Spring Training Cliches

Last year I attempted to chronicle all of the Spring Training Cliches published.  You know, best shape of my life, throwing a new pitch, attempting to steal more bags, got laser eye surgery.   It's never too early to get the '08 list going.

Updated 1-28-08

Change in weight:

Boof Bonser - lost 20 lbs.

Clay Buchholz - added 7 lbs. of muscle

Miguel Cabrera - lost roughly 20 lbs.

Todd Coffey - attempting to lose 24 lbs.

Zach Duke - lost 10 lbs.

Sean Gallagher - lost 25 lbs.

Ryan Garko - lost significant weight

Ubaldo Jimenez - added 15 lbs. of muscle

Brett Myers - lost 5 lbs.

Ronny Paulino - lost 10 lbs., added muscle

J.J. Putz - lost 14 lbs.

New exercise routine:

Brian McCann - added upper body muscle; started yoga

Brandon Phillips - "worked out harder"

Manny Ramirez - became a "maniacal workout warrior"

Vision improvement:

Mark Hendrickson - Had laser eye surgery, correcting terrible vision in one eye and mediocre vision in the other

Finally healthy:

Jesse Crain - No pain following May '07 shoulder surgery

Nick Johnson - No remaining physical limitations after '06 broken leg

Francisco Liriano - No limitations about one year removed from Tommy John surgery

Rickie Weeks - First time in three years without rehab in offseason

Working on a new pitch:

Jeremy Affeldt - Trying to add a changeup

Expected to run more:

Troy Tulowitzki - Will be asked to run more out of second spot

Comments

[finite24]

Any more recent updates on cabrera's progress since the trade? I'd assume he was doing it for the purposes of his next contract, so is he still committed?

[eahuang]

Miguel in great shape? Did he stop eating whole hams for breakfast?

[*BaseClogger*]

Todd Coffey has also lost weight...

[brockforbroglio]

good laughs and great idea for a blog topic. I think players say these types of things so they can attribute a good statistical season to something they've fixed as apposed to it being random luck. This probably helps them in public eye, contract talks, and arbitration

[Champ]

From Rotoworld

According to ESPN's Peter Gammons, Manny Ramirez rented a house in the Phoenix area and has become a "maniacal workout warrior" at the Athletes' Performance Institute.
"From what I've heard from people at API, Manny is getting himself into phenomenal shape," Gammons wrote. Ramirez has additional incentive to put up a big year as he enters the final guaranteed season of his eight-year, $160 million contract. The Red Sox hold $20 million options on him for 2009 and 2010.

[JakeOD21]

Tim
Scroll to the bottom of this page and see John Farrell's comments about Clay Buchholz adding 7 pounds of bulk this winter
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/01/13/no_roid_rage_in_clubhouses/?page=5

Also this is a good article about Miguel Cabrera showing up at Tigerfest 2008 in terrific shape

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/COL22/801130665/1048/SPORTS

[Maracucho]

Tim,
I really like the list, but how about doing a quick analysis of how last year's cliches worked out?

Something like D. Cabrera's had laser eye surgery and his BB/IP dropped from 0.70 to 0.53 (of course the year before it had been 0.54, so which one is the fluke?)

Nice to see you putting more time to this site, but of course keep the rumors coming.

[IowaCubs]

"became a maniacal workout warrior"... Does this mean we'll see Manny on American Gladiators anytime soon?

[IowaCubs]

Tim, do you or anyone on this site know of a place to get high quality info on NL-only leagues?

All this translating that I'm doing with mixed league stats is giving me a headache.

[Tim Dierkes]

Baseball Prospectus and RotoTimes are two places where you can customize for specific leagues. Not sure when their '08 projections are out though.

[Brandon Heikoop]

If only the author of FantasyLand was committed to fantasy baseball, we would have research on which players got married, etc.

The correlation coeffiecient is non-existent if I remember correctly, but still a great blog article.

[afdaddy]

I'm not even a Red Sox fan, but I'm buying in on Manny BIG TIME.

I mean contract year and he finally works to get himself in shape (i.e. stay on the field).

I bought the hype on Andruw Jones a few years back when he went on a Spring Training HR tear...which he carried into the season and hit 50 (?) that year.

Yeah, some is BS, but I will bump a guy like Manny up a round because if it. I could see a workout regimen and contract motivation bumping him up 10 spots on your outfielder rankings.

Plus, Gammons is a HOFer, if he likes somebody I usually buy in big.

[Fothead]

Yeah, I must have missed that stuff about Manny. I could concievably see a HUGE bounceback as he plays for his last big contract. If this is true, it adds to the "contract year" luster.

[Horatio]

"For the first time in three years, Rickie Weeks doesn't have to deal with rehab work of an injury in the offseason."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=707670

I don't know if the injury rehabbing sleepers count as a cliche, but there seem to be enough of them to form their own group.

[Horatio]

How about managers getting in better shape? Good for Sweet Lou.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-080116mitchelljeffsamardzija,1,4301654,print.column?coll=cs-home-headlines

[lih]

Mark Hendrickson is no longer blind.

http://www.yorkdailyrecord.com/ci_8033020?source=rss

[molivieri]

Perfect timing...

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8048017

[ProjectMayhem]

Ryan Garko has dropped considerable weight...

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19222698&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46370&rfi=6

[harry]

Sean Gallagher, up for the 5th spot in the Cubs rotation, has lost 25 lbs this offseason.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080118&content_id=2351060&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

[rotomaniac]

It's great to point out these hot stove quotes for a laugh, but they are not useless. They point to players who are worth a closer look in the Spring. Completely dismiss them, and you may be laughing last.

[Grant77]

It's far from a cliche, but Nick Johnson had a titanium rod which was causing him severe pain removed from his hip. He apparently has 'no remaining physical limitations'

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303366_2.html

[Horatio]

Changing up his January workouts from LY, Dice-K stays in Japan for a month before heading to the states.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1065477