Now Warming Up…Opening Day!

Let's start with the Opener.

***Over-reaction week in MLB, annually the first week of the season, is among the most fascinating.  Any random week of every MLB season will have win streaks and losing streaks; it is truly a marathon.  But fans love to react to the sprint that is the first week.  The currently winless Braves will still be pretty, pretty good this year.  And the White Sox starting pitchers began the season throwing 23 scoreless innings.  The Dodgers have yet to be beaten, as of this writing, but we all know the marathon will wash out all these anomalies.  As the baseball adage states, teams cannot win a pennant in April, but they could lose it.  Ya’ll hearing that in Atlanta?

Now to the Set Up Man.

*** Speaking of over-reactions, how about those “Big Lebowski” bowling pin bats they are calling “torpedoes?”  Made infamous by the Bronx Bombers hitting 20 homers over the first weekend series annihilation of the Brewers, it is the talk of MLB.  The round, wooden, MLB bats have few standards…mostly around uniform length and weight.  Moving the “sweet spot” is within the rules, so any over-reactions should be asking how your team can use them.  Expect more teams and players to use/try these “bowling pins.”  Perhaps players will have different bats for different situations and/or the pitchers throwing.  For example, a sweet spot moved closer to the handle for pitchers who throw inside?  Or toward the end of the bat for an opposite-field strategy?  The Dude abides.  What do you think?

Now the Closer.

***Extension season is also in full swing in April. MLB teams, surely wary of mega-contracts for players hitting free-agency in their mid-twenties, are locking up their young players earlier than ever. Outstanding San Diego centerfielder, Jackson Merrill, signed a nine-year, $135 million dollar deal, while the Red Sox gave Kristin Campbell an eight-year contract, and Garrett Crochet $170 million over six years.  This is the model for teams to compete in a league without a salary-cap.  MLB fans know the great equalizer in baseball is the playoffs.  Any team can truly win.  Signing their younger players earlier than teams have done historically will help keep the balance of young, great players from leaving their original teams.  There will be a few duds, most certainly, but look for your team to employ this strategy to keep their guys longer than we have seen in the past. 

 “There is an old saying that money can’t buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game.” – Pete Rose