• MLB is looking into why teams made no offers to Bonds ... what do you think and will he play this season?
• Derrick Turnbow was released by Milwaukee and the Mets may be interested ... Is he worth taking a flyer on or is it time to stick a fork in him?
• If you are Phillies fan, should you be worried about Ryan Howard?
• The first month of the season is over with, who was the most surprising team and who was the most disappointing team?
• New weekly feature - John Brattain's top 5 teams

Well, I have made no bones about my feelings regarding collusion toward Barry Bonds. I find it laughable that GM's like J.P. Ricciardi are talking about integrity while at the same time most likely being involved in an illegal act that may cost a team a chance at the post season. It’s expected that players do everything in their power (within the rules) to win so why isn’t the same standard applied to all? If a GM chooses not to do something preferring to lose games then that’s a huge breach of faith to the fan base. There were rumours in 1920 that the White Sox were trying to throw the season--well, to me Ricciardi is, in effect, indirectly throwing the season. The Jays have scary good pennant level pitching yet Ricciardi refuses to make the most logical upgrade to the offense.

What many forget regarding collusion that the fans were very recently colluded against by the owners, players, commissioner, union and the media. Since the fans were outside the collective bargaining agreement they had no recourse. The media didn’t report on it because doing so would reveal their complicity.

I am speaking of course of performance-enhancing drugs in the game. The owners and union told us repeatedly that steroids were not a problem in the sport. The media faithfully parroted the company line despite what was going on before their very eyes. Back in 2001, I could see that a number of players looked suspiciously like roiders and I wasn’t even a regular on the beat. We were told that there were a few, very few isolated bad apples and the record-shattering performances occurring before our very eyes were accomplished naturally. When a player stood up and said that steroids were rampant, everybody closed ranks and questioned their integrity or grasp on reality. When a reporter (Steve Wilstein) ’spilled the juice’ on Mark McGwire’s androstenedione usage life became miserable for him. It took five years and the BALCO raid to finally shed light on how epidemic it was within the game.      

Therefore, I have little difficulty in asserting collusion in this instance. The thing is ... law-enforcement looks for three things when assessing whether a person may have committed a crime--means, motive and opportunity.

Bud Selig has all three of these elements:

Means: he’s commissioner with a lot of clout with ownership--plus he’s done a lot of favours for various owners and they realize they owe Selig. Motive: getting back at Bonds for breaking his friend Hank Aaron’s record while being a constant, visible reminder of his own failure in addressing performance-enhancing drugs. Opportunity: Bonds is a free agent who is 43 years old and with both legal (although there’s almost zero chance he’ll stand trial this season) and recent health issues. These provide a smokescreen giving Selig and the clubs plausible deniability. During the collusive period under Peter Ueberroth, it was the game’s alleged poverty and threats of bankruptcy (coupled with cooked books) that provided the cover/deniability.

Selig has been part of three confirmed collusions--the one when Peter Ueberroth was commissioner (and Selig was referred to as a “leading proselytiser” of the movement), the one when the clubs paid the players a modest settlement after the most recent CBA was ratified and finally the aforementioned one regarding PED use within the sport. The best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour so draw your own conclusions.

I don’t think Bonds plays this year--Selig will be quite content to pay treble damages if found guilty plus he feels public opinion regarding Bonds is such that he’ll be given a pass for his unofficial banning of Barry Lamar.

Derrick Turnbow was released by Milwaukee and the Mets may be interested ... Is he worth taking a flyer on or is it time to stick a fork in him?

I don’t think he’s done since he has a K/9 of 10.9 since Opening Day 2006--he still throws hard. However, his ERA since then is 6.13 and his BB/9 is a nasty 6.75; he’s only enjoyed one good season (2005). Why he has never developed any kind of consistent command is beyond me. Right now, the Phillies have the second best bullpen in the NL and adding his live arm might not be a bad idea. His 13 BB/6.3 IP would require that he be given garbage innings until he can get his BB/9 down to at least 4.5. I definitely would not use him in the middle of an inning with men on base.

Part of me wonders if he’s injured. The thing is--if the Phillies wish to add him it would be as insurance. A lot would depend on whether Turnbow would accept a role where he’d be utilized as a mop-up reliever until he demonstrates that he can throw strikes on a consistent basis.    

