MLB Weekly

This week's MLB Weekly is a special edition. Why is that you might ask? Well, I'm posting it from work. Yup, that's right, my job sucks and I have nothing to do half of the time, so I will spend most of this day trying to avoid getting caught posting on my blog. Tell me that's not dedication?

The first thing I want to touch on is the horrible start of the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers are now 0-6 after yesterday's pounding they took from the White Sox. Now it's definitely way too early in the season to panic because this team will eventually start crushing the ball. However, I still think this team has a flawed pitching staff, which is why with their current roster as is ,I picked them to miss the playoffs. This is definitely a team to look at for possible trades, especially for relief help.

Also, I expect the Detroit Tigers will need to bring up Rick Porcello at some point during this season to help out their pitching staff. The early scouting report on Porcello is very positive and compares him favorably to Roy Halladay. I expect him to be making an impact for them before the season is up. This is one of the key moves Detroit can make that can help their club make the playoffs this season.

For the Yankees, Chien-Ming Wang has has been excellent so far this season, so it appears he has not been affected by his poor peformance in the playoffs against the Indians last season. I expect big things from Wang this season, he could be a sleeper for the possible CY Young winner in the AL.

In my MLB Weekly piece 3 weeks ago, I mentioned pitcher Edinson Volquez of the Cincinnati Reds as a possible breakout candidate. He started yesterday and was impressive as he pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out 8 Phillie batters. I will definitely be keeping an eye on him for the rest of the season and the Reds are slowly becoming my team to watch in the NL.

Kosuke Fukudome is off to a torrid start for the Cubs, hitting .421 with 1 HR and 5 RBI's. He could really be a big boost to this team's offense if he continues to hit well throughout the season. I could see him putting up a Hideki Matsui like line .295/25HR/110RBI, since he is batting 5th in the Cubs lineup right now.

On the not so positive side, Trevor Hoffman blew another save last night and has not looked good this year. Again it is still early in the season but I have already predicted in my MLB Preview that he might be on his way out, so this is definitely another thing to keep an eye on.

More bad news for Pedro Martinez, he is out 4-6 weeks with a pulled left hamstring but don't be surprised if he is out even longer than that. Pedro is the greatest pitcher of my lifetime and it is a shame that we have not gotten a chance to see him end his career in a healthy fashion. He definitely would have close to 250 wins or more by this point in his career if he had stayed healthy. Hopefully, he will be able to put together at least one more full season without getting injured before he decides to retire.

Here are some other links that I found:

Ozzie Guillen thinks Pudge is better than Roberto Clemente: I don't agree with this one but mostly because I believe Pudge had some help from some of Jose Canseco's 'roids when he was in Texas.

Three Short Reasons Why Nolan Ryan was Overrated

Minor League Pitching Prospects to Watch in 2008

A History of Hair Styles in MLB: Got to love Oscar Gamble rockin' the 'fro.