The running Spring Training thread, 2010 edition

Covering cops is easier, IMO. The information is there. All you have to do is get it. Only time that it's a pain in the ass is when you are responding to a shots fired call on a busy Friday or Saturday night.

 

The same thing can be said about a journalist.

You're a reporter. Go out, interview people and report. Write the story (and take photos, and blog, and Tweet, and shoot video, but I digress).

According to you, a reporter should be able to cover anything. The food critic should be able to cover JV volleyball, and vice versa.

We know that isn't true.

Same with pitchers. You have guys who are starters, and guys who are relievers. Some can do both. There are guys now who are groomed to be closers.

John Smoltz admitted that he had a major adjustment to make from being a starter to a closer. And also added that he hated being a closer.

Just because your position is a pitcher doesn't mean that there are different roles, and different ways to prepare. Eckersley used to eat a sandwich in the second inning.

 

Baron, if you area journalist, you might not be the best food critic but I'm sure you could piece something together. It's called being professional. I understand and respect what you're saying but a lot of these guys get babied early on and the results are what we're seeing now.

 

No rule in baseball needs to be overhauled like the save qualifier does.

Screw the three-run maximum and the three-inning save in a 19-2 game, and give the poor hard-working prole who has to come into the game in the seventh and strike out Mauer with the bases loaded something more gratifying for his toil than a hold.

Make it one run or two runs, tops, with few stipulations. Fix the record books retroactively if you must, assess how many saves a guy truly earned. This is nonsense, these six-out-a-week superheroes and the salary inflation it has wrought.

 

Who said every single good relief pitcher in the majors has the same attitude? Nobody. Please work on your reading comprehension.

 

The argument has been put forth that the stathead approach to a bullpen doesn't work because of pitchers' attitudes, and the fact that every major league team does it the same way is supposed to be proof of that fact.

 

Saying most relief pitchers want the highest-profile, highest-paying job means they are machine-like? Come on. Do you even buy that one?

 

I think I'm just saying I'm psyched for baseball season. Go Cubs!