If you are Phillies fan, should you be worried about Ryan Howard?

Not yet--last year on this day Howard was batting .198/.378/.396 with five HR; he’s still drawing his share of walks and the home run power is still there. It’s just another slow start and I expect he’ll heat up with the weather.  

The first month of the season is over with, who was the most surprising team and who was the most disappointing team?

Well, to me there have been three truly surprising clubs this year in light of preseason expectations: The Florida Marlins, the Oakland A’s and the St. Louis Cardinals. The five disappointments from my point of view are the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. I’m excluding the Rays since their solid play early isn’t all that shocking--to me. I predicted they’d make life miserable for the AL East while playing better than .500 ball and are fulfilling prognostications.

Now, let’s knock these lists down--first, the Fish, Cards and A’s. All three were said to be in rebuilding mode and the A‘s and Marlins traded off significant talent for prospects. That being the case, we can knock off the Cards since they’re just two seasons removed from a World Series championship and still had significant talent on the roster. They’re not a small revenue team and play in a new ballpark hence a rebuild can be done more quickly. This leaves us with the Marlins and A’s.    

Even rebuilding teams will put together some hot streaks--the Marlins are doing it with power and a lights-out bullpen. These are subject to wild variation over the course of a season so their run is most likely an anomaly. The A’s however have the top rotation (3.31 ERA), bullpen (2.68 ERA), in the loop and are third in runs scored (161) and OBP (.339)--nobody, and I mean nobody saw that coming. Therefore the A’s are my pick as the surprise team of 2008.

Many picked the Toronto Blue Jays to finish behind Tampa Bay (I was not among them, hence my disappointment) and Seattle, despite a terrific rotation and snappy defense were expected to struggle scoring runs--however I don’t think anybody thought they’d be well below .500 at this point. Consider them mild disappointments at the moment. Like the Blue Jays, I felt the Reds were (and may still be) a dark horse team so they’re disappointing from my own point of view.

This leaves the AL Central’s Indians and Tigers.

Both of these clubs looked as if they were going to slug it out atop the division all year (and probably still will) however the Tigers picked up an Alex Rodriguez-level bat in Miguel Cabrera to add to an already potent lineup. When you factor in that after 34 games they have suffered through a seven and five game losing streak (accounting for 60 percent of their losses) I would have to pick the Tigers as the biggest disappointment to date--if course being in last place doesn’t help either.

New weekly feature - John Brattain's top 5 teams

Why was I not consulted about this! I’m going to have to talk to my agent after I take him for his walk. Be forewarned Mike, he’ll lay a major whomping on your leg. Still--if I gotta, I gotta…

Just to make sure this generates maximum controversy I am going to go with my strength and do something very, very dumb. I will come up with my own system for the ’power rankings’ and let the chips fall where they may. The easiest thing would be to chart wins and losses but where’s the fun in that? I will check all playoff-at-this-point-in-time teams and see where they are currently ranked league wide in six categories: runs scored, total bases, OPS+, Pythagorean W-L, starters ERA, relievers ERA and ERA+. I will add up their relative placements (1st, 2nd 3rd) and tally the numbers--whichever team has the highest aggregate placing will be atop the standings, followed by the second, third, fourth etc.

The envelope please! Drum roll! ... 5. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Boston Red Sox
3. Oakland A’s
2. Chicago Cubs
1. Arizona Diamondbacks    

Here’s the methodology/breakdown for my power rankings this week (riff from "Pyscho")…

League ranking (OPS+, ERA+ and Pythag are versus candidates not league*)

Team     Runs ToB OPS+ Pyg  ERA (st)ERA (pen)ERA+ TOT
D-Backs   2    3   4    1    5     1        1      17 
Cubs      1    1   1    1    3     8        3      18 
A's       4    8   3    1    1     1        1      19
Red Sox   1    1   1    2    4    12        2      23
Cards     6    7   2    2    2     5        4      28
Angels    2    2   2    3    6    13        3      31
Phils     4    2   6    3    9     2        5      31
Fish      9    4   3    4   15     4        6      45
Twins    13   12   4    4   11     4        4      52 

Best Regards

John