Kuzul

There is always going to be a give-and-take with Hanley Ramirez.

The Boston Red Sox knew that. They elected to pursue his services anyway. For the price of $88 million over four years, the organization gambled it would have more reward than risk.

Over the first month of the season, the Red Sox were up. Ramirez was one of the American League‘s most productive hitters through his first 24 games. He was among the league leaders in slugging percentage (.609), OPS (.949), home runs—his 10 tied a franchise record for April—and RBI (22). Even though his defense in left field, a new position for him, was terrible, his bat made up for the defensive deficiencies.

But there were risks beyond the ugly defense. Ramirez has been one of the most potent, intimidating and toolsy hitters for the majority of his career, but starting in 2011, keeping him on the field has become a difficult task, as he’s averaged 116 games a season from 2011-2014.

The Red Sox are about to fully understand that risk now that Ramirez sprained his left shoulder slamming into a left-field wall Monday night at Fenway Park. Ramirez was attempting to make a running catch against the Tampa Bay Rays, which he did, but the ball popped out of his glove as he collided with the wall in foul territory.

Ramirez is currently listed as day-to-day. The Red Sox are hoping he can avoid a trip to the disabled list, obviously.

“We’re hopeful over the next couple days there’s some improvement,” manager John Farrell told reporters (h/t Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com). “There’s no clear-cut DL at this point.”

I promise, gonna try to be back as soon as I can

— Hanley Ramirez (@HanleyRamirez) May 5, 2015

The problem is Ramirez has had trouble ducking significant injuries since 2011. Starting with a lower back issue in that season that kept him out of 14 games, Ramirez has missed 163 games until this season. The most significant ailments were left shoulder surgery in 2011 (52 games missed), a torn thumb ligament in 2013 (24 games), a hamstring strain in 2013 (28 games) and an abdominal strain last season (14 games).

Ramirez also underwent left shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum after the 2007 season, but he did not miss any time because of it the following year. He missed another eight games in 2013 with a jammed left shoulder suffered by falling into the stands at Wrigley Field while chasing a foul ball.

This latest injury is worrisome, because it comes to a part of Ramirez’s body that he has already had cut into twice and hurt before. While Monday’s injury has nothing to do with the others, one has to wonder how much damage a twice-surgically repaired shoulder can withstand before it again becomes a debilitating problem.

“Based on the exams and the images tonight, I don’t have anything that suggests there’s a reoccurrence of an old injury,” Farrell said during his postgame press conference. “I think over the coming days, we’ll have a read on how he can recover and we’re hopeful he won’t miss significant time.”

And as any hitter will tell you, including Ramirez’s former teammate Matt Kemp, an injury to the lead shoulder can drain power. Ramirez’s OPS from 2007 through 2010 was .925. From 2011, the year he had his second shoulder surgery, through 2012, Ramirez’s OPS dropped to .742.

“Hanley told me it’s not the same,” Ramirez’s former manager Don Mattingly said in 2013 while discussing a shoulder injury to Kemp’s lead shoulder. “It takes a while [to feel normal].”

A shoulder strain, as the Red Sox diagnosed it, is not that significant. That is why they are hopeful Ramirez can return relatively soon, like within the week. But if it turns out to be something more serious, this is a devastating injury, much like all of Ramirez’s long-term ones throughout this career.

He has undoubtedly been the team’s best offensive player, and his presence in the cleanup spot is unmistakably important, because the Red Sox have a mostly mediocre offense—fifth in the AL in OBP (.326), 10th in slugging percentage (.381), eighth in OPS (.707) and sixth in homers (29).

As the numbers show, losing Ramirez would be a damaging blow. This is especially true when you take into account the team’s rotation is last in the majors with a 5.73 ERA, and the Red Sox are 12-14 and in last place in the AL East.

“It’s a tough one,” Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts told reporters, (h/t Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com). “He’s been one of our most productive hitters so far. Losing a big player like that would be tough. … I’m not sure we can fill in the same stuff that he can do.”

This is what Ramirez brings. He is capable of being a dominant middle-of-the-order hitter when healthy. When he is not, he misses significant chunks of time, his absence crippling a lineup.

