Thoughts of Various Natures

Now's as good as time as ever to spout out some random thoughts division by division. Let's start in everyone's least favorite division the AL East.

AL East - What? The Rays are in first place a month into the season? No way! Yes way, what I've always said is the most talented roster in the majors has finally put it all together and are just trying to hold off the Yankees in attempt to capture another division crown. I don't understand what makes the Yankees so good, but maybe it's when the nobodies step in when the stars go down or aren't producing. See Brett Gardner. The Red Sox are called a mess, but are still one game over .500 and not even 5 games out and the season's just over a month old, so they have plenty of time to catch up. Toronto's played well, but that won't be happening much longer. Nice to see Travis Snider coming along.

AL Central - I don't understand the Twins. They have Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and a bunch of other good but not great players. Jason Kubel's has to play better for them though. And Delmon Young is actually hitting above average for a corner outfielder, which I was beginning to think will never happen. Tigers are staying close, and Justin Verlander isn't even pitching well yet, not to mention Scherzer or Porcello pitching like they should have never graduated from High-A ball. And Kansas City is still bad, at least Mike Aviles is looking good for them, even if it looks like they've given up on Alex Gordon.

AL West - If I'm the Angels, and I'm 6 games under .500, I'm not still starting Brandon Wood. I don't know why he's not hitting, but he's not, and it's making me look stupid. For as you can remember from March 1st:

" 1.) Brandon Wood hits 18 home runs before the All-Star break, and make the world's best manager look foolish for never playing him regularly. "

Whoops! The Rangers are neck and neck with the Texas Rangers for first place. And Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game. Suck it A-Rod. No really though, to be frank, Braden doesn't know Rodriguez, so the attack on him being a bad teammate isn't fair, and he pitched a fit about something that's really not that big of a deal in baseball. No, you're not supposed to step on the mound, but it's not like it's one of the ten commandments of baseball. If you're really angry, throw at his head the next time he comes up, but trying to start this feud in the media is ridiculous. Kudos to Rodriguez for continually taking the high road.

NL East - No team is more than 4.5 games out of first. Every team except Washington has spent time in first place since April 7th, and even they have spent some time in 2nd, and if I'm right, are over .500 in May for the first time in a few years. I still got the Mets for first, although Carlos Beltran back before the All-Star break is looking less likely. By 2012, Ike Davis will be known as the best first-baseman in the NL East. Washington was just planning to bide some time until Strasburg showed up, and it looks like they're doing that. It'd be really crazy if they're still in it a month from now, and he swings the whole race.

NL Central - Cincinnati is tied for first with St. Louis, and that also corresponds with Joey Votto finally coming around. Not exactly a surprise. This team will hit, but more than likely their abysmal starting pitching will keep them out of it. The league's most boring division, there's really not much to say here.

NL West - The division standings are almost flip-flopped from what I thought they would be. But some things are apparent -- Dodgers just aren't that good, Arizona needs some pitching, and Webb to hurry back, Colorado refuses to play consistently, San Francisco can really pitch, and hits just a little better than last year, and San Diego's surprised me, because I don't' see a whole lot of talent on that roster, and this is after they traded Jake Peavy away. Maybe they should trade Adrian Gonzalez away too, it might turn them into a 95-win team. On second thought don't. But what this start means is that they're less likely to trade him away midseason.

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 young players not getting a fair shot

Nothing bugs me more than to see MLB talent sitting in the minors, or sitting on the bench in the majors while some washed up veteran takes away at-bats they deserve.

The worst culprit of this is the Angels. I don't know whether this is an issue with Mike Scioscia or the front office telling him to keep playing the veterans, but over the last five years, they've wasted what's consistently one of the best crops of young players in the MLB. Brandon Wood has been ready for about 2 years for the MLB spotlight, but they insist on manning Macair Izturis and Erick Aybar at short, and Figgins at third. Really? Figgins is a good, not great player, that Wood would easily outproduce, and by now it's very apparent that the other two are nothing but light hitting defenders.

The Rockies were horrible too. But that's been covered in the blog about how bad Clint Hurdle was as manager.

Why is Emil Brown taking away 2 AB's from Fernando Martinez? That's ridiculous.

Travis Snider was hitting great in April, but couldn't get consistent playing time because the Blue Jays insisted on playing Jose Bautista. Jose Bautista.

Why is Alcides Escobar spending time down in the minors while the Brew Crew give Craig Counsell AB's at seecond?

I will never understand why teams leave their best players in the minors. Give the young guy a shot, the old guy already has proved he can't play.