Opinion

When the Brewers signed all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman this winter, critics said it was a bad signing due to Hoffman's loss in velocity and age.

After picking up his ninth save of the season Saturday, the critics have been searching for players other than the 41-year old Hoffman to find fault with.

Andruw Jones' career was not supposed to take this turn.

With the Atlanta Braves, Jones was a perennial All Star. During his 12-year stay with the team, he hit .263 with a .342 OBP and 368 home runs. In 2005, he finished second in the MVP voting, leading the league in home runs (51) and RBI (128).

While Jones was a formidable offensive weapon, he was better known as a star in the outfield. It seemed that Jones was a regular on SportsCenter with another incredible sliding or home-run robbing catch seemingly every night.

Well, this was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time before the Arizona Diamondbacks started to turn on their new skipper and themselves.

Friday night, D-Backs starting pitcher Doug Davis had words for new manager A.J. Hinch after Davis was pulled in the seventh inning for a pinch hitter in a loss to the Atlanta Braves. Davis had only thrown 80 pitches, given up four hits, and given up three runs (two earned). Arizona was down by just one.

In-tan-gi-ble (adj.)-

                            1. Incapable of being perceived by the senses

                            2. Incapable of being realized or defined

Everyone is well-aware of the season-long struggles of Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, whose numbers (.208-0-15), would be cause for grumblings even for a player such as Jason Varitek, who struggled heavily last season.

Just a couple of short weeks ago, Cubs fans everywhere were gritting their collective teeth and wondering what was happening. The Cubs were taking a nosedive, and the season had hardly begun. This was an anomaly, because, as all true Cubs fans know, the time for failure with the Cubs is sometime in September.

But that is a story for another day.

I personally was disgusted with the Cubs failure to play good baseball. Then I woke up on Friday and glanced at their record. Guess what? The Cubbies have the same record as they did last year at this time.

Who is this team and what have they done with the New York Mets?

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Last season, the Mets were criticized for losing games late because of their awful bullpen. However, what many did not know is that the bullpen is not completely accountable. The lineup also failed to continue to produce runs after the first few innings.

Let's take a minute to reflect on the greatest baseball players of all time.  You know the guys I'm talking about: Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Henry Aaron.

What do these guys all have in common?

None of them were second basemen.

So does someone want to explain to me why the least important position in baseball has suddenly become the difference-maker for successful teams?

We're already almost halfway to the 2009 MLB All star game. I know, time flies huh?

About one quarter of the way into the season, a lot of players, young and old, are putting up some eye-popping numbers. There's little doubt that some of the current league leaders won't stay there, but I'd like to recognize some of the top performers this far into a young season.

For this piece I'm going to stick with position players.

American League

Catcher - Victor Martinez, Cleveland Indians

On Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Colorado Rockies embarked on a 10-game road trip that, in mid-May, would define whether or not they still had a chance at winning the National League West in 2009.