Week In Review
AL EAST
The Boston Red Sox have not looked good at all. The bats
haven’t woken up yet from their winter slumber and they got swept by the
Brewers in their first series at Fenway this season. The Brewers are a decent
team and have some good pitching but to be swept by them in your home park is
inexcusable. The New York Yankees looked like the worst team in baseball
through two games in Houston but rebounded nicely to win 3 of their next four
before heading home this week. They’ve gotten good pitching from everyone not
named CC Sabathia, including Masahiro Tanaka who looks to be the real deal.
Like the Red Sox, the Yankees need to have their bats wake up, especially
considering the Bronx Bombers have one home run through six games and the guy
who hit it was Brett Gardner. Tampa Bay has come out of the gate looking like
Tampa Bay. They will pitch well and play good defense, but it all comes down to
the timely hit. If they get it, they look like the best team in baseball and
everyone on the team feeds off the momentum. If they don’t get it, it seems the
bats and confidence disappear and it has a lasting effect throughout the game.
The Baltimore Orioles have looked pretty average thus far and they’ve certainly
missed Manny Machado. The pitching has looked better than expected and if it
keeps up the Orioles could turn into a dangerous team. Toronto has looked every
bit like the worst team in the AL East to start the year. Bad pitching, Jose
Reyes getting injured after a half inning of play, and Melky Cabrera playing
like he needs a surprise drug test are all that can really be said about this
team.
AL CENTRAL
The Tigers have played well enough that they are already
making my preseason prediction of missing the playoffs look stupid. They do however
have some concerns that they need to look out for and correct before they turn
into a big problem. They’ve gotten lucky enough so far but the infield defense
and the bullpen have not done this team any favors. The Royals continue to be a
team that does not hit home runs and they will need to start if they want to
contend. Cleveland has no trouble scoring runs but they have some trouble when
it comes to not giving up runs. The pitching will need to improve. The White
Sox look like a team headed in the right direction. They won’t contend this
year but they are building a solid foundation for the future. Jose Abreu has
played well thus far and looks like he will turn into a smart investment for
the team. The Twins finished the week at .500 and have the AL leader in RBI in
Chris Colabello. Great positives while they last.
AL WEST
The AL West this week looked like it could be anyone’s for
the taking. Every team has played well enough to give their fans hope but bad
enough to give them some ulcers. Seattle has gotten great production out of
Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley to go along with the expected production of
Robinson Cano and Brad Miller. Smoak and Ackley have shown flashes before but
could never be consistent. If this is the year they do show it the Mariners
could run away with the division. The pitching has been great and that’s
without Iwakuma and Walker even taking the mound. Oakland’s big concern is
closer Jim Johnson. He did not have a good week this week and could lose his
closing gig if he keeps it up. The Angels have enjoyed better than expected
pitching numbers and a hot start from Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is more likely to
keep it up than the staff is but for the first week both were encouraging
signs. The Rangers got a big jolt from the return of Yu Darvish yesterday. He
became the fastest player in history to reach 500 strikeouts. The Astros are
still a few years away but the fans can look forward to seeing a lot of talent
grow and mature.
NL EAST
For all the talk about the Braves hard luck with injuries to
their pitching staff they ended the week with the second best team ERA in
baseball. From the beginning I stated the arms weren’t a problem even with the
injuries, the problem would be Fredi’s handling of them. So far so good, lets
hope it keeps up in Hotlanta. Freddie Freeman has played extremely well and I
personally hope he can keep it up so my prediction of him winning the MVP comes
through. The Nationals have gotten good pitching to start the year but the
offense has been the definition of inconsistent. If they want to compete for a
playoff spot they will need to find consistentcy with the bats. The Mets of
2014 have so far looked like the Mets of every other year since their NLCS
appearance. Losing Bobby Parnell to Tommy John surgery was a huge loss for an
already thin pitching staff and bullpen. The bright spot for the team has thus
far been Juan Lagares. He played extremely well last week so lets hope the
usual Met curse doesn’t strike him soon as he has been a joy to watch. Perhaps
the biggest surprise of the season to date has been the play of the Miami
Marlins. They finally have some offense to go with very good young pitching.
