Spring Training Storylines We Can All Root for
When games don’t count and the good vibes are flowing, it is easy to root for the good story even when it doesn't involve your favorite team.
Spring training allows for that, and every February and March, there are plenty of those tales to go around. Whether it is a sympathetic player, a feel-good storyline or simply something everyone hopes works out for the best, this is the time of year when it is easy to be a fan of the narrative regardless of team affiliation.
This year, there is no shortage of such stories, and with new on-field rules being implemented into the game, there are new aspects to root for while the age-old stories remain.
Dontrelle Willis Hanging On
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Talk about one of the sport’s good guys. Dontrelle Willis is exactly that, and even if you’re not a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, it's easy to hope he catches on with them.
Willis was once the next big thing in baseball, with his high leg kick, almost-as-high socks, crooked flat brim, electric smile and blazing fastball. He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2003 and won 22 games and had a 2.63 ERA in 2005, the year he finished second in Cy Young Award voting.
But since then, Willis’ career has been nothing but a downhill freight train. Since being traded from the Florida Marlins in 2007—he was a big piece of the trade that got the Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera—Willis has worn the uniform of nine teams. And despite being signed to five teams since 2012 before the Brewers, the now 33-year-old lefty has not pitched in the majors since 2011 with the Cincinnati Reds, when he went 1-6 with a 5.00 ERA in 13 starts.
While the fastball and control that once made him a star might be diminished, his personality is still intact as he tries to make the Brewers as a non-roster invitee. And hearing how he is handling his latest opportunity makes it all the easier to root for his successful comeback.
“I live a great life. I’m just a [crummy] baseball player,” Willis told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt. “I’m being very honest. I lead a very, very great life. I have beautiful children. God has a way of humbling people and seeing what’s really important.
“At the same time, I’m very thankful for this situation and opportunity. I busted my tail to get to this position. It would be shame on me not to enjoy every minute of it. I told them I’m going to do the best I can every day. I’m ecstatic. God is good.”
A Smooth Transition for Pace-of-Play Rules
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Baseball was once the game without a clock, but that could be changing as new Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred has made it his mission to quicken the pace of games.
The initiative has already drawn the ire of one of the game’s superstars, David Ortiz, whose between-pitches routine borders on the absurd. Big Papi wants nothing to do with having to keep one foot in the batter’s box between pitches (with some exceptions).
“I call that b------t,” Ortiz told reporters at Red Sox camp last week. “I’m not going to change my game. I don’t care what they say. I have to take my time and think about what the pitcher is going to do next.”
Ortiz, or any player not obliging the new rules, could be fined up to $500 and possibly suspended if he shows a willful disregard for Manfred’s changes.
But honestly, who wants to see it come to that? These rules will take some getting used to, but they are ultimately for the good of a game that is losing younger fans and can be an endeavor to watch. Having a player of Ortiz’s stature adhere to the new guidelines will go far in making them universally accepted.
Players might not be disciplined during spring training, but it’s a good practice ground for them to get accustomed to the new rule. And with that, hopefully spring training games will clock in under four hours.
Giancarlo Stanton's Return to the Batter’s Box
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Last season ended horrifically for Giancarlo Stanton after he was beaned in the face with a fastball, leading to multiple fractures in his face.
This season, he will wear a helmet with a face guard to protect him physically. But as many players have said before, clearing the mental hurdle after being hit in the face is a more difficult challenge. So far, it seems Stanton will be fine with it, since he wanted to come back before the end of last season, if nothing else but to prove to himself there was no fear.
Stanton is a slugger in an era when they are disappearing, so having him right and ready means baseball can still lay claim to one of sports’ biggest stars.
While you may not be a fan of the Miami Marlins or Stanton’s $325 million contract, no one wants to see a potentially great player done in by a freak injury.
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Barry Zito’s Return
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He had the absurd contract. He did not live up to said absurdity. He was booed. He was vilified. He was a target for San Francisco baseball vitriol.
But in 2012, he redeemed himself by playing a crucial role in the Giants' second World Series win in three years.
Now, after being out of baseball all of last year, Zito is attempting a comeback with the Oakland A’s, the organization that drafted him ninth overall in 1999. He was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, and he will start the team’s third Cactus League game Thursday.
