Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day, and trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end.
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The Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues opened up on Tuesday, and while a few teams were still playing against collegiate opponents, actual baseball is now here. Well, actual exhibition baseball, but it’s March 4 and we’ve got about a month left before real baseball that counts: enjoy what we have to watch, or the wait will be that much more difficult.
Thankfully, dingers that don’t count are still exciting dingers, and we got a few yesterday. Pirates infielder and rookie Jung-Ho Kang hit his first stateside long ball on Tuesday against the Blue Jays. Yoenis Cespedes, appearing in his first game in a Tigers uniform, blasted a grand slam to remind fans of why his team dealt Rick Porcello for his bat. Not everything was about homers, though, even if that’s usually the most exciting spring training game moment: the A’s Pat Venditte did the thing we have all been wanting to see from him, and switch-pitched in his outing. Yes, Venditte is a switch-pitcher who can pitch with either hand, and if you missed it, don’t fret, as there is video evidence of the ambidextrous occasion.
Yeah, spring training games don’t count, but they can still create some fun moments while we wait for the real thing. Just keep telling yourself that if you accidentally find yourself watching the B-game on a split-squad game. That or drink every time you see a player whose name you don’t recognize.
On second thought, only play that game if you reliable health insurance.
- Curt Schilling exposed two awful people who wrote vulgar, sexual things about his daughter to him on Twitter, and now one of them has been fired from their job. Good work, Curt!
- The Mets’ offseason was mostly about giving up a draft pick to sign Michael Cuddyer as fast as possible. Just how good does Cuddyer have to be to justify that impatience?
- Don’t tell anyone, but the Mariners are starting to spend like they used to slash should.
- These are the five key players of the AL West, the ones who will make or break their teams this summer.
- Teams besides the Padres made moves this winter, you know, and these forgotten transactions could make a huge impact in 2015.
- Alfredo Despaigne is still in Cuba, but all that means is we get to watch him take 50 seconds to admire a home run.
- The Red Sox faced two college teams yesterday, and managed to avoid losing to either. They might not have managed to avoid any injuries, though.
- Let’s take a look at the best of Giants photo day.
- Billy Bean -- the inclusion ambassador for MLB, not Billy Beane, Athletics’ general manager -- has been invited to Mets’ camp. And now we know how Daniel Murphy feels about Bean’s “lifestyle” as a gay man.
- Jimmy Rollins will be the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter this season, but that’s the only spot manager Don Mattingly has made a decision on so far.
- Shane Victorino is in a weird position, where he’s been publicly announced as the starting right fielder but might also be the most likely Sox outfielder to be traded this spring.
- New A’s designated hitter Billy Butler had to give Josh Reddick an Xbox One in exchange for number 16, but that’s not the first, weirdest or most expensive number swap that’s occurred.
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