Off to spring training, and I’ll take your Braves’ questions
You can only find this scene at spring training in Florida. (Jason Getz/AJC)
We start with an affirmation that even one of the most corrupt individuals in American history had at least one good (legal) idea.
William “Boss” Tweed, best known for orchestrating the Tammany Hall scandal — an estimated $200 million swindle, and this was back when $200 million got you more than Prince Fielder — also owned an amateur baseball team, the New York Mutuals. In the spring of 1869, Tweed had the idea to move the Mutuals to a warmer climate than Brooklyn. So the team loaded a train and headed south to New Orleans to play a series of exhibition games against the hometown Pelicans.
The seed for one of pro sports’ greatest traditions was planted.
It’s true that baseball’s spring training has lost some of its charm in recent years, some of its uniqueness. The stadiums are closer to the downsized palaces of the majors than they are to the upsized softball fields of the neighborhood park. Ticket prices have increased. Major league teams have made permanent homes in the two spring training states of Florida (Miami, Tampa) and Arizona (Phoenix), dulling the once-romantic notion of an entire sports league traveling to sunny remote outposts to practice. But it’s still cool.
My son wasn’t a huge baseball fan when he was young. But I surprised him one day when he was in the second grade by picking him up from school and heading to Florida. I wanted to visit different stadiums. He wanted to visit the beach. We reached common ground. We were both right.
For a Braves’ fan, going to Florida isn’t just about seeing if Jason Heyward has fixed his swing. It’s knowing you can get a little closer to the players at a time when they aren’t burdened by the stress of a playoff race. It’s knowing that if you’re at the Braves’ spring training facility in Lake Buena Vista, you can drive anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours to watch any of 14 other teams — Houston (Kissimmee), Detroit (Lakeland), Washington (Viera), Toronto (Dunedin), the New York Mets (Port St. Lucie), the Yankees (Tampa), Boston (Fort Myers), Baltimore (Sarasota), Florida (Jupiter), Minnesota (Fort Myers), Philadelphia (Clearwater), Pittsburgh (Bradenton), Tampa Bay (Port Charlotte), St. Louis (Jupiter).
Visiting spring training should be on everybody’s bucket list. Not every fan’s. Everybody, period.
OK. I’m done waxing.
I leave for Braves’ camp Friday morning, just in time for the first full-squad workout on Saturday. I would’ve left earlier, but I had no idea that Tommy “Crash” Hanson was going to get squirrely in the turn (NASCAR term), bang his head, get a concussion and add a little bit of drama to pitchers-and-catchers reporting. (I’m driving, by the way, and it’s my plan to make it to the first workout without an incident.)
I’ll have new columns daily from my week in Orlando, the first posting on Saturday (Sunday’s newspaper) on whether we should expect better results this season from largely the same team.
If you’ve got anything you would like to read about, I’m always open to ideas. If you’ve got specific questions you would like asked, let me know. If I get enough of them, I’ll throw them together for a blog during the week.
That’s it for now. Just list your questions below and I’ll check back soon.
By Jeff Schultz
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119 comments Add your comment
DetroitBraves
February 25th, 2012
10:01 am
I should add that while holding everything else equal, it’s not unreasonable to expect the better hitter to have more RBI given that he will make less outs and likely have more extra base hits. This is probably where a lot of the confusion over the importance of RBI originates. However, since the extra RBI are a result of avoiding outs and gaining extra bases why not take the context out entirely and measure those things directly – for instance, gaining extra bases is easy enough to evaluate by slugging percentage, which is provided on the back of every baseball card, or isolated power if you’re interested in more advanced metrics.
Mr Pants
February 25th, 2012
10:47 am
I know he’s gone, but when should we expect Terrance Moore’s annual “The Braves don’t have enough black players and are therefore racist” article?
coach joe
February 25th, 2012
10:48 am
Why isn’t Medlan on the possible 4th 5th starters? He can pitch…
Ralph
February 25th, 2012
11:52 am
Jeff, when do you plan to answer all these questions???????????
Bill
February 25th, 2012
12:53 pm
Ok Jeff..1st full ST workout in 6 mins..waiting on your report. Thanks.
bulldogbubba
February 25th, 2012
1:59 pm
Jeff must have taken a horse and buggy to spring training.Has something to do with budget cuts maybe?
