[Syd Thrift]

Major Transactions
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No transactions this week according to BBRef! It's Draft Week, I guess?

June 5: Although speaking of, why clutter the regular newswire with draft stuff if the transactions section is going to be empty! It's draft day, folks! Hold on to your butts!

I don't really have a set routine for the draft; usually I wind up drafting the first round and then just let the AI go after everything else. This should allow me to draft for need just a little tiny bit...

Because I feel like writing a damn essay, I'm just gonna break down the first round until I get bored...

1. MON - SS Hudson Watts. The scouts' recommendation. It's kind of looking like a weak draft from Montreal's perspective and Watts at least looks like he's going to be able to contribute quickly, as he's a graduating senior (also, he probably won't threaten to go unsigned).

2. OAK - SP Josh Haugen. Another scout rec... I'm not really enamored with this guy's future potential but starting pitching is always precious.

3. BAL - CF Damian Kerchner. The O's already have their CFOTF set but that's OK; Kerchner probably won't stick in center anyway. He does have the best EYE in the draft, which was a big consideration for me for this team.

4. MIL - SP Alex Izquierdo. The scouts asked for CF Moniko Fernandez, who I've already seen on the top of a couple boards (I'll try not to use that!) but Izquierdo has the same potential (65 OVR) and looks like he's a better all-around pitcher than Fernandez is a hitter, if that makes sense.

5. KC - CF Moniko Fernandez. This guy could only drop so far. Interestingly he's only the 7th best player in the draft according to OSA but, well, I'm not using OSA for my recs. Fernandez doesn't have the best eye but otherwise looks like he could be the next/first Ichiro.

6. PIT - CF Michael Sabir. A scouting rec, Sabir looks like a slightly lesser version of Fernandez, although closer to being major-league ready, I think. We'll see! Also, he doesn't want any money so that's a bonus for a struggling franchise like the Pirates.

7. SD - SS Benjamin Carter. Another scouting rec (and for the most part I may wind up just letting the scouts heavily inform these picks), Carter looks like he's profiled to be a kind of middling player but at 22 he's pretty close to being ML level already and already looks like he can play a variety of positions, so he's exactly the kind of Swiss Army Knife type player that will help vault the Padres into mediocrity.

8. LA - 2B Danny Tutunijan. I went away from scouting recommendations because I know the Dodgers are starting 40 year old Billy Tristan at the keystone and so they desperately need a long-term replacement. It looks to me like the main thing that kept Tutunijan from being much more highly regarded is his defense; as a college junior I'm not 100% sure he's even going to be able to stick at 2nd and just straight up lacks the arm to play on the right side of the infield. If he can improve with the glove though he'll be a 4-tool player (arm is one of the 5 tools, right?), 5 if you count plate discipline as a tool.

9. WAS - SP Nate Kemp. I admit I had to go into the editor with this guy. Look... his name is Jaden. I will not have a draftee named Jaden in 19 god damn 70. It just will not happen. Anyway, NATE Kemp looks close to ML ready and the Senators play in a pitchers' park (for now!) and, well, at this point going with a pitcher is zigging where the rest of the league zagged.

10. CIN - C Johnny Becton. Another guy I had to change the name of (Thatcher! CHRIST). I actually don't think Becton's going to wind up playing much catcher in the pros so I hesitate to call him the next Johnny Bench, but this guy looks like he'll be able to hit well enough to carry a 1B or corner OF job.

11. PHI - CF Brandon Anderson. The game wanted me to pick a catcher named Lee Zgonc but Anderson fills a need better and was the #3 player in the draft going in according to OSA (and for that matter is at the top of the Phillies' list behind a relief pitcher).

12. STL - C Chris Grider. The Cards' scouting director also went for Zgonc and that is a great, great name, I will grant you, but Grider looks a lot more like a guy who will actually catch in the major leagues (a 40 rating at C compared to Zgonc's 30).

