The Season Thus Far...

It has been a great season so far.

Maybe, they all seem great to me. But I'm having fun watching the game this year. Really enjoying baseball. The Boston Red Sox are fighting their way back to a .500 winning percentage, a feat never accomplished by a team starting 0-6. But we all knew they were better than this. Their starters got off to a rough start but have been lights out lately. Dice-K Matsuzaka has been great in his last couple of starts, truly great, great like the hype said he would be five years ago. The starter that hasn't really come on as expected is Clay Buchholz. But we knew he was not quite what he seemed to be last season. Too much of that bad start is being credited to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and too much credit for the resurgence has gone to Jason Varitek. If you can afford to hold on to Salty, I would do it. Kevin Youkilis is hitting but not at the levels we know he can reach. Carl Crawford is slumping but has shown signs of emerging lately, he's way too good to give up on.

The Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians are shocking a lot of baseball fans with their hard-fought wins and losses. The Tribe's Jack Hannahan (an unlikely starter at third base by most reckonings) hit two homers last night against those Royals and their staff's number one starter Luke Hochevar. Hochevar has been a mixed bag this season. He has a decent whip but his era is a bit high at this point. Stick with him if you have nothing to lose or you can stash him against certain teams. But he is the kind of pitcher that will frustrate you over the course of the season. I have my eye on every player these two teams call up, because their best players have yet to arrive.

A ton of great players haven't really hit their rhythm yet. Albert Pujols has shown signs of breaking through his funk lately only to suffer a mild hamstring pull. Josh Hamilton is injured (again) and after a great start Nelson Cruz is slowing down a bit more than we like to see. Mark Teixeira also tried to break his slow start trend but hasn't really delivered the batting average. But it could be worse...

The Most Disappointing Ten (by fWAR) Thus Far

1. Raul Ibanez OF Phillies - He's losing at-bats to John Mayberry Jr.
2. Carl Crawford OF Red Sox - He'll be fine.
3. Aubrey Huff 1B/OF Giants - Is he back to that every odd year thing?
4. Juan Pierre OF White Sox - So much for speed never slumping...
5. Alex Rios OF White Sox - Now you know why the ChiSox are struggling to score runs...
6. James Loney 1B Dodgers - The man Jerry Sands will eventually force to be traded.
7. Chris Johnson 3B Astros - I'm shocked.
8. Miguel Tejada SS Giants - No, he doesn't have much left but he's still better than this.
9. Nick Markakis OF Orioles - He'll probably never be what we hoped, but trade for him now.
10. Brett Gardner OF Yankees - Supposedly his swing is messed up. I'm a little worried.

and so we're not dwelling on the negative...

The Best of the Best Thus Far... (another Top Ten by fWAR)

1. Jose Bautista 3B Blue Jays - Now do you believe?
2. Joey Votto 1B Reds - MVP, MVP, MVP!
3. Troy Tulowitski SS Rockies - I thought those picking him 2nd overall would be disappointed, opps...
4. Matt Holliday OF Cardinals - "I don't need no damn rehab games or time off!"
5. Howie Kendrick 2B Angels - Finally!
6. Ryan Braun OF Brewers - Already rewarded with a new contract. Groundball hitter...HAH!
7. Curtis Granderson OF Yankees - Ok, coach you fixed Grandy but you screwed up Jeter and Gardner!
8. Colby Rasmus OF Cardinals - This might be the season he puts it all together.
9. Matt Kemp OF Dodgers - I never doubted you, buddy!
10. Andre Ethier OF Dodgers - Outfielders are ready, just need an owner.

In case you care, I've not been well lately. Nothing tragic, but I've been exhausted. Too much so to do much more than work my crazy stressful day job and deal with my four hours of commuting back and forth. I hope you've enjoyed reading Pauly and Lucky's work, I'm praying they'll stick around. But this site isn't going anywhere but up and to better places in the future.

The Adventure of Juan Carlos Linares

He has received much attention since defecting to the United States but he was a star in Cuba and could advance to the Major League Red Sox in a hurry. He had a very good Arizona Fall League season and followed that with a nice Spring Training. He's a nice sleeper for your minor league draft but has only played a few games in the minor leagues so don't over pay.