Ahhh … baseball is back. Indians pitchers and catchers have reported to Goodyear, AZ and today is their first official workout.
When you live in a four season climate like Cleveland, one of the great things about the start of baseball season is that it also represents the beginning of our 7-8 month stretch of excellent weather. Lost in the complaining about our brutal winters is the fact we have the greatest summers here on the north coast. Temperatures between 75 and 85 almost every day and next to no humidity.
Also, there’s just something about the sport of baseball that makes everyone believe their team can win before the season starts. The Indians are widely expected to be a very bad team this year, with most of the early projections having the Indians lose between 90-100 games. The team is going to have a hard time selling tickets. I recently re-upped my 20 game season ticket plan, but was able to negotiate 20% off the price I paid last year, and also get four free tickets to Opening Day.
But none of that matters to me now. Right now I am convinced Westbrook can come back from elbow surgery, Carmona turns into the 2007 Fausto again, and Masterson and Huff become legitimate young arms for us … helping get the ball to Kerry Wood, Chris Perez, and Tony Sipp in the back end of the bullpen. I believe Matt LaPorta breaks out and hits 25 HR and drives in 95 runs, and that catching prospect Carlos Santana will bust on the scene in May to become Victor Martinez reincarnated for us. I believe Michael Brantley will emerge as the leadoff hitter he showed us he could be last September, moving Grady down to the three hole where he will stay healthy and thrive. I believe Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera will continue their evolution into the next great Indians players, and get long term deals with the team after the season. I believe Travis Hafner will finally find a good masking agent for performance enhancing drugs so he can go back to hitting .350 and mashing 40 HR’s and driving in 140 RBI’s.
This is the time to believe Tribe fans. Cause it could be a loooooong season.
Quote of the day …
“Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.” ~ Ross Perot
Market …
Slow start to the week. No economic news of note yesterday. Stocks and bonds both traded pretty flat all day.
Today we get consumer confidence at 10 AM (reading of 55.0 expected vs. last month’s 55.9 reading) and the Treasury auctioning off some two year notes at 1 PM EST. Also, and most notably, we get the release of the Case-Schiller Home Price Index today, which gauges home values in 20 major metropolitan areas, Cleveland included. Case-Schiller has evolved into pretty much the #1 authority on home values here domestically.
With little to no economic news to start the week, the markets are trading off earnings. The latest round saw both Home Depot and Sears report slightly better than expected earnings. Both retail giants credited reduced expenses and slightly better than expected sales as the reasons. Macy’s and Target report earnings today.
Investors are also awaiting Fed Chairman Big Ben Bernanke’s semiannual testimony before Congress about the health the economy. The Fed surprised investors last week by hiking rates it charges banks for emergency loans. Traders will want Bernanke to continue to provide reassurances that it plans to keep its benchmark rate at historic lows to encourage growth. He testifies Wednesday and Thursday.
News …
~ Earnings, Improving Economy May Fuel Rally
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35527522
~ State & Federal Borrowing is Crowding Out Everyone Else
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35524508
~ Home Depot Reports Quarterly Profit, Sales Fall
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35535407
~ Rates Mixed at Weekly Treasury Auction
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Rates-mixed-at-weekly-apf-4072876156.html?x=0
~ Wall Street to Size Up Retailers
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