As we ask the only question that matters -- "Is it spring yet?" -- we offer these theoretically incisive observations about all kinds of stuff:
• The Phillies are a mess: Are the Phillies, officially, the biggest bust of 2007? They still haven't won two games in a row -- and the only other team that can say that is the Royals. They're 3-9 -- and only two NL teams since the Bobby Thomson Giants have started 3-9 or worse and made the postseason ('74 Pirates, 2000 Giants). Not one guy in their bullpen has shown any semblance of dependability. And Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are 5-for-32 (.156) with runners in scoring position. Charlie Manuel may take the fall one of these months if this keeps up. But he wasn't given a talented enough team to live up to the inflated expectations that surrounded this group. Baseball Prospectus' Joe Sheehan said it best: The dropoff from the top 11 players on this team to the rest of the roster is steeper than most people seemed to notice.
• Do the Yankees have the Wright stuff? The Elias Sports Bureau reports that the Yankees are in the midst of starting three rookie pitchers in a row for the third time in 95 years. But while it might seem shocking to some people that none of them will be the much-ballyhooed Phil Hughes, one scout says the Yankees made the right choice in tapping Double-A left-hander Chase Wright instead of Hughes. And he said that before Wright beat the Indians on Tuesday. "This guy has a better chance to have instant success than Hughes," the scout said. "He throws more strikes. He's got more weapons. He's in the zone with more pitches. And he's experienced more failure, so he's had to discover a little more about himself. Hughes has incredible stuff. But he might have had too much success. He still has to learn how to pitch his way out of trouble. At least Wright has been through that."
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Jayson Stark
