Apr 12, 2010 11:59 AM EST
Each AL team is represented below, marked by a not-so-subtle nod to the general managers we focus so much of our site's attention towards and our namesake.
The Brian Cashman
? Tim Smith of the New York Daily News: "(A.J.) Burnett kept himself together after giving up two runs in the first inning and managed to ignore a strange sixth-inning incident in which a pop-up hit a Tropicana Field catwalk and was ruled a single when it landed. Those two early runs were the only ones Burnett allowed through seven innings of work on a day when he admitted that he didn't have his best stuff. And he credited catcher Jorge Posada with helping to keep his head in the game. An unflappable Burnett, trusting Posada, is the most significant development for the Yankees in the first week of the season, even bigger than taking series on the road from the Red Sox and Rays, their main challengers for AL East supremacy."
The Theo Epstein
? Mike Silver of Fire Brand of the America League: "Despite the performance of the rest of the team, the main storyline for the beginning of the season continues to be the absence of Big Papi?s bat.
Eighteen at-bats. Two hits. Patience, everyone, patience. Still, it?s not a good sign from the big fella. Sure, I did say earlier I liked that he wasn?t getting blown away by C.C. Sabathia?s fastball as he did last season ? he wasn?t overpowered as he had been early last year.. Either way, it?s impossible to ignore 9 Ks in 18 at-bats. Again, it?s very early, but a 57.7 contact percentage obviously won?t cut it especially when you?re only connecting on 64.7 percent of swings inside the zone."
The Alex Anthopoulos
? Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter: "(Shaun) Marcum wasn't as good as he was opening day, but he battled through 6 innings, gave up 8 hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. All those hits only added up to 2 runs against. He only had 1 three up, three down inning, but he kept the game close.
The Mike Flanagan
? Camden Chat: "(Matt Wieters is) batting over .400 after 5 games and has been told that the pitching staff is his. And he's acted on that. Good first week.
The Andrew Friedman
? Marc Tomplin of the St. Petersburg Times: "For now, the Rays are going to continue to be patient with DH Pat Burrell. They'll keep having him work with hitting coach Derek Shelton. And they'll keep saying they're confident he'll start to produce. But they won't keep that up for long. There's a date ? maybe in mid May at the 45-game mark, perhaps into June after 60 or so games ? when if Burrell (hitting .083 at 1-for-12 with six strikeouts) continues to struggle, enough will be enough. The $9 million they are paying him this season, on top of the $7 million last season, is spent money. Barring a team unexpectedly willing to make a token trade, the Rays will just have to accept their mistake and cut him loose. Hank Blalock, assuming he doesn't use his opt-out clause from Triple-A Durham before then, could be a decent replacement."
The Dave Dombrowski
? Tom Gage of the Detroit News: "The five runs (Justin Verlander) allowed (Sunday) -- to go with the five he gave up on Opening Day in Kansas City, giving him a 9.00 ERA for the first week of the season.. "Not concerned at all," Verlander said. "I felt really good. I felt strong. It's just a matter of fine-tuning." Maybe he would be worried (but probably not) if he hadn't eventually found his rhythm in both starts -- but he has, and especially after a game in which the Tigers come back to win, you're not going to hear even an ounce of concern from Verlander. For good reason, actually. He's been there, he's done this before. Last year, in fact. Through the first four starts of 2009, he was 0-2 with the same 9.00 ERA. After his third start of that season, in Seattle, he stood in the clubhouse saying, "I can't believe, with the way I'm throwing, it won't soon turn around." Two starts later it did. In his last 31 starts, he went 19-7 with a 2.92 ERA."
The Mark Shapiro
? Let's Go Tribe: "2010 is a new year.? In four 2009 starts against Cleveland, Justin Verlander gave up THREE runs in 30 innings.? Today, the Indians scored five runs off Verlander?all earned?in the first inning.? The Detroit pen later allowed a sixth run to score on Verlander?s tab.? That would not be enough."
