Maybe it’s because I’m a heavy-set guy who loves to eat, but the MLB offseason and spring kind of reminds me of going out to eat with a group of friends. The wintertime GM meetings and free agent movement is like deciding on where you’re going to go – “I dunno. Where do you want to go? What are you in the mood for? Nah, can’t go there, his wife is allergic to shellfish. OK, how about…?”

You finally decide on a place – we’ll call it The WBC Spring Club (for obvious reasons) – and now you’ve got all your friends sitting around some big table, just yammering on. You’re all happy, you’re throwing down some drinks and while that’s all happening, you realize 40 minutes have rolled by, you’re starving and all you’re doing is filling up on bread. Yeah, that’s right, WBC. You’re nothing but filler for me.

Finally, the waiter comes around, takes your order and you patiently wait for the food to arrive. Everyone else is talking and having a grand old time but all you keep thinking about is stuffing your fat face. Seriously, that’s me with baseball. The WBC served its purpose, spring training was nice, but I’m ready to strap on the ol’ feedbag and get going. Garcon!! Bring me my baseball games!

Well, something is better than nothing and that appetizer we now refer to as, what…? Opening Day? Opening Night? I’m a little confused as to what it is. Not like salad after the meal confused but more like, why can’t we just get all the food at once? If we’re going to have games throughout the day and into the evening, why just three? Am I not able to focus on more? Is this appetizer you are bringing me just a tease? Trust me…I can handle the buffet.

Nevertheless, Sunday is now over, the empty appetizer plates are cleared and the waiter just dropped a steak knife in front of me that’s the size of a machete you carry into the jungle with you. Bring it on, I say. Slap that Fred Flintstone-sized cut of beef in front of me and let me have at it. Give me my main course!

Welcome to Monday! Welcome to the true Opening Day and welcome to The Morning Buzz!

You did a very wise thing, subscribing to the Seasonal Playbook Pro, my friends. The extra content you’re going to receive this season is going to be out-freaking-standing! As I stated in the content outline for the subscription package, I’ll be coming at you every morning with this article. We’ll discuss all the happenings in MLB, not just from the day before, but also some of the trends we see developing during the course of the regular season. I may splash some DFS stuff in here every now and again, but this column has been earmarked to help you bring home a championship in your season-long leagues.

Granted we’re sitting here at Day 1A, so trends are not going to be all that abundant, however, there are definitely some things from yesterday’s festivities I thought were worth sharing.

Let’s start with the obvious – brutal day for Masahiro Tanaka. Brutal. After such a dominant spring, this was not the way the Yankees nor his fantasy owners wanted to open up the season. But let’s not get crazy here and let’s not overreact. Sometimes a guy just doesn’t have it and while that sucks in the short-run, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, we say this from Tanaka in 2015 on Opening Day when he coughed up five runs (four earned) over four innings to the Blue Jays. Even last year’s Opening Day was just meh as he lasted just 5.2 innings and gave up two runs. So while we weren’t exactly predicting a flop of this caliber, maybe we shouldn’t have set expectations as high based on a strong spring. Hindsight is always 20/20, so all we can do is move on and trust the process. He’ll be just fine.

Same goes for Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird. You think the combined 0-for-9 had anything to do with nerves? Um, yeah. Probably. Starting catcher and starting first baseman for the Yankees? Batting second and third on Opening Day? Yeah, I’d call that pressure. Good thing they have an off-day Monday to stew about it. Yeesh.

Quick shout out to my man Gus a.k.a. @TrublWitDCurve! I cited my usual, look at the size of Brett Gardner’s melon and equated it to Megamind. He quickly countered here:

 

 

What is up with the Rays using Corey Dickerson as a leadoff hitter? The guy owns a career .326 OBP and over a total of 140 plate appearances out of the leadoff spot, he’s posted a .230/.295/.373 slash line. Even fantasy owners can’t be too thrilled about it considering you drafted him for his home runs and RBI. I can’t see this lasting too long, but after talking to Marc Topkin from the Tampa Bay Times, I’m wondering if I’m the crazy one or if it’s manager Kevin Cash. Apparently Dickerson will lead off against righties and Steven Souza is the plan against southpaws. Yeesh! Here’s hoping Mallex Smith forces them into keeping him up with the big club and eventually sneaking into the leadoff spot.

Major props thrown Chris Archer’s way. I discussed his swing-and-miss stuff and improved use of his slider during the second half in yesterday’s Daily Bender and while the Yankees fan in me crept out and sided against the Rays hurler, you really have to love the way he pitched. It’s just one start, but it’s hard not to get excited about the possibility of him putting 2016 completely behind him and serving up ace-like numbers at a relative bargain draft price.

Madison Bumgarner (your current home run leader) looked outstanding on the bump. Zack Greinke looked okay, but not nearly as awful as so many people thought. But the real story in this game was…no, not A.J. Pollock’s elbow staying intact….the immediate panic a couple of blown saves can cause. Mark Melancon was brought in to stop the bullpen bleeding the Giants had been dealing with over the last few seasons and BOOM! After two quick outs, he falls apart. That collapse came on the heels of Fernando Rodney being unable to keep the game tied. Try not to panic and remember, Melancon isn’t going anywhere and considering the blah corps of relievers in the D-Backs pen right now, Rodney probably has a longer leash than usual.

And speaking of blown saves, how awful an ending was that to the Cubs/Cards game? Carlos Martinez looked insane, Jon Lester was rock solid and the game was just an outstanding pitcher’s duel. Sadly, Seung-Hwan Oh had a rough time and served up a dinger to Wilson Contreras. Now I’m not going to lie…I have shares of Contreras so I was over the moon happy. Still, you never want to see a closer struggle right from the onset. Based on last year’s performance I’m not concerned at all, but now that’s three closers with two blown saves and three bad performances in two games. Sure glad I’m not writing the Bullpen Report this year!

As for today’s action, just sit back and enjoy. Start your studs and don’t start overthinking your starting pitcher match-ups. We need a lot more data from this season before we start driving ourselves crazy. Trust in your draft. Trust in the fact that you did the proper research to build a contending team. We’ve got a long way to go before you look to hit the panic button.

Personally, I like to give my team a full month before I start making any real plans to trade. I’ll pick off the waiver wire here and there, but I’m not ready to start changing up the roster too soon. Of course, if you’ve got a jumper in your league, maybe you can take advantage of that. If that’s the case, find the deal that works best for you and give him a push off the ledge. Fantasy panic in April will only lose you your league, so just stay the course and you’ll be fine.

Now go watch some baseball and I’ll see you all in the money this year!