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Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Edgy MD Mar 04 2013 08:28 AM

It's hard not to be positive about what you see in spring if you're predisposed. It's hard not to be negative if you're predisposed. Camp is cipher, and you can see what you want to see. Non-roster player is terrible? He's either a typical disaster of your dumpster-diving team's strategy, or the healthy separation of the wheat from the chaff. Non-roster player is doing well? He's either fool's gold pedaled by a cruel management or a possible diamond in the rough from your team's indefatigable scouting personnel. Key player doing terrible? It's either a portent of a disastrous season or an opportunity to be thankful we have spring training so such players can get the rust off and get the bloopers out of the way. Key player doing well? Well, these games don't count, and what's to be concluded when he's going up against a buncha Shlabotniks anyhow? Or maybe it's the promise of Strawberry's monster season ready to happen. I don't know. It leaves a guy afraid to commit or even engage sometimes. The record generally doesn't even matter unless it's like over .700 or under .300. I guess the things I look for are (1) guys who finished last year unhealthily to be demonstrably ready to play (**cough**), (2) whether the new guys (organizational NRIs or NRI vets brought in) can demonstrate more than one or two useful skills (specialists can sometimes hide their flaws in spring), and (3) what does the record look like the last two weeks. Stay healthy, lads.

Ceetar Mar 04 2013 08:32 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

mainly I look for mobility. I don't care if a guy makes errors or flubs balls, but you like to see them at least able to move. same with pitchers, especially this early, as long as they're actively throwing in some regard.. (take a look at a clip of Ryan Howard running this spring for example) After that. staying healthy I guess. That's pretty much it.

Benjamin Grimm Mar 04 2013 08:36 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I just look for it all to be over so that the real games can start. I find that I can't pay attention to a spring training game for more than a few minutes.

Mets – Willets Point Mar 04 2013 08:38 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I just look for it all to be over so that the real games can start. I find that I can't pay attention to a spring training game for more than a few minutes. Same here.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 04 2013 08:39 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I would like each starting pitcher to prove just once he doesn't suck or is hurt. That's worrisome at this point with Santana and Marcum. I would also like the games (and the month of March) to end as soon as possible.

MFS62 Mar 04 2013 08:46 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I like the chance to look at minor leaguers we've only heard about but haven't seen. I Like to see how the position battles work themselves out. When a veteran is having a rough time, we hear "he's working on new things (swing or new pitches)". When a rookie hitter gets off to a hot start, we hear, "Wait until they start throwing breaking balls". Is it a veteran minor leaguer finally getting a chance? I remember Jim Gentile getting blocked for many years behind Gil Hodges in Brooklyn and Gus Triandos blocked by Yogi Berra. Maybe they can find a player like that. There are a lot of games to find out. But most of all, it is a harbinger of Spring, building anticipation for the coming season. Later

Ceetar Mar 04 2013 08:51 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

The thing is, a lot of times there are things to look for, we just don't know what they are. The team isn't usually looking at Collin Cowgill's line to see if he's going to make the team, it's things like "Did he lay off a slider in the dirt?" or "Is he buying into the general approach at the plate of picking your pitch that Hudgens is preaching?"

TransMonk Mar 04 2013 09:07 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I'm ignoring scores and most stats. I also don't put too much stock in how the guaranteed starters perform (unless they have a spring-long problem). I'm looking at guys fighting for spots and minor league players looking to make the team. I stay away from looking at their overall stats for the spring and try to concentrate on situations. [indent:16qnzqg3]Can hitters battle back against an established pitcher after getting behind in the count? Can pitchers get out of trouble once they are in it? Do hitters get badly fooled multiple times with a certain pitch? Do the fielders look fluid or stiff while playing their position?[/indent:16qnzqg3] Overall, even if you watch every game, it's tough to make a good assessment of these guys. The coaches have so much more info based on BP, drills, side sessions and attitude that we can never hope to see in these games. Still, the best thing about working from home this spring is all of the day baseball available to me. I'm trying to make good use of it.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 04 2013 09:11 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Mets – Willets Point wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I just look for it all to be over so that the real games can start. I find that I can't pay attention to a spring training game for more than a few minutes. Same here. Triple that. It'd be a minor miracle if I watch as much as two Spring Training innings cumulatively in any given year. I'm even less interested in the WBC, if you wanna know the truth about it and all of that David Copperfield kind of crap. Ditto for the amateur draft and baseball's post-season unless the Mets are in it. Those last two are just big stinking crap-shoots. Of course, I root for a team that has one first place finish in the last 25 years, and less first place finishes than the lowly Marlins have World Series titles during that span. So fat chance on the playoffs for the Mets. Nice job, Fred. You're all aces. Keep up the great work. Helluva job. You almost had Michael Bourn.

