Cactus League reports this week

[Buckeye Dale]

Schedule from MLB:

2016 Cactus League Reporting Dates

Team        Pitchers & Catchers      First Workout     Position Players First Workout Location

Angels                 February 18      February 19       February 23      February 24   Tempe

A's                      February 20      February 21       February 25      February 26   Mesa

Brewers              February 19      February 21       February 24       February 25 Maryvale

Cubs                   February 19 February 20 February 23 February 24 Mesa

Diamondbacks     February 17   February 18   February 22   February 23   Scottsdale

Dodgers         February 19 February 20 February 24 February 25 Glendale

Giants         February 17 February 18 February 22 February 23 Scottsdale

Indians         February 17       February 19         February 21         February 23   Goodyear

Mariners         February 19 February 20 February 24 February 25 Peoria

Padres         February 18 February 19 February 23 February 24 Peoria

Rangers         February 18 February 19 February 23 February 24 Surprise

Reds         February 18 February 18 February 23 February 23 Goodyear

Rockies     February 17 February 19 February 25 Scottsdale

Royals         February 18 February 19 February 22 February 23 Surprise

White Sox     February 19 February 19 February 23 Glendale

[Walter]

WOO-HOO!!

[mscott59]

Feb 15, 2016 21:31:10 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

Schedule from MLB:

2016 Cactus League Reporting Dates

Team        Pitchers & Catchers      First Workout     Position Players First Workout Location

Angels                 February 18      February 19       February 23      February 24   Tempe

A's                      February 20      February 21       February 25      February 26   Mesa

Brewers              February 19      February 21       February 24       February 25 Maryvale

Cubs                   February 19 February 20 February 23 February 24 Mesa

Diamondbacks     February 17   February 18   February 22   February 23   Scottsdale

Dodgers         February 19 February 20 February 24 February 25 Glendale

Giants         February 17 February 18 February 22 February 23 Scottsdale

Indians         February 17       February 19         February 21         February 23   Goodyear

Mariners         February 19 February 20 February 24 February 25 Peoria

Padres         February 18 February 19 February 23 February 24 Peoria

Rangers         February 18 February 19 February 23 February 24 Surprise

Reds         February 18 February 18 February 23 February 23 Goodyear

Rockies     February 17 February 19 February 25 Scottsdale

Royals         February 18 February 19 February 22 February 23 Surprise

White Sox     February 19 February 19 February 23 Glendale

Hard to beloeve

[Mickey34jb]

The Indians have a penchant for strong finishes, however their slow starts going 7-14 in the first month of the 2015 season puts them in a hole they cant dig out.___ A .500 April going 11-10 would giving Tribe fans hope going into the summer


----KC rolls into Cleveland May 6th-8th__on a weekend to boot.

[Buckeye Dale]

Ahhh....spring...and hope springs eternal in the human breast...

[canefan]

