Kuzul

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A little sugar on your Grapefruit?…

1. He’s Got Friends in Low (and High) Places

He is the Rick Steves of the American League East, a man so well-traveled he could author a guide, rate beaches in St. Petersburg and tell you where to get the best Szechuan in Toronto’s Chinatown.

So while other starting pitchers work on command and secondary pitches this spring, David Price has one other item on his to-do list.

How to send his friends back to the dugout, grumbling bitterly, after an at-bat.

The Boston left-hander with the impressive collection of baseball passport stamps and new $217 million deal now is working for this third team in the division. He started in Tampa Bay. He finished last season in Toronto after being traded there from Detroit in July.

Only advance scouts have worked their way through the AL East more than he has. And, oh, the friends this friendly guy has made along the way.

“Pitching against your friends, for me, is hands down one of toughest things to do,” Price told B/R during spring training. “I want to see guys do well, especially my friends and ex-teammates. I’m cheering for them.

“When we’re not playing them, I’m definitely hoping they do extremely well. When we’re playing against them, I don’t want to see them do bad.”

Come again, on that last part?

“I want us to win, but if there could be a scenario where we win a really good game and everybody has a good game, I’m OK with that,” Price said. “I still want to see my friends and ex-teammates do well.”

Now in his eighth year in the majors, and given that the Red Sox will play the Rays and Blue Jays 19 times each this season, Price will be seeing old friends more often than you see Friends reruns on TBS.

“So I need to get over that pretty quick,” he said, flashing his trademark infectious smile.

The sooner, the better, is surely what the Red Sox are thinking.

And from Price’s perspective, as this new relationship begins, this also is a completely different spring in another respect: For the first time in years, he knows exactly which uniform he will be wearing for the foreseeable future.

“Absolutely,” Price said. “I’ve got comfort in knowing I’m going to be somewhere. I haven’t had that in probably three years, maybe four.

“Going back to the offseason after 2012, there was some speculation I was going to be traded then [from Tampa Bay]. I didn’t know if I was going to make it through the entire 2013 season. Then after that season I definitely thought I was going to be traded before 2014.

“To know I am going to be somewhere, I haven’t had this feeling for a long time. And it feels good.”

He has enjoyed these early days of camp, getting to know some of his new Red Sox teammates, reacquainting with others and getting past the big hurdle with Big Papi. Price and David Ortiz, two of the game’s nicer men, had developed an ornery history together based on pitching inside in the heat of competition.

Now, with their very first meeting, Price has added one more friend to his ever-growing smartphone contact list.

So there’s peace of mind as Price begins work to bring another title to Fenway Park from many different avenues.

It will be fascinating to watch, because even when he didn’t have that peace, when trade rumors were swirling, Price was cool enough to remain one of the game’s best pitchers.

“I feel like I did a pretty good job of not thinking about it,” Price said. “I wasn’t thinking about a contract extension last year [in Detroit] or free agency or being traded.

“I feel like I’ve done a good job of being in a lot of experiences in which I guess I needed to focus on [the] right now. Going back to my junior year at Vanderbilt—with the expectations of being the No. 1 player heading into the draft—through my sophomore and junior seasons, staying in the present and not looking ahead to the future.   

“I feel like it started a while ago for me, and I’m very thankful to have those experiences. I’m just focusing on the present.”

2. Meanwhile, in Detroit…

There was very little that was memorable for Justin Verlander in 2015. He started the season on the disabled list for the first time in his career (strained triceps), didn’t make his first start until June 13 and finished with some of the worst numbers of his career (5-8, 133.1 innings pitched).

Yet…while the Tigers fell so far that they became sellers, trading Price and Yoenis Cespedes, Verlander quietly picked up steam in the latter part of the season. In 15 second-half starts, he posted a 2.80 ERA and 1.000 WHIP.

This spring, he’s healthy, working hard and the indicators all look good.

“I’m not going to put numbers on it,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “My gut tells me Ver will re-establish himself as one of the better pitchers in the American League.”

From Glendale, Arizona, his former catcher agrees. Alex Avila, now with the Chicago White Sox, said, “He looked great at the end of the year last year, the way he was throwing the ball. The last two months, he was 98, 99 mph, consistently.”

Though much of the conversation surrounding Verlander the past two seasons has been about his lost velocity, the fact that the Detroit ace was battling a core muscle injury two years ago and the triceps strain last year undoubtedly took its toll. So, too, the fact that he is now 33.

“I don’t put much stock in velocity, anyway,” Avila said. “When he won the Cy Young and MVP awards (in 2011), he pitched at 90, 91 and bumped it up to the mid- and upper-90s when he needed to.”

3. Family Feud in the AL Central

No more spring training dinners for Tigers general manager Al Avila and his son, catcher Alex Avila.

With the emergence of James McCann behind the plate and financial resources that needed to be allocated elsewhere, the Tigers essentially cut the catcher loose over the winter. So you can imagine the family conversations now that Alex has signed with the White Sox, Detroit’s AL Central rivals, while his father is in his first full season as the Tigers GM, having replaced Dave Dombrowski.

Alex is training in Arizona while the Tigers are in their 80th season in Lakeland, Florida. Dad and son formerly lived together during spring training, sharing dinners and cigars on the back patio following long days at the ballpark.

Now, Al jokes about living alone in Florida while Alex learns a new pitching staff in Arizona, and how the Avila family works toward splitting its loyalties.

“I’ve got the kicker,” Alex quips. “I’ve got the grandkids.”

His mother started spring training with the Sox instead of the Tigers, and what grandmother wouldn’t be enticed by a couple of granddaughters? Avery is now three years old and Zoey is one.

“We’ve had fun with it,” Alex said. “I’ve given out some White Sox gear. Problem is, my cousin is a Tigers scout, one of my best friends is a Tigers scout and my brother works for them.

“I used to give my extra gear to them. But now when I have extra White Sox gear, I can’t go there.”

4. The Way Things Work

So the White Sox signed veteran Austin Jackson the other day, and they talked about how he will play center field much of the time, particularly against lefties, and Adam Eaton will play some corner outfield.

Eaton, the White Sox’s primary center fielder for each of the past two seasons, is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and said manager Robin Ventura has yet to say anything to him.

“I haven’t talked to Robin,” Eaton told B/R on Tuesday. “I wish he would come and talk to me. Hopefully, I’ll talk to him in the next couple of days about what my role will be.”

Not that Eaton was grumbling…too much. An upbeat, talkative personality, Eaton said he welcomes Jackson and whomever else can help turn the Sox into winners.

“The more the merrier,” he said. “I think he’s a great addition to our team. I want to win a championship.

“I’ll play anywhere.”

One other note about these 2016 White Sox: When general manager Rick Hahn held exit interviews with several veterans late last season, the overwhelming consensus was: Keep this team together; we can win as is.

But ultimately, Hahn made a decision that not only did the club need a talent upgrade, but also a change in the clubhouse vibe. The additions of Todd Frazier, Avila, Brett Lawrie and now even Jackson all were made with the goal of bringing more energy to the club (which, they hope, will turn into more victories).

5. Cactus League Names of the Week

These are some easy folks to root for, because how awesome would it be if these names were playing in an MLB park near you: 

• Socrates Brito, Diamondbacks outfielder: Lefty contact hitter who hit for average and stole 20 bases at Double-A last season.
• Balbino Fuenmayor, Royals first baseman: Participating in his first major league camp this spring, “The Great Balbino” has recovered from last year’s knee surgery and is hoping his big power translates to the Cactus League.
• Jabari Blash, Padres outfielder: Trying to make the big club out of spring as a Rule 5 pick from Oakland, Blash, 6’5″, could become a power source for a club in desperate need of it.
• Jett Bandy, Angels catcher: The Los Angeles Angels’ 31st-round draft pick in 2011, Bandy was a September call-up last year and got into two games. 

6. Red the Ageless Wonder

One of the coolest sights of the spring is watching Red Schoendienst, 93, tool around St. Louis Cardinals camp in Jupiter, Florida, in his role as special coach/sage. Since signing with the Cardinals in 1945, Schoendienst has attended every spring training except one. He was felled by an intestinal illness last spring.

“Just having Red Schoendienst here in uniform every single morning, it’s awesome having him around and hearing his stories,” Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha said. “He doesn’t miss a day, and he’s got 70 years in baseball.”

7. Weekly Power Rankings

1. Domestic Violence Policy: Proving it isn’t messing around, MLB comes out strong in its first ruling, suspending Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman for 30 games. The NFL could learn a few things.

2. Pedro Alvarez and Austin Jackson: The trickle-down effect of free agency finally finds Alvarez (who signed with the Baltimore Orioles) and Jackson (White Sox). Maybe the Great Freeze-Out finds David Freese next.

3. Josh Collmenter: On Tuesday, which was National Pancake Day, Collmenter took a break from teaching in the Diamondbacks clubhouse to make flapjacks in an effort to raise money for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. If the veteran right-hander’s repertoire on the mound is as versatile as it is off the field this spring, here’s predicting a Cy Young Award.

4. Try Not to Suck: Ahem, Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s new slogan for his players could sell millions of T-shirts everywhere while fitting all walks of life.

5. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Thursday night’s show in Phoenix is expected to draw a large Cactus League crowd. From Camelback Ranch (home of the White Sox and Dodgers) to Cadillac Ranch, seamlessly.

8. Singles Day in Houston

The job is his to win, it appears, but is this finally Jon Singleton’s year at first base in Houston?

One reason the Astros did not offer a contract to Chris Carter over the winter is because Singleton, at 24, should be ready.

Of course, some folks thought he would be ready in 2014, but he hit only .168 in 95 games. Then he played in only 19 games in Houston last year, hit .191 with a homer and six RBI and was left off the postseason roster.

So here we are again, minus Carter, plus expectations. Still, manager A.J. Hinch stops short of saying this is a make-or-break year for Singleton.

“I think it’s hard to say that about somebody in his early-to-mid 20s,” Hinch said. “I don’t think it’s career-defining as much as I think this is the best opportunity he’s had to be a contributor on a good team as a potential starting first baseman.”

But given that the Astros finally stepped back into the winner’s circle last year, this isn’t charity. They are in no position to give jobs away, so Matt Duffy, Tyler White and hot prospect A.J. Reed, rated as Houston’s second-best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, are all in the mix this spring.

Singleton signed a five-year, $10 million deal in 2014 and still has options left, which gives the Astros options, too.

“Jon Singleton enters with the most experience and, certainly, the most eyes on him,” Hinch said. “Other guys are going to factor in as the spring goes on, depending on [how] his goes.”

But, the manager said, Singleton gets the first look.

Now we’ll see what he does with it.

9. Chatter

A couple of stats from guru Bill Chuck over at Billy-Ball.com:

• When the Cubs’ Kris Bryant (199) and the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson (170) each fanned 170 or more times last season, it marked the second time ever that two rookies crossed the 170-strikeout threshold. The first? It was in 1986, when Pete Incaviglia (185) and Jose Canseco (175) did it.
• Why Todd Frazier could turn around the White Sox: Over the past four seasons, he’s hit .258 with 102 homers and a .787 OPS. During the same time period, Sox third basemen combined to hit .229 with 54 homers and a .635 OPS.

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia, banned for life for failing a third performance-enhancing drug test, said he was set up by MLB. I say here’s a dedication to those who consistently perform misdeeds from the late, great Warren Zevon:

“I started as an altar boy, working at the church

“Learning all my holy moves, doing some research

“Which led me to a cash box, labeled “Children’s Fund”

“I’d leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund

“I got a part-time job at my father’s carpet store

“Laying tackless stripping, and housewives by the score

“I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane

“And auctioned off every last Naugahyde divan

“I’m very well-acquainted with the seven deadly sins

“I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in

“I’m proud to be a glutton, and I don’t have time for sloth

“I’m greedy, and I’m angry, and I don’t care who I cross”

—Warren Zevon, “Mr. Bad Example”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

VIERA, Fla. — Stephen Strasburg already knew this year was going to be different. New manager. New expectations. Free agent at year’s end.

But a clue as to how strange things could get arrived the other day during a conversation with the new skipper, Dusty Baker.

Now, understand, Baker knows everybody. And it’s one thing that endears him to his players. Common friends and acquaintances. But even for Dusty, this was wild.

As Strasburg honeymooned on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in January 2010, his agent, Scott Boras, arranged with a local high school for someone to catch the right-hander because, wedding or no wedding, he needed to throw off a mound.

Anyway, the kid’s family owned a brick-oven pizza place. And during his non-throwing hours, Strasburg and his wife visited there and also went to the family’s home for a Hawaiian barbecue.

Somehow, Baker knows the family.

“I don’t know how Dusty knows ’em, but he knows ’em,” Strasburg said during an early-morning conversation in the Washington Nationals‘ spring clubhouse the other day, shaking his head and smiling.

Yes, it is a new season with new relationships. Maybe those will help launch Strasburg toward the heights that neither he nor the Nationals seem to be able to reach.

Next door to his locker is Max Scherzer, ace pitcher and valuable resource. Two years ago in Detroit, it was Scherzer who walked into camp with his future uncertain beyond the coming season. And Scherzer rose to the challenge, going 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA there and scoring a $210 million deal here.

He has not yet offered Strasburg any advice on the impending pressure and inevitable distractions. There is no GPS to navigate through the maze. But surely, in a quiet moment or two when circumstances threaten to knock Strasburg off course this season, Scherzer will be there to help balance him.

“You’ve got to realize, we’ve always had to play for money,” Scherzer said. “You go through the draft, there’s a pot of gold at the end of it. Then you go through arbitration, and there’s a pot of gold after every season.

“This year, there’s another pot of gold. Nothing changes.

“Only the size of the pot of gold changes.”

Strasburg admits that impending free agency crosses his mind every so often, especially during the winter when contracts and business talk dominate the sport’s landscape.

Once he walked into camp, he said, it became easy to focus because this is the atmosphere he knows. Pitching. Preparation. The insular protection the clubhouse offers from the outside world.

The rest, he concedes, will be different.

“The other stuff, I’ve never dealt with before,” he said. “It is completely unknown to me. I’ll focus on what I know, and that’s this team.”

What he also knows is pitching under pressure, which makes what is on deck for him next winter not unlike, in so many ways, all the mounds he has previously climbed.

At San Diego State, there was the hype that accompanies the projected No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

In the minors, there was the anticipation that he should steam straight on through like a freight train.

The circus accompanied his comeback from 2010 Tommy John surgery. There was the innings limit during his first full season in the majors in 2012, when the Nationals pulled the plug on his season at 159.1 innings pitched in early September.

Never has he been surrounded by silence.

“This year isn’t any different than any other,” he said. “There always have been expectations. There’s always been a microscope.”

But there is no denying the slight difference between this and other summers for Strasburg, who was one of baseball’s hottest pitchers down the stretch in 2015 by going 6-2 with a glittering 1.90 ERA over his final 10 starts.

“Look, you have a chance to make as much money in this next year as you will for your whole life,” Scherzer said. “That can be a lot of pressure. You have to be so focused solely on winning.

“If you worry about anything else, you won’t win.” 

Strasburg, who avoided arbitration this year by signing a one-year, $10.4 million deal with the Nationals, said there have been no discussions yet about an extension. In terms of if or when there might be, stay tuned.

“I’m always listening,” he said. “We’ll see. You’re always open to listening.

“We like D.C. My family is comfortable in D.C. Right now, there’s nothing to report on.”

Boras said last month that he expects to discuss Strasburg‘s future with the Nationals at season’s end. Traditionally, the agent takes his clients into free agency, there rarely is a hometown discount (the Los Angeles Angels‘ Jered Weaver, who signed a five-year, $85 million deal with the club in August 2011, is one notable exception) and they wind up leaving for a more lucrative deal elsewhere.

