An Idea For MLB: “Spring Teams”
OK - pitchers and catchers have started reporting (at least for the Mariners, who are weird and started a week early), and soon enough it'll be Spring Training in full bloom, with all the stretching and jogging and drills and split-squadding and wacky green jerseys on St. Patrick's Day and all that. Generally, Spring Training isn't that dramatic or interesting - for most teams, almost all of the 25 major league roster slots are full, so it's just a check to make sure that a team's players aren't suddenly 100 pounds heavier, can still play their position, try out a new position, and figure out which guys who are out of options are going to end up taking those last two or three slots on the major league roster, and which ones will end up hitting waivers and potentially end up with another organization. The games aren't all that interesting, with the major players only playing a few innings, pitchers working a specific inning limit or pitch count, so no one's really playing to win or lose, really - it's just a giant scouting exhibition. So why not try something a little different?