89 thoughts on “Spring Training has begun!”

  2. Paraphrasing MLBTR: This will be the first season in 20 with no new Japanese players, MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby notices. Hiroshima Carp pitcher Kenta Maeda looked most likely, but the Carp decided not to post him. Then infielder Takashi Toritani re-signed with Hanshin. For the last 10 years Japanese players have arrived at a rate of about 3 per season, with Masahiro Tanaka and Tsuyoshi Wada (who actually signed with the Orioles prior to the 2012 season) making their debuts last year.

      • Yeah, I’ve seen him there…KMT59 or close, I think. He went there after DT went on hiatus. Somewhat surprised he didn’t go to TBLA, which a lot of DTers did.

        I usually only glance at DD comments–if even that–because they get off in the weeds pretty quickly if not start off there.

        Comments at TBLA are much better, IMO. Usually glance at them but don’t have time to wade thru all. Both places routinely get hundreds of comments under posts. Haven’t seen KT there.

  4. This Jon interview with Koufax ought to be required reading for all Dodger fans. If anyone ever doubted Koufax knows about much more than pitching, this should end that:

    http://dodgers.mlblogs.com/2015/02/26/sandy-koufax-holds-court/

    Many worthwhile nuggets, including this on Puig–

    ““I think probably he’s never played against talent that might be his equal, so he’s thought, ‘OK, they’ll make a mistake. I can keep running, and they’ll screw it up.’ It doesn’t happen here. I think he’s learned that. … I think there’s a lot of progress. When you’re struggling at the
    plate, everything looks bad.”

    • Sandy can probably still throw 85. If he’d had the benefit of contemporary surgical innovations, his numbers would have been off the charts.

  5. Fun story here about Kershaw and the RocketFish (that’s what ESPN’s Neil Everett calls Mike Trout) splitting time and talking while doing Subway commercials the other day.

  6. Can some of you West Coast folks enlighten me on how the UC Irvine Anteaters came up with that nickname? And for how Oregon became the Ducks and Oregon State the Beavers?

    Those nicknames don’t sound exactly convey much for opponents to worry about. Anteaters are funky-looking, ducks are ducks. I suppose a beaver could tear your ankle up with those teeth, tho.

    • From Wikipedia: The Anteater mascot was promoted by 3 students in UC Irvine’s founding year, Bob Ernst and Pat Glasgow of the water polo team, and rowing team member Schuyler Bassett. The mascot name was brought to a vote to the student body where irregularities were suspected in the voting process.

    • How did UCSB come up with Gauchos when they should be Vaqueros? Why isn’t Stanford the Robber Barons, as the student body voted?

    • Hope that doesn’t translate like most of Donnie’s opinions on medical issues last season, when as soon as he said he wasn’t worried about a player’s medical issues, guy was a good bet for the DL. ;-])

    • Wonder how the 1952 ban on women in MLB came about. Perhaps to keep Veeck from some shennanigan?

        • Gotta believe Frick had Veeck in the back of his mind. Otherwise he might have allowed them to play with an asterisk (urban legend).

  9. Feeling for Josh Hamilton. He has such a monkey on his back, and it’s hard not to relapse after surgery. I wish him well.

      • That’s not fair, Religion helps millions of people in many ways. But you really have to believe it, not just say it… By the way, I’m not religious, haven’t been in a church for more than 60 years, but I have respect for what it can do and for those who truly believe in it.

  10. From the OC Register:

    “Jamie McCourt’s attempt to have her divorce settlement with Frank
    McCourt overturned was rejected by a state appeals court in Los Angeles.
    Jamie argued that Frank had fraudulently underestimated the value of
    the couple’s assets, including the Dodgers, and sought an increase in
    her divorce settlement from $131 million to $770 million after the
    Dodgers were sold to the Guggenheim group for $2.15 billion.”

    • Arriving in BA and driving out of EZE, one of the first sights is the baseball stadium. Apart from a small field at the Lincoln HS, the only diamond I ever saw during my time in Argentina.

        • Any idea how Entre Rios came to have those diamonds? Jakarta has a couple of fields that are actively used in the middle of the city supposedly because of Houston oil men.

          • A guy I know, an accountant there, was looking for an activity for young people there and his own persistence made it work. Teams from Paraná have even gone to play tournaments in the States. My nephew’s a very good fast-pitch pitcher in Olavarría, Buenos Aires province.

            There is a baseball league in Buenos Aires, by the way. I have actually played with http://www.shankeesbaseball.com/

  14. Typo in first graph of Gaudin story: “…with the aaddition of…”

    Needed to be in the story about signing Aardsma. ;-])

  17. While I am with yawl and want the season to begin, I tend to like spring training even though it drags at the end until we play our little brothers the Angles of Anaheim. This year especially, with all the new players (bet Vin is studying overtime to get their little stories to us!).

  19. Following the team is supposed to be enjoyable and fun. You guys who complain about the new FO incessantly…..is all that really fun for you?

    It’s REAL clear that you dislike all the player moves and you don’t like that they didn’t spend $500 million on every big name star free agent or Cuban prospect out there (yet)–as if doing those things guaranteed a WS. Actually, doing those things guarantees exactly nothing. You can’t buy your way into a WS.

    The team hasn’t even played its first exhibition game yet. Gosh. Exhale.

    • Who said it was supposed to be fun? Suffering is a huge part of being a fan. Used to know a guy who loved to gamble, any way, any how. He asked me once what I thought a gambler liked most. I said, “Winning”. “Right”, he said, “Know what he likes second most? Losing.”

  20. Please, please, please let the games begin so all this negativity will be overwritten by hits and runs and errors!

    Every day, every thread. “The front office stinks. They don’t have a clue. I’d never have done that. Why didn’t they do this?”

    Get over it, will you guys?

  21. There is quite a conversation about the Moncada thing going on among the various personalities in my head.
    1. The FO didn’t bid on him because he isn’t the type of player they like.
    2. Might not be a bad thing. I can think of dozens of super-star players in AAA who never did anything in the bigs. He isn’t even close to AAA yet. Yes, I’m a skeptic or pessimist or whatever.
    3. I’d rather gamble $70MM on him than all the bent wing pitchers they signed recently. Good news: Because there are several of them, we have a good chance one of them works. Bad News: Because there is only one of him, there is only one chance he is successful. Good news: There is also only one chance he fails. Best news: We don’t have to sweat it at all, it is the FO’s hotseat.

  22. At dodgers.com, Mattingly says plan is for Nicasio to be a multi-innings reliever, Frias a starter.

    • Seems reasonable. Juan did fairly well as a 4-5 getting 10-15 starts early in his career, but not so well when he was throwing 30 games a season more recently. Jury still out on Carlos, who only has two starts under his belt (with 3.60 FIP).

  23. My first thought in seeing the above photo was that Maatingly is arms length away – that is, out of punching range. Not that swings would happen, but…