The Giants declined Zito’s option for last season after he compiled a 4.62 ERA with the team over his seven seasons there, including a 5.74 ERA in his final year. Instead of finding another job, Zito spent 2014 revamping his mechanics in hopes of making a team in 2015.
Zito is now 36 years old and turns 37 in May. His days as a front-line starter are long gone, and maybe so are his days as just an effective starter. But his friendly personality and calm demeanor make him an easy guy to root for.
Kris Bryant Making the Cubs’ Opening Day Roster
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Kris Bryant is not a minor league player anymore. At least not in the sense that he needs more seasoning. After being named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year last season and leading all of professional baseball with 43 home runs, his next logical step is becoming the Cubs’ starting third baseman.
There is a dilemma, though.
If Bryant is in the majors for less than 172 days, the Cubs gain an extra year of control over him. If he spends at least that many days in the majors, he can become a free agent a year sooner. And there is also the time he has to spend in the big leagues to become a Super Two, meaning he would have only two years of pre-arbitration status before getting significant raises in arbitration.
The Cubs say any decision about Bryant’s status will be strictly related to baseball, but the players’ union is not so sure. That is why the MLB Players Association will be monitoring Bryant’s situation to assure the Cubs are acting in the best interest of the player.
“We always pay attention,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark told reporters Friday. “We always pay attention during the course of the year as guys come up, go down, different considerations that may be a part of those decisions.”
The Cubs are in win-now mode and have ignited their fanbase with their young and blossoming core and the Jon Lester signing. To leave Bryant off the Opening Day roster would be strictly a financial decision, clearly.
Here is to hoping Bryant lights up the Cactus League and leaves the Cubs with a difficult decision.
Alex Rodriguez’s Continuing Decline
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It is probably bad karma to openly root for someone’s downfall, but the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez has made it acceptable practice.
Thanks to all his preening, lying, cheating, lying, lawsuits, lying, regression, lying and lying, A-Rod is the game’s biggest and most recognizable villain. And seeing him fail in pretty much whatever he takes on has become as much a national pastime as the game itself.
The Yankees would like him to be a productive hitter again, but they are far from openly rooting for him. For all that Rodriguez has done to the organization since helping it win the 2009 World Series, he still managed to find a new way to anger the Yankees this spring by not informing them when he would arrive at spring training, as reported by Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.
For whatever production Rodriguez does provide for the duration of his messy career, it will all be viewed with a skeptical eye. That means every home run he hits will not add to his legacy. It might even diminish it.
So as long as A-Rod continues to get beat by inside fastballs and loses his job at third base, people will probably be happy.
Johan Santana’s Comeback
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The former Cy Young Award winner is back at it again. Johan Santana, after a wonderful career was derailed by a series of injuries on every part of his body from his ankle to his shoulder, has signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
He last pitched in the majors in 2012, and while attempting to comeback this winter, Santana had shoulder stiffness and had to be shut down in the Venezuela winter league. Signs point to him not making the Blue Jays’ roster, but if he can stay healthy for all of March, he might have a shot.
When Santana was good, he was the best in the business. He won two Cy Young Awards, led the American League in ERA twice and the National League once, and from 2004 through 2008, he compiled 35.4 Wins Above Replacement. In four of those seasons, he was good for at least a 7.0 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.
Santana will never be the ace he once was, or probably even a durable innings eater. But seeing him pitch in the majors again, and doing so without his body betraying him, is a feel-good story everyone can get behind.
The Minor League Oddity
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He has spent every day of his professional baseball career in the minor leagues. All seven years of them. And he has done so while being a switch-pitcher, meaning he throws with both arms depending on the platoon advantage.
The New York Yankees drafted Pat Venditte twice, signing him in 2008. But he has never impressed enough to earn a call-up.
This season, he is in the Oakland A’s camp as a 29-year-old bullpen hopeful, although his chances of cracking the Opening Day roster are slim. If he does indeed make it to the majors with Oakland at any point, Venditte would be the first ambidextrous pitcher since 1995, when Greg Harris of the Montreal Expos was in the big leagues.
For now, Venditte is "the talk of A’s camp," according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.
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