The Bill Smith
? Jon Marthaler of Twinkie Town: "10,421 days ago, the Twins lost to Kansas City 5-2 at Met Stadium, and the era of outdoor baseball in Minnesota came to an end. Larry Gura threw a complete-game four-hitter for the Royals. Pete Mackanin drove in the only Twins runs with a homer; it was his last major-league home run. Gary Gaetti and Tim Laudner were in the starting lineup for the Twins that day; Kent Hrbek was getting a day off. 15,900 people watched the Twins leave Met Stadium for the last time."
The Kenny Williams
? Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune: "(Andruw) Jones isn't the only struggling hitter. Pierre is hitting .125, Kotsay .154, Alex Rios .174, Alexei Ramirez .182 and Mark Teahen .071. That's more than half of Sunday's starting lineup. And as a team, the Sox are hitting just .203."
The Dayton Moore
? Wally of Kings of Kauffman: "The first week of the season has come to a close and the Kansas City Royals are 2-4 with a -13 run differential. ?Chris Getz looks like he is going to be a fun and intelligent player to watch. ?Rick Ankiel is oozing with talent and serious potential even though he is on the wrong side of 30. ?The starting rotation, outside of Gil?s start today, looks pretty solid so far. As Royals fans we?ve seen some bad bullpens in the last 15 seasons but this one just defies explanation. ?The good news is that they cannot collectively pitch any worse as a unit than they have in the first six games. ?I don?t believe it is possible, and if I did I would have to check out on this team to maintain my sanity."
The Billy Beane
? Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle: "This past winter, Oakland took on outfielder Willy Taveras and his $4 million salary in order to acquire infielder Adam Rosales from the Reds. The A's immediately dumped Taveras, though they're still paying him - an indication of how much they like Rosales. On Sunday, Rosales made his first appearance in Oakland's starting lineup, and he fueled the A's 9-4 victory over the Angels every which way with a career-high four RBIs.. Rosales had Oakland's only hit through the first six innings, a two-out homer to left off Joe Saunders in the second that sent Rosales tearing around the bases. "I knew he'd show some energy, he always does," A's manager Bob Geren said. "He just flew around the bases, and that does something to the other guys. They get fired up when Rosales runs around. He's not trying to show up the other team, that's just his style." "
The Jack Zduriencik
? Marc of USS Mariner: "The West Tennessee rotation has looked outstanding, and consensus top prospect Michael Pineda hasn?t pitched yet (he gets the start tomorrow evening). Today was Mauricio Robles turn, and he went 4 1/3 innings of scoreless ball with 5 strikeouts and 6 groundouts to 2 air outs. He threw 82 pitches and seemed to tire a bit in the 4th and 5th innings, but the result was encouraging for a guy who?d looked great in the spring. Some fans may look at the line and complain that Robles looks like another Erik Bedard, but the rest of us will rejoice that Robles? results look like another Erik Bedard."
The Tony Reagins
? Earl Bloom of the OC Register: "(Brian) Fuentes needs to have 55 games finished to vest the option, or one more than one-third of the season. He saved the Angels? opening victory April 5 with a scoreless ninth, but hasn?t appeared since. He has reached the 55 games finished plateau three times in his career, including last season. Fuentes? lack of use early has to add to the frustration to the legion of Fuentes-haters in Angels fandom, who haven?t been able to blame the left-hander for the 2-5 start."
The Jon Daniels
? Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News: "The Rangers won 87 games last season, in part because they were 77-3 in games they led after eight innings. Even in April, you can't give away wins. The Rangers have the talent and depth to preach accountability, which is why they made the switch. The best choice would be C.J. Wilson, but he's been the rotation's best pitcher since the start of spring training. (Neftali) Feliz, unhittable at times in his brief career, is the logical choice.. Don't forget, we're talking about a player who never pitched on consecutive days last season. The Rangers have no idea how his arm will respond to the rigors of closing, though they will try to be careful with him.. He pitched poorly in the opener, but has been perfect in his last two appearances. He has an electric fastball that's good enough to put hitters away whether he's throwing it 100 mph or 94 mph because of its movement. Now, he just has to trust it. As a closer, even when he doesn't have his best fastball, it'll still be a better option than his change-up or curveball because he's still developing them."
Chris Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. Click here to follow his Twitter feed.
Via Christopher Reina/RealGM
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