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< Shannon Drayer
Another year, a new feel to Mariners' spring training
As the Mariners begin Day 3 of camp I get ready to begin my journey of covering a Major League baseball team. This will be my 14th spring training following the Mariners and I still find the process of going from offseason to full-go baseball as odd for me today as it seemed in 2002.
There is a physical and mental shift that takes place, each a bit jarring after spending 4 1/2 months at home. First comes the eyeing of the suitcases (and shoe tub) in the storage area knowing it will soon be time to go. Then the preparations, taking care of things that need to be taken care of while I am away from home and coming up with a game plan for when I am in Peoria. Then there are the friends and family that have to be worked into the schedule, the effort to spend as much time possible with them before I disappear for six weeks. It is a busy time leading into wheels up from Sea-Tac.
Landing in Phoenix and getting going is a bit of a shock as well. All of a sudden, bam! Your life changes – sort of. Your home is now here, you are usually staying in an apartment close to the complex or a small house. You do your grocery shopping, just at a different store. You run your errands and go about your day in a place that isn't home but is definitely very familiar. You do all those things in the sun which is a bonus.
Family and friends are replaced by your co-workers, who over the next seven months you will most likely see more than your family. Your day is turned upside down and will be turned upside down once more when you return to Seattle. While baseball is a game that is played largely at night, spring training is a morning and afternoon affair. This can be a shock to the system having to get up earlier – and every day, as there is just one off day during spring training. The shock is short lived thanks to a big assist from that big yellow orb in the sky. No alarms are needed as the light switch is flipped quickly and oh so early down here in the desert.
After a few days the routines are set, sleep clock reset and you plunge into your work and life of following a team. This becomes normal for the next seven or eight months. A good normal.
There is another shift that needs to take place this year. All winter we have been watching the moves, formulating our opinions, and waiting for the next moves. Same thing we have done in past seasons. Our outlook now that we are at the end of the offseason should be different from past seasons, however. The expectations should be different and that is different for us. It is no longer about the youth of this team and the development of that youth. We have been so focused on that development, partly because it was one of the only positives to focus on the past few years, that sometimes I think we miss where the focus should now be.
When the first national analyst came out and said that he expects the Mariners to win the West and the first projection system had the Mariners at the top of baseball in wins, if you are like me you thought that was kind of cool but you weren't entirely comfortable with the prediction. As they kept coming perhaps you kind of ignored them. I think a lot of us are still in "show me" mode, which is fine, but the fact of the matter is on paper a good baseball team has been put together. Through acquisition and development Jack Zduriencik and crew have put together a team that on paper most analysts believe should make the postseason.
So this is new. How do we do this? First step is to acknowledge where they are at least on paper. My big aha moment was when Rickie Weeks was signed. I was so baffled by that move that the headline I had up for an hour was "Mariners sign Rickie Weeks?" The question mark came down after the facepalm moment of, "Oh yeah. Teams that are planning to make a run have functional benches." Rather than going with a kid, Zduriencik brought in an experienced right-handed bat for McClendon to go to late in games and perhaps someone who could push an underperforming player and take a platoon role if necessary. I realized that I needed to look at moves differently. Moves are more likely to be for the now than the future.
It should be a different year, a year that we should look at differently. We will hear a lot about expectations throughout the spring and I believe it is completely reasonable to expect this team to be playing baseball in October if they stay healthy. My hope is this is an enjoyable journey for both the team and fans and that those who have followed them through the down years can get the most out of it rather than view the start of the journey with a wary eye.
It is time to enjoy some baseball
There is a physical and mental shift that takes place, each a bit jarring after spending 4 1/2 months at home. First comes the eyeing of the suitcases (and shoe tub) in the storage area knowing it will soon be time to go. Then the preparations, taking care of things that need to be taken care of while I am away from home and coming up with a game plan for when I am in Peoria. Then there are the friends and family that have to be worked into the schedule, the effort to spend as much time possible with them before I disappear for six weeks. It is a busy time leading into wheels up from Sea-Tac.
Landing in Phoenix and getting going is a bit of a shock as well. All of a sudden, bam! Your life changes – sort of. Your home is now here, you are usually staying in an apartment close to the complex or a small house. You do your grocery shopping, just at a different store. You run your errands and go about your day in a place that isn't home but is definitely very familiar. You do all those things in the sun which is a bonus.
Family and friends are replaced by your co-workers, who over the next seven months you will most likely see more than your family. Your day is turned upside down and will be turned upside down once more when you return to Seattle. While baseball is a game that is played largely at night, spring training is a morning and afternoon affair. This can be a shock to the system having to get up earlier – and every day, as there is just one off day during spring training. The shock is short lived thanks to a big assist from that big yellow orb in the sky. No alarms are needed as the light switch is flipped quickly and oh so early down here in the desert.
After a few days the routines are set, sleep clock reset and you plunge into your work and life of following a team. This becomes normal for the next seven or eight months. A good normal.
There is another shift that needs to take place this year. All winter we have been watching the moves, formulating our opinions, and waiting for the next moves. Same thing we have done in past seasons. Our outlook now that we are at the end of the offseason should be different from past seasons, however. The expectations should be different and that is different for us. It is no longer about the youth of this team and the development of that youth. We have been so focused on that development, partly because it was one of the only positives to focus on the past few years, that sometimes I think we miss where the focus should now be.
When the first national analyst came out and said that he expects the Mariners to win the West and the first projection system had the Mariners at the top of baseball in wins, if you are like me you thought that was kind of cool but you weren't entirely comfortable with the prediction. As they kept coming perhaps you kind of ignored them. I think a lot of us are still in "show me" mode, which is fine, but the fact of the matter is on paper a good baseball team has been put together. Through acquisition and development Jack Zduriencik and crew have put together a team that on paper most analysts believe should make the postseason.
So this is new. How do we do this? First step is to acknowledge where they are at least on paper. My big aha moment was when Rickie Weeks was signed. I was so baffled by that move that the headline I had up for an hour was "Mariners sign Rickie Weeks?" The question mark came down after the facepalm moment of, "Oh yeah. Teams that are planning to make a run have functional benches." Rather than going with a kid, Zduriencik brought in an experienced right-handed bat for McClendon to go to late in games and perhaps someone who could push an underperforming player and take a platoon role if necessary. I realized that I needed to look at moves differently. Moves are more likely to be for the now than the future.
It should be a different year, a year that we should look at differently. We will hear a lot about expectations throughout the spring and I believe it is completely reasonable to expect this team to be playing baseball in October if they stay healthy. My hope is this is an enjoyable journey for both the team and fans and that those who have followed them through the down years can get the most out of it rather than view the start of the journey with a wary eye.
It is time to enjoy some baseball
