Kuzul

With a few teams looking for outfield help before opening day, Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer is reportedly calling around to see if any of his peers might be interested in Marlon Byrd.

One major league source told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer that the Cubs offered Byrd to the Washington Nationals in exchange for some pitching. Yet, a different source said that the team is more interested in listening to offers than shopping him around.

Dealing Byrd would open up a spot for top prospect Brett Jackson, whom Cubs manager Dale Sveum thinks is ready for the majors but wouldn’t get everyday playing time as the roster currently stands.

Byrd to the Nationals would make sense, as they’ve been looking for a center fielder for at least the past couple of years. But their more immediate need could be in left field. Michael Morse has been nursing a strained lat on his right side, and appears likely to open the season on the disabled list.

The Nats have been looking at utility man Steve Lombardozzi in left, but according to the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore, manager Davey Johnson seems nervous about playing Lombardozzi at a position he’s not very familiar with.

Another team that may be talking about Byrd is the Atlanta Braves, who also have an opening in left field with Martin Prado moving to third base to replace the injured Chipper Jones. The Braves could also be looking at him for center field depth. David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the team wants a backup center fielder and has considered playing Jason Heyward there, if necessary.

The Miami Marlins might be another team to check in on Byrd. ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweeted that the Marlins called the Baltimore Orioles about Nolan Reimold, but were told he’s not available. Miami is looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and Byrd might fit in nicely between Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton.

Also in need of a center fielder is the New York Mets. As the New York Times’ Andrew Beh writes, the Mets face beginning the season with Andres Torres on the DL due to a strained calf. Scott Hairston is on the roster as the backup in center field, but he’s been out with an oblique strain.

However, the Mets aren’t looking to add payroll, and Byrd’s $6.5 million salary for 2012 would be problematic.

Last season, Byrd hit 276/.324/.395 with nine home runs and 35 RBI. He missed six weeks after getting hit in the face by a pitch from the Boston Red Sox‘s Alfredo Aceves.

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San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval had a resurgent 2011 season, batting .315/.357/.552 with 25 home runs and 70 RBI, and earning his first All-Star appearance. 

But Sandoval also flashed a great glove at the hot corner last season, according to the defensive metrics on Fangraphs. His performance on the field may have earned him what looks to be the coolest bobblehead we’ll see this season.

Through their official Twitter account, the Giants posted a picture of what the first 25,000 fans who attend the team’s Aug. 26 game against the Atlanta Braves will receive.

Check this baby out.

How slick is that? Kung Fu Panda looks so very Joe Cool, sporting shades and chewing bubble gum while diving for a baseball.

I’ll bet the bubble doesn’t even pop while Sandoval makes the play. 

Oh, and he doesn’t appear to be looking the ball into his glove, giving the certain “web gem” of the year even more flair. Perhaps he’s blowing that bubble to a kid in the stands who will remember that moment forever.

Say it’s so, Panda!

Sandoval’s action figure adds to what looks to be a great year for bobbleheads, including the Stephen Strasburg figurine that 15,000 Washington Nationals fans will receive on April 14 (via Washington Post), the Hello Kitty edition that the Los Angeles Dodgers will give to 50,000 of their presumed fans on July 1 (via MLB.com) and the great moments in Houston Astros history bobbleheads that fans will get throughout the season (via Chron).

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Houston Astros outfielder J.D. Martinez had a decent rookie season, compiling a .274/.319/.423 slash average with six home runs and 35 RBI in 226 plate appearances after joining the team in late July. 

Though he’s slated to be the Astros starting left fielder this season, Martinez wanted to be in great shape when he got to spring training. To achieve that, he wanted to be pushed hard. So hard that he’d leave his effort all over the training room. Literally. 

According to Steve Campbell of the Houston Chronicle, Martinez was looking for something particular in a personal trainer. He made that requirement clear to the person recommended to him for the job.

“I told him, ‘If you don’t make me puke in the first week, I’m not going to come back,’” Martinez said.

One of Martinez’s friends and former teammates referred him to trainer Nick Casazza, who was all too willing to fulfill Martinez’s wishes. Within 10 minutes of their first workout, Martinez was vomiting.

“When he went outside and threw up, he was looking at me like I was the craziest person he ever met in his life,” Casazza said. “But you know what? The kid showed up the next day. He kept coming back. I said, ‘This guy is the real deal.’”

Martinez and Casazza have actually been working together since after the 2010 season. Their primary objective was for Martinez to add muscle and keep on weight through the long grind of a baseball season. Last year, he began the season at 225 pounds, but was down to 205 by the end of the year.

One would think Martinez would have an easier time keeping weight on if he wasn’t puking it out all the time. However, he managed to pack on a good amount of muscle by the time he reported to spring training this year, weighing in at a lean, mean 235 pounds.

Someone get this guy on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. 

(via ESPN’s Buster Olney)

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Norichika Aoki may have been feeling some pressure. At the very least, the Japanese rookie was surely pressing after compiling a .194 batting average going into the Milwaukee Brewers‘ Cactus League game against the Texas Rangers on Monday.

Acclimating himself to a new country and playing baseball against a level of pitching he’s never seen before likely wasn’t helping matters. Perhaps Aoki was also feeling underprepared, with the intensity of spring workouts more than a notch below the workouts Japanese players typically go through. 

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke had no answers, but thought Aoki might benefit by trying to relax and not try too hard to impress his new coaches and teammates.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but after having that conversation with his skipper, Aoki had the breakout performance of his spring (he says the chat helped him). 

His bat came to life on Monday with three hits in three at-bats, including a triple, to go with three RBI and a stolen base. Aoki was the only hitter in the Brewers lineup to get a hit off Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish, knocking a RBI single up the middle in the second inning. 

Perhaps facing a fellow countryman helped, as well. Aoki certainly seemed familiar with Darvish’s pitching repertoire, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt. “He throws a lot of breaking balls,” Aoki told him Sunday. “He throws fastball, too, but has a lot of breaking balls.”

Familiarity didn’t work out so well for Darvish, who apparently had some tough battles with Aoki in Japan.

From MLB.com‘s Adam McCalvy:

“I’ve always hated facing him,” Darvish said. “The Brewers have a lot of good hitters in their lineup, and he seems just like one of them. He’s a very tough hitter to face.”

Aoki’s struggles haven’t necessarily affected his status on the team. He was slated to be the Brewers’ fourth or fifth outfielder once the regular season began. But with Corey Hart recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee earlier this month, Aoki is likely to be Milwaukee’s Opening Day right fielder. That means he should get plenty of opportunities through the rest of spring training to work on a swing two years removed from a 200-hit season.

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