All Star Weekend is nearly here
It’s almost here Cardinal fans. The All Star game is coming to St. Louis and it’s coming this weekend. If you are not excited – get excited. If you are not attending – plan to attend. This is a once (or twice) in a lifetime thing. The All-Star festivities do not come to the STL very often and we should all enjoy the time. I personally will be there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday participating in just about everything I can think of.
I will be running in the first annual All Star game 5k!!! I’m not a huge runner but I enjoy being a part of “history”. You should join as well. Will find a local establishment, such as the Albert Pujols restaurant Pujols Grill, to enjoy the Redbirds dominating the Cubs in a double-header on Sunday. Then Monday I will be doing the Fan Fest thing all day. If any of you Cardinal fans are out there I’ll be Twittering all day as well. Would love to meet up with any of you. Monday night is HR Derby. Time for Pujols to hit some bombs out onto the road! Then Tuesday afternoon is the All-Star parade followed by the All-Star game at night. What a great weekend for St. Louis!
Email or Tweet me if you are going to be around.
Ryan
correspondent for CardinalsGM and MVPujols.com
Over/Under from Vegas
WINS…. This from the Batter’s Box…after some revisions from my projections, here is my guesses.
Arizona 86.5 UNDER Atlanta 84.5 OVER Baltimore 65.5 OVER
Boston 93.5 UNDER Chicago(NL) 87.5 OVER Chicago(AL) 79.5 OVER Cincinnati 79.5 OVER Cleveland 88.5 CLOSE UNDER
Colorado 82.5 OVER Detroit 93.5 UNDER Florida 68.5 OVER Houston 72.5 OVER Kansas City 71.5 OVER Los Angeles(AL) 91.5 UNDER Los Angeles(NL) 87.5 UNDER Milwaukee 84.5 OVER
Minnesota 72.5 UNDER New York(NL) 93.5 UNDER New York(AL) 93.5 UNDER Oakland 73.5 OVER Philadelphia 87.5 Close OVER Pittsburgh 68.5 OVER San Diego 84.5 OVER San Francisco 71.5 UNDER Seattle 86.5 UNDER St Louis 78.5 UNDER Tampa Bay 73.5 OVER Texas 74.5 UNDER Toronto 85.5 UNDER Washington 70.5 OVER
There you have it.
NL Central projections
Today is the last of the projections by the United Cardinal Bloggers. Be sure to check out their links along the sidebar.
1. Chicago Cubs Lou Piniella
2008 Picks: 84 wins
The faces of the team: Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly.
Looking at them: The Cubs have only 1 goal, until it’s accomplished. Waiting til next year no longer applies. But winning the division isn’t enough. Ever since missing out (let there be no doubt that the whole downfall started because of Steve Bartman- (hahaha) on the World Series in 2003, that’s the Cubs only goal– getting there, and winning it.
Overall: The Cubs are hoping for addition by subtraction. OF Jacque Jones, C Jason Kendall, and SP Mark Prior are gone. The sole replacement comes from Japan, OF Kosuke Fukudome– a career .300 hitting power hitter that turns 31 in April. But looking this team over, sure it’s competitive– any team with Alfonso Soriano can’t help but be. However, even though the Cubs bought their way back into competing last year, there are a lot of things that would need to come together for this team to get to the World Series. Winning the division is a tough enough battle.
2. Milwaukee Brewers Ned Yost
2008 Picks: 82 wins
The faces of the team: SP Ben Sheets, SP Yovani Gallardo, 1B Prince Fielder, 2B Rickie Weeks, OF Bill Hall, 3B Ryan Braun.
