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What a sweet opening weekend to the Cactus League. Live baseball with lots of up and a few downs, with special appearances by Shohei Ohtani and Garrett Richards. More names will start appearing this week. It feel great. if I had a lawn, I’d go out and mow it just to imagine I was in Tempe and lie would be perfect.
Immerse yourself in these Get-Up-To-Speed-Spring-Training-Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
It was Shohei Ohtani Weekend, and his first turn on the mound was a tad more than I expected for a guy who was coming off an injury, hadn’t pitched in a while, was working with a new battery-mate - one who uses a foreign language - for the first time, facing brand-new batters (with little scouting history), he’s younger than all but 2 guys we saw in uniform LAST year (who are all a year older), and him being in camp less than 2 weeks. Still, he showed great range of speed and a wicked curveball. And the world dissected the hell off it all. It’s all over the place.........If anything, worry about what Brewers batters had to say............
We may see Shohei DH any day now. But along the way, the Angels are “using objective metrics” to track his conditioning. They won’t say what those are. But the’re objective..........
Arte should charge an admission fee for the Ohtani press. That way he could keep the an tickets for St down a little bit............
We have been seeing some preview work of our pitching staff, but Trout, Pujols and company should start showing up in another couple of days or so..........
Garrett Richards was yesterday, opening up his pre-season campaign to remind us all that he is our Ace............
I’d like to have 2016 Cam Bedrosian back..........
Shohei’s first K in an LAA uniform..........Jake Jewel showed well..........Jo Adell showed even weller..........It may only be practice baseball, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have great play..........
Everywhere In Baseball
Following the lead established by the Rockies, with a recent announcement by the DBacks that they would follow, MLB has stepped in and mandated that all 30 teams use humidors for game baseballs. The idea is that this is one way to make all balls more uniform..........
Will Middlebrooks is trying to cling to any form of MLB career, and his 2018 ST campaign to regain a uniform lasted about 24 hours before he recorded the first game injury of the year..........
Baseball has always been a business? So, like, it’s never been about doing silly things just because I want to be a fan? Shucks...........
Jen Poway worked the exhibition game over the weekend between the Detroit Tigers and Florida Southern University. And the best thing to report is that there is nothing to report. One great step or womankind...........
In a perfect world, the same players who are the ones who are taking longer and longer to get through a game should be the ones empowered with the responsibility to figure out how to get themselves back on track. But, as we all know, it’s far from a perfect world...........
Jack Hamilton, the guy who hit phenom Tony Conigliaro in the head and pretty much ruined his career, has died at the age of 79. Conigliaro died at the age of 45, back in 1990. The injury happened in the 4th inning of an August game between the Red Sox and Angels, in 1967. Hamilton would stay with the Angels through the 1968 season (only pitching through June), and Conigliaro would make a brief stint with the Angels in 1971..........
Lest we forget, there is still a standoff on cable carriers paying for the Dodgers mega TV deal. But at least some early season games are free. The teases..........
Meet UZR. Because you read about it all the time and you have no idea what it means.
The worst thing you can do as a prospect who has worked all the way up to the verge off making the MLB level, is to be a screw up. Meet Dominic Smith, Mets Screwup.........
First food porn off Spring..........
Hot Stove
Oops. There does appear to be something out of the ordinary with the medical reports for J.D. Martinez...........The BoSux will probably make the formal announcement of the signing today, but first they had to work out some wording changes to his contract should whatever it is that is odd about Martinez rise up down the road and impact his ability to play...........
Greg Holland is still on the market, and the Angels are among the teams sniffing around..........
Erick Aybar has a new job, this time with the Twins..........
Logan Morrison is also hooking on with the Twins..........
And Francisco Liriano is getting a deal with the Tigers..........
Jose Bautista is interested in signing on with the Rays. Let’s see now, aging one-time superstar who may no longer be able to hit anymore but wants to demonstrate that he’s still got it, is interested in a big-dollar free agent contract with a team that is slashing payroll and positioning itself to lose a lot of games. I hate to be Bautista’s agent right about now...........
The Duffle Bag
The Tampa Bay Rays use the same medical staff that LAA uses. Brent Honeywell, who left a throwing session in camp with an injury that was first reported as a forearm strain, saw that strain quickly turn into TJ surgery...........This is why we don’t need self-driving bullpen carts.....................Considering that it is mostly covered up, and looks to be lacking protective padding as though it is still under construction, no, this is NOT a picture of the new RF wall in Anaheim.........Tim Tebow is practically Mickey Mantle, sprinkler injury and all..........Not as good as I have seen in the past, but these baseball card animations are always fun..........Picture Day throughout MLB, and players get bored...........
OT: I didn’t know I had this guy as my personal hero. Now I know. And I love him..........