Spring Training - My Ray Of Hope

Well sitting up doing some research tonight. I think I have officially exceeded my self-imposed 7 cups of coffee daily limit. There has been some great research on coffee released in the past couple of months including one study claiming that you were 30% more likely to hallucinate if you exceeded 7 cups of java per day. Hence my 7 cup limit. I would encourage readers to hop over to http://www.7cupsofcoffee.blogspot.com/ to get more insight not only on coffee, random facts but also the economy and specifically technology.

After all the market crap we are dealing with I am glad to have spring training started. I have to give Apple and MLB.com credit. They have a great app for the iPhone where I can watch clips of every game (almost in real time). This year they have added the feature to be able to listen to any MLB game from the voice of either the home or away announcer. This will certainly make it easier to keep up with the Red Sox.

Speaking of the Sox there have been a few good things going on this week. First of all Jon Lester appears to be continuing his development. He is working on a straight change or circle change. If he is able to master this by the 2nd half of the year he will almost be unhittable. This would take him to 4 pitches – fastball, cutter, curve and change. More importantly it would really be a great complement to his cutter against right handed hitters. The importance of power pitching cannot be underestimated. I am looking forward to hearing how John Smoltz is fitting in. Hopefully Lester, Matsuzaka, Buchholz and Beckett will all benefit from being around this consummate professional.

The real surprise so far clearly has to be Takashi Saito. The 39 year old has come in and appears healthy. The Boston staff has tried to slow him down to make sure he is healthy for the season but Saito looks ready to claim a roster spot. He hit 93 on the gun the other day and displayed a couple of speeds on his curve ball. This will be a welcome addition to the pen. No offense to Mike Timlin but he was just a body last year and not an effective pitcher. The pen looks solid for 2009 with Papelbon, Okajima, Delcarman, Saito and Ramirez. Not entirely sure who will round out the staff but Javier Lopez will probably be there to see spot duty and situational roles against lefties before the 8th inning.

I like what the Red Sox did in the offseason. Look reality is that the world has changed in the past 9 months (well at least to anyone except the Steinbrenners). Taking a chance on Smoltz, Baldelli and Saito seem reasonable from a risk / reward perspective. There isn't alot of money tied up. This is a win-win situation. Certainly looking forward to the season.

On a side note I officially picked up a ball last Wednesday to prepare for my season. This being season 2 since coming out of 'retirement' (I laugh because since no one knew I was gone it is hard to call it retirement). The shoulder felt the best it has in 12 years. I think my velocity will be better this year (hard to be worse than last year) and hopefully my command follows. Each at bat feels more relaxed. All in all not a bad first outing.