TheOldMole Mar 04 2013 09:18 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I'm with MFS62, and mostly I just enjoy it root for guys to do well. I'm always pleased by surprises.

Mets – Willets Point Mar 04 2013 09:38 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I'm actually interested in the WBC, but apparently MLB.tv is not streaming the games this year?

Ceetar Mar 04 2013 09:42 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Mets – Willets Point wrote: I'm actually interested in the WBC, but apparently MLB.tv is not streaming the games this year? Is that true? seems weird. It's on MLB Network right? Wouldn't .tv and the station have the same access to advertisements and what not? I have no idea what the reach of the Network is though, there still cable companies w/o it?

Ceetar Mar 04 2013 09:46 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

TransMonk wrote: Still, the best thing about working from home this spring is all of the day baseball available to me. I'm trying to make good use of it. Also a benefit for the unemployed. I don't even pay that close attention, just enjoy that there are baseball noises coming from my TV. And bitching and moaning that the gym has YES but not SNY.

seawolf17 Mar 04 2013 10:03 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I used to love watching spring games, because you got to see a bunch of guys you'd never regularly see. But now it's just no longer such a high priority, especially considering the few games I have watched, Gary/Keith/Ron/whoever mentally checked out with the starting lineup in the third inning and are only marginally telling us who these guys are.

Edgy MD Mar 04 2013 10:15 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Ceetar wrote: The thing is, a lot of times there are things to look for, we just don't know what they are. The team isn't usually looking at Collin Cowgill's line to see if he's going to make the team, it's things like "Did he lay off a slider in the dirt?" or "Is he buying into the general approach at the plate of picking your pitch that Hudgens is preaching?" There's also impressions they're making that aren't necessarily in the games, but in the drills and the un-scored scrimmage play. Bixler, for all we know, has been looking like Ozzie Smith in the the workouts and they're counting that as much as his two errors yesterday. A forty-ish Andres Gallaraga auditioned for the team a few years back. He had massive arms, but no mobility left. He mashed the ball in the games, but the team determined from the drills that he wouldn't be able to sustain the rigors of the season, or maintain his productivity coming of the bench.

Edgy MD Mar 04 2013 10:17 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

TransMonk wrote: [indent]Can hitters battle back against an established pitcher after getting behind in the count?[/indent] Nieuwenhuis did a good job digging himself out of an 0-2 count and working a walk yesterday before hurting himself stealing second. I think it was a pretty wild minor league pitcher, though.

TransMonk Mar 04 2013 10:30 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Edgy MD wrote: TransMonk wrote: [indent]Can hitters battle back against an established pitcher after getting behind in the count?[/indent] Nieuwenhuis did a good job digging himself out of an 0-2 count and working a walk yesterday before hurting himself stealing second. I think it was a pretty wild minor league pitcher, though. I believe Newie battled back from 0-2 against Strasburg in the first ST game to get a hit and scored on Tejada's HR. I remember liking the at-bat a lot during that game.

Fman99 Mar 04 2013 01:52 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

It's 80 and sunny and it's Florida. I look for women in the stands with big jugs and little tank tops.

metirish Mar 04 2013 02:00 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I look for them to be over......caught some of the Nats feed for the Mets game the other night on MLB as did some others from here, the commentator was just awful....it's instructive as it reminds me how good GKR are and how good the Mets radio crew are.