Coming off three straight great seasons, this Royals fan is hopeful for 2016 but realistic. In 2013 they pushed hard and came up just short. 2014, a great season that finished 90 feet short in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series. Last year, an amazing ride to the first world championship since 1985. Back then they had spring training in my backyard, at Boardwalk and Baseball just north of Haines City. I don't know that is is reasonable for we, as KC fans, to even hope for a third straight WS appearance. Coming back, we lose Holland for the year to TJ surgery, but with Davis taking over the closer job, Herrera goes to the 8th inning and Soria returns to KC for the 7th. We lost Madson and Morales out of the bullpen but Soria is better than either one and Tim Collins returns off TJ surgery, and he should more than make up for Morales. Cueto is gone from the rotation, but honestly he pretty much sucked in the regular season, despite a couple of great, dominating games in the playoffs. The starting pitching should be better this season. Ventura is a year older and hopefully finally matures into his stuff. Volquez comes off the best season of his career and they have added Ian Kennedy. Kris Medlen is the wild card. He was limited and mostly out of the pen last year, coming off a 2nd TJ surgery, but pitched well down the stretch and has top of the rotation potential. Chris Young returns as the 5th starter/swing guy. If he comes close to last years level the rotation should be better. Duffy could start or could go to the pen. He is an enigma, great left handed stuff but has only ever harvested said stuff in short periods over the last few seasons. He could be the next Wade Davis, going from a mediocre starter to a dominant reliever. Position wise, Gordon back in LF is huge, but the loss of Zobrist at 2B hurts. Omar Infante is better defensively than Zobrist but an elbow injury has limited him offensively the last two years. Since he missed the last month and some of the season with an abdominal injury, he went ahead and had the elbow cleaned out surgically as well. Hopefully with a pain-free and full strength elbow, his bat returns to his Detroit days. If not, Series hero Christian Colon waits in the wings, along with rookie Raul Mondesi. In RF, Rios is gone and, at this point, they say he will be replaced by seeing if Dyson can become an everyday player. A platoon of Dyson and Paulo Orlando is tremendously better defensively than Rios, much more speed but less potential power. I'm anxious to see if Dyson can hit .275 or better playing pretty much daily. If he does, look for 50 plus stolen bases and 100 runs scored. He is one of the most disruptive players in MLB when on the bases. The rest of the position players return and we just need similar production. With a little luck, players stay healthy, it could easily be another 90 win season. So, how about those Indians?

[Buckeye Dale]

Feb 17, 2016 6:51:02 GMT -5 canefan said:

Coming off three straight great seasons, this Royals fan is hopeful for 2016 but realistic. In 2013 they pushed hard and came up just short. 2014, a great season that finished 90 feet short in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series. Last year, an amazing ride to the first world championship since 1985. Back then they had spring training in my backyard, at Boardwalk and Baseball just north of Haines City. I don't know that is is reasonable for we, as KC fans, to even hope for a third straight WS appearance. Coming back, we lose Holland for the year to TJ surgery, but with Davis taking over the closer job, Herrera goes to the 8th inning and Soria returns to KC for the 7th. We lost Madson and Morales out of the bullpen but Soria is better than either one and Tim Collins returns off TJ surgery, and he should more than make up for Morales. Cueto is gone from the rotation, but honestly he pretty much sucked in the regular season, despite a couple of great, dominating games in the playoffs. The starting pitching should be better this season. Ventura is a year older and hopefully finally matures into his stuff. Volquez comes off the best season of his career and they have added Ian Kennedy. Kris Medlen is the wild card. He was limited and mostly out of the pen last year, coming off a 2nd TJ surgery, but pitched well down the stretch and has top of the rotation potential. Chris Young returns as the 5th starter/swing guy. If he comes close to last years level the rotation should be better. Duffy could start or could go to the pen. He is an enigma, great left handed stuff but has only ever harvested said stuff in short periods over the last few seasons. He could be the next Wade Davis, going from a mediocre starter to a dominant reliever. Position wise, Gordon back in LF is huge, but the loss of Zobrist at 2B hurts. Omar Infante is better defensively than Zobrist but an elbow injury has limited him offensively the last two years. Since he missed the last month and some of the season with an abdominal injury, he went ahead and had the elbow cleaned out surgically as well. Hopefully with a pain-free and full strength elbow, his bat returns to his Detroit days. If not, Series hero Christian Colon waits in the wings, along with rookie Raul Mondesi. In RF, Rios is gone and, at this point, they say he will be replaced by seeing if Dyson can become an everyday player. A platoon of Dyson and Paulo Orlando is tremendously better defensively than Rios, much more speed but less potential power. I'm anxious to see if Dyson can hit .275 or better playing pretty much daily. If he does, look for 50 plus stolen bases and 100 runs scored. He is one of the most disruptive players in MLB when on the bases. The rest of the position players return and we just need similar production. With a little luck, players stay healthy, it could easily be another 90 win season. So, how about those Indians?

LOL...still looking back fondly at the late 90s, HOPING for potential to be realized, one more good year from old arms & legs, and the right locker room mix...but REMEMBERING the Curse of Rocky Colavito.  

