Monday, April 19, 2010

Two Weeks Worth of Questions

The first two weeks of the MLB 2010 season are nearly in the books and while we always talk about small sample sizes, the first two weeks have raised plenty of questions around the majors. For anyone who watches closely, trends do develop early and some continue from last season. Let's take a look around and raise those questions. Feel free to answer them any way you like.

The Cubs: How long can the Cubs afford to keep Theriot in the lead off spot? His .343 OBP last year was barely passable for that spot and he is off to a terrible start this year. How long do they put up with Soriano and his slower bat and clanking hands in left field? How long do the new owners keep Hendry around as GM? How can they continue to run Marmol out there each and every day. The guy needs a rest once in a while.

The Astros: Will Berkman be of any help this year? And if he is, will it make any difference? The Astros pitch decently, but their offense is woeful.

The Rangers: How long will they stick with Murphy when he isn't even hitting the weight of an American gymnast? Especially with Smoak in the wings. Doesn't it make sense for the time being to drop Hamilton in the batting order?

The Yankees: With his first homer today, is it a good bet that Teixeira's batting average will stay below .200? Can Pettitte be this good all season?

The White Sox: When will the White Sox realize that the team they constructed for Ozzie doesn't work? And when they do realize it, what can they do about it?

The Indians: When will people realize how good a player Choo is? And when they do, will they keep pitching to him when nobody else in the line up is hitting?

The Angels: How long do they stick with the Wood experiment at third base? Has Bobby Abreu finally gotten too old?

The Blue Jays: When will they end the madness with Overbay? The guy just isn't good enough. Will the bottom two thirds of the batting order get any better? Right now it's bloody awful.

The Nationals: What the heck is up with Marquis? He didn't get ANYBODY out in Sunday's start. Has Adam Dunn reached Richie Sexton stage? He sure looks like a faded Richie Sexton lately. Will Ivan Rodriguez really have this good of an offensive year?

The Brewers: Can they get any quality starts out of anyone not named Wolf? Is Greg Zaun the best they can do as a catcher?

The Rockies: Can they hang close until they get Street back? Their closer is killing them. Is Seth Smith good enough to be their cleanup guy?

The Braves: Will either Melky Cabrera or McLouth hit? Neither one of them right now is a viable hitter in their lineup. How good will Jason Heyward be once he really knows how to hit? Troy Glaus was great in Spring Training. Since then? Not so great. Will he help them at all?

The Cincinnati Reds: Will Bruce's two-homer game finally get him going? Or is he just never going to be a good MLB hitter? Why would anyone ever pitch to Votto when he is the only guy in that line up that can hit? Don't the Reds' bench players get mad when Owings pinch hits and they don't?

The Pittsburgh Pirates: Why did the Fan suddenly start typing out the entire team name? Was Jones just a fluke last year? Should anyone worry about his slow start?

The Florida Marlins: Is Nate Robertson going to stay this good? Is Cochlan going to stay this bad? Isn't Badenhop one of the most useful pitchers in the National League?

Phillies: Raul Ibanez hit .232/.326/.448 in the second half last season. Will he be even that good this year? How is Juan Castro still playing MLB at the age of 38 when he has a lifetime OPS of .603?

Bay Rays: Which is the real Dioner Navarro, the one in 2008 or the one in 2009? The 2010 version looks a lot like the 2009 version. How good could this team be with a real DH?

Red Sox: How long do they stick with Ortiz? What's up with Lester? Mike Cameron and J. D. Drew look slow and old. Will the warmer weather wake them up? When will Youkilis start hitting like Youkilis? Will Francona burn out Schoeneweis? He's pitching like every day.

Royals: Is Jose Guillen going to get comeback player of the year? He's looked great so far. Who is a bigger mystery, Bruce in Cincinnati or Gordon in Kansas City? Where can we buy whatever Podsednik is drinking?

Twins: Can't the Twins find any third basemen that can hit? Will Thome supplant Kubel as the DH sooner or later? Is there any more pitcher more difficult to predict than Pavano?

Oakland A's: Will Edwar Ramirez thrive now that he is away from the Yankees since he was their favorite chew toy? Will they keep pitching this well? And if they do, will they hit enough to have it matter?

Orioles: Can Angelos stay patient enough through these hard times to allow McPhail to stick with the plan? Does anybody else think Angelos looks like he is made out of rock? Will the Orioles stop messing around and just pick a cleanup hitter?

Padres: Can the Pads keep playing .500 with two Hairstons? If they stay relevant, will they keep Heath Bell and Adrian Gonzalez? Was LeBlanc a steal or what?

Diamondbacks: Has Heilman blown more leads in the last four years than anyone in baseball? Why does he keep getting the ball? Was Sunday's start for Kennedy a sign of things to come?

Giants: Don't you feel good for Barry Zito? Don't you always cringe and hope that Lincecum doesn't fly apart at all his joints?

Dodgers: Why isn't Manny playing? As a big Fan of Manny, is this the only Fan that doesn't think he cares very much this year? Why does Garrett Anderson have a job? Why does Torre have a special place in his heart for Jeff Weaver?

Detroit Tigers: Don't you just love Austin Jackson so far? Why didn't the Tigers pick up Felipe Lopez? They could have used him. Is Phil Coke cool or what?

Seattle Mariners: Eric Byrnes every day? Really? Milton Bradley - done forever? Will Adam Moore hit? He's making Kojima look good.

Cardinals: How long will the Colby Rasmus experiment go on? Will they have any competition in their division at all?

New York Mets: Why won't they let that Ike Davis play first? You know, the one that murdered the ball all spring? What did they see in Alex Cora? Gary Matthews Jr.? When will Beltran get back? UPDATE: Read a story on BallHype.com that Davis is going to get a call up.

Well, those are the Fan's questions. Got any answers?

2 comments:

John said...

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Josh Borenstein said...

I'd like to see the Cubs bring up Starlin Castro. They're going nowhere this year. Might as well accept their fate and begin the rebuilding process.

One way or another, Justin Smoak will replace Chris Davis. Davis will either be demoted or he'll be traded.

Sticking with the theme of bringing up prospects, the Nationals might as well bring up Strasburg and Storen soon.

I like Colby Rasmus. Too early to give up on this kid.