Ok. So we all know that baseball isn't an exact science. If it was, then well, it doesn't really bear thinking about. Now, I love prospects. I love talking about them. Evaluating them. Reading scouting reports on them. Predicting what might happen to them in the upcoming season and just generally basking in their buzz. But what I can't stand is when a young prospect gets burned because he's abused or brought up to early and has his confidence destroyed, never fulfulling half of what was promised.

For me then, as a Tigers fan, you can understand that the alarm bells might be sounding off when I hear Jim Leyland express that he might take 'a young guy' if someone emerges. In other words, Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello. And yes, I can accept that this gamble does work on occasion. Look at Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander. They both excelled in 2006. But then I just take one glance at Andrew Miller and a big lump appears in my throat. Miller, for all that attention, was pretty much drilled into the ground when the Tigers rushed him to the big leagues in both 2006 and 2007. And now look at him. He couldn't really quite find his groove in Florida last year. So who knows. He's still a tremendous young arm, and I'm not going to dismiss him, but for his development, it would have served him better in my opinion to have spent all of 2007 in the minors.

And I don't want the same thing to happen to Perry or Porcello. Both guys have tremendous arms. Potential galore. But lets look at the facts. Perry's pitched 13 2/3 innings in the minors and hasn't pitched above class A Lakeland. Is he ready to face major league hitters in clutch situations? So what, he has a triple digit fastball, but does that make him ready? Not in my opinion. Porcello was downright dominant last season at Lakeland, with a 2.66 ERA in 125 innings, and he stayed at Lakeland all year. Again, he hasn't pitched above A ball. These guys are the future. There's a reason why you go out and you get non-roster invitees or you sign guys like Scott Williamson and Juan Rincon to minor league deals.

These guys are the future of this ballclub. I don't want to see them ruined by calling them up too early. September's a different story. The minor league season ends at the end of August. They would have had the whole year. Let them force your hand from down on the farm in the late summer, not in spring.

Of course, this begs the fundamental question. When really is too early? Some guys it seems, need several years before they're ready. Some need a couple of months. But there's no substitute for learning down on the farm. The speed of the game is slower. Your mistakes are no where near as magnified. There's not the intesity of the media or the fans following your every move. It's the perfect spring board. But some guys just take it all in stride and can handle being thrown in at the deep end. Only time will tell what Tigers management will do with Perry and Porcello. But my opinion is its definitely too early. Their times will come. Just wait a year, and I'll sit back and relax and let the excitment and buzz grow as they light up the minors in 2009.  

Just came across this article from the Detroit Free Press this morning, and while it might be old and under the 're-visited' category, it's ace. Just like the two guys cited in the article, the great Sandy Koufax and young Giants flamethrower Tim Lincecum. 

It's worth the read, even just for the line from author David Halberstam on Sandy Koufax:

"One of those rare legendary figures who was as good as his myth."

Add that one to my list of why I feel Koufax is the most dominant lefty of all time. Will Lincecum ever achieve such heights in his career? Who knows. Only time will tell. But I'm a big fan of Lincecum.

Ah the delight. Pitchers and Catchers have finally reported. And so many more countdowns have just begun.

• Number of days until spring training games begin (a mere 10 days).
• Days until the world baseball classic begins (just 18 days to go).
• And the big one, Opening Night in Philadelphia (a small 49 days away).

So sit back, and bask in the sunshine of the desert or among the palm trees. Cause summers coming. Ever so slowly. And with more intriguing storylines than you could shake a stick at, spring training couldn't get any better. Here's a sampling:

• Will highly touted O's prospect Matt Weiters make the Birds roster out of spring training, or begin the year in AAA?
• Who will be the Cardinals closer? Chris Perez? Ryan Franklin? Jason Motte? Josh Kinney? Stay tuned.
• Will Dontrelle Willis and/or Nate Robertson regain their form?
  
• Where will the remaining free agents land? Is Ken Griffey jr off to Atlanta? What about Tom Glavine? Manny Ramirez?
  
• How do C.C Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett look in pinstripes?
  
• Will Jed Lowrie win the Red Sox starting shortstop job over Julio Lugo?
• Is Noah Lowry healthy enough to snatch the Giants 5th starters job over Jonathan Sanchez? Or will Sanchez put it all together?
• Is Cameron Maybin ready for the big leagues at age 21?
  
• How much greater can the hype get surrounding David Price as he enters the Rays rotation?
• Will Carlos Marmol be closing out games at Wrigley? Or can Kevin Gregg come in and steal it from him?
• How will the Rockies deal without Matt Holliday?

Strap in for the ride folks, cause the next month and a half's gonna be great.

