"It's anybody's Spring..."

Aah, it's that loveliest time of year: the anticipation of spring training once February hits. It's that brief time where you fantasize about how great your team will do, before they actually start in their respective spring training league.

As a Giants fan I have mixed feelings this season. Call me a pessimist, but I'm not convinced that Buster Posey will have the best year. People get so caught up in his quick rehabilitation and enthusiasm in returning to catching, but they fail to realize just how much that poor guy has been through. Not only that, but he's returning to the single most strenuous fielding position in the game. Of course I hope he does well; all Giants fans do. But combine that with Freddy Sanchez's long-awaited return and I'm cautious about my expectations. I guess like with any other team, there's a lot of questions that should (hopefully) be answered by Opening Day: Is Barry Zito worthy of being a fifth starter? Will Brian Wilson have recovered from his injury enough to be as great as last season? How good will Brandon Crawford be offensively? Who will get the most starts at first base? Will the new players acquired in the off-season really lift the team's hitting?

This off-season also provided somewhat of a shake-up for the NL West; Trevor Cahill went to the Diamondbacks and Michael Cuddyer went to the Rockies. As much as I like Trevor Cahill, I can't say I'm thrilled about him pitching against the Giants. And Cuddyer is a player I've always really liked, so I'm curious to see how he does in the NL, especially at his older age.

Regardless of all the looming questions, this is still my favorite time of year. Winter is almost over. Days are counted down on calendars until pitchers and catchers report (well, for some of us). For me, Opening Day is like Christmas morning, minus the effort of having to buy presents. Part of my anticipation stems from the fact that the first day of Spring (March 21) is usually within a week of opening day. Also, opening day happens to coincide with a break I have between quarters in school. And, possibly best of all, instead of watching MLB Network shows about nothing but off-season trades and acquisitions, it's back to Baseball Tonight and Quick Pitch.

Of course it's not only my team that I'm curious about come April, because there has been a lot of activity this off-season, most recently that Raul Ibanez is officially a Yankee, and AJ Burnett is officially no longer a Yankee. And while it is only to a minor league deal (that includes a 50 game suspension), Manny Ramirez is officially out of retirement and with the A's. I would think that my dad and I were not the only Northern California fans who had the reaction of, "I'd go to an A's game to see Manny!" So in addition to going to at least a handful of Giants games this year (instead of the mere one game I went to last year - though it was excellent), sometime in the Summer, at least one A's game is in order. And it is only at A's games that I realize how spoiled I am by Giants games.

One final note - I call shananigans on Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension reversal. Something is up with that. More later.

The one where I get to brag a bit about my baseball knowledge...

Before I get to some of the recent (or possibly upcoming) trades, extensions and acquisitions from the past week, I need to talk about the MLB Network show Baseball IQ for a minute. Now I fully acknowledge that when it comes to players from more than, say, twenty years ago, I don't know much. Obviously I should change that and I fully plan to. However, when it comes to players (especially pitchers it seems) from the last ten to fifteen years, I know a lot for someone who turns 30 this year. 

The show Baseball IQ has a decent age demographic range when it comes to their contestants - generally between 30 and 50. The average seems to be about 40. I've noticed after watching just a few episodes though, that most of these contestants are not as knowledgeable about players from the past decade. This completely baffles me. For instance, a recent episode asked both contestants to name the ten relief pitchers with the most saves from 2011; not really a tough category, one would think. Not so for these two guys! Without looking it up, I was immediately able to name Heath Bell, JJ Putz, Brian Wilson, Craig Kimbrel, John Axford and Jonathan Papelbon. One of the contestant's guesses was Houston Street. I wish I were joking. And the other guy could only name three. If this were league specific (AL or NL) I would understand the challenge, but this category was wide open. 

Another example was to name a Marlins pitcher with at least one postseason win. One guy's guess was Dontrelle Willis, which while incorrect, was at least a good guess. No one said Josh Beckett. And there I was, yelling, "JOSH BECKETT!! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT?!" The final example of some contestants' ineptness was when they were asked to name the pitchers with the most wins in the National League since 1961. No one said Curt Schilling. Does no one remember that he spent some time in the NL? Could I name the pitchers on that list from the 70's and 80's? Not so many and not very easily. But remembering Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, yet missing Schilling is ridiculous. So either I'm way too into baseball for my own good, or they need to pick better contestants for this show. Another option is to not include the 2000's in any category. But then nothing would be left for me. Let's hope this show ups its game on its contestants, so to speak. Ok. Rant over. Moving on...

Poor AJ Burnett. It's never been easy for him, especially not in the last two seasons. Although, as a Giants fan, it's nice to konw that fans for another team can experience a Barry Zito-like situation too (ace pitcher gets signed for millions, then tanks). Due to the Pirates starting rotation woes, the Yankees have been in talks with Pittsburgh to trade AJ Burnett. Not to be mean, but Pittsburgh's pitching issues must be really grave to want AJ Burnett. I suppose if Kevin Corriea (former Giant and major cutie) doesn't get healthy again, they are just forced to grasp at straws. If Burnett were even a bit younger I'd say this wasn't ERA suicide for Pittsburgh, but he's not exactly 28 anymore. 