Looking at them: Can new catcher Jason Kendall make the difference that can pull this pitching staff together. The Brewers arms have the potential to be one of the best staffs in baseball if they could all just put in good years at the same time. Both RP Eric Gagne and RP Derrick Turnbow have shown all of baseball what they are capable of. But heading into the season it’s better to fear the worst and wish to trade both for 1 more stable, reliable arm. For a good year in Milwaukee, competition will have to turn out to be the best medicine.Overall: Despite what seemed like a quantum leap in performance last season, the Brewers finished just 2 games over .500. The key to success this year will be improved pitching. The offense is similar to the Phillies with lots of good bats, including 1B Prince Fielder (50 HR’s), 3B Ryan Braun (34 HR’s). And OF Corey Hart and 2B Rickie Weeks should both be good for 20/20 this year. 3.
Cincinnati Reds Dusty Baker
2008 Picks: 81 wins
The faces of the team: Aaron Harang, Adam Dunn, Francisco Cordero, Brandon Phillips, Ken Griffey Jr.Looking at them: The Reds have a bunch of talent they can use right through the batting order: SS Alex Gonzalez, OF Jay Bruce, and 1B Joey Votto. None of them are directly bumped out of the line-up because Ken Griffey Jr is there. But could the team use Griffey best by trading him away for something (anything) that could plug more important holes on the team (such as SP #3, 4, or 5).
Overall: The Reds have 1 winning season this decade (2000). And unless they can find some pitching to go along with their ace SP Aaron Harang and their innings hog SP Bronson Arroyo, they probably won’t get it done this year. Homer Bailey was a bit too inconsistent last September. But with a slew of strong arms in the bullpen, all this team needs to do every day is find a way to the 8th inning.
4. St. Louis Cardinals Tony La Russa
2008 Picks: 80 wins
The faces of the team: 1B Albert Pujols, SP Adam Wainright, SP Chris Carpenter (out until July), RP Jason Isringhausen.
Looking at them: Health is the key factor here. The Cards need to watch the health of a slew of key superstars: SP Chris Carpenter, SP Mark Mulder, 3B Troy Glaus, and OF Chris Duncan. Without Carpenter until, most likely, at least July (12 months after his Tommy John surgery) the situation looks bleak.
Overall: The St. Louis franchise expects to win (6 playoff appearances in last 8 years), even last year, despite just 78 wins the Cards finished only 7 games back. Yet, now, on one glance the Cards are starting to look like just a 1-man team. Granted if it’s just 1-man Albert Pujols is as good as you could get. But 1-man teams don’t win much in any sport, especially baseball. Will need folks like OF Chris Duncan to really step up, and for Troy Glaus to knock out 30 dings.
5. Houston Astros Cecil Cooper
2008 Picks: 79 wins
The faces of the team: SP Roy Oswalt, 2B Kaz Matsui, 1B Lance Berkman, SS Miguel Tejada, RP Jose Valverde.
Looking at them: SP Brandon Backe needs to continue his remarkable comeback from Tommy John elbow surgery by pitching like he did last September. And either SP Wandy Rodriguez or SP Woody Williams (heck, both) need to reverse the losing seasons and notch more wins than defeats. In the batting order, the questions are whether acquired SS Miguel Tejada can bounce out of his (no more steroids?) slump; and, whether new leadoff hitter OF Michael Bourn can jump start the offense.
Overall: The Astros led the league in off-season changes. A lot of it centered around just getting rid of the RP Brad Lidge — new RP Jose Valverde (who pitched lights out relief for the D-Backs last year, will be counted on as the closer. Kaz Matsui steps in to replace retired 2B Craig Biggio.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates John Russell
2008 Picks: 73 wins
The faces of the team: Freddy Sanchez, Tom Gorzelanny.Looking at them: Like some other franchises (Tampa comes to mind), there doesn’t really have to be all that much go right. The Pirates haven’t won 80 games since 1992 Winning anything around that amount of games will be a big enough accomplishment.?
Overall: The new manager, John Russell, was coaching the Phillies Triple-A farm team last year. The Pirates send RP Salomon Torres away. The SP is still stacked with reliable innings: Gorzelanny, Snell, Morris, Maholm, and Duke are reliable, if for nothing else, racking up innings. That type of stability will allow management to focus on fixing other areas of the team.
