|
 RHP Jeff Samardzija worked two scoreless innings in the Feb. 27
Cactus League opener against the Diamondbacks. Samardzija, last
year's Opening Day starter, gave up two hits. He is the early
favorite to pitch the regular-season opener at Pittsburgh. It is
also possible Samardzija will be traded, but he made it sound as if
that would surprise him. "From what it sounds like right now, we're
going head over heels for the season with this team," he said after
his start. He and the Cubs are still working on a long-term contract
extension.
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MLB Note - Chicago Cubs Bonifacio, Emilio
INF Emilio Bonifacio started at second base in the Cactus League
opener against the Diamondbacks. He tripled and scored a run in the
first inning. The Cubs recently signed Bonifacio to a minor league
contract and invited him to big-league camp. He possesses speed, an
item in short supply with the Cubs. It is possible he could stick as
a backup infielder.
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MLB Note - Chicago Cubs Fujikawa, Kyuji
RHP Kyuji Fujikawa began throwing off a mound in late February. It
was the first time he did so since having Tommy John surgery on his
elbow last June. The first session was 20-25 pitches. Fujikawa's
elbow injury limited him to just 12 games last season after the Cubs
signed him to a two-year deal out of Japan. "It's one step at a time
and it's a long process," Fujikawa said through his interpreter. The
Cubs hope he can return to major league action sometime during the
summer.
 -----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Chicago Cubs Hendricks, Kyle
RHP Kyle Hendricks, the organization's minor league pitcher of the
year last season, was impressive in an intrasquad game. He is a long
shot to make the Opening Day roster, but he could come up sometime
during the summer. "He's probably put himself on everybody's radar
by the way he went about his business last year," manager Rick
Renteria said. "It doesn't hurt anybody to come out and do well."
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MLB Note - Chicago Cubs Vizcaino, Arodys
RHP Arodys Vizcaino, who has not pitched since 2011 because of a
long recovery from Tommy John surgery, pitched in an intrasquad game
in late February. The Cubs remain hopeful Vizcaino can pitch for
them this season, and they would use him out of the bullpen. They
obtained him from the Atlanta organization at the July trading
deadline in 2012. "I'm just hoping his health continues to not be an
issue," manager Rick Renteria said. "His arm is live."
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Braun, Ryan J.
RF Ryan Braun homered in his first at-bat of the spring, going deep
against A's LHP Tommy Milone. It was Braun's first action since
accepting a 65-game suspension last season and admitted he used
performance-enhancing drugs. As far as his fielding, Braun said he
would track as many balls as possible during batting practice each
day. Braun is making the move from left field to right field, a
position he had not played previously.
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Wang, Wei-Chung
LHP Wei-Chung Wang admitted he was a bit nervous while pitching in
the Brewers' only intrasquad game of the spring. However, the
21-year-old Rule 5 draft pick knew how big of a star RF Ryan Braun
is and admitted to taking pride in striking him out.
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Olmsted, Michael
RHP Michael Olmsted, removed from the 40-man roster over the
offseason after a rough year at Triple-A Nashville, struggled in the
Brewers' intrasquad game. Olmsted walked two hitters, allowed two
hits and a run, and also uncorked a wild pitch.
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Smith, Will
LHP Will Smith impressed manager Ron Roenicke in his early bullpen
sessions in camp. Smith has done some starting in the majors, but
Roenicke told Smith he should focus at this point on winning a spot
in the bullpen.
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Herrera, Elian
UT Elian Herrera could be valuable to the Brewers for his remarkable
versatility. Herrera not only can play all three outfield spots, he
has can play second base, shortstop and third base. That kind of
flexibility could be huge on a National League roster.
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MLB Note - Milwaukee Brewers Weeks, Rickie
2B Rickie Weeks started and went 2-for-3 in the Brewers' first
Cactus League game. Weeks is battling Scooter Gennett for the
starting job. Weeks regressed at the plate the past two seasons. In
104 games last year, he batted only .209 with a .306 on-base
percentage, 10 homers and 24 RBIs. Weeks, 31, was lost for the
season at the outset of August with a torn hamstring, and Gennett
took over. Gennett, 23, raised eyebrows by batting .324 and playing
stellar defense, making a strong bid to unseat Weeks.
"Instead of worrying about who's going to start the season, I'm just
going to let them play and we'll talk about it later on here in
camp," manager Ron Roenicke said.
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MLB Note - Pittsburgh Pirates Pimentel, Stolmy
RHP Stolmy Pimentel is being given a starting pitcher's workload
this spring, but the rookie is expected be the Pirates' long
reliever when the season begins. Pimentel must make the team this
spring or be subjected to waivers if the Pirates try to send him to
the minor leagues because his is out of options. The Pirates believe
he would be claimed by another team. Pimentel, 24, made his major
league debut last September and had 1.93 ERA in five relief
appearances.
