For several days, Quebec has been grappling with the rudiments of winter. Between heavy snow, freezing cold and everything else, we agree that the current weather is quite far from reminiscent of baseball season.
Unless you have fun hitting snow balls with a snow broom, let's just say that we are far from the atmosphere of the ball. And yet…
Yesterday, MLB revealed the opening dates for the various training camps across the league… and what we notice is that in less than a month, pitchers and catchers will all have reported to their respective training camp.
And by February 20 (a month and two days from now), every player in the league will have reported to training camp.
We also note that it is the Dodgers who will get the ball rolling, while the pitchers and catchers are expected on February 9. The club's real camp will begin on February 14, the date when most teams expect their pitchers and catchers for the first time.
To put it in simpler words (and which will sound like music to your ears): it's starting to feel like the ball, and the start of the season is approaching.
What we notice, however, is that about a month before the start of camps across the league, there are still a lot of free agents who have not yet found a buyer. Among the pitchers, we can think of Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery and Josh Hader, while among the hitters, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman are the two big names remaining.
There are many other players added to the list (JD Martinez, Brandon Belt, Aroldis Chapman, Tommy Pham, Justin Turner and Adam Duvall, to name a few), but the observation is obvious: there still has several players to sign.
We can therefore expect this to become active in the coming weeks in the MLB. The big names will likely want to sign before camps open to start their season normally, and we can also expect some trades between now and the start of the campaign.
It will give us something to sink our teeth into over the next month… and then everything will unravel following the start of training camps. The 2024 season is coming, and it's coming at breakneck speed.
