Patience or Panic on All 30 MLB Teams' Biggest Weakness

The window for putting "but it's still early" asterisks on Major League Baseball's slow starters in 2025 is just about closed, and now it's time to to start thinking about hitting the proverbial panic button on burgeoning weaknesses.

That doesn't mean the hitters presently scuffling below the Mendoza Line or the pitchers with four-digit ERAs are destined to remain there, but we can stop chalking every oddity up to a small sample size.

For each of the 30 teams, we've identified a major weakness. It might be a single player, a certain position group or, well, the sheer existence of the Colorado Rockies. And for each, we'll let you know whether it's time to start panicking.

Teams are broken up by division and presented alphabetically within each division.

Baltimore Orioles: Starting Pitching

There's a fine line between 'slow start that might be alright in due time' and 'getting smacked in the face with the realization that it's simply not in the cards this year.' The O's starting rotation is very much in the latter camp. Everyone they trot out there is either getting shelled or injured. The lone exception is Tomoyuki Sugano, and even his 5.14 FIP suggests that 3.00 ERA isn't built to last.

Tuesday's game in which Kyle Gibson was lit up for nine earned runs before Charlie Morton came on in relief with an ERA north of 10.00 was basically their magnum opus of awful.

Verdict: Full-blown panic, with Grayson Rodriguez recently placed on the 60-day IL.

Boston Red Sox: First Base

Prior to Friday night, the argument here was going to be that the Red Sox might want to consider a change at first base. Because, for the most part, Boston's offense has been as potent as expected. Rafael Devers got out to that brutal start in the first week of the season and Jarren Duran took a bit longer to get rolling, but they've been racking up runs in bunches lately. Only Triston Casas was underachieving.

But after the significant knee injury Casas suffered against the Twins, they have no choice but to find a new plan there. Wouldn't be a surprise to see Devers taking over at first, which would open up the DH spot to the possible promotion of Roman Anthony. Don't want to try to put a silver lining on a major injury, but calling up the best prospect in all of baseball to take the place of a .182 hitter on the active roster could be a blessing in disguise.

Verdict: Patience may be a virtue here.

New York Yankees: RHP Devin Williams

"There's a lot of adjustments that I've had to make, you know, new life stuff that's going on." That's what Williams had to say after his blown save on April 25 and, well, that's technically one way to say that having a newborn at home is tough. (Williams went on paternity leave less than one week into the regular season.)

Remember in 2022 when Josh Hader went on a paternity leave in mid-June and then after initially pitching well upon his return, went through a stretch of nearly two months in which he allowed 25 earned runs in 13 innings pitched? Maybe that's what's going on with Williams, as opposed to the alternative that last October's implosion broke him. The Yankees aren't exercising patience, already bumping him from the closer role. But he'll probably get his mojo and his job back by the All-Star Break.

Verdict: Patience with the Airbender who entered the year with a career 1.83 ERA.

Tampa Bay Rays: Three-fifths of the starting rotation

Both Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen have gotten out to stellar starts for the Rays. Through their combined first 10 starts, each one had a sub-2.50 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP, looking every bit like the first-round draft picks that they were back in 2017, many injuries ago.

That production from Nos. 4 and 5 in the rotation has been a pleasant surprise, though, while the club's other three arms—Taj Bradley, Zack Littell and Ryan Pepiot—have all struggled. And while they assumed until mid-March that former ace Shane McClanahan would be back from his 2023 Tommy John surgery, he has been on the 60-day IL with a nerve issue in his triceps with no indication of when he'll be back.

Verdict: Panic enough to probably be measured sellers at the trade deadline.

Toronto Blue Jays: DH Anthony Santander

Toronto's offense has been quite disappointing in general. Through the end of April, the Blue Jays had scored more than six runs in nine innings just twice, going for eight once and seven once, both against Baltimore's aforementioned disaster of a starting rotation.

But the primary face at the epicenter of those struggles has been the big offseason acquisition who clubbed 44 home runs last season for Baltimore. Santander slugged .506 in 2024, but he had a .524 OPS a few days ago, presently on pace for around 20 home runs. He has notoriously started slow in April throughout his career, though, so we'll at least give him until Memorial Day before we call this contract a total disaster.

