Thoughts on the First 2 Weeks

As the first two weeks have gone by, it's time to take a preliminary look at what I've been saying this offseason, and make dramatic, sweeping, hasty conclusions, concessions, and pats-on-the-back to myself. Or not, because my name isn't Jon Heyman. Zing.

But I'm going to make a couple of reactions, going division by division.

Al East: Many analysts said the Rays would need to get off to a hot start this year if they wanted to stay in it and avoid a mini-firesale later in the summer. Instead, they're just wondering if they can save money by dumping Pat Burrel. Reid Brignac has been the nicest surprise player in the division, with David Ortiz probably being the biggest disappointment, since he looked as if he was reclaiming some of the old Big Papi magic in the second half of last season. Mark Teixeira is off to another slow start, but no one's worried, he even hit a homer today.

AL Central: Francisco Liriano is off to a nice start, which is encouraging since he hasn't looked this good since he was a rookie. The Tigers can't ask for much more out of Austin Jackson, who's been superb (.340 AVG). Kansas City should be happy they aren't in last, Jason Kendall and Jose Guillen batting a combined .357 helps a lot.

AL West: Brandon Wood is struggling. I'm not feeling so good right now about his 18 HR's before the break. He'll figure it out, it might take him a little more time though. Oakland surprising a lot of people (not me) by jumping out hot out of the gate.

NL East: Heyward's making me look silly right now, but I still think he's going to struggle a lot later on in the year once pitchers have a game-plan for him. Marlins are essentially the same team as last year, Nate Robertson has been a nice surprise for them, but c'mon, it's Nate Robertson. Hamels tossed a great one today, but earlier he had done nothing to qualm the "what's wrong with Cole Hamels" talk. The answer is still that he doesn't have a good breaking ball anymore, but Philly lovers (cough cough ESPN) still think he's going to be a Cy Yong type guy. Mets have struggled out of the gate, but it's partially understandably, as they've played the Rockies (best NL team), Cardinals (going to win NL Central), Marlins (wild card contender), for 9 of their 12 games. They've seen Carpenter, Josh Johnson, Nolasco, and Wainwright, as well as Aaron Cook and Jorge De La Rosa. This is not a walk in the park, anyone who faces these guys for half their games should be struggling. NL's best bullpen is a nice surprise, and since they cut Jacobs, whispers of Ike Davis coming are everywhere.

NL Central: Last time Pittsburgh had a winning record 12 games into the season? Not in my lifetime. Garrett Jones already has 3 bombs. St. Louis is playing well, no surprise there. The Reds have gotten off to a slow start, mostly due to a surprisingly light hitting offense. Houston's been playing better, but that team is just ugly. Roy Oswalt pitching well though.

NL West: What a surprise, the league's most even division, is, well, even. Ubaldo Jimenez channeled his inner- AJ Burnett for a 6 BB no-hitter. However, this division is looking very much like how I and other s suspected. Arizona needs some starting pitching, LA looks a little old, Colorado is going to be a little inconsistent because they play in Coors, and San Diego can get lucky, but it can't happen too often.

Thoughts on What We Learned This Year

Now that the Yankees have won the World Series, let's take a look back at what we've learned looking back at the entire year.

1.) Money is a huge advantage in the game right now. In a year where dozens of teams expressed concern over the economy, the Yankees spent, spent, spent. They acquired the best starting pitcher, the best hitter, and the 2nd best starting pitcher in last year's free agent market (although A.J. Burnett isn't exactly a stellar pitcher. He's good, but he was closer to the rest of the pack of free agent hurlers then he was to CC Sabathia).

2.) Logic and reason have very little place in predicting how the baseball season plays out. Logic said the Rockies were the best team entering the NL playoffs. Huston Street turns into Luis Ayala, and all of a sudden the Rockies lose to the Phillies. Logic said the Cubs were virtually the same team as last year, and then everyone except Derrek Lee essentially forgot how to hit. The Mets fix the one reason they fell short the year before, by adding not one, but two closers, and then end up with almost the entire payroll on the disabled list. The Tampa Bay Rays change almost nothing from the year before, where they were clearly the most talented team in the league, but their pitching is surprisingly inconsistent all year and they fail to get back to the playoffs.

3.) Jeffrey Loria's an idiot. Joe Girardi is a terriffic manager, and Loria should be kicking himself for firing him. All of his teams overachieve. This Yankees team did not have the best starting pitchers, it didn't have the best bullpen (Rivera's only one guy), and their offensive dominance was clearly a result of the field they played on. He got the Yankees to play loose (Nick Swisher might be team MVP there, and A.J. Burnett also helped in that department). Hell he even got A-Rod playing like Alex Rodriguez in the postseason.

4.) Cliff Lee might be the best pitcher in baseball. Or at least top 5.

5.) Mark Teixeira is an incredible player. Bobby Cox didn't like him. Mike Scioscia didn't like him. Thought he was more a stat machine than an impact player. Good thing the Steinbrenners didn't listen.

6.) The Phillies aren't built to beat AL teams. They wouldn't win any of AL divisions. They don't play NL ball, evident from everything from their inability to steal beyond two guys, their lack of depth, their poor bullpen, their starting pitchers not having great raw stuff (Cliff Lee being the exception, and Hamels is ordinary with out the curve), and their necessity to play on raw emotion. They play AL ball in a league which they can easily beat up on weaker clubs. But in the end, they don't match up well with the great NL teams. The should have lost to the Rockies, and they would have lost to the Cardinals, they luckily got to face a Dodgers team that wasn't that good, and when they ran out of luck against the Yankees, well we all saw what happened.

7.) The Pirates have no idea how to win. They just don't know what they're doing. They've successfully gathered many of the best prospects from 2006, ones that haven't exactly made a big splash in the bigs thus far.

8.) Mets fans are destined to suffer.

9.) Say what you want about Jeter's fielding, but he doesn't let that carry over to his hitting.

Thoughts on Charlie Manuel

Watching Game 2 of the Phillies vs. Rockies I was shock. The Phillies don't have a bad bullpen other than the closer mess. But after Cole Hamels predictably didn't pitch very well at all, he decided to use the predicted Game 3 and Game 4 starters J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton out of the bullpen. Needless to say, I, among others watching, were befuddled.

Now Pedro Martinez will be starting Game 3, a game they're now very likely to lose, as a pitcher really needs a solid fastball to be a decent pitcher in Colorado, and Pedro just doesn't have that anymore. Jason Hammel's a much worse pitcher in Colorado than he is anywhere else, so at least the Phillies have that going for them. This now means Cliff Lee has to pitch Game 4, leaving any of Happ, Blanton, or Hamels open for Game 5. Even though Happ only pitched 4 pitches, the way Manuel used him leaves one to think he's going to be used as a LOOGY out of the bullpen, and not the rotation.

And congrats to the Dodgers for proving me dead wrong by beating the Cardinals in both games started by Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter (a little help by Matt Holliday didn't hurt).