Though Strasburg has not said he won’t negotiate during the season, in the past, many others in his situation have said they won’t talk contracts after Opening Day. He can see why.

“I’ve seen guys do that before, and it makes sense,” Strasburg said. “You don’t really want to have conversations that can be a distraction not only to yourself, but to the guys with you in the clubhouse.

“The thing I’ve come to learn is anything can happen. Anything can happen a week from now, or eight or nine months from now.”

To this point, he said he doesn’t have a list of potential cities in which he’s interested.

“This is the only team I know,” he said. “This is the comfort zone for me.

“I’ve been more focused on what we have laid out in front of us as a ballclub. We have a new manager, a new coaching staff, a new training staff. I’ve really enjoyed all of it.”

Highly respected pitching coach Mike Maddux was lured from the Texas Rangers to join Baker as the Nationals pick up the pieces of a disastrous 2015 season. Packaged with the new start, though, are the old expectations, albeit more tattered now having gone through several spin cycles over the past couple of seasons.

This is a team that needs to take advantage of Bryce Harper’s brilliance, Strasburg‘s presence, Scherzer‘s dominance and Jayson Werth’s wiliness before all of this youth and talent turns to dust. And the clock is ticking louder.

“I just need to try and get better and do what I can to help this team win games,” said Strasburg, 27, who has logged 200 or more innings just once. “It was a big learning year for me last year.

“I want to pick up where I left off. I feel like I made some steps. I’m not going to sit here and say that because I pitched well, everything is good.

“I feel like I made steps in preparation and consistency.”

Now comes the tricky part in his walk year: seeing where those steps take him and his team.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

LA PUENTE, California — Six months after knocking ignorance and intolerance out of the park, Milwaukee minor league slugger David Denson hops out of his father’s white Dodge Charger in a parking lot here and smiles broadly.

Behind him are the shadows from which he emerged to declare himself to the world, finally brave and comfortable enough in his own skin to do something that no other active, affiliated professional baseball player ever has dared.

Ahead are skies that have cleared for the first time in his memory, the dawn of an era that finally will allow him to continue pursuing a very old dream in a very new way.

Simply, as a professional baseball player who happens to be gay instead of something far more complicated: a gay man trying to play professional baseball.

Speaking extensively for the first time since coming out in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in mid-August, Denson revealed these past few months have been a revelation to him in a way in which he never expected.

Instead of being ostracized, he has been welcomed.

Where he once feared cold shoulders and harsh judgments, he instead has received warm hugs and supportive gestures.

And a rough-hewn sport known for beanballs and bench jockeys helps guide the way, ever so gently, into a new and welcome Age of Enlightenment.

“I think it actually formed a bond between my teammates and me even more,” Denson says, sitting at a patio table at a local Starbucks in mid-February. “They had an idea. They would never cross the boundary of actually asking me, but they always had an idea in their mind.

“So when I actually said it, it’s like, it satisfied their wonder. It was like, ‘OK, now we know. We don’t have to think about it too much anymore.’ It’s like, ‘It’s out there, it’s cool and we’ve passed it.'”

It never was Denson’s goal to be a trailblazer. He did not set out to make a statement after signing as Milwaukee’s 15th-round draft pick in 2013.

It’s just that, as all those buses rattled along past Wisconsin and Iowa corn fields in the Midwest League and beneath the darkened big sky of Montana in the Pioneer League, a guy like Denson cannot help but feel like a phony, eventually.

He bites his lip here, passes on making a comment there, plugs a pseudonym for his partner into his cellphone so nobody catches on, and pretty soon, there is the person on the inside and the person on the outside. And they are different, much different, and sometimes they wage war with each other. The mind churns endlessly while peers compete and jabber and pass the time, and soon the person on the outside becomes unrecognizable to the person on the inside.

Although Denson had been considering coming out for months, texting regularly for support and advice with Billy Bean, Major League Baseball’s vice president for social responsibility and inclusion, when it finally did happen, it surprised even Denson.

He was with the Brewers‘ rookie-level team in Helena, Montana, last July, just another game day in another minor league town. When the rain swept in following batting practice and the team retreated into the clubhouse, the players did what players have been doing during rain delays since the invention of the tarp. They started teasing each other. In Denson walked and one of his teammates ribbed him, calling him a maricon. The word is a Spanish slang term for f—-t.

“Be careful,” Denson, 6’3″ and 254 pounds, told his teammate. “You never know.”

And just like that, the secret he had painstakingly guarded since stepping into the world of professional baseball two years earlier was out.

“I was like, ‘Did I just say that?'” Denson, who turned 21 in January, says. “And my teammate said, ‘We know that you are [gay]. We were just waiting for you to become comfortable enough to say it.'”

“It was pretty surreal,” says Charlie Galiano, a catcher on the Helena club last summer. “I was really happy for him. Some guys did have some questions but, for the most part, I think everybody accepted it.”

Credit Mother Nature with a sharp sense of drama, because it rained hard enough that night to postpone the game. So Denson and his teammates sat in the clubhouse and talked about what he had just told them for probably 15 or 20 minutes, first in a small group, then with more and more players crowding around. They asked him questions, and he fed them answers.

“I was still kind of in shock,” Denson says. “You could say it was OK, but you never know who was going to react to what. I never wanted to make my teammates feel uncomfortable. I never wanted them to feel different toward me.

“Because whether I’m gay, straight, bisexual, whatever, I’m still myself. I wanted them to see me for me. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Wearing a Brewers cap backward and a sleeve tattoo, Denson is a couple of hours away from another offseason training session at a nearby college. He is working out with a renewed zeal this winter. He cannot wait for this season to begin.

This is not how he thought it would go.

“Huge difference from last winter,” Denson says. “Huge.

“When it came to preparing for spring training last year, I’d say I worked hard but I didn’t work my ass off. It ran through my mind that if any of the stuff I’m thinking goes wrong, or goes the way I think it’s going to go, then what’s the point of me even trying? What’s the point of me giving everything to something that I’m going to lose anyway?

“So there’s no point in my working my ass off because if somebody finds out, it’s all going to go down the drain.”

Can you imagine? Runs, now they are a part of baseball. Hits, too, and, yes, even errors. But hopelessness? In a society tilting hard toward tolerance and acceptance, ugliness and bile still too often poison the air.

“I expected the worst reaction,” he continues. “I expected the absolute worst. And I think that actually helped a lot. Going through my mind, expecting the worst, even if bad things were going to happen, it still wasn’t the worst that was going through my mind.

“So that gave me exactly everything I thought could go wrong, and it didn’t.”

His mind never stopped because his imagination wouldn’t allow it. He envisioned every potential land mine.

“That my teammates would neglect me. That they wouldn’t want me around,” he says. “That I would make them feel awkward, that they wouldn’t feel comfortable around me in the locker room because of that whole stereotype that somebody is gay and they’re looking at me, something like that.

“That other teams would feel some type of way toward me, like me being on the field is disrespectful. That coaches won’t be OK with it because of the saying that goes around in the locker room, that if you’re a distraction to the team, they want to get rid of distractions.

“All of that ran through my mind.”

Of those things, here is exactly how many happened:

“None.”

Even in the stands. No catcalls, no rude comments.

“I’d read everything off of the first day in a city,” he says. “If there was no reaction that first day, then I was like, ‘OK, I can be calm here.'”

There was a time in this country when women were not allowed to vote. When African-Americans were not allowed to drink from certain water fountains. When simply being born to a certain gender, race or with a particular sexual orientation gave other folks a tacit license to discriminate.

Maybe as a society we are not in the clear yet. Maybe some days it seems like we’re further from the clear than other days. But we also live in a time in which, fortunately, there is a growing awareness that bullying, in whatever form, is not OK.

Remove it, and the possibilities can seem endless. 

“Heading into this year, I’ve done workouts that I’ve never done before,” Denson says. “I’ve worked harder than I’ve ever worked before. That’s why I’m so excited. I can see the difference. I can see the change.

“I feel like they’re going to get a totally different player.”

Text by text, beginning with Bean last winter, Denson built the courage to find a way out of his trap. That Major League Baseball had people in place with life preservers is no small part of his story.

The game that gave us Jackie Robinson in 1947, a full 17 years before that Civil Rights Act of 1964, hired Bean as Ambassador for Inclusion during the summer of 2014. A fourth-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in 1986, Bean, now 51, spent six years in the majors as a journeyman outfielder with the Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Like Denson, Bean is gay. Only he kept it to himself until a few years after he retired.

“My trepidation on his behalf was, first of all…his mental well-being,” Bean says. “Why he wanted to [come out], what his family situation was like.

“The fact that he reached out to me, I was not guiding his decision. I was just someone he could reach out to.”

That Bean was there with a waiting hand was no accident. A game that long has prided itself as a social institution with a social responsibility this winter promoted Bean to a vice president’s position, hired Curtis Pride as its new Ambassador for Inclusion and also hired Tyrone Brooks as senior director of MLB‘s new Front Office and Field Staff Diversity Pipeline Program.

“It’s about diversity and inclusion,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told Bleacher Report. “I think for a business like ours to maximize its appeal to a very diverse population, people have to believe we are diverse—on the field, with what the product looks like and with who’s running it. And it can’t stop with race.

“Race is the first step. But diversity and inclusion in today’s world is much more than that.”

As internal pressure built last spring and Denson wondered whether he could even continue plodding toward a future he feared would be stripped away, he met privately at the Brewers’ spring training camp in Arizona with Becky Schnakenberg, a counselor then employed by the club, farm director Reid Nichols, Class A Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson and minor league hitting coordinator Jeremy Reed.

“Their reaction was, we don’t care,” Denson says. “We don’t see you any differently. As long as you can play and go out and do your job, there’s nothing that’s holding you back anymore.”

But there was.

He spilled his secret but declined their offer to talk to some of the other players for him. No, Denson said, if his teammates were to find out, he wanted to be the one to tell them, face-to-face, on his own terms. He did not want them to feel like they had to accept him simply because a coach told them to.

After the season started, sensing Denson was spiraling downward, Bean secretly visited him in Appleton, Wisconsin.

“I didn’t even tell anyone in my office,” Bean says.

Over dinner at a local steakhouse, Bean allowed him to vent. Through the first two months of the season, Denson was hitting .195 (16-for-82) with one homer and eight RBI at Class A Wisconsin. Not long after the dinner, those numbers would earn Denson a demotion to Helena, a lower-level Class A team.

“You could tell he had a lot on his mind,” Bean says. “His parents were greatly concerned with his decision. David is a very confident young man. He’s not going to be intimidated by anyone. But he’s young.

“In this Facebook world, you’re going to be given a lot of love if you put yourself out there,” Bean says. “But my concern was that once he did this, he could not reverse that decision. Being the first active player with an affiliated ballclub, he was going into uncharted territory.”

Manfred says he finds positive reaction in the game to Denson so far to be “so encouraging because we have worked hard to create an inclusive work environment, and the reason we do is our product is so compelling because we attract the very best baseball players in the world. If one happens to be of a different race or sexual orientation or religion, the fact that we have a welcoming environment is crucial to attracting the best.

“This doesn’t happen simply because you fall off the back of a truck. Our clubs, from the time a player is signed as an amateur, and our great partners in minor league baseball, have worked very hard to give a player like David Denson the experience he’s had.”

Says Bean: “Baseball is proud of the way it was handled. There is a collective supportive environment. If you’re a baseball player, we have that in common. And the world has changed dramatically in the way we talk about these other issues.”

Indeed, two decades ago, Bean walked away from the game he loved at age 31 because it simply was too torturous for him to go on.

“The great regret I share is that I didn’t believe I belonged somewhere and I still had time left,” Bean says. “We get old quickly. I look back and think, ‘How on earth could I have not talked to someone? How could I just run away, disconnect?’

“I decided to quit and not talk to anyone.”

Denson did not quit….but it did cross his mind.

“David almost quit twice last year,” says his father, Lamont, 62.

The first time was in the spring, about the time he had the meeting with the Brewers’ contingent. The other time was in June, around the time Bean secretly visited him.

“I felt like when I was at home or by myself, I was being me, but any other time I was being a totally different person,” Denson says. “And I really was being a totally different person, so that didn’t help.

“In general, even off the field toward my teammates, I was getting a label for myself that I didn’t like. I was a hothead. I had a temper. I had an attitude. And at the time, I don’t want to sound rude, but I didn’t care.”

Back home in Southern California, his partner, Freddy, was one of the few who could listen. But catching up on the telephone isn’t always the best, especially given the time zone differences as the baseball schedule dictated Denson’s life. And there was no way they could travel together.

“On my phone, he was saved as a different name,” Denson says of his now 10-month relationship. “Any kind of social media, he knew [a message] was toward him, but if anybody would read it they would never think it was toward a man.

“On Instagram, you know how you can tag a person? I would never tag him. I’d use a term that’s unisex. It was never directed at him. It was always a secret.”

Since the start of his professional career, Denson has had two prior relationships. Neither one lasted. This one, he says, is different.

“I finally found somebody who understands,” he says.

Sometimes, inner turmoil is our toughest opponent. Denson is known to his friends as an easygoing, affable man who loves movies, dancing, music and laughter. He is quick with a smile, and quicker yet to bring friends together.

“He’s not shy at all,” says Adrian De Horta, a pitcher in the San Diego Padres organization and best friends with Denson since the two were six years old. “He’s going to be the conversation starter. He’ll come up to you and give you a hug and start the conversation right off the top.

“Great guy. Big heart. The type of guy who will always help you out.”

Yet his teammates last summer in both Wisconsin and Helena saw that side of him only in glimpses.

“He had little anger-management issues,” says Doug Melvin, the Brewers general manager from 2002-15 before stepping into an advisory role with the club at the end of last season. “Not major confrontations. I’m not saying he had attitude problems. But you could tell there were some things he was uncomfortable with, and later on we understood why.”

The anger would flash after strikeouts. Every so often he would fail to hustle.

“I always say to our player development department, we can never know enough about our players,” Melvin says. “Everybody has different hobbies, different likes, different social things they go and do.”

Denson had broken the news to his parents on the eve of spring training last year, so he already was an emotional wreck by the time he took his first swings of the spring. His mother, Felisa, 43, was concerned in a protective way.

“She was nervous because of the brutality that’s out there,” says Denson, who also has a sister, Celestine (26, and whose husband is a former Brewers minor leaguer, Jose Sermo), and a brother, Eugene (35). “The stories of how people have been beaten or tormented for being gay. All the traveling through different cities and towns, you don’t know how people are going to react.”

With his father, it was more of an argument. Lamont is a former athlete and a God-fearing man who had serious difficulty accepting what his son was telling him.

“He said it was really eating him up,” Lamont says. “I told him that my son and daughter, you can talk to me about anything. When you don’t talk to me, that’s when things are going to be crazy.”

Things still went a little crazy.

“I’m still going through it,” Lamont says. “It hasn’t stopped yet. As I told him, I’m a very religious man. I accept it. I don’t condone it. But I accept it, I told him, because you’re grown now.

“At a young age, I introduced him to the Lord. Anything he does now is between him and the Lord and not for me to judge. When it comes time to meet his maker, that’s who he’s going to discuss it with. I was put here and blessed to be his father, and I thank the Lord for that.”

Not long after David publicly came out in August, Lamont’s phone rang. It was Melvin, calling from Milwaukee.

“The one thing I did was call his father, because I had heard his father was having a difficult time,” Melvin says. “I put myself into the shoes of a father.

“I told him, ‘Mr. Denson, I want you to know our objective and our goal with David is not going to change. It is to get him to the big leagues. He is not going to be viewed any differently.’

“I wanted to put his father at ease because he could be thinking, ‘What if the organization looks at my son differently?’ I thought that was important for me to do as a GM.”