The Red Sox bought into all of him. Through the first month he was everything they asked for. Going forward, only his oft-injured left shoulder will say how often he can be in the lineup and how productive he can still be.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Albert Pujols’ discomfort was mild, but it was enough to cause serious concern. 

When the future-Hall of Fame first baseman grabbed his left hamstring Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Angels’ panic needle moved, even if they would not admit it publicly. And when he had to be removed from that game and missed the following two, it undoubtedly brought on worry.

With Josh Hamilton removed from the Angels’ current situation and with their offense showing only whimpers of life, Pujols’ health is now essential to any success the team might have, and, in turn, their postseason hopes.

Even though he is struggling to find an offensive groove, Pujols’ presence in the fat part of the Angels’ lineup is still critical, since it appears the team’s silent offseason will spill over into the July trade deadline. That means outside help is not on the way for a team that is 11-14 partly because of a roster that sits near the bottom of the majors in several offensive categories.

“We didn’t have a good series offensively …,” manager Mike Scioscia told reporters after the San Francisco Giants swept the Angels over the weekend, a series in which they hit .168. “We’re still trying to get some groupings that work. Seems like couple guys show some signs, then slide back a little bit, but we’re going to find it.”

Trend #Angels offense needs to get rid of is 1-2-3 inn. Halos been retired in order 84 times this year, T-most in MLB w Pitt. 19x this trip.

— Victor Rojas (@VictorRojas29) May 3, 2015

Pujols is clearly not alone on the list of the team’s struggling hitters. The Angels are 28th in the majors in batting average (.224), 27th in OBP (.289), 28th in slugging percentage (.339), 29th in OPS (.628) and 27th in doubles (32). They also have scored three or fewer runs in 14 of their 25 games, including being shut out Sunday. 

This coming from an offense that led the majors in runs last season, and from a team that won a major league-best 98 games last year.

While the pitching has not helped much—the rotation’s 4.26 ERA is 20th in the majors—the offense has been bad over a large enough sample that it has to be a major concern by now.

“It’s just a stretch where we haven’t hit to our capability,” catcher Chris Iannetta said to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register. “I don’t think it’s going to last all year… I think it’s going to turn around. Get in a groove, catch fire. We’ll start swinging it better.”

Pujols has also had enough plate appearances that his numbers show more significance than just a brief slump. He is hitting .212/.287/.388 with a .675 OPS in 94 plate appearances. Since returning from the hamstring discomfort, Pujols is 2-for-8 with a mammoth home run.

Going into Monday, Pujols’ line-drive rate was 13.9 percent, the worst of his storied career. The American League average was 20.7 percent before the start of Monday’s games, according to FanGraphs.

Pujols went into Monday seeing 40.1 percent of pitches thrown to him ending up within the strike zone, according to Baseball Info Solutions (via FanGraphs). That number would by far be a career low. Also, Pujols was swinging at 44.6 percent of all pitches, his lowest mark since 2010.

Common sense would tell us line drives are more likely to fall for hits. It also says it is more difficult for a hitter to smack a line drive if the pitch is out of the zone. So far, it appears that is one of Pujols’ negative trends through the season’s first month.

Despite those troubling tendencies, the Angels still need him healthy and in the lineup. As the team’s No 3 hitter, he has been sandwiched between No. 2 hitter Mike Trout and a flurry of ineffective cleanup hitters. However, Pujols’ brief injury caused Scioscia to move leadoff hitter Kole Calhoun into the No. 4 spot, and he has remained there for the two games since Pujols returned. 

Calhoun is hitting .309/.385/.469 with an .854 OPS. Aside from Trout, he has been the team’s best hitter. Because of that, Calhoun could stay in that new place as long as Erick Aybar can produce from the leadoff spot, although he’s hit .148/.207/.185 from there in seven games this season.

“If the whole lineup makes more sense with Kole out of the leadoff position, we’ll do it, but I don’t know if we’re at that point right now,” Scioscia told reporters Saturday.

Calhoun’s spot in the order would matter much less if the rest of the lineup remembered how to reach base, and that includes Pujols. When he is producing, he is capable of masking the non-production of others because of his ability to draw walks and club extra-base hits.

Pujols showed last season he is still able to do those things, albeit at a declining level from what he was before signing with the Angles four seasons ago. Regardless of where he is at in his career, Pujols is still a big enough piece to the Angels’ puzzle that he has to be healthy and productive for them to accomplish their goals.

