The Blue Workhorse

The Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays are following the design Atlanta’s John Schuerholz so masterfully created after taking over as the general manager for the Braves and are now doing the unfathomable by leading the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and the remainder of the AL East while having the best record in baseball.

The Rays have used each of their high draft picks to build their organization from the farm system up much the same way the Atlanta Braves have been renowned for doing. Tampa Bay also has focused on building around a talented young pitching staff (their starting rotation is aged 24-26) just as Schuerholz did with Atlanta.

How similar are this year’s Rays to the Atlanta squads from the early ’90s? We’ve compared this year’s squad of the AL East leading Rays, who are coming off a sweep of perennial power Boston, to the Atlanta squads from their early 1990s heydays:

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The 2008 Major League Baseball season has started with a bang, and many players have came out of nowhere to post spectacular numbers over the first two weeks. However, all fantasy baseball players need to realize the season is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is far to early to give up on a player who starts slow, especially if they are an established major league player. However, here are some names that have caught the eye over the first two weeks:

Johnny Cueto (SP CIN) – Yes, Johnny Cueto sounds more like a character in a John Wayne movie, but the Reds’ young pitcher has dazzled big league hitters over his first two starts. The Dominican import began the season with a bang with a 7 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 10K performance over Arizona, but I was more anxious to see how Cueto would rebound against Milwaukee’s powerful lineup. All Cueto did was throw 6.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, had 0 walks and 8 strikeouts. His season line thus far: 13.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 18 K, and a WHIP of 0.45.

For the past two seasons, there have been concerns about a couple of the most known and dominant closers in the game. Last season, it was New York Yankees’ stopper Mariano Rivera after he got off to a rough start. This season the troubles are in the other league, on the other coast as Trevor Hoffman, the man who enters to “Hell’s Bells,” has left without the lead, or a save, already twice in the early stages this season.

After week one of the MLB season, there have been several teams, including the Padres, that have already run into bullpen issues, particularly on Opening Day, so we decided to examine each of the 30 major league teams bullpen performances thus far and see which teams should really be concerned with their bullpen.