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.
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