One third review

So I take a break from blogging for a bit, thinking that the baseball world can right itself without me, and look what happens. The Rays, White Sox and Marlins are all still in first place. The Mets are playing more like a team that has a declining Delgado, a concussed Church, and Luis Castillo, then a team that has Wright, Reyes, Beltran and Santana. Do your thing Pedro.

Across the board, there are teams scrabbling with disappointment. Billy Beane once said that the first third of the season is for evaluating what you have, the second for getting what you need, the third for running and dancing. Something like that.

The Yankees are a game under .500. They'll rebound, but they have to accept that this might not be their year, and they were right to not give up the farm for Santana. They need to get healthy and play well. A contractual detox is on the way when Giambi et al come off the books at the end of the year. (Is Giambi done after this year?)

The A.L. Central needs to figure itself out. The Royals are bad. We get that. The two monsters are playing badly: The Indians are 24-29, but they've outscored their opponents. With little knowledge of their team, I'll say that they need to turn a minor leauger or another team's castoff into a bullpen monster. The Tigers don't look so hot. They need Jim Leyland to dance. They need a team dance. They need to get fans to do the dance without telling them to.

Seattle is done, AND they gave up the farm for Bedard. Oh well, I guess. They have some trade bait. They could trade Richie Sexson for a fish.

The Mets need magic. They're trying to win with bats and throws. The problem with the long season is that it can iron away all belief in magic. Maybe doing that at the beginning of this year will leave plenty of time in the latter half for belief. Two rays of hope: Pedro is coming back. I don't know if he'll stablize everything, but I do know that he is a magician. His magic takes a toll on his body, but just seeing the impossible things he does might wake up this team. The second one is that Edgardo Alfonzo is in the organization. This will mean little to nothing on the field, but karmically it's huge. At some point, the Mets need to find a wonderful young second baseman, start Alfonzo for a game, and then put the new guy in. Luis Castillo can be a useful bench player or someone else's player.

I'm not sure what my beef with Castillo is. I guess I'm just frustrated with how the Mets seem to think he's the same guy he was ten years ago. It makes me miss Fonzie all the more. Also, for the record, I always suspected Jeff Keppinger would be good.