Staying Put

Good news for the folks of Fort Myers, FL. The Boston Red Sox are not going anywhere. The city of Ft. Myers, the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox since 1993, and the club have reached an agreement where the Sox will keep training in the city for 30 more years. The club had been looking at moving to Sarasota, but apparently Ft. Myers will build a new complex for the team.

I have never been down to a Spring Training. However, that is one of my goals in life. A nice 2 week vacation, where I could visit several spring training sites seems like it would be fun. One of the drawbacks of spring training in FL, though, is that a lot of the clubs are spread out quite a distance. That is the biggest reason you see quite a few clubs who have left Florida or Arizona, where there are quite a few teams training facilities within quite a small radius, compared to FL.

Another thing I'd like to do one day is try the Red Sox fantasy camp. Spending a week like a major leaguers would be cool. I think there is a blog that somebody wrote that chronicled their experience at a fantasy camp. Someday, I'll do that.

The Phillies declined Tom Gordon's 2009 option. That could be a nice replacement for Mike Timlin for a season. I think he still has some life left in that arm. He has, obviously, had some success her in Boston as a reliever. I'm sure he'll get some offers from clubs who are in contention, so he may end up being a little costlier than the Sox may want to pay. Another name out there that would make a nice invite to spring training is Mark Mulder. The Cardinals released him a week or so ago. He has gone through quite a bit of arm injuries, but if you could sign him to a minor league deal and bring him to camp, I think that is a no-lose situation.

Hopefully we'll here some news out of the GM meetings soon.