There used to be a time when I looked up to Alex Rodriguez and held him within the same regard as Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones and those among that very small spectrum of players that exuded class while at the same time playing the game the right way and having the talent to match. But no longer. So once again baseball is hit with the steriod bug. Another seemingly flawless star has fallen from grace faster that a meteor burns in the earth's atmosphere.

But you know what really gets me? What really, just, infuriates me, is the fact that these guys who are being payed extortionate sums feel it necessary to 'enhance' themselves. Why? Maybe so their personal numbers look better so they can obtain even more dough? Perhaps so. Whatever happened to playing the game for the love of it? When making an out to move that runner over was never questioned, but now, for an MVP candidate, the potential drop in average could be crucifying personally. There's never been an I in team, but there certainly is in steroids.

And what impression does this leave for the youth of today? That such methods of abuse and modification of our bodies in such inhumane ways is acceptable? Even common place? Let's look at a few simple facts. If you take steroids pre-puberty, you will hit puberty early, but then your growth will be shunted. If you take steroids during puberty, it will stunt your growth. And we're not just talking about height wise. We're talking manhood. Either way you look at it, it's bad news.

So what to do with those that have tested positive? Should the fact that A-Rod admitted to substance abuse 5 years ago make him exempt from today's steroid policy? I think not. It should go beyond current cases. A-Rod should be given a 50 game ban, as should everyone else named in the Mitchell report and the 108 or so other positive tests. You might think this is harsh, but personally, they've voilated the conduct of baseball and the rules of nature. I think that at some point, if baseball is going to clean up it's image and start to re-gain what it once was, it has to come down hard on those who have abused the system. Start suspending players for longer. Instead of making it a measly 50 games, make the lowest penalty a season. Start threatening to make them ineligable for the hall of fame. Hell, Pete Rose still can't get in and all he did was gamble. Look at the 1919 Chicago White Sox. Why should A-Rod and the guys who have tested positive for steroids be any different? It's about time someone took some drastic measures, because otherwise, you can burn the record books completely for the last 10 years. if not longer. 

It came to my attention late yesterday, that Who's your tiger is currently on the mlblogs homepage! How awesome is that!! Go me!!! I'm not one to gloat or anything, but a little recognition never did anyone any harm! Woohoo! How long it'll be there for, I'm not sure, so I'm gonna upload the screen grab:

And just quickly, I'm going to try and do some sort of season preview at some point, but probably not until I can get my hands on the 2009 Baseball prospectus, and the 2009 Baseball America prospect handbook. But for now, the team that I think will surprise a lot of people this year is the San Francisco Giants. I just look at their starting pitching and go WOW. Literally. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito (if he makes it back to his Cy young/Oakland A's form) and Randy Johnson. That's one hell of a 5some right there. Add in that Noah Lowry might be back too, and boy you've got some potential. Speaking of potential, I think that if you live in either San Jose or Norwich, Connecticut, you should get down to the ballpark and take a look at Madison Bumgarner. No kidding. This guys gonna be awesome. He won't make to the bigs this year, but if there was ever a prospect to get excited about, this is the guy.

Alot of people consider the great Sandy Koufax to be an enigma. For years they've wondered. Speculated. Postulated. Questioned. But to hell with em. Koufax isn't an enigma. If you don't believe me, just read Sandy Koufax: A lefty's legacy by Jane Leavy, which I will say, is one of the best baseball books I've ever read. What's so incredible about this book is the subtle uniqueness of which Leavy shapes her story. Leavy tells the story of Koufax's perfect game on September 9th 1965, with a each inning of the game comprising its own individual chapter. Yet, instead of just bunching the game together and then telling anecdotes of Koufax's career within these innings, Leavy tells the reader these individual stories in their own right, each one sandwiched between an inning of the perfect game. It ends up working to perfection (pardon the pun). Seriously, there's so much that I never knew about Koufax, and Leavy chronicles his Brooklyn upbringing, being a Jew, how, for the first 5 or so years of his career, Dodger manager Walter Alston would sparingly use him. Or even more so, use his consecutively and then not pitch Koufax for months. Yes MONTHS! Perhaps what makes this book even more special are the subtle references to the major and minor events of the times. JFK's in there, so are the Beatles. What is even more fascinating, is how at the beginning of the perfect game, Leavy introduces several fans, some of them kids at home listening to the radio in their beds when they should have been asleep. Others at the ballpark, one on a photography assignment for his school, another the friend of the Cubs young rookie catcher, Chris Krug. As the perfect game develops, Leavy introduces more characters, and builds upon the experiences and feelings that the fans are going through. It draws you in, enlightening the same connection that you feel as an individual when you watch the game at home or at the park yourself. What most people don't realise, is that Bob Hendley, the opposing pitcher for the Cubs, actually threw a one hitter that day, and lost on an error by Krug, when he threw the ball into left field after trying to catch 'Sweet Lou' Johnson stealing third base. What you have then, is one of the best baseball games of all time. Pick up the book if you get the chance. You won't get a better opportunity to discover more about arguably the most dominant left hander of all time, and one of the best games ever.