[Mickey34jb]

Feb 17, 2016 6:51:02 GMT -5 canefan said:

Coming off three straight great seasons, this Royals fan is hopeful for 2016 but realistic. In 2013 they pushed hard and came up just short. 2014, a great season that finished 90 feet short in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series. Last year, an amazing ride to the first world championship since 1985. Back then they had spring training in my backyard, at Boardwalk and Baseball just north of Haines City. I don't know that is is reasonable for we, as KC fans, to even hope for a third straight WS appearance. Coming back, we lose Holland for the year to TJ surgery, but with Davis taking over the closer job, Herrera goes to the 8th inning and Soria returns to KC for the 7th. We lost Madson and Morales out of the bullpen but Soria is better than either one and Tim Collins returns off TJ surgery, and he should more than make up for Morales. Cueto is gone from the rotation, but honestly he pretty much sucked in the regular season, despite a couple of great, dominating games in the playoffs. The starting pitching should be better this season. Ventura is a year older and hopefully finally matures into his stuff. Volquez comes off the best season of his career and they have added Ian Kennedy. Kris Medlen is the wild card. He was limited and mostly out of the pen last year, coming off a 2nd TJ surgery, but pitched well down the stretch and has top of the rotation potential. Chris Young returns as the 5th starter/swing guy. If he comes close to last years level the rotation should be better. Duffy could start or could go to the pen. He is an enigma, great left handed stuff but has only ever harvested said stuff in short periods over the last few seasons. He could be the next Wade Davis, going from a mediocre starter to a dominant reliever. Position wise, Gordon back in LF is huge, but the loss of Zobrist at 2B hurts. Omar Infante is better defensively than Zobrist but an elbow injury has limited him offensively the last two years. Since he missed the last month and some of the season with an abdominal injury, he went ahead and had the elbow cleaned out surgically as well. Hopefully with a pain-free and full strength elbow, his bat returns to his Detroit days. If not, Series hero Christian Colon waits in the wings, along with rookie Raul Mondesi. In RF, Rios is gone and, at this point, they say he will be replaced by seeing if Dyson can become an everyday player. A platoon of Dyson and Paulo Orlando is tremendously better defensively than Rios, much more speed but less potential power. I'm anxious to see if Dyson can hit .275 or better playing pretty much daily. If he does, look for 50 plus stolen bases and 100 runs scored. He is one of the most disruptive players in MLB when on the bases. The rest of the position players return and we just need similar production. With a little luck, players stay healthy, it could easily be another 90 win season. So, how about those Indians?

Cleveland went 32-43 inside its division, Kansas City went 44-32 in the division___so we need KC to let up a little because the tribe front office didnt get a big bat for the middle of our lineup. I have to stop here before I go all cdub on the tribe owner. <g>

[Buckeye Dale]

Feb 17, 2016 18:53:08 GMT -5 Mickey34jb said:

Feb 17, 2016 6:51:02 GMT -5 canefan said:

