A Grip on Sports: The newest rite of late winter? Being disappointed in something M’s Dipoto says about the roster
A GRIP ON SPORTS • A week from tomorrow. Put a notification in the calendar. Have it ding about noon Wednesday, Feb. 12. Then don a heavy coat – it will be cold in Spokane – and step outside. Breathe in the air. Stretch the arm a little. Lean your head back, look to the heavens and say a small prayer of thanks. Pitchers and catchers will be in Peoria. Mariners’ spring training begins.
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• OK, it’s winter that does this to me. The long, cold nights, the short, gloomy days. This week hit hard. The final week before baseball.
Sure, football will have its last moment. Basketball is great – at all levels. Golf from warm-weather locations is always on TV. But the best harbinger of spring is not the groundhog’s shadow. It’s baseball beginning in Arizona and Florida.
Has been my entire life.
From the years my dad would take me out of school for a week, just to spend hours watching the Angels’ Palm Spring workouts, to the days my sons and I would hit the mall – look them up kids, they were big – to pick out baseball caps for the upcoming season, the start of spring training meant something special.
Hope? Sure. Sun? That too. But mainly it meant our involuntary confinement was about over. And we would be released into the wild once more.
Baseball has meant something wild to me for six decades. Yep, the first time I played in an organized league was 60 years ago. Our Little League team held its games on the local elementary school’s dirt field, which made fielding tough – bad hops and resulting bruises were common – for all-in 8-year-olds like myself.
The we’re-just-here-for-the-cheap-babysitting crowd? They enjoyed the venue a lot more. They had options.
I remember my dad, serving as his carpenter buddy Hal’s assistant coach, aghast a player was sitting in right field, digging holes and making roads for his Matchbox cars. He wasn’t ready if a fly ball came his way. He brought it to Hal’s attention. Hal’s response?
“He’s having fun Joe. The boys are here to have fun.”
My dad may or may not have muttered a bad word in response. After all, he took the game seriously. And, of course, so did his son. Though my best memory of those days, besides the one I just relayed, is of looking up into the smoggy Southern California sky and basking in the sun’s glow. Smiling.
Happy just to have my glove, my hat, my uni. My game.
That meant spring then. That’s what still heralds its arrival 60 years, and a million games, later. It’s time. Past time, actually, for our national pastime to return.
• There is snow on the ground today. Arrived overnight, like yesterday’s Amazon order. And yet, here I am, thinking about baseball.
Credit, or blame, Jerry Dipoto.
The M’s president of baseball operations met with the media in a virtual presser Monday. And he didn’t mention winning 54% of the games. He learned that lesson. Funny, what he said a couple years ago about consistency being the key to ultimate MLB success is true. Up to a point. But his franchise’s fans crossed that point long ago. They need something more. Something to give them hope in a sport dominated by big money and powerful entities.
Dipoto tried yesterday. But, in his usual fumbling way, only made it worse.
“We didn’t feel like we needed to do a whole lot, but to find ways to support the group that we had,” he said of the church-mouse quiet offseason, as reported by the Times’ Ryan Divish.
And: “It’s been a pretty quiet offseason, and I think that’s reflective of a team that didn’t have a whole lot of holes to fill.”
And: “We’re still open if the opportunity to add exists out there,” he said about maybe adding to the roster, “but we feel like this is a good team, and if this is our team going into spring training or opening day, we’re pretty excited by it.”
The rest of us? Excited is not the word I would use. Even though Dipoto gave a spirited, analytics-based defense of his hitters, the average fan probably ignored it. They remember them consistently flailing and failing last year, as the starting staff turned in another solid, but wasted, performance.
In a wasted season.
Another one coming? Could be. But let’s not worry about that today. After all, pitchers and catchers report next week. And carry with them spring’s promise.
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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner’s thoughts on the conference’s financials ran in the S-R this morning. … John Canzano has his Monday mailbag. … There was another presser in Seattle on Monday, this one in person. Washington football held it. Coach Jedd Fisch talked. Shared coaching staff news. Changes coming to the program. Players, like quarterback prodigy Demond Williams Jr., also spoke. Shared their outlook. Just like the conversations 5.5 miles south, hope was in the air. … Oregon State lost its longtime receivers coach to the NFL. … Oregon was able to keep its running backs coach. … The Ducks also hired a new volleyball coach. … There will be another Fifita at Arizona soon. … Among the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, a Colorado State lineman used to sumo wrestle. That’s earned him an NIL offer from the WWE. … Boise State has connections to the Dallas Cowboys. … In basketball news, Wilner has his Best of the West rankings in today’s S-R. … The West Coast Conference tournament will be new for Oregon State and Washington State fans. Nick Daschel, who I’ve sat next to at one recently, explains how it works for the Beaver faithful. … Oregon’s men slid out of the top 25 polls, to be replaced by Arizona in the West’s only spot. … Michigan State’s men stayed in the L.A. area a long time. … The Arizona State/Arizona ending is still causing Bobby Hurley grief. … Arizona has to turn the page, as the Wildcats are at BYU tonight. … Utah State is at Wyoming as well. … Boise State still feels it can win the Mountain West regular season title. … Colorado State has a couple paths to the NCAA tourney. … Another longtime major coach is calling it quits. Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton, sued by players recently in an NIL disagreement, announced Monday he would step down at the end of the season. … The women’s poll still includes three West Coast schools, though none outside of California.
Gonzaga: As could be expected, the Zags’ NET ranking fell after its sixth consecutive Quad 1 defeat Saturday in Moraga. Jim Meehan delves into that and more today. … He and Richard Fox also got together yesterday for another Zag Basketball Insiders podcast about the Saint Mary’s loss and the late-game issues. You can listen here. … Midseason awards lists are dropping and the Bulldogs have their usual standouts. Theo Lawson has this story on Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard being named to the Robertson Trophy (best player) watch list and another about Nembhard on the Bob Cousy (best point guard) one. … Greg Lee follows suit with news about Yvonne Ejim and the Ann Meyers Drysdale (best player) list, along with her and freshman Allie Turner once again garnering WCC weekly awards. … Losing isn’t fun, but Corey Kispert still loves playing in the NBA.
EWU: Cooper Kupp wanted to be an L.A. Ram forever. It won’t be happening. He told the world yesterday the Rams are looking to trade him. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State has filled a spot on its offensive coaching staff. …The early arrivals have enrolled at Northern Colorado in time for spring semester – and spring practice. … Weber State played Northern Arizona in basketball last night. The Wildcat men and Lumberjack women won. … Northern Colorado swept Idaho State.
Langlauf: A three-peat. That’s what Sergey Avdyushkin pulled off Sunday in the annual cross country ski race at Mount Spokane. Michael Wright has the coverage.
Mariners: One last Dipoto statement for you enjoyment, as he spoke about the American League West race. “We feel like we are right in the mix,” Divish reported. “The early projection systems feel like we are right in the mix.” Projection systems? OK, I’ll bite. What’s that? … Dipoto talked about the Luis Castillo trade rumors as well. … Baseball fired umpire Pat Hoberg yesterday. Gambling was involved, though MLB did not accuse Hoberg of betting on games.
Seahawks: There is more to the NFL draft than the first-round pick. The first three rounds are pretty crucial. … The Hawks filled out their offensive staff with a couple hires familiar to new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
Kraken: Coaches’ challenges aren’t always the coaches’ favorites. But as Dan Bylsma says, they are better than nothing.
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• I looked at my swim suit the other day. Was not sure it would fit. Decided to do something about it. Which means I am hungry this morning. And will be every morning throughout the month. Thank goodness February is so short. Until later …