The enigma of slow starts that has puzzled many teams at the beginning of the season has curiously continued into the second month of the young 2017 MLB season. Most notably, the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants have gotten off to dreaded notes. While the baseball season is chalk full of mysterious and volatile changes throughout the year, some circumstances provide an interesting look inside the numbers and analytics as to why strong ball clubs have struggled, and weaker clubs have surged atop various divisions.
The Texas Rangers (11-15), best known for their propensity to score runs at an accelerated and drastically above-average pace, have struggled in the offensive department thus far. As a team, Texas is hitting .219 through their first twenty-six games of the year, and a good deal of their starting tandem on the diamond have contributed negative offensive WAR's early on. Roughned Odor (2B), Mike Napoli (DH), and Jonathan Lucroy (C), all key cogs to a violent and muscular have seen unexpected drop-offs in performance, while former top prospect shortstop-turned-firstbasemen Jurickson Profar was optioned to the minors after yet another offensively inferior start to the year. Pitching depth has provided an area of strength for Texas as their lineup is sifting through the early season kinks. Ranked second in quality starts (16) and tenth in earned run average (3.95) as a staff, Texas boosts one of the better rotations at the moment in the MLB. While pitching is undeniably and obviously important, it's a two way road in conjunction with hitting, and if the hitting doesn't pick up, it wouldn't be surprising to see Texas fall deeper and deeper into the last cellar of the AL West.
Everyones second favorite pick for the World Series title in 2017, the Boston Red Sox (13-12) have completed underwhelmed. Seen as one of the most complete and sound rosters in the MLB to begin the year, injuries and poor performances have slowly drained the team of its momentum heading into the new year. Off-season acquisition Tyler Thornburg (RHP) was stymied by Boston's request of his workout routine, and thus suffered dead-arm to start the year, and has been on the 10-day disabled list. Former bullpen ace acquisition Carson Smith, a year removed from Tommy John Surgery, has suffered multiple setbacks in his attempt to see an MLB mound again. Free-agent galore disappoint Pablo Sandoval has unsurprisingly hit the ground running slow, and was forced to the disabled list early on. Ace left-hander David Price also suffered a major elbow injury, which has kept him out of game action up to this point in the season. This doesn't even include the teams horrific offensive numbers, which range from being 26th worst in scoring in the MLB (95 runs scored) to registering the least homeruns (15) hit in the entire MLB. Rick Porcello has regressed, Drew Pomeranz has been the mediocre bust he's been, and Steven Wright was pushed to the DL as well. For a team that had World Series aspirations to start out the year, even though it is certainly early, Dombrowski's bet to sell the future to win now could certainly come back to haunt him.
Baseballs best pitching oriented team, the New York Mets (11-13), has stumbled comically thus far in the season, losing various members of the starting rotation to unforeseeable injuries. Noah Syndergaard hit the DL with a partially torn lat, which should sideline him up to two months, after refusing to undergo an MRI until it really mattered, ten to one says the injury could've been staged off if Syndergaard has undergone the MRI originally. Lefthander Steven Matz has been out the entire season thus far, and Yoenis Cespedes tweaked another injury of his and has consequently been put on the disabled list. It's as good a guess as any when David Wright will be manning thirdbase for the metropolitans, but similar to the Red Sox, injuries have decimated this roster early in the season, causing unsuspected below-average all around performances for this gifted ball club. Matt Harvey and Robert Gsellman will be relied upon to soak up more innings and deliver solid performances, will fans alike wish to see Jose Reyes attempt to replicate his 2011 batting title-esque production at the hot corner. Mets manager, Terry Collins, can only do so much, and dole out only so many different faced lineups, but his club may be trending down the route of playoff-hopeful club just hoping to get by without finishing in last place.
While we are only a month into the season, much has transpired thus far and caused a stir amongst the baseball community. Demands will be made from media outlets and fan bases to improve their respective ball clubs, but the trade deadline will ultimately show which direction each club perceives they are headed. It is moments like these that build historic and fine resumes for team front office personnel that can finesse their team out of the deep hole they have dug themselves thus far. It will be interesting to see if division leaders can cling onto their leads, or if cellar-dwellers will crawl out of their cave and into the summer light to compete with teams. The month of May looks to bring even more surprising and unraveling news to the sport that never sleeps.
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