NL East projections
The UCB have anointed today as NL East projection day.
Check them out.
1. New York Mets Willie Randolph
2008 Picks: 93 wins
The faces of the team: David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Brian Wagner, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine
Looking at them: Play solid defense. Don’t collapse in September. Ride the arm of Santana. They have to be concerned about the age of Delgado.
Overall: With the addition of SP Johan Santana the Mets have to be considered the odds on favorite to win the NL East. With the pitching the Mets have, it seems it would take another unexpected collapse to ruin this season.
2. Philadelphia Phillies Charlie Manuel
2008 Picks: 89 wins
the faces of the team: Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge.
Looking at them: Kyle Kendrick will help but Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton are aging some and not fulfilling their game.The team ERA needs to come down a little bit.
Overall: There will be little room for error with the Mets addition of Johan Santana. Some form of production near the bottom of the order (OF Geoff Jenkins, 3B Greg Dobbs, and C Carlos Ruiz) could help this from being an every-other-inning type of team.
3. Atlanta Braves Bobby Cox
2008 Picks: 79 wins
The faces of the team: Mark Teixeira, Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, Tim Hudson
Looking at them: Here’s 3 things to start with: 1) Jeff Francoeur needs to deliver either a higher BA or more HR’s, 2) How good will SS Yunel Escobar be this season? and 3) Can Brian McCann improve his BA and HR’s?
Overall: One thing to say about the Braves is they aren’t just packing it up and giving up on the division. After 11 straight division titles, the Braves have hit a rough patch, but they added Teixeira late last season and they brought back Tom Glavine this year. But, whoa, the Braves rotation is old. Glavine (42 by opening day) and Smoltz (41 in May) make Chipper Jones (36 in April) look young.
4. Washington Nationals Manny Acta
2008 Picks: 77 wins
The faces of the team: Ryan Zimmerman, Chad Cordero.
Looking at them: They need to just get games to their bullpen. With Chad Cordero and Jon Rauch this RHP-RHP combo can by itself squeeze out a few wins.
Overall: The 2 best pitchers on the team had surgery last September. This makes it difficult to expect the team to get much momentum going right out of the gate. They do have some surprising power bats through the middle of the order in Zimmerman, Johnson, Kearns, and Wily Mo Pena. The Nationals may sneak up a spot.
5. Florida Marlins Fredi Gonzalez
2008 Picks: 73 wins
The faces of the team: Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Anibal Sanchez.
Looking at them: Injured Anibal Sanchez needs to come back quickly and pitch lights out for the Marlins. Mike Jacobs and Jose Castillo need to provide stability and consistent performance.
Overall: The Marlins have a list of great up-and-coming bats. The anchor of the line-up is lead-off hitter SS Hanley Ramirez, who’s already established himself as one of the best overall fantasy baseball players. The keys to success will be the performance of Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida. They will miss Dontrelle Willis.
National League West projections
Today is the NL West projections. Be sure to check out the other bloggers from the Cardinals United Bloggers.
1. San Diego Padres Bud Black
2008 Picks: 88 wins
The faces of the team: Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Trevor Hoffman, Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene.
Looking at them: At the age of 42, Maddux will be out trying to earn the $10 million per year the Padres were willing to pay him for another year of service. As so goes Maddux, so may go the Padres.
Overall: The Padres have one of those offenses that just seems to get the job done. This year, the one consistent piece, Adrian Gonzalez (30 HR’s, 100 RBI’s) will be backed up by the addition of Jim Edmonds. A good move. The rest of the order is about piecing together runs– Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff meet the veteran ability of Brian Giles and the addition of Tadahito Iguchi.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers Joe Torre
2008 Picks: 87 wins
The faces of the team: Takashi Saito, Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Rafael Furcal.
