Some people around baseball continue to say that spring training is pointless, but it is far from pointless.  It is the only time of year that teams get to look at their young talent and see how they match up against major league ready players without repercussions.  It also is the only time of year that you can have an injury and still have time to find a replacement.  Teams can’t always find a viable replacement, though, and that brings us to another reason why spring is so important, it allows teams to see where their holes are.  There is only a little over a week left of spring now and these following five teams are showing holes that could knock them down a notch this season if they cannot fix them.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds lost a few players to free agency this offseason and didn’t do much to fill them as they felt they had viable replacements already on the roster.  So far in spring it is looking like Billy Hamilton will not be a huge drop off from the departed Shin-Soo Choo but they have a serious problem in the middle infield.  They failed to go out and find a viable backup for the two middle infield positions this offseason and now are dealing with both Zack Cozart and Brandon Phillips struggling with the bat this offseason.  The Cozart struggles aren’t nearly as big of a problem for the team as Phillips struggles are, though, because Phillips is the second most important player on the roster in terms of offense after superstar Joey Votto.  If both continue to struggle it is going to be hard on new manager Bryan Price to put together a winning lineup.

Oakland Athletics

For years the Oakland A’s have had the most depth at starting pitching in the entire American League.  They have been able to overcome injuries to Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy and a suspension and injury from Bartolo Colon over the last two seasons and still win the American League West.  This year, though, it may be too much for them to overcome.  They have already lost the ace of the staff, Jarrod Parker, for the year to Tommy John surgery and Scott Kazmir is already showing the signs of frailty that forced him out of the league just three seasons ago.  On top of those two the most consistent starter from last year, even though he did allow the most home runs in the league, A.J. Griffin will likely miss the first few weeks.  The depth the team has will be tested early this season, and while they have the arms to withstand the injuries the loss of Parker exposes the team’s one true weakness, the lack of a front-end starting pitchers.  It is believed that Sonny Gray can be an ace in the league, but it remains to be seen if he really can be, and even if he is are any of the rest of the staff behind him really capable of the consistency that you expect out of your number two and three starters?  That will be the million dollar question going into the season, and while I’m sure the team will prove me wrong like they have in the past, this could open the door for the other teams in the AL West.

New York Yankees

It is hard to know what to say about the Yankees.  The main thing that bothers me is Kelly Johnson is your starting third baseman right now.  Johnson is a scrappy player that could earn a spot on many big league teams, but third base is a position you expect power out of and when you look around the infield it doesn’t get much better.  The legend that is Derek Jeter is looking like a AA player so far this spring and you have a battle at second base of two players who cannot seem to stay healthy and another who has become strictly a defensive player.  The infield is going to be a serious problem for the Yankees this season because one of these three positions is going to have to hit if they are going to be successful.

Atlanta Braves

Last season the Braves had their holes in the lineup with B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla struggling but still were one of the most well rounded teams in the league.  It was mainly because of their starting pitching staff and that took a huge hit with three key losses, Tim Hudson to free agency and Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy to Tommy John surgery.  Those injuries aren’t what causes their hole, though.  It is those injuries that shine a brighter light on the offensive holes.  So far this spring Uggla is starting to look like his old self and if he can carry this over to the season it will greatly help the offense, but so far this spring both of the Upton brothers are struggling mightily and that could spell trouble as it was Justin Upton who carried that offense through the first part of the 2013 season.  If this team is going to remain on top of the NL East one, if not both, of these two are going to have to step up and help carry this offense because Freddie Freeman cannot do it on his own.

Detroit Tigers

This offseason the Tigers lost Omar Infante and Jhonny Peralta to free agency.  They filled the hole left behind by Infante by trading for Ian Kinsler, but in doing so they created a hole at first base.  Now they don’t have a backup at first in case superstar Miguel Cabrera gets hurt (Victor Martinez has played minimal first base in his career), and they are still very thin at shortstop, which is now glaringly clear with the injury to Jose Iglesias.  As of now the team seems willing to try and fill the hole at short with a committee of youngsters, but if this team is going to continue its dominance of the AL Central they are going to have to find an everyday player of a quality platoon to fill the shortstop position.  Even if that happens the team will still be exposed with lack of power if either Cabrera or Martinez go down for any significant amount of time.  I expect that eventually Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski will go out and make a move to either trade for a catcher or talk Stephen Drew into a one year deal, but until they do there is a hole that teams may be able to exploit, and with the teams in the Central call getting better it could spell disaster for one of the best teams in all of baseball.