If neither happens, the Angles might find themselves home for the playoffs for the third time in Pujols’ four years with the club.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Surprised yet?

You should be.

The first calendar month of the Major League Baseball season is behind us, and there was absolutely no shortage of stunning happenings during that time. From the supposed best team in baseball literally kicking away wins to one of the game’s biggest stars involved in a disturbing soap opera, the game has provided plenty of early barstool chatter.

While some of these surprises can be dismissed as small-sample-size oddities—the Houston Astros in first place and Clayton Kershaw’s 3.73 ERA among them—there are others that will have relevant impacts for a significant portion of the summer. Ignoring them would be to scoff at the most important dealings of the early season.

We shall not scoff here. Instead, we will explore them, focusing on events and trends that not only shaped the first month but can continue to mold how the rest of the season unfolds.

Begin Slideshow

Now the New York Yankees can fear the worst.

A heavy part of their 2015 success is contingent on the health, and therefore effectiveness, of Masahiro Tanaka. The narrative rightfully flowed as something like this: Whichever way their Japanese ace goes, so too shall the Bombers.

The Yankees are now in full-blown “hope that isn’t the case” mode after Tanaka had to be shuffled to his dark place, the 15-day disabled list. And those 15 days will not be his maximum time spent there.

Tanaka’s MRI showed a small forearm strain so he will be placed on the 15-day DL.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) April 29, 2015

Tanaka showed up to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday afternoon complaining of pain in his right wrist, general manager Brian Cashman told reporters. The team sent the right-hander for an MRI after that, and it revealed tendinitis as well as a mild forearm strain.

Tanaka will miss at least a month. And that is leaning conservatively for the team’s $175 million foreign investment, Cashman noted via Tyler Kepner of The New York Times:

Cashman said “conservatively” it would be a month before Tanaka returns to Yankees.

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) April 29, 2015

“I’m going to try to get back as soon as I can,” Tanaka said through an interpreter, per Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. “Personally, I don’t think it has anything to do with my elbow.”

That his right elbow is even brought into the conversation is the scary part for all involved parties.

Tanaka missed two-and-a-half months last season because of a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, which, as even casual fans are now poignantly aware of, is the precursor to Tommy John surgery and an absence of a full calendar year or more. Three separate specialists told the Yankees last year that Tanaka could avoid Tommy John surgery with rest and rehab, and he came back to make two starts in September.

The MRI did not show any changes to the already existing UCL damage, but any forearm injury in this day of “routine” Tommy John surgeries can pump fear into a pitcher and his employer. So much so that Cashman could not help but acknowledge that elephant sitting in front of Tanaka’s locker, per Botte:

Cashman said no change in Tanaka’s elbow, but when asked if this might be a Tommy John precursor, said “Could be.”

— Peter Botte (@PeterBotte) April 29, 2015

“We want to make sure this does not lead to more horrific problems,” Cashman told reporters, meaning that particular surgery.

A month is already a significant chunk of the season for Tanaka to miss. Anything longer, and the Yankees will be forced to join the likes of the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox as suitors for a front-line starting pitcher, assuming they were not already involved in that trade market.

Tanaka made four starts this season, his last one on April 23. He went 6.1 innings and allowed one run. Over his last two outings, he has allowed just that one run in 13.1 innings. He complained of no discomfort after either start and was scheduled to pitch Wednesday vs. Tampa Bay.

Without him, the Yankees have to rely heavily on Michael Pineda to be the pitcher they have seen only blurs of since trading for him in 2012. Pineda has to be a No. 1 capable of matching arsenals with any ace in the league, which Tanaka has been when healthy. So far this season, though, Pineda has resembled that only once, in his most recent start Friday when he pitched 7.2 innings and allowed just one run against the Mets.

Last season, in 18 starts before his elbow became a problem, Tanaka was 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA. He was easily the team’s best pitcher, and based on his 3.3 Baseball-Reference WAR, he was on his way to being the team’s best player, period.

If Pineda turns out to not be the suitable answer in Tanaka’s extended absence, the temptation for the Yankees to part with pieces of their up-and-coming farm system might be too sweet to resist as Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Scott Kazmir could all be dangled in front of them in the coming months. Doing so could set the organization back years in player development.

