Spring Training News & Notes, 4/1: Catching Up With Everyone

Marlins: Cody Ross (groin) hasn’t ruled out playing on Opening Day. If he misses, Emilio Bonafacio could make the start… Brian Barden, Mike Lamb, Clay Hensley and Jose Veras are expected to make the team…Bryan Peterson was sent to the minors.

Phillies: Joe Blanton will miss 3-6 weeks with a mild oblique strain.

Blue Jays: Pitcher Marc Rzepczynski is expected to miss six weeks of action after taking a line drive off his hand on Tuesday. Rzepczynski was battling for a spot in the Jays’ rotation before his injury. ... Jays’ new general manager Alex Anthopoulos has a tall task in front of him steering his team through a difficult AL East.

Orioles: Baltimore traded for Cardinals infielder Julio Lugo on Thursday and to many’s surprise, it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke. But who’s paying his salary? The Boston Red Sox. ... After losing the backup catcher job, Chad Moeller was granted his release by the Orioles Thursday.

Royals: The Gil Meche saga continues. The latest news is that he’s now headed to the DL, along with 3B/OF Josh Fields. While most real teams have had their rosters set, or close to it, for a week, the Royals remain vague with regards to three roster spots.

Indians: David Huff has made the starting rotation. While Michael Brantley is thrilled to make the Opening Day roster.

Mariners: Garrett Olson was optioned to AAA Tacoma on Thursday. Kirby Arnold thinks this means Jesus Colome has locked up a roster spot, but Geoff Baker thinks the M’s will go with an 11-man pitching staff instead, keeping Eric Byrnes and Ryan Langerhans and dropping Colome...Corey Patterson opted out of his contract to explore other opportunities...Jon Heyman says the Mariners are still looking at Jarrod Washburn, but that the Royals are offering more money...Erik Bedard is scheduled to throw 25-30 pitches off a bullpen mound Thursday.

Angels: KLAA AM 830 and 710 ESPN radio have announced a partnership...Reggie Willits is probably going to begin the season on the DL with a hamstring strain. Terry Evans, who went 5-5 on Wednesday, will likely take his place, as Evans can play all three outfield positions.

Diamondbacks AZ SnakePit reports that Brandon Webb has been released by the Diamondbacks. His place on the roster will be taken by Kris Benson, and they report an un-named team source as saying, “I’m pretty stoked. about that – I heard he’s got a hot wife.” The Diamondbacks hope to recoup some of the cost of Webb’s salary by selling him to a glue factory.

Dodgers Joe Torre shocked the Dodgers nation with the announcement on True Blue LA that Jamey Carroll would be the opening day 2nd baseman for Los Angeles. Said Torre, “When DeWitt bobbled the easy ground ball yesterday it just reinforced our decision that he wasn’t ready to handle the job yet.”

Padres This one is probably a bit vaguer than some other stories, but Gaslamp Ball tells us this morning that “a really old former Padre has decided to come out of retirement to play for the Padres. He will be manning a position that would not necessarily make sense even if this totally implausible situation were true. Like first base or something.”

Rockies Purple Row continue to be the go-to place on SB Nation for knitting news. They have gathered together a fascinating collection of links for the needle-oriented today, including an interview with Marie Landry, founder of the Itty Bitty Tittie Knitting Committee, a company that hand knits prostheses for breast cancer survivors.

Giants Nothing much to report from McCovey Chronices this morning. Surprised they hadn’t picked up on the news that Tim Lincecum will miss Opening Day after a tragic clubhouse accident in which he got too close to Pablo Sandoval, and was sucked in by the gravitational field. “It was just like that scene in Poltergeist” commented a team-mate who witnessed the incident, going on to say, for some reason, “Happy April 1st…”

Brewers: Reliever Todd Coffey had his roughest outing of the spring Wednesday, allowing three runs in an inning of work, but had a good excuse for it: He was pitching with a ruptured eardrum. He’s expected to be re-examined Thursday...Ken Macha is serious about convincing Carlos Gomez to remain focused on getting on base, and has enlisted the help of Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks and hitting coach Dale Sveum to drive the point home.

Cardinals: The team got some good news Wednesday, when a CT scan revealed nothing more than a bone bruise on catcher Jason LaRue’s left hand. He’s day-to-day and could be good to go for Opening Day.