Mitchell
February 25th, 2012
2:10 pm
I’ll have new columns daily from my week in Orlando, the first posting on Saturday (Sunday’s newspaper) on whether we should expect better results this season from largely the same team.
Abso-freaking-lutely. Why would you even bother to ask that as if that’s a real question?
That’s why this team keeps finding ways to lose when the finish line is right in reach. Nobody in this town, either in print media or sports radio, thinks highly enough of it to care one way or the other.
The only demand ever put on the players by the manager is that they show up on time and after a decade spent as the best regular season team in the National League all the AJC, 680thefan and 790, etc. does is boast how the Braves had the fourth best record in the majors in the middle of August.
As if that means *&^% now.
If the Braves fail to reach the playoffs this year with these players, they never will again as long as Frank Wren and Fredi Gonzalez are in charge.
Part of me wants to say they should be fired but the fact is that would just be wasted breath.
The real question is why is Jeff Schultz (not to mention Mark Bradley) still employed by a legitimate news organization?
Oh, right. He’s (they’re) not.
Hillbilly D
February 25th, 2012
2:22 pm
The offensive stat that I like is runs produced, (Runs scored + RBIs) – HR’s. Run production is what it’s all about. The great players do both but for the average guy, you either need to be scoring runs or driving them in. If you can’t do either, you better be Ozzie Smith with the glove. And of course, Ozzie scored a lot of runs, as well.
DetroitBraves
February 25th, 2012
2:56 pm
Other than homeruns you only score runs when you are driven in, and you only drive them in when your teammates get on base. Context dependent stats. The same hitter will excel with this number in the Yankees lineup, but not so much with the A’s, and yet it is the same hitter. Position in the lineup will also dictate much of how many runs or RBI a player will accrue. If you avoid outs and gain extra bases you’ve done your part towards the run scoring side of the equation. In fact, subtracting homers removes the only part for which the individual is wholly responsible.
Felix
February 25th, 2012
3:48 pm
Well guys—let ask our questions of Dave. Maybe he’ll answer them.
Winter of George
February 25th, 2012
4:02 pm
It was fun to visit when spring training parks were about the size of a college baseball stadium today and prices were only a few bucks.
It was much more intimate and easier access to actually carry on a conversation with a player or get autographs. Even invited on field for pictures before game. Usually just a high school type, short, chained link fence with many openings like most city parks.
And get this….$1 hot dogs and beers….only a few years ago.
Nowadays, they’re spending millions on mini-major league park versions and charging major league prices for spring training tix.
They took the fun, enjoyment, and last bastion of humanizing the players as normal like the rest of us when they changed spring training to places like Disney.
Winter of George
February 25th, 2012
4:06 pm
Jeff, I’d like to know how “Georgie” Constanza is shaping up for this season.
We all loved his enthusiasm and effort off the bench last year.
Winter of George
February 25th, 2012
4:07 pm
Can’t wait to become Summer of George again!
Viva Los Bravos!!!!
February 25th, 2012
4:11 pm
Is English going to be the primary language on the team this year?
Hillbilly D
February 25th, 2012
4:22 pm
Detroit Braves
All stats are context dependent. The reason they subtract HR’s from the run produced stat, is so you don’t get double credit. For instance you don’t get credit for producing 2 runs, when you hit a solo homer, etc.
They're like dogs in heat now
February 25th, 2012
4:33 pm
Spring training is where all these dogs renew their old mistresses and add new ones. Till the family decides to visit for a short spring break vacation.
DetroitBraves
February 25th, 2012
8:59 pm
You can only produce 2 runs when a runner is on. The more often a runner is on the more likely the hitter is to produce 2 runs. That’s the context. How proficient your teammates are at getting on base. The hitter has no control of that. Therefore, RBI are not a good way to evaluate the hitter. If Albert Pujols were to bat third for the Yankees there is an extremely good chance he will drive in more runs than batting 8th for the Astros. Either way, he’s still Albert Pujols but there is your context.
Jeff Schultz
March 1st, 2012
11:12 pm
Sorry folks. I’m going to handle all of your questions in one blog in next few days. If you have any more, go ahead and post.
DetroitBraves
March 2nd, 2012
12:02 pm
Jeff, could you ask someone, Frank Wren presumably, if the Braves see Arodys Vizcaino as a reliever or starter in the long-term? Thanks.