Biggest disappointment and biggest pleasant surprise

[D-train]

Such obvious answers especially based on their 2019 numbers playing on the same team in the same ballpark. Baseball's a trip:

Arkansas 2019
White .293/.350/.488/.838
Lewis .263/.342/.398/.741

Seattle 2020
White .111/.186/.204/.390
Lewis .356/.415/.525/.941

[IStillLoveTheMs]

Surprise: Carl Edwards Jr. - 1.93 ERA w. 6 k's in 4.2 IP w. a .0643 WHIP.

Disappointment: Dee Gordon - .148/.207/.185/.392 at $13.5 million... robbery.

[D-train]

Surprise: Carl Edwards Jr. - 1.93 ERA w. 6 k's in 4.2 IP w. a .0643 WHIP.

Disappointment: Dee Gordon - .148/.207/.185/.392 at $13.5 million... robbery.

Great to see Carl snap back but both his ERA and fip were under 3 in 2018 so can't say I am surprised that he was able to match that in 4+ innings of work.

Dee has sucked since the day he got here and has been in decline ever since so that doesn't surprise me either.

[Donn Beach]

he is still positive bWAR

[D-train]

he is still positive bWAR

fWAR is -0.3. I think that is more in line with a guy with a .392 OPS unless I have missed about a dozen web gems from him.

[DavidGee24]

Surprise: Lewis. I keep waiting for him to fall apart and it doesn't happen. He might really turn out to be a good player. It wasn't just Arkansas, he didn't hit in the minors and he shouldn't be doing what he's doing, yet he is.

Disappointment: Who to choose from the .100 Club? Vogie has completely lost it, Gordon is just Figging us at this point. Maalox is also Figging us at a much younger age. With those three it was pretty much expected. White is my biggest disappointment, he shouldn't be this awful at the plate.

[D-train]

It is pretty common that guys who can hit AA pitching can't hit MLB pitching. That's what scares me about White.

It isn't very common that guys that were barely mediocre in AA destroy MLB pitching. That's what scares me about Lewis.

[AT Funchal-Madeira]

I don't take a lot of stock either way in the first couple weeks of a rookie playing.... Arod wasn't much his first year... and Vogelbach had a great half-season till the league developed book on him.... so White and Lewis are still question marks for me although I like both their defense and the demonstrated power and speed. Let's see about their development the rest of the season and next year.

For me, greatest disappointment is Vogelbach.... clearly very little offensive value and zero defensive value since mid-season 2019. As for improvement and biggest pleasant surprise, it would be Crawford... his patience and bat control at the plate, his throwing arm, his defense, his leadership...it seems to have all started to come together for him... I think we may have found our shortstop for the next 5-6 years at least.

[Donn Beach]

White made some adjustments last season that produced a lower rate of groundballs than he had over his first year-plus in pro ball. That's a promising sign if he's going to tap into his above-average raw power and deliver more than 10 to 12 home runs annually. He's employed a more patient approach against big-league pitching than one might expect he would based on his Double-A walk rate (7.2 percent), and it's possible he has his eyes on making a trade, and swapping in some power and patience at the cost of more strikeouts and a lower average.

It would be overstating things to write that White's offensive production doesn't matter this season. It's more fair to write that he should be graded with context in mind. He's coming almost directly from Double-A; he's trying to alter his game; and he's doing all that during an odd, tenuous season that could be scrapped at any given time.

If White can overcome all that, then more power to him; if not, well, he should be given a mulligan. And he's still likely to be fun to watch on defense.

[D-train]

I don't take a lot of stock either way in the first couple weeks of a rookie playing.... Arod wasn't much his first year... and Vogelbach had a great half-season till the league developed book on him.... so White and Lewis are still question marks for me although I like both their defense and the demonstrated power and speed. Let's see about their development the rest of the season and next year.

For me, greatest disappointment is Vogelbach.... clearly very little offensive value and zero defensive value since mid-season 2019. As for improvement and biggest pleasant surprise, it would be Crawford... his patience and bat control at the plate, his throwing arm, his defense, his leadership...it seems to have all started to come together for him... I think we may have found our shortstop for the next 5-6 years at least.

Yes, Crawford had been a positive but he hit like that last June and played D like that for most of last season so less of a surprise.