13. CAL - 3B Jason Poindexter. The Angels had two guys at the top of their list, Poindexter and CF Sonny Burwell, and I wound up going with Poindexter because a. it looked to me like a lot of Burwell's value is locked up in his defense and the Angels already have all-world CF Norman Hodge, and b. I like Poindexter's personality ratings better.

14. HOU - SP Rob Littlejohn. Houston needs starting pitching and I think Littlejohn might have had the best stuff in the draft, at least for a guy who is projected to start. He's not quite major league ready yet, I don't think, but is probably only a couple seasons away.

15. SF - CF Sonny Burwell. Time will tell if the Angels made the right decision above, but their California "rivals" (I mean, they're in a different league so they can only rival so much) snapped up the other guy. The Giants' scouting director is not very sanguine on his offense but the Giants need position players, period, and Burwell looks like he could win a few Gold Gloves if things break the right way.

16. NYY - SS Taylor Deveraux. The Yankees are using a late-30s guy at shortstop right now in Ty Stover so this is definitely a position they need help in. I actually think that Devreaux should stick at short and might even win a Gold Glove or two if Red Sox phenom Oniji Handa falls apart or moves to the other league.

17. DET - SP Ryan Boydston. The scouting director once again wanted me to go after Lee Zgonc but the Tigers already have a youngish bat-first catcher. Instead I went for Boydston, who looks like he might be a bit of a steal this low in the first round. That said, he does want a lot of money.

18. CHW - C Lee Zgonc. Sure, what the heck? Zgonc has fallen far enough already and the White Sox are in a position to want to take a chance on a guy who might be 10 picks underdrafted at this point. Zgonc has amazing plate discipline skills and the personality line on him is that he's a "baseball rat". IME, Chicago and rats are an iconic duo.

19. MIN - 1B Greg Cooper. Cooper has old players' skills and doesn't even look like a very good fielding 1B but he also looks like he's a good pure hitter, which is something that could just become more valuable around 1973, who knows?

20. CHC - SP Jacob Casey. Casey's a slight reach but the top guys on the Cubs' list were a center fielder, a catcher, and a relief pitcher. The Cubs don't really need the first two positions and I'm not going to draft a reliever in the first round in 1970. Anyway he's only 19 so unfortunately for Cubs fans hoping for a quick fix he's not going to be ready to go for a while.

21. BOS - CF David Cook. Cook's fallen maybe a bit further than he "should" have and Boston has a need for a CF. Looks like their scout and my eyes lined up pretty well here.

22. ATL - SS Zach James. James is definitely a gamble. He has most of the tools to succeed as a shortstop but he has bad hands (only 50) so he might wind up being a second baseman (although if that happens he'll be a multi-time Gold Glover there). If he sticks at short, I think multiple All-Star Games are in the offing.

23. NYM - 3B Robbin Homer. Pickings are starting to get slim here and Homer doesn't look super fantastically amazing. On the other hand, he looks like glove-wise he could play third base in the major leagues right now and if he's close with the stick he could be the Mets' Opening Day starter at that position in 1971.

24. CLE - C Lester Dowell. Big catcher draft this year. Dowell looks like a better long term fit behind the plate than Lee Zgonc but he's not super fantastic. Nevertheless, Cleveland's starter there, John House, kind of looks like a forever-platoon guy and Dowell could turn that into a very plus position once he matures.

