Days off in spring training are a little bit interesting, and many times rare, to get. Jim Leyland actually gave me two consecutive days off recently. Now, a day off still means I have to work out during the morning, but there isn't a chance of me playing at all during the game.
The first one came Saturday here in Lakeland when I was getting some early work done in the batting cage.
Rafael Belliard, our infield coach, came into the cage and said skip (Leyland) wanted to see me. At first I was thinking 'uh oh, what did I do wrong?' When I walked into the managers' office, the rest of the coaches and him were sitting there, and no one said anything. I thought I was just traded or something.
Leyland finally began to speak, and he said, "after the workout this morning, you are done for the day, and you can go home." He later told me that I wasn't going to travel the next day to Winter Haven to play against the Indians.
Now I'm thinking to myself that I'm not tired, so why am I getting all these days off, not to mention I'm also didn't travel to Kissimmee today.
Jacque Jones' locker is right next to mine and I told him I wasn't playing, and he said "you have to look at it this way -- [Leyland] is resting you now so that come August and September you won't be as tired." Jacque also mentioned that there is really no point for you to get 100 at-bats during spring training. He knows you are working on your stuff to get ready for the season, but you also have to be rested and not peak down here so early.
After hearing Jacque tell me that, it made a lot of sense. There really is no reason now to get all these at-bats this early in the spring, and get worn out before the season even starts. Now that I understand that, I look forward to these off days. I take it as a day to rest and relax and get a few things done, such as loads of fan mail I haven't gone through, much of which is still from last season.
I also want to let some fans know that if you sent stuff during the regular season last year, I didn't forget about getting back to you, I just didn't get the time. I will do it all and send it out in the next few months. Sorry it will be a little late.
Curtis Granderson
