Horsehide Chronicles

Carlos Zambrano has been a lot better than the Miami Marlins probably dared to hope when they acquired him from the Chicago Cubs for a bucket of baseballs and Chris Volstad.

Better yet, the Marlins can lean back and smile knowing that the Cubs are paying a huge chunk of Zambrano's salary.

I hate to be the one to rain on Miami's parade, but there's simply no way Zambrano is going to be able to maintain his hot start all season long. He's going to come back down to earth eventually.

Jeremy Affeldt is in the final year of his contract with the San Francisco Giants. As an effective left-handed reliever who will turn 33 this year, Affeldt figures to find continue his major league career, whether it's with the Giants or another team.

The first month of the 2012 Major League Baseball season is over, so let us all sit back and entertain various "If the season ended today..." scenarios.

For example, who would win the American League Cy Young if the season ended today?

Good question. Jake Peavy is an outstanding candidate, and at this point we have to recognize Yu Darvish as a legit Cy Young contender. Very quietly, Felix Hernandez has looked a lot like the pitcher who won the AL Cy Young back in 2010.

Before the 2012 season began, an early May series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves would've been expected to be a big matchup, one that would help determine the NL East winner and likely a postseason wild card. 

The first month of the MLB season is a time for evaluation. Clubs will see what they have out on the field, what works and what doesn't and what kind of adjustments need to be made going forward.

April is over now. Teams know what they have and they know what they don't have. The question in the coming months is, how will the league's would-be contenders find the pieces that they don't have?

As much as we've anticipated Bryce Harper getting called up to the majors, we apparently weren't as excited as Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. Whatever plan he had just got tossed out the window in a desperate hope to inject some offense into an increasingly feeble Nats lineup.

Over at Baseball Prospectus today, the estimable Sam Miller has a (free) piece on Albert Pujols’ slow start and whether it’s due to an expanding personal strike zone. He concludes that it just might be:

On Tuesday night in Texas, two natives of Japan will match up when the Yankees’ Hiroki Kuroda takes the mound against the Rangers’ Yu Darvish.

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval had a resurgent 2011 season, batting .315/.357/.552 with 25 home runs and 70 RBI, and earning his first All-Star appearance. 

Houston Astros outfielder J.D. Martinez had a decent rookie season, compiling a .274/.319/.423 slash average with six home runs and 35 RBI in 226 plate appearances after joining the team in late July. 

Though he's slated to be the Astros starting left fielder this season, Martinez wanted to be in great shape when he got to spring training. To achieve that, he wanted to be pushed hard. So hard that he'd leave his effort all over the training room. Literally.