Facade (fuh- sahd) noun
- the front or any side of a building facing a public way or space
- a superficial appearance or illusion of something
On the first glance at the above image you might think you’re looking at the warm-up for a real game in one of baseball’s shrines, Fenway Park. Not so fast. This is jetBlue Park, AKA Fenway South, and much like Spring Training itself, it is only a facsimile of the real thing. It is just a facade, and this bogus “Green Monster” fits both definitions.
We seem to wait so long for the games to start, only to be teased by this massive practice session before the real baseball season, and it’s real fake (oxymoron alert) cousin, Fantasy Baseball, finally commence. So what, if anything, can we glean from the big deception that is Spring Training?
Well, for all practical purposes, it’s all just one big fake month. Almost, anyway. For example, let’s take a look at the league leaders from Spring Training 2014:
- It gave a whole new meaning to “March Madness” when Mike Moustakas led the league in RBI in Spring Training last year, which subsequently led the more wishful/delusional of us to believe that his breakout had finally arrived. And how did that work out for you?
- Brad Miller led the league in Slugging (.836) and OPS (1.314) amongst all the madness last March. How did that translate into real and fantastic baseball? Not well.
- Jarrod Dyson and Billy Burns (Who? Oh, he’s on Oakland. Maybe Eric Burns pulled a Stanton and now prefers to go by the most famous first name in Oakland) led the way with 10 steals each. What happened there? Billy must have ended up on the waiver wire for the waiver wire.
- Austin Jackson had 17 runs in 18 games. How many did he have in the 54 games with the Mariners? 19. (Okay, this is cheating. I get it, Safeco’s involved)
- Justin Verlander led the league in ERA with an invisible 0.00. (see, you can’t even see it) Could he keep that torrent pace going? Not quite, he finished the season with a 4.54 ERA.
- Jesse Chavez led the league in wins with 5, and then managed 8 more, in real life, with a hot lineup on a contending team.
- C.J. Wilson led the league in strikeouts with 35. And where did this go? Well, he then went on to finish tied for 52nd in that category.
Maybe C.J. wasted all his bullets in March. Or Maybe Spring Training means about as much as a sprig of parsley beside a 16-ounce strip loin.
Are you beginning to get the idea here? Do you get the gist of what I’m trying to relate? As tempting as it is to follow each AB and each pitch in “the big deception”, it really boils down to a lot of nothing.
What happens in the land of cactus and grapefruit stays in the land…
But wait. It’s tough to completely ignore everything, and perhaps there are traces of significance to be noted. In particular:
- The general health of a player or injuries sustained. Kinda goes without saying.
- If your draft is scheduled for late March or early April you might just want to take a peek at the last 2 starts of pitchers you’ve been eyeballing for the upcoming season. In a lot of cases, this is when the experimentation slows down and the serious pitching commences. This is when spots in the rotation are won and lost.
So yes, there might be one or two things you can eyeball while you twaddle your thumbs in anticipation. Just don’t get caught up in the all the madness.
Let’s play fake ball! After all, it’s better than nothing.
OK, We know you guys have your opinions. So, let’s have ’em.
To make a comment you need to register or log in. Click on the log in link below to register with us or log in with your Facebook, Yahoo or OpenID account. (For a world without spam).