It occurred to me this week that we are now in the midst of the dog days of the offseason for baseball. I guess that's why school work piling up (and, you know, having a life) recently hasn't made me feel too bad about being behind - because what is there to be behind on, really? Well, a few things, I suppose.
There still seems to be no home for Prince Fielder, Ryan Madson or Edwin Jackson. Personally, I've never been super impressed with Madson, but that could be because he was with the Phillies. As far as Prince Fielder goes, I'm not sure what he or any of the supposedly interested teams are still waiting for. At this point, it seems likely that Fielder will sign with a team right before spring training. The same might be said for Edwin Jackson. However, the best news out of spring training (for me) is that Johan Santana will be ready to go in time for it!
Santana has been one of my favorites of the past ten (almost fifteen!) years. Besides being very cute, he was an excellent pitcher for the Twins for many years and then, unfortunately, took a dive once he went to the Mets. But that's not his fault. Hello, it's the Mets. Jason Bay should've thought of that before he went there too. But I'm hoping that maybe 2012 is the year Santana will bounce back. Someone who was so great for so many years has to have some good miles left in the tank, right? Fingers crossed!
Going from someone who is trying to bounce back to someone who is retiring, it appears that Jorge Posada has finally done the latter. Now why would I want to talk about a Yankees player retiring? Usually I would ask myself just that same question. And despite my dislike for the Yankees (with a few exceptions, like Nick Swisher), I have to say that I admired the final year he had with the team. It seemed at one point that he wouldn't be getting much playing time, what with Russell Martin catching for them and a few choices at DH (like Brett Gardner, as I recall). Nevertheless, there he was during the playoffs this year, looking like he was really enjoying himself. Then there were the rumors that he was really trying to find some team to play for for one last season. With how he ended his career with the Yankees, I'm glad he decided to retire now. Playing only for the Yankees as long as he did is impressive. And since he's a catcher, I wouldn't be surprised to later find him in management somewhere. So congrats to him.
It seems the Marlins, in addition to quite a few other players, have acquired Carlos Zambrano. The combination of him and Ozzie Guillen as manager is almost too much for me to take! Zambrano is definitely what you would call a firecracker, and so is Ozzie. But who knows, maybe they get along well enough that there won't be any fireworks in the clubhouse (or on the field) - especially since it was noted that Guillen and Zambrano had talked about this possibility quite awhile before the acquisition took place.
Either way, I still want to know which lottery the Marlins have won and where I can get some of that money. Seriously. Does acquiring all of these players mean more revenue for the Marlins this year? Not necessarily. I think things will not go quite as swimmingly (no pun intended) as the team hopes. It's not that I don't want the Marlins to raise attendance or do well, but this is the team that has a fire sale after every World Series win. Not a good track record.
Normally, I don't make it a habit of mentioning players I don't like. And why would I? However, I just couldn't resist talking about Josh Hamilton. It doesn't matter why I don't like him, I simply don't. But he's been mentioned recently in relation to his future in free agency. Seems that Hamilton's injuries (and his difficulty in getting treatment for them) have put his money-making potential in jeopardy. For me, it's just nice that someone, somewhere is not bowing down to him and kissing his ass. Because that just gets tiring. Really tiring. Besides, he's just never struck me as the most humble guy around. Also, he complains about smelling pot from the outfield of AT&T Park. Regardless of his history of drug abuse, that's silly. Period. Most don't agree with me on that, but I stand by my opinion. And my general opinion of Hamilton.
Even though I should be, I'm just not too interested in the Hall of Fame discussions going around lately. Nothing against, for example, Barry Larkin, but I don't need to be once again reminded of how long it still is until spring training. Oh, January and February are dreary months for sure.
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