Spring Training Trip: Day One

I recently embarked upon the first of a seven-day excursion to the sunny pastures of Arizona.  I'll provide (extremely) brief daily synopses of the baseball action - as well as some pictures - here at Royals Review.

Due to time constraints, I'll only provide four photos here, but the rest can be found at Facebook.  (If that's a dead link, let me know.  If you really want to e-mail me for the direct photos, I'll probably have to friend you there and then you'll be able to access the pics.  I'm not terribly Facebook-savvy, even though I've been an active member since '05.  Sorry.)

I ventured out to Minor League camp (at the Surprise practice fields, which are located within about 500 steps of my hotel) for about 1 1/2 hours on Monday morning.  Then, I packed up the bags and drove to Mesa, Arizona, where I endured a disppointing Royals game, but a vintage baseball atmosphere (and of course, the plus-plus weather.

Below are some general comments for the day.

• Kyle Farnsworth looked terrible today. Straight fastball and falling behind hitters. Walks and flyball tendencies are not a good thing. Overpaid, and hindsight is 20/20, but foresight wasn't exactly 20/1000, either, with regard to that contract.
• Saw prospect Kyle Martin hitting in the cages today. He can rake. He was on a role, cranking at least two home runs and several more deep to the gaps. He's an intriguing prospect, and one could at least make arguments for top 20 or 25 on a Royals list.
• Saw other top prospects Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas up close today, as well as virtually every other minor leaguer and top 'spect (Giavotella, Bianchi, among many more). Some major emphasis on bunting in Spring Training, at least today.
• Who knew the Minor Leaguers use training/baggy pants for sliding? Rather than getting your polyester uni's wet, this is an excellent idea.
• Royals hitting was anemic, and resembled their Hacktastic ways of 2007 and 2008. Definitely not good. Ah, life in a Dayton Moore offense. Be aggressive!
• Gload starting in right field, Pena starting at SS, and Bloomers starting at 2B. Not a good omen for Opening Day.
• Brian Bannister resembled the Banny of '08 today. Too many fallen behind hitters and home runs/fly balls allowed. He has no out pitch, folks. I'm worried.
• Bullpen other than Farnsworth (Wright, Waechter) didn't look much better.

Below are four photos.

via photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net

via photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net

via photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net

via photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net