Looking at them: Andruw Jones needs to remember how to hit the ball out of the park, or at least just hit the ball, period. But, without steroids anymore, maybe his best days are gone forever. In the rotation, if they can get a full season of RHP Chad Billingsley throwing like he did last year, it could be a great season.
Overall: Torre is in town. And the Dodgers win the division in even years (lately), so maybe the stars are aligned this year. The Dodgers batting order is an NL version of the Yankees. Sort of.. But think about it: Furcal, Kent, Loney, Jones, Kemp, Martin, Garciaparra, and Pierre. It may not be rock solid, but it’s got a lot of potential
3. Colorado Rockies Clint Hurdle
2008 Picks: 86 wins
The faces of the team: Matt Holiday, Jeff Francis, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki
Looking at them: Well, if they can win 13 of 14 to end this season just like last, then the rest of the season might not really matter.
Overall: The Rockies are now an inspired bunch that not only believe they can win, they know they have done it. Also, the line-up is finally built to deliver the runs a Denver-based team should, given the high-altitude. However, heartbreak could await. It won’t be easy to repeat.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks Bob Melvin
2008 Picks: 82
The faces of the team: Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Chris Young, Eric Byrnes.
Looking at them: 1B Conor Jackson is an up-and-coming hitter. But the fact that he’s the D-Backs clean-up hitter shows how the line-up is all downhill from there. So there will be some pressure on young OF Justin Upton to deliver run production.
Overall: Arizona has 3 great starting pitchers (Webb, Haren, and The Unit). And the first 3 bats in the line-up (Young, Hudson, and Byrnes) are big too. The key to success depends on the other pieces– guys like SP Doug Davis or SP Micah Owings, Closer Brandon Lyon, and OF Justin Upton. If the D-Backs can get some spark from some of these names, they could land back in the playoffs.
5. San Francisco Giants Bruce Bochy
2008 Picks: 73 wins
The faces of the team: Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand.
Looking at them: Barry Zito needs to pitch like he gets paid $126m for 7 years
Overall: It’s a very fresh start without Bonds, but the Giants can take 2 tracks at the same time. SF has a slew of veteran bats to rely on (from Molina to Vizquel, Roberts, and Aurilia) while they wait to see if young talent can deliver (OF Nate Schierholtz, 3B Kevin Frandsen, 1B Dan Ortmeier. The pitching is expected to be the glue holding this team from a worst-in-the-NL season.
American League Forecast- 2008
The Cardinals United bloggers are currently conducting a project. Today we each will predict the American League standings. The Bloggers are:
- Cardinal Nation Globe
- C70 at the Bat
- Future Redbirds
- Readin’ Redbird
- Redbird Ramblings
- Redbirds Fun
- Rockin’ the Red
- Stan Musial’s Stance
- The Redbird Blog
Read them and compare. Remember, mine is probably the most accurate! 
American League Forecast
By Tom at Cardinalsgm.com
1. New York Yankees Joe Girardi
2008 Picks: 94 wins
The faces of the team: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada.
Looking at them: Pitching is a big question mark. Can Mariano Rivera continue to close? Is Mussina ready to call it a career?
Overall: This team lacks speed. This team has shaky pitching. The defense is rather thin. But the bats, oh the bats have the potential to mash homer runs all the way through the lineup. The must get out of the gate early to carry them through.
2. Boston Red Sox Terry Francona
2008 Picks: 92
The faces of the team: Josh Beckett, David Ortiz, Jon Pabelbon.
Looking at them: David Ortiz is the key along with a healthy Manny.
Overall: this team is slipping some. Manny MUST be healthy.Lowell had a career year..There are some candidates on this team that could help a bunch to bounce back.
Players like Julio Lugo, Jason Varitek, and J.D. Drew, have some room to bounce back. Taken together, the Red Sox have deep starting pitching (Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K, Wakefield, Buchholz, and Lester), and a capable enough offense. And they should be expected to compete for the title yet again in the East.