Verdict: Patience for at least another couple weeks.

Chicago White Sox: 1B Andrew Vaughn

Vaughn was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft. In each of the past four seasons, he batted at least .235 and hit at least 15 home runs. But there was somewhat reasonable hope that this would be the year he started to legitimately deliver on what were high expectations six years ago, and that he would become a coveted trade chip in what is his next-to-last year of arbitration eligibility.

Instead, Vaughn has gone from "OK" to "Oh no." He does have three home runs, putting him on pace for his usual tally of 15+. However, he's batting .167 with a sub-.500 OPS, and in his current state wouldn't even pique the interest of the many contenders who could use some help at first base or designated hitter.

Verdict: Panic that Chicago might be unable to trade away Vaughn or Luis Robert Jr.

Cleveland Guardians: RHP Emmanuel Clase

Cleveland's closer led the majors in saves in each of the past three seasons, boasting overall marks of 1.62 ERA and 157 saves since the beginning of 2021. It had been Mariano Rivera levels of ninth inning dominance from Clase, who also relies primarily upon a cutter and who finished third in the AL Cy Young vote last year.

However, he ran out of gas last October, allowing eight earned runs in eight innings pitched. And he has yet to bounce back, at least temporarily losing his closing job to Cade Smith as he works through his early woes.

Clase didn't suddenly forget how to throw the cutter, though, and both his velocity and spin rate on it are almost identical to last year. It's probably just a rough stretch of nearly impossible BABIP luck.

Verdict: Patience with a tough four weeks after a great four years.

Detroit Tigers: IF Colt Keith

Thirty six games into his rookie season in 2024, Keith was batting .171 and slugging .197, before turning a corner in mid-May to hit .286 with 13 home runs the rest of the way. And while he was sitting at nearly identical marks of .171 and .200, respectively, 27 games into the current campaign, perhaps a similar surge is forthcoming.

It's fair to worry, though, that the Tigers may have messed with his psyche a bit by signing Gleyber Torres to a one-year deal this winter. Of all the areas where they could have upgraded a bat, they picked the spot where Keith surely felt like he had proven himself over the latter 4.5 months of last year.

Verdict: Patience with the 23-year-old, but maybe a smidgen of panic that terrible Aprils could be the norm here.

Kansas City Royals: Every hitter not named Bobby Witt Jr.

We marveled last year at the Royals making the playoffs despite Witt ending up with more fWAR than the rest of his bat-wielding teammates combined. But with the catching tandem of Sal Perez and Freddy Fermin starting slow while Michael Massey and Vinnie Pasquantino have both taken huge steps backward, KC's offense has become even more of a one-man show than it was in 2024.

Their 'big' offseason move—trading Brady Singer for Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer—has yet to result in a single home run. The only player who is looking better than last year is Maikel Garcia, and even he has already been caught stealing five times after going 37-for-39 in 2024.

Verdict: Panic enough to either trade for a bat ASAP or start thinking about trading away Seth Lugo this summer.

Minnesota Twins: SS Carlos Correa

The real problem here—aside from the distraction of the ongoing effort to sell the franchise—is the fact that Royce Lewis has yet to make his season debut. It has felt for a few years now like the Twins could be a serious contender if they get all of Lewis, Correa and Byron Buxton healthy for a large chunk of a season, but that just never happens.

Of the Twins who have been playing, however, Correa and his exorbitant salary have been a major disappointment. He started to turn things around at the end of April, but through 25 team games, the Twins were 9-16 in no small part because Correa had a .496 OPS and just five RBI on the year.

Verdict: Patience because what other choice is there? He's signed through at least 2028 at north of $30M per year.

Houston Astros: RHP Ronel Blanco

With quite literally an entire starting rotation on the IL—Spencer Arrighetti, Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia, J.P. France and Cristian Javier—there's not a whole lot Houston can do right now about a struggling starting pitcher who is at least healthy. But after his unexpected breakout in 2024, Blanco—whose 4.15 FIP and 4.09 xFIP suggested the 2.80 ERA was a bit of a fluke—has regressed in a big way to the tune of a 5.08 ERA.

His two primary offerings (four seamer and slider) have remained effective, but the other half of his repertoire (curveball and changeup) isn't cutting the mustard. Blanco did have one recent quality start against the Blue Jays, but that was probably more about the sad state of that offense than an indication that he's turning a corner.

