What could it be, it's a mirage
You're scheming on a thing, that's sabotage

As recently as last year, I was trying to look for some meaning in spring training stats, trying to screen out all the considerable noise to look for a signal. I'd occasionally hit upon a sleeper who panned out (Casey McGehee, come on down!) but it seemed more and more like a fool's errand as I kept it up, and this year I didn't even bother.

Yesterday, Charlie Manuel made it clear to me just how much of a fool's errand it really was.

Asked about Kyle Kendrick's excellent spring compared to his miserable regular season, and whether players' focus was different in the spring versus when the games started to count, Manuel said this:

"Huge difference. Matter of fact I've seen hitters in spring training, young hitters, who've been hitting the ball out of the park in spring training and I tell my pitchers to throw 'em fastballs. I want him to make the roster. You know why? Cause that might mess up their team for about thirty days. I can give you some names, really. 'Here, I'll feed you fastballs. Let's see how far you can hit them.' That make sense? ... whatever."

Yes, you read that correctly. Manuel just admitted to instructing his pitchers to inflate the spring stats of young opposing hitters, in the hopes that their club might think they were the Next Big Thing and waste real at-bats in April on him.

That's one of the most brilliantly sneaky things I've ever heard. Bravo, Charlie. Bravo.

And I will never, ever, ever pay any real attention to spring training stats again. Play us out, Ad-Rock...

'Cause what you see you might not get
And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet
You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage
I'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage