Happy Friday, everyone! Well, we survived the week. Let’s give ourselves a collective pat on the back. To celebrate, we can get excited over the fact that baseball games return today. Sure, it’s Spring Training and you can tell me all day these games don’t count, but this is the first baseball we’ve seen since October, so I’ll take what I can get, even if it is a game against the White Sox.
We’ve got news below updating the Tony Clark situation with the MLBPA, and introducing his interim replacement. We look at some up-and-coming prospects, and also spotlight when some current stars might be hanging up their cleats for good.
Plent to look forward to, plus baseball, so let’s just get right into it.
- Patrick Andres reports on the MLBPA’s interim executive director, Bruce Meyer.
- Meyer is apparently “passionate” about protecting player rights, shares Jesse Rogers.
- Stephanie Apstein digs into the scandal behind Tony Clark’s exit and what it means for the MLBPA.
- Ben Clemens and Sean Dolinar introduce us to FanGraphs Labs, sure to delight baseball data nerds everywhere.
- Bryan Hoch looks at Jazz Chisholm Jr and his quest to join the 50/50 club.
- Sonja Chen reports that Freddie Freeman would like to play until he’s 40 and retire with the Dodgers.
- Do these odds feel right?
- Evidently, Mountain Dew Baja Blast is the official soft drink of Major League Baseball.
- Davy Andrews asks an important Olympics question: which baseball players would make the best ice dancers?
- Anthony Castrovince wonders if we are selling Paul Skenes short with the “ace” label.
- Madison Williams reports that ESPN will replace Sunday Night Baseball with a full slate of women’s sports coverage.
- Buster Olney ranks the best first basemen in baseball.
- Jim Bowden looks at the rookies to keep an eye on in Spring Training. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- The Tigers have unveiled new home and road alternates and they’re pretty swanky.
- Davy Andrews has some fun with meaningless splits.
- The Brewers and Pat Murphy are in agreement on a new 3-year deal. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Is the AL East the most stacked division in baseball? (MLB)
- Stephen J. Nesbitt shares how Team America finally managed to convince the best pitchers in the game to participate. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- We love a WBC hype video.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.