If they do not, it could mean a third consecutive season without postseason play for the Yankees as the roster gets older, injury concerns become more realistic and frustration billows from the owner’s box and fanbase.

This is what Tanaka means to the Yankees. Partly because of an expensive, old and potentially declining club and partly because he has been so damn effective when his seemingly fragile right arm allows him to occupy the mound, Tanaka is the first domino in the Yankees’ 2015 season.

If he stands tall, they could be the team to beat in the American League East this summer. If he does not, the fallout can become undeniably enormous and detrimental to the team’s immediate and long-term future.

For now, the Yankees wait for Tanaka’s arm to respond, as scared as can be.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

LOS ANGELES – Gone are the days of pure hatred, the ones that caused Jackie Robinson to retire rather than play for the rival club, incited epic brawls and sparked beanball wars.

But the rivalry is not dead. Far from it. The fire still exists, as does the success.

Between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, five division titles and three World Series championships have been won in the last five seasons. Each team has had a National League MVP in the last three seasons and a combined five Cy Young Awards in the last seven.

They also play in two of the more gorgeous ballparks in the game—one with an aged charm nestled in a mountainous backdrop, the other a state-of-the-art joint sitting on a bay.

“They have a great place there, but so do we,” Dodgers outfielder Scott Van Slyke said Sunday, two days before the Dodgers’ trip to San Francisco for the teams’ first meeting this season on Tuesday. 

Three World Series runs in five years by the Giants and three consecutive division titles by the Dodgers have given this rivalry a new bounce in its step. But because players shuttle from one team to another on a yearly basis and guys become offseason acquaintances, some of the heat has been extracted from every major league rivalry.

This one is no different, as the two teams have a combined 22 players that are either brand new or relatively new to the rivalry. And aside from Yasiel Puig and maybe Madison Bumgarner, there really are no players on either side that extract authentic venom from the other side, since Buster Posey and Clayton Kershaw are more vanilla superstars.

“Obviously there’s a rivalry,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “You can feel it. There’s intensity that’s different when we play them. 

“As far as players changing teams, that happens all over baseball. So every rivalry is going to feel the turnover. But the fans never change sides.”

And that is where any rivalry truly lives—in the stands, in the bars, among the diehards.

While there have been rare and extreme examples of this rivalry tragically spilling into the fandom—the Bryan Stow beating and the stabbing fatality of Jonathan Denver—fans now argue about things like the Dodgers trying to “buy” a title, or the Giants getting “lucky” in October, and of course, which stadium is a better place to take in a ballgame.

These debates are never truly settled, but Giants fans currently hold the trump card with those three championships that have turned Dodger fans into short-term lovers of the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals over the last five Octobers.

Sitting in the stands of these games, particularly in the outfield bleachers of either stadium, you understand the fervor. While fans usually refrain from wasting beer or souvenirs on players, they loudly spew their hatred with insults aimed at outfielders. And inning after inning, as the visiting team’s fans dare to move about the other team’s stadium, they endure insults unfit for juvenile ears.

“They definitely get a little meaner up there than in other cities,” Van Slyke said of patrolling the outfield at AT&T Park. “And I’m sure their guys hear it when they come here, too.”

The rivalry will evolve in the coming years. The Dodgers and Giants are both pulling in revenue at incredible levels, and while the Dodgers’ ownership has shown a complete willingness to spend it, the Giants’ ownership group has been more reluctant, although they still have a current payroll north of $170 million.

The Dodgers spent part of their last offseason acquiring front-office people to run their club. Andrew Friedman left the Tampa Bay Rays to become the Dodgers president of baseball operations. He then brought in a team of others to fall in line behind him, and together, they are seen as one of the brightest, most analytical front offices in the game today.

Meanwhile, the Giants, known to have a more traditionally run front office, recently reworked their configuration to make former GM Brian Sabean the team’s executive VP of baseball ops through 2019 and former assistant GM Bobby Evans the new GM. Assuming the Giants’ top brass gives the go-ahead to spend more money to keep up with their rivals in the near future, Sabean and Evans will remain the men who determine which players the team will invest in. 

