Putting The Drum Away

Umm, about that entry yesterday.  Yeah, let's just ignore that one, shall we?

Less than 12 hours after my posting, we all found out why everyone has been avoiding Ben Sheets this off-season.  It's not his injury past, it's his injury present, as he's going to have elbow surgery and wind up being out most, if not all, of the season.

To be fair to those of us who were banging the drum, the ESPN article states that the injury wasn't thought to be serious and most teams were focused on his shoulder.  Which, as far as we know, is still perfectly healthy.

That pretty much closes the book on the St. Louis Cardinals' off-season, I'd expect.

The starters that are out there now aren't demonstratively better than Joel Pineiro or whomever takes the fifth spot in the rotation, at least not enough to go out and spend for them.  Once the outfielders get to take the field, show what they can do, we may start hearing some trade rumors but there likely won't be any more signings.

Speaking of the spring and outfielders, that long-discussed urban legend of Skip Schumaker playing second base?  Looks like someone took it seriously.

From all reports, Schumaker wasn't much of an infielder when he was playing the position on a more regular basis.  I imagine there are going to be some tough days for him in Jupiter and we probably won't see much of him at the position during the regular season, but if it works, it helps with the outfield situation.

I mentioned yesterday that I was starting a new blogging project.  As we get ready for the 2009 season, I thought it might be a good idea to "warm up" by checking in on the other teams around baseball to get a feel for what they were expecting, what's going on in their organizations and what we need to look for this season.

And who better to give us that feel than a blogger that follows the team?

I contacted a blogger for each team and was pleasantly surprised to get a large positive response.  I tried to get a variety of blog types, not just the SportsNation big blogs.  (I did make sure to contact most of the fellow Blogs By Fans writers, though!)  I'm still working on a few teams, so the schedule below is tentative and subject to change.

I hope this will help you get ready for the season.  If nothing else, it should "while away the time" before spring training games start!

(* indicates I have not received their answers back yet, x means I have not received any response for this team.  In either case, the team may be moved to later in the schedule.)

February 9: Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves*
February 10: Boston Red Sox*, Florida Marlins*
February 11: New York Yankees, New York Mets*
February 12: Tampa Bay Rays*, Philadelphia Phillies
February 13: Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals*
February 14: Chicago White Sox, x-Chicago Cubs
February 16: Cleveland Indians*, Cincinnati Reds*
February 17: Detroit Tigers*, Houston Astros
February 18: Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers
February 19: x-Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates*
February 20: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim*, Arizona Diamondbacks*
February 21: Oakland A's*, Colorado Rockies
February 23: Seattle Mariners*, Los Angeles Dodgers*
February 24: Texas Rangers, x-San Diego Padres
February 25: San Francisco Giants