Bean phoned his father as well—and continues to call. Lamont says they talk quite often, and that he appreciates Bean “opening himself up to our whole family.” David Denson simply says that Bean has become family.

Sometimes, we all need angels in our lives.

“I told David that God had a special plan for him, and this is just the beginning,” Lamont says. “With him doing what he did, it’s going to open the door for a lot of people in a lot of sports for people not to be afraid of who they are.

“Once you let that go, you can achieve so many things in life.”

Afterward, not coincidentally, Denson’s anger issues just sort of faded away. Teammates noticed how relaxed he suddenly had become. You’re not mad, they told him. You’re not angry.

“And I was, like, that wasn’t who I am,” Denson says. “I was just doing that so you guys would leave me alone and not ask questions.”

Galiano, who roomed with Denson on the road last summer at Helena, says, “I actually knew about him being a homosexual about a month before [Denson told his teammates during that rain delay]. I was the first teammate he told.

“I asked, ‘Do you want me to keep it a secret?’ I’m an Italian from New York; I know how to keep a secret.

“I was trying to explain to him, ‘Listen, it’s a different day and age. That other stuff was years ago. If they don’t accept you now, they’re the odd one out.

“My sister is a professional dancer, so I’m very familiar with gay people. They’re awesome. He knew my feelings on it before he told me, and when he did tell me, I was like, ‘All right.’ It didn’t bother me.”

Says Lamont: “I am very surprised about how many people accept him, but only to a certain extent because I know what a good person he is. The way he expresses himself to people, he’s a very likable guy.”

As he speaks, by his own count, Lamont Denson’s wardrobe is stocked with six Brewers caps. Two of them are official team caps given to him by his son. Four of them, he’s purchased.

Nearly every day, one can be found atop his head.

Before David Denson, there was Michael Sam, who became the first publicly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, and Jason Collins, the NBA veteran. Neither built much of a career after coming out.

Sam went public with his sexuality after his last season at the University of Missouri, then underwhelmed at the NFL Scouting Combine and was drafted in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams. He was cut at the end of training camp in 2014 and then, last June, took a leave of absence for personal reasons from the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Collins came out following the 2012-13 NBA season, becoming the first active openly gay male athlete in one of the four major North American professional sports leagues. Though Collins played 13 years in the NBA, he played only briefly for the Brooklyn Nets after coming out and retired in November 2014.

Denson is still a long way away from the majors. He is expected to start at the Class A level this summer, and if he plays well for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, maybe he’ll advance to the high-Class A Brevard County (Florida) Manatees. As of 2015, he was not listed among the Brewers’ top 30 prospects, according to MLB.com Pipeline’s prospects watch.

So, both his professional story and his personal story are still being authored, and will be for the near future.

“We are changing the tide of that conversation in a wonderful way, but I don’t need to explain that a [major league] clubhouse is not an employee resource group environment,” Bean says. “It is a different world, and you’d better be a damn good player to bring personal stuff into the clubhouse.

“If you’re getting it done on the field, it’s a layup. If not…unfortunately for Michael Sam, the decision on when he announced was when he was not playing and he was talking about going to play. It was so built up when Michael was not able to play at a level of a first-round draft choice at the combine that the naysayers began to have a field day.

“That was a learning experience for all of us.”

In fact, with his son near the breaking point and determined to unburden himself, Lamont Denson urged him last summer to wait until the offseason to do it. But the way things went for Sam was instructive, and as David and Bean worked their way through things, they were very cognizant of potential minefields.

“I think we learned from Michael Sam’s choices that we’ve got to keep it about baseball,” Bean says. Hence, the decision for Denson to come out during the season, when the steady drumbeat of games would allow the news to float in and out of the news cycle. “David still is an A ball player, and it’s getting pretty close to the time when he needs to make a statement. This is his fourth season, and the time is now.”

Gay or straight, white or black, there are no guarantees. It is a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is production. Jobs hang in the balance all around, from the clubhouse to the front office, and there are no easy paths.

Sitting here under the warm California sun, what Denson most remembers are the final few weeks of last season. Following his revelation, he smashed four home runs and collected 20 RBI in August and September. He also was named as the outstanding player for the Pioneer League in the Class A Northwest League-Pioneer League All-Star Game.

“I was back in my game, easily back in my game,” Denson says.

He could see teammates in both Helena and Wisconsin (he was promoted back to the Timber Rattlers later in August) wondering, where has this guy been?

“He wasn’t here,” Denson says. “There was so much other stuff going on, this person wasn’t here.

“I’m excited. I feel like this season is going to be a total, total different outcome.”

Says Bean: “I would be devastated if David’s career is shorter rather than longer. I’m fond of him. It’s hard to see, most athletes that are LGBT have a bad ending because they just didn’t trust, and then quit, or they had a negative situation based on where they played.

“It’s one of those things with David where, so far, it’s been good.”

When he reports to the Brewers spring training camp in Maryvale, Arizona, it will be with nothing to hide. It will be with a clear mind trained on possibilities, not a head full of demons taunting him about the horror life can bring.

Not only is it a good time to be living in his own skin again, but it is an excellent time to be young and a Brewer. The club is undergoing a renovation at the big league level, shedding veterans and rebuilding. There is enormous opportunity throughout the organization.

The Brewers, who have moved him off of first base and are making him a corner outfielder this year, like his power and plate discipline.

Finally, he feels free again, like he can handle anything the new season throws at him. Sure, the knuckle draggers are out there, but fear no longer is part of his equation. He knows he is being watched, both by those within the game and by who knows how many younger gay players who are keeping quiet while suddenly having discovered a new hero.

“I feel more motivated than anything,” Denson says. “There is pressure, but the feeling of finally feeling free outweighs everything else. I don’t feel like I’m doing this for myself. I feel like this is a stepping-stone for other players who may be going through it, or who have gone through it and never said anything.

“Or, for future generations of little ones who may be feeling this way and sooner or later are going to be exposed to it. It shouldn’t be a thing where you discriminate against someone for their sexuality. I feel like I’m competing against a bunch of guys who are straight and I’m gay but I’m holding my own, so what does sexuality have to do with it?

“My sexuality is not going to make me hit the ball harder or feel better. It’s just my personal preference, that’s all it is.”

Now, he says, his view is more outward than inward.

“Before, it was more about protecting myself,” he says. “Now, it’s like you have to stand up for others. You stood up for yourself, good. But now you have to keep going to show and to prove you can do everything anybody else does.

“My goal was never to be accepted. And I feel like that’s the line that people don’t understand. For me, there is a difference between being accepted and respected.”

He still remembers scrolling through the comments section underneath the story when it first appeared in the Milwaukee newspaper last August. Those comments, some of which represented the only nasty reaction he’s received, actually helped steel him.

“At first, I got upset,” he says. “Why are people so close-minded? They don’t understand.

“Then it finally hit me: Dude, your story’s out and you know not everybody’s going to accept it, so why are you taking the time to read these things? Now you don’t have to worry about it. Now they’re talking about something you were worried about for so long.

“So now, if they’re going to talk, let them talk. Let them say whatever they need to say. Because at the end of the day, they’re not supporting your playing, they’re not working out every day like you’re doing, and they don’t pay your bills.”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

JUPITER, Fla. — Is that coconut smell sunblock or a pina colada? Tough to tell in the Grapefruit League…

1. Yadier Molina Is All Thumbs

Along about December, Yadier Molina noticed his left hand just didn’t feel right.

Now, here is where it may have been a blessing that he damaged his right thumb enough to warrant surgery in 2014. Because when he did the same thing to his left thumb—a torn ligament, a year later—and underwent surgery just after the 2015 season ended, he recognized a few weeks later that the surgery didn’t take. Because in recovery, it wasn’t feeling like the right thumb had.

So he underwent the knife a second time, in December. And now here baseball’s best catcher is, rehabbing 45 minutes a day, working his hand through a bucket of rice, racing the calendar to be ready for Opening Day.

“It was discouraging,” Molina told Bleacher Report the other day on the subject of being forced to undergo a second surgery this winter; and after all this, thank goodness he doesn’t have a third thumb.

“You’re always nervous. Every time you have surgery, there are always risks.

“Right now, I’m happy where I am. The thumb is responding to all of the therapy work they’re doing.”

The Cardinals are determined to take it slow with their prized catcher. If he misses Opening Day, so be it. They want him for the long haul. And after a couple of consecutive injury-plagued years, keeping Molina on the field is one of the chief priorities for St. Louis this spring.

Molina is as valuable to this team as any single individual player to any other club in the majors. He is the quarterback in a baseball town that just lost its NFL franchise, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, a seven-time All-Star and a permanent security blanket for manager Mike Matheny and pitchers from Adam Wainwright to Michael Wacha.

“I will tell you this: As far as catching goes and the manager-catcher relationship, he has been a priceless asset to me as a manager and to us as a club,” Matheny said. “For him to do his job as well as he does it makes just about everybody around here better.”

Talk about freak stuff. Molina, 33, suffered the injury to his left thumb on a play at the plate when tagging Anthony Rizzo as the Chicago Cubs first baseman slid last Sept. 20.

Just 14 months earlier, in July 2014, he suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb while sliding into third base.

“It happens; it’s baseball,” Molina said. “It’s weird, but it can happen.”

He is walking, talking, squatting proof. He eased into a few light catching drills Friday, and while the Cards will keep a tight leash on him, Molina is determined to be ready by Opening Day.

Meanwhile, playing the role of the catcher few in St. Louis want to see (nothing personal, of course) is veteran Brayan Pena, whom the Cards signed over the offseason.

And don’t worry, Cardinals fans. He knows you don’t prefer him in the lineup very often, and he understands.

“Yadier is one of those guys who is so great and so awesome that everybody is pulling for him,” said Pena, 34, an 11-year veteran who also has spent time with the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds.

“Me, personally, I understand my role. I have a responsibility to be ready whenever my name is called. I’m excited about it. You’re excited to have the opportunity.

“But I understand I have a future Hall of Famer in front of me, and I’m playing next to a legend.”

While the rice bucket is one key to Molina whipping his hand back into shape, he’s also using weights and laser therapy to try to push things along.   

The big worry, of course, is that Molina is creeping toward his mid-30s, and he’s playing one of the game’s most punishing positions. The right thumb cost him 40 games in ’14, and his 110 games played that summer were his fewest since his rookie season in 2004 (51 games).

Last year, he played in 136 contests but came up lame at the end and was nowhere close to himself while gallantly playing three games in the National League Division Series loss to the Chicago Cubs.

“You spent the whole year healthy, and then at the end you get hurt,” he said. “Two, three years in a row now (he spent time on the disabled list in August, 2013, with a knee sprain).

“I’m not giving up on myself. I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to get back on track with my thumb. I’m looking forward to the season.”

2. New Program for the Panda

We’ll see how this turns out: Maybe going grim-faced and laser-focused will help Pablo Sandoval produce a strong bounce-back season in 2016.

But following some unfortunate introductory comments upon his arrival to camp this spring, the Panda has shut things down. He is not talking to the media—at least, that’s what he told B/R on Monday—after his weight again tipped the scales of poor PR against him.

Sandoval told Boston reporters when he arrived that he didn’t worry about losing weight over the winter:

He also didn’t seem that bothered by his disappointing 2015 season, basically saying, hey, that’s baseball; sometimes you have good years, and sometimes you don’t.

That is exactly what they don’t want to hear in Boston, where the 2013 World Series title barely has made up for last-place finishes in three of the past four years.

Stay tuned.

3. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Has Gone Cuckoo

New sliding rules take effect this year—call it the Chase Utley Rule—and it is something else for everyone to try to figure out this spring.

The biggest issue is the “neighborhood play,” which now is subject to instant replay, which means second basemen and shortstops will need to actually touch the base with a foot instead of swiping the general area before throwing to first.

The reason they’ve been allowed to brush past the base without touching it for so long is self-preservation: With a baserunner barreling in, everybody agreed it was in the infielder’s best interest to get out of the way quickly.

The new rules force the runner to slide into the base and not target the infielder, which isn’t a bad thing. But as sure as cheeseburgers are delicious, you can be sure that subjecting it to instant replay is going to bring unintended consequences this season.

“We’re making a slide rule that keeps you on the bag…and now you’ve got to make a decision on the neighborhood play that you’ve got to stay on the bag,” Mets manager Terry Collins, a former infielder, said the other day in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “You know what that is going to mean? Somebody is going to get their clocks cleaned.”

In Jupiter, Florida, Matheny said he is still digesting the rule but that the team will continue to teach its middle infielders the same things it always has in terms of technique around second base.

“Protect yourself and do what’s expected,” Matheny said.

As for veteran Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, he says he hasn’t paid much attention to it yet and will figure it out as he goes along. Surely, he won’t be the only one.

4. Clayton Kershaw Left His Impression on Cuba

Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena traveled along with Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig, Miguel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Jose Abreu and others on an MLB goodwill trip to Cuba in November and still cannot get over Kershaw’s kindness and accessibility.

“I really love that guy because he was unbelievable in the way he embraced kids and my people,” Pena, a native of Cuba, told B/R. “You have to appreciate that. He’s a future Hall of Famer, he’s taking time away from his family to help kids, he’s speaking Spanish.

“The guy stole my heart. I know why God put him in that position. I was so impressed with the way he embraced the Cuban people.”

5. Rumbling Afield with Miguel Sano

It is 8 a.m. on a chilly Florida morning, and there Twins phenom Miguel Sano is, out in right field on Field 6, with newly minted coach Torii Hunter as his tutor.

Sano, 22, is in the midst of one of the game’s most fascinating transitions. He is 6’4″ and 260 pounds with a big enough body and an important enough bat that you wonder two things: Can the man who primarily has played third base throughout his professional career play right field without hurting the Twins defensively? And can he do it without hurting himself?

The Twins like Trevor Plouffe at third base, and with Joe Mauer at first and newly signed Byung Ho Park ready to step in at designated hitter, right field was the natural move for Sano.

“We feel the move is doable,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan told B/R. “Miguel wants to play; he doesn’t want to DH. We don’t want him to DH. He’s athletic enough. He’s a surprisingly good runner for the size of the man.

“We understand it’s going to take time.”

The recently retired Hunter, in camp as a special instructor, is charged with attempting to shorten that time. Sano told Hunter that back home in the Dominican Republic, he played shortstop, third base, first base, outfield and whatever else was asked of him.

“He’s not afraid because he’s been there before,” Hunter said. “I’m trying to show him things like how to block the lights, how to line up, how the ball comes off of the bat differently from a left-hander than from a right-hander, the spin, slice, topspin. Trying to help him recognize that.”

Hunter and Butch Davis, who is the Twins’ outfield coach, are working overtime, and they have a willing student.

Given that Sano slammed 18 homers and racked up 52 RBI in just 80 games for the Twins last year, the possibilities are tantalizing.

6. Heart of 29

The most touching moments of the week were watching Hall of Famer Rod Carew in uniform as a special coach for the Minnesota Twins. Carew nearly died after suffering a massive heart attack five months ago.

Carew was in uniform Saturday while the Twins held their first full-squad workout, and in tribute to him they all wore red “Heart of 29” T-shirts, citing the name of the charity through which Carew is working to raise money for the research and prevention of heart disease.

“I wanted to be here real bad,” said Carew, 70, who is four months away from a heart transplant. “I knew it would help as far as my spirits went to be around all of the guys.”

The Twins have been pushing Carew’s Heart of 29 cause since they nearly lost the man who took a serious run at hitting .400 in 1977 when he hit .388 to win the sixth of seven batting titles.

“I told them I want to save lives,” Carew said. “I want people to understand that they’ve got to take care of their ticker.

“The worst thing I did was not take my medication. I just threw it away. And I never went back to the doctor. You think you’re healthy, and it knocked me on my butt, just like that.”

