- Recap: Ok, let's not get too excited or anything, jockeying for curb spots along the WS parade route and such. But we do have to acknowledge that Mike Trout and Albert Pujols are looking particularly lethal at this early point. The LA Times recap says it best: "Mike Trout looked comfortable in the box, lining run-scoring doubles to left field in the second and fifth innings and singling to center in the fourth. Trout also walked, stole second and scored on the first of Albert Pujols' two singles in the first. Pujols has eight hits in 18 spring at-bats for a .444 average."
- Baldo Time: Fans making their way to Tempe over the weekend may get lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the LAA future SS hopeful, imported from Cuba, Roberto Baldoquin. Baldo finally negotiated the Visa system and is set to dive in to full Minor League workouts as soon as he shows up, which might be today/tomorrow.
- Garrett Richards: The young man is poised to take over a serious spot in the national dialog for premier pitchers. His recovery is one of the biggest questions of the year in Anaheim, but early reports are outstanding and all fingers are crossed on that score. So baseball observers and analysts are queuing up for more awesome. And so we have The Difficulty of Squaring Up Garrett Richards over at Fangraphs. "...at this point, it feels like Richards is what he was supposed to be. And he’s maybe even more remarkable than you thought...The belief is that Kershaw had the most insane season. And Kershaw did have the most insane season, overall. This is looking at just one thing. But Richards had a big edge in slugging, and he had that edge while pitching in the more hitter-friendly league."
- Miscellany: Mike Trout steals his first base of Spring. Wants to go fast..........Welcome to Major League Baseball, Padewan Newcomb. Single, single, single, line out, strike out, walk, wild pitch, showers..........
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This Date In Baseball History: 1915 - (Saturday) Is this baseball's earliest recorded pwn?? Wilbert Robinson, then manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, lines up to catch what was supposed to be a baseball dropped from a plane for a public exhibition. Instead, Robinson is splattered when the orb turns out to be a grapefruit...............1953 - (Friday) Boston Braves owner announces the move of his franchise to Milwaukee. Boston left-behinds lament this date as "Black Friday". But, like, why?............1954 - (Saturday) Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle and is lost until July. So the Braves insert a highly regarded prospect into center field to replace him. Hank Aaron.............1960 - The ever-inventive Bill Veeck ticks off the rest of baseball (and his own players), when he puts player's names on the back of the uniforms. This is the first time that ever happened in a game, even an exhibition game. This causes such an uproar that the Commissioner's office has to make a ruling allowing teams to choose whether or not they want to go with the NOB.
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- Bay of Puigs: The latest Cuban emigre to hit the shores of MLB Free Agency, Hector Olivera, apparently has a $77 million offer on the table for the Dodgers. If rumors are accurate, that is way beyond the second place offer from the Padres, who are in at $53 million. Our Angels are not even bothering, deliriously content with the David Freese to Kyle Kubitza destiny. Of interest, though, the Dodgers offer is across 6 years, whereas the lower offers are across only 4. On a per annum basis, the offers are pretty equal. So should Olivera take one of the shorter deals and get a quicker entry back into FA as a proven MLB commodity, or take the guaranteed bird in the hand and negotiate for player options at the back end? It's a sweet thing to be worrying about.
- Aches & Pains: The Spring injury train rolls on. Lost for the season are Marcus Stroman of the Blue Jays, Gavin Floyd of the Indians, Brandon Cumpton of the Pirates Yu Darvish of the Rangers. They join Tim Collins of the Royals, and maybe Josh Edgin of the Mets. Meanwhile, Cliff Lee of the Phillies may not only be done for the season, but done for his career. That stuff tops off the more typical spring tweaks and pulls, such as Yoenis Cespedes sitting out with a bad back, and then going day-to-day with a thigh injury.
- Deep Sigh: many of you who have been around HH a while now might recall how profusely some of us railed against the trade with the Cards where it felt like Randal Grichuk, then minor leaguer, seemed like a totally unnecessary throw-in in the trade that featured Peter Bourjos for David Freese (In addition, Grichuk went to the Cards with Bourjos and Fernando Salas came back to Anaheim with David Freese.) Well, as you catch up on the gushing is going on over Grichuk in the St. Louis camp right now, as they drool over whether or not he will break through their fully stocked outfield, you should be thinking how handy such an asset would be to have around Tempe right now, what with our Josh Hamilton issue. NOTE: you may have to answer a couple of questions to unlock the article. If you cannot, here is the best quote, coming from STL hitting coach John Mabry: "He’s still a young guy figuring it all out," Mabry said. "He’s a Lamborghini. He’s got all the skills in the world. You look at his skill set and every person on this field and every person in this league would look at him and go, ‘Yeah, I want that.’ He’s got the tools. He’s also trying to manage them on the fly."
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The pissiness shall never stop. The Yankees twitter coverage went out of their way to ignore ARod's first home run of the season, which sticks out when contrasted to all the hype created around all the other meaningless stuff during spring ...............
Will Ferrell spent the day raising money for charity (and - duh - raise awareness to his upcoming movie). Reports now are that he will be sidelined for the year after TJ surgery...........All that and he fails to make the All-Time Celebrity Baseball starting lineup..........But any dude that buys hot dogs for all fans in an entire section makes MY personal HoF.
Seventh-grader compiling 4,256 reasons Pete Rose belongs in HOF. Pay particular attention to the anonymous anecdote about how the majority of baseball players bet on baseball............
H/T to Uni Watch: Olympic-style ski-jumping competition. In the winter. No big deal, right? Wrong! This competition was held in Chicago proper, IN WRIGLEY FIELD!...........
This is considered "old school", in Cuba. Explains Puig. A lot............
One of the reasons the Angels farm system looks bad, is because other systems look so good. But sometimes when those systems look so good, it's not so accurate............
For sale: one used New York Mets Bullpen Cart..........
The Twins are opening up The Barrio, a Latin-themed full liquor bar with game views in Target Field. Sounds like more fun that the Bud Pavilion to me..........
Grand Theft Auto: MLB Spring Training Edition..............
Man, this is harsh. Little League Baseball is not done punishing Jackie Robinson West for territory impingements. Now they are disbanding the entire District and shelling the turf out to surrounding Districts...........
Vlad Guerrero Junior. Like father, like son..............
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And now, being the full service weekend linkage institution that we are, here is the obligatory moment we take out of each Friday...for beer...
Friday: (It's Friday the 13th. Find your own damned gastropub to hide within!)
Saturday: AHA Rally at Sudwerk Brewery Dock Store in Davis............Best Damn Night of the Barrels IV takes place at Downtown Johnny Brown's in San Diego............In Fairfax, the Fairfax pavilion is the site of this year's Fairfax Brewfest 2015.............Getting a jump on things, Hoppy St. Pat's Day is at Pyramid Alehouses located in Berkeley AND in Walnut Creek.............Most importantly, today marks Pi Day. So King Harbor Brewery in Redondo Beach is doing a beer and food event, which includes a Pie Eating Contest............The Rock Star Beer Festival puts it down at Yost Theater in Santa Ana..........The Shamrock BeerFest is at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino.
Sunday: In El Cajon, on the Main Parking Lot, we can find the EC Craft Beer Festival.