Q.  Do spring training results matter?  Are these results mattering?

A.  In general, ML teams can and do go 11-19 in the spring, and rip off 8 wins in the first 10 major league games.  Happens all the time!  Weaver's sixth law:  nobody cares in September whether you won a game in March.

With this specific team, the 3-4-5 starters are performing badly, throwing weak pitches, and this is a team that has to lead the league in ERA to have any chance.

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Q.  How was Hyphen today?

A.  It doesn't matter that he got blasted again.  What matters was that he was 87 mph Hyphen again.  SSI was shocked and dismayed at the sheer lack-of-life on his pitches. 

As we have iterated to mind-numbing repetition, the 90-92 RRS and the 86-87 RRS are two completely different pitchers.  RRS is now establishing an alarming track record that he can't sustain 90+ mph for any length of time.

They have labeled RRS, for some unfathomable reason, as a 7-inning workhorse, when the fact is that he is one of their most performance-delicate Ferraris.  Just cause he's a strappin' Aussie doesn't mean he can throw the most pitches, blokes.

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This Anaheim Angels have 5 pitchers, any one of which I'd give you RRS-plus for.  RRS is our #3, and this team has to have juggernaut pitching.

I'm not saying RRS is dead.  But this team can't afford complacency and ignoring of problemos.  It isn't that good.

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Q.  Snell the day before?

A.  He'll never throw a better slider than he did Wednesday, and he gave up six well-hammered hits in 4 innings.  He'll pitch a lot worse than he did Wednesday.

This club is, to all appearances (e.g. not signing Washburn), confident in Snell.  I could maybe see giving him a chance.  I can't see planning on his success, which the M's are doing.

Neither are the #5 candidates throwing well.  At all.  Vargas is throwing strikes, and if you're confident in him, more power to you, amigo.  One-plane, horizontal, sub-90 slurves don't cut it in the American League.

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Q.  You losing confidence in Doogie there Doc?

A.  No, not at all.  Well, not much.  :- )   But don't misunderstand what we said on Doogie.  We think he has a nice chance to become an average-solid ML starter.   He of course has an even nicer chance not to be.

He ain't done anything yet.  And he might never done anything yet.  He's a lotto ticket at a $425,000 110 ERA+ starter.  That's great.  But it's not a #3 starter for a team that just traded for Cliff Lee in his walk year, now is it.

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Q.  That defense will be there.

A.  It might.  The 2001 M's had a historically-great DER, and then in 2002, with no major changes, its DER wasn't even first in the league.

Asked to project Gutierrez' stats in 2009, for example, James acknowledged his sensational 2009, but noted that just due to the nature of the beast, you can't be sure of much except that "he'll be at least pretty good, probably" in 2010.

We're basking in the glow of a defense that made everybody look good in 2009, but remember the 2001-02 M's saw their glorious D evaporate for no reason at all the next season.

I like our defense, but don't count on it to make Jason Vargas a star in 2010.

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