Yankees almost return favor on no-hitter to Marlins in Panama

So I guess the hits Marisnick, Dietrich, Yelich and Hechavarria got on Saturday didn’t count…

Francisco Cervelli was 3-for-3 Sunday, and got the first hit of the game. Since the Yankees were no-hit Saturday, Cervelli’s hit represented the first by a Major Leaguer since 1947, when the Yankees and MLB visited the country that year. “I’m lucky. I’m going to be in the (record) books,” said Cervelli.

...Derek Jeter said the Yankees didn’t arrive at Rod Carew Stadium Sunday with any chip on ...

Kovacevic: This has to be Year of the Bat

Just don’t expect Stewart’s Year of the Cat-cher (0-13 this spring)

Barring more bruises and welts, then, the best way – maybe the only way – for these Pirates to achieve their goal of exceeding last season’s performance is for this to be the Year of the Bat.

I’m not sure that’s possible, but I am sure of this: Each individual still has room between his head and his personal ceiling.

As Clint Barmes put it, “And I don’t think there’s a guy in here, even Cutch, who can’t improve.”

...

Patrick Corbin tears UCL, could miss 2014 Diamondbacks season

An MRI on Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin’s left elbow showed a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, the team announced Sunday, and it appears he could be headed toward season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Even if he doesn’t need surgery, Corbin likely won’t be pitching anytime soon, a crushing blow for a team with designs on contending in the National League West.

NY Post: Davidoff: Plenty of hot seats to go around with Opening Day imminent

Nelson Cruz, Baltimore. He accepted a one-year, $8 million deal from the Orioles after rejecting a one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer from the Rangers. Oops. In a related note, he will be returning from a 50-game Biogenesis suspension. [...] Ruben Amaro Jr., Philadelphia. Clever critics for years have called the Phillies’ GM “Ruin Tomorrow, Jr.,” and tomorrow seems to have arrived. Cole Hamels’ sore left shoulder and the Rollins-Sandberg tension have made for an aggravating ...

Still quiet on the contract talk front for the Orioles Chris Davis

The Orioles and their slugging first baseman Chris Davis, still have yet to get too far in any talks of a new contract for the player who led the majors in homers, RBIs and extra-base hits in 2013.

Davis said this morning there is not much happening on that front right now.

“Not that I know of and you guys are pretty good about finding things out. I’m sure if anything is said we’ll be talking about it, but those are for Scott (Boras) and Dan (Duquette). I have way too much to focus on here,” ...

Neil Best: A trip to Mike FrancesaLand

I don’t like Sabermetrics. I like Inge…a lot.

It still was early on another day he would spend entertaining, informing and frequently maddening metropolitan-area sports fans, a job he has been at for a quarter-century during which he has become an iconic New York lightning rod.

Francesa is fine with that.

“The one good thing is nobody has ignored me,” he said. “You don’t have to have them love you. You don’t have to have them hate you. You just have to have them want to listen to you no ...

Marlins spoil Mariano Rivera homecoming, no-hit Yankees in Panama

“Sorry We Ruined Your Party” (Frenchmen LP search now under way!)

The celebration of Mariano Rivera took a historic turn of sorts, but not in the way the Yankees had hoped.

Four Marlins pitchers combined to no-hit the Yankees in front of a packed house at Rod Carew National Stadium, beating the Bombers, 5-0.

...“I don’t think it’s what we imagined,” Girardi said. “It wasn’t the historic night that I envisioned.”

...“We hit a few balls hard; they pitched extremely well,” Girardi said. “You ...

Madden: On 25th anniversary of Pete Rose ban, steroid man Barry Bonds is back in Giants’ fold

Brooding Bill Madden hasn’t been this ticked off since Lucy Ann Polk split from The Four Polks!

One can only imagine what Pete Rose must have been thinking last week seeing convicted felon Barry Bonds , an arrogant, surly “anti-ambassador” of baseball his entire career, who cheated his way past Hank Aaron to the all-time home run record and then lied about his use of steroids to everyone, including a federal grand jury, back in uniform for the San Francisco Giants as a special spring ...

Can Brett Anderson stay off the disabled list this year? | SportsonEarth.com

Will he be healthy this year?

Report: Jose Iglesias could miss most of the 2014 season

Chvrches: The broken bones of what you believe.

