Ah, spring training. Is there a prettier sight in all the world? As we here in the Northeast brace for yet another major storm, there is nothing better than palm trees and 85-degree weather. As we speak, I am about to watch the NY Mets in a spring game. Not because I want to, mind you, but because I feel I need to. How long that lasts, I can't say, but right now I am actually enjoying watching those goofy Metropolitans run around the bases.
The Yankees started their long, long, long spring of games this past week and YES was kind enough to show a few. Here are a couple of quick thoughts as the spring officially kicks off:
*It is amazing to me that no one has talked about the reaction A-Rod has and will receive from Yankee fans this season. That's the real story. Yes, he is gonna take flack when he goes to Fenway or to the new Citi Field. He always does. But what about at Yankee Stadium, his home ballpark? If he gets off to a slow start, all bets are off. Even in Tampa, when he was first announced the other day, you could hear a smattering of boos. Then, after hitting into a double play ball, the boos seemed to get louder. This is in SPRING TRAINING AT HOME!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine the reaction come time for real baseball?
The A-Rod/Yankee fan relationship has been, shall we say, strained. If he gets off slow, there won't be many cheers for him in the Bronx. Memo to A-Rod: Get off to a very, very, very fast start.
(One other note on A-Rod before hopefully ignoring him and it for the rest of March. I would like to take this moment to address one Mike Lupica. Mike, we all know you're a weasel scumbag with an inflated opinion of yourself and your importance. But you need to let this A-Rod thing go. We know you hate him and the Yankees. You've sacrificed your own credibility long ago to make that abundantly clear. But, after seeing that you dedicated ANOTHER Sunday column to A-Rod, I feel an intervention is necessary. I know you WANT people to care about this as much as you do, so they will continue to read, but we just don't. A-Rod has never been a fan favorite and while his revelation was somewhat surprising, we have all moved on. He used steroids. We got it. Sorry if other parts of our life take precedent over knowing where he got the roids, when, from who, and whether he really thought they worked or not. Those questions aren't keeping me up at night, the way they seem to be doing to you. If you no longer can stomach watching baseball because of A-Rod's admission and the Yankees payroll, I am sure you would be extremely happy writing about hockey for the next few months. I heard Bobby Crosby had a really nice goal the other night, maybe you could opine about that. But PLEASE, let the A-Rod thing go. This isn't about us, it's about you. Dealing with a debilitating Napoleon complex must be hard enough. Throwing in some sort of jilted lover hatrd for a player who would barely recognize you in a lineup borders on unhealthy.)
*There is a lot of spring to go but, just from what I have seen, it appears that Brett Gardner is on the fast track to win that center field job. Melky has, so far, looked a lot like the Melky from last year. That's not a good thing for him.
Forget about Gardner's leadoff homer the other day. That isn't what the Yankees expect. He isn't hitting dingers. The more important indicator came in the second game for the Yankees when Gardner worked the count, slapped a single to the left side, stole second, and then scored on a single. That's what speed can do. That's what Gardner can do that Melky can't. If the Melkman can't hit BIG, he has little chance of emerging victorious in this position battle simple because a tie would automatically go to Gardner because of his ability to change a game with his speed. If, by the end of March, Melky is batting .380 and Gardner .230, well then Melky would be the choice, but if the two were essentially equal, then Cabrera might as well book his ticket back to Scranton.
Right now, it isn't a tie. Gardner, in a very small sampling, looks like the better player in every facet. There is a tremendous amount of spring to be played, but already I think the Melkman has an uphill battle to climb.
*Haven't seen much of Nick Swisher but with his eye and his power I hope he really does get some good at bats. I am glad the Cashman and the brain trust didn't decide to jettison him this offseason and I hope they stand pat with that decision. I mean, it really doesn't make any sense to get rid of him, does it? You aren't guaranteed that Xavier Nady is going to be a .300, 30, 100 guy, are you? What if he slumps badly? Or how about Hideki Matsui? Godzilla hasn't been able to stay healthy now for a long time. Is he going to make it through an entire season? How about Johnny Damon? The same applies to him. There is no guarantee that he will last 162.
The fact is that Swisher makes sense short term and long term. Let's assume that Nady plays well and hits for average and power, becoming a really nice corner outfielder for the team. Well, Swisher is still there to provide both Damon and Matsui a day off here and there. He can also play center in a crunch, or play left allowing the Yankees to move Damon to center if Gardner or Cabrera can't hack it. If Teixeira goes on the DL for any length of time, or just needs a day off, Swisher can step in and provide good defense and solid offense. And, next year, if Swisher proves capable, the Yankees would have options for the outfield come the offseason. If Xavier Nady and Scott Boras were asking for too much, they could say goodbye and go with Swisher. If the Yanks decided to bring back Nady but not Johnny Damon, Swisher could easily move into the left field spot. What about Matsui? His contract is up after this year. If he doesn't produce at a high level, or prove that he can stay healthy, the Yanks could essentially move Damon and Swisher back and forth between the outfield and DH to keep both fresh and involvd in the field.
I was a fan of the Swisher deal from the very beginning, but seeing him a couple of times already makes me even more sure that he was the right acquisition at the right time.
*Chris "Mad Dog" Russo had an interesting stat the other day. The ballparks for the spring
games are not being filled so far. Now, to a certain extent, I take the stats with a grain of salt. It is the end of February, the whole month of March lay ahead, and people might not turn out for games until later on in the spring. But, the economy HAS to be on everyone's mind and you have to wonder if one of the casualties will be attendance.
The NBA this week announced that they needed more than $100 in loans to help struggling franchises. Could MLB feel that same kinda pinch? Are people going to spend their money baseball games when they can't afford to pay the gas bill or they are worried about their job being terminated in the next few months?
Just watching this Mets game today, there seem to be A LOT of empty seats. The place certainly isn't filled. Is that simply the result of an early spring training starting time or an ominous sign of things to come? I guess we will see.
*I don't have a major problem with anything YES does in terms of baseball coverage. No, I am not a Michael Kay fan, and their Web site needs to ditch Peter Goldman and hire, well, me as a columnist. But their coverage is usually pretty darn good.
However, the spring coverage kinda sucks, doesn't it?
First, none of us need REAL coverage of a spring game. Yesterday Joba Chamberlain gave up two runs in one inning of work and Ken Singleton broke down why Joba was getting "smacked" around. "He needs to get his fastball down in order to be effective," insisted Ken. Ummm, it's spring training folks. Joba was throwing 88 MPH. He was basically soft tosing. He didn't care if he gave up 2 or 10 runs, he was there to get some work in. Let's not make nothing into something simply because the cameras are turned on. Spring is not the time for indepth analysis on a pitch by pitch basis. It is a time to preview the season, tell some stories, and have some fun.
And that leads me into my real problem with the YES spring coverage. Folks, this isn't for real. I'm not tuning tuning in for a win or a loss. Why are they covering the game like it is mid-season? Tune in to NESN sometime. I hate everything that has to do with Red Sox Nation, I do. But they know what they're doing with their broadcast. They have beat writers on pre-game to talk about the team and the season. Then, during the game, they have interviews with the starters who have either been pulled from the game or weren't playing that day. And the analysts treat the games with a little more humor than normal because, well, they don't count.
Why can't YES slap a headphone on Jeter or Tex or CC or Posada during the game and talk to them for a while? Why can't they have a pre-game with a roundtable of some beat writers to talk about the season? In other words, why not make the telecast interesting?
The last thing I need is to hear Michael Kay and Ken Singleton breaking down Joba's delivery. It doesn't make for interesting television.
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