7. Weekly Power Rankings

1. New Sliding Rules: Utley should tour Grapefruit and Cactus League camps to demonstrate.

2. Academy Awards: #OscarsSoWhite, #ChrisRockSoFunny.

3. Ian Desmond: The loss of Josh Hamilton (sore knee) is Desmond’s gain in Texas. Still, a hollow gain it is on a one-year, $8 million deal after Desmond declined a seven-year, $107 million extension offer from the Nationals before the 2014 season.

4. Exhibition games: Welcome back, games. Who isn’t ready to take this thing onto the field this week? But, hey, who is No. 75? And 81? And 92?

5. Grouper: Thanks for being so delicious during spring training in Florida, grouper. Now, can someone please pass a slice of key lime pie?

8. Mets Look to Ride Yoenis Cespedes’ Coattails

Lou Truppa is on the front lines of what has been the biggest story going on right now with the New York Mets.

No, he is not the latest phenom for the defending National League champions. He is 80.

And he stands sentry at the gate to the players’ parking lot in Port St. Lucie.

“It is on everybody’s mouth,” Truppa, now in his eighth year guarding the players’ parking lot, told B/R. “They’re all looking for him.

“What’s he driving today?”

First day here, the flamboyant slugger stopped and asked Truppa where he could park his Ford F-250 pickup truck.

“He stops to say hello every day,” said Truppa, who since has watched Cespedes roll by in a three-wheel Polaris Slingshot, a fire-breathing Lamborghini and, Thursday, a $250,000 cherry red, two-seat Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, complete with his No. 52 on the wheels.

Some of the Mets are amused by the show; others simply do their best to ignore it.

Come April, the only thing the Mets will care about Cespedes driving is fastballs. They did not sign him to a three-year, $75 million deal following their inspirational run to the World Series in October simply to drive up the value of their parking lot.

Cespedes already had a reputation as something of a diva, which some in the industry said over the winter is why he wasn’t getting the expected five- or six-year monster contract offers.

The gaudy cars will do nothing to quell that.

Nor will the fact that he sent someone to Target the other day to purchase a round waffle-maker for the clubhouse chefs. Previously this spring, the Mets had been forced to eat, horrors, square waffles.

Quirky is amusing early in camp, and who doesn’t love waffles (ahem, round or square); and, yes, the auto show has given Cespedes the attention he apparently craves.

From here on out, though, it’s all about parking baseballs.

Not whatever Cespedes is parking in the Mets’ lot.

“Always different cars,” said Truppa, whose favorite Mets in 16 years of working spring training here are Mike Piazza, John Franco, Al Leiter and Pedro Martinez.

Meanwhile, over there in a space under a palm tree is Truppa’s car: a 2009 dark blue Kia with 165,000 miles on it.

“I’ve never had a more comfortable ride,” he said, smiling, as the Mets shifted hard into 2016 gear.

9. Joe Girardi Will Take Depth from Anywhere

But can this little guy hit?

Guess he won’t be in today’s lineup…

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Don’t blame me for this one. I’m just passing along what I heard in the Minnesota Twins clubhouse at 7:30 a.m. the other day in Fort Myers, Florida (and, why, yes, it is jarring to hear this blasting that early in the morning)…

“Cottonwood fallin’ like snow in July

“Sunset, riverside, four-wheel drives

“In a tail-light circle

“Roll down the windows, turn it on up

“Pour a little crown in a Dixie cup

“Get the party started

“Girl you make my speakers go boom boom

“Dancin’ on the tailgate in the full moon

“That kinda thing makes a man go mmm hmmm”

—Luke Bryan, “Drunk on You”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — Sunshine and grapefruit…

1. That’s Dansby with an ‘S’

First, there was the Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa last summer. Then came the Cleveland Indians’ Francisco Lindor, followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Corey Seager. So when Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez recently challenged Dansby Swanson, the Braves prospect with the Great Gatsby name and the gold-plated future, you could almost hear a dream inflate.

In this boom time for young major league shortstops, might Swanson be ready to join them by spring’s end?

“Don’t come in here thinking you’re just coming to big league camp,” Gonzalez told the kid. “Come in here and make the team.”

So what was the response?

“He looked me in the eye and said, ‘OK,'” Gonzalez told Bleacher Report during a late-morning conversation here Tuesday.

Swanson, one of the pieces of precious-metal talent acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in December’s Shelby Miller trade, is a stranger neither to the Braves nor to Gonzalez.

Last summer’s first overall pick in the June draft played collegiately at Vanderbilt University, which is not far from Atlanta.

Gonzalez’s son, Alex, and Swanson were teammates playing youth baseball in the nationally known Cobb County, Georgia, program. Swanson’s father was their coach.

“His parents are off the charts,” Gonzalez said.

At 22, Swanson is old enough to make an immediate impression (he’s a year older than Correa) but young enough to still have plenty of room to grow (most likely, he’ll begin the season no higher than Double-A).

If things go the way those in the industry expect, Swanson could join the aforementioned Correa, Seager and Lindor in a new golden age of shortstops.

“I think it’s awesome for baseball to see these young guys coming up,” Swanson said. “And some of them already helped their teams in the playoffs. Seager, Lindor and Correa had great years, and it’s good to even be mentioned in that group.

“There may be a lot of young talent now, but it doesn’t happen without the mentorship of the veterans. They guide us.”

Swanson mentioned veteran infielder Gordon Beckham, the former Chicago White Sox infielder who is trying to win a job with Atlanta this spring, as being particularly generous so far with his time and wisdom. Beckham already has told Swanson to closely watch the work habits of fellow shortstop Erick Aybar, whom Atlanta acquired from the Los Angeles Angels.

When it comes to learning and protocol, Swanson is all ears and open mind. The Braves love his makeup. When traveling secretary Chris Van Zant introduced himself to Swanson the other day, Swanson asked Van Zant to please walk him around and introduce him to all of the clubhouse workers, “everyone I need to know.”

“That’s special,” Gonzalez said.

So are Swanson’s skills. The Braves haven’t had much time to see many of them yet. First base coach Terry Pendleton watched Swanson field about 50 ground balls the other day and was impressed, but he noted he has yet to see him swing a bat.

“Let me just say that his parents did a very good job with him. Very good,” Pendleton said. “He’s humble. Respectful. Confident.

“But, you’ve also got to have a little cocky confidence if you’re going to do this right here.”

Swanson has it, evidenced by his reply when B/R asked him whether seeing the success of age-group peers like Correa boosts his confidence.

“Honestly, if you need other people to give you confidence, it’s backwards,” Swanson said. “Then, you’re obviously not confident enough in yourself.   

“I’m going to show confidence in my play, and make sure I’m ready to go from day one.”

Most likely, unless Swanson kills it all spring, he will start in the minors. Atlanta expects to start Swanson at one affiliate, another top shortstop prospect, Ozhaino Albies, a 19-year-old from Curacao, at shortstop with a different affiliate and then spend the first part of the summer evaluating. Either Swanson or Albies could wind up at second base. However it plays out, the Braves expect the duo to comprise their middle infield for years to come.

“This is my 10th year with the Braves, and we’ve never had this much young talent in one place at one time,” general manager John Coppolella said. “If you look at our team, chances are we’ll be better offensively at every spot on the field than we were last year.”

The Braves have turned the two total combined years of service time they had remaining of Justin Upton and Jason Heyward into more than 50 years of service time with various deals over the past year, and now they’re climbing the charts quicker than Adele: Baseball America ranked the Braves system as the third-best in the majors, up from 29th last year.

Look out. As with Swanson and the clubbies, introductions are in order. And soon.

“What the Johns are doing in the front office is going to set this organization up for a long time,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said, speaking of Coppolella, club president John Schuerholz and president of baseball operations John Hart.

2. Baptism by Fire in Toronto

Welcome to the general manager chair, Ross Atkins. Now, about those Jose Bautista contract demands…

The man known as Joey Bats came out swinging upon arrival to camp, explaining to Toronto reporters Monday that he has given the team strict terms he expects to be met if the Blue Jays are to retain him. Bautista is eligible for free agency after this season and, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead, is requesting a deal of at least five years and $150 million from Toronto.

The Blue Jays GM did not appear to choke on his bird seed—at least, not right away. But it was about that time rumors began running rampant that Toronto was about to acquire outfielder Jay Bruce in a three-way deal with Cincinnati and the Los Angeles Angels.

But by Tuesday, the rumored deal, in which outfielder Michael Saunders would have gone to the Angels and prospects would have gone to Cincinnati, had stalled. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reported the reason for the snag was that one of the prospects going from Toronto to Cincinnati had a medical issue.

Bruce, in the last year of a six-year, $51 million deal, has a $13 million club option attached and presumably would give Toronto protection next year in the event the Jays and Bautista part ways.

3. More Competitive Than a Bagful of Spiders

Speaking in Arizona the other day, commissioner Rob Manfred noted that “over the last five years, 80 percent of our teams have been in postseason play. That’s a great number. That’s a number that compares really favorably to all other professional sports, particularly given that we still have the most difficult system for a team to qualify for the postseason.”

He’s right, and it is to baseball’s credit. The NFL played that parity card for years, but every time you look up, the New England Patriots or Denver Broncos are in another Super Bowl.

A total of 24 of baseball’s 30 teams have played in the postseason during the past five years. Only the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres have been left behind.

4. Loudmouths Apply Here

In camp with the Braves this spring are a trio of voluble talents: veteran closer Jason Grilli, coming back from a ruptured Achilles tendon; outfielder Nick Swisher, whom sources say the Braves spent much of the winter attempting to trade; and outfielder Jeff Francoeur, the former Brave whom Atlanta re-signed this week to add depth.

“I think we’ve got the loudest team in the majors right now,” Freeman quipped. “With Swisher, Grilli and Francoeur, it’s going to be exciting at 7 a.m. every day.”

5. Not Your Brother’s Tricycle

Word of Yoenis Cespedes‘ new ride spread so rapidly through the Grapefruit League on Tuesday that everybody seemed to know about it before the Mets outfielder even had parked this customized Polaris Slingshot (or, glorified tricycle?):

6. Weekly Power Rankings

1. Yoenis Cespedes‘ car: Like the Batmobile, only more superhero-ish (see above).

2. The Yankees and the Sandman: Once, Mariano Rivera entered games to the rock song “Enter Sandman.” Now, the Yankees simply schedule the Sandman to visit, not starting their spring workouts until late morning, while manager Joe Girardi preaches sleep.

3. Sunshine: Already feels like late spring in Florida. And when a small bit of rain falls, everyone freaks out.

4. The Panda’s Weight: Not that Pablo Sandoval is jiggling like Jell-O this spring, but word is the Red Sox are considering placing a plastic salad guard over third base at JetBlue Park.

5. Bryce Harper’s Free Agency: He can’t declare until after the 2018 season, but buzz already has the New York Yankees taking out a reverse mortgage on Yankee Stadium to be in position to grab him. Or something like that.

 7. The Ian Desmond Mystery

Tick, tick, tick goes the clock, and several free agents remain unsigned—including a man who played shortstop for some pretty darned good Washington Nationals clubs over the past couple of years.

Why Ian Desmond remains a free agent is anybody’s guess. Some in the industry say it is because draft-pick compensation is tied to him, and fewer teams want to surrender a draft pick. Some say it is because Desmond’s defense has slipped. Others say he’s gotten old quickly (he’s 30).

Still, Desmond easily was the best shortstop on the market this winter.

Yet, in a winter in which there were not that many clubs in need of a shortstop, the few that did went elsewhere. The Padres signed Alexei Ramirez. The Mets signed Asdrubal Cabrera. The White Sox signed former MVP Jimmy Rollins to a minor league deal. Arizona acquired Jean Segura in a trade with Milwaukee. The Angels acquired Andrelton Simmons in a deal with Atlanta (sending shortstop Erick Aybar to the Braves).

The Colorado Rockies, facing uncertainty as Jose Reyes is investigated under MLB’s domestic-abuse policy (he was placed on paid leave Tuesday), and Tampa Bay Rays both are said to still have some interest in Desmond. The free agent started the winter looking for a lucrative, multiyear deal after turning down Washington’s offer of seven years and $107 million during the winter following the 2013 season.

Desmond, presently in no-man’s land, has developed into the offseason’s biggest surprise. Harper blamed the qualifying-offer system this week, per Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com. Because Desmond declined the Nats‘ one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer for 2016, any team signing Desmond must forfeit a draft pick to Washington.

With camps opening, Desmond’s best play right now looks to be signing a one-year deal with Colorado, if he can work it (say, for $10 million), use the altitude to help put up big offensive numbers and then go back into the free-agent market next winter.

8. Diamondbacks Employing Smartest Rotation in MLB?

You’ve heard of Phoenix University?

Well, in Phoenix, Diamondbacks pitcher Josh Collmenter played the part of university professor Tuesday by using a white board and “teaching” things involving Einstein and science to his teammates.

Check it out (sorry, I cannot guarantee that you will receive an online college credit):

9. No Excuses

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Chicago Cubs spent the most days on the 15-day disabled list last year at 674.

Noted by stats guru Bill Chuck over at Billy-Ball.com (and keep this in mind for your dark-horse playoff picks): The projected five-man Cleveland rotation, all right-handed, crushes lefties. Their WHIPs versus left-handed batters last summer: Corey Kluber (1.275), Carlos Carrasco (1.060), Danny Salazar (1.102), Trevor Bauer (1.374) and Cody Anderson (1.195).

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Day

Big congratulations to Atlanta Braves fan Jason Isbell on winning the Grammy for Best Americana Album earlier this month…

I’ve been working here, Monday it’ll be a year

And I can’t recall a day when I didn’t wanna disappear

But I keep on showing up, hell-bent on growing up

If it takes a lifetime

I’m learning how to be alone, fall asleep with the TV on

And I fight the urge to live inside my telephone

I keep my spirits high, find happiness by and by

If it takes a lifetime

I got too far from my raising, I forgot where I come from

And the line between right and wrong was so fine

Well I thought the highway loved me

But she beat me like a drum

My day will come, if it takes a lifetime

—Jason Isbell, “If It Takes a Lifetime”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

From Spotlight to The Big Short, we’ve seen most of the Oscar contenders (loved both of those, not so hip on The Martian). From Kendrick Lamar to Alabama Shakes, we tracked the Grammys from start to finish the other night.

Hey, what else has there been to do? As Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby once famously said, “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

Spring? Spring!

Hello, spring!

So enough with the Supreme Court bickering. Surely, we can all agree on sunshine, (Tampa Bay) Rays, sunblock and Sonny Gray, can’t we? Finally, pitchers and catchers are trickling into camps this week. And you bet I have some nominations…

1. Top Five Spring Storylines

A loaf of bread cost a nickel, and a dozen eggs cost 14 cents in 1908. Consider yourself ahead of the curve; you’ll need this information when the first thing on this list happens…

The Chicago Cubs as World Series Favorites: The question has been asked many times before, but rarely with this much fervor: Is this the year the Chicago Cubs win their first World Series since 1908? True, last time we saw the Cubs, they were getting schooled by the Mets in October. But Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber are another year older, John Lackey provides rotation depth behind Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, and Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist are perfect pieces for this team. Chicago won 97 games last year and should be better this year. Bonus: The Wrigley Field bleachers will be open from Opening Day this year!

Generation Next: From Bryant, Schwarber and Russell to Carlos Correa (Astros) to Francisco Lindor (Indians) to Matt Duffy (Giants) to Miguel Sano (Twins), Joc Pederson (Dodgers) and Delino DeShields (Rangers) and beyond, last year’s rookie class was one of the best ever. Which means, it’s going to be some kind of fun watching them continue to develop this year. “It’s not just one or a couple, but the depth of them,” Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz told B/R in November. “That is so good for the future.” Toss in this year’s crop of potential rookie impact players (see item No. 6) and you could spend much of your spring learning the new guys.   

