By Sean Deveney

updated 10:21 p.m. ET May 14, 2008

Sean Deveney

Here we are, nearly at May's midpoint, just about a quarter of the way through the baseball season. That means we have three-quarters of a season left (I'm a math wiz), but already, there are a few things that can be gleaned from what we have seen.

1. Mitchell Report? What Mitchell Report?
Credit MLB and the Players Association for making some progress on the recommendations laid out in the Mitchell Report. But let's face it — the dire repercussions some predicted in December are not going to come to fruition. The occasional wisenheimer might crack jokes at Eric Gagne or Andy Pettitte, but for the most part, players named in the report have been met with shrugs from road crowds and cheers at home. Lasting consequences of the Mitchell Report, and of the Steroids Era in general, will be tighter testing and some difficult decisions for future Hall of Fame voters.

2. The Red Sox look ready to repeat.
Offense: David Ortiz is out of his slump, Mike Lowell is back, Kevin Youkilis is on a roll, and they're making the Coco Crisp-Jacoby Ellsbury thing work. Starting pitching: Daisuke Matsuzaka has pitched like an ace, Josh Beckett has rounded into form, Tim Wakefield is eating innings, and Jon Lester has been solid. Bullpen: OK, this could be a problem. Manager Terry Francona only trusts five relievers, and each of those five guys has 17 or 18 appearances, among the most in the American League. Boston reshuffled the pen about this time last year, though, and it's doing it again, starting by designating Julian Tavarez for assignment.

3. Teams are taking chances by playing young pitchers.
Note that, above, I did not mention Boston's Clay Buchholz. He has been a different pitcher form start to start. Phil Hughes, meanwhile, was put on the DL almost in lieu of being sent down by the Yankees. Chad Billingsley, Andrew Miller, Felix Hernandez, Nick Adenhart, Ian Kennedy, Jesse Litsch, Matt Cain, Johnny Cueto, Kyle Kendrick ... if you are going to rely on a guy who is 23 or younger, be prepared for inconsistency. The best of the youngsters have been two guys who don't get much attention: John Danks of the White Sox and Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens.

4. Things are looking sunny in Florida.
They still need stadiums, but the Marlins and Rays are winning. The Miguel Cabrera-Dontrelle Willis trade is starting to look like a steal for Florida, who can use the players they got in return to build around Hanley Ramirez — probably the best player in the National League. The Rays are loaded with young players and have an organization stocked with pitchers. Both teams have been doling out sizable contracts, too, so the talent might be there to stay.

5. What a disappointment the A.L. Central is.
The Indians can't hit, and the Tigers can't pitch. The bet here is Cleveland will fix its problems and win the division. Detroit won't.

6. Ditto the N.L. West.

7. The Mets still need a jolt.
There was some expectation that, after the way things ended last year, the Mets — with Johan Santana on their side — would come out with laser focus every day, ready to just knock the stuffing out of the N.L. It hasn't happened. There have been injuries, to be sure, but there has also been a certain lifelessness about this team that is baffling. Perhaps they're saving their bullets for September this time, but it's hard to call them the favorites in the East at this point.

8. Big name manager? So what?
Dusty Baker brought some hope for a turnaround to the Reds, but so far, he's presiding over one of the worst teams in baseball. Has he already lost interest here? Baker suffered one of the great embarrassments for a major-league manager when his team batted out of order on Sunday. And in the West, Joe Torre has the Dodgers in contention, but they're only 19-19 (they were 23-15 at this point last year) and Torre has had no luck getting through to Andruw Jones. That's not his fault, but it is his burden.

9. Some of these All-Stars need a wakeup call.
Jones tops this list. Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is still slumping, too, and it's about time he pulled out of it. Robinson Cano is batting just .183. Travis Hafner's .223 average looks good by comparison, but he has 35 strikeouts and just three home runs.

10. Chipper Jones will never retire.
Not at this pace, anyway. He's batting .415, and ranks fourth in the N.L. homers (10) and RBIs (31). Before the season, Jones — who is 36 — said he wanted to play in 150 games this year. So far, he has been in 36 of 38.

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