Spring Fever

Although it's often cited that spring training statistics are meaningless and perhaps even deceptive, that to get excited about some no-name tossing days of shutout innings or some Bunyanesque phenom hitting hours of home runs is a a waste of time or a puerile antic, this spring's stats to date are providing some surprising consistencies.

First of all, Junior, leading the spring training leagues, has plugged 5 homers to date, 3 of them in one game. Alot of people have been down on Junior for the last several years because of injuries and a myriad of unfulfilled prophesies but after the humiliation of almost being dumped on the Padres but for the protests of Phil Nevin, after suffering the boobirds and the backroom innuendos that he was washed up, Junior appears to be ready to repay the doubters.

Junior is tied for the homer lead with a guy named Todd Sears for the Twins. Admittedly, Sears is no household name but he's no slouch either. A few years ago, the Twins picked him up from the Colorado Rockies for Todd Walker and Butch Huskey. Last season, playing at AAA Edmonton, he hit .310 with 20 homers and 100 rbis before being called up at the end of the year. He's 6'5 215 but plays first base and will have to beat out Doug Mientkiewicz if he wants to break out in the bigs this season.

After Sears, come Pujols, Aramis Ramirez of Pittsburgh (who hit 34 homers two years ago)and, Barry Bonds. Here's hoping, if spring homers can be any measure of the season to come, that Junior and Bonds go neck and neck all season in the race to 74.

And look who is leading the spring in hitting. Mike Sweeney of the lowly Royals. Hardly a surprise considering he hit .340 last season. Well, perhaps a surprise that he's hitting .500 so far. Probably can't keep it up all season.

However, two things not to expect to continue out of the spring: Toronto 2B Orlando Hudson hitting .435 the rest of the season or teammate SS/2B Russ Adams making the team, even if he continues hitting .409 all spring.

As far as pitching goes, Al Leiter and Bartolo Colon are two pitchers tied for the lead with three wins so far in the spring. Does it mean they'll be the Cy Young winners for their respective leagues? Doubtful, but Leiter, at least, should have a good season considering how well he responds to the challenge of having a second "ace" in the rotation. He went 16-8 with a 3.20 ERA when the enigmatic traitor Mike Hampton was on the staff the year the Mets won the NL Championship.

The real question as far as pitchers go this spring is should anyone be getting excited about Elmer Dessens? Well, I don't think Randy Johnson or Curt Schilling will be worried about losing their respective spots in the rotation but Dessens is 3-0 and hasn't given up a run yet in 10 innings of work. Imagine if he really does have that kind of season: A one, two, three rotation might spell an early pennant clinching for the Diamondbacks if they can ever find someone on the team who can hit the ball out of the infield.

It's hard to get excited about someone who isn't even on the Major League spring training roster, but the Mets drafted a pitcher last year by the name of Scott Kazmir, the steal of the 2002 draft. Kazmir was named the 2002 High School Player of the Year by Baseball America after he went 11-2 with an 0.37 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 74.2 innings for Cypress Falls HS (TX). He was equally impressive in his stint with the Brooklyn Cyclones, striking out 34 batters in just 18 innings of work, with an 0.50 ERA and holding opposing batters to a miniscule .089 batting average. You can be sure I'll be taking the N train over to Key Span Park in Coney Island when he's pitching this year, if he lasts there very long before moving up.

Believe it or not, the Newark Star Ledger reports somewhere out there is a Major League team dumb and desperate enough to take Jeremy Burnitz off our hands and no, it isn't the Washington Redskins!

Apparently, the Padres have offered outfielder Bubba Trammell and starter Kevin Jarvis for strikeout specialist Burnitz and before they come to their senses, that birdbrained GM Steve Phillips should take them up on it. Although coming off an elbow injury and a fatter-than-deserved contract, Jarvis could fill right in for the #4 or #5 spot in the rotation while Trammell is a decent utility outfielder. Burnitz, as we know, is hitting a glorious .150 this spring and takes pride in his strength as a whiff artist.

Lastly, whatever happened to former One on One sports radio personality John Renshaw? He appears to have vanished off the face of the earth. It was rumored he had hooked up with Fox Sports radio on a weekend gig, but after searching through their website, I couldn't find any verification of it. Let's hope he isn't rotting away in rehab somewhere.