27 storylines in MLB this week: The rise of the replacement players

A weekly look at some of the interesting statistics, storylines, and general anecdotes from around the league.

1. It's hard to believe we're already more than a quarter of the way through the season. Remember back in December when baseball seemed so far away and there were so many trades and signings that it felt like almost every single team was improving? There's more of the season left than not, but a lot of those big moves are already paying off in a big way.

2. We'll get to some of those in a moment, but what about the replacements who haven't worked out so well for teams thus far? Casey McGehee just got DFA'd, Will Middlebrooks has a .642 OPS, and Michael Saunders is ... well, Michael Saunders.

3. Moving on to bigger names: Matt Kemp, Jason Heyward, and Hanley Ramirez have all been slow to provide their new team with an adequate return on its investment. Each player is sporting a career-low OBP and together the trio has produced a combined -0.8 wins above replacement. Heyward, at least, is helping his team in the field - the same can't always be said of Kemp and Ramirez.

4. And that's Hanley Ramirez, not Manny. The two can be awfully hard to tell apart these days at Fenway, regardless of whether it's at the plate or in the field. Hanley, however, has remained true to himself by weaving and bobbing his way out of the underachieving Boston Red Sox lineup, while his inconsistent performance when he is playing is evident in his lopsided monthly splits.

5. Then there's Boston's much-maligned rotation, which owns the second-worst ERA (5.17) in baseball behind the Rockies (5.19). Self-described Cy Young winner Joe Kelly saw his ERA (6.24) shoot up by more than a run Monday after getting shelled by the Minnesota Twins for seven runs on eight hits over 1 2/3 innings. And to think he had a better start than Jeremy Guthrie ...

6. Who, in just 16 batters on Monday, gave up as many homers and doubles as A.J. Burnett's allowed all year.

7. Good thing the Pittsburgh Pirates re-acquired the 38-year-old to replace Edinson Volquez. Burnett's only pitching to career-best marks in ERA, WHIP, and FIP.

8. Burnett's bread and butter has always been missing bats, but the 17-year veteran says he's only focusing on the "outs" part of the equation this season. "I'm not trying to strike everybody out," Burnett told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I’m going to get my strikeouts when I need them."

Make no mistake, Burnett's still getting whiffs when he wants. He's poised to pass the likes of Jamie Moyer, Andy Pettitte, Jack Morris, and Don Drysdale before the season is over, and appears likely to finish his career as a top-30 all-time strikeout leader.

9. Fellow leaderboard chaser Alex Rodriguez, meanwhile, is striking out, walking, and hitting the ball at a slightly better clip than when we last saw him in 2013, but some of the similarities are almost remarkable. Here's A-Rod after 42 games:

Yes, he's hitting much harder balls this season, resulting in more extra-base hits, but his groundball rate is the same and he's lining the ball less frequently. Health, however, has been A-Rod's biggest improvement, and as long as he stays on the field, he'll reach 3,000 career hits in no time ...

10. With 2,977, A-Rod is 23 hits away from becoming the 29th player of all time to find green 3,000 times. Trivia: Which active player under 30 has the most career hits? Answer: 11 outs away.

11. Back to A-Rod, who may or may not be tied with Babe Ruth for all-time RBIs, depending on where you look. Unless you subscribe to Elias Sports Bureau (the official statistician of MLB), you won't find a leaderboard anywhere with A-Rod and Ruth tied for fourth on the career list (the discrepancy exists because RBIs were not an official stat until 1920). Despite everyone's best efforts to avoid recognizing A-Rod's milestones this season, he could very well be the second-greatest run producer by this time next week.

12. Joey Votto, the poster boy for anti-RBI sentiment, is simply too busy making ridiculous double plays to care about your statistical argument ...

13. One topic generating plenty of debate this week is whether pitchers should be allowed to use a substance in an effort to grip the ball better. Red Sox manager John Farrell thinks so, but the most interesting commentary on the matter comes from a hitter. Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman:

Every pitcher does it. As a hitter, you want them to do it so they'll have a better grip so we won't get hit in the head. But just hide it better next time (referring to Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Will Smith)

14. Which brings us to Clay Buchholz, who's evidently doing something right this year:

Yes, you read that correctly.

