Not Worried Yet

Many people are getting worked up about Spring Training statistics and how bad they are, especially for Rickie Weeks and many of the pitchers on the roster. Hopefully this will help put things into perspective.

Let's start with Rickie. He is batting .125 with 20 strikeouts. Many are claiming he will be a major flop this season, and end up being a major flop overall, with these stats as evidence to their argument. Are the people of Seattle getting worried about Ichiro and his .105 batting average this spring? Probably not. Now, I understand that this is a little like comparing apples to oranges because of Ichiro's past success compared to Rickie, but they are both players that are having terrible springs. Craig Counsell is hitting .486 with 7 RBI... do you think that will stick?

Jimmy Rollins is hitting .209. Russell Martin is hitting .175. Gary Sheffield is hitting .172. Alex Rios is hitting .161. Frank Thomas is hitting .067. Chris Duncan is hitting .038. Moises Alou is hitting .000. Cut'em all!!

How about Brewers pitchers and their ERA's?

• Suppan = 11.37
• Gagne = 11.25
• Turnbow = 9.00
• Capuano = 9.00
• Bush = 8.31
• Sheets = 6.55

Do those numbers worry you? How about these?

• Dan Haren = 5.14
• Trevor Hoffman = 7.36
• Chad Billingsley = 7.43
• Brandon Webb = 7.90
• Francisco Liriano = 8.10
• Tim Lincecum = 9.00
• Homer Bailey = 8.44
• Jake Peavy = 9.00
• Eric Bedard = 9.69
• Barry Zito = 14.92

Wow, those are some really good pitchers who either have a ton of experience or a ton of potential, but they are terrible! Their teams may want to consider sending them to Triple-A to "work things out". Think that is a ridiculous statement? Well, it is. So let's stop ragging on our pitchers until they are putting up those stats in the regular season!

The comments I read on the JSOnline make our "fans" sound like a bunch of spoiled idiots. Folks, these are Spring Training stats!