And, just because I feel like spending 3571058701 HOURS on the draft this year, OSA's list of the top 10 and where they landed:

1. Joe Wells, 21 year-old CF out of college. (Reds, 2nd round, 34th overall, and perhaps the steal of the draft?)
2. Brandon Anderson, 21 year-old CF out of college. (Phillies, 1st round, 11th overall)
3. Michael Sabir, 23 year-old CF out of college. (Pirates, 1st round, 6th overall)
4. Hudson Watts, 23 year-old SS out of college. (Expos, 1st overall)
5. Ryan Boydston, 21 year-old LHP out of college. (Tigers, 17th overall)
6. Benjamin Carter, 22 year-old SS out of college. (Padres, 7th overall)
7. Moniko Fernández, 22 year-old CF out of college. (Royals, 5th overall)
8. Lester Dowell, 21 year-old C out of college. (Indians, 24th overall)
9. [s]Jaden[/s] Nate Kemp, 21 year-old LHP out of college. (Senators, 9th overall)
10. Ricky Rosales, 17 year-old SS out of high-school. (Orioles, 3rd overall)

News
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June 1: White Sox LF Willie Vargas (.362, 3, 31) won the AL Player of the Week award by getting 13 hits in 26 at bats. He also had 1 HR and 6 RBI. Somehow this is Vargas' first PotW award. He's only 25 so there should be a lot more coming.

June 1: On the other end of the PotW spectrum, Braves RF Henry Riggs (.280, 11, 29) won his 2nd award this year and 20th of his career. He hit .529 (10-19) with 4 ding-dongs and (only) 6 RBI. And to think I was wondering if he was done a month ago...

June 1: Expos 3B Adam Owens (.289, 8, 19) continues to make the Mets regret shipping him off. He won NL Rookie of the Month honors with a .311 average, 6 HRs, and 13 runs scored. He's pretty good!

June 1: 3B/LF Jeff Nation (.320, 4, 23) of the Royals is looking like the odds-on favorite for ROY honors, position switch or no position switch. In May Nation hit .371 with all 4 of his HR and 20 of his ribbies. He's not just a great rookie, he's KC's best player, period.

June 1: Josh Matthews of the Cleveland Indians (7-3, 2.75) took home the May Pitcher of the Month honors for the AL, going 6-1 with a 2.30 ERA. He finished a yard shy of the Cy last year and now with Cleveland surging he has to be on the top of that early list.

June 1: Giants starter Mike Stuckey (8-3, 2.24) might have stolen the NL Pitcher of the Month from others but he did TBF have an awfully good May. He went 5-1 with a 2.30 ERA and 37 Ks in 54.2 innings pitched.

June 1: Cardinals 1B Justin Stone (.320, 12, 39) is proving that in spite of missing most of last year he is every last bit the MVP candidate he's been since entering the league. In May he hit .324 with 10 of his 12 1970 HRs and 31 RBIs. At the age of 30, he's managed to rack up 18 of these awards.

June 1: Yankees RF Frank Meneses (.309, 11, 31) went from pinch-hitting to the AL Batter of the Month over the course of May. He hit .309 with all 11 of his HRs along with 28 of his 31 RBI. This is Meneses' 3rd BotM but first since 1966.

June 1: The Cubs were dealt a pretty big blow, as veteran 2B Juan Perez (.301, 6, 25) was diagnosed with an elbow strain that will cause him to miss the next 6 weeks. I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on calling up prospect David Holcombe (.281, 4, 23) in his place, which is less confidence that Holcombe can take over and more heavy skepticism that Tim Mantero (.176, 0, 0), who was Perez' caddy last year as well, can do the job the Cubs need a 2B to do.

June 1: Pirates' SP Clyde Jones (5-4, 2.75) will miss the rest of the year with a torn meniscus in his knee. The Pirates seem loaded with young starting pitchng and as such all they have to do is call up 24 year old Danny Perez (5-4, 3.18 in AAA Columbus). I mean, they'll still miss Jones, don't get me wrong...

June 2: Phillies 3B Pedro Arellano (.232, 2, 9) is demanding more PT in what I think is mostly "I don't want to be both a backup and play for a bad team" situation. The incumbent there is Alex Becerra (.218, 5, 13), who isn't exactly a world-beater himself, but the situation is not exactly so dire that I want to replace a 30-year-old with a 31-year-old with less of a track record. Probably I'll just let Arellano stew until he demands his release.

