The New Age of Baseball

Sometimes it seems like the steroids issue is doomed to linger around baseball forever. And honestly, that's the way it should be. Baseball is so much about history that it's impossible to forget about an entire era of baseball. The merits of those players for the Hall of Fame is a debate for another day (they should be allowed in) but we can now say, hopefully, that the Steroids Era WAS and no longer IS the identity of baseball. And, finally, we have fresh hope to move us out of that era and into a new (and hopefully bright) era of baseball.

That hope is easily identifiable for Nationals fans in the fastball of Stephen Strasburg and for Braves fans in the monstrous homeruns that Jason Hayward launches on a daily basis (why wait around until the 2nd AB when you can destroy the ball in your first big league AB. And speaking of destroying the ball, just wait for Bryce Harper. If you haven't seen the kid yet, just check this out. FINALLY. Young star power, like a new age Ken Griffey Jr. or baseball's version of LeBron). But it goes deeper than the individuals. Though numerous teams still lag far behind (see: Pittsburgh Pirates), there are a number of teams that are now competing just a few seasons removed from the cellar. The most obvious example is the Tampa Bay Rays but there are others (namely the Seattle Mariners) that are making a push based around a mix of pitching, defense, and youth.

Can these teams really compete with the Red Sox or Yankees? After 2008, it's easy to say yes but it'll be tough to continue as the front offices of even those teams have gotten smarter. Just look at the 2010 edition of the Red Sox. Unlike past offseasons, the Red Sox spent their offseason going after guys like Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron, not exactly your typical marquee names. Perhaps this offseason is an aberration as opposed to a coming trend (other factors, specifically the economy, easily could have contributed to the downturn in spending), but all indications are that the way front offices think is changing.

Perhaps we can finally say that baseball is out of the dark. With front offices employing armies of statisticians, baseball is actually at the forefront of statistical revolution, changing the way people look at sports and their favorite athletes in those sports. I'm pretty sure that's the first time we can say baseball has been at the forefront of anything in quite a while. There are so many areas to improve upon (for starters, the draft) but still a lot of progress has been made. Like we say with young prospects like Bryce Harper, there is unlimited upside. Here's to the new age of baseball.