Alright folks, today is the day we've all been waiting for: the beginning of Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to camp across Florida and Arizona, and we've made it. It's officially baseball season…woohoo!
How are we going to celebrate? In the next six weeks here at TOC (which not so coincidentally happens to be at the same time as the first six weeks of Spring Training before things start to wrap up in the final week of March), we're going to start our team preview series. Instead of vomiting up multiple previews for multiple teams per day like we did last season, each day this year is going to be dedicated to a specific team, and we're going to overload you with information each day.
The six posts we'll have each day for each team include…
-A conventional team preview in the same format we did last season
-You May Say I'm A Dreamer, which we debuted last year and takes a look at what would need to happen for a team to win the World Series
-2013 Burning Question, where a question that has significant meaning for the team in 2013 will be explored
-This Is My Nightmare, which is almost the inverse of You May Say I'm A Dreamer…in other words, it takes a look at what an ultimate failure in 2013 would constitute
-2013 X-Factor, where a player who is flying under the radar that could have a huge impact on the team in 2013 will be evaluated
-Top Ten Prospects. Self-explanatory
We'll kick today off with the Houston Astros, and go through each division in reverse order based on record. That obviously means that the AL West will be this week, but the division order from after this will be a mystery until each Monday.
As for what you missed over the weekend, there was a lot. We graded each team's offseason. We revealed Tim Lincecum's new haircut. We broke down Aaron Hill's contract extension with the Diamondbacks. We look at the massive demand for Marlins tickets. We looked at Red Sox prospect Bryce Brentz's stupid injury. We looked at the Indians signing a pair of veterans in Jason Giambi and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Finally, we looked at Felix Hernandez's contract extension with the Mariners coming into question because of his elbow.
And…exhale.
Welcome to Astros Day, everyone, and enjoy your Spring Training.
