Numbers Never Lie: Strength and Weaknesses Edition

I feel that it's that time of the season, where everyone starts getting a feel for what their team is.  Good, bad, or somewhere in between...there is still a lot of time left between now and the end of the regular season for the standings to change.  A month and a half in, it may be time to buy low and sell high.  I mean, is Trevor Story really this bad?  Is Ryan Zimmerman going to keep hitting this well?  Who knows!  But what I do know is that past results don't mean anything about the future.

First thing to address here is the trading block.  We only have three teams who have updated their trading block with what they are looking for and what is available.  Get out there and update your block so we can get some blockbuster trades happenin'.  We know Musser has already tried to trade rape everyone, but luckily nobody has bitten....yet.  With so many empty trade blocks...here is my look on the strengths and weaknesses of each team in order of the current standings.

1. I'm Never Gonna Win Now (4-0-1)
• Strengths: Runs, Stolen Bases, Quality Starts, Earned Run Average, and WHIP.
• Weaknesses: Strikeouts
• Note: DJ is finally paying attention to his team and he has yet to lose.  It's surprising to see how well his starting pitchers have done, yet he is 3rd to last in strikeouts.  Most of his offense is pretty average, so he could look to bolster that at some point.
2. PED User (4-1-0)
• Strengths: Runs, Stolen Bases, Pitching
• Weaknesses: K/9
• Note: Somebody should tell Berts that he no longer has multiple steroid poppers on his team.  Anyway, he arguably has the best pitching staff in The League.  That said, he is in the same position as DJ...he needs to bolster his offense, especially since Zimmerman is due to cool off anytime here.
3. Team Reints (3-1-1)
• Strengths: Homeruns, Runs Batted In, Slugging Percentage, K's, and K/9
• Weaknesses: None
• Note: As usual, Crime Dogg has a very solid team top to bottom.  At worst, a couple of his categories are ranked in the middle of the league otherwise he is pretty much ranked in the top half of The League in everything.
4. Three Strikes and You're Trout (2-1-2)
• Strengths: Hitting
• Weaknesses: Saves, Earned Run Average, and WHIP
• Note: The rookie has a solid offense followed by mediocre pitching staff.  For now, he is punting saves, but he might need to consider adding some RP's to his staff if he wants to improve his rates.
5. Minnesota Twins (2-1-2)
• Strengths: Hitting
• Weaknesses: Earned Run Average, and K/9
• Note: Interesting mix here...Michaud has created a line up that leads league in Homeruns and Stolen Bases.  His offense is above average, but needs to bolster his pitching staff as all of his categories fall in the bottom half of The League.
6. Yu My, Boy Blue (2-2-1)
• Strengths: Homeruns
• Weaknesses: Earned Run Average and Runs Batted In
• Note:  As told by his record, Musser has a very average team right now.  Other than the categories mentioned above, he falls just above or below The League median in the rest of the categories.
7. Team Pup 'N Suds (2-2-1)
• Strengths: Saves
• Weaknesses: All other pitching categories
• Note: C-Reg has some work to do here.  Despite a 2-2-1 record, all his categories (except fro saves) rank below under The League median.  A look at his offense and it looks powerful, but just haven't taken off yet.  On the other side of the ball, you can see why the pitching staff struggles.  His two wins have come against the two teams that haven't one yet this year.
8. Thor's Hammer (1-2-2)
• Strengths: Quality Starts
• Weaknesses: I would love to say everything here, but 1) that isn't true and 2) Cam will bitch if I rip his team too much.  So here are his real weaknesses: Runs, Stolen Bases, Saves, and K/9
• Note:  Another team that needs to find somebody on the waiver wire or make a key trade, Cam Guys' team ranks in the bottom half of The League in most categories.  You know it's bad when trading for Trevor Story would actually improve your team...
9. In Pence, I Trust (2-3)
• Strengths: Saves and Pitching Rates
• Weaknesses: Strikeouts and Quality Starts
• Note: Lenz has a very average offense that he needs to bolster if he wants to be successful this year.  With a plethora of quality relief pitchers, most of which are bonafide closers, we can see flipping some of these guys into bats at some point.
10. Well Played Mauer (1-3-1)
• Strengths: None
• Weaknesses: Hitting and WHIP 
• Note: Mathematically, you can't rule out a team in mid-May but Max has a lot to fix here.  At best, a couple of his categories rank slightly above The Leagues median, but most everything is below that if not at the bottom.  To be fair, he's dealt with some injuries (Donaldson and King Felix) and disappointment (Arrietta and Edwin).  All is not lost, but he is fighting an up hill battle.
11. **JP** (0-3-2)
• Strengths: Strikeouts and Quality Starts
• Weaknesses: Hitting and K/9
• Note: I actually like JP's chance to bounce back from a really slow start, because he's got some good assets.  5 SP's currently ranked in the top 20 he could flip into some solid bats in a weak offense. He also may want to look for some RP's to balance his pitching rates.
12. Mookie Monster (0-4-1)
• Strengths: Runs Batted In and On Base Percentage
• Weaknesses: Runs, Homeruns, and WHIP
• Note: Juan's team is hard to get a feel for.  He's got 6 guys on the DL (one of them is coming off it today), and 4 of those guys are pretty crucial to his line up (Cespedes, Tulo, Melancon, and Familia).  As usual, he's got some of the best young players in the game.  If this team can get healthy, then watch out for a run later this year.  After all, it's not how you start, but how you finish.

Let this be an invitation to update your trading blocks, if not get some trade talks started between teams.  And of course, make sure you give your Mother's some mad love today.  

With Love,

Commish