Ahhhh yes, spring training is here once again. The grass is green, the skies are blue and bullpen sessions are all the rage. This is also the time of year where players battle it out for a spot on a major league roster or a spot on their team’s starting nine. While position battles breed competition and competition can sometimes bring the best out of a player, the process of deciding who starts and who sits based on less than 90 plate appearances is downright absurd.

This week, Indians manager Manny Acta said that he expects the battle for the team’s third base job to last all spring. That battle will rage between 23-year-old top prospect Lonnie Chisenhall and soon to be 32-year-old Jack Hannahan, but I ask: What will happen over the next six weeks that will tell the Indians something they don’t already know about either player?

Harrisburg's Metro Bank Park, home of the Washington Nationals AA affiliate Harrisburg Senators, is my home park. I usually end up going to about half a dozen games there each season, as I live about 15 minutes from the stadium. Going to games at the park has a special significance for me, as I almost always go with my dad. My father lives downtown, a short 10 minute walk from the stadium. So we'll usually go out for a drink before the game, and then walk across the bridge to the stadium.

Wait, the bridge? Metro Bank Park is unique for the fact that it's on an island called City Island, located in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Many fans like myself walk across the Walnut Street Bridge to get to the park, while other fans drive across the Market Street Bridge and park. City Island is a nirvana for someone who just likes to do stuff. In addition to the Senators' park, there is an arcade, batting cages, a mini golf course, a riverside beach, soccer fields, and a path lapping the entire island that many people jog or bike on. During the summer, City Island is bustling with activity, even when there isn't a Senators game.

As for the stadium, it was recently re-designed. The remodel began in January of 2009 and was completed for the beginning of the 2010 season. The bleachers that took up the entire first base and left field side of the stadium were replaced with a boardwalk with various stands on it, and underneath the boardwalk, various kids games were set up. The outfield, which was once just a mess of trees and nothingness, had the boardwalk expanded out there as well. The outfield now features the team store and Senators team office in left field, multiple concession stands, seats, and a bar-like setup from left to center field, made out of the former bleachers from the first place line. 

Between the bases behind the plate, comfortable seats now take residence, replacing the stiff plastic that once reigned supreme. There's also an MVP club type bar in the concourse behind the plate. The stadium used to be a relic of the cookie cutter minor league parks of the mid-1980s, but it is now a modern, fun place to watch a game. The on-field talent is good, as one game I went to last year featured the home debut of Bryce Harper (for what it's worth, I thought he was a very leveled and humble kid), and the last game I went to featured a rehab start from Stephen Strasburg (where he hit 98 miles per hour with ease).

It almost used to be a chore to make the trek to City Island. Now, it's a pleasure to go. With the Nationals making the jump to respectability last season and the farm system churning out excellent drafts, talent will continue to flow through Harrisburg and make Metro Bank Park one of the top minor league ballparks to visit in the country.

Photos courtesy of Joe Lucia

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This is Zim-Bear, and it will be running through your head for quite awhile, won't it? The Tampa Bay Rays will be giving this, erm, lovely toy away on June 29th during their game against the Detroit Tigers. We've seen some really odd giveaways during our time, but I do believe that this is the first time I can recall a special advisor (not a coach, or a player...but an advisor) as the subject of a giveaway item, and it's also the first time I can remember a human being interspliced with a bear to create a human-bear hybrid.

The only way this could be better is if the Rays put pig hooves on the Zim-Bear to create...ZIM-BEAR-PIG! Tampa Bay is also giving away a cowbell featuring Raymond, their former mascot, on the opening weekend against the Yankees, as well as a bobblehead doll of their new mascot, DJ Kitty. As someone who has a bizarre affinity for collecting strange bobbleheads, I think I'm going to need to acquire one of those DJ Kitties by any means necessary.

[h/t: SportsGrid]

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There are very few seats in professional sports that come complete with a mountain view.

Venture out to Denver's Coors Field for a Rockies game this year though and you can enjoy this very view at a relatively reasonable price. Coors Field may be one of the few ballparks where it's preferable to sit in the upper deck as opposed to sitting coser to the field if only because of the sensory overload that comes with sitting in the mile high seats.

You read that right -- there is a row of seats known as the mile high seats. They're all purple to set them apart from the remainder of the seats, which are green. For around $20, you can enjoy a ballgame and a breathtaking view at one of baseball's best new ballparks. Having sat in the box seats and in the ones a mile above the stadium, I prefer the latter if only because the upper deck is often nowhere near as packed as the seats closer to the action, giving you and your buddies plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the game. Not to mention, again, check out that view. The Rocky Mountains are visible in the upper right hand corner of the shot, snow capped even at the end of April. 

