Steel-Cage Spring Jason Michael Barker

One of the great things about spring training is the battle for that elusive final roster spot, be it the fifth outfielder, third catcher or mop-up man in the bullpen. In the coming weeks, in training camps all over Arizona and Florida, brash young rookies and washed-up veterans alike will try their best to impress managers and coaches. In the end, of course, they'll all wind up being released or sent to AAA, which is why this article is not about them.

No, this is about actual positional battles set to take place this spring, which are both more interesting and more important to what happens on the field.

Starting out West (that's where Seattle is, although you're unlikely to find it on older maps), two pitchers are battling for the right to be Lou Piniella's closer of the week, only to be replaced by the hot 28-year old rookie fresh from AAA Tacoma. The first man is Jose Mesa, who saved 33 games last season despite an ERA close to five and horrible peripherals. Of course, he's got that "proven closer" label going for him, which means the job is his to lose.

Mesa's competition is Kazuhiro Sasaki, former relief ace of Japan Professional Baseball and current MLB rookie. Sasaki saved 229 games in 10 years with the Yokohama BayStars, and struck out 828 batters against just 235 walks in 599 career innings. Sounds great, right? Two reasons for caution: he throws a forkball, a devastating pitch but one known for being hard on a pitcher's arm, and he had surgery last season to remove bone chips from his pitching elbow. That's the same surgery Jeff Fassero had last offseason, and we all know how well he pitched in 1999.

Piniella says he plans to ease Sasaki into the majors, which means Mesa will likely be the closer when camp breaks. If Sasaki pitches well early, however, Mesa instantly becomes a tradable commodity with a Catch-22 caveat: if he's pitching well and saving games the Mariners won't want to trade him, but if he's pitching poorly he won't have any trade value. The Boston Red Sox got Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek from Seattle for Heathcliff Slocumb at the 1997 trade deadline, and Slocumb doesn't have nearly the perceived value Mesa does, so if Pat Gillick plays his cards right he should be able to trade Mesa for a trinket or two when the time is right.

Heading east to the wilds of Minnesota (another spot likely to get lost on the map, but more due to the snow than anything else), there should be a good fight for the starting first base job. Last year, David Ortiz entered spring training with the job all but his after a solid 1998 rookie campaign, but reported to camp overweight, fell out of favor with Tom Kelly and began the year at AAA. Despite the Twins' anemic offense, Ortiz was so firmly entrenched in Kelly's doghouse that he didn't see the light of the majors until rosters expanded in September.

Starting in his place all season was Doug Mientkiewicz, whose biggest claim to fame seems to be that he was a high school teammate of Alex Rodriguez. I went to the same high school as Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones, but you don't see me coming out with a killer solo album. That isn't quite fair -- Mientkiewicz was once a decent prospect with good on-base skills and a good glove but not much power, sort of a John Olerud-lite. He was simply overmatched last season, however, and was probably the worst regular first baseman in baseball.

There's no doubt in my mind that Ortiz is a superior player, not to mention a cheap young power source who can put up good numbers for the next four or five years. In the end it'll be up to Kelly -- does he choose to put the best team on the field, or is he stuck in his stubborn ways? Either way, Ortiz needs a big spring to get off of the organization's bad list.

Finally, there's an interesting situation developing in Toronto, where Vernon Wells and Jose Cruz Jr. are set to duke it out for center field. Wells started last year in A-ball but finished it in the majors, winning top prospect honors at three levels along the way. He could stand to draw a few more walks, but other than that his bat just might be ready, and his glove certainly is.

Cruz only seems like a veteran -- yet he's just 26, and wasn't even arbitration-eligible this season. The Blue Jays haven't handled him very well since swiping him from the Mariners, sending him to AAA when he slumps rather than letting him play through it, perhaps because they don't recognize his primary skills: drawing walks and getting on base in spite of a low batting average. He hasn't developed into the star everyone thought he would be, mostly because he was never going to be Ken Griffey Jr. in the first place.

Unlike the first two battles discussed here, this one is particularly interesting because there isn't a clear-cut favorite, as neither is entering camp with the job theirs to lose. In that case it should come down to who has the best spring, unless the Jays decide Wells really does need some time at AAA. I'm giving a slight edge to Wells, if only because the organization seems to like him a great deal while at the same time not appreciating what they have in Cruz.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker is no George F. Will, and for that we can all be thankful. Ask him to include "the difference between wanting and being" in his next piece at jmb@strikethree.com.