Had a mishap at the gym yesterday and went to the CVS this morning on my way to work to pick up an ace bandage. I passed by the magazine section and there, beckoning like a siren, was this
Welcome back, old friend.
First up: TSN has picked up the mantle from the old Street and Smith publications, provided “Targets” and “how today’s players stack up to MLB’s all-time greats.” Shocking to see that Alex Rodriguez is a seemingly manageable 28 home runs away from passing Babe Ruth’s 714. No one will make the “500 Club” this year; Adrian Beltre is closest with 413. But 42-year-old Ichiro Suzuki can crack 3,000 hits (65 away) and 500 stolen bases (two shy) — a feat accomplished by only five other players — with a decent season. That’s even more impressive when you consider he’s only been in the Majors since he joined the Seattle Mariners in 2001 — at the advanced age of 27.
As has become the case for these annuals, most of the real estate is devoted to team profiles (four pages per ball club). The breakdown goes like this: a brief narrative; a diagram of the projected starting batting order and defensive alignment/starting rotation/bullpen depth (with grades); an MLB ranking of offensive, defensive, and pitching stats; a schedule; a standard roster layout which also notes key additions and subtractions; a “Down on the Farm” report featuring the teams’ top 10 prospects plus “impact rookie”; a paragraph of managerial tendencies; a “scout’s view”; and a “bottom line.” Same old same old. What’s fun this time around is the addition of a brief “The Last Time…” something transpired for each team.
Whatever features there are, are sparse in length but many are interesting:
- “Third Time Around” considers how starting pitchers fare as the last deep into the game
- “Breaking Down the New Managers,” thumbnail sketches of the five new leaders and what they’ll need to do to have a successful campaign
- “10 Breakout Players to Watch,” pretty standard stuff
- “Macho Manny,” a profile of the Baltimore Orioles’ third baseman Manny Machado
- “Clubhouse Leaders” and how much they really mean to a team
- “Game-Changing Defenders,” a too-brief article about defense
- “Number-Crunchers,” which strikes me as product placement for Inside Edge
- “The Magic of Maddon,” a profile of the Chicago Cubs’ manager
- “One & Done,” perhaps the best of the lot, which asks after the fairness of a play-in game
In addition, there are several pages devoted to minor league, college, and prep school baseball, something that was unheard of a generation ago.
The magazine concludes with a decent stats section. Another thing I’ve noticed: the font size is getting smaller each year. And no, it’s not my eyes. Wiseass.
The cover price remains the same as last year — $7.99 — so kudos for holding the line there.
is available on Amazon.com,
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I always feel compelled to purchase one of the annuals – if nothing else, it is, as you say – "the first Robin of the Spring", but once the SI Preview comes out in late March, or the newspaper previews directly before Opening Day, the annuals end up in a pile of other books, magazines, articles, and other things neatly stacked near my desk where I rediscover it in June and realize that I never read it. It is always a good reference point for the team schedules.
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