The nice thing about Spring Training is that it¡¯s a time full of hope. The bad thing is that it¡¯s also a time of worry, a time when those nagging questions in the back of your mind about your team tend to persist ¡ even if you hope they go away once the season starts.
Unfortunately, sometimes they don¡¯t go away. Sometimes, these problems have a way of rising to the surface immediately once the regular season starts.
It¡¯s still early, obviously, but for these six teams, those pre-Opening Day questions are still lingering, with a solution yet to be found. Their fans might have hoped it would all be settled by now. It isn¡¯t.
Which of these issues is the most alarming, though? We¡¯ve ranked them by the appropriate level of concern. (All stats through Thursday's games.)
1. The Orioles¡¯ rotation
Orioles fans spent the entire offseason wondering when, exactly, the loss of Corbin Burnes was going to be addressed. With all of the young hitters Baltimore has, wouldn¡¯t it be a waste not to fortify the rotation? Instead, the O¡¯s signed 41-year-old Charlie Morton and 35-year-old Japanese import Tomoyuki Sugano. It has, uh, not been enough so far.
Grayson Rodriguez has yet to pitch this season, and now Zach Eflin is hurt as well. Morton and Dean Kremer have been roughed up in all three of their starts. Sugano has been fine, albeit with only five strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings, and Cade Povich has been passable. On the whole, though, Baltimore ranks near the bottom of the league in rotation ERA (5.37). This lineup should get things going. But it can¡¯t score 10 runs a game.
How worried should fans be? Extremely worried. If Morton can no longer be an effective starter -- and that¡¯s the way it has looked lately -- it¡¯s not clear where the Orioles can turn, at least until some reinforcements get healthy. They needed quality starters heading into the year. Now they need quantity. A lot of it.
2. The Pirates¡¯ roster around Paul Skenes
This week, the Pirates won two out of three from the Cardinals, and the one game they lost was the one that Skenes pitched. That¡¯s the exact opposite of the worry heading into the year ¡ and it¡¯s certainly the exception this year. Skenes, even with that loss, has been great: He¡¯s walking fewer batters than last year, he hasn¡¯t given up a homer and his below-the-hood peripherals are even better than they were last year.
But for the rest of the team, it¡¯s been a struggle. The Pirates rank 28th in OPS (.590), 29th in slugging (.301) and 30th in batting average (.198). (They¡¯re currently under the Mendoza Line as a team.) Two-time All-Star closer David Bednar struggled and was quickly sent down to the Minors. And while Andrew Heaney has been solid and Mitch Keller pitched well Wednesday, significant injuries to Jared Jones (right UCL sprain) and Johan Oviedo (right UCL surgery/right lat) have weakened the rotation depth, with the club going 1-4 in games not started by its current top three. This team, honestly, remains Skenes and ¡ a giant question mark.
How worried should fans be? Very worried. The Pirates did little to bolster their lineup this past winter, and it¡¯s hard to see any major additions arriving in-season, either.
3. The Guardians¡¯ rotation
The dirty secret about the Guardians last year -- a team which had gotten used to creating viable starting pitchers out of whole cloth -- is that their bats made up for a slacking rotation (T-23rd in MLB in ERA). The days of potential Cy Young Award candidates in Cleveland seemed to be over.
But the situation has only gotten worse this year. As my colleague Mike Petriello pointed out, the Guardians¡¯ rotation has the lowest K-rate in all of baseball so far. Below the Rockies. Below the White Sox! Gavin Williams and Logan Allen are the only starters who have kept their ERAs below 4.40, and even Allen has more walks than strikeouts. The Cleveland bullpen has been great, again, but there¡¯s only so much it can do.
How worried should fans be? Increasingly worried. The good news is that four of the club¡¯s five starters are 26 or younger. Perhaps that¡¯s also the bad news, but you can at least see some room to grow here.
4. The Mariners¡¯ offense
It¡¯s always the same old story in Seattle: The rotation is locked in and ready to go, among the best in baseball, but the offense just can¡¯t scratch together enough runs to make it all work. The Mariners didn¡¯t do much in the offseason to add to that offense, other than a last-minute signing of Rowdy Tellez.
The hope was that full years of 2024 midseason acquisitions Randy Arozarena and Victor Robles, plus an MVP-level season from Julio Rodr¨ªguez, would make up for it. That hasn't happened. The Mariners are 23rd in OPS (.636), 24th in slugging (.333) and T-25th in runs per game (just 3.4). Arozarena has been excellent, and J-Rod has been good (albeit not MVP-level good), but Robles was just lost for 12 weeks with a left shoulder fracture, and most of the rest of the lineup is idling or falling backward. Again.
How worried should fans be? Typically worried. It really is just a repeat in Seattle, and if Julio doesn¡¯t have that MVP season -- though he still might -- it¡¯s difficult to see how the Mariners will have enough offense.
5. The Twins¡¯ injuries
Whether it¡¯s something in the water in the Twin Cities or just rotten luck, the Twins¡¯ inability to keep their best players healthy has cost them what probably should have been a golden era for the franchise. Their primary offseason plan basically boiled down to ¡°let¡¯s really hope everybody stays upright and is at their best this year.¡± It hasn¡¯t turned out that way.
Royce Lewis injured his left hamstring in Spring Training and won¡¯t be back until May, and now Opening Day starter Pablo L¨®pez is out with a right hamstring strain. While Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa have been able to play, they haven¡¯t looked anything at all like the All-Stars they once were. Buxton is hitting .171, while Correa is at .149 with no homers. The Twins are built around players without much history of durability, and it¡¯s working out about the way you¡¯d probably expect.
How worried should fans be? Also typically worried. This is who the Twins are, for better or, these days, worse.
6. The Braves¡¯ big bats
The key to the Braves having such a historic offense in 2023 -- and, really, don¡¯t forget just how fantastic that offense was -- was not just all of the MVP candidates they had in the middle of the order. It was also about the depth. There were just not easy outs, one through nine, and opposing pitchers paid the price.
The thought was that the step backward that offense took in 2024 was because of injuries, and while it was partly that, it¡¯s also worth noting that some of those established bats didn¡¯t quite repeat their seasons in ¡®24. That¡¯s happening again in ¡®25. Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II and Austin Riley all have struggled mightily, and while Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna are getting on base plenty, neither is hitting for much power. With Ronald Acu?a Jr. out and Jurickson Profar suspended, corner outfielder Jarred Kelenic has an OPS that starts with a 5. His fellow corner outfielder, Bryan De La Cruz, is not much better, with a .613 mark.
How worried should fans be? Moderately worried. Sean Murphy is back, Acu?a will be soon, and things should improve. But it sure looks like it¡¯s not going to be 2023 again.