Ah, Baseball Is Officially Back

Sure it was only a crappy spring training game in which the Mets lost and had three regulars not in the lineup, but it was great.

Pointless things that I should not get worked up over, but will anyway:

Matsui looked smooth at second base making a few very good plays in the third inning charging two grounders, one of which was against the speeding Endy Chavez, as well as making a nice pivot and throw to second to start a double play.

Heilman looks like the Heilman of old giving up three runs and two homers. I know it's just spring, but really, will he ever serve any use to the Mets whatsoever? In a time when bats are supposed to quiet to start spring, he gets two homers unloaded on him. A feat even Heredia did not let happen and he gets paid to give up homers.

Heath Bell pitching one inning, with one K and no walks or hits. Why am I excited about this? Not because it was against second stringers, but because I expect him to be lights out in spring to make the Major League club and it all starts here.

It looked like a spring game with a bunch of errors and botched plays, but that is what spring training is for. ESPN had done an interview with Frank Robinson early in the game and he just kept the headset on. They kept panning back to him and showing him with the headset and about an inning or two later, they said, "Frank you still listening to us?" He said, "of course". Robinson was listening to the entire broadcast for the game so I'd imaging everyone was kind of watching what they said about his National team. He did have to take them off when he went out to argue a pop fly that was called in infield fly that Danny Garcia did not get to, but he did not miss a beat. The second he sat back down, the headphones went back on. Robinson was great.

From the papers:
The 69-year-old Nats skipper has grown tired of questions about the move to Washington. "That's a dumb question," he said when asked if there was a lot of anticipation for yesterday's game.

Willie was not quite as interesting as Robinson was when he was interviewed.

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Check out this article by the Klap on Willie's way or the highway. It's a good read if you have not read it. With his no loud music in the locker room rule, one has to wonder if Kazmir would have still been here if Randolph was around last year? Who knows, maybe if there is no Bruce Springstein to turn off, The Senator cannot get pissed. (no I really do not believe that factored into the trade or had anything to do with it)

"That's part of my routine," Glavine said. "When I throw my last warm-up pitch I get up on the mound, turn around, and make sure everybody is ready. I turned around and saw the new guys we have in the infield and Carlos [Beltran] in center field. It was a good feeling."

"The Nationals are tough," Minaya said. "And this year they don't have travel issues [no games in San Juan], and they will have 30,000 people a game at home."

That's the thing that makes the NL East hard. They may not be the best division for overall talent, but every team there is competitive. There are no pushovers and all can win games. The Nationals are the worst team out of the bunch, but have a decent staff and decent offense. They will catch teams sleeping and give teams fits. 88 wins may take this division.

Al is not big fan of Mike and the Mad Dog:

"They influence not only fans but organizations," said Leiter, who is paid to do a weekly spot on Michael Kay's ESPN radio show. "Teams in New York listen to those guys. Why I don't know. One guy's a know-it-all, and his opinions are better than anybody else's, and the other guy is a clown who throws a ball 47 miles-an-hour and plays tennis.

"They called me every name in the book, and questioned my integrity. Chris said I was done in 2003, and then when I had a strong second half, he said, 'I guess I was wrong.' Like a 10-second retraction was enough after he ripped me up and down in every way as if I'd done something to his wife and kids."

I have no idea why they even have jobs. Their show is bad and they are supreme beings who know EVERYTHING. People cannot argue the opposite opinion of them and they are NEVER wrong. That fiasco where they made a huge stink about Willie's salary and went on for days at length about it was ridiculous. Turns out, Willie is the best paid first year manager in baseball. Did they ever say anything like sorry, or we were wrong? Those two do not let a little thing like fact checking and research get in the way. Unreal.

First the Cards wanted Cedeno, now they are interested in McEwing. You think they'll take Heredia and Heilman too?

The fantastically named Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and their top pick Jared Weaver are far apart on any contractual agreement.

The Angels decided to play hardball with pitcher Jered Weaver, giving the first-round pick until midnight Wednesday to accept a $4-million signing bonus before pulling it off the table, but the representative for the former Long Beach State ace hardly blinked in turning it down.

At this point, the Angels have to really ask themselves how much is he worth? He was the most polished pitcher and closest to being major league ready out of the 2004 draft, but was said to be a #3 pitcher at best and the fourth or fifth best arm in the draft. Is a solid #3 necessarily bad for relatively small Major League contract? No, but Boras is not looking for a small contract. The Angels would get the 50th pick of the 2005 draft for the failure to sign Jared Weaver and at this point, it looks tempting.

37. Angels (for Type A Troy Percival)
50. Angels (for failure to sign Jered Weaver)
61. Angels (from Tigers for Percival)

Weaver can throw in the 90's, but has been known to work in the mid to high 80's when he does not have is best stuff and it worked in college, but in the majors? Jared does not have the tools that Jeff has and with a pretty deep draft this upcoming season, they are better off walking away.

BA's top 25 prospects is out and the Brew Crew own three of them and the Devil Rays own three of them.

Lastings is #11.

BP's stat of the day is the top 5 2005 NL pitchers by PECOTA Projected Strikeouts. Pedro Martinez is projected to finish third with 205 K's, 10 off the lead who is projected to be Ben Sheets with 215 K's.

After a bunch of what I believe to be fake injuries to prevent Len Dinardo from coming back to the Mets, it looks like he'll be in the minors this upcoming season for the Red Sox.