June 3: Tigers C Scott Woodcock (.231, 0, 3) also announced he's unhappy with his role on the team. I was a little surprised he didn't speak up earlier, as he was the starter last season and wasn't completely awful or anything. Nevertheless, he's 35 and is clearly inferior to Gianluigi Farinelli (.292, 5, 17) as both a hitter and a fielder. Sorry, Scott, you had a good run in Detroit but you've got to either accept a backup job or accept that your time is over there.

June 3: Dodgers RP Keith Pacheco (0-0, 3.44) is getting mad... about not being a starter? He has a grand total of 56 starts over his 8 year career and hasn't been used significantly has a starter since 1965. That said though... man, Raul Andrade (1-8, 5.29) has really not cut it after missing all of 1969 and maybe it is time for a change...

June 3: And completing the angry guy trifecta, Yankees 2B Pat Jones (.353, 2, 6) also wats to start. Last year he was a meh pinch-hitter / fill-in at 2nd and this year... he's blocked by Wing-fung Yi (.189, 2, 17), who TBF has been pretty awful this year but last year he hit over .300 and he's 8 years younger than Jones. Nevertheless I will start mixing Jones in a bit more, which will probably just slightly prolong his descent into demanding to be traded but you never know...

June 5: Angels RF Chris Tyree (.339, 3, 28), who was having a sensational sophomore season (ALLITERATION) is going to miss the next 5 weeks with a hamstring strain, a big blow to an Angels team that is falling back to the pack. I've got a platoon of Jon Berry (.138, 1, 3 but he was better last year) and Barney Leriche (.250, 0, 2) working for him until he returns.

June 5: So, right after I wrote the write-up on the Twins below, RH Todd Thiesen (4-1, 3.68, 4 Sv) spot-started and had the kind of game that makes you say "okay, you know what? I changed my mind and you do go into the rotation." At the least I'm going to switch out to a 5-man for maybe the next month or so to let things shake themselves out.

June 5: Man, it's like this is "Reconsider A Reliever Day" or something... Indians RH Bob Reyes (1-4, 3.44) also spot-started his way into the Indians rotation today. Like the Twins, they were running a 4-man staff; like the Twins, I'm opening up to 5 men for the undefineable future.

June 5: ON THE OTHER HAND... I don't generally announce releases unless they're in context with something else (and maybe this should be in Transactions? MEH) but man... I feel like I've given RH Victor Reyes (0-2, 7.61) all the chances in the world to work in Atlanta but he's just not. The peripherals look okay - well, other than the 4 HRs in 23.2 innings - but he's flat out not getting batters out. Maybe this sends a message to the team. His replacement for now is AAA reliever Chuugo Takahashi (2-2, 4.46 at Richmond) who isn't pitching well but to make up for that he has a beautiful mustache.

June 6: The Royals learned that RP Glenn Fitzgerald (0-0, 3.43) will miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum. Given that he's 35, it's entirely possible that this also closes the book on his career. Fitzgerald's been an enigma for me the past couple years: he's very, very wild (more than a walk per IP last year and this year he brought it down to "only" 6.4 BB/9) but he had at least decent succes in the past as a career middle reliever for the Cubs. With the Royals this year his "success" (which, he's basically an average arm out of the bullpen) was smoke and mirrors but, you know, success is success. Anyway, bye Glenn. It was nice "knowing" you.

June 6: Twins SP Angelo Ramos (10-1, 2.95) threw a 4-hitter today to become the first pitcher in either league to reach double digits in wins. Ramos has a career record of 195-113 and has somehow never managed to win a Cy Young in spite of finishing in the money 6 times. Will this be his year?

June 6: Speaking of 10 game winners... Reds LH Steve Waiters (10-1, 2.48) gave up a no-hitter with 1 out in the 8th but recovered to win a 3-0 shutout of the Mets to be the first NL guy to hit double digits in the category. Waiters, 26, seems to have turned a corner this year, although TBF he made the All-Star Game the last 2 years as well so he hasn't exactly been bad.

