Notes From Camp

After being traded twice and only playing 94 big league games since '05, things are finally looking up for Andy Marte. AP

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• Scouts have been struck by how poor Miguel Tejada looks at shortstop for Houston. "Forget getting to balls, I'm talking about routine plays," said one. "They've got a chance to be pretty bad."

• The Indians appear to have one of the deeper rosters in the league, especially now that third baseman Andy Marte, who is out of minor league options, is stinging the ball. "All the reasons and evaluations we made when we traded for him are still there," GM Mark Shapiro said.

• Tampa Bay is remaining coy about where rookie third baseman Evan Longoria will start the season. "He'll be a big league player -- soon," manager Joe Maddon said. "And probably an All-Star for several years." Longoria impressed the Rays again last week when he came off the bench and turned around an inside fastball from Toronto reliever Jeremy Accardo for a long home run. The kid is their best option at third base, but Tampa Bay may want to delay the start of his service time clock by giving him two months in the minors -- which could mean millions of dollars in savings if a club can postpone arbitration and free agent eligibility by one year.

• And here is Maddon on the Toronto staff, even minus Casey Janssen: "They probably have the best pitching in the division."

• For whatever it's worth -- and I think it means something to an organization trying to change its culture -- no team is playing with more energy this spring than the Rays.

• Here's one AL executive on Yankees righthander Ian Kennedy: "In the American League he looks to me like he'll be a No. 5 starter, not a 2 or 3. He has to be so perfect with his stuff every time, and when he's not perfect he's going to get hit." Kennedy, though, is one of those pitchers who grows on you. While his stuff is ordinary, his command is exceptional, and he somehow has the knack of being able to get hitters to miss 89 mph fastballs up in the zone, like former big leaguers Mike Boddicker or Pat Hentgen.

• There's a growing consensus around the Grapefruit League that Atlanta may be the best team in the NL East, partly because the Mets haven't been able to field many of their regulars at the same time, the Phillies seem short of starting pitching even before the season starts and the Braves have the deepest inventory of pitching in the division.

• Let me get this straight: the Dodgers and Padres fly halfway around the world to introduce major league baseball to the Chinese and they give them the gift of . . . a tie game? Why not just overnight a re-gifted fruitcake.

• The Red Sox played .667 ball last April (16-8) and had a four-game lead in the AL East by the end of the month. Not likely to happen again. Starting today, Boston has 10 days on and seven days off in the next 17 days, then plays virtually three weeks straight, including series with the Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees and Angels. The Sox will play Opening Day or home opener games in four cities (Tokyo, Oakland, Toronto, Boston) over three countries; that's a lot of miles, anthems, festivities, days off and time zone changes. "The one thing we won't do," Boston manager Terry Francona said of the globetrotting schedule, "is use it as an excuse."

• The most noticeable difference in Yankees camp this spring from last is that Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi came to camp in good, game-ready shape. Giambi looks as agile around first base as he has in years.