Is It March 22nd Yet?
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but, I have not been making much note of, or providing much commentary on, what’s been happening on the field, to-date, for the Yankees. To be candid, I had not looked at any of the Yankees Spring Training stats – albeit for the team or specific players – until I just did it today for the first time. (And, if not for me writing about this, now, I probably wouldn’t have looked today.)
Why? Well, as far as the team record, with a team like the Yankees, you can throw it out the window. It’s meaningless.
I recently saw an interview with Stick Michael on MSG where he was reflecting on life under Big Stein. In the interview, Michael offered that, in the past, one of the worst thing that could happen to the Yankees team during the Spring would be to lose to the Red Sox, Mets or some college team – as it would set George off (and then some). Stick followed that up with saying that he, among others, had to train the Boss to realize that a “win” in Spring Training was when you played the whole game and no players on your roster got hurt. And, I’m someone who subscribes to the school that says the players feel this way as well – and the actual game outcome, for the most part, is not that important to them…
…that is, until, the last two weeks of Spring Training.
Anyone who’s been around the game for a long time will tell you that it’s during the last two weeks of Spring Training where the players start to turn up the dial. By that time, everyone has gotten into game-ready shape and they’re no longer tinkering around with trying out new things. It’s during the last two weeks of Spring Training where you can start to watch players, and how they are doing, to get a handle on how they might go when the bell rings in April.
And, this season, the last two weeks of Spring Training starts on March 22nd – which is also the day before the end of the World Baseball Classic. This is nice timing as it means many players should be back in their camps to rejoin their teams, if they’re not back already, to get units back up to normal just as we get into this important time period.
So, for now, sure, there are some Yankees bloggers out there who may want to talk about how great Angel Berroa, Phil Hughes, Shelley Duncan or Brett Tomko are doing through today down in Tampa. Or, maybe some of them want to write about how Dan Giese, Xavier Nady, Joba Chamberlain, or Johnny Damon have not been overly impressive in camp so far.
Me? I don’t care. These stats, that you see now, carry just as much legitimacy as the stats from a Harlem Globetrotters/Washington Generals game.
Wake me up on March 22nd. I’ll gladly start paying attention to Spring Training stats/results from that day forward.
