One Down, 24 to Go

Jason Michael Barker

With only a week of baseball in the books, it's difficult to do any sort of statistical analysis. You know, small sample size and all. Sure, there are some good hitters off to good starts, and some bad hitters off to their typical starts. But then you've got the bad hitters off to good starts, and it throws the whole thing off. You simply can't judge a player based on the first 20 at-bats of the season.

Instead, some observations...

First Impressions
I had a chance to attend opening night in Seattle last Monday, and got to see the Chicago White Sox. After losing talent like Albert Belle and Robin Ventura this off-season, many people had the Sox pegged for a horrendous year in 1999, but I think they could surprise some people. Not in the 100 wins sense, or even in the wild card sense, but possibly in the .500 record sense.

The Sox have a good group at the top of the lineup. Leadoff man Ray Durham gets on base and has some pop in his bat (.366/.455 last season), and might be the best second baseman in the AL this season. Next up is SS Mike Caruso, who hit .331/.390 in 1998. He needs to walk more to justify hitting second, but He's just 21 and only one season removed from single-A ball.

Frank Thomas bats third, and from the looks of things, He's back to being the Big Hurt of old. I don't have anything to back this up, but it looked to me like Thomas has slimmed down a bit from last season, and is in better shape. "Protecting" the Big Hurt is Paul Konerko, two-time Minor League Player of the Year, with this third team in two years. I think this season he's going to hit like everybody expected him to.

Chicago also has some good young pitchers under the tutelage of pitching coach Nardi Contreras, who has done a good job since arriving in the middle of last season. James Baldwin and Jim Parque were quite impressive in their first starts of the season, while Bob Howry, Bill Simas and Keith Foulke should provide more than adequate relief.

First Impressions, II
The other game I saw in person this week was Oakland-Seattle on Friday. A's starter Kenny Rogers didn't look good at all, giving up seven hits, four walks and four runs in 4.2 innings. It wasn't the pitching that I went to see, however.

What impressed me about the A's was the number of homegrown players in the starting lineup: CF Ryan Christenson, 1B Jason Giambi, LF Ben Grieve, SS Miguel Tejada, and C A.J. Hinch. I was hoping to see Eric Chavez last night (who would have added one more name to the list), but Oakland started Olmedo Saenz at 3B instead. On the bench were Jason McDonald, Scott Speizio and Chavez, three more players developed in the A's farm system.

By contrast, the Mariners had only two players in the starting lineup (Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez) who had come up through the system. If only the A's had the same luck developing starting pitchers, or were willing to spend money in free agency...

D-backs $till $uck
Maybe I'm just being mean, but I have to admit that it made me smile to see the Arizona Diamondbacks start the season nothing-for-four, despite all the money they spent on big-name pitching this off-season. Randy Johnson and Todd Stottlemyre pitched well in their debuts, as did holdover Omar Daal, but it simply wasn't enough.

Monday they lost to the one-man show that was Raul Mondesi (homer in the ninth to tie the game, homer in the eleventh to win it), Tuesday they were let down by their bullpen, and Wednesday they ran in to Ismael Valdes. Friday they were shut down by rookie starter Odalis Perez of the Atlanta Braves.

The problem? How about a team on-base percentage of just .270, thanks to ten walks in 160 plate appearances? It's all well and good to go out and spend money on starting pitching, but until you've got an offense to back it up, you're going to have a hard time winning games.

Money For Nothing
I'm also laughing at the Angels, because their big signee (both literally and figuratively) Mo Vaughn is out at least 15 days with a sprained ankle. So far, $80M of Disney's money has bought two at-bats. Then there's baseball's $100M man Kevin Brown, who was hit hard in his first start with the Dodgers, to the tune of five runs, ten hits (three homers) in 5.2 innings. Finally there's Mike Piazza, he of the seven-year, $91M deal, who has been placed on the DL with a sprained right knee, which he hurt this week against the Expos. No, wait, I'm not laughing about that last one, because Piazza is on my fantasy team. Damn.

Something to Prove?
When Boston signed Jose Offerman to a big four-year contract this off-season, he was unfairly made the poster boy for escalating salaries and overpriced players. Red Sox fans also blasted the signing, saying there was no way Offerman could fill Mo Vaughn's immense shoes.

It's only four games, but Offerman has come out of the gate on fire this season, with ten hits in his first 20 at-bats. Five of those ten hits are doubles, and one is a triple. As a result, he's hitting a robust .500/.850 thus far this season. Perhaps that will shut some people up. You go on with your bad self, Jose.

about the author

Ever since he heard about Gary DiSarcina's freak injury, Jason Michael Barker has developed a phobia of fungo bats. Whatever you do, don't mention hitting outfield practice at jmb@strikethree.com, or we'll have to strap him to a chair and use the Hypno-wheel again.