June 7: The AL All-Star voting so far:

CATCHER
1. Brad Reed, Minnesota Twins: 158,591
2. Jon Hernandez, Baltimore Orioles: 158,087
3. Armando Flores, Washington Senators: 153,157

FIRST BASE
1. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 246,018
2. Alex Cardenas, New York Yankees: 232,180
3. David Decker, Oakland Athletics: 181,397

SECOND BASE
1. Danny Villegas, Detroit Tigers: 197,188
2. Danny Fager, Baltimore Orioles: 189,096
3. T.J. Pritchett, Cleveland Indians: 176,616

THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 216,681
2. Marco Perez, Baltimore Orioles: 211,645
3. Mike Brookes, Minnesota Twins: 207,820

SHORTSTOP
1. Ty Stover, New York Yankees: 215,356
2. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 198,748
3. John Johnson, Cleveland Indians: 184,895

LEFT FIELD
1. Alonzo Huanosta, Cleveland Indians: 201,666
2. Willie Vargas, Chicago White Sox: 198,499
3. Matthew Levario, Oakland Athletics: 196,378

CENTER FIELD
1. Bryant Tarala, Baltimore Orioles: 194,265
2. Tom Brown, Chicago White Sox: 183,105
3. Norm Hodge, California Angels: 170,790

RIGHT FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Washington Senators: 191,244
2. Frank Meneses, New York Yankees: 181,740
3. John Marsden, Oakland Athletics: 166,422

STARTING PITCHER
1. Chris Benavides, Minnesota Twins: 109,977
2. Tracy Mosher, New York Yankees: 108,630
3. Sandy Hinojosa, Boston Red Sox: 103,998
4. Josh Matthews, Cleveland Indians: 96,776
5. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 94,306

RELIEVER
1. Montay Luiso, Baltimore Orioles: 114,661
2. Pete Lynn, Minnesota Twins: 94,260
3. Alex Madrigal, Detroit Tigers: 88,785
4. Billy Munoz, Kansas City Royals: 85,802
5. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 75,446

Tommy Weiss is leading 3rd basemen over Marco Perez, which strikes me as a little crazy. They should both get in though. Otherwise, wow, Alvin Romero's getting a lot of love really early in his career. Brad Reed's looked really average to me this year but I guess really average is great for a catcher.

And in the NL:

CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 178,223
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 158,383
3. Greg Darrow, Chicago Cubs: 141,871

FIRST BASE
1. Joshua Waltenbery, New York Mets: 279,525
2. Justin Stone, St. Louis Cardinals: 229,660
3. Rafael Disla, Los Angeles Dodgers: 229,081

SECOND BASE
1. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 277,740
2. Pedro Ortiz, Cincinnati Reds: 252,051
3. Billy Tristan, Los Angeles Dodgers: 176,192

THIRD BASE
1. Bobby Kraljevic, Cincinnati Reds: 194,190
2. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 192,223
3. Sean Gabel, Chicago Cubs: 187,884

SHORTSTOP
1. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 182,322
2. Tyler Webster, Pittsburgh Pirates: 157,689
3. Akiho Fujimoto, San Diego Padres: 153,602

LEFT FIELD
1. Jason Workman, Chicago Cubs: 228,673
2. Barry Cooper, San Francisco Giants: 222,468
3. Ernie Griffin, Los Angeles Dodgers: 205,506

CENTER FIELD
1. John Lopez, Houston Astros: 197,493
2. Curtis Hope, New York Mets: 179,844
3. Mark Tooley, Chicago Cubs: 161,738

RIGHT FIELD
1. Jaden Weaver, Houston Astros: 264,459
2. Nelson Hernandez, San Diego Padres: 214,572
3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 202,172

