Mid-February...and if you're really lucky, you'll hear those 3 little words: "Pitchers. Catchers. Report." MLB.com has countdown clocks for each team's Spring Training opener. But they're not really worth counting down, as each season takes about 2 months before it really gets rolling.

Some Crap the eStragand Sports Staff is Watching This Year:
1- New Managers Across the Board.
-In Detroit: Will Jim Leyland suffer from burnout again and when will lung cancer kick in? -In Florida: Does Joe Girardi really know how baseball, or is he just a Yankee fanboy trying to emulate their rules and regulations in the apathetic humidity of Miami?
-In Pittsburgh: After going with a "youth movement" mid-way through last season, are the Bucs back to their old ways of signing mediocre aging players (Jeromy Burnitz, Sean Casey, Joe Randa and JOSE HERNANDEZ??!!)
-Will these, or any other new manager, make two squirts of difference?

2. World Baseball "Classic"
Already Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds have backed out. Will other players think it's a pain in the ass to drag themselves away from the relative comfort of Spring Training to play two innings in an exhibtion game that's three time zones away?! With pitch counts and inning limits, will this be as "Classic" as a Pro Bowl game?! With an additional steroid test being adminstered to random "Classic" players, more MLB players may conveinently develop "injuries".

3. Mike Piazza's West Coast Return
He was a Met longer than he was a Dodger, but Piazza was insanely popular in Southern California. Does he have anything left, or is this like the Indians signing Keith Hernandez? (Or Pirates signing Hank Greenberg, for that matter). Same for eStragand Sports Fave Frank Thomas, now in Oakland.

4. Train, Say Your Prayers and Take Your VITAMINS
Mark it down, someone will get busted AGAIN for steroids. Over/under on the first bust is April 15th (tax day..why not?). Once again, it'll bring negative press to the game and make any Office Asshole Within Earshot an "authority" on baseball. Followed by endless rants about how athletes are "role models" and they wouldn't have done this back in the Golden Age of the shitty deadball 1930's.

5. Who Wins This Thing?
Benjie Molina goes to the Blue Jays and suddenly people pick them as "darkhorse Wild card contenders". Kidding aside, baseball's been hard to predict over the past 5 seasons. Diamondbacks? Angels? Marlins? Red Sox? White Sox? Few predicted these guys would win the Series, or make the playoffs in some cases. Both Sox broke long dry spells, which makes World Series wins for the Giants and Indians seem probable. But it just won't be the Cubs. Ever.

6. Goose Gossage Still Isn't in the Hall of Fame
And he still shouldn't be..... but that won't stop writers and sportscaster from lamenting about this putz for another year. The Hall of Pretty Good is located in Spokane, Washington in case you need to see his bust enshrined somewhere.

7. The Magical Dumping Tour
Will ES be successful in his efforts to close out the Grapefruit League circuit and take a dump in those 5 remaining parks? Weather permitting, sings point to "Yes".


More to come (if I remember it)... or add your own. REEEaction! "Do the Brewers have what it takes to win 83 games?!! I ...want.... your REACTION!"