Every spring there are almost as many player previews as players. So what makes the MLN Sports Spring Report 2007 worth your time? Uncommon Wisdom™ and our unique focus on the minors lets us track players months or years away from the major league publications' radar who are really worth your attention, whether they're coming to your home town this Spring, or you're a major league fan looking forward to the potential future stars of your club.

A Very Good Spring

2007 was a particularly good spring, as some of the top players in the FAB50 2006 Baseball rankings got their call-ups, and shake ups in rosters from the Triple-A on down to the Rookies put a number of clubs' farm systems back into gear.

This will be the marked as the year that the New York Yankees transformed their farm system from a trade waiting room / talent graveyard into a player development system again, seeking the young players that are driving modern championships.

The talent stream, much like a river, ebbs and flows through the valleys of Florida and Arizona. We'll give you the low-down on where the cups runneth over, and the river runs dry. A championship club moves into deeper talent waters, while another "major major" club's farm enters a season of drought.

Leaner, but Meaner?

This year the spring and winter camp rosters were a much tighter than in previous years. Early invite A-listers were less plentiful at most organizations in 2007. In part it reflects a tightening of the depth chart at the 40 man roster bottleneck. In part it might reflect some increased focus on the top tier of a club. A few suggest it is even a minor backlash to last year's World Games fiasco. With the potential for that scheduling nightmare to invade spring training again, and baseball planning going long-range, reigning in the numbers might have seemed prudent at planning time.

Ka-Ching!

Spring 2007 was a time of profit. Major League Baseball reported that a record 3,421,055 fans turned out to Spring Training games in 2007, slightly edging the previous high of 3,405,043 set in 2005. Still, we found it interesting, and a bit troubling, to see how the big baseball family is aging. While fresh young faces clutching a pen and a baseball were in evidence, our wholly unscientific head count observed more walkers than baby strollers in the crowd again this year. The Tom Brokaw-dubbed "greatest generation" of WWII era Americans are still huge baseball fans. Twenty-somethings and minority baseball afficianados were in shorter supply at most of the spring facilities that we very unscientifically surveyed.

Of course, with MLB comes MLB prices. Many games were sold out for the big-name clubs, with speculators holding on to a lot of seats showing up on StubHub and other websites at premium prices that looked more regular season than pre-season. A bottle of water at Roger Dean Stadium, home of the Marlins and the Cardinals, jumped up to $4.00 this year. Jane Bartkowski, a local parent of four commented: "We don't go to Spring Training anymore. It costs too much to take all of my kids. We wait until the [Palm Beach] Cardinals and the Hammerheads come back and the ticket prices get real again."

What You'll See

MLN breaks down each of the clubs in the Cactus and the Grapefruit League, with hours of extensive conversations with players, coaches, scouts, and our observations of the players working out on the minor league side of camp.

Some of our reports are the new expanded reports, with photos of up-and-coming players and full rosters (See the Minnesota Twins report for a sample). We continue to improve our Spring Training coverage, and hope to have the expanded reports available for all clubs next year.

Every day new reports, photos, and lists of minor league players who made the major league camps, minor league invite winter camps, and the general minor league call-out will be published.

Teams play in either the Grapefruit League (Florida) or the Cactus League (Arizona). This is not split by American/National. If you don't already know, then check the league to see where your major league parent club plays.

Reports can be found by clicking on the league links below. :

 

 

 

Understanding Club Rosters & Spring Lingo

Every spring, players are put under some form of contract with the major league club. It could be a major league contract, putting them on the 40 man roster of the major league club, or a minor league contract.

Not all of the players on the 40 man roster will report to the major league club. Fifteen report to the minors, usually in Triple-A, but some in Double-A or below. It is a way of compensating and protecting the better players in reserve.

Still, all get an invite to compete for positions at the big league level, even though big salaries usually cap off much of the competition for jobs in the current year. A great spring by a minor leaguer might get a club thinking about trades or not renewing certain contracts.

A number of players are also invited to major league camp that aren't on the 40 man roster. These are the Non-Roster Invitee (NRI) players, who are trying to make the club, or are rising prospects in the farm system.

Many clubs hold "winter camp" or "early camp" for another select set of minor leaguers to give them additional time with the expanded coaching staff during spring training. These players usually work out of the minor league facilities, and join full minor league camp when it opens in March.

By the second week in March, minor league camp begins. All minor leaguers report to Spring Training. They are assigned to squads named after the minor league farm teams, although many will not end up on those clubs. They are trained and evaluated. By the last week in the spring season, they are either cut or placed on minor league clubs, along with the remaining NRI players who didn't make the major league club and are still on the team's payroll.