Back from the Desert

I returned yesterday from my annual trip to spring training in Arizona and so thought I would post a couple of pictures today. Had a great time hanging out with Ron Hostetter, his brother, and their friend watching baseball of course in addition to taking in a Suns game. Unfortunately for them the Royals lost all three games we saw them play and looked very bad in doing so. Poor defense, poor pitching, and not much hitting to speak of.

Update (3/13): My column this week on Baseball Prospectus titled "Spring Fling" is full of news and notes from four of the camps I visited. From Jason Kendall batting ninth to John Bale's release point to Brian Bannister's quest to beat DIPs, take a look.

This is the first year I visited the Angels camp in Tempe and took in the A's and Angels game on Monday afternoon. It's a beautiful setting and a nice little ballpark.



I believe this is a shot of Daric Barton who homered in the game.



We saw the Cubs play in Surprise on Sunday afternoon and pummel the Royals 13-1. Kerry Wood worked a perfect inning and looked very good touching 98 and showing a nice slider.



I also spent some time at the Rangers camp and in addition to taking in a B-game played against their complex partners the Royals, watched some BP. Here Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Hank Blalock discuss some of the finer points of hiting.



While in the desert I was also able to catch dinner with Christina Kahrl and Kevin Goldstein who were in town for a book signing and several media events. It was great to meet Kevin for the first time.

Once again it was a very successful trip and it's hard to disagree with Ron when he says Surprise is his favorite place on planet earth.

A Rite of Spring

Yes, it is that time of year again and in just a little over 36 hours I'll be touching down in Phoenix to enjoy five glorious days basking in the Arizona sun and thinking, talking, and writing about all things Cactus League.

The photo above was taken at the Rockies training facility in Tucson last spring but alas this spring we won't be venturing that far south. Our path this time around takes us to Peoria (home of the Padres) on Thursday to watch the Rockies take on the Padres, to Surprise to see the Rockies play the Royals on Friday (and a Suns game in the evening), to Maryvale to take in the Royals and Brewers on their home turf on Saturday, back to Surprise for the Cubs and Royals on Sunday, a swing over to Tempe for the Angels and A's on Monday, and finally a quick stop in Mesa to take in some workouts on Tuesday before heading home. Shoot me an email if you're going to be around at any of those venues, it's always great to kibitz with like-minded fans while taking in the games.

My column next week on Baseball Prospectus will likely detail the happenings in the various camps so stay tuned.

Spring Blossoms

With less than a week to go before the season gets underway there are plenty of rookies and prospects who have made their mark this spring. Baseball America tracks these with its' daily Prospect Report email for subscribers (and you know you should really subscribe). In today's email we saw the following players who are doing very well along with their results from yesterday:

ORG LVL PLAYERS                        AB  R  H  BI
LAD SPR Loney, James RF .............   4  2  3  0  .444 - 2B (5)
ARI SPR Callaspo, Alberto SS ........   2  1  1  0  .440 - 2B (3)
ARI SPR Barden, Brian 2B ............   4  0  1  0  .409
CIN SPR Hamilton, Josh LF ...........   5  0  1  0  .404 - 3B (2)
KC  SPR Gordon, Alex 3B .............   2  0  1  1  .391
OAK SPR Buck, Travis RF .............   5  1  3  1  .391
TOR SPR Roberts, Ryan SS ............   1  1  1  0  .391 - 2B (3)
CHC SPR Pie, Felix CF ...............   1  0  1  0  .352
TB  SPR Young, Delmon RF ............   5  1  3  2  .345 - 2B (3)
TB  SPR Dukes, Elijah CF ............   4  1  2  0  .327
TEX SPR Botts, Jason DH .............   5  1  2  0  .324

A few notes: James Loney is in a battle for the fourth outfield spot now that Jason Repko has been injury while Alberto Callaspo set for utility role with Brian Barden battling for a final roster spot with the D'Backs. Josh Hamilton most of you know and there's no way he's not making the club and Alex Gordon is one his way to Rookie of the Year. The brash Travis Buck is a long shot to make the opening day roster and will likely start in triple A. Ryan Roberts was reassigned to the minor league camp last week and the same will likely be the case for Felix Pie although struggles by either Jacque Jones or Matt Murton could see him in centerfield at Wrigley before long. The same cannot be said of Delmon Young who will play right field on opening day and probably hit second in the lineup with Elijah Dukes as the fourth outfielder. With the performance of Sammy Sosa Jason Botts is likely headed for Oklahoma City once again.

