A Mini Minicamp Summit

I leave this morning for Fort Myers, Florida to attend our earliest minicamp since I've been with the team. It's so early, actually, that it's not technically a minicamp. In the players union agreement with ownership, no official minicamp is allowed to be held prior to a specific date, which I believe is in the first week of January. So this minicamp is going to not really be a minicamp. It will be smaller than that; just pitchers. Not even catchers. It's been internally dubbed a "pitchers' summit," but I don't like that term because it implies we'll be climbing really high mountains with oxygen tanks strapped to our backs and little American flags in our hands to plant when we reach the top. How about Mini Minicamp. There's an Austin Powers theme there, which relieves some stress about it, and no pressure is added to sleep in a tent in the midst of a 5-day snowstorm.

Pitching coaches from the entire organization will attend, as will those players signed for next season and a handful of minor league prospects. New manager Rick Churches is running the camp, his first. I can tell he's excited, because he called me three times last night to remind me not to miss my plane.

Rick: What are you flying, Continental?
Me: I think so.
Rick: You can print out your boarding pass before you leave your house, you know.
Me: Can you have someone do it for me?
Rick: No.
Me: I hope I make my flight then.

Ten minutes later, Vanessa saw I'd gotten an email with my boarding pass attached. She was nice enough to print it out for me and put it in a manila folder labeled "BOARDING PASS - YOU NEED THIS TO GET ON THE PLANE."

I don't fly commercial very much. The team gets charters during the season and when I do sponsorship deals, the companies usually put me up in one of their private corporate jets if I need to go anywhere as part of our deal. When Vanessa really wants to get under my skin, she'll say we should go on vacation at Newark Airport where I can watch travelers who've gotten bumped from their flights sleep on the floor. If I see any of them this morning, I'll give them my unneeded mountain-climbing tent.

Rehab is going along slowly. My arm feels fine. My legs are coming around. A pitcher needs strong legs to push off from the mound and generate energy to flow through the upper torso, shoulder and arm. If my legs can match the strength of my appetite of the last 6 months, I should easily win 30 games this season.

I land in Orlando around 11:30 AM and then a car is taking me to the Fort Myers complex. The doctor will see me at 2:00-ish and then we have our first Mini Minicamp Summit meeting at 3:30. I fly home Sunday afternoon.

I'll try to give you an update from Florida tomorrow, but I may be held up most of the weekend. Wintry weather coming for Sunday. I'll be sure to bundle up.