Zvon Mar 04 2013 03:01 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I'm just getting used to being able to see so many spring games. I've been doing this MLB.tv thing a few years now and I love being able to view the spring games. I am interested in what's going on with the team, but right now I just love seeing the Mets playing baseball live on my screen again. What do I look for? I look for baseball.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 04 2013 04:00 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I watch for the minor leaguers.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 04 2013 04:25 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Mets – Willets Point wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I just look for it all to be over so that the real games can start. I find that I can't pay attention to a spring training game for more than a few minutes. Same here. Triple that. It'd be a minor miracle if I watch as much as two Spring Training innings cumulatively in any given year. I'm even less interested in the WBC, if you wanna know the truth about it and all of that David Copperfield kind of crap. Ditto for the amateur draft and baseball's post-season unless the Mets are in it. Those last two are just big stinking crap-shoots. Of course, I root for a team that has one first place finish in the last 25 years, and less first place finishes than the lowly Marlins have World Series titles during that span. So fat chance on the playoffs for the Mets. Nice job, Fred. You're all aces. Keep up the great work. Helluva job. You almost had Michael Bourn. First place finishes since 1989 (not incl. 1994) Braves 14 Yankees 13 A’s 8 Cards 7 Indians 7 Twins 7 Giants 6 Phillies 6 Angels 5 D-backs 5 Rangers 5 Astros 4 Blue Jays 4 Cubs 4 Dodgers 4 Padres 4 Reds 4 White Sox 4 Mariners 3 Pirates 3 Red Sox 3 Tigers 2 Rays 2 Brewers 1 Mets 1 Nats 1 Orioles 1 Royals 0 Marlins 0 Rockies 0

Frayed Knot Mar 04 2013 04:28 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Spring Training: What Do You Look For? I check to see the radar gun readings on my fastball.

Frayed Knot Mar 04 2013 05:36 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

batmagadanleadoff wrote: ... Ditto for the amateur draft and baseball's post-season unless the Mets are in it. Those last two are just big stinking crap-shoots. Are there post-season sports that you do watch? What does the non-crapshoot factor have to be for you to tune in? And does the idea that those sports where you (presumably) have a better idea/i] who is going to win at the outset make it better?

batmagadanleadoff Mar 04 2013 08:48 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Frayed Knot wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: ... Ditto for the amateur draft and baseball's post-season unless the Mets are in it. Those last two are just big stinking crap-shoots. Are there post-season sports that you do watch? What does the non-crapshoot factor have to be for you to tune in? And does the idea that those sports where you (presumably) have a better idea/i] who is going to win at the outset make it better? I like the NCAA tournament, though I realize that's as much a crap-shoot as any champion crowning tourney out there. And I like the NFL playoffs. That's also a crap-shoot but there's not much that can be done about it. The game's too violent and physically demanding to have the teams play more than a few handful of games each season. I've gotten away from the NBA in a big way over the years thanks to the Knicks utter head-scratching putridness and destructive management. And though I don't like the expanded playoff format of the NBA, where more than half the teams qualify for the playoffs, the format nevertheless protects the integrity of the sport by making it highly unlikely for a team to capture the crown without being one of the league's elites. The best of seven format is a reliable way to determine which of two competing NBA teams is the better one. I've lost interest in the MLB playoffs ever since the wild card expanded the playoffs to an extra round. There's too much to keep track of, and given what I think is the extremely high degree of luck that determines the outcome of every baseball game (more than in any other sport, I'd say) the wild card format doesn't ensure that the very best teams will compete for the crown. I don't mind upsets, but in baseball the best team will win the WS less than it deservedly should. I also think that the announcing that takes place in a baseball playoff game is the absolute worst, unlistenable tripe on the air. For example, for the opening game of every series, the networks display the season stats for ever player as he takes his turn at bat. But beginning with the second game of the series, you might not see those season stats ever again. They're replaced with each player's stats for that particular series or for the entire playoffs, as the case may be. And then the announcers (all of them, it seems) go on and on interminably about how so and so is two for twelve in the series as if those limited plate appearances are more representative of the player's skills than the 600 or so plate appearances he accumulated over the course of the season. It's an analysis that one would have expected 25 years ago and it seems to dominate almost every utterance and observation the announcers make.

vtmet Mar 04 2013 09:02 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

Ceetar wrote: ... And bitching and moaning that the gym has YES but not SNY. With my daughters doing the college search a couple years ago, and now one of them is going to college in Syracuse; I've been very disappointed to find that you can't get SNY in Hotels in Western NY or Connecticut (at least none of the Hotels that I stayed in near Syracuse or New Haven had SNY, but they all had YES and MSG)...

