Since the World Series ended, I have been consumed with my young boys baseball teams and truly less interested in what was going on in the off-season with professional baseball. Running a website can be somewhat overwhelming and consuming of your time, but even though I love what we do here at Legends on Deck, there are times when just pulling away and reassessing oneself is needed.
The one great thing about our site is that when I chose to take a part-time sabbatical, I knew that the site was left in the great hands of guys like Jake Berry, Brian Koss and the awesome nostalgic posts from Kevin Larkin and of course Jon Harder, who has partnered with Jake and I to start the new On Deck Podcast, which somewhat allowed me to keep in touch with some of what is going on in the baseball world. But overall, I just needed to go back to the basics of enjoying this game again and watching kids play it the way it is meant to be played, without all the politics involved.
Being a die-hard Mets fan can truly drain your spirit and make you despise the business side of the game, especially when you know more than you want to from inside sources, and even though I cherish my relationships in the game, it just kind of ruins the overall passion at times for me. So breaking away was a well needed retreat from the everyday news of baseball.
But as the calendar turns today to February, the excitement of a new season start to fill my spirit again and even though I have been consumed lately with coaching my two sons new little league seasons, I can’t wait to see the boys of summer back on the diamond. As a young kid growing up in Brooklyn, NY, the start of spring training melted away for me all the snow that was still left on the ground as I looked forward to opening day. But living here in Florida now, the weather is almost always perfect, and the start of spring training is my cue that its time to get back to buisness and get LOD ready for another awesome year.
When we started this site back in 2015, little did I know the impact that it would have on the many writers and fans that have been a part of the process, and now looking forward to another season is why we do what we do.
Baseball is like life, it has its up and downs and you take it for what it’s worth and even though the Mets made some bonehead moves by releasing guys like Chasen Bradford, Erik Goeddel, and Josh Smoker, who each did a great job last season in the bigs, they have all been picked up by new clubs and are preparing for a great season away from the Mets circus. I know that I can rant with the best of them about the Mets and their clueless decisions with their roster, but that probably would turn into a post of its own and I am not ready for that yet. Even though inviting Tim Tebow to spring training already put me over the edge, I just want to get myself settled and ready for a season that is sure to be exciting from all the 30 teams involved. Well maybe 29 as the Miami Marlins have become a minor league team after they cleaned house getting rid of all their stars with not much in return. They do have exciting young players in Starlin Castro and JT Riddle, but after their recent fire sale, it’s rebuilding all over again in Miami.
If you look at the many moves in the off-season there are so many teams that will be exciting to watch. And this may pain me to say, but the New York Yankees look every dangerous again especially after they added slugger Giancarlo Stanton to an already explosive lineup that includes Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and Greg Bird.
The Los Angeles Angels also boosted their roster by adding two-way international star Shohei Ohtani, and infielders Ian Kinsler and Zack Cozart. Defending World Series Champs, the Houston Astros are returning with basically the same explosive team from 2017, and the Milwaukee Brewers additions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, who will join Ryan Braun, and make their outfield one of the best in the National League. We can’t forget the San Francisco Giants adding Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria to their already bolstered lineup.
The Mets did pick up Jay Bruce and Adrian Gonzalez, while also adding Anthony Swarzak to the bullpen and brought back weak hitting Jose Reyes whom they feel will be a huge help off the bench. But I am really not sure how the Mets will do even though John Smoltz recently had a wild prediction when he stated that the Mets would go back to the World Series. Well that prediction may only come true if the pitching staff stays healthy and Yoenis Cespedes can remain on the field long enough to earn his paycheck. But they have many question marks and it will be up to new skipper Mickey Callaway to do what Terry Collins could not, and that is win it all for the Queens faithful.
But just looking at some of the teams that I mentioned above, the 2018 seasons looks like it will be one for the ages. So sit back and relax and we will do our part to bring you all the action as we see it and it just won’t be the majors, we are very excited about expanding our coverage of the Minor Leagues and the many great ball players that are working hard towards their future in the game.
The 2018 season is on the horizon, Finally!
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