Fantasy baseball tip of the day: The "I got Lasik surgery, so now I'll be great!" edition
It never fails when Spring Training roles around. A player will announce that he had blurry vision throughout last season, and that's why he had an bad year. It used to be that the guy got glasses or contact lenses. These days it's corrective laser eye surgery.
To compund the issue, because of the lack of news early on in spring, this is eaten up by reporters who are more than willing to wildly speculate about the incredible improvement in production fans can expect from their strong-eyed heroes. Two such players have popped up so far this year, Dan Johnson and Daniel Cabrera.
Johnson was supposed to be a breakout in 2006, but busted. How convenient that it was the blurry vision's fault. Especially now that Johnson finds himself in the middle of a position battle at 1B/DH with Nick Swisher, Mike Piazza, and others in Oakland. According to A's blog Catfish Stew, it was actually double vision that plagued Johnson.
As for Cabrera, it is scary to think that someone who throws that hard didn't know exactly where the strike zone was. But the funny thing is, walks have been the death of him. If he could throw strikes, you are looking at a 2007 American League Cy Young candidate. A convenient excuse? Absolutely. But one that nonetheless makes you stand up and pay attention.