It's November, which means I'm already thinking about Spring Training.

I get a week off in mid-March, and for the past three years I've zipped down to Florida for a few days to soak up some sun, have a couple of cheap beers, and nerd-out on meaningless baseball games. It's ever-so-fun.

In conversation with allikazoo (who is also making plans to hit a few Spring Training games; check out a map she made here of all the Grapefruit League cities), a light bulb came on: wouldn't it be fun to have BYBers gathering in central Florida in the dead of winter to sport the Olde English D in solidarity?

Here's a schedule of games in the week I'm going to be there (all times 1:05 pm unless indicated otherwise, SS means split-squad):

Sun. March 14, Tampa Bay, at Lakeland
Mon. March 15, Toronto, at Lakeland
Tues. March 16, Philadelphia, at Clearwater
Wed. March 17, Pittsburgh, at Bradenton
Thur. March 18, Houston, at Lakeland
Fri. March 19, New York Yankees, at Tampa, TBD (SS)
Fri. March 19, Atlanta, at Disney World, 6:05 p.m. (SS)

I'm probably going to most of the Monday through Thursday games, but maybe not the Phillies game. I was in Bradenton last year, and that's really a lovely little park wedged into downtown Bradenton -- plus, there's a great Mexican/Cuban restaurant on the west side of town.

So, who's in?

I'm a disenchanted Toronto Blue Jays Fan, looking for a new team.  Ownership decisions and a general aimlessness in the direction of the team has caused me to consider abandoning the Jays after 25 years of cheering for them.

My search has narrowed to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and your Detroit Tigers.

I am looking for a MLB team that has ownership committed to winning, a group of players worth cheering for, and a reasonable shot at competing for the playoffs sometime in the next 10 years.

Convince me (with defensible reasons) why I should join you.  Go!

Aloha Tigers fans! 

For my school economics/community service project, I have created a blog that spotlights the charitable efforts of MLB players, such as your very own Curtis Granderson, and others such as Torii Hunter and Barry Zito, with more to come. Using Google AdSense, I hope to generate money to donate to one or more of the players' foundations (such as the Torii Hunter Project). But I need your help to generate site traffic! Anyway, here is the link to the site:

EXTRA INNINGS

I would really appreciate it if you just took a moment to check it out. =) 

Note: This is NOT me telling/asking you to compulsively view the site or click on the ads (in fact, too much traffic and/or ad-clicks from the same IP address will raise red flags and Google will cancel my AdSense account).  

Thanks!

Heres my flamethrower and all of it's disappointments on this run.  Some of you guys were interested in seeing how it turned out so I post it here for those of you interested.  My mistake with this run was forgetting that my propane served to purposes.  2 part video of failure.

Part 1:  My propane decides it doesn't want to come out.

Part 2:  Propane now works, but the release valve is apparently breaking on me.  When I get it all figured out this thing should be <i>much</i> more epic.

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I don't know if anyone saw this, so I thought I would share it with you.  One of the little boys who signed Brandon's arm during the season seems to be nearing the end.  His family celebrated Christmas with him yesterday because they don't think he'll be around long enough to wait for the real thing.  

Here's the link to the Facebook page someone in or close to the family made.  My roommate's 4th grade class sent him Christmas cards from Texas, and it seems like there are tons of people sending him things.  Keep Noah in your thoughts/prayers!

[Editor's Note: Promoted from the FanPosts, for some good ol' offseason discussion.  We've already had some good comments and conversation on this post, so let's open it up to the front page. -- Ian]

Yeah, I know; everyone is doing this right now.  But with a dearth of interesting, baseball-related news right now (at least for those of us still too heart-broken to care about the World Series), I needed something to occupy my time. 

Admittedly, I'm not a prospect expert like John Sickels (those of you who pay attention to his site may recognize the format of my list).  Therefore, I am sure that I have left some deserving players off the list or made vast over- or under-estimations of others.  So what do you think?  (And don't forget to take the poll!)

