4 Days & Counting

Pitchers & catchers report to spring training on Valentine's Day, while position players report Feb. 19. So the more geeked I get about the start-up of the 2008 MLB season, the more baseball posts you'll see here at the Kastle.

In my trollin' the 'net for all things baseball, I came across this nice little piece from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Furman Bisher. He gives a well-written overview of the Braves' pitching situation (Mike Hampton included, of course) and our perceived question marks for various positions, i.e. Mark Kotsay replacin' Andruw Jones in CF, Yunel Escobar becomin' our starting SS after losin' Edgar Renteria.

But I have to give the "Dan Dierdorf Award" to the AJC's Dave O'Brien for his "10 keys to success for the Braves in 2008." You know how Dierdorf was famous for stating the obvious when he was in the booth for Monday Night Football back in the day? (For example, something to the effect of, "the Rams have *got* to convert on 4th down if they want to get a fresh set of downs.") Well, O'Brien pretty much does the same thing in this story.

We know we have to keep our starters healthy. We know we have to keep Chipper "I'm Made of Glass" Jones off the DL. We know we need a strong, steady bullpen with an established closer. We know we need Kotsay to not play like shit. Duh!

I digress...

I'm a little excited about Javy Lopez signing a minor league contract with the club and being invited to spring training. If he makes it, it'll be good to see him in a Braves uniform again. Or out of one...



Since I've segued into shirtless baseball players, can someone tell me who the hell was behind THIS photo shoot?!?!



Apparently, back in the 90s, Sports Illustrated did a story on shortstops. For some reason, dudes took off their shirts. This is bothersome.

Derek Jeter probably came up with the idea because he loves himself so much, and A-Rod went along with it just so he could see Jeter topless. But I can't believe Rents agreed to do this shit!