Earlier, D.J. Short wondered if the Tigers would make a play for free agent Stephen Drew after it was reported that shortstop Jose Iglesias would begin the season on the disabled list with shin splints. It may be worse than the Tigers expected. ESPN’s Jim Bowden is reporting that Iglesias could miss most of the 2014 season. As a result, they indeed will be expected to pursue Drew.

ESPN: LaTroy Hawkins and family

Well, like all family members do, sometimes they do ask for something. Like the request made by Eric Weber (LHFC member No. 230) when he was 17 and attending high school near the Twin Cities a decade or so ago. He and Hawkins were chatting online one day when Weber suddenly asked whether he could borrow the pitcher’s BMW 745 so he could drive his date, Hannah, to the junior prom.

And Hawkins said sure, of course. Because that’s the kind of guy Hawkins is.

The day of the prom was also ...

Manny Machado has not yet been able to run; not cleared to play in games

ElAttrache My Eye!

Third baseman Manny Machado will not make the re-evaluation appointment for his surgically repaired left knee that was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, as he’s been unable to run for the past few days, further questioning whether the 21-year-old will be ready to start the season.

“There’s no sense in doing that [appointment] until he can really show them what he can do running,” manager Buck Showalter said of Machado’s final evaluation, which would give him the green ...

SABR conference explores new frontiers - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN

A lot of interesting tidbits in this one too.

But the most sobering realization? While the rate of successful outcomes on Tommy John surgeries is down around 75 percent, Fleisig said that he’s found nearly 40 percent of parents and coaches think it might help their baseball-playing kids in high school and college to have elective Tommy John surgery, thinking that it might reliably add a couple ticks to their fastball. He suggested that the phenomenon of added velocity in big-league pitchers ...

Moneyball … But With Money «

A lot of good stuff here, including this tidbit.

The similarly revenue-challenged Rays have ranked among the American League’s elite teams for most of the past six seasons, thanks in part to using even more nuanced platoons than simple lefty-righty splits. Manager Joe Maddon won’t hesitate to start certain players based on the ground ball–to–fly ball tendencies of an opposing pitcher. One of Tampa Bay’s most contrarian moves has been its occasional use of a nearly all-righty lineup ...

Peter Gammons: Nominees for the future front of the rotation - GammonsDaily.com

Latest from Gammons.

A’s starters Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin likely out to start season - Oakland Athletics : The Drumbeat

Pitchers getting hurt.

Major news, and not good, for the A’s today: projected Opening Day starter Jarrod Parker is likely to miss the start of the season because of a forearm injury; Parker will visit orthopedist Dr. James Andrews in Alabama on Monday. And A.J. Griffin, the team’s No. 4 starter, will see Dr. Doug Freedberg in Scottsdale today because of elbow discomfort.

Think the Yankees have infield problems this season? Just wait | New York Post

Are the Yankees in danger of getting locked into a cycle of mediocrity?

Agent Scott Boras says Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew willing to wait for long-term deals - ESPN

Until the CBA expires Boras has to deal with things as they are, not how he wants them to be. Drew *might* be able to get a decent contract in June. I can’t see how Morales can make up for the $14.1 million he passed up this year.

In the two years under the current landscape, all 22 players who have received qualifying offers have declined and decided to take their chances on the open market. Boras, an outspoken critic of the system, said that’s no surprise.

“I started preparing these guys in ...

Belligerent Red Sox Prospect Arrested While “Looking To Get Some Pussy”

Not just another cat lover.

Seattle Mariners option Jesus Montero to Triple-A Tacoma

Jesus Wash.ed.

Designated hitter/first baseman Jesus Montero, the one-time cornerstone for the rebuilding project that is the Seattle Mariners, will not be with the big-league club when the 2014 season begins in April after he was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Friday.

Montero put up decent numbers during the exhibition season, batting .310 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 29 at-bats, which helped to partially salvage a spring training that started in disastrous fashion.

In Febrary, Montero ...

Bill James Mailbag - 3/14/14

I’ll read my annuals with the pork and beans…

Assume MLB never expanded but it continued to recruit players as it has, roughly halving the size of the MLB pool: are there players we now consider to be at the star/solid regular level who would be sitting on the bench? IOW, which position is so full of stars/solid regulars now that the 17th best player would surprise people?