STARTING PITCHER
1. John Mash, New York Mets: 102,422
2. Robert Rivera, San Francisco Giants: 101,635
3. Steve Waiters, Cincinnati Reds: 95,244
4. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 95,048
5. Mike Stuckey, San Francisco Giants: 90,876

RELIEVER
1. John Winn, Atlanta Braves: 145,261
2. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 101,619
3. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 100,692
4. John Booth, San Francisco Giants: 99,857
5. Adam Eastin, St. Louis Cardinals: 92,995

Mash incidentally just got hurt and will be out of the rotation for the next 2-3 weeks so I'm going to go ahead and guess that he will not start the All-Star Game. 2/3rds of the starting outfield, meanwhile, would be Astros if the game was tomorrow and I can't say I don't agree.

June 7 (evening): And the power rankings! Things are looking... strange.

1st (1st) Cincinnati 34-21 .618
2nd (7th) Boston 30-20 .600
3rd (5th) Minnesota 32-20 .615
4th (4th) Chicago (N) 29-20 .592
5th (2nd) Houston 34-22 .607

The biggest story is the Mets falling out of the top 5. They got knocked all the way down to 8th, the second largest drop of the week (Baltimore dropped from 8th to 14th). I'd also mentioned that I've gotten through every team's 20-loss reviews; I was incorrect, as the Cubs have not been so touched yet.

The bottom 5:

20th (21st) Atlanta 20-31 .392
21st (22nd) San Diego 23-35 .397
22nd (23rd) Milwaukee 20-34 .370
23rd (24th) Montreal 17-35 .327
24th (20th) Kansas City 21-31 .404

The Royals fell into dead last by going 0-6 this week; in fact, they're on an 11 game losing streak. Somehow they're still 2 games up on Milwaukee for the chase to the AL West cellar.

Teams In Review
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June 3: The Houston Astros (31-20, 2nd AL West) might just be the biggest surprise of the season. It's them or the Reds (who are 1/2 game above them in the standings right now). Maybe just as surprising is how they're doing it: despite playing half their games at the Astrodome they are an offense-oriented team (3rd in runs scored with 269, only 8th in runs allowed with 223).

Rotation: Josh Mullett (6-4, 4.72) had been somehow putting up good numbers - 12-7, 1.90 in '68, 17-9, 3.76 last year - in spite of some iffy peripherals including a backwards walk-to-strikeout ratio. This year his production seems to have fallen to about where he "should" be. At the same time, he keeps the 'Stros in games... I think I'm leaving him in; in fact, I'm switching Houston out to a 5 man rotation for a month or so so that hopefully they'll be good to go in the dog days of summer. It's a gamble, I will grant you. Caleb McDonald (0-2, 1.66), who's been lights-out in middle relief so far, flips into the rotation.

Bullpen: Jon Douglas (1-3, 3.90, 9 Sv) has been... fine. The idea at the beginning of the year was to use both him and LH Alex Ochoa (0-0, 4.66, 1 Sv) as co-stoppers but Ochoa got DLed and frankly wasn't that good before then. Will they need help from outside of the organization? I don't see a lot going on in AAA Oklahoma City either...

Infield: C Dan Rigdon (.197, 1, 19) has lost nearly 100 points off his average this year but he's still a very good catcher and his backup Bobby Copeland (.190, 1, 5) is not. There's no competition!

Outfield: Hey, RF Jaden Weaver (.261, 20, 51) isn't a very good fielder and he's only hitting .261 and... oh wait, yeah, he's just barely off the pace to tie the single-season HR record (65 in this league; right now he's on pace to hit 64). Nothing to see here! Move along!

June 4: With the AL East in turmoil, the Boston Red Sox are still sort of on top (26-20, 1st AL East) but they're kind of scuffling. They were only 13-13 in May and have lost their lone June game so far. They do have the best starters' ERA in the league (3.26) but you wonder how long that will last with half of the rotation out with injuries. Overall the biggest issue, probably, is that the offense is not as awesome as people thought they'd be (209 runs, 5th in the AL after they were 3rd in the league in that category last year).

