Opinion

Like so many others across the country and around the world, for the Detroit Tigers’ superstar Miguel Cabrera, the first step was admitting he had a problem.

After a couple of embarrassing incidents involving alcohol at the end of last season, Cabrera underwent counseling this winter and is doing something that is really hard for someone in their mid-20s to do—quit drinking alcohol.

Since pitchers and catchers reported to Mesa in February of 2004, every year has had hype of that being the year the Cubs break the curse. The year, they finally get all the stars aligned just right, get a huge amount of help from Lady Luck, and hoist the World Series trophy.

With Spring Training in full swing for the Red Sox, the fun (and drama) can really begin.

After an off-season full of wheeling and dealing, Boston found itself with more players than it knew what to do with. Now, many of the long-time Sox players will slowly be pushed out of their starting jobs, and things could get very awkward.

Recently there have been trade rumors circulating the Internet involving Adrian Gonzalez moving from San Diego to the White Sox.

The Sox acquired Jake Peavy from the Padres last year before the trade deadline on July 31, 2009. Now it appears that Peavy is lobbying for GM Kenny Williams to strongly pursue his former teammate, Gonzalez. Peavy said that Gonzalez "can blink his eyes and hit 40 home runs in our park".

The Boston Red Sox enter Spring Training with the starting lineup and pitching rotation essentially squared away. With the addition of players like Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron to the starting nine and the likes of John Lackey to the rotation, the major pieces have fallen into place.
But baseball is most certainly a marathon and not a sprint, and by the end of the season roster spot No. 25 can be as crucial as No. 1.

It's March, so it's once again time to get out the glove oil and rubber bands, clean off or buy new spikes, remember where the lucky batting gloves went, and wonder if you're too fat to play softball.

It's also time to wonder if your favorite player will stay on your favorite team throughout the entire season.

When Nyjer Morgan joined the Washington Nationals last July, the team was a moribund 23-55 and paralleling the record of the worst baseball team of all time, the 1962 New York Mets.

They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t pitch, and they certainly couldn’t field.

Baseball fans know that the beautiful game isn't generally decided by which team makes the most errors, either of the physical or mental variety. That's because this particular diamond is plagued by flaws—observers often point out that Ty Cobb's lifetime average is .366.

That means the all-time greatest hitter-for-average failed in his expertise at a 63 percent clip. That about sums up how immaculate even the best splinters are.

Level of difficulty and simple statistics take care of the rest.

Is it better to be optimistic and be disappointed by the results, or pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised?

I find myself asking that question a lot these days, and not just about the Washington Nationals.

There is an awful lot of optimistic talk coming out of Viera right now, and on the interwebs, about the prospects of significant improvement for the upcoming Nationals season.

There’s much to dislike about Manny Ramirez, from the absurd drug-related bust to the ridiculous antics, to the worthless quitter he is.

Losing much sleep on whether he’ll return next season to Dodgertown is pointless, and dwelling on the disturbing topic creates a ruckus with spring training a week away.