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Pittsburgh Pirates Sanchez, Tony
C Tony Sanchez is likely ticketed for Triple-A Indianapolis to begin
the season as Russell Martin seems set as the starting catcher and
Chris Stewart as the backup. However, the 25-year-old rookie is
giving the Pirates something to think about in the early days of
exhibition games. He hit three-run home runs both Tuesday in the
Black-Gold intrasquad game and Wednesday in the Grapefruit League
opener against the New York Yankees. Sanchez made his major league
debut with the Pirates last season and batted .233 with two homers
in 22 games.
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MLB Note - Pittsburgh Pirates Ishikawa, Travis
1B Travis Ishikawa, in spring training as a non-roster player, was
removed after one inning of the Black-Gold intraquad game on Tuesday
because of tightness in his right calf. He is likely out through the
weekend. A long shot to make the team, Ishikawa played in a combined
seven games with the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees last
season, going 2-for-19 (.105).
-----------------------------------------------
 MLB Note - Pittsburgh Pirates McCutchen, Andrew
CF Andrew McCutchen is working on his baserunning this spring after
winning the National League MVP award last season. He stole 27 bases
in 37 attempts last season for a 73 percent success rate. McCutchen
would like to increase both his stolen base percentage and volume of
steals in 2014.
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Pittsburgh Pirates Grilli, Jason
RHP Jason Grilli is lagging behind the rest of the pitchers in his
throwing program this spring and that is by design. The 37-year-old
closer wants to conserve his energy for the regular season after
pitching in 54 games last season and posting 33 saves with a 2.70
ERA. Grilli will likely make his first Grapefruit League appearance
either Monday against the Boston Red Sox in Bradenton or Tuesday
against the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland. "For a reliever, spring
training can be too long," Grilli said. "How many times do I have to
go out there to pitch one inning?"
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Martinez, Carlos E.
RHP Carlos Martinez embarrassed the Cardinals over dozens of graphic
images he had on his public Twitter page and helped him remove the
pornographic photos and links from his "favorites" page. Before he
could delete them, the page had gone viral, spread by Twitter users
and Deadspin.com. "We're embarrassed, and he's embarrassed," said
manager Mike Matheny, who spoke to the 22-year-old right-hander.
"I'm not trying to shove my morality down anybody's throat. I've
made that very clear. But I also need to be concerned about it. Is
this something you'd want your kids to see? Is this something that
you want to be known for? Is this how you want to be remembered? We
are, like it or not, role models. Regardless of your moral compass
and where it points, those sorts of things that we're talking about
are not things we want our kids seeing."
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Rosenthal, Trevor
RHP Trevor Rosenthal had to cut short a batting practice throwing
session because of soreness in his right quad. "It's nothing real
serious," the closer said. "Being this early, I thought I would say
something and take care of it now. If it was during the season, I
feel it would be nothing worth stopping. I just thought I'd say
something."
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Motte, Jason
RHP Jason Motte, who missed last season after Tommy John elbow
surgery, is progressing but doesn't think he'll be ready for the
start of the regular season on March 31. "You don't want to push it
because then you end up messing with your arm, your shoulder and
other stuff because it's not quite ready," Motte said. "I don't want
to push for April and have trouble when I could be ready later and
pitch the whole season."
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Craig, Allen
RF Allen Craig, seemingly healed from the severely sprained foot he
suffered last September, fell three RBIs shy of 100 after knocking
in 92 runs in an injury-plagued 2012 season. "I don't think about
'woulda, coulda, shoulda,'" Craig told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"I think I've done a good job preparing myself every year to play
every game. I've had a couple of unfortunate injuries as a result of
fluky things trying to make a play happen. My goal is to play every
single game, but I'm not looking back regretting anything. I've
played hard."
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Robinson, Shane
OF Shane Robinson, a valuable reserve who helped win a couple of
playoff games last year, finds himself fighting for a job again. But
he said, "You can get in trouble if you focus on, 'Oh, man. Every
year I come in here, nothing's ever given to me. And when is it
going to be my chance to have a little pressure off me in the
spring?' If I think that way, then I might not be in the spot I am.
It gives me some edge. It keeps me competitive."
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MLB Note - St. Louis Cardinals Garcia, Jaime
LHP Jaime Garcia, who missed significant time in the last two
seasons because of shoulder problems leading to labrum and rotator
cuff surgery last May, probably will not be ready at the start of
this season either. Garcia, after experiencing discomfort following
a throwing session before the exhibition season began, saw two
doctors and then got a cortisone shot for his shoulder before
returning to camp. But when he will pitch again is uncertain.