Situated in Denver's trendy LoDo area near the Pepsi Center, there's plenty to do in and around Coors Field. The bar scene prior to games is on par with the likes of Wrigleyville only LoDo feels a lot more laid back than the glorified frat party that is the scene before a Cubs game. 

So what makes Coors Field stand out? The exterior architecture is reminiscent of Ebbets Field without trying too hard to duplicate the aesthetic, a la Citi Field in Flushing. Sightlines throughout the ballpark are clean so that there's really not a bad seat in the entire ballpark. Also, the fact that this ballpark is in the heart of downtown Denver certainly works in its favor. While some Major League cities are worth a visit for the ballpark only, Denver itself is one of the more fun cities in the entire country with plenty to do indoors and outdoors.

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Trying to compete in the AL West over the next several years is not going to be easy for the Seattle Mariners.  The Rangers are overflowing with young talent and new cash inflow.  The Angels have Albert Pujols and a seemingly endless amount of financial resources.  Heck, even the Oakland A's seem like they could be a force to be reckoned with in a few years with Yoenis Cespedes and their restocked farm system.

You'd think that those major obstacles would prompt the Mariners to try and think through every decision very carefully so that they don't do anything to shoot themselves in the foot as they can't afford even the slightest misstep if they are going to get competitive in the division and stay that way...

...or they could just hand a prominent starting job to Chone Figgins.  Ready, aim, fire!

It is decisions like this that have put the Mariners in the unenviable position that they currently find themselves in.  Promising anything at all to a player coming off a season where he posted a .484 OPS is just so wrong on so many levels, but the level it is most offending on is the one where they seem driven to make this decision as some sort of attempt to recoup the hefty investment they made in Figgins two years ago.

What the M's are failing to understand, or perhaps just willfully ignoring, is the basic economic concept of a sunk cost.  Nothing they can do is going to change the fact that they still owe Figgins $17 million.  He could post two more seasons of a sub-.500 OPS or he could find the fountain of youth and put up a .440 OBP and 150 stolen bases over the next two seasons and in either case he will still make $17 million.  Economically speaking, Seattle should be behaving as if the money has already been spent (unless they want to plant a kilo of heroine and a few dead hookers in his trunk, that might get them out of paying him).

But the Mariners are doing the exact opposite of what every college freshman is taught to do in Economics 101 by telling Figgins that he has a starting job at third base regardless of what happens leading up to the start of the season.  Not only will that not help them recoup their investment, it actually might cost them more in the long run.  The second basic economic principle they are ignoring is the opportunity cost of having Figgins at third.  While Seattle sits around crossing their fingers that Figgins remembers how to hit, they are closing down the opportunity for a more productive alternative to emerge.

What else can baseball fans do in January but dream of October? In You May Say I'm a Dreamer, the Outside Corner staff will imagine the route to a World Series in 2012 title for all 30 teams.

Considering the state of flux that the once fabled Dodger franchise currently finds itself in, it almost seems cruel to even think about them winning a World Series.

The ill-fated ownership of the McCourt family is finally in its death throes, but several weeks still remain before he selects the team's next owner and frees Dodger fans from this nearly decade-long living nightmare.  At least now though there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel, and in this dream, that light is the brightest of all because it leads to the Dodgers returning to championship glory.

The dream begins where the nightmare began, at the ownership level.  With the April 30th deadline looming and the bidding for the Dodger franchise heating up, one of the groups decided that they just can't take it anymore.  It is a group eager to take control of the franchise as soon as possible, so instead continuing to play by the rules of the bidding process, they decided to jump the line and offered McCourt just shy of $2 billion for the Dodgers, their stadium, the parking lots and, just to be safe, an agreement that anyone from the McCourt stay at least 500 miles away from the team at all times.  Frank McCourt, eager to settle his many, many debts, eagerly accepted the bid making beloved LA sports legend Magic Johnson the proud new owner of the team.  But the fantastical part of the arrangement is that Magic's acquisition was financed by his good friend, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who just so happens to be the richest man in Los Angeles and an avid sports fan himself.  Factor in that Johnson also included former MLB executive Stan Kasten, the man who helped build the great Braves teams of the 1990's and thus already has a seal of approval from Bud Selig, and it was dream come true for fans and baseball alike.

All that cash.  All that executive experience.  All that built in goodwill with the fans.  It was a perfect recipe for the transfer of the Dodgers to be approved by the league and the bankruptcy court in record time, allowing the new ownership group to take control less than month after the regular season began.

And then the real fun started.

