Spring Training Day!

Well today is the big day. The first day of exhibition games and the first chance that teams really get to put their new lineups to the test.

A lot of teams are experimenting with different stadium configurations this pre-season. Will it lead to a lot of crazy stadiums inhabiting the land of the DMBL? Probably not. The two most extreme stadiums have probably been the 2005-2006 Cereal Bowl and the 2000 Dragon's Lair (a Coors Field clone). With roughly half the league experimenting with custom stadiums, we could be in for a few new extreme parks.

This begs the question: do you build your stadium for your team or do you build your team for your stadium? Of course it's unlikely that any teams take it into consideration, but it's not inconceivable to have a draft plan that includes a concept of a stadium in there. If the plan is to play in a pitchers' park, you may concentrate less on pitching and more on offense and fielding. Or if you plan to play in a hitter's park, you may load up on your pitching, especially a strong and durable bullpen. It's a pretty backwards way of building a team, so I doubt anyone will implement this kind of thought process any time soon, but it could be in the back of an owner's mind. Did the Cereal Bowl have any influence on Butch Garretson drafting six lefty pitchers? Garretson hasn't yet committed to using the same stadium configurating this year, but it could have been a factor. Then again, he does have 20 pitchers on his roster...

"damn Stump"

One more day til spring training games begin. Several teams are talking about building new stadiums. Vancouver, Hoboken, Newark, and Arkansas are all using different stadiums for their spring training facilities than last year's facilities. Will Newark return to their crazy Coors Field-esque stadium? Sugar Bears management is still considering the matter.

Meanwhile, Arkansas drew Newark GM/Owner Butch Garretson's ire when they invited outfielder Jeff DaVanon to camp. DaVanon was expecting to at least be a supplemental pick, but was passed over by Newark. "When they left me off the protected list, that kind of hurt my feelings, but I understand it's a business" said DaVanon in a press conference. "But after watching round after round go by, I started fuming." And what better way to exact revenge on the Sugar Bears than by signing with their arch-rivals? Garretson would not leave a comment, only muttering "damn Stump" on his way to the team clubhouse this morning.