The game’s economics make roster turnover a part of the sport as much as bat flips and beer, but that does not mean rivalries cannot remain heated. And when both teams are fighting for the same kind of success, it is bound to remain as such.

This week’s three-game series in San Francisco is the latest chapter in what has become one of the sport’s best rivalries, on and off the field.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Carlos Rodon will not be long for the bullpen.

That much you can bet on. Unlike new teammate Chris Sale before him, Rodon will not be stuck in relief for his entire rookie season.

The Chicago White Sox cannot afford to use Rodon as just an effective bullpen piece. Not when he already has one of the best sliders in the big leagues and not when the team already finds itself in a 5.5-game hole in the American League Central, partly because the rotation is one of the worst in the majors.

Once he is slotted in with Sale, the ace, and Jeff Samardzija, the No. 2, Rodon will give the White Sox one of the strongest, deepest rotations in the AL. That move will also undoubtedly rocket the left-hander into the league’s finicky Rookie of the Year race.

Everything you need to know about @WhiteSox phenom @CarlosRodon16 and his NSFW slider: http://t.co/iar9fbl7UI pic.twitter.com/lpDyQ1xIvA

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 20, 2015

The White Sox drafted Rodon third overall in the 2014 draft. They gave him a franchise-record $6.582 million bonus, the largest in last year’s draft class and the highest ever for a left-handed pitcher.

Rodon went into this season as one of the game’s best prospects, rated No. 15 overall by MLB.com and Baseball America. He was the team’s top prospect when he was invited to big league camp in February.

Rodon gave the White Sox an impressive spring training, striking out 21 and walking five in 17.2 innings. Those numbers made him a consideration for the Opening Day rotation, but the team elected to send him to Triple-A Charlotte to work on fastball command and his changeup. In his two starts there, Rodon struck out 13, walked four and had a 3.60 ERA in 10 innings.

While the minor league numbers are not huge on wow factor, Rodon did enough to prove he can handle big league hitters from both sides of the plate. That fact will make him a valuable reliever while he is in the bullpen.

The move to start him in the ‘pen could make it easier for Rodon to handle the pressure that comes with his call-up, and it gives the coaches chances to look at him in games more than once every fifth day.

As White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes near the end of the season, it’s remarkable for Rodon to be in this position already:

We’re talking about a kid who is 22, 23 years old, who was in the ACC a year ago at this time, has fewer than 25 professional innings, and yet here we are talking about the finishing elements of his development. That’s fantastic. We’re in a great position. Carlos is in a great position. … You’re not talking about talent. You’re not talking about ceiling. You’re not talking about mechanics or health or anything that’s going to be a factor in his long-term success—we’re talking about practice.

Apparently 10 innings worth was enough for the White Sox, particularly when the rotation has been as bad as it has during the first two weeks with the exception of Sale. Samardzija (4.29 ERA in 21 innings) and Jose Quintana (8.40 in 15) have looked bad, but their spots are safe among the starters.

Because of the schedule, Hector Noesi has made only one start this season, and it was an unimpressive one—4.2 innings, four hits, six walks, two runs allowed. That clearly makes his hold on his spot weak with his second start scheduled for Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians.

John Danks is the other potential ouster from the rotation. He’s pitched 10.1 innings and allowed eight runs on 18 hits over two starts. He starts Monday against the Indians.

That should make it safe to say that as long as Rodon performs as a reliever, he will eventually take over one of those spots in the rotation. When that happens is mostly up to him.

Even though Rodon’s fastball-slider combination is good enough to get hitters out from the bullpen, he needs to develop a third pitch—the changeup—to become a starter. If he can flash that as at least an average major league pitch in his time as a reliever, it will give the White Sox less pause to move him into a starting role.

“Fastball command, it was real good,” Rodon told reporters after being informed he would not make the big league roster in March. “And then now it’s busting out the changeup and throwing it more often so I can develop that pitch. I think it’s ready so we’ll see.”

The White Sox have had success in breaking in pitching prospects through the bullpen, with Sale as the example. The difference is that when Sale broke in as a full-time reliever, the White Sox were expected to be a mediocre club, and they finished 79-83 in that 2011 season.

