Panic time already?

Here it is, not even May, and already major league teams have pushed the panic button.

The New York Yankees started the trend in the middle of the week, announcing they would promote star prospect Phillip Hughes from Triple-A. Then the Los Angeles Angels promoted the nearly as-hyped Brandon Wood to try to inject life into their struggling offense.

Finally, on Friday, the Houston Astros completed the panic trifecta, promoting Hunter Pence from Triple-A Round Rock.

Why the panic? There are still 130-140 games left in the season at this point. No one, and I mean no one, writes off the sesason on May 1. OK, maybe the Kansas City Royals, but no one else.

Heck, the Astros should know better than anyone that you can't completely bury yourself in April and May. Sometimes, you can't bury yourself in June as Houston fans found out in 2004 and 2005.

I understand the thought process of wanting to win now, but why promote these guys now? If they're better than the options you as a team currently have, why not just bring them with you out of spring training instead of giving your fans the fear that you've already begun to panic?