And if you don;'t agree with me, just consider that when Koufax was suffering from chronic arthritis in the last two years of his career, (so chronic that he would have to take several pain killers before his starts, compounded with rubbing his arms in capsolin ointment, which by the way, was so powerful that the Dodger trainer would wear gloves so he didn't a) burn, and b) smell of the stuff!! After Koufax pitched, he'd sit his arm in a freezing cold bucket of what essentially amounts to ice until he'd consumed 3 beers that were left in the ice during the game. And if you want to know how powerful Capsolin is, just take it from the big leaguers, who called it 'atomic balm' at the time.) he won back to back Cy Young awards, and compiled 53 victories, 699 K's in 658 2/3 innings, and an astonishing 1.88 ERA. (seriously, if I had the time, or the book handy, to calculate Koufax' numbers from the last 6 years of his career, there's no one who even comes close. Go grab the numbers, and then tell me what you think.

He really was unbelievable. 

I'll admit it, I've been looking forward to the day that mlb.com unveils mlb.tv for the season. Now that's finally happened, I'm pretty pumped to say the least! As I have subscribed to mlb.tv for the last 3 years now, I'll be continuing to do so, even though everygame I watch is pretty much archived (except for sundays). I paid the little bit extra to get mlb.tv premium, and it was sure as hell worth it. Perhaps my favourite feature that was introduced last year was the ability to have home and away feeds. Sometimes I love listening to the announcers of the Tigers opponents, or when I'm watching a random game, it's great to be able to switch between say Vin Scully, and Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper. Also, I find that if you watch the game with another team's broadcasters, you get a better perspective of what that team is going through, in terms of inside information that the announcers pick up, like who's got the hot hand for example. After all, they've been watching all season, so they should know what they're talking about. Still it comes as a relief that I can retort back to Mario Impemba and Rod Allen on FSN Detroit rather than have to suffer through 3 hours of Ken Harrelson screaming 'put it on the board, YEEEESSSSSSSSSS!' Honestly, as much as I love getting a flavour of other teams broadcasts, there's nothing worse than an over zealous, biased commentator. Everyonce in a while, I'll tolerate, '2-0 good guys', but seriously, only in small doses. And if it's a key game, then it's FSN D all the way.

The second feature I'm gonna love about mlb.tv this year is the ability to switch between radio and tv commentary. I haven't really listened very much to radio broadcasts, but when I have, I've found it to be a much more entertaining listen in many ways. Just the fact that radio announcers have to literally 'paint' a picture in your mind of what they see if brilliant. It really makes you think about the little things a whole lot more and in todays game, I think it's really important to remember all the small things. Sometimes it's too easy to forget that the catcher is using a different set of signs because its the fifth inning and the battery is changing the signs based on odd or even numbered innings. When was the last time you tried to 'steal' the signs on tv? It's pretty fun trying to figure it out.

Speaking of keeping connected with the little things, I've always found that scoring a game yourself is one of the best ways to do this. What's even greater is trying to score that run down of the runner on first that went from the 1st baseman to the shortstop to the pitcher covering first to the second baseman back to the 1st baseman for the out. (that's 3-6-1-4-3 for those of you scoring at home!) Matt Smith over at BaseballGB is putting together a keeping score season for you scoring enthusiasts out there, or for those of you that aren't and want to know how. When I first started following baseball about a decade ago, I'd be completely lost at times. When I discovered how to keep score, I decided to give it a shot and it really helped me learn the intricacies of the game. What I love about scoring a game yourself is that you can pretty much create your own scoring system. Want to write ppo instead of p on a popout? Go ahead. Fancy drawing an infield diamond in every box and filling in the box as the batter progresses around the bases? Be my guest. It's flexible, and fun. And now with mlb.tv's rewind function, if you don't agree with the official scorer's call on a ball that shorthopped the David Wright, then go ahead and take another look. Imagine this one too. You accidently dropped your scorecard and had to tear yourself away to retrieve it, while in the meantime Carlos Guillen singled and took second on the throw from the right fielder to home trying to nail Curtis Granderson at the plate. Go back and take another look at it. Now there's definitely something you can't do at the ballpark.

Only 6 days to go.....