Top News:
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Adjustments work wonders for Wang — Yanks' ace avoids overstriding, keeps ball down in strong start — TAMPA, Fla. — Those of you holding tickets for the final Opening Day at the current Yankee Stadium, feel free to breathe a hearty sigh of relief. — He may not be perfect …
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Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Cervelli to have surgery Wednesday — Catching prospect fractured wrist in home-plate collision — TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees catching prospect Francisco Cervelli will undergo surgery on his fractured right wrist on Wednesday in New York and is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks.
Discussion:
The Heater
Sports Illustrated:
Spring hot spot: St. Petersburg — Rays hoping for new downtown ballpark … ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On the list of hideously ugly big-league ballparks, Tropicana Field in Tampa ranks right near the top. The Trop is the antithesis of what a modern ballpark should be.
Amalie Benjamin / Boston Globe:
Sox win — The Red Sox won today, snapping their seven-game winless streak, with a 4-3 triumph over the Mets. — As for those comments from Mike Greenwell, who threw out the first pitch yesterday at City of Palms Park, he discussed the steroids issue this afternoon.
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John Brattain / Hardball Times:
These Numbers are Disconnected — Time for some mischief. Maybe it will get the Fire Joe Morgan treatment (h/t to ‘Ken Tremendous’ who gave me my first scandal ... one of the more enjoyable moments from last season). — I have been reading many verbal grenades being tossed back and forth …
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Joel Sherman / Hardball:3 DOWN: Reed Johnson, Blanton and Benitez
Discussion:
Mets Fever, Drunk Jays Fans, MLB Fleece Factor, MLB Rumors, Sliding Into Home and San Francisco Chronicle
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Simulated game adds up to success — Health, not velocity, is what matters the most to Pedro — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Pedro Martinez pitched in simulated game conditions early Tuesday afternoon. His work can be measured by numbers, and if it is, these are the numbers that mattered: three, three, 59, 43, 87 and four.
Discussion:
Hot Stove New York
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Jayson Stark / ESPN:
Beckett to miss Red Sox's MLB opener in Japan … FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Boston Red Sox haven't broken the news to the good people of Japan yet that Josh Beckett isn't going to be starting Opening Day in Tokyo. — But it's all but official now: Josh Beckett isn't going to be starting Opening Day in Tokyo.
Discussion:
MY BASEBALL BIAS, Boston Globe, SOX & Dawgs, Hartford Courant, The Joy of Sox and Red Sox Monster
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Phil Hughes / The Phil Hughes Weblog:
Bored... I didn't expect Joba, Ian and I to get so many questions about the three of us this spring. We've done two tri-interviews the last couple days. The most recent being this afternoon with the YES network. We've been asked everything from Joba's role this season to which nickname …
Discussion:
iYankees
Joe Frisaro / MLB.com:
Fish to go with four-man rotation at first — Early-season days off give manager Gonzalez some leeway — VERO BEACH, Fla. — A couple of early-season days off has Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez leaning towards going awhile with a four-man rotation. — “I'd like to go with four, and keep those guys on schedule,” Gonzalez said.
Discussion:
FishStripes
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Mike DiGiovanna / Los Angeles Times:
For Angels' Rivera, it could be wait till next year — Although he appears to be a superfluous outfielder now, team is reluctant to trade him because he could fill a prominent role in 2009 and 2010. — PEORIA, Ariz. — Juan Rivera has been labeled the odd man out in an Angels outfield …
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Tom Krasovic / U-T Padresblog:Morton's blast — Triple-A catcher Colt Morton's tremendous raw power …
Discussion:
Associated Press
New York Times:
Inquiry Into Doctor May Link Players to Drugs — Prosecutors at the United States attorney's office for the Northern District of California are investigating a California doctor to determine whether he illegally wrote prescriptions for patients, including major league baseball players …
Discussion:
Associated Press
Barry Svrluga / Nationals Journal:
Joel Hanrahan awesome, Zimmerman removed — Before we get to the Joel Hanrahan stuff, a quick update: Ryan Zimmerman was removed from tonight's game against the Braves here at Disney with right hip flexor tightness. The club said it was a precautionary move.
Discussion:
Washington Times, We've Got Heart, Federal Baseball, Capitol Punishment and Associated Press
Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Injuries leave Texas Rangers' rotation reeling — SURPRISE, Ariz. — When the Texas Rangers begin the regular season in Seattle on March 31 they will have a healthy starting rotation. Now, about the guys they planned on being in that rotation, well, that's a different story.
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Young Yankees Pitcher Has Love for Ranching — TAMPA, Fla. — There are 52 players in the Yankees' camp, winnowed from 69 at the start of spring training. By the end of the month, more than half of those remaining will be farmed out to the minors. At any time, the team could bring in better players through a trade.
Gordon Edes / Boston Globe:
Still batting around those ‘Abstract’ ideas — FORT MYERS, Fla. - Bill James can, and will, tell you lots of things about baseball that you don't know. That it doesn't pay, for example, for the Tampa Bay Rays to shift their defense against David Ortiz so that it looks like “a town meeting in right field.”
Adam McCalvy / MLB.com:
Sheets comes up short for first time — Allows initial spring runs and is knocked out after three innings — GIANTS 8, BREWERS 4 — Giants at the plate: Ray Durham went 4-for-4 including a single in the second inning, when San Francisco sent 10 men to the plate against Brewers starter Ben Sheets and scored five runs.
