Hey Everyone (all 6 of you that read this),
Through a series of unfortunate events, all of my own doing, I’ve been a little bit on the homeless side the last few days, so I apologize for the lack of posts. Actually, to paraphrase George Carlin I’m not actually homeless, so much as houseless. Anyway, thanks to at least one good friend and all the free warm places in the world (Libraries, Laundrymats, and hotel lobbies) I’ve managed to do OK in this weird winter weather we’ve been having. Don’t feel sorry for me, I’m the dumb bastard that got myself into this, so it will have to be me to get me out of it.
So, on to the baseball…
Thank the gods for Baseball. We have ice and snow in the south in March, the economy sucks the bag, and everyone wants something they don’t have. But despite all the talk of PEDs, and illegal Dominican signings, or Torre’s tell all book – when the Ump yells play ball, its all about what happens between the lines, and I for one, am always better for it.
Spring Training has been fun so far this year. Its great seeing Heyward, Hanson, Freeman, Kawakami, and Schafer (oh my!). There is such a good core of talent on this team and in the organization that only die hard cynics and snarks wouldn’t have fun watching this. Yes, Mac, I’m talking to you.
Is this team going to win this year? In the immortal words of David Wooderson, “It’d be a whole lot cooler if they did”. On paper, I’ve never seen this year as a WIN year. I know the Braves worked hard to make that happen, but I’ve been of the opinion that they should have spent less money to field a team that can play without absolutely stinking, while spending time developing their younger players and giving them a chance to play at the big league level when they are ready. Many others have felt that with the good young core players, the Braves were an ace, an outfielder, and some bubblegum away from competing in the East.
The facts are this – The Braves have a much improved rotation capable of eating a lot of innings and winning some games, they have a lot of great arms in the bullpen that can be mixed and match to keep the Braves in the game. The infield is solid with a good offensive upside, and the outfield, if not strong in power, certainly can cover some ground and get some balls. Well, that last statement isn’t as right as it was in the beginning of the year. Anderson is in left now, so the amount of coverage has dropped pretty drastically. J. Anderson, even though Schafer is the future star, is probably going to need to get the nod in center just to make up for the ground that G won’t be able to cover. Who knows, by mid year you might see Schafer in left, Anderson in center and Francouer in right. Power is still going to be the issue in the outfield, but if they can catch some balls and not completely embarrass themselves at the plate, this team should at least give a stronger showing than the any of the previous three year’s teams have done.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Whats fun right now is watching Spring ball and seeing the future. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see a team that has KJ, Escobar, McCann, Heyward, Schafer and Hanson. Are you kidding me? Talk about strong up the middle, this is a team core that could be devastating, and a whole lot of fun to watch.
Like I said, I’m glad for Baseball. This won’t be the first time it helped me through something, and it won’t be the last. So quit worrying about the world series, the playoffs, or where your team might be in 6 months. Just sit back, find a game, any game, open up your favorite beverage and enjoy one of the purest pleasures we have. If you have a kid, even better, rope them in for as long as they can stand, and give rise to another fanatic, we need them all!