3. Toronto Blue Jays John Gibbons
2008 Picks: 85 wins
The faces of the team: Roy Halladay, AJ Burnett, Alex Rios
Looking at them: Overbay has to play consistent. Wells needs to pick it up. They are counting on Scott Rolen to be healthy and productive. BJ Ryan has to remain healthy for the entire.
Overall: The Blue Jays have top pitchers in Halladay and Burnett. It’s just a shame they are in with the Yankees and Red Sox. They have a veteran bat, Frank Thomas, anchoring the line-up and dynamic bats like Wells, Rios, and Hill. Maybe the addition of SS David Eckstein can be the difference.
4. Tampa Bay Rays Joe Maddon
2008 Picks: 76 wins
The faces of the team: Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir.
Looking at them: The goal is pretty simple: just win more than 70 games. It’s not asking much, but it would be the best in Tampa Bay’s 11-year history.
Overall: The Rays went after pitching (Troy Percival and Matt Garza) in the off-season. Not much here to say. Watch Upton and Crawford for some fun but few wins.
5. Baltimore Orioles Dave Trembley
2008 Picks: 64 wins
the faces of the team: Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts
Looking at them: The Orioles are in full rebuilding mode after giving up Erik Bedard for prospects.
Recap: This is a franchise in nearly hopeless shape. Their problems started in 2004 when they went and paid for Tejada. It’s difficult to find any reason for optimism this year. The line-up is devoid of power and both the starting rotation and the bullpen is in desperate search of some direction.
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Mike Scioscia
2008 Picks: 90 wins
The faces of the team: Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Chone Figgins, John Lackey, Jon Garland, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields.
Looking at them: Is Kelvim Escobar healthy? Can Chone Figgins repeat his great season? And how good will 2B Howie Kendrick be in a full season?
Overall: The Angels are entering their 6th season since winning the World Series in 2002. They made some strategic acquisitions in the off-season in hopes of getting back there. Backing up their ace SP John Lackey, is former White Sox SP Jon Garland. And the Angels added CF super star (offense and defense) Torii Hunter. If Vladimir Guerrero can deliver about 110+ RBI’s.. again then all things considered, the A’s should grab the AL West title and roll the dice in the playoffs.
2. Seattle Mariners John McLaren
2008 Picks: 89 wins
The faces of the team: Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez, JJ Putz, Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre
Looking at them: The Mariners are improved (bringing in SP Erik Bedard and SP Carlos Silva, but there are still questions about the rotation, and the line-up desperately needs more power and consistency– starting with Richie Sexson
Overall: The fall of the A’s gives the Mariners an opening. They have won 69, 78, and 88 games in the last 3 seasons (heading in the right direction) after losing 99 games in 2004. The pieces are here, but everything needs to click for the Mariners to win the AL West– they need that feel-good buzz, and sparks in the offense.
3. Texas Rangers Ron Washington
2008 Picks: 74 wins
The faces of the team: Michael Young, Hank Blalock.
Looking at them: SP Brandon McCarthy has always been considered to have major league skills– time to prove it. Then, Vincente Padilla needs to revert to 2006 form. And, finally, Kevin Millwood needs to go out and earn his contract (though, the truth is he shouldn’t have got that big a contract in the first place).
Overall: The issue here is that ownership seems to have cashed in its chips (1B Mark Teixeira and closer Eric Gagne) in exchange for future talent. Therefore, expectations from the top down are not very high. Maybe a full season from Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd can help anchor this capable offense (2B Kinsler, SSYoung, and RF Milton Bradley).
4. Oakland Athletics Bob Geren
2008 Picks: 67 wins
The faces of the team: Rick Harden, Eric Chavez.
Looking at them: Dan Haren, GONE. Hope the A’s have another up-and-coming SP to fill the void. Doesn’t look like it this year, but as one thing to hope for– finding some new arms for the future is one small goal A’s fans can focus on.