Red Sox and Yankees Join Bullpen Arms Race: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? So the Kansas City Royals are blushing. Boston and New York each took a page from the Royals’ strong bullpen championship playbook, adding Craig Kimbrel (Red Sox) and Aroldis Chapman (Yankees) to already lethal bullpens. Hitters from Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore may need protective earplugs at the plate in the late innings against the Yanks given the heater sizzle from Chapman, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. And Kimbrel‘s addition bumps Koji Uehara back to the eighth inning and Junichi Tazawa to the seventh in Boston. Both clubs are stronger in 2016, in no small part because of their bullpens.

Dodgers Look to New Manager as Yasiel Puig Whisperer: There is a decidedly new look in Los Angeles with Don Mattingly, Zack Greinke and Jimmy Rollins gone. Among the things that have not changed: The mercurial Puig remains more important to the Dodgers winning than even they sometimes would like to admit, which is one enormous responsibility that falls on new manager Dave Roberts. He must establish relationships quickly this spring, and few will be more important than whether he can connect with and earn the respect of Puig.

Surprise, Surprise (Or: The Royals Way): Sabermetrics hates the Kansas City Royals. Hates them. This year, our friends at Baseball Prospectus (and they are our friends; we are not anti-Sabermetrics) project in their PECOTA system that the Royals will finish 76-86. Last year, Baseball Prospectus predicted Kansas City to finish 72-90, and all the Royals did was win their first World Series since 1985. All I know is this: If you want to travel to see the elite this spring, head straight to Surprise, Arizona, where the Royals and Texas Rangers train. Since 2010, four of the six AL pennant winners have sprung from Surprise (Texas in 2010 and 2011, Kansas City in 2014 and 2015).

2. Top Five Off-The-Field Spring Storylines

Clear the monkey bars for playground scraps…

On Designated Hitters, Drafts and Tanking: What do all of those things have in common? The backdrop for this season will be the labor negotiations between owners and players working for a new Basic Agreement. The current one ends after this season, and once upon a time, that surely meant strike or lockout. But after eight work stoppages in 22 years, the game currently is rolling through its 21st consecutive season of labor peace. Commissioner Rob Manfred and players’ union boss Tony Clark will work toward keeping that streak alive, and given that the game currently is generating roughly $9 billion in revenues annually, they should be able to come to terms. Biggest current issues: a potential international draft, the continued tweaking of revenue sharing and luxury tax, whether to expand the DH into the NL and the growing number of clubs strip-mining their major league teams while massively rebuilding (hello, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Atlanta).

Discipline Czar: Under a still-new domestic abuse policy, commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB currently are investigating three players for indiscretions: Jose Reyes (Rockies), Aroldis Chapman (Yankees) and Yasiel Puig (Dodgers). The hope is to have everything wrapped up before the start of spring camps, though realistically things could go into March. The terms of punishment (Suspensions? How long?) will be watched by everybody in these precedent-setting cases.

David Ortiz Farewell Tour: Boston’s legendary DH is retiring at season’s end. No word on whether he has consulted with Derek Jeter on how to stage a home finale that includes as much drama, entertainment, tears and lumps in the throat as your average college commencement week. So, beginning in Fort Myers next week, everything Ortiz does will be…all together now…for…the…last…time.

Will the Washington Nationals need a referee for their clubhouse? Proving he has as much use for chemistry as I did in high school, Nats general manager Mike Rizzo flat out ignored it by shipping ex-closer Drew Storen to Toronto over the winter while keeping closer Jonathan Papelbon. Now, maybe you noticed that the last time we saw Papelbon, he had his hands wrapped around the neck of NL MVP-in-waiting Bryce Harper. The two have made nice since, but here’s fair warning: If the Nationals misbehave again this summer, we’re sending in Ronda Rousey to knock some heads together.

Year of the Monkey: No offense to the Chinese or their New Year, and especially no offense to the esteemed monkey (always the best attraction at any zoo, easily), but…screw the calendar. The San Francisco Giants will contend again, and forget that even-year horse stuffing. Maybe all the Giants do in their clubhouse is spin the excellently titled J. Geils Band album You’re Gettin‘ Even While I’m Gettin‘ Odd. But it ain’t that simple or well-planned. What is well-planned this year is adding outfielder/leadoff man Denard Span and starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. Manager Bruce Bochy and fabulous pitching coach Dave Righetti again have some tools at their disposal.

3. Five Key Offseason Changes

Hey, what are we all going to do when we don’t have the Mets to kick around anymore?

Mets Whip Out the Checkbook: OK, so maybe they didn’t quite whip it out. So, perhaps Yoenis Cespedes (three years, $75 million) fell back into their laps as if there was some sort of gravitational pull. Whatever. With Cespedes back and young outfielder Michael Conforto set to break out, and with the game’s best young rotation (Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz) in place, New York sets out to prove there is more in Queens where last year came from. New middle infielders Neil Walker (second base) and Asdrubal Cabrera (shortstop) add intrigue, but will they add defense, too?

White Sox Make Their Move: Todd Frazier’s power at third base is a very interesting addition for a Chicago team that, frankly, should have been far more interesting than it was last year. The Sox have the ace they need in Chris Sale, a potential next ace in Carlos Rodon, the hope that center fielder Adam Eaton won’t kill them again with another slow start and a new catcher in former Tiger Alex Avila. They could win what could be baseball’s best division.

Albert Pujols Turns 36: It happened on Jan. 16. To the tune of “Happy Birthday,” can you sing “Mike Trout’s Prime Continues to Fritter Away”? Pujols probably will start the season on the disabled list following right foot surgery. In the meantime, the three players expected to vie for playing time in left field—Daniel Nava, Craig Gentry and Todd Cunningham—combined for one major league home run last year. It is easy to foresee the Angels thudding to fourth in the AL West this year behind Houston, Texas and Seattle.

Cubs Make Brilliant $184 Million Investment in Jason Heyward: Lots of armchair bankers were outraged at handing this kind of dough to a man who essentially is good for maybe 13 or 14 homers a summer. But here’s the deal: Different markets have different needs. For a club in desperate need of the long ball, it would have been bat-crap crazy to give Heyward that kind of cake. But in Wrigley Field, the Cubs already have bashers Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler. What they need is a guy who is as good at getting on base as Taylor Swift is at cranking out hits. Heyward‘s career on-base percentage is .353. Perfect. Plus, though he’s played 239 more major league games than Rizzo, Heyward actually is one day younger than the Cubs first baseman. He fits, long-term, with this killer core of young players.

Houston Does Not Have a Problem, So Get Over It: For my money, one of the most underrated signings of the winter was the Astros adding starter Doug Fister for one year and $7 million. Granted, Fister was as disappointing as the Nationals (from where he came) last summer, but he battled injuries and never could get liftoff. A healthy Fister brings a heavy sinker, and Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa should gobble up ground ball after ground ball. The rotation depth here is immense: Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr. (a breakout star waiting to happen), Collin McHugh, Scott Feldman and Mike Fiers. The position players are young and talented. Oh, to be manager A.J. Hinch.

4. Five Most Improved Teams

Snakeskin boots, anyone?

Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller dramatically improve manager Chip Hale’s rotation. Paul Goldschmidt is to Arizona what Albert Pujols was to St. Louis a decade ago. A.J. Pollock finished 10th in MVP voting last year. Yasmany Tomas began to find his feet as an outfielder last year after he was shaky at third base. And the Dodgers are weaker without Greinke. Make no mistake: Arizona can contend in the NL West this summer.

Red Sox: Who would have ever dreamed Boston would finish last in the AL East in three of the past four seasons (the one notable exception being its 2013 World Series title year)? New boss Dave Dombrowski stayed in character from his Detroit years by adding a legit ace (David Price), something last year’s Red Sox severely lacked. The rotation is better, and the bullpen is better with closer Craig Kimbrel and setup man Carson Smith (acquired from Seattle). And though Hanley Ramirez still could prove to be a problem, the Sox are better with him at first base this year than in left field (where Rusney Castillo should play).

Indians: The emergence of shortstop Francisco Lindor changes the tone of both the infield and the Indians. And despite those crazy winter rumors that perhaps Cleveland would trade from a position of strength—its rotation—to add a bat, thankfully it kept Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer, Cody Anderson, et al. intact. The right manager is here in Terry Francona, and a lot should go right in Cleveland in 2016.

Marlins: Ace Jose Fernandez should be in place from Opening Day, which right there makes Miami better than it was to start last year. Presumably, Giancarlo Stanton will play in more than the 74 games he was in in 2015. Kudos, too, on the addition of Wei-Yin Chen, and don’t forget, the Marlins should pick up a lot of W’s against rebuilding Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Tigers: Jordan Zimmermann boosts the rotation, Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez just might be the closer they’ve been lacking in Motown seemingly since Willie Hernandez, and outfielder Justin Upton adds timber to a lineup already featuring Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler. Not sure that it will be enough to see October again, as the AL Central is baseball’s best and most challenging division. But the Tigers should be way better than last year’s 74-87.

5. Five Least Improved Teams

Why, how dare the St. Louis Cardinals make this list…

Orioles: Dodged a major hole by re-signing slugging first baseman Chris Davis, but where is the pitching going to come from? Once again, manager Buck Showalter is going to have to pull rabbits out of hats, wave his magic wand and travel a magician’s path down the run prevention road.

Cardinals: For the first time in years, St. Louis doesn’t begin spring training as the king of the hill in the NL Central. Yes, the Cards are defending champs (what’s new?), but this winter weakened them. They lost Jason Heyward and starter John Lackey to the rival Cubs. Yadier Molina is recovering from thumb surgery. Starter Lance Lynn will miss 2016 following Tommy John ligament surgery. And the Cubs are on the rise.

Pirates: It is difficult not to feel awful for these guys, having watched Pittsburgh lose the one-game Wild Card play-in at home in each of the past two seasons. And before that, the Buccos were bounced by St. Louis in the 2013 NL Division Series. We’ll see if starter Jonathon Niese can be one of those classically quiet Pittsburgh additions that works (very well could be). And we’ll see if John Jaso and Michael Morse can render the memory of Pedro Alvarez at first base nonexistent (maybe). Otherwise, manager Clint Hurdle will be counting on a strong farm system to produce (keep an eye on the development of second baseman Alen Hanson and starter Tyler Glasnow).

Blue Jays: Two enormous losses from last year’s thrilling team: ace David Price and can-do general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Stay tuned.

Braves: But, hey, we’re talking about 2016 right now. Given the haul they received from Arizona for starter Shelby Miller, they could land on our Most Improved list next season. Let’s see how quickly shortstop Dansby Swanson develops.

6. Five Rookies on the Verge

Workin‘ on our night moves, sang onetime up-and-coming rookie Bob Seger…

Corey Seager, Dodgers: We got a glimpse of him late last year, but the entire package should show up this summer. Internally, the Dodgers have been higher on him than even Joc Pederson. Can’t wait to watch.

Byron Buxton, Twins: What last year’s tepid debut did was give Buxton a taste of what to expect. Minnesota traded Aaron Hicks during the winter, and now center field is wide open for Buxton, who is a slam-dunk future star.

Steven Matz, Mets: The latest in the New York Mets’ assembly line of young studs in the rotation.

Joey Gallo, Rangers: He hits ’em a mile. But can he cut down on those strikeouts (57 in 108 at-bats with Texas last summer)?

Trea Turner, Nationals: Is he ready to take over and thrive at shortstop? The Nationals bid farewell to Ian Desmond and are ready to hand shortstop on a tray to Trea (get it?) if he has a good spring.

7. Five Key Comebacks

Ice, ibuprofen and Godspeed (and careful counters will notice I’ve slipped six into this category)…

Yadier Molina, Cardinals: The Cards’ heart, soul and quarterback is recovering from offseason surgery on his left thumb. The last man to start at catcher on a St. Louis Opening Day not named Yadier Molina? How about Mike Matheny, way back in 2004.

Adam Wainwright, Cardinals: Though he pitched three games in relief late last season after blowing out an Achilles tendon last April, the St. Louis ace still qualifies as being on the comeback trail this spring because he hasn’t started a game since last April 25. The Cards lost John Lackey to free agency, and though they did sign free agent Mike Leake, Wainwright obviously is a huge key.

CC Sabathia, Yankees: Between regression on the field and Sabathia entering an alcohol rehabilitation program near the end of last season, many eyes will be on the big lefty this spring.

Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays: Call this the Continuation Comeback. Stroman blew out his left knee last March during a simple spring fielding drill, then stunned the baseball world by ignoring doctors who said he’d miss the entire season by returning in September. He went 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA for Toronto in four starts last September, then made three starts in the postseason. With David Price gone, Stroman is enormously important to Toronto. With a full spring behind him, 2016 could be very interesting.

Yu Darvish, Rangers: Mending from Tommy John ligament transfer surgery last March 17, Darvish is expected back in late May or early June. Given that the Rangers won the AL West last year, his pairing with ace Cole Hamels in the second half of 2016 could make for an unbeatable combination.

Zack Wheeler, Mets: Like Darvish, Wheeler is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and is expected back around July 1. With the Mets’ young pitching already carrying them to the World Series last year without Wheeler, his return could pay huge dividends.

8. Five Managers on the Griddle

Please pass the pure Vermont maple syrup….

Robin Ventura, White Sox: Time to win this summer after a highly disappointing 2015 that led to questions regarding whether Ventura has enough fire for the job.

Fredi Gonzalez, Braves: Very well liked in Atlanta, but the Braves also are in a major overhaul, and they’re not going to win many games. Sometimes it takes a gymnast to survive those circumstances.

Brad Ausmus, Tigers: Much like Ventura‘s White Sox, the Tigers disappointed last year, and expectations are high this season. There are those who were surprised new Detroit general manager Al Avila brought Ausmus back for 2016. Much of what went on (injuries especially) last year was not the fault of Ausmus. Doesn’t mean the heat won’t continue to creep up this summer.

Walt Weiss, Rockies: Colorado is a mess. Right now, Connie Mack couldn’t figure this one out.

Bryan Price, Reds: Hopefully, Price can avoid another epic meltdown this summer as he helplessly watches his outmanned team.

9. Spring Power Rankings

Where you don’t need no stinking alarm clocks…

1. Sunblock: Careful, nothing can ruin spring camp for players and fans like a five-alarm sunburn.

2. Satellite Radio: Especially in Florida, where sometimes you drive two or three hours to the next camp, it’s a necessity. Besides, you’ve got to do your spring research, right? So tune to MLB Network Radio and Bleacher Report Radio, and you’re set.

3. Baseball Prospectus 2016 Annual: In the old days, it was Street and Smith’s, right? Look it up, kids. Now, this heavyweight paperback is the key item to travel with.

4. Flip Flops: Because, you know, the vibe is relaxed, and you’ve gotta be comfortable.

5. Yelp: Because you’ve gotta research where you’re going to have dinner. Though, because we’re a full-service spring preview, read on for just a few tips…

9(a). Five Grapefruit League Eats

And if you want to toss in Le Tub down in Hollywood, Florida, a former Sunoco station on the Intracoastal Waterway that serves great burgers and peel-and-eat shrimp, go right ahead….

Frenchy’s, Clearwater Beach: With a grouper sandwich in hand, the sand at your feet and the Gulf of Mexico close enough to reach out and touch, this isn’t Iowa; this is heaven.

Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, Lakeland: Located in the old part of town that brings to mind the Old South, the Cajun food here is terrific. Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole, red beans and rice with smoked sausage…I recommend all of it.

