February 17, 2014

Talkin' Baseball: Baseball is Back!

49er16: Oh my I couldn't be happier that baseball is back. Yeah I know it's spring training but BASEBALL IS BACK!

The Colonel: I'm like you excited for the start of the baseball season but here's the problem. Real games don't start for another 6 weeks!!!! You get all excited for baseball and then reality hits you smack dab in the face that real baseball isn't returning for a while. But yes I'm excited for baseball and stories about X player being in "the best shape of his career!". 

49er16: Ah a spring tradition. Bad beat writer spring training pictures and reports on "who is in the best shape of his career!". My favorite stories from spring training are when guys show up out of shape like Jesus Montero.

The Colonel: The Mariners amaze me. They spend all this money on players and could still possibly bring in Nelson Cruz and yet they still have problems. What's going to happen with Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak? How do they replace Franklin Gutierrez? What are they going to do with the Nick Franklin/Brad Miller combo? The Mariners love throwing crap on the wall but a lot of times it doesn't stick. 

49er16: They're for me the most interesting team of spring training because of all the questions surrounding the future of their roster. And don't forget that two of their pitching prospects have some sort of injury. 

The Colonel: I was looking at the Giants schedule for spring training and do you realize they play games everyday of March except one in Arizona? That's incredible. You'd have to think managers would complain about that much time playing games instead of practicing. 

49er16: I actually asked this question to Andrew Baggarly in one of his Giants chats and his answer was "ha ha ha ha, yes". So I'm guessing this is a sticking point with managers. But hey more chances for teams to charge people money for terrible games. 

The Colonel: According to Stubhub the cheapest tickets are earlier in Spring Training and then they become more and more expensive. I've always wanted to go to Arizona and see Spring Training and then I think about it more and I'd rather spend money on another vacation or real baseball games. Spring Training doesn't excite me at all when I really think about it. 

49er16: Getting back to actual team talk, are the Indians this year's Baltimore Orioles? They basically stood pat during the offseason and lost two starting pitchers (Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir) and now will probably have to rely on young pitchers in the back half of their rotation. They'll have to make a trade for a starting pitcher sooner than later, right? 

The Colonel: I would think so, but the AL Central in my opinion isn't getting better. Detroit I would think would have to fall off the cliff sooner than later and the White Sox have somewhat improved but not really. Kansas City is interesting but I still feel like Ned Yost will cost them games and the Twins are rebuilding. Cleveland should still be good enough to sneak in as a Wild Card. 

49er16: Getting back the Orioles, I hope Machado can make a full recovery. Baseball players usually make recoveries from knee injuries better than basketball players but still it's worrisome. 

The Colonel: I don't like the Orioles at all this season. Between Machado trying to recover to their starting rotation they have .500 and a third place finish written all over them. 

49er16: Anything else you're excited about this spring training? 

The Colonel: More #FatChat when talking about Pablo Sandoval! 

49er16: Have a good week folks and be excited about baseball! 

2 comments:

  1. Are you guys still not going to talk about the AL Central this season?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It depends on how well that division does at the beginning of the year.

    ReplyDelete