Rotation: Bruce Britt (1-0, 8.79) is On Notice but the rotation as noted is kind of depleted right now and I don't want to go Mt. Piniella with this team so he'll stick around... for now. I'd consider switching down to a 5 man but that's like the opposite of what they need right now; really they want to give as many starts as they can to 1969 Cy Young Award winner Justin Kindberg (6-4, 2.80) and veteran acquisition Sandy Hinojosa (6-2, 2.42).

Bullpen: The bullpen, honestly, is looking pretty good. I'm not exactly sure why they have the 3rd worst ERA in the league (3.78); whatever issues they had appear to have already been settled.

Infield: The continued struggles of 3B Mauro Magoni (.231, 2, 19) have led me to mixing in prospect Edwin Madriles (.278, 8, 25 in AAA Louisville) at the position. It's a mid-season position battle!

Outfield: CF Ryan Johnston (.190, 1, 2) has been hurt a lot this year and not very good when healthy. Worst of all, the 27 year old looks like he's backslid on defense a bit and is now below average. I'm going to start platooning Jon "The Astronaut" Glynn (.256, 3, 16), who isn't super great himself but is under 25 and a much better fielder at least.

June 5: Man, busy day for writing! Given that we have PARITY LEAGUE this year, the Minnesota Twins are the second-to-last team to reach 20 losses (29-20, 1st AL West) and I believe the Mets are also coming up today. The Twins have had some issues this year, primarily based around a kind of bad offensive attack (190 runs scored, 9th due primarily to having the 3rd worst BA in the AL at .239) that's sort of holding a league-best defense (181 runs allowed) back. I say "kind of" because they still have the best record in the junior circuit.

Rotation: There's not a lot that I want to change to be honest. RH Victor Ortiz (2-4, 5.27) has been pretty bad so far but it's been 8 months since he was carrying the team in the postseason so it seems premature to cut bait. Otherwise I guess Ricardo Magdaleno is the other guy struggling (2-4, 4.86) but he, too, was pretty solid last season. Call this a Law of Competitive Balance thing but with the team winning anyway and at that winning on the backs of their pitching staff, I don't see a good reason to switch stuff out.

Bullpen: The Twins' bullpen has three proven stoppers in Pete Lynn (2-1, 2.66, 5 Sv), Pete Eason (0-0, 0.00, 1 Sv), and Todd Thiesen (3-1, 4.43, 4 Sv), so I guess it's not surprising that they're so good. And, like, only Thiesen has been worse than average so why fix what ain't broke?

Infield: The issues the team had up the middle were mostly due to injuries to starters 2B Daniel Gilmet (.320, 1, 5) and SS Marty Mendel (.246, 0, 3). Neither is a great defensive option but, like, the team's pitching seems like it enjoys overcoming that and I'm not going to stand in their way.

Outfield: The Twinkies pretty sorely miss LF Alejandro Cortes (.231, 1, 12), who's still got another 3 weeks before he gets back from a sprained elbow. I mean, Mike Grigg (.342, 2, 4) has been filling in fantastically in his stead - he feels like he's in the Johnny Grubb role in the real life mid-80s Tigers - but he could just as easily be doing this work as a 4th outfielder and pinch-hitter. Still, I think we stand pat.

June 5: And, to round things out for 20 losses, the New York Mets. They hit 20 losses (30-20, 1st, NL East) on the heels of a 3 game losing streak that includes getting swept in a 2-game series against the suddenly-lowly Braves (who just, to make matters worse, dropped a game 8-1 to the last-place Expos). As such, they actually only have the 3rd best record in the NL, trailing the Reds (33-20) and Astros (32-20). The hitting has only been average (217 runs scored, 6th, thanks in large part to a .238 BA that's 3rd-worst), which has been the primary thing keeping the Cubs close, as their pitching is as good as ever (194 runs scored, 2nd).

