The Season Begins

The hot stove season officially began this weekend after the Adam Wainright of the Cardinals struck out some guy from Detroit to end a game. It must have meant something, because everyone starting jumping up and down like they were really happy. Whatever it was, it sorta looked like fun. The game wasn’t that great, so maybe it was someone’s birthday or something.

Actually, congratulations go out to the World Champion Cardinals, winners for the first time since 1982 (when they edged Harvey’s Wallbangers). I’m happy for the St .Louis fans, who seem to have all of the appreciation for baseball with none of the anger. Maybe it’s the influence of that light beer they brew around there somewhere. Maybe with the introduction of Sam Adams Light, Red Sox fans will start mellowing as well. A special congrats to David Eckstein, my second favorite ballplayer named David. He’s roughly the size of one of Big Papi’s legs, but he was huge in the Series for the Cardinals, and has shown himself to be a big winner. It’s time to hope that Dustin Pedroia can turn into the same sort of player.

But now the real season begins- a hot stove season that promises to be very interesting for Red Sox fans. Over the weekend, Trot Nixon, Gabe Kapler, and Doug Mirabelli all filed for free agency. As popular as those guys are, as much dirt dog ethic as they showed (Doug with his bare handed batting style…) they’ll probably never put on a Sox uniform again. Trot will be too expensive and too injury prone- he’ll be good somewhere like Kansas City or Colorado or San Francisco. Kapler will get squeezed because we’ll have Eric Hinske as utility corner guy next year. Doug, well, Doug would need to hit his weight to justify his continued presence on the Sox bench. I don’t think he’s got the bat speed anymore.

A number of other (relatively) high profile players filed for free agency as well. Jason Schmidt and Barry Bonds of the Giants, Alfonso Soriano of the Nationals, and Roger Clemens of the Astros all filed. There’s no telling if Roger will be back or not, but it may be worth Theo and the boys making one final run to convince the Rocket he can go out on top with his old team. Soriano is worth a run as well. Schmidt is probably the only legit player from that Giants team, but I’m just not sure how well he does on an American League team. I think he lands with the Cubs or another NL team looking to spend their way out of the cellar. As for Bonds, well, that’s a tough one. Ideally, he’ll become a DH on an American League club. He’ll probably sign a two-year deal, for between $10-12 million per year. Texas, maybe. Oakland already has Frank Thomas. Maybe Seattle. Someone close enough to contention, but with a fan base that won’t taunt him too much. I think it’s still 50/50 he stays in San Fran, where he’s still adored, but he’s becoming a huge liability in the outfield.

It’s going to be an interesting season. And a blessedly short one. Less than 110 days before pitchers and catchers report.