The Madison Bumgarner that made his major league debut last September wasn't the same Madison Bumgarner we had heard so much about the past two years.

Instead of the low-to-mid-90s heat he used to blow away South Atlantic League hitters in 2008, Bumgarner was barely hitting 90 in his first career start. There was no specific reason as to why the readings on the radar gun was showing 88 or that it was showing 92 and 94.

The New York Mets' farm system has been lacking ever since they acquired Johan Santana from the Twins.  Their farm system began to get ranked near the bottom of the best farm systems. 

It was hard for the Mets to rebuild their farm system but it seems like they have been doing a pretty good job.  Fernando Martinez, Ike Davis, and Jenrry Mejia are looking like the Mets' top prospects.

In my quest to post an article related to every Milwaukee Brewers player that I felt had a legitimate shot at making the 25-man roster to begin 2010, I knew this day would inevitably arrive.

It's tough to write about the New York Mets these days.

There hasn't been a whole lot of good news to write about when it comes to the Mets this spring. Actually, there hasn't been much good news to write about the Mets during this entire offseason, as anything positive that happens to the Amazin's, like signing Jason Bay, is followed by multiple negatives, like not being able to add any pitching, or the Mets continued injury problems.

The Reds have Scott Rolen locked in at third base which is the normal position for power-hitting youngster Juan Francisco .

Francisco gets a crack at joining the overcrowded group battling for left field on Tuesday. He has played third base and left field in his four-year minor league career.

The man can hit home runs, that is for certain. He hit two homers on Saturday against the Cubs and is batting .267 after wearing a size-three collar today against the Oakland A's.

As usual, Theo Epstein has effectively overloaded the 2010 Red Sox rotation with Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and John Lackey owning the front end and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and maybe Boof Bonser competing for the final two spots.

The bullpen, led by the still largely dominant Jonathan Papelbon, is not quite so prohibitively predetermined but remains crowded. Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, and Daniel Bard have probably already locked up their spots if only due to their experience.

0-10 through 10 games.

Stinks, right?

To hear the Nationals' players talk about it, fans and writers should disregard the club's spring training record.  They have a list of reasons and excuses to forget about the record.

"We're just getting our work in."

"We aren't playing with our regular players."

"I just want to stay healthy for the season."

"I'm working on some new thing/adjustment."

Every sports franchise has certain trades that linger with the team. To use basketball as an example, the Lakers' acquisition of Pau Gasol for peanuts in 2008 constitutes a good trade which sticks with the team. Conversely, the Vancouver Grizzlies trading a future draft pick (which could have been Carmelo Anthony) to Detroit in exchange for Otis Thorpe (yes, THE Otis Thorpe) is widely remembered as a bad trade.

Baseball is no different in this respect.

Yesterday I made my guess at which hitters will be named to the Tiger's opening day roster -- I'll finish up with the pitchers today.

The locks:
Justin Verlander (R)
Rick Porcello (R)
Ryan Perry (R)
Jose Valverde (L)

Some already have given the Reds center field job to Drew Stubbs . Caesar Cliffius is not a part of that crowd.

No sir, as I write this article, Stubbs has done very little to fortify his claim to that piece of land.

In games through Sunday (March 14), Stubbs has struck out seven times in 20 AB. That, friends is a 35 percent rate, and if he would do that through a full season, he would break Mark Reynolds MLB strikeout record.