Coming off three straight great seasons, this Royals fan is hopeful for 2016 but realistic. In 2013 they pushed hard and came up just short. 2014, a great season that finished 90 feet short in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series. Last year, an amazing ride to the first world championship since 1985. Back then they had spring training in my backyard, at Boardwalk and Baseball just north of Haines City. I don't know that is is reasonable for we, as KC fans, to even hope for a third straight WS appearance. Coming back, we lose Holland for the year to TJ surgery, but with Davis taking over the closer job, Herrera goes to the 8th inning and Soria returns to KC for the 7th. We lost Madson and Morales out of the bullpen but Soria is better than either one and Tim Collins returns off TJ surgery, and he should more than make up for Morales. Cueto is gone from the rotation, but honestly he pretty much sucked in the regular season, despite a couple of great, dominating games in the playoffs. The starting pitching should be better this season. Ventura is a year older and hopefully finally matures into his stuff. Volquez comes off the best season of his career and they have added Ian Kennedy. Kris Medlen is the wild card. He was limited and mostly out of the pen last year, coming off a 2nd TJ surgery, but pitched well down the stretch and has top of the rotation potential. Chris Young returns as the 5th starter/swing guy. If he comes close to last years level the rotation should be better. Duffy could start or could go to the pen. He is an enigma, great left handed stuff but has only ever harvested said stuff in short periods over the last few seasons. He could be the next Wade Davis, going from a mediocre starter to a dominant reliever. Position wise, Gordon back in LF is huge, but the loss of Zobrist at 2B hurts. Omar Infante is better defensively than Zobrist but an elbow injury has limited him offensively the last two years. Since he missed the last month and some of the season with an abdominal injury, he went ahead and had the elbow cleaned out surgically as well. Hopefully with a pain-free and full strength elbow, his bat returns to his Detroit days. If not, Series hero Christian Colon waits in the wings, along with rookie Raul Mondesi. In RF, Rios is gone and, at this point, they say he will be replaced by seeing if Dyson can become an everyday player. A platoon of Dyson and Paulo Orlando is tremendously better defensively than Rios, much more speed but less potential power. I'm anxious to see if Dyson can hit .275 or better playing pretty much daily. If he does, look for 50 plus stolen bases and 100 runs scored. He is one of the most disruptive players in MLB when on the bases. The rest of the position players return and we just need similar production. With a little luck, players stay healthy, it could easily be another 90 win season. So, how about those Indians?

Cleveland went 32-43 inside its division, Kansas City went 44-32 in the division___so we need KC to let up a little because the tribe front office didnt get a big bat for the middle of our lineup. I have to stop here before I go all cdub on the tribe owner. <g>

I was listening to the MLB Network this afternoon, saw an interview with John Hart...I wish he & Jacobs were back...

[Mickey34jb]

Feb 17, 2016 21:36:55 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

Feb 17, 2016 18:53:08 GMT -5 Mickey34jb said:

Cleveland went 32-43 inside its division, Kansas City went 44-32 in the division___so we need KC to let up a little because the tribe front office didnt get a big bat for the middle of our lineup. I have to stop here before I go all cdub on the tribe owner. <g>

I was listening to the MLB Network this afternoon, saw an interview with John Hart...I wish he & Jacobs were back...

Early on__Hart did a great job of signing young players to long term contracts and those players became great but in the end , Hart didnt have money to keep Belle and Manny.Eventually, we lost Thomme too

[Buckeye Dale]

Feb 18, 2016 6:32:59 GMT -5 Mickey34jb said:

Feb 17, 2016 21:36:55 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

I was listening to the MLB Network this afternoon, saw an interview with John Hart...I wish he & Jacobs were back...

Early on__Hart did a great job of signing young players to long term contracts and those players became great but in the end , Hart didnt have money to keep Belle and Manny.Eventually, we lost Thomme too

Joey/Albert nor Manny were big losses in the club house.  Their bats were losses, but that production could have been replaced/balanced.  I was really disappointed about Jimmy leaving...more disappointed in Thome than the club, in fact.  When Shapiro let Omar walk before the 2005 season, I quit. 

[canefan]

Feb 18, 2016 6:32:59 GMT -5 Mickey34jb said:

Feb 17, 2016 21:36:55 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

I was listening to the MLB Network this afternoon, saw an interview with John Hart...I wish he & Jacobs were back...

Early on__Hart did a great job of signing young players to long term contracts and those players became great but in the end , Hart didnt have money to keep Belle and Manny.Eventually, we lost Thomme too

I think I've mentioned before, the Indians came to our town for spring training in 1991 or 92, have to look it up for sure, when they were moving to Homestead for spring and Andrew happened. We wound up having them for about ten years or so and I got to work with John in community relations with our Babe Ruth League youth baseball program. Really nice guy and he was very generous to the youth leagues. We had some competitive AAU teams and UAAAS teams and he supplied a lot of things like hats, some balls, uniform pants, etc., to the teams. Also made sure we had several of the Indians players coming out to help with fund raisers and interact with the kids. Guys like Matt Williams, Kenny Loften, etc. And, of course, Charlie Manuel was with them as a hitting coach back then and he had a step son in our program and became very active with us. The whole town became Indians fans (I kept the Royals as #1 but the Indians were my #2).