Verdict: Patience in the form of waiting for McCullers (on Sunday) and Arrighetti (hopefully before June) to return soon to take Blanco's spot in the rotation.

Los Angeles Angels: Teamwide OBP

Only a handful of teams have hit more home runs this season than the Angels, led primarily by Mike Trout (fingers crossed with that knee injury) and Logan O'Hoppe. They're on pace for around 65 more dingers than last year.

Conversely, only a handful of teams have scored fewer runs than the Angels, who are perpetually blasting solo shots because of an MLB-worst .268 on-base percentage. They also had a teamwide .229 batting average and .301 OBP last season, both of which ranked bottom four in the majors. And, well, adding Tim Anderson to the mix this winter didn't help.

Verdict: Panic about the inevitability of a 10th consecutive losing season.

Seattle Mariners: Rotational Depth

George Kirby has been out with shoulder inflammation since early in spring training, and Logan Gilbert landed on the IL last week (for the first time in his career) with an elbow injury.

They still have Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, which is better than a lot of teams can boast. However, all of a sudden, a Mariners rotation that racked up a dozen more quality starts (92) than the next-closest team last season is looking painfully thin, hoping for the best with Emerson Hancock and rookie Logan Evans until further notice.

Verdict: Patience for as long as Cal Raleigh, Jorge Polanco and the offense continues doing the heavy lifting.

Texas Rangers: Most of the offense, but especially DH Joc Pederson

The Rangers offense finally showed up for 15 runs in Tuesday's victory over the Athletics, but only after mustering a combined total of 12 runs over the previous six games. And they followed it up with a grand total of two runs in their next three games.

Wyatt Langford has been sensational, and both Josh Smith and (before his hamstring injury) Corey Seager are putting in good work. But replacing Nate Lowe with Jake Burger at first base has been disastrous thus far, while veterans Marcus Semien and Joc Pederson are getting a combined $44.5M for sub-replacement production. Outfielders Leody Taveras and Adolis García haven't accomplished much, either.

Verdict: Patience with what ought to be one of the most potent offenses.

Athletics: LHP Jeffrey Springs

In 229 innings pitched over the previous four seasons with Tampa Bay, Springs had a 2.63 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 10.5 K/9. Among pitchers who made at least two starts and logged at least 200 innings pitched during that window, nobody had a lower ERA.

Save for an initial six scoreless innings gem against Seattle, however, Springs has gotten shelled since joining the Athletics, posting a 7.66 ERA over his next five starts—two of which came against the hapless White Sox, no less. The A's have been better than expected in spite of his struggles, but it's hard to imagine this rotation keeping this team in the mix for a winning record if Springs doesn't flip the switch.

Verdict: Panic, but don't expect them to trade away anyone of real value even if they do falter.

Atlanta Braves: RHP Raisel Iglesias

In 69.1 innings pitched last season, Iglesias allowed four home runs, ending up with a 1.95 ERA and converting 34-of-38 save opportunities. It still wasn't enough for an All-Star Game appearance, which means he is now MLB's all-time leader in saves (229) without a single ASG. (Former Braves closer Gene Garber previously held that record with 218.) But it was a great season all the same.

This year, Iglesias allowed five home runs within his first 10 innings, sputtering through easily the worst season of his career. He has a 5.73 ERA, with a 7.71 FIP that suggests he's lucky it isn't much worse. And after striking out at least 25.5 percent of batters faced in every previous season, he's sitting at 22.7 percent with just four Ks in his last seven innings pitched.

Verdict: Panic, as there is no room for frequent blown saves in the National League this year.

Miami Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara

After starting out 8-7, Miami has settled into its expected home in the NL East basement, losing 12 out of 16 games and hemorrhaging runs left and right.

What wasn't expected, though, is how many of those runs would be allowed by the 2022 NL Cy Young winner.

After missing all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Alcantara has been a shell of his former self. His first two outings were respectable, but he has a line of 16.1 IP, 21 H, 20 ER, 13 BB, 8 K over his last four appearances, not even surviving three innings against the Phillies or Dodgers. He was supposed to be the pitcher of note on this year's trade block, but they probably couldn't give him away right now.

