Tuesday, February 20, 2007

And the Rest of the Team, Too

So, the team is complete -- at least the team that will work together in spring training. Everyone's in camp now -- well, at least I haven't heard of anyone missing yet. In just over a week, games will be back on the radio, and my XM will be cranked up ready to go. I may not get Niehaus, yet, but at least it'll be baseball. Sort of, anyway...

I've got a decision to make, though. Every time I open Blogger to post here, I get the message that my new Blogger is ready. See, I'm sorta with Citizen K in that I'm not exactly a huge Google fan. It's been nice being able to host this place for free and to mostly be able to do what I need. About a year ago, though, I was moving forward with building my own blogging application. I haven't touched it for several months, though, and the web hosting is due for renewal. Here's a peek at the Mariners Morsels site I was working on -- nothing special, certainly, and the blog isn't anywhere near presentable. I've hosted several pictures and other links on other blogs there -- I've got other web hosting, obviously, so finding space isn't a problem.

I need to decide the fate of the Morsels. While I love having a place to write about whatever I want, I'm finding that I'm wanting to write less and less about baseball. I have several options that aren't necessarily mutually-exclusive, so I need some help deciding what to do. Certainly the other authors around here need to be a very big part of that decision, too. Here's what I'm pondering:

1) Cancel the hosting for marinersmorsels.com and abandon my efforts to build my own blog. Use other hosting to upload pictures and other stuff to -- and recognize that there may be broken links in the other blogs.
2) Migrate to the New Blogger. I'm pretty sure everyone except Citizen K has a Gmail account, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal to do that. It's kind of a pain, though, from what I've heard, and I really don't like the thought of losing comments or threads.
3) Move to WordPress or some other free blog software. Again, sort of a pain, and I'm not sure about comments.
4) Just give up writing a blog all together. I'd hate to shut down the HQ of the Free George Sherrill unofficial campaign, and there are a few guys who I see myself campaigning for in the near future. I'd also hate to not have a place to write whatever I want. Certainly the LookoutLanding diaries aren't restrictive, but I like having a place of my own...

So, there. Those are my current thoughts. Again, marc, Corco, CK -- I'd especially like your thoughts. Of course, I probably should've discussed this via e-mail with you guys first, but I'm OK with asking our web mateys, too.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Pitchers & Catchers Day!

So, it's the unofficial start of spring. Pitchers and catchers report today, get their physicals, and pretty much start the hell that is training camp. I'd bet, though, that NFL training is just a bit tougher.

With the major roster changes pretty much already made, the battles for roster spots will be few and far between. The rotation is pretty well set, and I don't see any opening for Baek or Woods, barring, of course (and, knock on wood), injury. The bullpen may have a spot or two. The bench may have a spot.

I'm not really sure what to expect out of spring training. George's spot is pretty well secure, even if Rhodes shows he can still pitch. I don't foresee any threat there. I guess the interesting thing will be to see if Vidro can still hit, if Guillen can throw from RF, and to see what Ho-Ram pitches like. With Weaver being our new Mechian head case, it'll also be interesting to see how he pitches with Seattle -- but moreso during the actual season, not so much during spring training.

I've been much more excited for baseball than I am this season. Now, well, not so much. Am I alone here?