Overall: Anyway you slice it, this season’s going to be rough for the Oakland A’s. But, who cares? Oakland had a great first 7 seasons this. An off year was just a matter of time.
1. Detroit Tigers Jim Leyland
2008 Picks: 95 wins
The faces of the team: C Ivan Rodriguez, 3B Miguel Cabrera, OF Curtis Granderson, OF Magglio Ordonez, 2B Placido Polanco, SS Edgar Renteria, SP Justin Verlander.
Looking at the team: A laundry list of new players has arrived to fill the few weak spots that existed last year: SP Dontrelle Willis, 3B Miguel Cabrera, SS Edgar Renteria, and OF Jacque Jones headline the arrivals. But, to improve the wins from last season at least 1 of their SP’s besides Justin Verlander will need to bring their ERA below the league average (Bonderman, Willis, or Robertson).
Recap: 88 games just wasn’t good enough. And ownership took several steps to ensure that doesn’t happen again. The bar has been set– this team should win 100 games. The offense isn’t perfect, and the pitching isn’t perfect, but overall, the team has enough parts that even if some of them aren’t working, enough will be.
2. Cleveland Indians Eric Wedge
2008 Picks: 89 wins
The faces of the team: CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez.Looking at them: One (or 2) of 3 pitchers needs to step up this season in the event Fausto Carmona or CC Sabathia fall back a little this year. This seems to be a reasonable expectation too considering Westbrook’s overall track record and Cliff Lee just needs to return to form he has already proven he can do (like the 2005 season).
Overall: The Indians tread a fine line on the verge of a great team. But the dangerous reality is Cleveland could be a bit of smoke and mirrors. Last year, it was the emergence of Fausto Carmona that saved the season. This year, what will keep them in the hunt?
3. Chicago White Sox Ozzie Guillen
2008 Picks: 83 wins
The faces of the team: Orlando Cabrera, Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, Javier Vazquez.
Looking at them: The writing is supposedly already written on the wall in dark, un-erasable letters: the Royals will pass the White Sox who are now a last place team in 2010.
Recap: What went so badly? The White Sox won the World Series just 3 seasons ago (October 2005). Are they really a first-to-worst in 3 seasons team? The offense has actually been given a significant off-season makeover. With the addition of OF Nick Swisher and SS Orlando Cabrera it seems the White Sox have a bit of upside– especially given that guys like 1B Paul Konerko, DH Jim Thome, C AJ Pierzynski, OF Jermaine Dye, and 3B Joe Crede, all had bad years last season. The White Sox could bounce.
4. Minnesota Twins Ron Gardenhire
2008 Picks: 75 wins
The faces of the team: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano.
Looking at them: Boof Bonser and Scott Baker both right-handers, have the potential to anchor a solid-enough starting rotation. They will be counted on to throw a lot of innings.
Recap: Life after SP Johan Santana begins (in a town that also just gave up Kevin Garnett). The future begins with Francisco Liriano (the Twins version of the T-Wolves Garnett replacement Al Jefferson). Liriano says he’s ready to go. But, unfortunately, Torii Hunter is gone– very big shoes to fill. But the good news is that Minnesota has plenty of talent in reserves– this is no team in rebuilding. C Joe Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau anchor the line-up and RP Joe Nathan is still around to close the games they do end up leading.
5. Kansas City Royals Trey Hillman
2008 Picks: 69 wins
The faces of the team: RP Joakim Soria, OF Jose Guillen.
Looking at them: New OF Jose Guillen needs to be the big bat in the middle of the order to take the pressure off the young guys so they can start delivering on the hype.
Overall: It is appears the Royals finally have a plan. There is lots of young talent in this team. Buck, Gordon, Teahen and Butler are pretty good… for youngsters. It doesn’t appear to enough yet. Wait for the experience in 2010.
tomorrow: NL West
How low can you go?
Roger Clemens gets called a liar by a politician. How low is that? That is funny, I don’t care who you are! (apologies to Larry the Cable Guy).
