Baseball is Back!

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I can finally say those words: "baseball is back." After many cold and uninteresting months the world's best sport is back-in-town (or wherever your team decides to take refuge from mother nature). Pretty soon the snow will melt, the mitts will come off the shelves and fingers will once-again grace those wonderful red seams.

Spring Training has begun with teams holding practices for players and invitees in the sunny states of Florida and Arizona. Mets pitchers and catchers will be officially required to report on February 15th but most of them are already there. As for the position players--who aren't required to report until the 20th--many players including Josh Satin, Ike Davis and David Wright have already arrived. Though there are still 2 1/2 months until the season will really begin, the fact that there are baseballs being thrown by professional players wearing professional team gear has got me excited.

I believe that die-hard baseball fans experience their own form of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Web MD describes the disorder as "a type of depression that affects a person at the same time each year. If you get depressed in the winter but feel much better in spring and summer, you may have SAD." First of all, it sounds like the acronym for this disorder was created by a five-year-old, but second, I think we baseball fans can learn something here.

I think that a particular "strand" of SAD exists out there and it should be called "BSAD" or "Baseball Seasonal Affective Disorder". Regardless of treatment options, (suggestions: Mets Classics re-runs on SNY or lashing out at other fans on Twitter) the struggle is real but it will soon be gone. Have faith, fans--baseball is back!

Mets' Ownership Situation

As part of their ploy to hold control of the team, it appears that the team’s current ownership is close to finalizing the sales of 10 minority shares of the club. The sales of $20 million dollars each will give the ownership some quick cash to pay off loans, while keeping them majority owners.

SNY (the New York sports TV network devoted to and originally created for the Mets) will reportedly purchase four shares, a move to be financed by Comcast and Time Warner Cable—which own a combined 30% of the TV network. Should the deal be completed, SNY will own 16% of the team. In terms of a reason for the move, as sports media investor Chris Bevilacqua put it: “Their interests are aligned with the team’s doing well”.

According to many, the sales will be finalized before the end of February, and just in time for Spring Training. 

Davis and Santana Injury Updates

Ike Davis

As many may have forgotten at this point, Ike collided with David Wright when both players went for the same infield pop-up on May 10^th of last year in Colorado. Doctors originally told Davis that his ankle would be healed by the time he was eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. In those two weeks the presumed sprained ankle had been in a boot, however it turned out to have cartilage damage. Inevitably, Ike’s conditioned worsened--enough to currently leave speculation as to whether he’ll make it through spring training.

Ike has said that he feels great and is completely ready to go, but some aren’t satisfied. Adam Rubin of ESPN deemed Ike’s treatment one more medical gaffe in a long string dating back at least the Mets days of Billy Wagner and Brian Schneider.

Johan Santana

By far the largest player on the Mets’ payroll (due for $24 million this year), the ace missed all of last season recovering from left shoulder surgery. Johan is already in Port St. Lucie, the spring training home of the Mets, and has been throwing successfully. Pitchers and catchers aren’t due to report for spring training until February 13^th, but Santana has been testing his shoulder strength and working it back to full pitching form.

He's been long tossing and is preparing to being pitching very soon; Terry Collins (Mets manager) will soon join him and assess his progress. Johan insists he’s ready, but similar to Davis, many question his ability to have a fully healthy spring.

For both players only time will tell of their readiness. Of the two Davis is definitely in better condition, but both clearly have their obstacles to overcome this spring.