This close to the regular season, some of us get a little antsy.

We've looked last season's numbers up and down over and over again, and quite frankly, we're tired of them. We want a sneak peak at what lies ahead.

So what do we do? We look at this year's spring numbers, of course. How can we resist?

Say your name is Colin Chaput. You give in to temptation and start looking up spring box scores. You check out the league leaders and start making comparisons, trying to beat some of your leaguemates to the punch, when you notice a trend that raises an eyebrow or two.

Superstar A is hitting .190 with a .293 slugging percentage and zero home runs in 58 at-bats.
Sleeper A is hitting .294 with a .608 slugging percentage and two home runs in 51 at-bats.

"That's gold, Jerry!" you think, and you run over to your computer and punch out an e-mail, hoping you can get one of the writers at CBSSports.com to validate your finding:

How much value do you place on spring numbers? For example, it seems Stephen Drew is having a great spring while Jimmy Rollins is hitting .190. Should this be considered on Draft Day this weekend?

Somebody hold me back before I do something I regret.

I don't mean to pick on Colin, who, from what I can tell, is just trying to do his due diligence. Preparation is an important part of any Fantasy draft, and I'd rather see someone do too much than too little. But Colin's question is another example of why so many Fantasy writers tell you to ignore spring statistics.

Spring training is not about playing well. For a guy like Rollins, who has an established role on the team -- and in the league, for that matter, having won the NL MVP last year -- spring is a time to get in shape and avoid getting hurt. Stats are secondary.

And I don't mean to say he's not trying or has a bad attitude or anything like that, but think about it. If you started playing games again after a few months off, do you think you'd be at your best right away, or would you need a few hacks to round into form? And even if you do have your midseason stroke going, you don't think you might have to endure a 50 at-bat stretch where you hit .190? I'm sure Rollins has had similar cold stretches over the past few years. Shoot, 50 at-bats is like 1/14 of the season for him.

League MVPs hitting .190 the next season is unprecedented. League MVPs hitting .190 the next spring? Not so much. Rollins is fine.

Now, to be fair to Colin, he didn't exactly ask if he should consider Drew over Rollins. He just wondered if the numbers should carry any weight on Draft Day. No doubt, Drew is a developing young player who underachieved offensively last year. If you take his spring numbers as a sign of a breakout -- a legitimate case, I think -- and decide you'd rather pass on Rollins early and go for Drew late, by all means, do so.

Just don't go flip-flopping them in your rankings or anything crazy like that.

That's all for now.

Fling spring

Nice work. I try not to put too much stock in Spring Training performance, but I find it very useful when evaluating how certain players are responding to offseason surgeries/rehab and how they are working with their new teams (through trade or free agency). However, there are two people I got to see in Arizona a few weeks ago who I believe will have great seasons based on what they've done this spring: Josh Hamilton and Casey Kotchman. You have probably read a lot of opinions on these two, but if you have time you can check out the threads from my trip: Observations -- 3/16 Rangers v. A's and Angels Spring Training Observations.

Baseball Jones ~~ Hustling since 1980

Scott White

I White; You Read

Fling spring

Fling spring