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3/4/22

Reese Kaplan -- What We Miss About Spring Training


One of the things I certainly looked forward to seeing in Spring Training was the pantheon of prospective players whose names were not yet known and whose identity may never be known if not for the magic of a scorecard.  Yes, you want to see your favorites from the Major League team, you want to see the most aggressively hyped prospects and you want to see competitive baseball played under the Florida (or Arizona) sun.  

However, what's really interesting is when someone seems to rev it up during preseason and all of the sudden it becomes worth looking online to find out who is it wearing number 67 for the Mets in Port St. Lucie?  For a few days or weeks or even the whole month you may fantasize that a Joe Shlabotnik indeed has a future in Queens. 

While everyone is fully confident about who's playing first base, who's at shortstop, who is catching, who is at the top of the pitching rotation and who are the primary firemen in the bullpen, no one is quite as certain about the filler players who might indeed comprise members of the bench.  Yes, Luis Guillorme will be there, but what about the 4th and 5th outfielders, the backup catcher, the fringe pitchers and the surplus of players without a position?

The other thing that's fun to watch is when players are obviously not ready for in-season maneuvers like defensive shifts, aggressive base running and obsolete skills like bunting.  Now not only is it enjoyable seeing the players execute (or fail to execute) these aspects of the game, but it's also even more enjoyable seeing the out-of-practice (or out-of-shape) defenders look like Little Leaguers instead of Major League professionals.  

One thing that is interesting to see in the preseason is the predefined pecking order for new versus veteran players.  New players are expected to run hard on every ball hit, dive quickly if abrasively to make defensive plays and use their ingrown baseball smarts to try to show they're ready for the Show.  

The flip side is seeing how veterans are going through slow motion, giving half-effort at many tasks and generally getting a pass on their top level skill demonstration.  To be fair, it's not really necessary to see a 37 year old player damage a hamstring by sprinting on a sure ground-out, but doing a Cespedes-like effort is disheartening to say the least.  

How can the GM and Manager make proper assessments of who deserves to be here and who deserves to start games unless they see some semblance of mid-season effort?  

For a player in a borderline position like J.D. Davis or Trevor Williams, you want to see performance as if the Spring Training games actually mattered because it will better than chances of catching on with the team or enhance their desirability as a trade chip elsewhere giving them the opportunity to play regularly.  

Similarly, players coming off bad seasons like pretty much the whole New York Mets 2021 returning cast need to demonstrate that last year was an aberration and not an indication of what they have become.  We all know that Jeff McNeil is a far superior hitter than what he showed in 2021 just as we know Francisco Lindor is a perennial All Star and not just a $341 million has-been before the age of 30.  


It's going to be the first true baseball season under the new team of Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter.  Things that bothered fans in the past will hopefully not be a part of the present nor the future.  When the games actually begin, we want to see the players as anxious to make themselves look better to the fans and media as we do look forward to the owners creating incentives to show the fans that they are contrite as well.  

Well, one can dream, right?

4 comments:

  1. Bring Kamala Harris in to settle the impasse so we can play ball. No one can fix things like her.

    I think baseball has some nerve for not having this settled. We the people have gone thru SO MANY struggles and setbacks over the past two seasons, the virus is still around even if appearing ready to exit stage right, war is raging, inflation is staggering, 401Ks are teetering, and these clowns can't agree timely to give the fans something to feel relieved about, to smile about? They eventually will settle - so why not do it TIMELY? WHERE IS YOUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE FANS? Why couldn't that agreement time be February 1, instead of TBD?

    Anyway, my brother has said over the years that the Yankees, who are almost as serious about winning as Putin, would not have a slap hitter like Luis Guillorme on their team. Should the Mets?

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  2. Hi,

    I have Mets spring training tickets for games in mid March. Do you know if they plan on canceling these games or have them played with only minor league players? If you go to the Mets website they are still selling tickets starting with March 14. Is it fair to still charge full price for only seeing minor league players versus MLB players?

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  3. Raw, I think your best bet is to call the St Lucie box office. My guess is that they will not playa ticketed game, but they could tell you.

    Perhaps, though, you could also ask if (assuming they don't) if you could somehow watch them play for free. They'd have to be playing on one of the back fields or something.

    I just think it is so ridiculous to have guys on the 40 man roster who have never played in a major league game like Mauricio to be locked out. The only reason he needed to be added to the 20 man roster was he lost a full season due to COVID in 2020, or he might very well be major league ready now, as would Vientos. The dopes in charge of MLB should have given those guys a carve out so they could be in minor league camp.

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  4. We're changing "comments" to Tomments", since I seem to be most of the comments these days LOL

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