Spring training almost starting… almost… almost…
“I’m more excited going into this spring than I’ve ever been. In my heart, I believe we have a chance to [win the division].”
— Hargrove, quoted on MLB.com
or, even better
“We feel like we had a good season last year — notwithstanding the 11-game debacle,” Hargrove said. “We were able to establish a winning attitude here, an attitude where when we take the field every day, we expect to win that ballgame.
“A lot of people pay lip service to that, but there’s a difference between saying it and believing it. Our players, certainly by the end of the year, got to that point and got over that point.”
almost as good as
“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. ”
— Morpheus
Larry LaRue in the News Tribune has health updates and the first “it’s an open competition” story.
“For me, the challenge in camp is to give every pitcher here a fair chance at making the team,†Chaves said Tuesday. “Later in camp, when the innings disappear, that’s tougher. Early on, I want to give everyone a fair shot.â€
Note that they’re already looking at a seven-man bullpen. Hooray for Hargrove.
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67 Responses to “Spring training almost starting… almost… almost…”
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#47 – That all makes a lot of sense. I think what I was trying to say is that a seven man bullpen isn’t inherently bad. If you don’t have anyone in your system that can fill a meaningful role at the end of the bench, why not make the 25th guy a reliever? A couple bad starts in a row can deplete a bullpen pretty quickly, and do you really want to blow out someone’s arm in a 15 inning game? I’m just saying that there are viable reasons for carrying the extra guy as a pitcher. There are much better reasons to rip Hargrove than for his seven man bullpen.
SI has a nice piece on the former Marine who was given a minor league deal & NRi by the Pads.
Any update on when the cheater’s guide will be shipped?
Larry Dobrow with “No sweeter sound than ‘pitchers and catchers report”:
oops, sorry– Scott Miller.
Is that what a winning attitude is? I would have thought that a winning attitude was an attitude that somehow “won” or allowed it’s wielder to win. That sounds like an “unrealistic” or “deluded” attitude, since it apparently led to unrealized expectations more often than not.
So spring training boils down to seeing if Sean White or Jake Woods makes the roster? Wow. I’d better get my plane tickets to Phoenix…
ahh, good. Elaine Thompson is also on the job in Peoria.
Has anyone seen the Stone column? http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003572621_marimoney15.html
This might be grounds for another thread, as I’m wondering if the numbers actually add up.
I remember posting once last year, regarding the bullpen use. Hargrove and the papers were saying the bullpen was being overused and that they needed another reliever. I checked, and none of the relievers had pitched as much as 3 innings in the last 7 days at that time.
I’m in agreement that I would rather have another player available on the bench than a 12th pitcher.
Bullpen overuse can result not only from pitching too many innings but also from getting up too many times. If Hargrove is getting guys up 2-3 times during a game and not putting them in he’s using them just as much as if he gets them in and they pitch a quick inning.
There were way too many times last year when he’d burn through 3 pitchers in quick succession for no particular reason.
Baker addresses the Guillen & Presinal connection that DMZ linked to last month…
What’s sad is that I think the FO expects us to be impressed that they upped the payroll. Unfortunately, they still fail to grasp that it’s not how much you spend, but rather how you spend it. Maybe a few more years of getting beaten up by an Oakland team with a much smaller payroll will teach them that, but I’m not counting on it.
I don’t think they fail to grasp that. I think they just have a different idea of how they ought to be spending their money than you — or I — do. They’re not trying to spend their money foolishly, it just works out that way.
But given year after year of evidence that the other guy is spending his smaller payroll more efficiently, don’t you think they’d pick upi on that?
That they continue to believe that they have the first clue about how to spend their money is just mind-boggling.
Art Thiel checks in with Lou
Any update on when THE CHEATER’S GUIDE will be shipped?
I just ordered it (and also ordered BURYING THE BLACK SOX). Amazon says that it will be shipped on April 6. (It should arrive just after we’ve lost interest in the 2007 Mariners–well after, for some.)