15. No double takes needed when looking at Josh Hamilton's box score from Monday's 2015 season debut. The five-time All-Star and former MVP struck out twice in four plate appearances in his first major-league action since Sept. 16, 2014. Hamilton's coming off a career-high 28.3 percent strikeout rate.

16. Getting back to replacement players (the good kind), Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin are keeping the last-place Toronto Blue Jays afloat in the worst division in baseball. Where would the 21-26 Blue Jays be without their All-Star acquisitions? Judging by FanGraphs WAR, which has the pair worth a combined 4.3 wins this season, Toronto would have an AL-worst 17 wins without them ...

17. ... tied with, fittingly, the Oakland A's. Donaldson's former team isn't faring well with its "trade our best players" approach to the offseason, and the disparities between the two centerpieces from that November blockbuster couldn't be more glaring. The 25-year-old Brett Lawrie ranks last in WAR and 19th in OPS out of 23 qualified third basemen in the majors.

18. Replacement-level WAR (0.0) provides a floor for context when trying to determine a player's contributions to his team, but that doesn't mean clubs are only looking to replace players worth zero wins. Take Toronto, for example: Dioner Navarro produced 2.0 fWAR last season, placing him slightly below the middle of the pack among American League catchers with a minimum of 300 plate appearances. Martin, the Blue Jays' $82-million replacement, has already been just as valuable as Navarro was for the 2014 season in 98 fewer games.

19. The Philadelphia Phillies opted not to replace Ryan Howard (through no lack of effort), but their front-office failure has resulted in on-field success. Howard's average, slugging, ISO and, most importantly, trade value is as high as it's been in years. Put your hand up if you said Howard would be a better hitter than Giancarlo Stanton for the first two months of the season.

20. From one resurgence to another, how about Prince Fielder? He's got as many home runs over the past week as this next guy has all season ...

21. Not that you expected Billy Butler to have more than four home runs after 46 games. And you most certainly didn't expect him to be the active leader in hits (under the age of 30) with 1,323.

22. Try wrapping your head around this: Mike Trout is almost halfway to Butler less than halfway through his age-23 season. ICYMI: He's the best player in baseball.

23. It would be completely unfair to compare Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson to Trout, but that's exactly what we're about to do. Through 44 games in their first full seasons:

24. While Pederson would love to find himself in the same company as Trout, perhaps Jack Cust is a more appropriate comparison - at least as it relates to Three True Outcome rates, which measures the percentage of plate appearances in which a player's walked, homered or struck out. Sports Illustrated's Jay Jaffe looked at Pederson earlier this month and noted the 23-year-old was on pace for the highest single-season TTO for a batting title qualifier. Through play Monday, his 54.2-percent mark (6.7 HR%, 17.3 BB%, 30.2 K%) is now sandwiched between Ryan Howard (2007) and Rob Deer (1991) for eighth all time.

25. Remember back when Matt Kemp was a legitimate B.P.I.B. candidate? Just last year, Kemp's second-half surge gave optimism that his bat was still strong enough to withstand a surgically-repaired lower half. And then Los Angeles paid the San Diego Padres more than $30 million to take him so that Pederson could assume his spot in the Dodgers' outfield.

26. Kemp hasn't hit a homer since April 18, he's got a lower OPS than Ben Revere, and he's been even worse away from offense-suppressing Petco Park, creating 51 percent fewer runs than league average at visiting ballparks.

27. It's been that sort of year in San Diego, where everything is the opposite of what you'd expect. Padres pitchers own a better ERA on the road than at home, James Shields leads the league in strikeouts - and home runs allowed - while Craig Kimbrel has given up more runs in 43 fewer innings than ... you guessed it ... A.J. Burnett.

- Videos courtesy: MLB.com
- Stats courtesy: Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs, Brooks Baseball