Games of the Day  —  The 2016 MLB season gets underway at 1 PM EDT as the Cardinals visit the Pirates.  The Cardinals won the NL Central in 2015, with the Pirates just two games behind.  Both lost the third place Cubs (three back of the Cardinals) in the NL playoffs.

Pollock emerges from ‘nightmare,’ Diamondbacks move on  —  PHOENIX (AP) A.J. Pollock emerged as one of baseball's best players a year ago.  Now the Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star center fielder is out for the foreseeable future after fracturing his right elbow in a head-first slide at home plate in an exhibition game Friday night.

Taylor Teagarden - shown in Al-Jazeera documentary - suspended for violating drug policy  —  Taylor Teagarden, a free agent catcher who was named in the same Al-Jazeera report that connected Peyton Manning and baseball stars Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard to anti-aging clinics, was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball on Friday.

Brewers Sign Carlos Torres  —  10:49am: The Brewers have announced that they've signed Torres to a one-year big-league deal.  To make room on the 40-man roster, they've moved outfielder Rymer Liriano (face) to the 60-day DL.  To clear active roster space, they optioned Cravy to Triple …

Alex Presley Will Not Make Brewers, Has 48-Hour Window To Be Added Elsewhere  —  Alex Presley has been told he will not make the Brewers' Opening Day roster, MLBTR has learned.  There will now be a 48-hour period in which other teams can decide whether they want to add Presley to their active rosters …

CARDS MISS SHOT AT LIRIANO  —  The Cardinals had their shot at Pittsburgh lefthander Francisco Liriano on Sunday.  But they couldn't pull the trigger in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings as they stranded eight runners in that time.  —  The latest misfire came in the sixth …

Introducing ... the best and worst defensive teams, plus most improved and teams that got worse  —  Last week, I laid out MLB's best and worst defensive players, according to Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) projections for the 2016 season, and while the defensive skill of some younger players …

Nationals Release Reed Johnson  —  The Nationals have released outfielder Reed Johnson, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com tweets.  The Nats also cut Sean Burnett on Sunday morning, though Burnett had already decided to opt-out of his deal.  —  Johnson, 39, inked a minor league deal with the Nats in November.

Padres Sign Jeremy Guthrie To Minor-League Deal  —  SATURDAY: The deal is complete, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.  —  FRIDAY: The Padres have agreed to terms with righty Jeremy Guthrie on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports report (via Twitter).