Optimism, Springing Eternally

Pitchers and Catchers Report Day came early this year, and Valentine's Day just won't have that same hum of anticipation. Oh, sure, we'll all still have the promise of slightly awkward sex with our chosen mate, followed by the standard 35 minutes of crying, followed by less-awkward sex with a stranger, followed by a refreshing soak in a bathtub full of ice, which has to be one of the nicest ways to wake up I can think of. Ah, the wonders of love...

Anyway, the baseballers of St. Louis have already headed down to Florida, getting an early start on retirement by visiting there for work, and....well, so what? Pitchers and Catchers Report Day is kind of a tough holiday; it's super exciting leading up to it, but then you always have that lull immediately after, when we all remember that the first few weeks of spring training are really only good for those funny video clips of men in shorts doing those goofy high-knee hip flexor stretching thingies, walking backward. It's not a great look, really.

The games will start up soon, or at least the reports of exactly who has reported in BSOHL mode. (Speaking of, I want some reporter, somewhere, to tell me which players showed up with boobs this year; I'll just assume the rest of them kept on top of the workouts, thanks. Well, except Shelby Miller, whom I shall assume showed up looking like the Michelin Man.) Things start to get really exciting then; for now we're all just kind of back to waiting for baseball to come back. P&CRD is a nice waymarker for the return of our game, but it always has the feeling of a sort of false dawn to me.

The 2012 season was a pretty good one. We've got lots of reason to be excited, and lots to look forward to. Me, I look forward every year to seeing the prospect show, getting a look via shaky cell phone videos at guys who could very well be the future of this franchise. (Or, maybe not. Remember when Dennis Dove was all the rage at spring training a few years ago?)

So tell me, El Vivi Birders: what one thing are you most watching for this spring? The rotation is probably the biggest issue as of right now; an adjunct to that would be the specific shape of Lance Lynn's spring (and Lance Lynn's ass, actually), which my colleague bgh did such a nice job covering already. At some point in time, Oscar Taveras is going to hit us all like the asteroid in Deep Impact, which will be pretty sweet because we'll get Morgan Freeman as president.

Let's get some excitement, and some optimism, on the blog this afternoon. Baseball is on its way, children.

And Happy Valentine's Day, too.