SI.com's Jacob Luft tackles a few issue from around the majors.

BQ	Can Tim Wakefield start and close games for the Red Sox?

The odds against Tim Wakefield winning 20 games and saving another 20 are wicked high. AP It took all of 12 games for Grady Little to lose faith in his committee of closers. In case you missed it, Tim Wakefield, the Red Sox's No. 2 starter, pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Derek Lowe on Sunday and picked up the team's second save of the season in a 2-0 victory over the Orioles. Before Wakefield's relief appearance, Boston's bullpen had blown two of three save opportunities, compiling a 6.69 ERA in 40 innings of work. While knuckleball pitchers have always been workhorses (Wilbur Wood and Phil Niekro each topped 300 innings four times), asking Wakefield to pitch every fifth day and work out of the bullpen the other four is unrealistic. Assuming Boston can't find a go-to-guy in the ninth inning, Wakefield could be summoned once -- maybe twice -- between starts. However, when asked if he could handle double duty, Wakefield didn't back down: "Whatever the job is, I'll do whatever it takes to help us win, but we've got a lot of arms down there." Yeah. A lot of unproven arms with ugly stats. For now, Wakefield is the chairman of the committee.

BQ	Exactly how valuable are stolen bases?

Statheads have generally accepted that a stolen base increases the chance of scoring a run by 15-20 percent, and a caught stealing decreases the chance of scoring a run by 40 to 60 percent. They are fun to watch, but in and of themselves, stolen bases by the truckloads will only add one to two wins to a team's win total per season. That isn't anything new. Enter Texas A&M economist Theodore L. Turocy, who does some high-falutin' math to basically say the same thing, but with a wrinkle. He uses John Beautiful Mind Nash's game theory to argue the following: In the relatively few times when an expert base stealer is on first base, the current batter's production increases by 10 to 15 percent. Thus, the threat of the stolen base is critical to a team's success. "Complete ignorance of stolen base ability in constructing a team's offense would have extremely deleterious effects on winning percentage," he concludes. (All you eggheads can click here for the full report.) Could this be one of the reasons why the plodding Athletics -- who have finished last, second to last, and last in steals the past three years -- keep getting bounced in Game 5 of the Division Series? It's something to think about.

BQ	Does Montreal realize that baseball season has started?

The Expos don't play their first game in Canada until April 22. Meanwhile, the NHL playoffs are under way with the Leafs, Canucks, Senators and Oilers in action. Oh, and Mike Weir just became the first Canadian to win a major golf title -- the Masters, no less. MLB officials certainly aren't worried about the nation's feelings -- they are too happy raking in the cash from an attendance total of 65,657 in the Expos' first four games in Puerto Rico.

BQ	Where's the coolest place to watch a game?

With Fenway Park opening those bar-stool seats on top the Green Monster, it brings to mind the other nontraditional places to watch a game. The rooftops across the street from Wrigley Field, the pool in Arizona (by definition, it has to be "cool") and the hotel in Skydome's center field are all special in their own way. But our vote has to go to San Francisco's McCovey Cove, on a sailboat with the play-by-play coming through the radio. Technically, this may not constitute "watching" the game, but you can't beat the view.

BQ	Where would the Mets be without Ty Wigginton?

This one is easy: last place. That's where they are right now, and that's with the 25-year-old rookie leading the team in batting average (.311), on-base percentage (.455) and slugging (.578). And he's playing a surprisingly steady third base, which makes him look like Brooks Robinson reincarnated compared to his hands-of-stone teammates.