Verdict: Patience, because a strong July would make every single buyer with rotation woes happy to overlook a poor April/first half of the season.

New York Mets: Bottom of the Order

The starting rotation has been unbelievably (probably unsustainably) excellent. Pete Alonso is hitting like never before. And while the first month of Juan Soto's $765M contract hasn't been quite what New York was hoping for, he and Francisco Lindor have been solid atop the order.

But they're getting nothing from center field, Mark Vientos has regressed after his breakout 2024 campaign and the Starling Marte/Jesse Winker platoon at DH has been quite the expensive replacement-level solution. If and when Alonso comes back to earth, the Mets might, too.

Verdict: Patience until it actually impacts what was both the best winning percentage and best run differential in the majors on May 1.

Philadelphia Phillies: RHP Jordan Romano and the Bullpen in General

From 2020-23, Romano had a 2.29 ERA, saving 97 games en route to two All-Star Games. He was injured and ineffective last year, but the Phillies bet on him bouncing back. Instead, he has gotten worse, saddled with a 12.19 ERA through his first 12 appearances, already blowing two saves and nearly blowing three others.

The rest of the bullpen hasn't been that bad, but the Phillies did end April with an MLB-worst eight blown saves, headlined by Orion Kerkering's three while he has looked nothing like he did last year. Ranger Suárez makes his season debut on Sunday, though, and Andrew Painter's MLB debut could be coming soon-ish. Maybe that will help.

Verdict: Panic enough to go get a Kenley Jansen or Kyle Finnegan at the deadline.

Washington Nationals: Every Reliever Not Named Kyle Finnegan

Philadelphia's bullpen has been bad, but Washington's has been a travesty. Nine different pitchers have logged at least five innings of relief for the Nationals this season, seven of whom have an ERA of 5.87 or worse. More than half of the bullpen is well north of 7.00. Both Colin Poche and Lucas Sims are above 11.00, the former recently designated for assignment.

Through the end of April, Washington had a 2.90 ERA in each of the third and fourth inning of games, but an 8.42 ERA in the eighth and a 9.29 ERA in the seventh. There haven't been many leads to protect anyway, but that bridge from starters to closer has been more of a bridge to nowhere.

Verdict: Panic, but address it in the offseason, because there's no need to worry about pitching this October.

Chicago Cubs: RHP Ben Brown

The hope heading into spring training was that the Cubs wouldn't even need Brown in the rotation, free to use him in the long-relief, occasional spot-starter role in which Keegan Thompson and Hayden Wesneski served in years past. But with Justin Steele out for the year and Javier Assad nowhere near a return from his grade 2 oblique strain, Brown has had to serve as the No. 4 starter.

And though he did go six shutout innings once against the Dodgers and recently against the Brewers, he has a 4.88 ERA and 1.66 WHIP to show for his turns through the rotation thus far. If he doesn't improve post haste, Chicago may be shopping for multiple starting pitchers this summer.

Verdict: Patience in general, but panic if Brown is still a fixture in the rotation five months from now.

Cincinnati Reds: 1B/3B Jeimer Candelario

Three years, $48M, negative-1.6 bWAR. That's what the Reds have gotten thus far out of the puzzling decision they made to sign Candelario as one of their highest-paid players two winters ago.

He is presently on the IL with a back injury, as is fellow first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand. But that duo was a combined 18-for-137 (.131) when available, meaning the Reds will almost certainly be looking for a first baseman if they are buyers at the trade deadline.

Verdict: Panic, because Cincinnati doesn't have the budget to contend while whiffing on eight-figure salaries.

Milwaukee Brewers: SS Joey Ortiz

With Willy Adames out of the picture, Milwaukee's solution was to slide Ortiz from third base to shortstop, hoping he could build on a rookie season with a .726 OPS and a 2.7 bWAR. But while starting all but one game at short this season, he has a .476 OPS and has already committed four errors.

His bat should come around to some extent. He hit .327/.383/.521 in his two seasons in Triple-A, and he caught fire for a few weeks around this time last year for the Brew Crew. But outside of the Yankees needing to replace Juan Soto with Cody Bellinger, this is shaping up to be the biggest "Wish we still had that guy" situation of the 2025 campaign.

