The Last Few Burning Questions of Spring

 

The last few exhibition games are being played out tonight, to get the last few trials in before the real ones. The final cuts are currently being made, call-ups are being announced, and we're finally ready to get the season moving before there's no season to play. It's the most exciting moment of a season, because it's the last moment where there's still potential energy, before the sobering reality hits. And then the colors mute, the cold returns, and the season runs ahead. 

I've still got a couple more customs from Spring Training to dole out, and so from there, let's examine some of the last few lingering concerns and loose threads that might be at play during the 2026 season.

-Does Ranger Suarez mean the Red Sox' rotation is for real? On paper, the combination of Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, Brayan Bello and Connelly Early looks good, but with the exception of Early, all of these guys have shown downsides in recent history. Gray's coming off a down year, Suarez struggled to come back fully after the hand injury, Bello's ERA stayed plainly around 4.50 for a while, and Crochet was in injury hell for a while. How likely will it be that everything clicks at once? Luckily, Johan Oviedo, Payton Tolle and Kutter Crawford are around in case something goes wrong.

-Will Kevin McGonigle succeed where other Tigers infield prospects haven't? Trey Sweeney and Jace Jung, two infield prospects that looked like hits, both failed to make the team out of camp. Colt Keith still has second for now, and Zach McKinstry is mostly an interloper. The future is paved for McGonigle and Clark, but will they take advantage of the moment or end up like Jung, Sweeney, Ryan Kreidler and more?

-Is the world ready for a decidedly non-competitive Cardinals team? Despite the complete lack of star power, the entirely decimated pitching staff, and the reliance on guys like Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera to provide some form of normalcy, many pundits are still predicting the Cardinals will finish with more wins than the Pirates. Even with substantial evidence that Oli Marmol is well past his expiry date. It's not like the Patriots where it can just suddenly happen overnight. J.J. Wetherholt is likely very good at baseball, but is he gonna be enough to get anyone to care about this team? 

-Similarly, will THIS team be the Angels team that brings non-Ohtani relevance back to Anaheim? A lot of the pieces that worked separately in 2025 are still intact. Trout will be healthy and ready to go, Neto's onto another stage of his peak, Adell can finally power-hit in the majors, now Grayson Rodriguez has a place to pitch, Logan O'Hoppe looks to have a strong year, Soler's healthy. If all goes according to plan, the Angels could surprise some people. But in a division with the Mariners, A's and Astros, will they be able to get anything done?

-Has the injury bug already doomed the Braves before the year can even get going? Yesterday Spencer Strider was announced as an injured piece. The team already knew they'd be without Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, Ha-Seong Kim and Joey Wentz for a while. This team also has Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Austin Riley, Mike Yastrzemski and Martin Perez on it. And Ronald Acuna is back, but who knows if he'll be at full capacity this year. Even if there's more reinforcements this year with that possibility in mind, will they have enough to keep them in the mix all year, or will they be running on fumes by August once again?

Will the White Sox finally lap the Twins in a battle for least inept team in the AL Central? Believe me, the White Sox have had a nice head start and had some truly terrible seasons, but the Pohlads completely have up and the Twins now consist of Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and a bag of chips. Even with strong second-year infielder Luke Keaschall gearing up for a more dominant full season, the Twins don't have much at all this year. Pablo Lopez is hurt, none of the young core has developed, Royce Lewis still spends 2 months on the IL every year. Do the Twins have enough accumulated to outdo the White Sox's smarty-built younger squad?

-Are the Rockies looking at another year firmly on the bottom? I don't really see any evidence that suggests otherwise. Some of these rookies look decent, Kyle Karros and Chase Dollander and Zac Veen, plus the possibility of Charlie Condon and Roc Riggio sometime soon. But man, there really is nothing to this team, even still. And they have to play a ton of games against the Dodgers and Padres. Will there be anything at all that will be seen as an improvement by year's end?

-How off-kilter is the Nationals rotation going to be? In years' past it's been pretty straightforward, the young core of MacKenzie Gore, Mitch Parker, Jake Irvin and D.J. Herz, plus assistance from Trevor Williams. Now it's taken a turn. Josiah Gray was set to make his comeback after 2 years of injuries, but apparently that's not happening for a while. So what's left? Is Cade Cavalli ace material? Does Miles Mikolas have anything left? Did the other 29 teams pass on Zack Littell for any specific reason? Is Foster Griffin a viable MLB option? And is there any place for Cole Irvin, and eventually Herz and Parker, on this shifting team?

-What are the Rays getting at now? At last they get a working core, with Caminero, Aranda and Lowe all propelling them forward, and then Lowe, Mangum, Fairbanks, Josh Lowe and Baz all end up elsewhere. Is it possible that the Rays were closer to competing before than they are now? Even with Chandler Simpson, Carson Williams and Ben Williamson looking to make strides this year, the holes are apparent. If the Rays actually wanted to build a team without needing to save money, they definitely had the opportunity to. Will this season, and an impending lockout, give the Rays any incentive whatsoever to attempt to build a perennial competitor?

Just food for thought, I suppose. Tomorrow night we kick this whole thing off.

A Fish Called Aranda

 

# of Rays with sub-.200 averages who still rank among the team's top statistical performers: Two. And you people wonder why I hate these teams,

The Rays continue to get by using the most cheap and antithetical means possible and only get rewarded for it. Once again they're riding a band of mostly scrubs to a place in the standings higher than a team that was supposed to be competitive, and are reaping the benefits of continuing to have one of the best farm systems in the league. They're playing in a minor league stadium with the hopes of eventually return to their MLB stadium, voted 29th in the league on a scale from 'new' to 'should be condemned'. 

And so whenever people start getting excited about a Rays rookie, I just tell them to temper their expectations. Either this player is going to get traded within a year, stay at the expense of their own health or have some calamity befall them. I think about the people who actually stuck around for a while in Tampa, and it's people like Carl Crawford [arrested for assault], Aubrey Huff [generally abhorrent human being] and Wander Franco [you know]. Or it's guys like Longoria, Kiermaier and Lowe, who stay for a while but can't stay healthy. Even as extensions get handed out left and right, and there exists the possibility of several current veterans, including Aaron Judge, Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout and Jose Altuve, retiring after long, HOF-caliber careers spent playing for only one team, I think a player becoming a star and playing a complete, 15-year career with the Rays is a true fantasy. Just ask Blake Snell, Isaac Paredes and Willy Adames. 

And so you look at this Jonathan Aranda guy, and there's a ton to like about him. Defensive upgrade at first from Yandy Diaz, who's now the full time DH, can play everyday, hit .300 and lead the team in slugging. He's very multifaceted, in a way the fans were expecting Junior Caminero to be. Aranda, however, is 27, and this being his breakout season this late is...somewhat concerning. There's a lot of that in the breakout guys in this team. Misner's 27, Mangum's 29. At the very least actual rookie breakout Chandler Simpson, a base-stealing phenom in the tradition of B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford, is 24. But even for a rebuilding team, the median age is still 29 or 30, and you want to hand the team off to people who'll have 5 or so years of peak play to rest on. Some of these guys will be in their mid-30s by then, and they may not be long term solutions. Then again, Yandy Diaz's best years came after 29, so you never know.

I think what ultimately sours me on the Rays is that they just don't make any logical sense. They do all the things you shouldn't do and they still win. It goes against everything I expect from baseball. And yet it's efficient for them I guess. I dunno, if I had my way I'd buckle the Rays and Rockies in, find better markets and less cheap owners and march ahead.

Coming Tomorrow- He just passed 1000 RBIs, and he may pass 350 home runs in the next month. And he's only 32.