor in the Tigers' suckiness. Sheff has served up a paltry 16 RBIs and a .230 average to date, hardly the hearty meal we expected from the slugger. But a recent stint on the disabled list with an oblique strain might have done the trick, as Sheffield has already hit two home runs since returning to Detroit's lineup. Although he's more than a decade older than fellow Tiger Cabrera, Sheffield too is a professional hitter who still has some life in his bat and should contribute in the power department from here on out.

• Robinson Cano was supposed to rival Chase Utley for second base supremacy, but instead he's more closely resembled Chevy Chase at the plate (.241, .279 on-base percentage).
Now, the good news: Cano hit.343 after the All-Star break last year with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. No reason he can't do that again, which would vault him to the upper tier of fantasy second basemen.

• Carlos Pena was hitting just .227 before his recent finger injury, but his 11 home runs placed him among the American League leaders at the time he went down. Hurt hands are always a concern when it comes to players who swing for the fences, but the Tampa Bay Rays have held their own without Pena and given him ample time to heal. He's now back in the middle of a dangerous lineup, and I suspect the homers will flow freely once again.

• Aaron Harang's 3-10 record is tough to swallow, especially for a guy who won 16 games each of the past two seasons. But I won't fault him too much for that - the Cincinnati Reds are scoring fewer than three runs a game when he pitches, and there were quite a few games this year he deserved to win but didn't. However, I do fault Harang for striking out almost one fewer batter per nine innings than he did last season and giving up many more fly balls - 17 of which have turned into home runs (he allowed 28 homers in each of the past two years). I have to believe Harang will return to his old formula for success in the coming months, and his luck in the wins and losses department will turn.

• Nothing's gone right for the Seattle Mariners this year, especially the signing of big-ticket free-agent Erik Bedard (4-4, 3.97 ERA). A balky back and hip have been issues this year, but so has the M's punchless offense. If he can get himself healthy and Seattle opts to trade Bedard to a contender, he could turn his season around in a hurry and revert to ace form.