Fan News

Just when I thought Joe Girardi was the only New York manager who made his on field moves based upon what talk radio callers and pundits are calling for, Jerry Manuel does things that make me believe he, too, listens to talk radio.  

I don't listen to WFAN much, but I do want to hear both managers shows, which are on once a week to hear what they are thinking. I usually listen via the online podcast.

There is no questioning it, C.C Sabathia was unstoppable last year for the Brewers. Through 17 starts, he only gave up more than three runs once and threw seven complete games. He was by far the most dominating pitcher in baseball.

Mark Teixeira had a superb year last year. He was aggressive and highly productive for both the Braves and Angels, batting .308 with 33 homers and 121 RBI. He also boasted a superb on-base percentage of .410. He was right up there with the best offensive players in the league.

At some point during December's winter meetings in Las Vegas, Mets GM Omar Minaya stopped rolling up seven's at the free agent slot machine. After bringing in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz to fix what was a terrible bullpen in 2008, Minaya forgot to do one thing, one very BIG thing...fix the starting rotation.

Team (Current Record|Last Week's Ranking)

1. Toronto Blue Jays (17-9|1)—The blue birds still sit atop the American League East. Aaron Hill's performance against Baltimore proves that they're resilient and for real. They lead the MLB in runs (155), hits (278), total bases (444), RBI (146), batting average (.295), and OPS (.842). They are in the top-two in the American League in OBP (.371) and slugging (.471).

Believe it or not folks, this is a critical time of year.

Right now is when the free agent and trade moves you make can define your season. We have all sat around and watched the first month of the baseball season.

In most cases, teams have given their players time to work out of early season slumps. This has worked out well for players such as Justin Upton and Chris Davis. For others such as Derek Lee and Matt Holliday, we are still waiting for the turn-around.

After a winning series against Baltimore, the Jays will look to continue their series-winning ways against the Cleveland Indians, in a quick two game series.

The Indians have badly struggled at the start, going 9-15 early on.

Since the last time the Jays and Indians met, Trevor Crowe and Travis Hafner have either been injured or been sent to the minors. In their place, David Delucci, Matt LaPorta, and Luis Valbuena have joined the team, after strong starts in AAA Columbus.

The Oakland A's have a problem, and it's a good one, but the question that Billy Beane and manager Bob Geren are going to have to answer is what are they going to do with Mark Ellis once he gets off the 15-day disabled list?

Since, Gregorio Petit has filled in nicely for Ellis in his limited time in the big leagues. Last year Petit proved he belonged in the majors and in fact should have been one of the young players the A's kept on the big league roster instead of sending him down.

Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang has once again shot himself in the foot.

I mean this figuratively, of course, and am in no way insinuating another Plaxico Burress nightmare.

The Colorado Rockies have played 22 games and the numbers are befuddling, to say the least.

Some of the stats are very encouraging:

The Rockies are on pace to hit 221 HR as team even though no individual has more than four. That's the balance that many of us were expecting and predicting coming out of spring training.