2003 Grapefruit/Cactus League thread (we're talkin' baseball, folks)
It's that time of year again. Time to report to spring training. Heck, pitchers and catchers are already there. So what's your outlook for the new season?
My Twins pretty much stood pat -- didn't do much to improve themselves over the winter. But at least they kept all their key players signed and happy. They'll be in good shape as long as they stay healthy, especially the Big Three of Radke, Milton and Mays.
It'll be a tougher division this year though. The White Sox will definitely be better with the additions of Colon and Koch. Probably the Indians too.
How's your team looking?
My Twins pretty much stood pat -- didn't do much to improve themselves over the winter. But at least they kept all their key players signed and happy. They'll be in good shape as long as they stay healthy, especially the Big Three of Radke, Milton and Mays.
It'll be a tougher division this year though. The White Sox will definitely be better with the additions of Colon and Koch. Probably the Indians too.
How's your team looking?
Comments
road trip!!!
<strong>Yankees spent a zillion dollars and are acting like bickering bitches in spring training and have their own immigration service in tampa</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ha ... I loved this quote from Joe Torre after Steinbrenner said he wants Jeter to give "110 percent" this year:
"As soon as you find out how to do that, let me know. I sort of shake my head when I hear people say 150 percent or 110 percent. I'm not sure there is more than 100 percent."
Wow ... common sense! I'm not a Yankees fan, but I'm a Joe Torre fan.
Our Braves will be cranking up at the Disney facility down in Orlando right soon now. A friend of mine and his wife do a family thing down there every spring. I went once when they were still in West Palm Beach and it was a hoot~
1B- Jeremy Giambi/Kevin Millar/David Ortiz
2B-Todd Walker/Lou Merloni/Damian Jackson
SS- Nomar Garciaparra
3B- Shea Hillenbrand/Bill Mueller
C- Jason Varitek/Doug Mirabelli
LF- Manny Ramirez
CF- Johnny Damon
RF- Trot Nixon/Benny Agbayani
Pitching is a mess but here's what I think it will probably be:
Starters:
Pedro Martinez
Derek Lowe
Tim Wakefield
Cassey Fossum
Frank Castillo
John Burkett
I have no idea if Fossum, Castillo, or Burkett are going to start but they did at times last year so I put them up there. Obviously they are only going to have a 5 man rotation.
Relief:
Alan Embree
Mike Timlin
Ramiro Mendoza
Bob Howry
Willie Banks
There are others but I'm not sure who will make the cut.
They look like a better team than last year but the Red Sox have the major disadvantage of playing in the same division as the Yankees. Not only that, but the Yankees buy players just to spite the Red Sox. It will be an interesting year, though.
<strong>The Red Sox have a ton of new players coming in. It will be interesting to see what the infield looks like when all is said and done.
1B- Jeremy Giambi/Kevin Millar/David Ortiz
2B-Todd Walker/Lou Merloni/Damian Jackson
SS- Nomar Garciaparra
3B- Shea Hillenbrand/Bill Mueller
C- Jason Varitek/Doug Mirabelli
LF- Manny Ramirez
CF- Johnny Damon
RF- Trot Nixon/Benny Agbayani
Pitching is a mess but here's what I think it will probably be:
Starters:
Pedro Martinez
Derek Lowe
Tim Wakefield
Cassey Fossum
Frank Castillo
John Burkett
I have no idea if Fossum, Castillo, or Burkett are going to start but they did at times last year so I put them up there. Obviously they are only going to have a 5 man rotation.
Relief:
Alan Embree
Mike Timlin
Ramiro Mendoza
Bob Howry
Willie Banks
There are others but I'm not sure who will make the cut.
They look like a better team than last year but the Red Sox have the major disadvantage of playing in the same division as the Yankees. Not only that, but the Yankees buy players just to spite the Red Sox. It will be an interesting year, though.
Agbayani and Castillo (I THINK) are gone. I thought I heard they were unloaded. If not, I haven't heard a thing about them so far during WEEI's coverage.
And Trot Nixon apparently gave up chew but gained 29 lbs in the process. This after he gets a 4 mil contract (sigh). Well hopefully he'll slim down and get back in the groove. The bottom 2 guys in the rotation worry me, but I think I like this "closer by commitee" thing they're tryig. Everyone thinks you need to have one closer. I say have as many GOOD relievers as possible. That was such an issue last year, what with Garces tanking like he did. We shall see. The Fellowship of the Miserable rides again
Are there any of them there RSS feeds for Major League Baseball games? Wouldn't an up to date scoreboard widget be WAY cool for Konfabulator? I know this is the wrong forum.....but a little baseball diamond shaped scoreboard would be pretty keen....I don't think that there's any WAY that a sports feed would keep the details of men on base data, but wouldn't it be cool if you could "see" an up to the minute display of where the runners were? I know, if you want it that bad just pay for a RealPlayer Gold Pass!
Maybe I'll mention this as an idear in the Konfabulator Thread in the Software Forum....meanwhile, back to Springy...
We have a little <a href="http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/atl/news/atl_news.jsp?ymd=20030221&content_id=202915&vkey=s pt2003news&fext=.jsp" target="_blank">name calling </a> going on between some of our former players....one our cool kid pitchers from last season is running his mouth a little....
[ 02-22-2003: Message edited by: drewprops ]</p>
Anyway, back to the Mets. Cliff Floyd should be fine, Alomar isn't going to have a season like last year, it's just impossible. Mo Vaughn should be better, especially since he lost some weight. Mike Piazza is getting up there in age but I'm sure with protection in the lineup he could get his average to .300 again, with his usual 32-38 HRs. Jeromy Burnitz is shit and doesn't deserve to start. Shortstop should be fine, with Rey Sanchez starting and probably sometime in mid-season Jose Reyes coming up. From what I've seen of him, he's worth all the hype. He's really gonna be great one day. Centerfield is a problem since Roger Cedeño is a bad defensive player, but it's his best position so hopefully he'll do fine, and Tsyoshi Shinjo and Timo Perez are on the bench who are good outfielders. Ty Wigginton most likely will be the starting third baseman. He's not the best defensive player, but he's getting better and he's a good hitter with power.
Pitching again is the Mets' strength. The starting rotation is solid. Tom Glavine should be his usual self. Al Leiter has always been better when he wasn't the ace. Pedro Astacio was great the first half last year, but horrible the second half. Hopefully he can be like he was the first half last season. Steve Trachsel was the Mets' best pitcher last year, even though he only had a .500 record. So he should be good again. The 5th spot is up for grabs. Mike Bacsik, Jason Middlebrook and David Cone are fighting for the spot. The bullpen is great, especially with the addition of Mike Stanton. David Weathers had a good season last year, and so did Grant Roberts. Scott Strickland wasn't too good, but he hopefully can return to the way he was in Montreal. Armando Benitez is still one of the top closers, his only problem is he can't pitch when the game's important. That's what most Mets fans hate about him. Jaime Cerda and Grame Lloyd are competing for the other lefty spot in the bullpen. And when John Franco comes back there bullpen will be even more stacked.
Overall, I think the Mets have a good enough team to win the division, or at least the Wild Card, but who knows.