Every season, weird stuff happens. And this season is no exception.

Some of these mysteries are easily solved. Barry Zito, for example, was 2008’s biggest train wreck. Now he’s back, with his best FIP in four seasons, and his best K/9 since 2002. How’s he doing it? Turns out, he learned a slider.

Then there’s the formerly soft hitting Ben Zobrist, who is now a prolific slugger. What’s up with him? Turns out he took some lessons from a hitting guru.

Some mysteries are harder to crack. Here are a few of 2009’s unsolved mysteries. Can you solve them?

How is old man Ibanez this good? You don’t go from a .479 slugging to .716 at the age of 37. It simply isn’t done. What’s going on here?

How does Willy Taveras still have a job? He’s fast. I get that. But outside of his injury-shortened 2007, when he was 29 and at his peak, he’s never been as good as a replacement level center fielder. Now he’s 31 and declining and his OBP is .297.

What happened to Orlando Cabrera’s glove? Last year, his Ultimate Zone Rating was 14. So far this season it’s -7.6. That’s a drastic drop off. According to Fangraphs, Cabrera was worth $15.6MM in both 2008 and 2007. So far this season, he’s cost his team $3.3MM. It’s normal for a player’s range to diminish with age, but not this fast.

When did Marco Scutaro learn how to hit? Not only is the Blue Jays SS hitting for more power and better average, but his plate discipline is also much improved. In 2008 he walked 57 times. So far this season, he’s walked 56 times. That kind of patience is usually not learned over the course of an offseason.

Who are these Mets? Seriously, I’ve never heard of any of them. Argenis Reyes? Pat Misch? Where did they come from? You’re making Paul cry.

Has Billy Beane lost “it”? The A’s have been “rebuilding” for three years now and even with the acquisitions of Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi, this team looks to be getting worse.

What happened to Milton Bradley’s power? His isolated power currently stands at .138, which is his lowest mark since 2001 and is a full .1 lower than either of his last two seasons.

How is Brandon Inge doing this? We have no idea. But the Tigers 3B is on pace to hit 39 HRs with a .360 OBP (both would tower over his previous highs) while playing brilliantly on defense.

Why is Emilio Bonifacio still playing? Clearly, he has Marlins Manager Fredi Gonzalez’s mother tied up in his basement. That’s the only explanation.

What unsolved mysteries are you working on?

ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that the New York Yankees have filled their vacant catcher’s spot by trading reliever Kyle Farnsworth to the Detroit Tigers for Pudge Rodriguez.

It’s fairly obvious why the Yankees would do this. Without the injured Jorge Posada for the rest of the season, the team would have been relying on Jose Molina to get way too many at-bats between now and October. Molina has an OPS of .586 and a negative offensive Win Share of -1.4 so far in 2008 and that just won’t do for anyone, let alone the vaunted Yankees.

Pudge is having a decent bounce back year after posting a horrid .294 OBP last season. While he won’t match the offensive output that a healthy Posada can achieve, the new Yank is a defensive upgrade and can still hold his own at the plate.

But my initial reaction was why Detroit would do this. Upon a bit more reflection, I’m thinking that this makes some sense. Make no mistake, the Tigers are not throwing in the towel and this is not a salary dump. GM Dave Dombrowski loves a good bullpen power arm, and with the uncertainty surrounding the health of flamethrowers Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney, coupled with the ineffectiveness of Todd Jones, Dombrowski pulled the trigger to bolster their troubled pen.

Farnsworth’s fastball regularly clocks in around 95-96 mph, and he also has a slider that he uses when he’s ahead of the count. His main problem this year has been the long ball, giving up 11 in just over 44 innings. Ouch. When it first opened in 2000, Comerica Park was known as a hard place to hit homeruns, but this has actually reversed itself over the past couple seasons. So we’ll have to see if Farnsworth will have better luck avoiding the dinger in Detroit. This does not, however, solve their problem of relying heavily on closer Todd Jones. The righty Farnsworth will probably take the innings that used to be thrown by Rodney, who sports a 5.40 ERA.

At this point this is merely speculation, but I’m assuming that Brandon Inge is going to take over regular catching duties for the Tigers unless there’s another trade up Detroit’s sleeve within the next day. Inge is a far better defensive player at third base than he is behind the plate, but he is serviceable. Offensively, he’s not that much worse than Pudge although he does strikeout a ton.  So the Tigers upgrade their bullpen, downgrade their backstop defense, and take a small step back offensively.

And who’s going to fill the set-up role that Farnsworth is vacating in the Bronx? Good question. Unless they call up a lefty from Scranton, I don’t think it’s going to be Damaso Marte who was acquired along with Xavier Nady just a few days ago because he’s currently the only southpaw in the Yankees pen. Perhaps it will be Edwar Ramirez or Jose Veras, both of whom have become big parts of the relief corps in 2008 despite their relative lack of experience at the big league level.

Both Farnsworth and Rodriguez are free agents at the end of the season as well, so although the Yankees take on the bigger contract (prorated), it’s nearly a wash financially considering the Yankees’ resources.

I like this deal more from the NY perspective than I do Detroit’s, but at least it’s something that makes sense for the Tigers as well.

Note: It’s been brought to my attention by a little thing called “research” that techincially, Jones was deposed as closer by Rodney a few days ago. This doesn’t affect the evaluation or anything, but just in case someone wants to cause an uproar over the error, I’m doing it for you.