Nino’s Italian, Fort Myers: An old standard located close to the Twins’ camp and not far from Boston’s camp, the food here is fresh and comes in large portions. Added bonus: The basket of garlic knots that comes with your salad. Say hello to owner Graziano when you stop in.

Leftovers Café, Jupiter: You’ll see plenty of Cardinals and Marlins stop by throughout the spring. And do you know what many of them are after? The sweet potato-encrusted sea bass. Mmm.

Roy’s, Tampa: I normally avoid chain restaurants, but this one is so good, and the Tampa location is so convenient to the Yankees camp, it’s worth the trip. I’ve seen Reggie Jackson in here, Goose Gossage and many, many others. The Misoyaki “Butterfish” is great. The Blackened Island Ahi is mouthwatering. And, oh, my goodness, the Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle will send you to sleep smiling and dreaming of watching Masahiro Tanaka in action the next day.

9(b). Five Cactus League Eats

Did I mention Oregano’s Pizza on this list? I didn’t? There’s just not enough room!

Richardson’s, Phoenix: Home of the Green Chili Potato, Roasted Pork Mole and enough fresh fish to keep you swimming back for years, this place specializes in “Cuisine of New Mexico.” A Cactus League favorite for years.

Tee Pee Mexican Food, Phoenix: A total dive in the very best way. Good eats, large portions, cold drinks, lots of televisions. Perfect place to lose yourself in chips and salsa and March Madness games following an afternoon at the ballpark.

Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix: This place exploded when Oprah raved about it as the best pizza in America a few years ago. Hard to live up to that, but now that the wait isn’t an hour or more every day, it’s definitely worth a visit. Great crust, good sauce, interesting pizzas (I like the Wiseguy Pizza, which has wood-roasted onion, house smoked mozzarella and fennel sausage) and located in a cool, old historical building.

Culinary Dropout, Scottsdale: A standby of my annual list—how can you remove a place with the coolest name of all? The cheese fondue and pretzel dish always is a worthy appetizer. The fried chicken and biscuits are good, as is the meatloaf and several other gems.

Italian Grotto, Scottsdale: Perfect place to end a day of baseball: Scouts and broadcasters flock here, and it’s no wonder. Gary, the owner, is a huge baseball fan who knows them all.

9c. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

That time of year…

“Pale invaders and tanned crusaders

“Are worshipping the sun

“On the corner of ‘walk’ and ‘don’t walk’

“Somewhere on US 1

“I’m back to livin‘ Floridays

“Blue skies and ultra-violet rays

“Lookin’ for better days”

— Jimmy Buffett, Floridays

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

1. Best Unemployed, Still-Available, Brother-Can-You-Spare-A-Job Free Agents

To quote that great philosopher Cam Newton, “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.” OK, hmmm.

Here are some impact targets who can help MLB teams try to avoid being losers in 2016. These guys still need to pounce on a fumble….

Dexter Fowler: Coming off of a summer in which he compiled career highs in hits (149), runs scored (102) and home runs (17), and with a career on-base percentage of .363, it just doesn’t add up as to why Fowler remains unsigned. At least, it doesn’t add up in any other area than the fact that he declined the Cubs’ $15.8 million qualifying offer, so clubs are reluctant to give up a draft pick for signing him.

Scout’s take: “For me, he is a guy who’s gotta be a fit on a team. Decent player, average player in the major leagues, but on a championship team I might want a little more. If he’s a fit and you need a center fielder, he can fit that role.”

Best fit: St. Louis, Los Angles Angels or Baltimore

Yovani Gallardo: Several reports indicate he’s down the road on a deal with the Baltimore Orioles, and he should be. Not that Baltimore’s rotation is lacking, but word is Jim Palmer is considering a comeback.

Scout’s take: “I’ll tell you what. His stuff is going backwards, but this guy is a complete gamer. He gets after it. In a short deal, two years, I’d take him in two seconds. He knows how to win. Competes like a son of a gun. He does throw up the innings. If you watch him, you think he’s not going to because he has become a nibbler a little bit. But knows how to put [people] away. On a short-term deal, I’d love him. But long term, no chance.”

Best fit: Baltimore

Ian Desmond: Granted, his defense slipped last year. Combined with his anticipated price tag, that scared off more folks than the bear in The Revenant. Still, he’s punched 63 homers over the past three seasons and owns a career .312 on-base percentage.

Scout’s take: “He makes the routine plays look tough, and by June you look out and say ‘Why in the hell did we sign this guy?'”

Best fit: Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay

Mark Buehrle: He’ll be 37 next month and word was he was set to retire, but buzz circulating throughout the industry is that Buehrle may change his mind yet before the winter ends. He did go 15-8 with a 3.81 ERA in 32 starts for the Blue Jays last summer.

Scout’s take: “I think where he lives is the big thing. I think he might end up with the Cardinals. Buehrle’s Buehrle. You want him on your team. If he’s your fifth starter, that’s a pretty good deal. If you have a good defensive team behind him, he works fast and fielders love him. It depends on what he wants get paid, too. He should get paid like a fifth starter. Then any team would be happy to have him. I think he might end up playing.”

Best fit: St. Louis or Kansas City   

Pedro Alvarez: Have bat, will travel…but not to too many places.

Scout’s take: “He needs to go to an American League club. He’s a DH and for the right fit, in the right ballpark, he could be a good pickup. Money-wise, you’re dealing with DH and 1B. He’s limited defensively, so that’s why he has to be the right fit.”

Best fit: New York Yankees (With Greg Bird out for 2016 following a shoulder injury, the Yanks could use another first baseman/DH type with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira in their golden years). 

David Freese: The Angels, in the midst of failing to take advantage of Mike Trout’s best years, may regret not re-signing him. Freese was never going to live up to expectations following his incredible 2011 postseason (MVP of both the NLCS and World Series), but he’s still helpful.

Scout’s take: “I’ll tell you what: I like David Freese. I think the Angels should have signed him back, to be honest with you. I call him an RBI whore because he understands how to drive in runs. He doesn’t hit for great average, but he’s a good complementary bat on a team and if you’re going to win I’d take him. You can win with him at third base. His defense is better than people give him credit for.”

Best fit: Cleveland

Austin Jackson: Where have you gone, onetime hot prospect who is still only 29? At this point, the best play for Jackson will be to find a home as a fourth outfielder, providing depth off the bench for a contender.

Scout’s take: “I think he’s going backwards. He’s not a good hitter. His defensive skills are going backwards. He’s probably an extra outfielder for me at this point. Some clubs might be interested. If you’re gonna get somebody, I’d say go get Peter Bourjos, somebody who can play center field.”

Best fit: Houston or Texas

Juan Uribe: There’s one way to describe Uribe and that is…

Scout’s take: “This guy is a winner. He can still throw, he can still catch the ball and he is dangerous. He’s a dangerous hitter because he guesses, and he does a lot of things right. On a winning team, I’d like to have him on the bench. He can help you. He’s a veteran who knows his role, which is valuable because then there’s never any [complaining].”

Best fit: Houston

Justin Morneau: After leading the National League with a .319 batting average in 2014, Morneau played in just 49 games for Colorado last year as concussion symptoms returned. Here’s hoping Morneau, a terrific fellow, can come back strong in 2015.

Scout’s take: “I think people just don’t know what he’s going to be. He’s getting older, and with the concussions, people just don’t know what to expect. He’s going to be a late sign. A filler, maybe for an organization who has a guy coming and he’s more of a stopgap. He might perform, he might not. I couldn’t tell you which.”

Best fit: Pittsburgh or Miami

Cliff Lee: Comeback Player of Year? Or is he never to come back? Lee has done it long enough that the guess is, if he signs, he thinks he’s close to full strength. Because veterans know a few things about avoiding embarrassment.

Scout’s take: “If his arm’s healthy, he’s always been able to pitch. Incentives only, and that’s it. You cannot, in my opinion, pay guys for what you don’t know, or what they’ve done in the past. I’d like to have him. But it’s all incentives and that’s it. You’re basically flipping a coin. It might come up heads, might come up tails and you might lose either way.”

Best fit: Baltimore, Colorado

2. Yankees Ready for Liftoff

Two key starting pitchers. Two optimistic spring stories.

Masahiro Tanaka threw off of the mound Tuesday for the first time since having arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. Tanaka went went 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 24 starts last season. 

“From what I’ve been told, his throwing program was right on target,” Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild told the New York Post‘s Dan Martin. “He’s on schedule to have a normal spring training and season. We’ll have to monitor his rest and his elbow, but that goes for a lot of guys.”

That goes for CC Sabathia, too.

“CC looks better than I’ve seen him in a few years,” Rothschild told the Post.

Sabathia texted the Post‘s George A. King III: “I feel the best I have in three years. I am excited to get to Tampa with a clear head and a healthy body.”

3. Lurking in Toronto…

Prediction: Eric Wedge, the former Cleveland and Seattle skipper, will become the next manager of the Blue Jays.

Why?

In a little-noticed move, the Jays named him player development adviser last week. New Toronto president Mark Shapiro is a huge fan of Wedge and launched his managerial career in Cleveland when Shapiro was the Indians general manager.

John Gibbons is secure for now, coming off of Toronto’s first AL East title since 1993. But with former general manager Alex Anthopoulos having departed for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the club now firmly under the control of Shapiro, Gibbons has less wiggle room as the Jays already have a potential replacement in the fold.

4. Who knew bears get hernias?

Bummer for Evan Gattis, affectionately known as El Oso Blanco (The White Bear).

He had dropped significant weight this winter so he would be versatile enough to catch or play first base for the Houston Astros. Then came hernia surgery, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, and Gattis will miss four to six weeks. 

He slammed 27 homers with 88 RBI for the Astros last summer. Now, he hopes to pick up some at-bats in mid- to late March and be ready shortly after opening day.

5. Incentives of the Week

Veteran Mat Latos, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, has never been a threat to win a Cy Young Award or strikeout title. And yet, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman noted:

6. Tryout of the Month

Tim Lincecum is scheduled to throw soon in front of a bunch of scouts in Arizona, and some clubs remain leery that he will want too much money. He will pitch somewhere this season, it’s just a matter of where—and in what role. As of Wednesday, scouts were still awaiting a date to be scheduled.

“He’s a wild card,” one scout told B/R. “It’s a matter of how his arm feels. I think he’s a good risk because he’s a competitor and he’s a great athlete. It’s all about the money with him. If he wants to prove himself, he’s a one-year deal only for me, and see how he does. He might end up making himself money if he does well. Starting depth or long reliever, a bullpen piece, that’s what you’re looking at him as. He might surprise.”

Best fit? Let’s say Seattle (he went to the University of Washington), San Francisco or San Diego. West Coast pitcher-friendly parks.

7. Feel the Bern, Baseball Edition

Spend enough time around the game, and it isn’t only the Buster Poseys and Brandon Phillipses who hook you. No, if you’re lucky enough to be allowed to dig deep underneath the game’s surface, you get to know hundreds of wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to baseball, but remain (happily) far under the radar.

Bernie Stowe, the longtime Cincinnati Reds clubhouse manager who passed away this week at 80, was one of those gems. He worked for the Reds long enough to have participated in 67 (count ’em!) Opening Days. He probably washed more jerseys than Tide. And he may well have had more stories than Mark Twain.

He was hired by the Reds as a bat boy in 1947 and retired, finally, in 2014. He sparred verbally with the late Joe Nuxhall, worked with Sparky Anderson and was beloved by Johnny Bench.

Jerry Crasnick, the fine baseball writer at ESPN.com, spent some time in the 1980s and ’90s covering the Reds and wrote about one of Stowe’s most beloved and well-known pranks:

Cincinnati players through the years recall his fondness for clubhouse pranks—most notably, the “mongoose” gag. Stowe brought in a padlocked steel cage and stamped it with signs reading “Danger, Wild Mongoose.” He talked up the alleged viciousness of the sleeping creature inside while banging on the sides to build suspense. When he finally popped the door to the cage and a faux tail came flying out, petrified rookies scattered to all corners of the clubhouse.

8. Billy Ball Notes

From stats guru Bill Chuck, whose work you can find at Billy-Ball.com:

• During the 2015 season, Boston had a 4.94 ERA in the sixth inning, while the Yankees compiled a cumulative 4.94 ERA in the seventh inning. Thus, Boston acquired closer Craig Kimbrel, bumping Koji Uehara to the eighth inning and Junichi Tazawa to the seventh. The Yankees acquired Aroldis Chapman to add to their late-inning mix of Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances.
• Playing with Mike Trout as a regular since 2012, the Angels have gone 337-275 (.550) and 0-3 in the postseason. 
• Yovani Gallardo compiled a 1.226 WHIP before last season’s All-Star Game but a 1.718 WHIP after.
• What did Max Scherzer have in common with Jeff Samardzija last year? Each allowed a major league-high 17 homers after the All-Star break.

9. The Newest Sun Devil

According to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), former commissioner Bud Selig, 81, has been hired to teach sports law and business at Arizona State University.

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Pitchers and catchers, so close now. Pack up the glove oil and sunblock, baby, and the grapefruit and the cactus:

Hotel in Arizona made us all wanna feel like stars

Rental cars and tinted windows

Leave another number for me.

— Wilco, “Hotel Arizona”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Why, some things aren’t even worth the paper they’re printed on! Good thing you’re reading this on your computer or phone…

1. Best Paper Tigers

Remember last winter at this time, how we all loved the Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres? And to think, we weren’t even buried under a blizzard back then. So yes, things might look way different when the summer sun starts melting stuff. But for now…

Mets: Re-signing Yoenis Cespedes tipped the NL East scales back toward Queens. We saw what Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz could do last year. Add a presumably healthy Zack Wheeler at some point this year, along with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and former Pittsburgh second baseman Neil Walker, and it all looked pretty good. Then the brilliant Sandy Alderson figured out a path that led back to Cespedes. Bravo.

Tigers: On his own, Justin Upton isn’t a guy who will carry a team. Which is why his complementary role to Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez is absolutely perfect. OK, so Mike Ilitch is paying $21.25 million a year to a complementary piece, but he also shelled out for starter Jordan Zimmermann, and new general manager Al Avila strengthened the bullpen by acquiring Francisco Rodriguez. A healthy and productive Justin Verlander remains vitally important.

Cubs: Add Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey to a team that won 97 games last year and whose young players are still improving, and what’s not to like? If the uber-consistent Cardinals win another NL Central crown this year, it will be their most impressive feat yet.

Diamondbacks: Paul Goldschmidt is to Arizona what an in-his-prime Albert Pujols was to the Cardinals a decade ago. A.J. Pollock is the best player too many have never heard of. Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller are terrific adds. And second baseman Howie Kendrick, still lurking on the free-agent market, would be a perfect final piece (hint, hint).

Giants: Arizona got all the pub, but adding Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to its rotation and Denard Span to the top of its order puts San Francisco in terrific shape for 2016.

Red Sox: They swiftly addressed key areas of need under new president of baseball operations David Dombrowski. David Price is the ace Boston was missing last year. Closer Craig Kimbrel elevates their bullpen. Outfielder Chris Young adds depth. This could become one of Boston’s last-place-to-first-place seasons.

2. Best Winter Intrigue

Very interesting that the Tigers, who in December indicated they were probably done spending the big bucks, veered toward Upton and not Cespedes when they decided to add one more big bat.

All things being equal, the Tigers knew far more about Cespedes than Upton simply because they employed him for the first 102 games of 2015. And when a team gets that kind of insight into a player, it is the kind of inside intelligence that few others are privy to.

Which is why it was so interesting when the Tigers signed Upton to a monster six-year, $132.75 million deal and left Cespedes out there to fall to the Mets on a three-year, $75 million deal that includes an opt-out clause after one year.

Clearly, in putting their efforts into Upton, the Tigers judged him a better all-around player and better all-around value than Cespedes. At 28, Upton is two years younger than Cespedes (30). And statistically, Upton has produced a better on-base percentage (.352 career) and OPS (.825) than Cespedes (.319, .805).

