Good morning!
Here are several go-to links that will make the offseason a bit more bearable:
-
Gary Carter is gravely ill with brain cancer but the Hall of Fame catcher still managed to attend the Palm Beach Atlantic College season opener. Bill Madden of the New York Daily News has the details. The Mets should retire the Kid’s No. 8 in the home opener at Citi Field.
-
SB Nation Dallas’s Eddie Maisonet: “Well it looks like Josh Hamilton’s bar tab might’ve become a bit pricier than expected.”
-
Is Lou Brock overrated? Andy from High Heat States believes so, even going so far as to say that the left fielder did not deserve his invite to Cooperstown.
-
Steve Kornacki of the Detroit Free Press cautions that a Cecil Fielder–Prince Fielder reunion won’t happen anytime soon.
-
Paul Swydan of FanGraphs discusses the possibility that Jayson Werth will play center field for the Nationals this season:
Jayson Werth is an athletic player, and he has experience in center field, but he is also an expensive player, and Washington needs to make sure he doesn’t end up as a sunk cost. Werth may be able to hang in center field this season, but recent history shows that the Nationals would be wise to make sure that this experiment lasts for only one season — if it lasts that long at all.
-
Via Yardbarker’s “Weed Against Speed,” the aquarium behind the backstop of the Marlins’ new stadium is in place. Now all that is needed is a Mike Stanton foul ball to test the durability of the fiberglass that protects the fish from kissing the foul territory dirt.
-
Dan Brooks of the Hardball Times alerts us that long-term Pitch F/X data is now available at BrooksBaseball.net.
-
Jose Reyes lost his dreadlocks while sitting in a MLB Network studio barber chair, thanks to his new employer’s grooming rules.
The Dodgers signed reliever Todd Coffey, pending a hot-dog-eating contest physical.
That’s it, folks! With the Giants Super Bowl victory in the rear-view mirror, it is time to think baseball. Pitchers and catchers report in less than two weeks!