Expectations have changed. The White Sox underwent a noticeable roster makeover in the offseason, and anything but a postseason berth can be filed in the failure folder. That means if Danks and Noesi continue their struggles, and Rodon proves the changeup is manageable, he will not spend the entire year in the bullpen.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The critics came out in droves.

They slammed Billy Beane for dismantling a playoff team during the last offseason, and they questioned his commitment to keeping a winning team on the field since he jettisoned players like Josh Donaldson, Jeff Samardzija, Derek Norris and Brandon Moss for lesser returns. They even retroactively bashed his trading of Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester.

All of those players were All-Stars. Without them, the detractors cried, the Oakland A’s were destined to find themselves near the bottom of the American League West and out of the postseason for the first time since 2011.

Except the moves actually appear to be working through the club’s first eight games.

Monday’s eight-run, 12-hit showing featured home runs from Brett Lawrie (acquired for Donaldson), Marcus Semien (acquired for Samardzija) and Billy Butler (a curious free-agent signing at the time of the deal, as Cliff Corcoran of SI.com noted), along with a 3-for-5 output from Ben Zobrist, Beane’s lone offseason addition that was actually praised universally, including by Ben Lindbergh of Grantland.

The team might be a modest 4-4 after Monday’s win in Houston, but there is no doubt Oakland’s offseason moves are paying early dividends. Noted A’s beat reporter Jane Lee of MLB.com:

The A’s had a total of three home runs in their first seven games. They had three by the sixth inning tonight.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) April 14, 2015

The A’s lead the American League in doubles (21) and are third in batting average (.306), OBP (.364) and OPS (.829). They have scored at least seven runs in five of their eight games, and the hits keep on coming. Lee also had this observation:

The A’s have reached double-digit figures in hits in six of their first eight games.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) April 14, 2015

Comparing departed players to new ones might not be completely fair with the regular season in its infancy, but neither was torching Beane’s plan after he had barely laid the first few bricks over the winter.

Lester was Oakland’s ace when he came over for Cespedes last July, and there was no doubt he would leave the low-payroll team once he hit free agency after the season. He got $155 million from the Cubs, and through two starts he has allowed nine runs in 10.1 innings (7.84 ERA).

Oakland dealt Samardzija for Semien, among others, a year before he could hit free agency. It was one of the deals that ignited Beane’s critics, but through Samardzija’s first two starts with the Chicago White Sox, he has allowed nine runs in 13 innings (6.23 ERA).

As for the hitters, only Cespedes with the Detroit Tigers and Norris with the San Diego Padres are off to good starts. Donaldson, who was an MVP candidate the last two seasons with Oakland, is hitting .192/.267/.269 with no home runs for Toronto. Moss is hitting .125/.300/.188 with one extra-base hit for Cleveland.

Meanwhile…

Butler is hitting .387/.441/.548 with a .990 OPS, a homer and two doubles.

Semien has a .323/.364/.484 line with a homer, two doubles and seven RBI, and he has played solid defense at shortstop.

“Watching him move around, you might not think he has the type of power that he does,” manager Bob Melvin said of Semien last week. “His position doesn’t usually come with a guy that has the potential to hit 20 home runs, which he has the ability to do.”

Zobrist is at .303/.343/.545 with a homer, five doubles, two walks and two strikeouts in a team-high 33 at-bats.

Lawrie is hitting .281/.324/.438 with a homer and two doubles on top of playing outstanding defense at third base.

Ike Davis, another offseason acquisition taken off the scrap heap, is hitting .318/.444/.455 with three doubles, five RBI, five walks and five strikeouts.

“One through nine, you never know what can happen, any given day,” Lawrie told Jane Lee and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com Monday. “We’ve been stringing hits together, and when you can do that you can be loose and just play and not worry too much. You know someone’s going to pick you up. It’s good to know anyone who gets in the box can do some damage.”

Those aren’t outstanding numbers in the molds of Miguel Cabrera or Adrian Gonzalez through Week 1, but everyone’s combined contributions make this a formidable A’s lineup. It has certainly been one more productive than critics foresaw.

The pitching has been solid as well. The rotation is 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA in 50.1 innings, and that ERA was helped none by rookie Kendall Graveman’s seven earned runs allowed over 3.1 innings last week. Still, they are putting up strong numbers without Lester and Samardzija and could get Jarrod Parker back in June as he rehabs from a second Tommy John surgery.

