| | March 14
A run through some spring training stats and their relative significance:
Bobby Abreu, hitting .550 (11-for-20). Just a reminder that Abreu is hands-down the most underrated player in the game today. He had a .995 OPS (on-base + slugging) last year, seventh-best in the NL. He stole 27 bases, led the league with 11 triples and plays a solid right field. At age 26, he's reaching his peak.
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Rumor Central
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The Los Angeles Times had a report Tuesday about the Dodgers bullpen, called "Turmoil in Bullpen." The story says that Mike Fetters will make the team if he pitches "reasonably well" once he returns from a strained quadriceps.
Now, assuming Fetters is able to accomplish that feat, the article says the Dodgers could then save money by trading "expensive" right-hander Alan Mills.
Sure, and we've got this great piece of land ...
Look, Mills is set to make $2.25 million this year and $3 million next year. Only the Dodgers would pay that much money to the 10th man on the staff. Nobody is going to take Mills off their hands. And he's not that good anyway. His ERA was 3.73 last year, but he pitched much worse than that: 10 home runs in 72.1 innings, almost as many walks (43) as strikeouts (49). He really hasn't been too good since 1993.
Mills is just one piece of an expensive bullpen: Jeff Shaw ($5.05 million), Orel Hershiser ($2 million), Terry Adams ($1.4 million) and Gregg Olson ($1.25) all top seven figures.
And you wonder why they had to dump two solid players in Ismael Valdes and Eric Young for Adams.
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Christian Guzman (.571, 12-for-21, two HRs); Matt LeCroy (.545, 6-for-11, two HRs). A pair of Twins with interesting upsides. Guzman was the starting shortstop a year ago and was completely overmatched by major league pitching. He needs to get stronger and learn the strike zone and while he'll never be a star, he's young enough to improve and help the Twins. LeCroy is a catching prospect who hit .285 with 30 home runs last year between Class A and Triple-A. His defensive skills don't draw raves, but the Twins could certainly use his bat.
Erubiel Durazo is off to a slow start at 4-for-28. Fluke? We don't think so. Expect him to hit around 30 home runs with a good average and lots of walks.
Shane Andrews, four home runs. With Willie Greene trying his best to anger Cubs' management, Andrews is the likely third baseman. The Expos tended to concentrate on Andrews' weaknesses (low average, lots of K's), rather than his positives (power, good D). In his best year with the Expos in 1998, he had a .314 on-base percentage and .455 slugging percentage. Playing in Wrigley, he could hit 30 home runs.
Injury update
John Jaha will miss about a week with swelling in his right foot, a problem that isn't getting any better. The Jeremy Giambi trade is starting look even better from Oakland's perspective.
Andy Fox will miss 3-4 weeks with a hairline fracture in his left hand. The D-Backs should be able to survive without him.
Position battles
Brian Rose is looking like a good bet to make Boston's rotation as the fifth starter after pitching three scoreless innings in Monday's win over Montreal.
It's looking like Tom Evans will win Texas' starting third base job, with Mike Lamb sent down for a year of Triple-A time. Depending on what happens at second base, Frank Catalanotto could also see time at third.
Speaking of third base, the Giants have both Bill Mueller and Russ Davis. Mueller doesn't hit for the power most teams want from third base, so Davis may have a chance to earn a significant amount of playing time. Last season, Mueller had a .750 OPS (.780 career), while Davis was at .739 (.752 career). Mueller is the better gloveman.
Jimmy Anderson has the inside track on Pittsburgh's fifth starter, with one run allowed in 10 innings.
From the "Does it really matter?" department: Twins closer. Candidates include Hector Carrasco, Eddie Guardado and ... Bobby Ayala. No frontrunner as of yet, no frontrunner likely to emerge.
Fantasy corner
One pitcher throwing extremely well so far is Padres second-year righty Matt Clement, with eight scoreless innings and no walks. Clement had a so-so rookie season, going 10-12 with a 4.48 ERA. He had 86 walks in 180.2 innings; if he improves his command, he could drop that ERA by a run.
The Indians got a lot of ink for signing Cuban defector Danys Baez. He's been sent down to the minors.
Have we talked about Bobby Abreu yet?
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ALSO SEE
Previous Rights (and Wrongs) of Spring
ESPN.com's spring training 2000 coverage
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