Somebody, though, is lying. Clemens is sweating like a stuck pig while he resembles a man with Alzheimer’s disease as he can’t remember if he attended a party with teammates or not. His wife has her life in shambles now because she took the drug once without the knowledge of her husband. Gimme a break.
McNamee is his own worst enemy because he has more lies than a politician running for a big political office. One after another keep popping up. But at least he appears cool, calm and collected.
And now Roger is worried his reputation will always be tarnished. No duh! Should have thought of that earlier when you popped of in the late 90’s to people like Pettite about usage. Roger needs to get Bill Clinton to offer him some good lying communication skills advice.
Simply for me, Roger is lying.
I hope Congress decides( this is a joke people) to make all the games free for this year until this mess is cleaned up.
Think about this, I haven’t gotten into the John Rocker talk about Selig knowing. I can’t wait to ride the #7 train this summer when I go to the Cards/Mets game in July. I can see for myself what Rocker was saying.
My rant.
I heart Spring Training.
I love spring training.
Well, not really.
If you think about it, spring training is rather dull, and the exhibition games are meaningless.
Who has had the best spring training record the last three years?
Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Baltimore, of course.
Pointless.
What makes spring training so lovable is it means baseball season is almost here (this week!). The hardest time for any baseball fan is the off-season.
Why is spring training so great?
Here are some reasons why:
• Optimism – It’s illegal to be pessimistic in spring training.
No matter who you are a fan of, you can’t be pessimistic.
Every spring brings new hope. Hey, on opening day, they’ll be tied for first. And anything can happen in baseball.
Reasons for fans of traditionally bad teams to be excited:
New managers for some teams means new optimism.
• Position battles.
Every year, the rosters on most teams are pretty set, but every team – good or bad – has a position or two that players are battling for.
• Daily reports during the dead time in sports.
Why every baseball fan truly loves spring training. After a four-month off-season (five for non-playoff teams), it’s good to hear about baseball in the news again.
Hey, it’s hard to fill SportsCenter with Spurs/Suns highlights.
• Contract disputes.
While this might not be an enjoyable part of baseball, it certainly is interesting.
• Rookies. They give every fan hope.
Ranging from rookies who have shown their potential who will be counted on for their teams to compete..
• New faces in new places – arguably the best reason of all.
I love spring training. But not as much as opening day. I can’t wait.
Do players owe it to fans to be nice?
I write this with some resignation because it stems from what some are referring to at the Winter Warmup in STL this past weekend.
It seems that some are ripping Sir Albert for his lack of enthusiasm while signing autographs to kids. It was reported that some 8 yr old and 11 yr old kids were all excited. They said Wainwright was awesome and had fun with them and smiled and Miles asked to to sit with him at breakfast. Molina was a clown and loved the kids and was having a fun old time. but not Albert.
After that report others chimed in with some sober AP stories. Yes, he is human but a 10 million dollar man needs to show some love for his fans.
Albert had 400 autographs to sign. He never looked up and therefore never smiled or conversed with the majority in line. He just signed. The kids were devasted that he never acknowledge them. The adults were upset and felt they at least deserved a “hi” or something for the $175 they donated to charity for the autograph.
I am sure players get tired of people wanting a piece of their time ALL the time. But they get paid well for this and should they be a bit more kind to kids? Afterall at the Warmup it was intended for this purpose. It is not like you stopped him along the street and took up his personal time. This was intended for autograph time. Does that mean that he should be a tad more personable? I say YES. It is two hours for crying out loud. Show some spirit. These are baseball fans that want to be part of your season and only wish the best for you, Albert. Try to do better.
I interrupt this blog…
to ask.
What are the Cardinals doing?
FOOKOO signed today
Tejada went today.
Rowand goes WEST.
Why have we not heard anything? I am trying to be patient but it is hard when good/decent players are evaporating from the Cardinals sight.
I hope Mo has something valuable for us before March. We need it.
