Roll out the green tarpaulin! Warm up the President's arm! Commence "our year" talks in Boston and Chicago, and put Darryl Strawberry back behind bars! Yes, that's right - spring training is here.
The yearly ritual of March: Major League Baseball spring training. Only this year, things are a little bit different.
Baseball has always had a slew of unspoken rules - unbreakable rules, as steadfast as George Washington's honesty and as immutable as Dick Clark's face. Rules like "The Houston Astros will be mediocre," "The Baltimore Orioles will suck," "No one but the GM and Bud Selig will be able to name more than three members of the Milwaukee Brewers" and "David Wells will eat the world's largest hoagie." This year, though? The times, they are a changin'.
What's going on? Let's talk about the Orioles first. Last year, it was a moribund team whose best hitter, besides franchise mainstay Melvin Mora, was a guy named Larry Bigbie. The team's best pitcher, besides "Sir" Sidney Ponson, was a guy named Joe Johnson, who only came to Baltimore from San Francisco late in the season.
What happened? Simply this: Someone up there in the organization (presumably with a corncob pipe) finally could stand no more. It was, at last, time to go out and get some spinach. The Orioles added first-baseman/DH Rafael Palmeiro, who will crack the top-10 list of all-time homerun hitters this year; shortstop Miguel Tejada, who was MVP two years ago and finished strong last year; and catcher Javier Lopez, who resurrected himself terrifically. They also re-signed Sir Sidney to shore up their pitching staff.
The Orioles still don't have much, but with these bats in their lineup, they're bound to crank a few more. And that's what baseball is all about - cranking a few more.
Also, check out the new-look Angels. Two years ago, with basically nothing going for them except the mystical power of the Rally Monkey, they won the World Series. The next year, however, they must not have made the proper sacrifices, because the monkey forsook them and they finished the season eight games under .500.
This year the Angels have added 28 wins with starting pitchers Kelvim Escobar and Bartolo Colon, Jose Guillen and Vladimir Guerrero, perhaps the game's best all-purpose offensive/defensive threat. Are the Angels an elite team? I don't know. The real question is, can they appease the mighty monkey?
The Astros are not so much of a revelation. They've always been decent, but this year, they're especially intriguing. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, back for another year, are the Stockton and Malone of baseball - talented and tenured but on a team with some holes. But there are few holes so large the addition of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens to your pitching staff cannot patch them.
Add to that young Roy Oswalt, probably still the ace of this staff, and competent pitchers Tim Redding and Wade Miller, as well as the Biggio-Bagwell-Berkman axis, and you have the Cubs' biggest competition in the NL central division.
The Cubs, by the way, are superb this year. Prior, Wood, Maddux, Clement and Zambrano? Pull the infield in - way in. Inside-the-clubhouse-to-watch-the-game-on-TV-'cause-they-ain't-gonna-be-needed in. These guys can all win 15 and put a fastball through your skull.
Who's going to win it all? That, I don't know. I don't think the Yankees have any more chance than they have in past years. (Interpret that one at your own risk.) They've added A-Rod, but taken him from his position and jettisoned young talent for him. Also, the departed pitchers have left a hole too large for anyone to fill, even Javier Vazquez and Kevin Brown.
So who will it be? The Boston Red Sox, revamped with pitcher Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke? The Chicago Cubs, with future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Greg Maddux and another year under the belts of young stars Wood, Prior and Zambrano? I'll go, tentatively, and against history, with the latter, but don't think I won't lie about it later if things go sour.
Andrew Tobolowsky '07 has started a new religion called Monkeyism in honor of the Rally Monkey.