There are no such players. Expansion put pressure on the organizations to find more players, leading to larger minors, much ...

Terry Collins to Ruben Tejada: Shortstop job is all yours

Ruben Tejada went 0-for-3 Thursday and is 1-for-15 in spring training. He made an error on a routine play, his third such miscue in his last five games.

Still, after his day was over, Tejada was told by Mets manager Terry Collins that he will be the team’s shortstop this season.

“I talked to him today about trying to relax a little bit,” Collins said after the Mets’ 7-5 win over the Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. “Quit worrying about things.

“I said, ‘Listen, you’re the shortstop here. ...

AZ Republic: Mesa Riverview center bends on parking for Cubs games

At least three times already this year, crowds at the new Chicago Cubs stadium have smashed all-time Cactus League attendance records. But not everyone seemed eager at the outset to cash in on those fans and their money.

Kimco Realty, which owns the tax-subsidized Riverview shopping center across from the stadium on Dobson Road, created some bad vibes among baseball fans and Riverview Park patrons by initially banning non-customer parking at the center. At the same time, a competing center in ...

Braves’ Beachy might need another Tommy John surgery

Pitcher Brandon Beachy’s arm injury appears to be far worse than he and the Braves initially believed, and he could find out Monday that he needs a second Tommy John elbow surgery and another year-long rehabilitation.

The Braves face the almost unimaginable, but quite real, possibility that starting pitchers Kris Medlen and Beachy could both be told Monday when they visit Dr. James Andrews that each needs to have a second ligament-transplant surgery, aka “Tommy John” surgery. Andrews did ...

The 8 most loyal fanbases in major league baseball

Fans like teams with winning records; that is a shock. What would the Yankees (or Giants, or Red Sox, or….) be if they went 62-100? Those seem like the loyal fans to me.

Ryan Zimmerman will sit out Nationals’ next two games

Pain isn’t good.

“At first you’re concerned, because you don’t want anything to hurt,” Zimmerman said. “Once every day it starts to feel better, you realize it’s just soreness and not anything structural. At first, you’re always nervous, especially when you had something repaired. It’s okay.
“It feels good enough to play now. Because we’re afforded with the time we have now, we should just give it one or two more days to make sure it’s completely out of there. You can do ...

Nothing to Rollins’ benching, Sandberg claims | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia

Who cares?

However, Sandberg’s there’s-nothing-to-see-here story became a little tough to believe when it became clear he was bothered by a recent comment that Rollins made in the Philadelphia Daily News.

On Monday, with the losses and the 0-fers piling up, Rollins said something to the effect that he wasn’t concerned about the way things were going because it was just spring training.

“Who cares?” he said.

The comment hit the paper Tuesday morning, the same day that Rollins was ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-14-2014

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, March 14, 1914:

Joe Oeschger, pitcher for St. Mary’s College team of [Oakland], signed a three-year contract [yesterday] to play with the Philadelphia Nationals and will report to that club next week. He is a right hander who has been successful in college baseball for two years.

Coincidentally, Oeschger’s most famous appearance in the big leagues was successful and lasted about two years.

Actually, it lasted 3:50, which is mindblowingly short for the longest game in ...

Renck: In plunking Troy Tulowitzki, Diamondbacks way off base

Makes about as much sense as Plunkblog.

Mediocrity has made the Diamondbacks angry.

Their rattle is louder. After consecutive .500 records, they overhauled their roster and have conducted Camp Tougher Meaner. Their new edge, while understandable, took a forked tongue in the road Wednesday night at Salt River Fields when Diamondbacks pitcher Wade Miley hit Rockies shortstop Troy Tulo- witzki with a fastball in the left calf near his fibula.

...The Rockies’ season could have been over before ...

Brad Ziegler tweets his mind, and then some

He wants baseball’s drug testing program strengthened and says it’s impossible to believe the game is totally clean without it. He wants Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun to once and for all divulge the details that led to his drug suspension instead of vague apologies. He wants the Hall of Fame to be off limits to any player linked to performance-enhancing drugs. And, if it’s not asking too much, he wants every player to hustle to first base.
When the St.Louis Cardinals signed Jhonny Peralta ...