Spring Training

Oh, Spring Training.

It is one of my favorite times of the baseball year for a couple reasons.

1. I don't have to hear the same talk about the NFL Draft over and over and over.
2. It means that baseball is about to start.

Spring Training is an interesting animal though. You have to take it with a grain of salt, but at the same time you need to really pay attention to it.

For example, in 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies finished 13-19 in Spring Training and looked unimpressive. The Milwaukee Brewers on the other hand went 22-10 in the same year.

However, when the regular season was over the Phillies ended up winning 93 games and would eventually lose to the Yankees in the World Series, while the Brewers only won 80 and missed the playoffs.

Don't count out everything from Spring Training. Nate McLouth came into Spring Training in 2010 looking to fill a key role for the Braves as the lead-off hitter. However, something was off with him and he did the opposite of hit. At one point his batting average was a dismal .032, but fans kept hope alive that he could fix it.

He didn't. Instead of rallying in the season, McLouth continued to not hit. That plus multiple disabled list stints eventually forced him out of the line-up and forced the Braves to find a different CF answer. To his credit, he hit better after coming back late in the season (hitting .273 in Sept./Oct.), but he still ended with a .190 average.

Poor, poor Cardinals

Injuries happen, and Spring Training is no exception.

Take, for instance, Adam Wainwright. This Cardinals ace has put up 19 and 20 wins in the last two seasons and kept his ERA at a sub-3.00 level.  Last year's NL Cy Young runner-up looked to be a major staple in the Cardinals' rotation, but now, after an elbow injury suffered in Spring Training, he might miss the entire 2011 season.

While that could be an excuse for less Spring Training, I see it as a reason to keep it. Who is to say he doesn't injure the same elbow on Opening Day? He definitely wasn't trying too hard during Spring Training, but something still went wrong.  The upside to this, is the Cardinals have had almost a month to figure out how they can fill his spot in the rotation.  Had this had happened during the season, they would have had to scramble because every game counts against them, but in Spring Training they can throw out a couple of AAA guys and see how they do. All the while knowing that if they get shelled it isn't a big deal.

Spring Training is definitely an interesting time. You never know whether to put stock in the stats, or to be worried by slumps.

Here are the leaders for this year (as of March 22):

San Francisco leads the Cactus League with a record of 18-8.
Detroit leads the Grapefruit League with a record of 18-9.

Jake Fox, a catcher for the Orioles, leads everyone in homeruns with 7.

Chris Davis, a 1B with the Rangers, leads RBIs with 15.

Jeremy Reed, an OF with the Brewers, leads with 22 hits.

Darren Ford, an OF with the Giants, leads the SB category with 9.

Of all of these players, none have gone on to put up stellar seasons. This year could be different, but often, Spring Training tends to be a false hope of statistics, unless they are strange slumps.

I love to watch Spring Training games because you get to see the guys in AA and AAA try and make the MLB roster. Or you get to see that phenom rookie get his first action and see if he lives up to all the hype. It also signals the beginning of baseball season.  However, I have learned that the stats often don't mean much, like the football preseason.

FANTASY:

In other news, we had our draft last night. And I used my tips that I blogged earlier and have a pretty decent team, I think. The only thing I worry about is power and saves, but here is my line up:

C: Brian McCann ATL
1B: Mitch Moreland TEX
2B: Dan Uggla ATL
3B: Martin Prado ATL
SS: Elvis Andrus TEX
2B/SS: Alexei Ramirez CWS
1B/3B: Pedro Alvarez PIT
OF: Delmon Young MIN
OF: Drew Stubbs CIN
OF: Nick Markakis BAL
OF: Grady Sizemore CLE
OF: Garrett Jones PIT
Bench: Justin Smoak SEA
Bench: Ryan Theriot STL

P: Felix Hernandez SEA
P: Justin Verlander DET
P: Tim Hudson ATL
P: Phil Hughes NYY
P: Trevor Cahill OAK
P: Matt Thornton CWS
P: Jonny Venters ATL
P: Joel Hanrahan PIT
P: Kevin Gregg BAL
Bench: Brian Duensing MIN

There you go, that is Karl Ravech's Favorite Team in all their glory.

Mark