[Buckeye Dale]

Feb 18, 2016 7:40:58 GMT -5 canefan said:

Feb 18, 2016 6:32:59 GMT -5 Mickey34jb said:

Early on__Hart did a great job of signing young players to long term contracts and those players became great but in the end , Hart didnt have money to keep Belle and Manny.Eventually, we lost Thomme too

I think I've mentioned before, the Indians came to our town for spring training in 1991 or 92, have to look it up for sure, when they were moving to Homestead for spring and Andrew happened. We wound up having them for about ten years or so and I got to work with John in community relations with our Babe Ruth League youth baseball program. Really nice guy and he was very generous to the youth leagues. We had some competitive AAU teams and UAAAS teams and he supplied a lot of things like hats, some balls, uniform pants, etc., to the teams. Also made sure we had several of the Indians players coming out to help with fund raisers and interact with the kids. Guys like Matt Williams, Kenny Loften, etc. And, of course, Charlie Manuel was with them as a hitting coach back then and he had a step son in our program and became very active with us. The whole town became Indians fans (I kept the Royals as #1 but the Indians were my #2).

DANG...that would have been about the time of the boating accident, I think...(92/93). I was in Korea, I think, when that happened...just before their run in the AL Central ... so I didn't get a full appreciation for the impact.

[canefan]

Feb 18, 2016 9:36:15 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

Feb 18, 2016 7:40:58 GMT -5 canefan said:

I think I've mentioned before, the Indians came to our town for spring training in 1991 or 92, have to look it up for sure, when they were moving to Homestead for spring and Andrew happened. We wound up having them for about ten years or so and I got to work with John in community relations with our Babe Ruth League youth baseball program. Really nice guy and he was very generous to the youth leagues. We had some competitive AAU teams and UAAAS teams and he supplied a lot of things like hats, some balls, uniform pants, etc., to the teams. Also made sure we had several of the Indians players coming out to help with fund raisers and interact with the kids. Guys like Matt Williams, Kenny Loften, etc. And, of course, Charlie Manuel was with them as a hitting coach back then and he had a step son in our program and became very active with us. The whole town became Indians fans (I kept the Royals as #1 but the Indians were my #2).

DANG...that would have been about the time of the boating accident, I think...(92/93). I was in Korea, I think, when that happened...just before their run in the AL Central ... so I didn't get a full appreciation for the impact.

Yes, they were in Winter Haven when the accident happened. Can't remember exactly where the accident took place. It was north of Polk county, up north of the old Boardwalk and Baseball facility in a lake in Sumter or Lake county as I remember. Hit the team pretty hard. My office was only a few blocks from the stadium and we use to have people trying to park in our lot for day games all the time and we would see oh so many fans walking across our lot down First Street to Chain O' Lakes.

[Mickey34jb]

Feb 18, 2016 20:30:01 GMT -5 canefan said:

Feb 18, 2016 9:36:15 GMT -5 Buckeye Dale said:

DANG...that would have been about the time of the boating accident, I think...(92/93). I was in Korea, I think, when that happened...just before their run in the AL Central ... so I didn't get a full appreciation for the impact.

Yes, they were in Winter Haven when the accident happened. Can't remember exactly where the accident took place. It was north of Polk county, up north of the old Boardwalk and Baseball facility in a lake in Sumter or Lake county as I remember. Hit the team pretty hard. My office was only a few blocks from the stadium and we use to have people trying to park in our lot for day games all the time and we would see oh so many fans walking across our lot down First Street to Chain O' Lakes.

It was on Little Lake Nellie that Olin and Crews died. they were going gator hunting.