1. Casey Crosby, LHP, Grade B+

Anyone surprised?  Didn’t think so.  Despite concerns after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Crosby blew hitters away at West Michigan.  He had one rough stretch around June/July, but was stellar for the rest of the year.  He’s only 21 years old and will almost certainly start next season at Lakeland or Erie.  Don’t expect big-league impact until 2011, at the earliest.

2. Jacob Turner, RHP, Grade B+

The Tigers first round pick from 2009 has yet to pitch in professional ball, but from all reports, this kid has a boat-load of potential.  Don’t be surprised if he moves to the A-list after next season, but absent any professional data, I think a high B is a good grade for him right now.

3. Scott Sizemore, 2B, Grade B

I went back and forth between B and B+.  Sizemore appears to be the heir apparent to Placido Polanco in 2010, depending on how his ankle heals.  From all reports, his fielding is roughly average, but his bat should be above average for the position.  He shows good on-base skills and has developed some extra-base and home run pop, as well.  2010 prediction: Sizemore finishes no worse than third in the Rookie of the Year vote.

4. Alex Avila, C, Grade B

In 2009, Lord Avila blew away any expectations Tigers fans and prospect watchers had for him.  He reminded Tigers fans what it’s like to have a catcher who can actually hit (see Laird, Gerald; Treanor, Matt; and Sardhina, Dane).  Expect him and Laird to split time behind the plate as Avila continues to improve his defense.  If his defense continues to develop well, we can probably look forward to him as a full-time starter in 2011.

5. Ryan Strieby, 1B, Grade B-

Strieby has improved every year that he’s been in the minors.  His AVG, OBP, and SLG have gone up every year despite moving up one level each year.  Last season at AA Erie, Strieby posted a .991 OPS, 19 HR, and a .303 AVG before he went down with a wrist injury.  Those are monstrous numbers.  So why is he only a B-?  He’s 24 years old, he has a history of wrist injuries, and he’s blocked at 1B by Miguel Cabrera.  If his wrist doesn’t fall off and if he can become a serviceable left fielder, he could give the Tigers’ offense a boost really soon.

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Another offseason is upon us and while the playoffs rage on my ire for the Vile Cities Twins has not subsided.  I am able to watch a few playoff games despite the heartbreak of game 163. However, soon the playoffs will be over and then the countdown towards Spring Training begins (with the additional fun endeavor of trying not to vomit whilst the bobble headed parrots at ESPN and major sports outlets jockey for positioning to give Brett Favre his complimentry manual stimulation).

So what is there to do? Answer: talk about other things. Personally, I am looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins, starting a new Out of the Park Baseball 10 season (considering trying my hat replaying the 2003 Tiger season), figuring out a few things and eagerly awaiting the Venture Brothers season 4.

Let's not make Ian all crazy from off topic postings in threads and, um, discuss things. Oh, yeah, my name is David - that is easier to be addressed by than a string of numbers (no matter what their actual meaning).

Post Script: I still hate Nick Punto.

I was listening to Mike and Mike this morning and he was named the Marvin Miller Man of the Year in baseball for all of his off the field work. I was trying to feed my kids while they interviewed him so I didn't get to hear everything said but it sounded like a pretty cool honor. It's also just another one of the many reasons you don't trade a guy like Curtis Granderson.

I'm not sure how much you guys are into such things, but in case you're interested, MLB.com has posted the link to its annual This Year in Baseball Awards. There are five categories for which you can vote for Tigers, detailed below.

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I know there are a lot of fans here who don't live in the Tigers standard viewing area so I wanted to ask a question. I recently purchased AT&T U-Verse and added a sports package that included FSD which is the only reason I got it. I have tried watching Red Wing games twice this week and each time the games were blacked out. I'm posting a similiar post on Winging it in Motown but I what I wanted to ask here is whether or not people here have this and if Tiger games get blacked out too?