- Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times profiled the Chase Utley we all know and love in the early going of Spring Training. The Dodgers have paid plenty to field the team they are fielding and to their credit they have made some impressive runs as of late. The analytics community sometimes snarls at veteran presence and I can't say I completely disagree but getting Utley at a bargain price to help set the tone for the team should help prove valuable to them.
- While on the Dodgers, Austin Yamada prepares us for Vin Scully's final season in broadcasting. Growing up having listened to Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn, I can confidently state that one should never take a great baseball broadcast for granted. It's not a punch at those who follow them but the quality and style one gets from Vin Scully isn't likely to be duplicated anytime soon. He's the best at what he does and he'll leave as such. Do yourself a favor and take him in when you can this season and hold on to it.
- Ken Rosenthal takes a look at the managerial journey of A.J. Hinch. It doesn't seem like that long ago Hinch was holding things down behind the dish for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and spending a handful of games with the Phillies in '04. He wasn't given much rope in his debut as a major league manager in Arizona in '09 but has quickly turned things around for Houston.
- Every year the Tommy John Surgery bug bites a handful of pitchers. Bradley Woodrum of MLBTR worked on a model to help predict who may be on the list next. Time will tell how useful this data is and nobody can ever really predict an arm blowing out. The one thing I got a laugh out of in the results is that R.A. Dickey, who has no UCL, is second to last in front of Eric Stults. Still a great piece worth your time.
- "They call him Panda for a reason" says Red Sox President Dave Dombrowski of third baseman Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval showed up to Red Sox camp with a gut looking not much different from mine after a long winter. Of course I don't play baseball for a living. That being said, Sandoval has made a pretty good career for himself not being the most slender and while he was a bit of a disappointment last season, it's not unreasonable to think he turns it around in '16.
- My favorite story of the week come from Diamondbacks camp. D-Backs pitcher Josh Collmenter gave his teammates a physics lesson, dry-erase board and all. It appears to be the first among many classes Collmenter will be holding and it's drawn a crowd in the locker room.
- Finally Jason Heyward and David Ross are teammates once again with the Chicago Cubs. The two played together in Atlanta from 2010-12. The 14 year veteran Ross announced that this season will be his last and Heyward is sending him out in style putting Ross up in a hotel suite whenever the Cubs are on the road.