The bullpen, which suffered a big blow when closer Sean Doolittle had to go on the disabled list with a strained rotator cuff, has been effective too. In 24.2 innings, it has allowed eight earned runs (2.92 ERA). Again, that ERA is ballooned by one bad game in which Eric O’Flaherty and Tyler Clippard combined to allow four runs in 2.1 innings, which included Clippard giving up a game-winning 10th-inning home run to Nelson Cruz.

The extreme numbers for hitters and pitchers will correct themselves to more sustainable levels, but once they do, there is no reason to believe the A’s cannot hold them there and remain one of the better all-around clubs in the league. The offseason moves were not made in an effort to lose, and Oakland does not expect them to tank just because they are lesser-known names.

Ripping Beane’s retooled club was in fashion for much of the offseason. Trading five All-Star players in about half a year will spark such sentiment. It started to slow after he traded for Zobrist, one of the best all-around players in the league.

Now that Oakland’s new additions have produced to start the season, the critics can commence their silence, as these early-season trends are capable of lasting through summer.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

You get the feeling this is what is going to have to happen fairly often.

A pure offensive onslaught.

You had to be a dummy not to realize the Boston Red Sox had built one hell of an attack over the offseason, tossing in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval with an already-formidable group of David Ortiz, Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia. Them scoring was never in doubt.

Pitching? Well, that was, and still is, plenty uncertain.

But on this Opening Day, facing the man the franchise so positively wanted pitching this game for them, everything worked to perfection. That includes the men on the mound, but mostly that ungodly offense that just put the entire American League on notice.

The Red Sox’s 8-0 decapitation of Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies was just the first game of a grinding summer that wears on every man in uniform at some point. But watching that lineup pound five home runs—two each by Pedroia and Ramirez—in an opener for the second time in franchise history and the first since 1965, you got the sense this kind of overbearing production might become commonplace by the midway point of the season.

And that would be quite the change from last season when the team was 12th out of 15 in home runs hit and never put on the kind of show it did this Opening Day.

Hanley Ramirez slam. #RedSox didn’t hit 5 HRs in any game last year.

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) April 6, 2015

The process started at the top, as the Red Sox hope it will all season. Mookie Betts went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored, one of those occurring when he drove himself in with a solo homer in the third inning.

Of course, he won’t reach base at a .600 clip all year, but the fact that he did not look overmatched against one of the game’s true aces is a huge plus. If the Red Sox’s guns are going to fire rapidly, Betts has to be ammunition.

Pedrioa went 3-for-5 with a couple of RBI and a couple of runs. Two of those knocks came via the long ball, with a solo shot in the first inning and another in the fifth, both off Hamels.

Finally, there was Hanley. A player who has recently proved he can be one of the best hitters in the sport when healthy, Ramirez made his second Red Sox debut with some thump. His first home run was a solo job off Hamels in the fifth. The second, a grand slam that he muscled out down the left-field line with faulty lumber, put the game away in the ninth.

Hanley Ramirez, BTW, said he hit his slam with a broken bat

— Gordon Edes (@GordonEdes) April 6, 2015

Really, the only offensive spoilers were the rotund duo of Ortiz and Sandoval.

Combined, they went 0-for-9 with six strikeouts and no walks. Ortiz was hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts. Sandoval, making his Red Sox debut after signing a five-year, $95 million deal despite declining numbers as he left San Francisco, went hitless in five at-bats, striking out three times as well.

Sandoval has had sliding production for a few seasons now, and Ortiz is 39. Still, you figure those two to be fine with the bat, especially if everyone around them continues to pound opposing pitchers into submission after submission. Plus, Hamels is still a fine pitcher, which is why the Red Sox wanted to make him and all his torturers teammates over the winter.

Alas, the price for Hamels was too high for Boston’s personnel budget, and Jon Lester chose to take his left arm to Chi Town.

So Clay Buchholz of the Jekyll-and-Hyde and Two-Face mold got the ball for this season opener. What he would give the Red Sox, no one could foresee. This is a guy who has been all or nothing over his entire seven-year career, and last year, he compiled a 5.34 ERA in 28 starts.