From New York's standpoint, this move makes perfect sense - they finally have locked in a pretty solid starting rotation and don't need the extra baggage. And regardless of how Michael Pineda works out, New York has one or two back-up starters. That's a pretty enviable position to be in for any team, especially one that has a long-standing explosive offense. The other side of that coin, of course, is that New York's explosive offense is getting older, much like Philadelphia's offense is. 

Probably the biggest news from the last week in acquisitions is the A's signing Cuban Yoenis Cespedes to a 4 year/$36 million deal. There seems to be a theme this offseason, in terms of unlikely teams signing big name (or possibly big name) players. The Angels signed Pujols; the Marlins signed Reyes; the Tigers signed Fielder. Now the A's are joining that list by signing Cespedes. Of all the teams in need of a potential big hitter, it's the A's. No question.  They dumped their best pitchers early on this offseason, no longer having Gio Gonzlez, Trevor Cahill or Andrew Bailey. I still didn't see a reason why the A's wanted to so quickly part with such talented pitchers. Perhaps we will never know. But I'm glad for the A's that they finally made an upgrade offense-wise. 

Of course, who knows how Cespedes will do in America, just as the Rangers have no idea how Yu Darvish will do, but expectations are high for this outfielder. I can think of fewer teams at this point who need this kind of acquisition, though that doesn't necessarily mean I will be watching the A's any more closely than I have in the past few years. As mentioned before, you get rid of a young, cute group of pitchers and you've lost me. On the other hand, one could deduce that because the A's have had a string of young, cute pitchers (starting with Barry Zito back in the early 2000's) in recent years, there could be yet another group of them in the not-too-distant future. This fan can only hope.

I was happy when I found out that the Indians signed Asdrubal Cabrera (or "strudel" as I affectionately call him) to a one-year deal for $4.55 million. It would have been a big mistake to sign him for much less. I consider him to be one of the best shortstops in the game, and his younger age makes his potential even greater for being excellent long-term. I think he gets a lot less credit than flashier shortstops like, say, Elvis Andrus. It also doesn't help that he's with the Indians, and something tells me he won't be there for the long haul. But right now, he's the kind of player that provides a bright spot on a less-than-stellar team. That's worth something.

Speaking of the Rangers and flashy players, Nelson Cruz signed a 2-year/$16 million extension this past week. Of all the players on the Rangers, as a Giants fan, he's the closest to my heart. After all, he provided the final strike-out that cemented the Giants World Series win in 2010. And I must admit, it was pretty satisfying seeing him miss catching David Freese's game-tying hit in last year's World Series. That moment reiterates what I find so overrated about Nelson Cruz - he's not exactly the best player defensively. If a team is willing to shell out $16 million for an outfielder, he should be more solid than Cruz seems to be. Then again, I feel the same way about Mike Napoli and he's a Ranger too. Could this be a theme? Possibly.


As previously mentioned, there were some other trades/acquisitions that took place recently that I just don't care much about - pitcher Jeremy Guthrie being traded from the Orioles to the Rockies in particular. There's always something to not cover, isn't there?

"I dressed up in my Matt Moore First Win Game-Used uniform..."

Despite my fervent love of baseball, I simply can't cover everything that goes on, even in the off-season. In fact, that's a great example, because I'm not going to care about every single trade or acquisition that goes on - it's just not realistic. In this case, I'm referring to the Mariners/Yankees Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda trade that has recently had everyone up in arms. First of all, I don't like the Yankees; I don't hide that. Secondly, I just don't keep up with the Mariners. There are no players in particular on their team who I like. Besides, they are an American League team and I'm a National League person. So that should sum it up right there. And while I don't read as many baseball blogs as I should, I don't need to say a word about the Montero-Pineda trade. Why is that, you might ask? Because in this case, the lovely Keith Olbermann has done it for me. (http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/01/14/montero-pineda-no-big-deal/)

I've always liked Olbermann - he was fun to watch on MSNBC and I always knew he had previously been a sportscaster. I did not, however, until recently know that he had a baseball blog on MLB.com. And not that it's surprising, but the man can write - and he can write damn well. He was recently a guest on Clubhouse Confidential and I had to stop myself from drooling, because this guy is really devoted to baseball. I could pick from any number of his posts, really - the one about the Topps Pack Opening Day event is particularly heartwarming. In that entry he includes a shot of the limited-edition Skip Schumaker card with the Cardinals rally squirrel in it - pretty priceless, if you ask me.

My long-winded point though, is that it is really great to see someone combine their love of a sport with their natural gifts for speaking and writing. He is what I aspire to be with my blog. Sure, he's 1,000 times the writer that I will ever hope to be, but it's a wonderful thing to strive for. Olbermann is, as his blog title states, a baseball nerd - but he is one of the highest order. If he calls himself a baseball nerd, I'm proud to call myself one too.

Players finding new homes, and one who may have screwed his future with one...

