After watching them both throw recently it&rsquos the improvement of control and command that has reversed the fortunes of these

 After watching them both throw recently, it’s the improvement of control and command that has reversed the fortunes of these young guns.Both Santana and Lee have dynamite “stuff”, but if you can’t locate in the majors, you are going to get hit. Improved control and trust of their secondary pitches has really been the difference between 2007 and 2008 for these two.Case and point: in nearly 90 combined innings, these two have issued just 11 walks. That will go a long way in improving the always overrated W-L record  3 Tampa Bay is 13-10 against AL East opponents:  Wow. I didn’t really realize this until just now looking it up.  Long time whipping boys of their division, Tampa Bay has more then held its own this year.

While many estimated that Tampa would make strides offensively with Carl Crawford, BJ Upton, and Carlos Pena entrenched in the lineup, few could have predicted just how reliable Tampa Bay’s pitching has been. Despite injuries to front line starters Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza, the Rays pitching is undoubtedly the reason for their early season success. James Shields has anchored the staff, while former 1stRounder Andy Sonnanstine has emerged of late with three straight quality starts. As a staff, the Rays’ arms rank 2nd in the AL in ERA, WHIP, and BAA.  What’s more, long time stopper Troy Percival (39 years young) has been lights out at the end of games, free-agent acquisition (2007) Dan Wheeler has been a dependable set-up man, and Tampa Bay is no longer finding ways to lose games in the late innings. This improved pitching should only get better with staff ace Kazmir back in the mix. 4. Nate McLouth has almost twice as many home runs as Alex Rodriguez.  Ok, so A-Rod has endured some quad problems, but he wasn’t exactly mashing before the injury either.

 McLouth- the blond-haired spark plug at the top of Pittsburgh’s lineup- has been a very pleasant surprise for Pirates fans thus far. With 7 long balls, 3 steals (he’s faster than that), and a batting average in the .320s, McLouth has virtually carried the Pirates on his back through the month of April.  McLouth is on pace for 36HR and 130RBI, and while I don’t think there is ANY way he’ll reach those A-Rod like projections, I do think that he’s in for a career year, something along the lines of 25HR and 35SB.  Something tells me A-Rod will out-produce the little guy in the long run, but for now anyway McLouth has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2008 season  5. The White Sox are much better than most thought they’d be. While everyone was busy hyping the Tigers and Indians this spring, I think some people over-looked the 2005 World Series Champs.

 After their long-awaited title in ‘05, GM Kenny Williams and the South Siders have endured two painfully bad seasons, culminating in last year’s pillow fight with Kansas City for last place in the division on the final weekend of the season.  So in the off-season, Williams made some big moves: He signed OF Nick Swisher for his attitude and on base percentage; signed RP Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink to solidify the atrocious bullpen of’07; off-loaded SP Jon Garland for SS Orlando Cabrera to improve defensively; pried once top-shelf outfield prospect Carlos Quentin from Arizona, and kept his other major pieces intact.  As we stand right now, the White Sox are mired in a 6 game losing streak, yet still sit at 14-16 and 2 games back in the AL Central.Much of this has to do with the emergence of their #4 and #5 starters, John Danks and Gavin Floyd. Both have flirted with no-hitters and have been surprisingly dominant at times. Falling in line behind Mark Buehrle and Javier Vazquez, these two have made a once shaky White Sox rotation quite formidable.  Although the bats have been the cause of several low-scoring losses, their lineup should come around with the warm weather.

Look out for this experienced squad that follows their brash GM and manager: the more they win, the more confident and productive they will become  6. The Yankees highly touted young guns- Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy- have greatly disappointedFor years, the Yankees relied on their monstrous payroll when it came to building a pitching staff. We all remember the signings of Kevin Brown, Javy Vazquez, and the infamous Carl Pavano.  How’d those work out again?Many of these financial gambles crippled the Yankees fiscally while simultaneously hurting the club on the field. Whether or not the New York pressure was simply too much for these talented arms is hard to measure, but what we do know is that a small percentage of these lucrative free-agent signings led to success on the field. Conversely, they hand-cuffed manager Joe Torre and minimized the amount of cost-effective roster space being used.But GM Brian Cashman vowed to change. Realizing that the rival Red Sox, among other teams, were developing young talent to mesh with their sizable payroll, Cashman started off-loading some of his disgruntled veterans, many of whom were making in excess of $10 million per year.