MLB

Top Story: The Battle of Lakeland

Spring training has finally begun. Everyone likes to say that the games are meaningless, yet for some, they mean too much. There are guys out there fighting for jobs that mean everything to them.

Sure, most of the rosters are pretty much set from the get-go, but many guys are auditioning for other teams and playing for future considerations when guys get hurt.

The newest host on the San Francisco Giants' flagship radio station took a swipe at how the club opted to exact revenge against Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder.

F.P. Santangelo, a former big leaguer and current part-time Giants analyst, said that Barry Zito's hitting Fielder with a pitch in Thursday's spring training game was a weak, inappropriate response to the controversial home plate celebration Fielder and his Milwaukee teammates acted out following his game-winning home run late last year.

There is a widespread consensus that the Red Sox starting rotation was significantly improved this winter.

But while most of that improvement is attributed to the signing of John Lackey, there is more to it than just that.

Lackey will no doubt improve the Sox rotation. But in addition to adding the best free agent pitcher on the market, the Red Sox improved their rotation through subtraction.

The Minnesota Twins scored one run on two hits off RHP Josh Beckett in the first inning of tonight's Grapefruit League opener at a chilly City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, FL (it was 45 degrees when the final out was recorded). Afterwards, Beckett and seven relievers shut down the opposing offense on two hits over the final eight innings in the Sox 2-1 win. 

Besides Beckett, only LHPs Hideki Okajima and Brian Shouse allowed singles in the ballgame. Red Sox pitchers combined to strike out four and issue three walks.

Victor Martinez has huge shoes to fill behind home plate at Fenway Park. His predecessor was team captain, backstopped two World Series championship teams and is the only catcher in the history of the game to have caught four no-hitters.

With Jason Varitek now relegated to part-time duty, many pundits are wondering aloud whether Martinez will prove to be an adequate replacement with the bat and behind the plate.

Bobby Valentine stood in the Mets dugout during an exhibition contest between the Mets and the Braves in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon.

One can make a case that Valentine wanted to hang out with the guys. Another will say he's doing his due diligence about the Amazins for his ESPN gig.

It's hard to believe he attended the game for those reasons. The former Mets manager has a motive for whatever he does.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are one of the most storied franchises in all of baseball. A whole generation of baseball fans are unaware of that fact, thanks largely in part to 17- straight losing seasons.

2010 will very likely be the 18th-straight season of losing for the Pirates and their fans.

However, it finally appears the team is done retooling and is heading toward respectability.

No player embodies the youth movement of the team more so than Andrew McCutchen.

Ah, with one mild fastball placed squarely between the ample shoulder blades of Prince Fielder, Barry Zito of our San Francisco Giants reminded the athletic world exactly why Major League Baseball will always be the top dog for many of its fans.

As for me, no affinity for another sport will ever replace my love of "The Show."

And it's because of old-school moments just like Zito's beanball right out of the spring training gates.

For those of you unfamiliar with the first salvo in this six-month-old dispute, allow me to explain.

Here's the situation: You're a general manager for a new expansion baseball team and Bud Selig has decided to give you the choice to pick any player in the league on any team with your first pick.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Then the real problem arises:

Whom do you pick?

Do you go with an elite hitter like Albert Pujols, or do you take a lights-out starter like Roy Halladay? Do you take a money closer like Mariano Rivera, or do you go with a young stud like Joe Mauer?

Free agent pitcher Kiko Calero must have had the worst medical records of anybody this offseason. That is the only logical explanation I can think of for Calero not being able to sign a major league contract.

After posting a 1.95 ERA, 10.4 K’s/9, and a 1.10 WHIP in 60 innings with the Florida Marlins last year, I thought Calero would have many suitors this offseason. It was clearly not the case.

Many teams were scared to sign Calero.