And the pitchers...

ORG LVL PLAYERS                         IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO  ERA
MIN SPR Garza, Matt  ................   3.0 4  1   1   1   3 1.50
PIT SPR Sharpless, Josh  ............   1.0 2  1   1   1   1 2.08
NYM SPR Pelfrey, Mike (L, 1-1) ......   5.0 6  4   4   1   2 2.84
HOU SPR Albers, Matt  ...............   2.0 0  0   0   1   0 3.21
KC  SPR Soria, Joakim  ..............   1.0 2  2   2   0   2 3.60

And more notes...Despite some mysterious head and neck pain Matt Garza is making a case for the Twins to go with youth in the rotation. Josh Sharpless is still in the running for one of the final two bullpen vacancies. Mike Pelfrey has locked down the number five spot in the rotation while Matt Albers is still in a battle for the fifth spot in Houston along with a cast of several. Finally, Joakim Soria, the rule 5 pick from Mexico, will make the Royals in the bullpen. Could be one of the nicest surprises of the 2007 season.

Images of Spring

Just some spring training pictures today...

Sammy Sosa playing right field in Surprise against the Angels.


Veterns Sosa and Kenny Lofton around the cage on one of the practice fields. Lofton won the homerun contest with 11.


The Royals braintrust taking in a B game at the Rangers camp on Sunday morning. Brian Bannister is on the hill.


An Alex Gonzalez (yes, that one) sighting in the B game. He also played in the A games over the weekend.


Eric Gagne taking pitcher's fielding practice at the Rangers camp.


The view from the press box at Electric Park in Tucson. Had a nice visit with Matt Bartlett of MLB.com who assisted in the scoring of the game.

Spring Musings

As mentioned in my previous post I spent the weekend in the Valley of the Sun taking in both the warm weather and several spring training games and camps. An overview from the pure baseball side is now up on Baseball Prospectus (no subscription required).

Fergie

Last weekend I had the chance to make a quick trip to Spring Training sites in Arizona attending four games in three days. I'll have more to report on Baseball Prospectus and here but one of the interesting little diversions was found at Surprise Stadium on Saturday afternoon. About 45 minutes prior to game time a panel was held that included eight women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was in existence from 1943-1954 and was of course made famous by the 1992 film A League of Their Own. I didn't realize that at first the game they played was actually softball but that the rules were changed over time to make them identical to baseball. Too bad that trend didn't take hold.

In any case the ladies answered questions from the audience and each shared which teams they played for. For the most part the women were paid between $50 and $65 a week with $3.50 per day meal money, which many of them insisted was good money for the time.



In addition to the ladies, Fergie Jenkins, who lives in the area, was on the panel and alternated taking questions from the bevy of Cubs fans in attendance (the Cubs were playing the Royals that day).



Jenkins was asked the inevitable Ron Santo why isn't he in the Hall of Fame question and simply stated that the process is broken and that he would like to know the five members who didn't vote for him. In a conversation afterwards as I procured a signed baseball, he said he thought when Bruce Sutter was inducted, that it would have been fitting for Rich Gossage and Lee Smith to go in at the same time. He also talked about his charitable work a bit and when questioned about pitch counts was adamant that there is a causal link between the money pitchers make today and their use of the disabled list (he said he was on the DL once and only because of a ruptured achilles). He also said that in his final spring start of the year he would go 9 innings to ensure that he could do so once the season started. He completed 267 games in his career.

As Fergie was finishing out his career with the Cubs in 1982-83 I can recall tuning into as many of his starts as possible and scoring the games when I could (the game prior to the one where he recorded his 3,000th strikeout sticks in mind particularly). I was amazed by his control and his pitching patterns and even purchased his book on pitching written with David Fischer, Inside Pitching and tried to apply what I could to my high school pitching career such as it was. In any case it was a great pleasure meeting him.