Culver City Observer -

The Super Bowl is over. The NBA took a mid-season break. Baseball is on my mind today.

Spring training has begun and my memories are vivid of the 12 times I went to Dodgertown in Vero Beach to cover the start of another season,

It’s a great time of the year because of the optimism it creates. No team has lost a game yet.. They all think they won’t lose many.

A sportswriter loves an opportunity like this where players are open to be interviewed. They’re not grumpy like many are during the season when we approach them after a loss.

I see that the Dodgers didn’t sign any of the elite free agent pitchers after Zach Greinke left for Arizona, Why not? I thought money wasn’t going to be a problem with this ownership.

A new pitcher with outstanding statistics in Japan was signed. But the pitching depth doesn’t look good. Is it possible that Arizona will join San Francisco as the Dodgers’ strongest competition in the division?

If the Dodgers don’t get great starting pitching I don’t know if their offense will be good enough to produce 90 or so wins.

Bringing back second baseman Howie Kendrick was a good move but I sure wish Matt Kemp was still on the club.

I refresh my memory of last season’s World Series. Kansas City won after losing in the previous season. That’s a well-run organization. No fluke.

The Mets were the opponent. Not only did Terry Collins’ team beat out all National League competitors to get there, including the Dodgers but they represented the league well.

The Mets have the best young pitching staff in the National League. Matt Harvey and the rest should be real good again. The Mets want to sign several of them to long-time contracts so expect a lot of talk about that pretty soon.

What about the Angels? I see that they’re going to show a lot of exhibition games on television next month trying to lure Dodger fans who remain furious because their games are only on Time Warner and Charter.

Did you know the Angels’ TV ratings went way up last season? As far as I’m concerned I’m happy to watch the Angels’ channel and DirecTV’s baseball channel on the days I can’t make it to Dodger Stadium. I don’t know why the Dodgers are preventing 80 percent of the LA audience from seeing their games.

I see that Bryce Harper has agreed to a $7.5 million contract with the Washington Nationals for the next two seasons. He and Mike Trout are the best young hitters in baseball.

Exhibition games in March and the regular season beginning in April. I can hardly wait.