Incidentally, the Mets tweak their lineup just as they open up with 6 games on the road against two potential playoff opponents in Cincinnati and Houston. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Rotation: For a team that's doing so well overall, the Mets have some weird holes in the rotation. Ernesto Carillo (7-3, 4.63) went from 15-7 and 2.73 last year to, so far, acting like he's on the Cubs or something with a super high ERA built on a looot of wildness (5.8 BB/9, although he's striking out nearly 10 men an inning) but that 7-3 record somehow. Bookending the rotation right now is RH Julio Sandoval (1-6, 5.94), who was 18-7, 2.60 last year (and led the league in ERA!) but has also been baaaad so far, also due to poor control (4.2 BB/9), although unlike Sandoval he doesn't have the stuff to back that up and as such he's also given up 8 dingers in 47 IP. He's on the watch but I can't just demote him to the 'pen just yet. One thing I will do that I've been doing for several teams now is pop it out to a 5 man rotation to rest the starters' arms as the game comes a bit faster and also give David "Macho" Camacho (0-1, 1.77), who was 10-7 and 3.59 as a spot starter and long reliever last year, a shot at breaking in when the flip back down the stretch.

Bullpen: Moving Camacho out allows the Mets to go with a very hierarchical 4-man staff, headed by Geoff Saus (0-1, 3.90, 13 Sv), who's nominally worse just based on giving up hits even though he's still striking out more than a batter an inning. Oh yeah, in 1970 they thought that was a thing... the one add I'd like is a LOIGY but AAA Tidewater literally doesn't have a single southpaw on the staff. One thing I will do to try and address that is to sign 33 year old Gerardo Vinueza, who got into 2 whole innings with California last year, to a minor league contract. The fact that he's unsigned doesn't bode well but I mean a lefty could be a difference-maker in the playoffs.

Infield: 2B Nick Warren (.239, 3, 20) was brought in from the Expos last year and he is just baaaarely adequate. He's a good fielder (ZR disagrees but sometimes ZR can suck it) and I don't want to mess with success and that's kind of the only reason he's still in the lineup. They do have Mark Tomblin (.500, 0, 2), who hit .175 in limited time last season and has barely played this year, and I'll mix him in just push Warren a bit harder, maybe make him aware that he's on notice.

At third, Nick Hawkinson (.198, 2, 11) looked every bit the 41-year-old that he is before he got hurt. The team came in with a cache of guys at this spot to cover for this, but neither of the other vets have worked out either so far. 35 year old Jose Vallin (.193, 1, 6), who hit .300 primarily as a pinch-hitting option last year, has lost more than 100 points off of his average, and Bob Baldwin (.200, 0, 1) is also old (35) and playing like an old man. I'd further complain that the Mets traded away a perfectly good 3B in Jeff Nation to get him but Nation has been teeeeeeeeerrible afield and frankly that is exactly the kind of gamble a team like the Mets can't afford to take. IN ANY CASE, the one thing I am doing here is giving Bob Baldwin more PT in the hopes that he'll improve with semi-regular at-bats.

Outfield: LF Jimmy Washington (.222, 5, 36) has been as good as ever at driving batters in and lately it looks like he's begun to hit: after opening the year with a 14-78 April with just 1 HR, he hit .236 last month and is at .400 (4-10) so far this one. Is that enough? The ribeyes tell me yes.

RF Edgar Arriaga (.236, 7, 21) had basically the same May that Washington did but he's several years older and doesn't have anything like the track record his fellow corner OF does. As such, I'm going to start spelling him heavily with LH Adam Greenlee (..300, 0, 3, primarily as a PH) and RH Andy Owens (.135, 0, 3, but .295, 2, 19 last year). For being one of the best teams in baseball, the Mets have a lot of holes...