Reasons for early concern

IT’S EARLY, but I am keeping my eye on:

Russell Martin. The Blue Jays catcher began this season hitless in 18 atbats. His OPS has fallen in the past three years from .832 in 2014 to .787 to .732 last year.

Byron Buxton. The Twins center fielder seemed to make a turnaround after being recalled Sept. 1, producing a 1.011 OPS over the final 29 games with nine homers. But this season he has been dropped from third in the lineup toward the bottom to out of it completely Wednesday because he was 2for-29 with a major leaguehigh 17 strikeouts. And keep this in mind about the No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft: If you eliminate his late surge last year, Buxton’s career numbers are 116 games, .189 average and three homers.

The Rangers bullpen. Texas was just plus-8 last year in run differential, akin to a team that should have finished near . 500. The Rangers won 95 games and the AL West, in part because they went 36-11 in one-run games, aided by a deep relief corp. Texas was the only major league team with f ive relievers to log at least 50 innings with an ERA at least 30 percent better than average, factoring in league and park. Of that group, Jake Diekman underwent a second surgery Wednesday to deal with ulcerative colitis and is not expected back before midseason. Matt Bush left the team to receive an injection for soreness in his shoulder AC joint; the Rangers hope he can avoid the DL. Closer Sam Dyson had yielded 11 runs in three innings, blowing two saves and losing another game he entered that was tied. The Rangers bullpen’s ERA was 7.71.