Opinion

Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty felt good about his team's season-opening roster. 

The Reds were going into the season with a pretty solid pitching staff and a faster and younger team. It was expected that they shouldn't have problems manufacturing runs. You had to trust his opinion since he had a successful track record with St. Louis.

For the past two years, the anxiety over the position of closing pitcher for the Detroit Tigers has been enormous.  A big reason for that is Fernando Rodney, who has been with the team since his rookie year in 2002. He has been noted for his remarkable inconsistency ever since helping the team to a World Series appearance in 2006.  

Houston Astros prospect Mark Saccomanno fulfilled his lifelong dream on September 8, 2008 by putting on a big league uniform for the first time.

The native Houstonian spent his childhood rooting for the Astros and left a memorable impression at Minute Maid Park during his major league debut.

Mets fans, here is yet another screw up by the Mets brass in the face of history.

Tomorrow night at 7:10, a New York Met will toe the rubber and fire the first ever regular season pitch to the Padres' leadoff hitter. Wouldn't you think that the $157 million arm of Johan Santana should be making that pitch?

Well, he isn't.

You say the name Dusty Baker in Chicago, and you’re bound to get a reaction...and it’s probably not going to be a good one.

The Cleveland Indians are going into the day winless. They are one of two teams that are—the other team is the Washington Nationals. The Indians came into the season as favored to win the Central Division with Cy Young winner Cliff Lee leading the team in pitching.

The Indians made a few key offseason signings also, including solid pitcher Carl Pavano, who was less than impressive in his first start—only going one inning and allowing nine earned runs.

The Giants opened up the season 2-1 against the Brewers. Enough of a great start to pump life back into what has been a downer for most Giants fans the past few years.

But the series that started in San Diego on Friday was enough to remind the fans of those embarrassing times.

A game in which San Diego, the Little League team of the NL West, should have lost, they ended up winning. Was it the bad defense, the hitting, away game, or just the pitching?

Marlon Anderson was cut by the New York Mets today to make room for Livan Hernandez, the starting pitcher in today's game against the Marlins.

Originally an "okay field, some hit" second baseman with the Phillies, Anderson had two stints with the Mets as a utility player, mostly as an outfielder and pinch hitter. As a Met, he batted .254 with 11 home runs over parts of four seasons. Widely praised as a pinch hitter, Anderson has batted .273 over his career in that role.

This season the New York Mets are going to have to rely deeply on their bullpen to prevent a third straight collapse from happening.

Last year, the Mets blew over 30 save opportunities, while the Phillies blew none, which was the main difference between the two teams and was the reason why the Mets didn't go to the playoffs.

However, times have changed in Flushing, as Omar Minaya quickly decided to fix up this problem, to allow the Mets to succeed next season and to put some hope into the fan base.

When Billy Beane went on a totally different approach to start the 2009 season to bring in better offensive players, it was a major surprise.

He brought in Jason Giambi (32 home runs), Matt Holliday (25 home runs), Nomar Garciaparra, and, of course, Orlando Cabrera, who is a solid offensive shortstop, but his defense dramatically improved the A's up the middle.

Yet, even with the excitement of these new players to benefit the offense, there was another contract extension more A's fans should have been paying attention to.