Random Fandom

You know, you write one little article on Randy Johnson and the hits to the site definitely go up…

In any case, just thought I'd point out that Baseball Prospectus includes the D-Backs in its "Triple Play" piece today. Unsurprisingly, they hate everything the D-Backs have done so far. Of course, having glanced at a few of these for other teams over the past few weeks, they hate a lot of everything that's been done this offseason.

On the upside, at least they refrain from taking unsubstantiated cheapshots at the D-Backs' finances.

You know, it's one thing for the New York press to make up a story (according to one of Randy Johnson's agents) that said Johnson was telling D-Back teammates he was heading to the Yankees.

It's another thing to write an article about your new star pitcher... before the deal is even done.

I'm not a believer in the baseball gods (hubris is not limited to the diamond), but shouldn't you wait until the ink is on the paper before you build him up (let alone tear him down)?

(Thanks to The Sports Economist for the link to the New York Times article.)

This is, what, a month old now? But seeing as pitchers and catchers report in about, oh, 7 weeks, it's time to look at the 2005 spring training schedule for the Diamondbacks and maybe even start thinking about a spring training blogging get-together.

Th 3/3 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Fr 3/4 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Sa 3/5 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Su 3/6 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Mo 3/7 @ 1, Phoenix -- A's; @ 7, Tucson -- Rockies (split squad, natch)
Tu 3/8 @ 1, Tucson -- A's
We 3/9 @ 1, Tucson -- Angels
Th 3/10 @ 1, Tucson -- Giants
Fr 3/11 @ 1, Mesa -- Cubs
Sa 3/12 @ 1, Tucson -- Padres
Su 3/13 @ 1, Maryvale -- Brewers; @ 1, Phoenix -- A's (ss)
Mo 3/14 @ 1, Tucson -- Rockies
Tu 3/15 -- no game
We 3/16 @ 7, Tucson -- Rangers
Th 3/17 @ 1, Tucson -- Brewers; @ 1, Tucson (Hi Corbett) -- Rockies (ss)
Fr 3/18 @ 1, Tucson (Hi Corbett) -- Rockies
Sa 3/19 @ 1, Peoria -- Mariners
Su 3/20 @ 1, Tucson -- Mariners
Mo 3/21 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Tu 3/22 @ 1, Tempe -- Angels
We 3/23 @ 1, Tucson -- Cubs
Th 3/24 @ 1, Tucson -- Rockies
Fr 3/25 @ 7, Surprise -- Rangers
Sa 3/26 @ 1, Peoria -- Padres
Su 3/27 @ 1, Tucson -- Royals
Mo 3/28 @ 1, Tucson (Hi Corbett) -- Rockies
Tu 3/29 @ 1, Scottsdale -- Giants
We 3/30 @ 1, Tucson -- White Sox
Th 3/31 @ 12, Mesa -- Brewers; TBA, BOB -- Red Sox (ss)
Fr 4/1 TBA, BOB -- Red Sox
Sa 4/2 @ 1, Albuquerque -- Rangers

As for a get-together, midday games during the week are bad, and I'm not really interested in driving down to Tucson for a spring training game. That leaves the following options:

Su 3/13 @ 1, Maryvale -- Brewers (ss)
Su 3/13 @ 1, Phoenix -- A's (ss)
Sa 3/19 @ 1, Peoria -- Mariners
Fr 3/25 @ 7, Surprise -- Rangers
Sa 3/26 @ 1, Peoria -- Padres
… and possibly the Red Sox games, which I'm assuming will be at night

Of that list, I'm probably most interested in the Padres game, with perhaps the Mariners game #2.

So how about it, anybody want to circle March 26th on their calendar in pencil?

I really hadn't anticipated being silent, blogging-wise, for about 8 days. But I was gone for a portion of that time in a place a good 150-200 miles away from the nearest major league team. As a result, news in the local paper of the 3-way trade's collapse was brief and focused on the Yankees' anger with the Dodgers. (All this after I violated my own semi-"rule" about only posting attributable items and commented on the "paperwork" submitted to MLB offices for the trade. Serves me right.)

The Dodgers' about-face made sense only if they decided (like most people did) that the trade was bad, bad, bad for them. And then they signed JD Drew. Not quite sure where that leaves them.

(And I can tell that it wasn't a big baseball newspaper when the Red Sox's signing of Varitek to a 4-year deal was mentioned only briefly in the agate type of the Scoreboard's "Transactions" section.)

So here we are a week later. There are rumors that the Yankees and Diamondbacks are talking once more, but having been burned once, I'm not going to post links to those unattributed articles. If you're reading this, you probably already know who we're talking about...