This morning's pie-eyed story about Red Sox pitching prospect Casey Kelly, along with the NY Post's assiduous coverage of the Yankees' evening of pre-teen entertainment, is a reminder that the time has dawned for pointless stories about people getting ready.
I love baseball as much as the next--usually more, in fact--and I have I'm extremely excited to go see my first-ever Spring Training baseball game in Fort Myers next week. But it's good to keep in mind that every spring we read the same stories--players having lost weight, trying out a new pitch, or even just "feeling good"--and they are not predictive of...anything.
The fantasy blog RotoWire kept a good list of last year's so-called Spring Training Cliches, a nice thing to revisit a year later. Here are some of my favorite useless stories from this time last year:
*Last spring: Brian Bruney looked fit. During the season: saw his ERA spike by 2 runs and was demoted from 8th inning duties. Gave up 2 runs on 3 hits while recording just one out in his only postseason appearance.
*Last spring: Jacoby Ellsbury looked "jacked". During the season: saw his home runs decrease from 9 to 8; doubles went from 22 to 27.
*Last spring: Francisco Liriano worked on his changeup. During the season: Went 5-13 with a 5.80 ERA.
Lord knows there were others. So far this season, we've got Casey Kelly retiring three Boston College baseball players in order, and Boof Bonser feeling healthy except for a blister. Look out, world.
I'll do my best to keep a running list of things that athletes have been doing in the offseason. We can turn back to this post around the All-Star break and see what hindsight yields.
MILES:
Cabalitto!
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