Furthermore, clubs appeared wary of making a long-term commitment to Cespedes for many reasons. As one American League executive told Bleacher Report last week, among other things, the quality of Cespedes‘ at-bats often declined the longer he stayed with one team.

That said, he still smashed a combined 35 homers with 105 RBI for the Tigers and Mets last season. He inserted himself into NL MVP talk by September despite the fact that he wound up playing only 57 games for the Mets.

Did the Tigers make a smart move by committing to Upton over Cespedes for the next six years?

Did the Mets make a mistake by giving Cespedes an opt-out after only one year?   

With both teams intent on contending, and with Cespedes and Upton being mirror images of each other in some ways (both are streaky hitters, that’s the main way), this debate won’t be settled anytime soon.

3. Best Winter Chuckle

Here we go again: The Kansas City Royals have played in two consecutive World Series, won it all in 2015, and yet in the first projection for this season, FanGraphs has the 2016 Royals winning just 79 games.

LOL!

We laugh with them, not at them, even if coming out of spring training last season I picked the Royals third in the AL Central (though, in fairness, I did write that any of the four division teams other than the Twins could win the title).

No, what’s particularly humorous about this FanGraphs prediction is that the good folks at Baseball Prospectus went through the same thing last year, predicting that the Royals would win just 72 games. And…

I imagine the line outside of their doors waiting for the 2016 predictions announcement is longer than the lines when the new Star Wars movie premiered.

Hey, as my therapist Jimmy Buffett sings, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

4. Worst Winter Impression of a Filthy Rich Team

The New York Yankees did not spend a dime in the free-agent market.

Didn’t spend a nickel. Didn’t even spend a penny.

It’s true. They were one of five clubs to sit out the entire free-agent market. Their company? The Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

“Everybody knows in the next few years we’ve got significant amounts of money coming off the payroll just with a few guys,” Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner and managing general partner, said during last week’s owners meetings, per MLB.com. “We’re going to do as much as we can to put as much of that back into the team as we possibly can.

“There’s money coming off, and it’s going to give me a chance to do a lot of things, have a lot of flexibility that we just haven’t had.”

Those to whom Steinbrenner is referring: Mark Teixeira ($22.5 million a year) and Carlos Beltran ($15 million) both are entering the final year of their contracts in 2016. Alex Rodriguez ($20 million) is up after the 2017 season.

In the meantime, CC Sabathia ($25 million for 2016) will be tied to the Yankees in 2017 at $25 million if his contract vests in ’16. His 2017 salary is guaranteed if he does not finish ’16 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury, if he does not spend more than 45 days in ’16 on the DL with a left shoulder injury or if he does not make more than six relief appearances in ’16 because of a left shoulder injury.

Despite the Yankees sitting on the sidelines during free agency, waiting for contracts to fall off of their payroll like autumn leaves from trees, they absolutely improved.

For one thing, Starlin Castro, acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, lines up at second base.

For another, Aroldis Chapman, acquired in a trade with Cincinnati, joins Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances in what could be the game’s best late-inning bullpen combination.

“We’re definitely a better team,” Steinbrenner said at the meetings. “We’re a bit younger. What we did at second base, I’m excited about. We were certainly struggling there. So we’ve improved some positions. In any given year, I think health is one of the biggest factors anyway.

“Again, I think if we had not lost [Nathan] Eovaldi and Teixeira at the end of the season, we might have had a better chance. Who knows? But you’d better stay healthy.”

5. Best (and Worst!) Allocation of Resources

With an intriguing number of free agents still out there, here, courtesy of this cool portion of ESPN.com, are the winter cash standings:

6. Worst Premature Rumor

The designated hitter is coming to the National League…soon?

When MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred floated the idea at the owners meetings and Cardinals GM John Mozeliak told fans at St. Louis’ Winter Warm-Up that momentum for the DH in the NL is increasing, it began to look like the NL might adopt the DH as soon as the next collective bargaining agreement. Play under that would begin in 2017.

While most people in the industry believe it is just a matter of time before the NL adopts the DH, maybe (and, yes, hopefully) the change isn’t as imminent as we thought a week or so ago.

“The most likely result on the designated hitter for the foreseeable future is the status quo,” Manfred told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick this week in an interview centered around Manfred’s one-year anniversary on the job. “I think the vast majority of clubs in the National League want to stay where they are.”

7. Best Winter Promise

At another winter warm-up function, the Red Sox’s Winter Weekend at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia said he again will be a man in motion.

“I’m going to run more,” he said, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne.

Pedroia is 32 now, so that’s an intriguing strategy.

So is the fact that after swiping 20 or more bags in four different seasons, Pedroia logged only two steals in 93 games last summer and six in 135 games in 2014.

Did he discover a Fountain of Youth this winter? Nah, it’s just based on what the Red Sox are doing.

“The last couple of years, when I was running, David [Ortiz] was getting walked,” Pedroia said. “I kind of want him to hit. So that stuff changes. But certain parts of last year, [Xander Bogaerts] hit behind me, so it’s time to go.”

8. Best Potential Trade Bait

The Angels spoke with several clubs earlier this winter about dealing left-hander C.J. Wilson, according to Bleacher Report sources, but no trade was made.

They do not want to go over the $189 million luxury-tax threshold, but they’ve got a Disney-sized issue in left field: Right now, the Angels are looking at a platoon of Daniel Nava and Craig Gentry in left field, two players who combined for one (one, count ’em, er, it) home run last summer.

In fact, Gentry has zero homers over the past two seasons, which covers 314 plate appearances.

Nava‘s one homer last season came in 166 plate appearances.

By trading Wilson (yes, still), the Angels would clear at least part of the $20 million they owe him for 2016 off the books. Dealing Wilson perhaps could bring back an outfielder in return or, at the very least, clear room for the Angels to pursue Dexter Fowler (they also need a leadoff man).

One other obstacle in dealing Wilson: He missed much of last year following surgery to have bone chips and spurs removed from his elbow. Clubs potentially interested in him may want to see him pitch some Cactus League games before deciding whether to try to deal for him.

9. Best Pimping of an Advice Columnist

Alert readers of the “Ask Amy” advice column noticed the other day that Feeling Foolish had an awfully familiar problem: Met a famous sports figure at the gym, said sports figure wanted to have coffee, then said sports figure wanted to date his new friend’s ex-girlfriend, new friend reluctantly said OK then found out that the sports figure canceled plans so he could go out with the ex-girlfriend and….

If this all sounds exactly like the plot of a Seinfeld episode, well, ask Amy. It’s real, and it’s spectacular!

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

A theme song for the many free agents still unsigned? Why, here’s guest artist Chris Stapleton, whose disc Traveller is absolutely tremendous if you like good, old-school country:

“You only need a roof when it’s raining

“You only need a fire when it’s cold

“You only need a drink when the whiskey

“Is the only thing that you have left to hold

“Sun comes up and goes back down

“And falling feels like flying till you hit the ground

“Say the word and I’ll be there for you

“Baby, I will be your parachute”

—Chris Stapleton, “Parachute”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

One month before pitchers and catchers report, we’ve still got several things to settle…

1. What’s Up with Cespedes?

While Justin Upton has surfaced, it seems Yoenis Cespedes is stuck somewhere on Mars with Matt Damon. Golfing, maybe.

What gives?

Five months ago, Cespedes was emerging as a last-minute National League MVP candidate. He joined the New York Mets at the trade deadline and immediately rocket-launched them toward the World Series.

Today, Cespedes is more invisible than Punxsutawney Phil.

Will he emerge this week? Next week? By, ahem, Groundhog Day (Feb. 2 for all you non-believers)?

The icing of Cespedes is freeze-drying into perhaps the winter’s biggest story. While Upton found a soft landing in Detroit on a six-year, $132 million deal, the man who hit a combined 35 homers with 105 RBI and a .328 on-base percentage in Detroit and New York last summer continues to scan Craigslist.

For one thing, Cespedes last summer landed at the wrong place at the wrong time. He probably could have parlayed his second-half World Series charge into untold riches in nearly any other market. Popular demand would have pressured the club to keep him. But in New York, where Mets ownership has been off balance since the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the Mets continue to toss nickels around like one of George Halas’ (Mike Ditka’s?) manhole covers.

“The Mets are a debacle right now,” one agent told Bleacher Report. “It’s a shame that family still owns the team.”

The Mets telegraphed at season’s end the fact that they probably wouldn’t be players for Cespedes on a long-term deal, so their lack of engagement this winter is not surprising. Most projections going into this winter pegged Cespedes for roughly a six-year deal around $140 million, which would be just a bit more than Upton got from Detroit this week.

But other than a sudden interest by Baltimore last week, there hasn’t been much noise around Cespedes. And the Orioles’ interest in hindsight appeared to be simply a maneuver to roust slugger Chris Davis, who agreed with the Orioles on a seven-year, $161 million deal over the weekend.

One major league executive believes clubs like Cespedes more on a short-term deal than on a multiyear contract because of concern with how he will produce long-term.

The fact that Cespedes has played for four teams in the past four years also adds intrigue.

“The pattern has been real good initially, then some form of backing up as it goes along,” an American League executive told Bleacher Report.

“When this guy is engaged, he’s a terrific player. When he is not, he lacks the effort on defense and the at-bats aren’t as good. He has been streaky, which is not abnormal for power hitters, but the at-bats weren’t as good the longer he was somewhere.”

After Cespedes hit .287/.337/.604 with 17 homers and 44 RBI in just 57 games with the Mets last summer to lead them to the NL East title, his autumn turned weird. He became embroiled in a mini-controversy on the day of Game 4 of the NL Championship Series when, after he left the game with a sore left shoulder, it was revealed that he was seen playing golf in Chicago the morning of the game.

Then he left Game 5 of the World Series in severe pain after fouling a ball off his left knee.

As for the golf, it turned out that it was business as usual for Cespedes. He’s become hooked on the game, playing often during the season, to the point where Mets hitting coach Kevin Long last summer would ask Cespedes when he arrived at the park whether he played golf that day. And if he had, Long smiled.

“If he played golf, most of the time he hits a home run,” Long told the Wall Street Journal.

But the autumn issues may have left a lasting memory that carried into winter negotiations as well.

“Obviously, how things went in the playoffs didn’t help,” the AL executive said. “Taking himself out of the clincher with the Cubs early in the game, then [being] seen in the dugout with goggles around his neck wasn’t a good look.”

Recent industry speculation included the Tigers, but they opted for Upton. The Orioles are out after signing Davis.

The Los Angeles Angels clearly need a left fielder. Though owner Arte Moreno has steadfastly maintained he prefers to remain under the luxury-tax threshold of $189 million, if Cespedes is to get a monster contract, the Halos are one of the few organizations left that could afford it. On the other hand, Albert Pujols already is weighing down the franchise with a long-term deal, and they just got out from under another bad contract in Josh Hamilton, so there could be some aversion to romancing Cespedes long-term.

The St. Louis Cardinals, after losing Jason Heyward, have a need. So do the Houston Astros. And Cespedes would bolster a Chicago White Sox lineup big-time.

The Washington Nationals, who struck late for ace Max Scherzer last January, also are thought to be considering a similar late-winter strike this year for Cespedes.

“There are a lot of yellow flags around him,” the executive said. “Not the dark red ones, but caution flags.

“I don’t think he is a star. He’s a very good major-league talent. But he disappears too often.”

He has absolutely disappeared this winter.

When he will re-emerge has become the most interesting question of all.

2. Mike Ilitch Does It Again

Justin Upton can be an impact bat in the middle of the order, and if Victor Martinez, J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera can stay healthy, the Tigers have a chance to recapture the division title from Kansas City in an AL Central that gets more intriguing each week.

Whether Upton does or doesn’t work out, though, say this: Detroit’s owner Mike Ilitch is the kind of owner every fan has to wish his or her team had. Year after year, Ilitch has laid out millions in pursuit of the one goal that continues to drive him, bringing a World Series title to Detroit for the first time since 1984.

From Pudge Rodriguez to Miguel Cabrera to Justin Verlander to Prince Fielder to Jordan Zimmermann (and beyond), Ilitch has thrown money at one star after another. In that regard, he’s reminiscent of the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who poured every ounce of energy he had, year after year, into attempting to bring New York a Yankees World Series title.

While teams in larger markets continue to do calisthenics to avoid going over the $189 million luxury-tax threshold (the Yankees, ironically, and the Angels, to name two), Ilitch thinks nothing of it.

3. Of Tanks and No Arms Race

As we edge closer to the glorious sunshine and pitchers and catchers reporting to camps in Arizona and Florida, some serious questions are on the horizon in the National League.

Mainly, spring training, that time of hope and optimism, isn’t going to bring what it once brought to several National League clubs. And how damaging might that be to the integrity of the game?

Friend Jayson Stark over at ESPN.com wrote a riveting piece on the subject last week, noting that at least four teams (Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves) and possibly as many as six (Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres) are shifting into, basically, non-compete mode while rebuilding.

It was bad enough when the Houston Astros stripped things down to the studs and foundation a few years ago, losing at least 106 games in each of three consecutive seasons (2011-13).

The Cubs caused some grumbling as well in the early years of the Theo Epstein regime, finishing fifth in the NL Central for five consecutive seasons.

Now, with both the Cubs and Astros roaring back in 2015 and boasting some of the game’s best young talent, enough other clubs appear to be following suit that baseball might wind up with an embarrassing situation sooner rather than later.

“I think it’s a problem for the sport,” an executive for an American League contender told Stark, speaking of the NL. “I think the whole system is screwed up, because I think it actually incentivizes not winning. And that’s a big issue going forward.”

At the very least, it is an issue baseball must closely watch. As things stand now, it’s good to be a member of the NL Central and NL East—because only three of the five clubs in each of those divisions really are trying to compete in 2016.

In the NL East, you’ve got the Mets, Marlins and Nationals on one side, while the Braves and Phillies are stripping things down.

In the NL Central, you’ve got the Cardinals, Cubs and Pirates with chances to win, while the Brewers and Reds will resemble Triple-A outfits.

Given that clubs face each other 19 times because of the unbalanced schedule, that’s a lot of extra wins the front three clubs in each of those divisions will pick up. Enough, probably, to guarantee that the two NL wild-card teams likely will come from the East and the Central, not the NL West.

Commissioner Rob Manfred told Stark that rebuilding is just part of the cyclical nature of the game.

“Obviously, you don’t want to have too many teams in a rebuilding cycle at one time in one league, and I accept that,” Manfred said. “But the fact of the matter is, when you have 30 teams, it’s not unusual that you have five or six in a rebuilding cycle. I think if you look back historically, that would not be a number that’s out of line.”

That the Astros and Cubs had so much success with their dramatic rebuilds is to each of their credits, of course.

It just becomes a problem if the rebuilding highways become gridlocked with copycats.

4. Where Have You Gone, Mariano Rivera?

Yankees GM Brian Cashman says newly acquired flamethrower Aroldis Chapman will head into spring training as the team’s closer, because that’s where he adds “max value.”

However they divvy up the work, there’s no question the Yankees should be awesome in the late innings with Chapman, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller aboard.

There’s also no question that Mariano Rivera is becoming smaller and smaller in that rear-view mirror. As statistics whiz Bill Chuck points out, Chapman could give the Yankees their fifth different saves leader in the past five seasons in 2016: Rafael Soriano (42) in 2012 (the year Rivera missed most of the season with a knee injury), Rivera (44) in 2013, David Robertson (39) in 2014 and Andrew Miller (36) in 2015.

5. The World Champs Get Better

Make no mistake: Ian Kennedy is not David Price or Zack Greinke. It’s not like the Kansas City Royals signed a guy who will become a favorite to win a Cy Young Award.