But right on cue, Buchholz was good again. He rolled through the Phillies and their mostly putrid lineup for seven innings, giving up just three hits and striking out nine.

This was undoubtedly a promising start to his season, and it gives the Red Sox and their Nation a night to dream about what could happen if their pitching is as steady as their offense ought to be. Then again, Boston’s pitching is difficult to love for legitimate reasons, meaning those dreams and this season will go about as far as the bats allow.

After this first day of the season, one that came with such high hopes, pressure and expectations, it is looking like the hitters are up to the task as they opened in grand fashion.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Just as every baseball season has its breakout players, it also has its busts.

These are the players who had strong campaigns a season ago and are expected to be major contributors again in 2015. However, for one reason or several, they will become sources of disappointment.

Some of them are big-ticket free agents heading to new clubs, and some were surprise hits last season who are now being counted on to do it again. For others, injuries or their first real taste of big league ball will do them in.

Whatever the reason, at least one bust is waiting at every position. Here is Bleacher Report’s starting 10.

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It didn’t take long to catch the first violators of the season.

Just days away from the opening of the 2015 season, the performance-enhancing drug monster that Major League Baseball cannot escape from has snatched up its first wave of offenders.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Ervin Santana received an 80-game suspension from MLB on Friday for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The 32-year-old right-hander tested positive for an anabolic steroid called stanozolol, per Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. Atlanta’s Arodys Vizcaino was suspended 80 games on Thursday for the same drug.

Twins pitcher Ervin Santana has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Stanozolol.

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) April 3, 2015

Stanozolol is also the drug that netted 25-year-old pitcher David Rollins his own 80-game ban on March 27. The left-hander was in line to win a job in the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen when news of his positive test and suspension broke.

That is three suspensions for the same, old-school kind of drug that Rafael Palmeiro tested positive for in 2005. In the two seasons before Palmeiro’s positive test, MLB reported 37 positive tests for stanozolol, which Lee Jenkins, then of The New York Times, said indicated a “changing trend” in the drug of choice for cheaters.

It is also the same substance that got Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s Olympic gold medal stripped in 1988.

It’s baffling for this era’s players to be risking games, reputation and money for this kind of steroid, but MLB’s recent rash of suspensions show it is on to at least a section of its offenders.

The drug was popular in the early and mid-2000s among baseball players, but that has obviously not stopped its use these days. Stanozolol basically replicates naturally occurring testosterone and promotes muscle growth and blood cell count.

Had convo w/ a drug/sports expert: Stanozolol is nothing new-been around for a while. It improves muscle growth/increased red blood cells.

— Dave Berggren (@daveberggren) April 3, 2015

When Palmeiro was busted for stanozolol, he claimed he unknowingly took it. However, it was reported way back then that the drug is not used in dietary/workout supplements.

Santana went with the same excuse Friday, in 2015 when teams and players are well-versed in what they can and cannot take into their bodies. And if there are ever any questions about something, they are advised to not use it or get a quick answer by calling team trainers, even during the offseason.

Santana said in a statement, via NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra:

I would never put baseball, my family, or my country in a position where its integrity is jeopardized. I preach hard work, and don’t believe in short cuts. I am very disappointed that I tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. I am frustrated that I can’t pinpoint how the substance in question entered my body. I would never knowingly take anything illegal to enhance my performance. What I can guarantee is I never knowingly took anything illegal to enhance my performance. That’s just not me, never has been and never will.

These days, that kind of after-the-fact statement is seen as a lame and glaringly weak attempt to skirt responsibility. It is a player’s job to know what he is taking, and there is enough information available a couple of thumb clicks away that not knowing isn’t good enough.

Santana was coming off of a mediocre season with the Atlanta Braves but still landed a four-year, $55 million deal from the Twins. He was expected to be one of their rotation pillars, but the PED bug showed up to eat about half his season.

The good news about all this is that MLB is still catching its cheats, although at what rate or percentage we will never know for sure. What is bad is that the game has not had a PED suspension resulting from a positive test since 2012, when seven players tested positive for banned substances—Biogenesis suspensions did not result from positive tests—but now, before the 2015 season has even started, there are three in the books.

Opening Day and all its pageantry cannot come soon enough.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com