Both Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee have double digit RBIs. Jose Fernandez
has shown through two starts that he is not a flash in the pan. The man is the
best young pitcher I’ve seen since Dwight Gooden. His starts should be must see
for any baseball fan and anyone living in Miami that can get out to the
ballpark. The Phillies played to a .500 record in the opening week which is
great for them but that won’t last. As the season goes on the old guys will
break down and join Jonathan Papelbon on the completely done and shot to hell
list.
NL CENTRAL
The Cardinals were expected to run away with the NL Central
but this week at least, they’ve shown to be more human than anyone anticipated.
They played their main competition to open the season in division rivals
Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and finished the week with a 3-3 record thanks in
part to mediocre hitting and mediocre pitching. Cincinnati may still have one
of the better starting rotations in baseball once Mat Latos comes back.
Replacing Bronson Arroyo with Tony Cingrani has not caused Cincinnati to lose a
step and may even be an upgrade. This is one staff I wouldn’t want to face,
especially once they are at full strength in the bullpen. The only problem for
Cincinnati is offense from anyone other than Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. No one
can consistently perform to be that third guy and leadoff man Billy Hamilton
has been a major disappointment so far. He looks completely lost and
overmatched at the plate. The Pirates have played well this week finishing in a
first place tie in the division. They received terrible news this week that
prospect Jameson Taillon has to undergo Tommy John surgery and cannot be looked
upon to be the 2014 version of Gerrit Cole, coming up and giving the team a
jolt and a good young arm. The one problem Pittsburgh has is at first base. If
they want to contend for a championship they need to find a permanent first
baseman and do away with the Sanchez/Ishikawa platoon. The Brewers played
fabulously this week including a weekend sweep of the World Champion Red Sox in
Fenway. They have a very underrated staff, a good bullpen, and quality talent
in the lineup. Ryan Braun is still nursing a nerve injury to his thumb, the
same injury he had last year. If they want to keep up the hot start and be in
this race for the long run they have to figure out how to help Braun with this
injury. He is too important to lose. Chicago knew coming into the year they had
no chance at contending or even being very good so its no surprise they’ve
looked so bad thus far. This team is all about the future. When the talent
starts arriving in the second half of this season and the beginning of next
season, that’s when we will be able to seriously talk about the Cubs.
NL WEST
I expected the NL West to be a two team fight for most of
the year but it looks like I couldn’t have been more wrong as to who that
second team would be. The San Francisco Giants have started out 5-2 and looked
in the first week like World Series contenders. They always had a problem
scoring runs but so far that has not been a problem at all. Brandon Belt has
carried his hot second half over into this season and Mike Morse has helped
extend the lineup giving them another threat in addition to Buster Posey. The
pitching has been great so far but they need to pray for consistent
performances from Lincecum and Vogelsong. The Dodgers look a lot more beatable
this season but they are still a good team. They need to get things situated
and straight with phenom Yasiel Puig though. Puig called a team meeting this
week and asked his teammates to basically air out all their problems with him
and also help him to understand what he can do to improve. Great gesture on
Puig’s part that would have looked a whole lot better if he didn’t get
scratched from the lineup within two days of that meeting for being late. The
Arizona Diamondbacks have been a disappointment to open the season both from a
baseball perspective and a personal perspective. I picked this team to win the
division and contend for a championship but they have looked terrible pitching
wise. They cannot consistently get outs and they cannot consistently score
runs. Mark Trumbo has been a great addition, homering in four straight games,
but this may be the right handed version of the Reds offense. There’s Trumbo
and Goldschmidt and not much else dependability. The season is still early and
there’s a lot of games left to be played but it seems Arizona will leave me
with egg on my face come the end of the season. The Padres are still the
Padres. Adequate enough pitching and no offense. They have trouble scoring runs
and by the looks of things even if a few guys wake up and start hitting they
won’t be able to overtake Los Angeles or San Francisco. Colorado has gotten
some pretty good pitching from their staff and Charlie Blackmon had a great
first week but this team will only go as far as CarGo and Tulo take them.
Health is the number one concern. If they stay healthy they will produce and
the Rockies will be in the hunt for a wild card spot.
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