With Spring Training in full swing, veterans and youngsters alike are working out the kinks that come from long and lonely off-season, prospects are getting their first AB's against big league pitchers, and marginal talents are fighting for roster spots. As more and more key questions become answered by the application of logical thought and analysis based on each player's spring performance, General Managers across the league are getting ready to formulate their rosters for the start of the season. And in response, our favorite sources of baseball information are getting ready to publish prospective lineups.
I've written before in this space how much I enjoy the art of prospective lineups, especially where pitching rotations are concerned. After spending months during the season watching the players and observing their performances, then spending months over the off-season analyzing their stats, it's nice to see how those players will fit into next year's teams.
This year, I'm planning on going all-out. As soon as Sports Illustrated's Baseball Preview issue comes out, I will buy it and begin this new project: I will spend one day per team listing and analyzing all 30 projected lineups. The list will include 2010 statistics (in swp form, of course) and major additions from last year. I will also cross-reference these lineups with the depth charts offered by two of the most reliable sources of baseball info online: ESPN.com and MLB.com (the depth charts will be retroactive to the publication date of SI's issue).
This project will not only keep me occupied, but will leave me (and any readers) more prepared to watch and enjoy the upcoming season by providing a wealth of useful information (even if it takes a whole month of the season to complete...).
Despite how excited I am for this project, I won't be able to commence work on it for a while. For one thing, the SI preview issue isn't slated to hit shelves for a couple more weeks. And on top of that, I still have plenty of baseball-related issues to focus on this very weekend. There's my fantasy draft, which I may actually have to leave to the computer this year... because it takes place when I will be bodily attending SPRING TRAINING at the Cactus League in Arizona! I don't know if our grueling schedule of 2 games per day will allow me time for sitting in front of the computer, agonizing over each pick, but there's always a chance, if there's nothing interesting going on Sunday morning, and the hotel has free WiFi that I'll be able to be present for the proceedings.
Either way, there's a lot of baseball going on, with the promise of more baseball to come. And everybody had better darn well get ready for a whole crapload of baseball!
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