News and notes, just days away from real baseball ...

* Lots of season preview going on. It's "Preview Week" here at Toaster, something I won't do much on other than participating in the roundtables. I just don't have much to add to the discussion beyond the THRs. Sure, I got the World Series pick last season, but that's blind squirrel if I ever saw it.

* Friend of Juice/UTK Jon Sciambi was on ESPN the other day, calling the Cubs vs D-Backs game. It's always a bit odd seeing someone you know on TV, but Boog looked and sounded great. He was working with Rick Sutcliffe and Steve Stone. Not sure how much Stone will show up with ESPN, but that would be a great move for them. Stone's shown that he's an elite level analyst with uncanny skills in discerning upcoming pitches and patterns while also showing an equal knack for angering the team with both petty picking and behind the scenes politicking. Working on a national stage would keep him away from one team, alleviating his weakness.

* Ahhh, new coffeemaker. Heavenly.

* Following college baseball? Then you have to link over to Boyd Nation. No one else covers college baseball the way Boyd does it. His work on college PAP will be exhibit one someday.

* We need help. Speaking, if I may, for young pitchers everywhere, we need you to watch, take notes, and speak up. If you see a pitcher being overused at ANY LEVEL, speak up. If you can't, inform me. We have to make it harder on coaches to break these pitchers. I found out today that the limit on pitchers in Indiana is ten innings in three days. Holy crap - for young, teenage pitchers? That's pathetic.

* What's a nice companion when you order "The Juice"? Well, it's Steven Goldman's Forging Genius! Of course, reading these two back to back will make me look like a really crappy writer, but I'm willing to take that risk.

* In almost every draft I've been in or heard about, someone has missed a player by one pick, usually because they thought someone they liked would slide. Don't make this mistake. When ranking your players, trust yourself. Sure, you have to react within the draft, but avoid runs ("hey, everyone's picking a closer!") and trying to grab someone a round later than you expected. The name that keeps coming up on this - David Wright.

* Every year, I do the THRs and they're a bear. It's basically a mini-BP. I thought my format for this year would cut down. Turns out it went from 60k words to up near 80k this season. Any suggestions?

* Schwag works. We'll do this occasionally. Anyone that hasn't put their comment in, go down the page and do so. I'll make the selections and be in contact on Monday.