Spring forward
Time for an encore to a fantastic '98
Posted: Wednesday February 17, 1999 01:39 PM
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The New York Yankees will be favored to win it all again this fall. Vincent Laforet/Allsport |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- Pitchers and catchers this week, full squads next ...
If it's February, it's time to talk baseball.
Major League Baseball, with the memory of a fantastic '98 season still
fresh in fans' minds, begins to try to top that this week when teams open
their spring training camps throughout Florida and Arizona.
The Cincinnati Reds
start things off Tuesday when pitchers and catchers report to the Reds'
Sarasota complex. A dozen more teams start Wednesday, and by this time next
week, all 30 teams will be under way in some fashion.
How can Baseball top '98, the year of the New York Yankees, Mark McGwire
and Sammy
Sosa, Cal
Ripken's consecutive-games-played streak coming to an end and the wild
card races?
It won't be easy. Before that one's answered, though, we have 10 more
burning baseball questions.
By the way, the regular season begins April 4.
Can the Yankees do it again?
Well, that's the big question, isn't it? And the short answer is, of
course they can. The World Series champs, runaway winners last season, are
equally imposing this year, thanks to the re-signing of everyone they
needed to re-sign. Bernie
Williams, Scott Brosius,
Joe Girardi,
David Cone --
they're all back on a team that won 114 games last season. If the starting
pitchers stay healthy, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez can continue his
progress, the Yanks will be tough to unseat.
How many homers will Mark McGwire hit this year?
Best guess: More than 40, less than 70. Nobody expects the Prodigious One
to bang 'em out like he did last season -- how can you expect 70 dingers?
-- but he's proven that he is a threat every time he steps to the plate.
The key for him, as always, is staying healthy. He doesn't have Brian Jordan
hitting in front of him, but this should be a breakout year for young J.D.
Drew, and that should help McGwire get his cuts.
Can the Cubs make the playoffs again?
Well, McGwire's partner in homerdom, Sammy Sosa, had a career season last
year on his way to the well-deserved National League MVP. It would be
difficult to believe that he'd be able to duplicate that this season, and
he's the reason the Cubs won the NL wild card. The Cubs are mostly
unchanged from last season, and they are projected to have the oldest
starting lineup in baseball. That's not a good sign.
What about the Padres?
The patsies to the Yankees for the New Yorkers' World Series sweep last
season, the San Diego
Padres will be just a shell of their former selves this season.
Strapped with debt from seasons past and waiting on the construction of
their new revenue-happy stadium, the Padres let ace Kevin Brown go
to the Dodgers for $105 million, and watched as stalwarts Ken Caminiti,
Joey
Hamilton and Steve Finley
went elsewhere, too. The Padres are trying to get younger. There will be
plenty of growing pains.
What's this with facial hair and the Reds?
The Cincinnati Reds are getting a major makeover this season. Not only did
they rescind their antiquated policy banning facial hair -- a rule left
over from the '60s -- the small-market Reds are actually spending some
money. The big move came with the acquisition of Greg Vaughn from
the Padres. He has a goatee, by the way. Anyway, Vaughn's playing out the
final year of his contract in Cincinnati, a contract worth $5.75 million,
but the Reds are hoping he can show some of the young talent on the club
what winning's all about while he's around.
Grapefruit League or Cactus League?
Well, if you're going, you'd see a lot more baseball in Florida than in
Arizona. Twenty of the 30 Major League teams do the spring thing in the
Sunshine State, many of them within a fairly easy drive of each other. In
Arizona, you'd be split between the Phoenix metro area and Tucson to take
in the games, though that's not a terrible drive, either. The one plus the
Cactus League might have is the weather. It's usually less likely to rain
in Arizona at this time of year than it is in Florida.
Does all the green the Dodgers spent mean playoffs?
OK, it's been a few months. But $105 million for Kevin Brown? It still
boggles. The new Los
Angeles Dodgers, with the FOX people holding the purse strings, have
shown that money is no object in trying to bring a World Series back to
L.A. First they get pitcher Brown. Then they get catcher Todd Hundley
from the New York
Mets. There are others, too. And with new manager Davey Johnson calling
the shots -- why didn't anyone hire this guy last season? -- this is
clearly a team to watch in the National League.
Can Albert
Belle turn a new leaf in Baltimore?
Not likely. The moody slugger -- and that's a nice term for him -- has
promised that he's going to be a positive influence on the Baltimore Orioles. The
O's need all the positives they can get, with first baseman Rafael
Palmeiro heading home to Texas and second baseman Roberto
Alomar defecting to Cleveland. And Eric Davis, one
of the best clubhouse influences in baseball, also is gone. Will Clark has
come over from Texas to take Palmeiro's spot, but it hardly seems like an
even trade.
And what of Mark Wohlers,
the erstwhile reliever for the Braves?
Once one of the more promising closers in baseball, with a 97 mph
fastball, Wohlers spent much of last year in the minors trying to
rediscover his control. He's still not back to where he can pitch
consistently, but the Atlanta Braves are
still working with him and they're still hopeful. If Wohlers can again find
the plate, that will help shore up one of the team's biggest weaknesses and
the Braves again can challenge for a World Series title.
What about a Mets-Yankees World Series?
It's possible. The Yankees, for as sure as you can be sure, are there. The
New York Mets have upgraded, to be certain, with catcher Mike Piazza now
in place and new free-agent third baseman Robin Ventura,
who was signed to a $32 million deal, coming on. They also picked up
veteran leadoff man Rickey
Henderson, who isn't what he once was, but who still is solid enough.
The Mets jockeyed for the wild card for much of last season. They may be
doing the same this season.
| Baseball Calendar
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| Date | Event |
Feb. 18
Feb. 19
Feb.
23
March 2
March 2-11
April 4
July 13
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Pitchers, catchers and injured players report
Salary arbitration
hearings end
Voluntary reporting date for other players
Mandatory
spring traing reporting date
Period to renew contracts with unsigned
players
Opening Day, rosters reduced to 25 players
All-Star Game,
Fenway Park, Boston
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