Top News:
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Spring Game 4: Twins at Yankees — YANKEES (2-1) — Pitching today: Joba Chamberlain followed by Igawa, Dunn, Veras, Giese and others. — TWINS (3-0) — Span RF — Punto SS — Young LF — Kubel DH — Buscher 1B — Hughes 3B — Tolbert 2B — Butera C — Comez CF
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Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Posada scratched from today's lineup — Catcher says he tweaked shoulder while stretching Thursday — TAMPA, Fla. — Jorge Posada experienced the first setback of his rehab process on Saturday, as the Yankees scratched the designated hitter from the lineup with soreness in his surgically repaired right shoulder.
Joe Lapointe / New York Times:
Posada Aggravates Shoulder, and Yanks Call Time — TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said the new soreness in his surgically repaired right shoulder was nothing to worry about. — But there was enough concern within the Yankees' medical staff for Manager Joe Girardi to scratch Posada …
Kobrien / On the Yankees beat:
Posada scratched; Saturday vs. Twins — Jorge Posada was a late scratch from today's game. He is having some soreness on the front of his right shoulder, which he said popped up during Thursday's game. There's a certain stretch that he does when preparing to hit in games …
MLB:
Source: Kansas City Royals agree to deal with reliever Jose Cruz — Free-agent pitcher Juan Cruz, caught in an unusual vise of rules and economy this offseason, has agreed to a two-year deal with a third-year club option with the Kansas City Royals, a source familiar with the negotiations told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings, Royals Review, Jorge Says No!, Bucs Dugout, MLB Rumors and BBTF's Baseball Primer …
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Dick Kaegel / Royals Beat:
Royals sign reliever Juan Cruz to two-year deal — Right-hander Juan Cruz, a free-agent reliever, was signed by the Royals on Saturday. — Cruz signed a two-year contract with an option for 2011. The deal was believed to be worth $2.25 million for this year, $3.25 million for 2010 …
Sporting News:
Opening day in jeopardy for Johan Santana — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Mets ace Johan Santana says that his opening day start could be in jeopardy as he continues to battle tightness in his elbow. — “We have 162 games,” Santana said on Saturday. “What we have to accomplish takes 162 games.
Discussion:
Surfing the Mets, MY BASEBALL BIAS, NJ.com, Can't Stop The Bleeding and Associated Press
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Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Johan a question mark for opener — Sore left elbow could sideline Mets ace two more weeks — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — If Johan Santana is unable to start the Mets' first game — and the chance of that has increased at least marginally since he developed tightness in his pitching elbow …
Discussion:
24 Hours From Suicide
David Lennon / On the Mets beat:BREAKING NEWS: Johan Santana out indefinitely
Discussion:
Amazin' Stories, The 'Ropolitans, The700Level.com, Mets Fever, Mets Merized Online, Yahoo! Sports and Mike Silva's …
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Joba has short-lived day vs. Minnesota — Yankees put up early runs, but three-run third does them in — TWINS 7, YANKEES 3 — Twins at the plate: Delmon Young put Minnesota on the board in the top of the first inning, blasting an RBI double to deep center, and Jason Kubel also stroked a ground-rule RBI double.
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David Whitley / Orlando Sentinel:
Curt Schilling declares he wants to play for the Chicago Cubs . . . or Tampa Bay — Curt Schilling likes to break curses. The Chicago Cubs have had one for over a century. — Could it be the perfect match? — Schilling said Saturday that he'd like to pitch for the Cubs this season.
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Yanks' Top Scout Has Eye for Talent and Ear for Nuance — TAMPA, Fla. — The flight to Japan had just begun, but Billy Eppler could not wait. As soon as the plane reached its cruising altitude and he heard the overhead chime, Eppler asked the man beside him a pressing question.
Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com:
Billingsley looks sharp in first action — Dodgers righty puts in two solid innings against Mariners — PEORIA, Ariz. — It's been three months in the making, but Chad Billingsley's right arm has finally replaced his left leg as the most talked about limb on his body.
Discussion:
Purple Row
Derrick Goold / Bird Land:
Cardinals sign Navy ace Mitch Harris; will report after duty — JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals selected Mitch Harris in the 13th round of the most recent draft unsure if they could sign the Naval Academy's ace. Now that they've signed him, it's not clear when he'll play.
Geoff Baker / Mariners Blog:
M's tell Beltre: “No WBC.” — The Mariners have stepped in and made the decision for Adrian Beltre when it comes to his participating in the World Baseball Classic. Beltre was informed this morning that he will not be allowed to play for the Dominican Republic.
Discussion:
Seattle Mariners, U.S.S. Mariner, Lookout Landing, Rain Delay and Baseball Daily Digest Blog
David Pinto / Baseball Musings:
Probabilistic Strike Zone Model Permalink — The last few days I've been working with the pitch f/x data, with the idea of applying some kind of probabilistic model to the strike zone. I started with a very simple model to learn how to get around the data and to prove the concept.