The official title of the home of the Danville Braves is "American Legion Post 325 Field at Dan Daniel Memorial Park". That's quite a mouthful, reminiscent of "Oriole Park at Camden Yards". But the situation here at Dan Daniel is quite different from Camden Yards, which is essentially just a baseball stadium (albeit a fantastic one in it's own right, that will likely be getting a feature in this series). The rookie league Braves affiliate's field is literally....in the middle of a park.

The park is tiny, seating only 2,588. This is actually the second highest capacity in the entire Appalachian League. I came here last August on my way to Atlanta. I wanted to stop for a night to check out some of the newly-drafted young Braves, and figured it would be worth a stop. I didn't know what I was getting into. The park feels more like a little league environment than a professional sports event, and I don't mean that in a bad way. The clientele at the game I was at (between the Braves and the Elizabethton Twins) wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before.

It seemed like all of the attendees at the game new each other, like they were all regulars. In the section I was sitting in (underneath the roof, three rows up, between home plate and the Braves dugout), all of the fans bantered with each other and talked about their families, local events, and most importantly, the game being played and the team. I sat down, not really knowing what to expect. An older woman and her friends sat next to me, and we got to talking. I got a chuckle when her first words to me were, "boy, you're a yankee, aren't you?" It felt like I was really in the south. But even despite me not being a local, the fans weren't hostile towards me. When I explained where I was from, why I was there, and what I did, the fans listened intently, and asked questions. It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen at a park before.

Now, the stadium itself. Legion Field is a tiny place. The stands only go about halfway down the lines, with no seating in the outfield. There really isn't much of an opportunity for seats in the outfield either, with various foliage dispersed throughout the outfield and a giant...hill type thing in center field. My seat, which cost a whopping $7, was ridiculously close to the action. I barely needed to use my camera's zoom to get good shots of the players in action.

Something I had only seen in luxury seats was also in effect at Danville's park: waitresses. There were a couple of team employees assigned to each section that were essentially in charge of serving the fans. They would take food and drink orders for a few people at a time, collect the money, and disappear for a few minutes to the concession stands before returning with each fan's order. It was pretty unique for a minor league stadium.

One tradition I noticed at Danville was that during the seventh inning stretch, the PA system played "Sweet Caroline", a song that has taken root in Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox. Well here in Danville, the *entire* stadium sang along with the song. The crowd singing the song's chorus was probably the loudest they got all night. It was quite a moment.

After the game, which the Braves lost 4-0, the fans said their goodbyes to each other and me, and all went home. Danville is a very small, sleepy town, but they love their team. This was my first rookie league game, but I don't think it will be the last. There wasn't a lot to do in Danville aside from the Braves, but I'd stop in the town again for a night, just to watch the team at this old-school park again.

Photos courtesy of Joe Lucia. Check out the rest of my photos from Danville here.

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The New York Yankees made a much-rumored signing official today by inking Raul Ibanez to a one-year, $1.1 million deal. Ibanez is projected to serve as the team's designated hitter following the retirement of Jorge Posada and the trade of Jesus Montero to the Seattle Mariners.

Ibanez looked like a shell of a player last season for the Philadelphia Phillies in the final year of a three year deal. The 39 year-old had a .708 OPS in 144 games for the Phillies last season, serving as their primary left fielder. While his power remained relatively strong (.174 ISO compared to a .191 career mark), his BABIP fell to .268, his lowest mark since 2000, and his batting average and on-base percentage fell along with it. Ibanez's 5.7% walk rate last year was also his lowest since a 37 game stint with the Mariners in 1998. The move to DH will also help Ibanez's fielding numbers, which have been horrendous over the last five years aside from a brief uptick in 2009.

Away from the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park last season, Ibanez struggled mightily, OPSing just .577 with a pathetic .107 ISO. However, he's going to a park, Yankee Stadium, that tremendously favors hitters. Yankee Stadium had a park factor of 110 for hitters last year, compared to 102 for Citizens Bank Park. The shift in leagues will likely hurt his overall production, though he was playing in the toughest division in the National League with the Phillies.

I'd expect Ibanez to possibly platoon at the DH position with Andruw Jones, after Ibanez had just a .585 OPS against lefties last season compared to a .923 mark for Jones. The pair could be a pretty good platoon for the Yankees, who got just a .713 OPS out of Posada last year before his retirement.

Photo courtesy of Daylife.com

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Our first trip to the Double-A level in the minor leagues is the Eastern League, established (as you can see in the logo) in 1923, making this the 90th season of Eastern League baseball. However, it hasn't been called the Eastern League for all 90 seasons. In fact (and this continues the trend of minor league madness), the league was first known as the New York-Pennsylvania League due to all the teams coming from those two states. The New York-Penn League is now a short season Single-A league. Are you still with me?

