The origin of spring training is quite simple. There was a time where baseball players had "real" jobs in the "real" world (factory, steel mills, farmers, etc.). Baseball was a summer diversion, a hobby, which did not pay that well. In order to get an early season competitive advantage, team owners brought their squads to a warm weather climate (Florida), to conduct workouts to get the players back into "playing shape." That meant shedding some winter pounds, throwing the medicine ball around instead of hay bales, and running to sweat and limber up the muscle groups. The basic premise of spring training was to exercise and prepare for a 154 game season.
Today, players are paid beyond the average annual salary of their fans. They are professional ball players. They are paid to remain in shape all year round. Players work out on their own or in team approved settings all year round. Some players have their own off-season conditioning coaches. By the time spring training comes around, the players should be in regular season shape.
So modern spring training serves different purposes.
First, it is a media and marketing kick-off for the season. Teams want to get their fans interested in the excitement of a new season. "Hope springs eternal." This is the first true opportunity to show case what the front office did all winter: new players, new coaches, new attitude. It is a way to sell tickets.
Second, it is the first collective, in depth injury census for a team. Until a rehabbing player actually gets back on the field of play, medical reports are mere speculation. Team doctors, trainers and staff get to evaluate the host of players, their recoveries and their status to determine the most appropriate training schedule to best meet the needs of injured players. The observations and training reports will allow the front office a very clear picture of what their entire organizational roster looks like from a health, recovery and issue stand point. It will give guidelines to the team on how far off a player is to returning to a roster; and will give the team pause to find a replacement player if there are issues or setbacks.
Third, in some professional organizations, spring training still allows for open competition for major league roster spots. However, it is highly unlikely in today's guaranteed contracts, expensive free agent signings and pre-packaged faces of the franchise promotions that non-roster invitees to camp or high minor league prospects will win a starting job in The Show. However, competition for a position is a good measure of how good (or bad) your team is - - - and will force veterans to "prove" that they still belong (instead of resting upon past performance). Smaller market teams have overcome the prejudice of promoting and playing younger, less seasoned rookies. Many of those decisions have become high profile players, like Mike Trout with the Angels, who made an impression last spring and was called up early in the season.
Fourth, spring training is the time to tinker with the final few openings on the organizations complete roster tree. Slotting prospects at the various levels is key to their development. Matching appropriate coaches with those prospects is key. A team having a solid philosophy of training at all levels in the system is also a key to consistency in rookie promotions and performance. Every player should have a road map to success. It is the team's obligation to try to get their players in the best position to succeed. And each player needs to recognize the opportunity and individually work hard at developing his skill sets. The only reward worth anything to a professional ball player is playing time against the best competition. Example, if a prospect hits lights out in Class A last season, it would be natural to move him to Class AA this season. Likewise, if a player promoted last season to Class AA struggled, it could be thought of moving him down to Class A to get his confidence back would be better than having him be a bench player on his AA team. Any demotion may have an affect of setting back a player's mental attitude because failure to advance in the minors is a sign to scouts that the player is not on track to be a major leaguer.
Fifth, spring training gives the hometown media some human interest, feature stories to fill an otherwise dull part of the winter sports scene. There are only so many "roster battle" non-stories that a columnist or beat reporter can file in a given week. Fans of bad teams are interested in stories about younger players who may make an impact in the near future. Fans of good teams are interested in stories about the last piece(s) of a championship puzzle for this season.
Spring training has many functions. But recently, the actual playing of exhibition games by one's known starters has diminished. It may be the fear of injury, re-injury or overwork. But most teams will pull veterans fairly quickly in games, especially pitchers. It is only until the last week of camp do managers normally field their opening day lineups for extended play. And at that time, fans will really get a final picture of what their team will look like for the season.
