Spring Training Surprises

[Oklahawg]

Its still a bit early to get a lot of insight but...
Cub Fans have to be worried about Wood + Prior;
The Jays may need to find a roster slot (and 350+ ABs) for Gross, former Auburn A-A;
Griffey is still healthy, simply prolonging the agony for Reds fans and anyone foolish enough t odrat him in rotisserie leagues;
Bobby Cox declared Brian Jordan in mid-career form and I promptly bumped his salary by 100 percent--Atlanta is the midas touch for MLB, isn't it? I mean, is Mike Hampton the only pitcher to not have his career improve after going to Atlanta?

Tons of stuff out there of interest.

1. Cubs still without a legit closer.
2. Jays declare...gulp...Miggy Bautista will close for them this year. Dear God....
3. The Rockies have no back-up plan should Chin-Hui Tsao not be able to close.
4. The A's are quietly assembling a great bullpen, with several quality closer types--Dotel, Calero, Cruz, Street.... Now, all they have to do is get starters to line up after Zito and Harden. Haren has been merely "OK" and Meyer has been a bust. Blanton is not looking ready, yet, and the next option is a 35-year old journeyman from Japan.
5. Mota looks the job of closer in Florida...until you realize he's not facing MLB-ready talent while appearing at the end of games.

And that's just talking about closers!

[maniax22bolts20]

Speaking of the Rockies, how are they planning on using theirLefty farm phenom pitcher Jeff Francis this year? Rotation?  Re: The Blue Jays, I am still irate that they allowed a U.S. team to sign Carlos Delgado. I wanted him out of the USA as much as possible which of course half their games were. I cannot bring myself to root for the Marlins unless he is traded back north.

[WindyCityHog]

Cub fans are in a snit up in these parts....Don't be fooled.  Prior's injury is worse than the Cubs are letting known....No Prior and no Wood means "Wait 'til next year"!

[Razorback Jedi]

Dusty should be shot for abusing his talent at SP. If you own Zambrano, look out in a few years.

[hawkeyefan17]

Nothing surprises me with Wood and Prior and arm problems anymore.

This could provide an opportunity for Angel Guzman to get some innings...oh wait he had arm trouble too.

[maniax22bolts20]

Dustin Mosely of Texarkana,AR has a good shot at making the Angels starting rotation . There was an article on him on their mlb.com page yesterday.

[PorcineSublime]

Any Cub fan worth his salt is never shocked by any misfortune hitting his team. We are in a perpetual mode of waiting on that other shoe to fall. Kind of like Hog fans of recent years. WPS

[Oklahawg]

I was stunned to see that Alex Sanchez was let go by the Tigers. Not that he was a stud player, but he just got his family out of Cuba and to the US. It was quite an ordeal and you can figure that some of his performance drawbacks this spring were related to this.

The BlueJays manager made some huffy remark about Gross--who hit dinger #6 and has a slugging percentage about 1.400! Its not like Frank Catalanato and Reed Johnson are world beaters in LF. Gross, Wells and Rios is a solid OF. Not spectacular but it could be.