So in 1936, teams moved outside of New York and Pennsylvania, leaving the name to be somewhat false in nature, meaning that a change had to be made. So the Eastern League was born in 1938. It remained an independent minor league until 1963, where it was officially named as a Double-A league relative to Major League Baseball. So not only is this the 90th season of what became known as the Eastern League, but it's also the 50th season of it being a Double-A classified league. So 2012 has a chance to be a pretty big year for them.

With Double-A spreading out amongst three leagues, you'll see that the leagues are smaller in both number and in division and conference numbers. Here's how the Eastern League stacks up

Eastern Division: Binghamton Mets (New York Mets affiliate), New Britain Rock Cats (Minnesota Twins), New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays), Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox), Reading Phillies (Philadelphia Phillies), Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees)

Western Division: Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians), Altoona Curve (Pittsburg Pirates), Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles), Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers), Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals), Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants)

As you can see, the league is full of teams that are close to their Major League Affiliates. Except for the Flying Squirrels (Which, besides being the newest team in the league, has the best name in the league) which is clear on the other side of the country from San Francisco. Now, what's interesting about that was before moving Richmond, the Giants had their affiliate in Connecticut, so technically they got closer by a whole 150 miles when they moved to Virginia for the 2010 season.

The league plays as a pitcher's league and has been that way for a while. It averaged 4.46 runs in 2011, and has averaged about that mark in the last decade or so. The main reason has to do with the league being a cold-weather league for much of the season before the summer humidity hits. The combination of both cold and humidiity leads to low run totals across the board. Their 2011 mark ranked as the fifth lowest in the 11 affiliated full-season minor leagues. The offensive side lends itself to International League comparisons, as their 2011 triple-slash line of .259/.329/.395 is basically identical to their karmic twin in Triple-A (.260/.329/.400).

Last year's Double-A MVP, Travis D'Arnaud of New Hampshire, is probably the best catching prospect in baseball (if you think, like I do, that Jesus Montero won't be a catcher at the Major League level). There have been some good Eastern League MVPs over the years, as well. Going back as far as 1993, you have guys like Cliff Lee ('93), Mark Grudzielanek (1994), Vladimir Guerrero (1996), Kevin Millar (1997), Marlon Byrd (2001), Victor Martinez (2002), Alex Rios (2003), Ryan Howard (2004), Adam Lind (2006) and Carlos Santana (2009). That's a pretty dang good list that includes a bunch of All-Stars, an MVP in Howard and even a guy who could be in the Hall of Fame some day in Guerrero.

But for 2012, the Eastern League has a chance to house some pretty dang good talent, as well. d'Arnaud won't return, but the Blue Jays could see some of their young pitching talent mature in time to meet d'Arnaud in Toronto. Drew Hutchinson and Deck McGuire have a chance to be movers and shakers in that system. Other talents include some of the best in all of baseball. There's a chance Manny Machado, Baltimore's top prospect, could start the year at Double-A as a 19-year-old. Gerritt Cole could also move fast for Pittsburgh and be in Altoona by the end of the year. Both of those players are considered amongst the Top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

Other players to look out for in the league include the following (some might not start in the league, but will probably appear at some point this season): Matt Harvey (Mets), Anthony Rendon (Nationals), Zack Wheeler (Mets), Brandon Jacobs (Red Sox), Trevor May (Phillies) and Starling Marte (Pirates), who could end up repeating the league after a somewhat underwhelming offensive showing.

Next, we'll look at the Southern League, including the best mascot in all of the Major Leagues. I'll give you a hint as to what it is:

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A Trip Around the Minors

What else can baseball fans do in January but dream of October? In You May Say I'm a Dreamer, the Outside Corner staff will imagine the route to a World Series in 2012 title for all 30 teams.

I honestly have no idea how the Giants can win the World Series in 2012. 

Wait! I know!

Okay, okay, stay with me here. So Buster Posey comes back, right? Horrible, horrible ankle injury that hasn't happened to a catcher in a long, long time, but he's a freak of nature and comes back to play the one position that puts more pressure on an ankle than anywhere else on the field and goes .310/.370/.470 with 20 home runs. So that's worth a 3-4 win improvement right there after the trio of replacement level catchers they threw out there. On top of that, Pablo Sandoval gets on the Kung Fu Panda training regimen again and comes out with yet another awesome all-around season at third, going with a line similar to Posey's with 25 homers and is worth at least a win defensively, as well, making him a 4-5 win player.

But wait! There's more!