Frayed Knot Mar 04 2013 09:08 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

BatMags wrote: ... I like the NFL playoffs. That's also a crap-shoot but there's not much that can be done about it. The game's too violent and physically demanding to have the teams play more than a few handful of games each season. I've gotten away from the NBA in a big way over the years thanks to the Knicks utter head-scratching putridness and destructive management. And though I don't like the expanded playoff format of the NBA, where more than half the teams qualify for the playoffs, the format nevertheless protects the integrity of the sport by making it highly unlikely for a team to capture the crown without being one of the league's elites. The best of seven format is a reliable way to determine which of two competing NBA teams is the better one. The NFL, in recent years anyway, is producing champions not only from the bottom of their playoff ladder but even from those teams that wouldn't even make the tourney (5th & 6th seeds) in MLB. As usual though, when this happens in the NFL it's considered exciting whereas the same thing in baseball tends to get written off as both flukey and as an indictment of the regular season. The NBA follows form more often than anywhere else (the NHL the least) although I think it's more because of the huge gulf between the elites of the league and the mediocre teams than anything to do with their format. The upside to that is that it gives them the best chance of having the actual best fighting it out at the end, but it also means that the first two rounds are must-miss tedium unless your team is involved and it certainly doesn't help that those two rounds take a month or so to complete.

Ceetar Mar 04 2013 09:29 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

vtmet wrote: Ceetar wrote: ... And bitching and moaning that the gym has YES but not SNY. With my daughters doing the college search a couple years ago, and now one of them is going to college in Syracuse; I've been very disappointed to find that you can't get SNY in Hotels in Western NY or Connecticut (at least none of the Hotels that I stayed in near Syracuse or New Haven had SNY, but they all had YES and MSG)... oh, this is clearly a satellite system. They've got about 15 channels, and I know they have the capability of adding SNY to that mix, somehow, because they eventually did by June of last year. But no one seems to know how or have any idea. But they've got YES, and the NFL network, and roughly every network news station, all of which seem like could be cut for SNY.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 05 2013 11:50 AM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Mets – Willets Point wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I just look for it all to be over so that the real games can start. I find that I can't pay attention to a spring training game for more than a few minutes. Same here. Triple that. It'd be a minor miracle if I watch as much as two Spring Training innings cumulatively in any given year. I'm even less interested in the WBC, if you wanna know the truth about it and all of that David Copperfield kind of crap. Ditto for the amateur draft and baseball's post-season unless the Mets are in it. Those last two are just big stinking crap-shoots. Of course, I root for a team that has one first place finish in the last 25 years, and less first place finishes than the lowly Marlins have World Series titles during that span. So fat chance on the playoffs for the Mets. Nice job, Fred. You're all aces. Keep up the great work. Helluva job. You almost had Michael Bourn. First place finishes since 1989 (not incl. 1994) Braves 14 Yankees 13 A’s 8 Cards 7 Indians 7 Twins 7 Giants 6 Phillies 6 Angels 5 D-backs 5 Rangers 5 Astros 4 Blue Jays 4 Cubs 4 Dodgers 4 Padres 4 Reds 4 White Sox 4 Mariners 3 Pirates 3 Red Sox 3 Tigers 2 Rays 2 Brewers 1 Mets 1 Nats 1 Orioles 1 Royals 0 Marlins 0 Rockies 0 Playoff appearances since 1989 (not incl. 1994 and losers of WC qualifying one-game elimination round). The Red Sox have been the WC more than any other team (7x). Yankees 17 Braves 15 Cards 10 Red Sox 10 A’s 9 Indians 7 Twins 7 Giants 7 Angels 6 Astros 6 Dodgers 6 Phillies 6 Cubs 5 D-backs 5 Rangers 5 Blue Jays 4 Mariners 4 Padres 4 Reds 4 White Sox 4 Mets 3 Orioles 3 Pirates 3 Rays 3 Rockies 3 Tigers 3 Brewers 2 Marlins 2 Nats 1 Royals 0 It's a good thing that eff Wilpon has the major advantage of running his team from NYC. Because if the Mets were in Kansas City, they'd be three times as bad as the Royals with ol' effW running things. Way to leverage the greatest city in the world!

Ashie62 Mar 05 2013 04:00 PM Re: Spring Training: What Do You Look For?

I watch spring traning games for about 15 minutes before switching to Storage Wars.