Pete,

It's time to get back to work since you have taken the last few months off. We expect you to make up for it by some in depth and stimulating journalism from spring training. This will be the most interesting training camp in a long, long time for the Orioles. I'm coming down in mid March for a week to watch the team because I am as curious as all Oriole fans are about the revamped roster. I stopped coming mainly because of the dump in Fort Lauderdale. You could actually get hurt in that facility just walking around. I snagged a new pair of jeans on a portruding piece of metal there 5 years ago and had to have a tetanus shot. The fact that the team trained there for so long probably contributed to injuries for the players. The fields were awful and uneven with small potholes in spots in the outfield.

I still say that Zach Britton pitches lights out this spring and forces the Orioles to take him North. The kid is the real deal and has an attitude.

Whoaa there, Gil.

I didn't expect you to say that you're going to an Oriole spring training game AND say something good about a prospect at the same time

"imagine you're Doug DeCinces", not "your" (unless you possess him... like your Doug DeCinces baseball card).

Dave in GB,

Like many from up North, I to try to mix business with Spring Training, so I'll be working while I am down there. I'll admit that the old facility and Macphail's inaction until this year gave me good reasons to stay home. But unlike prior years, I really don't know what to expect from this group and I want to get a look firsthand. I'm deadly serious about Zach Britton. I was fortunate to see him pitch three times last year. He throws hard and all of his pitches have great movement. He keeps the ball down and is about as confident as I have ever seen a young kid. He pitches inside and does not like hitters stepping out at the last second. He acts like he is ready to pitch in the Big Leagues right now and has a huge chip on his shoulder. I like that.

Gil -

It seems as though that Vlad deal has brought at least some cautious optimism back into your posts. Here's hoping that optimism will be rewarded.

Enjoy Spring Training. I hope you're right about Zach Britton. Barring a miracle that keeps Justin Duchscherer healthy for the entire season, the O's are going to need Britton this year.

DonM -

Thanks for the grammar lesson. Since typos don't exist in Schmuckland, no one here actually knew the difference between "your" and "you're" before you explained it to us.

Your an inspiration to us all. Enjoy you're day!

Gil,

Up until the Vlad signing, I was ranting everytime I posted. I'm still cautious about this team though.

I hope Vlad and Lee has another good year left and doesn't see a sharp decline due to age.

I think Reynolds .198 avg was ugly, but he probably shouldn't have played as much as he did last year. He played through a wrist injury and also only missed 1 week due to a concussion (and only batted .095 after he came back for the final 1 1/2 months).

The team is interesting this year due to the signings. But it will all come down to pitching.

We are supposed to use good grammar and punctuation on here too? Man, this place is no fun anymore.

Don M your too critical

Gil is writing less than hateful posts....
hmm...did AM get fired?
Did you happen to read some of AM's interview a couple days ago with the law students? The guys a baseball genius.
I think he answered a lot of the questions with some pretty sound reasoning and common sense.

as someone said "The thing about common sense is it's not so common"

and less so on baseball blogs I suppose

Abe Lincoln said
Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

@DonM: Nobody likes grammar police.

@Gil: Glad you're feeling a little more optimism. It does feel good, doesn't it. Especially after the miscarriage of a Ravens season we just had.

The new spring training digs is one big reason for optimism. It is the signal of the organization thinking more progressively. I was especially optimistic when I read reports early last fall about Buck being down there and demanding that the refurbishment to the main field be replica of OPACY. That's a sign of the man's MO: details matter. That's what we need right now. Professionalism and thorough preparation.

Things are looking up.

I may someday go to spring training again now the Orioles have a place to play again. It's actually kind of funny when people see my Orioles cap from that era and say, "Miami? The Orioles had spring training in Miami?"

Ah, yes. A dumpy little place -- the stadium, not the city, and I certainly wouldn't call it a complex -- but it was still fun.

I like that side of the peninsula, too. Florida has many memories for me -- virtually every stinking one of them good. It might be time to add a spring training trip although it won't be this year.

I will be following spring training much more closely this year than in many, many years. The win-loss record won't that much, just the nuances. Weird, too, since the roster is probably at least 88% set barring injuries. Hey, I've got a prediction to foist upon the readers ... ha ha ha ha ha ...

Hey Waspman,

If you get the chance to do so, it's worth going to Spring Training. My Dad and I went last year. It was a good time. I had never been to Tampa Bay before. That's where we stayed, then we drove down to Sarasota, which was kind of a pain. This year we are debating where to fly directly Tampa or Sarasota.

Tampa Bay has the Ponies (Race Track), The Zoo (highly recommend it, it's beautiful) and Yankee Stadium is two miles from the Tampa Airport. You can watch the Orioles there instead of the hour drive to Ed Smith. Also, Clearwater isn't that far away either. If we fly directly to Sarasota, it will be because of the beaches and to check out Munchies mmmmm food lol. I don't feel like driving on all the highways again, I do that enough as it is!