Oh, Josh Hamilton. What can I say? I love it when I'm right, because that's not exactly a regular occurrence. So I'm going to gloat. At least a little bit. 

I won't go too much into how predictable I thought (and amusing) his recent relapse was, because that's where I stop being a baseball fan and start slamming the guy for his hypocrisy. But his "press conference" (I use the term loosely) was one of the least sincere apologies I've ever heard. How much credit can you be given for being open and honest about something if you won't even answer questions about it? Okay, so it's a personal matter and this happened before spring training started. And yet...this is the same guy who complained about smelling pot in the outfield of AT&T during the World Series and was so appalled by smelling it while walking the streets of San Francisco. For me, the minute you throw religion into it, you're on thin ice pretty much automatically. You made a mistake, it's no one else's fault, you're human, move on. Leave Christ out of it, please. According to reports, contract extension talks with the Rangers are "on hold for now". I think that means, "Bye bye, contract extension! Enjoy free agency hell!"

Moving on to a more positive happening, Edwin Jackson finally found a new home when he recently signed a 1 year/$11 million deal w/Nationals. The amount of money he signed for is not the surprising part to me - more that it was only for one year. If he's anywhere as good this season as he was in 2011, I'm guessing that contract will be extended. He's also found himself part of a fantastic-looking rotation. That's also where one of my cuties, Gio Gonzalez, recently ended up. I guess this means I may become a Nationals fan - and hey, I have to find someone in the NL East to root for!

Also signing a new one-year deal with a new team is Casey Kotchman, who was signed for $3 million with the Indians. I admit, I didn't really know who he was until "the game" the Rays had against the Rangers in last year's playoffs, in which he became my hero by owning the Rangers pitching staff. Hence why he and Matt Moore (for owning the Rangers hitters) were my heroes that day. And while Kotchman is no longer with the Rays, I will remember him fondly for that for at least a few years to come. If the Indians can keep some of their better players (Asdrubal Cabrera, anyone?) for the foreseeable future, they have a chance in the AL Central.

Now the only Giants-related news as of late is that Pat Burrell (or "Pat The Bat") recently announced his retirement. I've always had conflicting feelings about Pat. He was one of the reasons that, during the regular season, the Giants made it to the playoffs in 2010. However, once he got the playoffs, he was, well...terrible. I lost count early on of how many times he struck out, particularly once they were in the NLCS. But they did call him "Pat The Bat" for a reason, mostly because of his time with the Phillies. He is also fourth on the list of all-time home run hitters for the Phillies (at home, anyway). I just wish he had had a better (and fuller) final season. It makes me wonder if another ex-Giant, Edgar Renteria, will now consider retirement as well. One can only hope.

Speaking of the Phillies, Raul Ibanez is apparently in "serious" talks with Yankees for the DH spot. Ibanez would reportedly take less money to be a Yankee, which at 39 makes sense. Personally, I have always found Ibanez rather overrated, but that is in part because he was with the Phillies. Guerrero, Damon and Matsui are also apparently in the running for the spot. If I were Joe Girardi, I would go with Damon, mostly because he's had the most playing time recently of the bunch. But that's just me. Plus, the Yankees have re-signed former players more than once, so reason stands that they might do it with Damon. And while I've never liked the Yankees (but don't hate them like I do, say, the Dodgers), they usually have a few players I like. I also would worry a lot more about my pitching rotation than adding a DH. Once again, only time will tell on this one.

I'm realizing now that this entry turned out to be somewhat Phillies-themed, though I did not intend it to be as such. Moving along on that theme, I suppose it should be mentioned that Chad Qualls signed a 1 year/$1.15 million deal with the Phillies earlier this week. What I find perplexing is that they signed Qualls and yet seem rather sure that they would not re-sign Roy Oswalt. Yes, Oswalt had some injuries in recent seasons, but he's still considered an above-average veteran. It appears the Reds had some interest in Oswalt, but are now denying it. Oswalt is not the type of player I'd deny having interest in.

When the Red Sox denied interest in Cody Ross and then signed him a few days later, that made sense. While I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Ross, at this point, he's not a player that a team shouts from the rooftops about acquiring. I think Oswalt has plenty of gas left in the tank, so to speak. He may have been a Phillie, but Oswalt's numbers and staying power don't lie. And this is why Clubhouse Confidential is my favorite show on MLB Network, because stats are stats. It is the only kind of math I can get behind.

Speaking of impressive stats, the last bit of relevant news to mention is the Dodgers locking Clayton Kershaw into a 2 year/$19 million deal. If nothing else, Kershaw is proof that hating the Dodgers doesn't cloud my judgment of a future pitching ace when I see one. I think he deserves every penny. And his attitude seems to fit in with the Dodgers quite nicely.

Of all people, I never imagined I would be someone who would root for a Dodger, but here I am. I think it's partially the fact that he's a pitcher; Jason Schmidt was a Dodger (very briefly after being a Giant) and I will always love him. And remember the game where I witnessed his lovely home run. Those were good times.