Verdict: Patience for a team that has been better than expected in spite of Ortiz's rough start.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Attendance

For as dreadful as the Colorado Rockies are, they averaged north of 25,000 tickets sold per home game through the end of April, tallying at least 18,500 in all 15 contests.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, averaged fewer than 17,000 tickets sold, checking in below 13,000 in 10 of its 15 games. That includes a mark of 8,291 against the Cardinals and 10,402 against the Nationals...in games started by Paul Skenes. Even on Dollar Dog Day against the Cubs with Skenes on the mound this past Thursday, the announced attendance was 13,633.

Every fan base has a "fair weather" contingent, but when you can't even get butts in seats for home starts by the Cy Young favorite, you've got a serious problem on your hands.

Verdict: Panic that this will be the next franchise with "might relocate to Nashville" rumors.

St. Louis Cardinals: RF Jordan Walker

For the rebuilding Cardinals, maybe the biggest goal of this season is establishing some long-term building blocks. To that end, promising starts from the likes of Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, Brendan Donovan, Thomas Saggese and Matthew Liberatore, all of whom could be staples in St. Louis for at least the next half-decade.

But former top prospect Jordan Walker is struggling yet again, in spite of both bat speed and arm strength that rank among the best in the majors. Both his expected batting average and expected weighted on-base average are alarmingly low, as he is chasing and whiffing even more than last year.

Verdict: Patience for this season, but panic if he doesn't show signs of improvement in the next few months.

Arizona Diamondbacks: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez

On the one hand, at least the pitcher Arizona signed to an $80M contract two offseasons ago is pitching this April. Rodriguez didn't make his 2024 debut until August, giving them just one quality start and a 5.04 ERA in 10 appearances last season.

He isn't pitching well, though, punctuated by an eight-run dud against the Mets in his last start. Though he does have a lower xFIP (3.41) than where he ended any previous season, Rodriguez is 1-3 with a 6.06 ERA, struggling to keep the ball in the yard.

Verdict: Patience for a rotation that should be better than it has been, even though that was also the case last year.

Colorado Rockies: Everything?

The Rockies ended April with a run differential of minus-77, dead last in runs scored and second only to the Marlins in runs allowed. They have yet to win a single series, but did narrowly avoid ending up with the worst record through 30 games in the modern era of Major League Baseball.

It's already looking like a race between Colorado and the White Sox for the worst record in baseball. As was the case with Chicago last year, though, even if the Rockies "win" that race, the highest they can draft is 10th after back-to-back years in the lottery.

Verdict: Panic while enjoying the beer and the view.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Another Relentless Injury Bug

Tony Gonsolin is back, making his first appearance since August 2023 this past Wednesday and logging a quality start against the Marlins. Even so, the Los Angeles Dodgers have a staggering 12 pitchers on the IL right now, plus Shohei Ohtani still building up the arm strength to make his pitching debut as a Dodger.

The good news is they have countless starting pitchers on their payroll, they have a great record and they won it all last year in spite of having almost no healthy starters by October. But they sure have been snake-bitten yet again.

Verdict: Patience, but maybe start investing some of those deferred millions into medical studies on the prevention of pitching injuries.

San Diego Padres: Left Field

While Fernando Tatis Jr. has been "NL MVP" good in right field, San Diego's left field situation has been rather ugly.

Jason Heyward has gotten the largest chunk of starts there, but with a .569 OPS and just one home run to show for it. Tirso Ornelas might be the future in left, but he isn't presently a viable solution. At least they didn't re-sign Jurickson Profar in advance of his 80-game PEDs suspension?

Verdict: Patiently start calling around to see which left fielders will be available this summer.

San Francisco Giants: SS Willy Adames

The starting rotation is also a concern here, with Jordan Hicks and Landen Roupp particularly struggling. But they at least have options there, including calling Kyle Harrison back up or putting thriving long reliever Hayden Birdsong back into the mix.

At shortstop, however, it's "Adames or Bust" for years to come, and it's been "Bust" thus far.

He did homer off Nick Pivetta the other day, and reached base safely in 10 of his final 11 games in April. But he needed that surge to get his early slugging percentage up to a wildly disappointing .300.

Verdict: Patience is the only option here.