I’ll admit it. I don’t really like spring training. At all. I don’t like the meaningless statistics. I don’t like the simulated games. I don’t like the ceaseless beat writer play-by-play on Twitter. The first few days of ST are cool and all, because it is nice to have baseball back, but the coverage goes on for far too long every day, for far too many days, and by the middle of March I can’t wait for the month to be over.
Yankees And Red Sox Consider Roster Concerns, Make Rest Of Baseball Mad
↵But of all the things that drive me crazy about spring training, there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Spring is supposed to be the one time of year that fans everywhere are allowed to believe in their teams. Hope springs eternal, and all that. Every year, though, just when I’m getting myself psyched up, I’m dealt a cruel reminder that, no, this won’t be my season. And what tears me back down are the articles about how the Yankees and Red Sox face pressing questions about their rosters.
↵This year’s Yankees had to decide which supremely talented pitcher to make the #5. This year’s Red Sox are considering a six-man rotation because they have too many good starters. And the middle relief. Oh, the middle relief. Every spring, the Yankees and Red Sox say they’d like better middle relief. You know who else wants better middle relief? Everybody. There aren’t a lot of great middle relievers. Great middle relievers don’t stay middle relievers.
↵And, of course, the Yankees and Red Sox both have good middle relief.
↵The Rays’ lineup has a number of question marks. The Angels are getting old and lost three major pieces. The Phillies don’t have a closer or a steady back end. The Cardinals are thin behind their two top starters. The Mariners need offense from anyone, literally anyone. It’s not that New York and Boston don’t have problems. They do. But pointing out those problems only makes everyone else’s problems seem so much worse. So thank you New York, and thank you Boston, for reminding me just how flawed my favorite team really is.
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