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MLB Note - Cincinnati Reds Simon, Alfredo
RHP Alfredo Simon started the exhibition opener and went two
scoreless innings. With RHP Mat Latos on the mend, the Reds are
considering Simon as a starter. "We do know we're short one starter
right now with Mat, so someone's going to be making that start,"
Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We have an interesting situation
with Tony Cingrani looking really good as our fifth starter. We've
got to look really hard at the guys who are next in line, if we were
to have any setbacks where Mat wasn't ready to start the season,
we've got to look at the group we have here, which would include
Simon. He's got a starter's background and a very, very durable arm,
so we want to look at him in longer stretches because we know he can
pitch out of the bullpen. He's a big, durable kid, who throw
strikes. We're going to stretch him out possibly beyond (two, three
innings) as a just-in-case as we get toward the back-end, decrease
the workload."
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MLB Note - Cincinnati Reds Broxton, Jonathan
RHP Jonathan Broxton threw his first bullpen session since his
August elbow surgery on Feb. 24, and it went well. Broxton is still
in line to be ready by Opening Day.
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Cincinnati Reds Latos, Mat
RHP Mat Latos is working out with the team again. Latos was held out
of drills for a week and a half after having minor knee surgery on
Feb. 14. "I feel like I'm part of the team again," he said. "I was
going crazy, pulling my hair out. It was fun to be out and joke
around again." Latos is progressing well, but he still hasn't thrown
off the mound. "I feel fantastic," he said. "I'm taking it day to
day. I don't want to put pressure by setting a date."
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MLB Note - Cincinnati Reds Cozart, Zack
SS Zack Cozart hit .254 overall last year, but he hit .287 from July
11 till the end of the season. "I ended the year pretty confident,"
Cozart said. "I wanted to continue on that. My simple thought the
last two months was: middle, the other way. I'm staying with that
approach. I think you can look back at those last two months and see
I hit probably double the amount of balls to right field and I did
early in the year. I want to stick to that approach."
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MLB Note - Cincinnati Reds Corcino, Daniel
RHP Daniel Corcino entered last year as club's fourth-rated prospect
but went 7-14 with a 5.86 ERA at Triple-A. "It was a step back for
(him)," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "But I don't think he was
ever right. He turned around a bit in the second, but his arm slot
was low, his stuff was flat, his velocity was down on both fastball
and slider. His command fell by the wayside."
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - New York Yankees Jeter, Derek
SS Derek Jeter made his Grapefruit League debut Feb. 27 and went
0-for-2 while playing five innings in the field in an 8-2 loss to
the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 39-year-old veteran, who played in only
17 games last season because of a fractured ankle and leg problems,
grounded into a double play and grounded out to third base. In the
field, Jeter's only action was a tag at second base on a stolen-base
attempt.
"I feel like I haven't played a game in a couple of years," Jeter
said. "That's what it felt like, even though I played a couple last
year. I think just getting out there (felt good). I don't know if
there's one thing in particular, but just getting into a game,
feeling good, that's what I was most excited about."
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MLB Note - Los Angeles Dodgers Greinke, Zack
RHP Zack Greinke made just four pitches in his spring training debut
Feb. 27 before leaving the Cactus League game against the
Diamondbacks with a right calf injury.
The ailment, which Greinke described as feeling like a cramp, was
diagnosed as a mild calf strain. However, he acknowledged he might
not be ready for Opening Day.
Greinke landed awkwardly while making a pitch to Arizona 2B Cliff
Pennington and was limping after throwing another pitch. Dodgers
trainer Stan Conte and manager Don Mattingly came to the mound, and
Greinke attempted several warm-up tosses before he left the game and
headed to the clubhouse.
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Oakland Athletics Elmore, Jake
INF Jake Elmore, designated for assignment by the White Sox on Feb.
26, was traded to the A's the next day in a cash deal. Elmore, 26,
played all nine positions for the Astros last season, when he hit
.242/.313/.325 with two homers and six RBIs in 52 games. Chicago
picked him up off waivers from Houston in November.
"Jake adds versatility to our roster and provides an option for
(manager) Bob (Melvin) at a number of spots," A's assistant GM David
Forst told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We had tried to acquire him
each time he was on waivers in 2013 and are excited that we found a
way to finally add him to the organization."
-----------------------------------------------
MLB Note - Oakland Athletics Parrino, Andy
INF Andy Parrino was designated for assignment by the A's on Feb. 27
to clear a roster spot for newly acquired INF Jake Elmore. Parrino,
28, went 4-for-34 (.118) with one RBI in 14 games for Oakland last
year. He also had brief major league stints with the Padres in 2011
and 2012.
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