Overbay, Fielder, Cooperstown Excitement Sets In Further

All quiet on the Western front. Still.

The Arizona Diamondbacks recently procured a certain Lyle Overbay, which is cool. I don’t think it’s an awful deal, either. A million bucks for a year for a guy who probably won’t play every day seems high, but for a year, it’s a far smarter deal than the five million that the Pirates gave him for a contract of that same duration. I’m sure he’ll platoon well with Paul Goldschmidt, hit a few singles, maybe swat one over the wall occasionally in the high dry air of Arizona…I like it. The Diamondbacks are quickly becoming a team that I will have to start paying more attention to. Their seasons have been lasting longer in recent years, and while that is really all I have to go on, given the short duration of my fandom, it was fun to back them during the playoffs this year, even if they didn’t advance too terribly far. I figure that with liking two teams like the Mariners and the Orioles, I should at least attempt to hedge my bets in the NL.

Prince Fielder has still not been obtained by us or anyone else. Maybe the shock of the Albert Pujols deal is still wearing off for people, or perhaps every day since the winter meetings ended have been full of intense scrutiny of Fielder’s skills and projected skills, and fierce arguments over whether or not $200MM is too much money. (For the record, the answer is ‘yes’.) I’ve been hearing a lot of opinions floating around on the subject, just like everyone else, and I think I may be on the verge of Fielder fatigue. I can only deal with this stuff for so long. At this point, I’m not sure if I can invest enough energy in caring pre-deal, whether or not we get Fielder. I certainly don’t know that I want this guy, but y’all know me, I’m more of a wait-and-see person than a dream-the-impossible-dream person. If we don’t get Fielder, I’m not sure I’ll be all that bothered. I’m sure that sounds insane to a lot of people, but the fact of the matter is, I just can’t see the Mariners pulling something like this. For a lesser amount? Maybe; I mean, we’ve all witnessed Jack Zduriencik’s ninja deals, right…but that’s more money than Mark Teixeira got from the Yankees, and I don’t think the Ms want to deal that way. If we spend two hundred million dollars on this guy, give him the lengthy contract that he wants, and he has a completely awful 2012, this fanbase will lose their minds. And at that point, it will no longer be about the skills Fielder has, used to have, or could have again in the future; it will be all about the money we spent that we don’t have to spend in 2013. I have nothing against Fielder (and quite honestly do not believe he will have any sort of problems next year), but everyone has their ‘what if’. And that’s mine.

Doing some research on my Cooperstown trip. I will be live-Tweeting it as much as possible (I have no idea what the 3G coverage will or won’t be in the area), and am currently debating an easy hashtag to use on Twitter for my posts and photos. I currently have an aerial photo of the village (because it is apparently just that small) on my computer desktop at work, with street names and land markers, so I hope that I can somewhat familiarize myself with the place’s layout just by seeing it nearly every day. That sounds a little nutty, doesn’t it? I’m totally stalking Cooperstown! Tom’s folks sent us a little cash for a rental car, and I’m making him drive us not only because of the possible snow, but so I can take a lot of photos. I understand after talking to Caryn from MetsGrrl that the tiny burg is an early closer in the tourist offseason, so the museum should be relatively easy to walk through, and the restaurants will likely not be open late; some of the shops might not even be open. I’m still terribly excited. Sadly, my dream of going to the bat store to purchase something special has just been dashed by the fact that they will be closed the week we’re down there. So more research into hours and whatnot is needed. No more surprises/disappointments – or disappointing surprises – are needed at point of contact. The Hall of Fame itself has a gift store, and I suppose that will be plenty sufficient. If I sound at all manic about this experience, it is because it has been hanging over my head for a good 3 years now. Ever since I discovered that my sister-in-law’s home was about a 2-hour drive away, it has just been a matter of time and money to get back to the east coast. This is my year.

Lastly, I’m going to a Seahawks game tomorrow. The Hawks are currently in second place with a 5-7 record in the NFC west, and I am told that the St Louis Rams are just horrible this year (2-10?! Yikes!) so I stand a good chance at witnessing a win. The Seahawks are not the Green Bay Packers, but a live sporting event is a live sporting event, and it’s about time. My friend and I will be sitting in the Hawk’s Nest, which he describes as being vaguely like the experience one might get at a Sounders game, so I’m bundling up for the 29F temperatures expected after the sun goes down, and am going prepared to be wowed.