But in agreeing to terms with Kennedy on a five-year, $70 million deal, the Royals unquestionably took a step in the right direction after losing Johnny Cueto to free agency.

Kennedy is coming off a down season in San Diego but should be able to give Kansas City exactly what James Shields did a couple of years ago: a summer of 200 innings and a solid veteran rotation presence.

He surrendered a career-high 31 homers last season, which is saying something given that he pitched some of his early years in hitter-friendly Arizona. But from that perspective, Kansas City is a good landing spot: Kauffman Stadium was the most difficult park in the American League to homer in last summer, surrendering an average of 1.60 homers per game.

It’s also hard not to look at Kennedy’s splits last year and give him the benefit of the doubt that an Opening Day hamstring pull threw him off balance during the first half of 2015. Before the All-Star break, he went 4-9 with a 4.91 ERA and 20 homers allowed in 84.1 innings pitched in 16 starts. After the break, he went 5-6 with a 3.64 ERA and 11 homers allowed in 84 innings pitched.

6. Free-Agent Rankings

Here’s my weekly take as agents bluster, suitors cluster and bean counters muster the courage to write those checks as the winter (gulp) deepens…

1. Yoenis Cespedes: A guy needs to know where to schedule his tee times this summer.

2. Dexter Fowler: C’mon, Joe Maddon will even write a letter of recommendation.

3. Howie Kendrick: The last second baseman the Dodgers jettisoned went on to win the NL batting title. But Kendrick is no Dee Gordon.

4. Yovani Gallardo: The leftover bin of starting pitchers remains pretty well stocked.

5. Doug Fister: One year ago, he was slated to be part of one of the greatest rotations in recent memory. Cough, cough.

7. Pete Rose in the Hall

Yes, the news bulletin you saw Tuesday is true: Pete Rose is going to the Hall of Fame.

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

Not only that, the club will retire his No. 14 during the Reds’ Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, June 24-26.

Good for them, and good for MLB for allowing this to happen.

While it is true that Rose is banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame for being on the game’s suspended list, individual club Halls of Fame are a different, more localized version. They don’t necessarily have to play by the same rules as they do in Cooperstown.

Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a statement Tuesday that this will be “a defining moment in the 147-year history of this storied franchise. He is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Reds uniform and it will be an unforgettable experience watching him be honored as such.”

Incidentally, word of the honor did reach Cooperstown. And not everyone there is opposed to this, or even greater honors, for Rose:

8. The Mo-Man Reappears, Long Live the Mo-Man!

There is only one Mo-Man, the long-retired Mike Morgan, who pitched for 12 teams (then a record) between 1978 and 2002.

The fourth overall pick by Oakland in the 1978 draft, he went straight to the majors, never looked back and pretty much had a rubber arm the entire way through. I came across him in Minnesota when he was playing for the Twins and I was covering them. He had a very unique way of viewing the world and of speaking.

What I most remember is when he had a poor start. He’d meet the media afterward, shrug and simply say, “Bob Seger, man.” That was his code for one of Seger’s most well-known songs: “Turn the Page.” Yep, forget about a bad start, turn the page and get ’em next time.

There were dozens more just like that.

Now 56, Morgan has been gone for a while: When there was no interest in him following the 2002 season, he went home to Utah, hurt (not physically—his feelings were hurt) and went into a sort of self-exile.

He reappeared at the Diamondbacks’ fantasy camp last week.

“I can still throw seven days a week,” he told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. “I can still throw the hammer [curveball]. It’s not 12-to-6 anymore, it’s 12-to-3. Four-seamers, two-seamers, sliders.

“I still get guys asking me to throw the hammer so they can see it out of my hand. And I always tell them, ‘Just tell me where to meet you and I’ll come throw to you.'”

9. Farewell, Monte Irvin

One of the first African-Americans to play in the majors and a mentor to the great Willie Mays, Monte Irvin passed away last week in Houston at the age of 96. A Hall of Famer as both a player and a person, Irvin spent three years in the Army during World War II and, as Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week, “was a true leader during a transformational era for our game.”

And, he said this, and amen, amen, amen:

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

We’re barely halfway through January and already 2016 has been painful. Last week we lost David Bowie, this week Glenn Frey. Though he’s a little more known, you might say, for his great hits like “Tequila Sunrise” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” there was a time, believe it or not, when Frey wanted to become a baseball broadcaster. Not only does he do so for a day here with Vin Scully in 1985, he gives a tremendous home run call:

 You left us way too soon, Glenn, but thanks for the words and music.

“City girls seem to find out early

“How to open doors with just a smile”

— Eagles, “Lyin’ Eyes”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

1. In with the New

The ball drops, the New Year begins, and you learn stuff.

Stuff like this:

You learn there is a show called Mozart in the Jungle, and that it is good enough to win Best Comedy at the Golden Globes (huh?!).

You learn that the Cincinnati Bengals not only are inelegant but are a colossal disgrace.

And you learn that with spring training just over one month away, no division will be more intriguing than the NL West.

While the Arizona Diamondbacks earned well-deserved praise for shooting for the stars (or, at least, for the top of the division) by scooping up Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller last month, the San Francisco Giants quietly are positioning themselves to continue their wacky even-year success.

No, Denard Span, who signed a three-year, $31 million deal last week, isn’t the second coming of Bryce Harper or Mike Trout.

But he fits beautifully into that team and that clubhouse. The thought here is that under baseball operations chief Brian Sabean, who is as good as there is at finding pieces who fit, the Giants have done it again.

Together, Span and the additions of free-agent starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija should make the Giants much more interesting and return them to contention.

Granted, Span has much to prove physically. He played in only 61 games last season because of core injuries. He ended the 2014 season with a minor groin pull, or so he thought, but wound up having surgery that December.

Then he pushed himself too hard, injured the other side of his groin and underwent a second surgery last March.

Then he came back too soon from that and ended up having hip surgery Sept. 1. By then, his confidence was at a low ebb, and as the Nationals’ season swirled down the drain amid a sea of injuries and infighting, Span clearly was a man in need of a fresh start.

“Span was the biggest loss of all of them for me,” one source close to the Nationals told Bleacher Report this winter, recounting the games the team lost from various injuries to Span, Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon and others. “He’s a true leadoff guy. Legitimate, true leadoff.”

Cueto’s stock fell some with Kansas City last summer following his trade from Cincinnati. What the Royals found was that he was so sensitive that they ended up scheduling their World Series rotation to make sure Cueto started at home instead of on the road, where hostile crowds rattled him.

Samardzija, of course, is coming off a disappointing season in which his 4.96 ERA was the third-highest of all American League qualifying starters. Before the July 31 trade deadline, he worked seven or more innings over 10 consecutive starts. But after the Chicago White Sox kept him at the deadline, he went 1-8 with a 9.24 ERA over his next nine starts.

Point is, neither Cueto nor Samardzija is a sure thing, but the talent is there. And San Francisco’s Hall of Fame (one day, for sure) manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti are perfect for bringing it out.

And the Giants, who already have a championship pedigree, added some championship-level character as well.

“I’m at the stage of my career [where] I want to do whatever it takes to win a championship,” Span told San Francisco reporters, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft. “If that means me being in center field, I’ll take that with pride and I’ll do the best I can. If they need me in left field or they need me to catch for Buster [Posey] for a couple of games, I’ll do that as well.”

Don’t get carried away now, Denard. Giants fans have as much chance of seeing him behind the plate as they do of seeing a Willie Mays comeback (but, oh, don’t we wish it could happen?).

But with a (presumably) healthy Span in center field and a couple of rotation upgrades, maybe the Giants won’t even need that calendar voodoo they’ve used so successfully to bounce back in 2016.

2. In with the New Too

Pull out your iPhone and ask Siri, “Who’s the boss?” and this amusing answer sometimes comes back: “You are. But it gets a little confusing when Bruce Springsteen is around.”

Which brings me to St. Louis’ Monday signing of right-hander Seung-hwan Oh from South Korea. Yes, the Cardinals added him to boost their already strong bullpen. He compiled a 2.73 ERA with 41 saves and fanned 66 batters in 69.1 innings last season for Japan’s Hanshin Tigers.

But the real reason why everyone except the Cardinals’ rivals should root for Oh? His nickname: Final Boss.

3. He’s Not Zack Greinke, But…

Maybe Kenta Maeda will wind up doing what Greinke couldn’t do, and that’s help pitch the Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series. He’ll sure be around long enough to have several chances.

Maeda’s eight-year contract is the longest the Dodgers have ever awarded a pitcher. The catch: Because of something in his physical examination that made them a bit wary, the Dodgers wanted a longer deal packed with incentives. Maeda is guaranteed a minimum of $25 million, and the deal could be worth more than $100 million. According to the Los Angeles Times, he can earn more than $10 million annually based on games started and innings pitched.

The Dodgers project Maeda in their rotation alongside Clayton Kershaw and, presumably, Brett Anderson and Scott Kazmir. They also have Alex Wood, Hyun-Jin Ryu coming back from shoulder surgery and Brandon McCarthy, who is projected to make a midseason return from Tommy John elbow surgery.

One interesting sidelight from the Maeda signing: Former Dodgers and Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda told Dylan Hernandez of the Times that the biggest challenge for Maeda will be adjusting to the MLB rotation schedule of pitching once every five days. In Japan, pitchers start once per week.

“That was the hardest part for me,” Kuroda told Hernandez in a telephone interview conducted in Japanese.

After seven seasons in the majors, Kuroda returned to Japan and pitched with Maeda for the Hiroshima Carp last summer.

“If he can overcome the difficulty of pitching on four days’ rest, he’ll do well,” Kuroda told Hernandez.

4. Out with the Old

The Washington Nationals always were going to shake up their bullpen—good news for Drew Storen, whom the Nats traded to Toronto for center fielder Ben Revere the other day.

The deal gives Storen a badly needed new start after the Nationals jerked him around for the past few seasons. They yanked him out of the closer’s role once in favor of Rafael Soriano (how’d that go?), then demoted him to the minors, then reinstalled him as the closer and then yanked him out of that role again last summer in favor of Jonathan Papelbon (forensics experts are still investigating).

Nats GM Mike Rizzo said the other day he expects that Papelbon will be “one of our late-inning relievers.” Good luck with that. Some in the industry still expect the Nats to deal Papelbon. We’ll see.

As for Storen, he’ll slot in somewhere in the late innings in Toronto. Blue Jays rookie Roberto Osuna had a terrific season in 2015 (20 saves, 68 appearances, 0.92 WHIP, 2.58 ERA) and likely will be first man up as Toronto’s closer.

5. Leave the Non-Griffey Jr. Voters Alone

What we should have been talking about all along is Ken Griffey Jr.’s being elected to the Hall of Fame by acclimation, receiving an astounding, record-shattering 99.3 percent of the vote. Tom Seaver’s 98.84 had been the highest.

Instead, many folks over the past week embarked on a veritable witch hunt to find the three voters who left Griffey off their ballot entirely. Agreed, a ballot this year without Griffey’s name is a ludicrous ballot.

But it’s still not nearly as bad as:

• 11 voters leaving Babe Ruth off their ballot in 1936, the Hall’s first class.

• 28 voters leaving Joe DiMaggio off their ballots in 1955.

• 20 voters leaving Ted Williams off their ballots in 1966.

• 36 voters leaving Jackie Robinson off their ballots in 1962.

I could go on. Nobody has ever been elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously, and there are countless examples where you have to wonder whether certain voters should have had their heads examined.

But what’s worse than a handful of voters somehow deciding “I’m not going to vote for (fill in the blank)” is this: groupthink.

When we reach a point as a society where the tar-and-feather crowd starts scaring everyone into thinking and voting the same, that’s when we’re really in trouble.

6. Free-Agent Rankings

Here’s my weekly take as agents bluster, suitors cluster and bean counters muster the courage to write those checks as the winter deepens into (gulp) award season…

1. Dexter Fowler: C’mon, if The Martian can win a Golden Globe as a comedy, then it’s not that much of a stretch for someone to sign a solid leadoff hitter and defensive center fielder, is it?

2. Yovani Gallardo: Next starting pitcher up, you would think. Unless Wei-Yin Chen goes all Lady Gaga on him and steals the attention.

3. Howie Kendrick: He still feasts on cookies, but his Empire is fading fast.

4. Justin Upton: By now, you’d think someone would have signed poor Justin thinking he could connect them with Kate.

5. Yoenis Cespedes: The Mets are still reeling from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. If his offseason were a movie, The Big Short could describe Cespedes’ stock shrinking like so many other portfolios.

7. Five of 30 with No Hall of Famers

Griffey Jr.’s election gives the Seattle Mariners their first Hall of Famer. It also leaves just five clubs without their own Hall of Famer, as USA Today pointed out in an entertaining piece.

The five, along with a comment sizing up the situation:

Colorado Rockies: Larry Walker (15.5 percent of the vote this year)? Todd Helton? We know no pitchers stand a chance.

Los Angeles Angels: The quick reaction is that outfielder Vladimir Guerrero comes onto the ballot next year and maybe…except if he is elected, he’s probably going in as a Montreal Expo. The Angels easily are the oldest team on this list, having been around since 1961, and currently Mike Trout has the best odds of becoming their first Hall of Famer.

Miami Marlins: Good luck. By the time any young prospects grow into something and begin earning real money (Mike Lowell, Miguel Cabrera), owner Jeffrey Loria makes sure they’re traded. Anybody care to bet on Giancarlo Stanton earning Hall of Fame status as a Marlin?

Tampa Bay Rays: Well, for a time, word was that Wade Boggs had a deal with former Rays owner Vince Naimoli that he would go into Cooperstown as a Ray. The Hall of Fame curators were never going to let that happen.

Washington Nationals: Not counting the Montreal Expos, who have Gary Carter and Andre Dawson.

8. Halladay vs. Clemens on Twitter

Competitors will always be competitors. In case you missed this exchange on Twitter last week, here are a couple of fastballs from two who threw among the hardest in recent years (I’m on Team Halladay):

9. In the Spirit of the Game

In so many walks of life during these tough economic times, people flat-out need help.

Over here in this small corner of the baseball world, the annual “In the Spirit of the Game” gala comes around again this weekend; it’s a fabulous baseball event designed to raise money for longtime scouts who are down and out. This year marks the 13th annual event, hosted by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation and the brainchild of former agent Dennis Gilbert, who now is a special assistant to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

The event has become one of the biggest on the winter baseball calendar and includes a who’s who of baseball luminaries and a silent auction that, in the past, has included everything from dresses worn in movies by Marilyn Monroe to guitars signed by the Rolling Stones to autographed memorabilia from such legends as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and more.

Those who will be honored this year include Andre Dawson, Maury Wills, Joe Torre, Terry Collins and Bill White.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area and would like to attend, here’s the information. If not, be sure to watch highlights on MLB Network later this month.

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

I never loved David Bowie. Liked him, didn’t love him. That’s the way art works; some hits you right between the eyes, some doesn’t, and it’s OK. But I always recognized the man’s genius and place in history. Heroes come from all walks of life. Sleep well, Thin White Duke. We’ll miss you.

“I, I will be king

“And you, you will be Queen

“Though nothing, will drive them away

“We can beat them, just for one day

“We can be heroes just for one day

“And you, you can be mean

“And I, I’ll drink all the time

“‘Cause we’re lovers, and that is a fact

“Yes we’re lovers, and that is that

“Though nothing, will keep us together

“We could steal time,

“Just for one day

“We can be heroes, forever and ever

“What d’you say?

“I, I wish you could swim

“Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim

“Though nothing,

“Nothing will keep us together

“We can beat them, forever and ever

“Oh we can be heroes,

“Just for one day”

— David Bowie, “Heroes”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com