MLB News Outside The Confines: Spring Training is underway

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Good morning. We have baseball games now. No, they don’t count.

• Bob Nightengale reports on how new MLB Players Association head Bruce Meyer intends to approach the job at hand. Meyer also had to deny that he was “Scott Boras’s man” in the union.
• Tom Verducci notes that Meyer was both a logical and surprising choice for the job, less than two years after some player union reps tried to oust him from his job as the deputy executive director.
• Evan Drellich writes on how Meyer intends to unify the players heading into collective bargaining talks. (The Athletic sub. req.) And yes, he’s 100 percent against a salary cap.
• Meanwhile, Angels owner Arte Moreno spoke on Friday about the team’s issues with their television revenue and also claimed that surveys say that Angels fans don’t prioritize winning. Jeff Fletcher with the story.
• The Angels aren’t televising any Spring Training games and people have noticed. Billy Heyen reports.
• Sam Blum writes that both Angels players and the MLBPA “took notice” at Moreno’s comments that winning isn’t important to the fans. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
• Jayson Stark’s survey of executives, coaches and scouts reveals which players, coaches and teams are on the hot seat this season. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Sad news as Hall-of-Famer Bill Mazeroski died at 89. Our condolences go out to Maz’s family, friends, teammates and the Pirates organization.
• Anthony Castrovince has the Pirates’ reaction to Maz’s passing.
• In honor of Mazeroski’s famous home run that won the 1960 World Series, Mike Axisa has the ten most iconic home runs of all time. Eleven including Mazeroski’s.
• Gabe Lacques has 30 things to look for in Spring Training. One for each team.
• Anthony Dabbundo has the six biggest storylines of Spring Training.
• One “dark horse” candidate from each team to make the Opening Day roster.
• Michael Baumann looks at what the Phillies can expect out of rookie outfielder Justin Crawford this year. If you want to feel old, Justin is Carl Crawford’s son and has a very similar profile to his father.
• Mike Axisa examines how the Braves might deal with a series of pitching injuries already in Spring Training.
• The Brewers have reportedly agreed to a three-year contract extension with manager Pat Murphy.
• Jake Mintz has five questions for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
• Philies pitcher José Alvarado says that insurance issues will also keep him from pitching for Venezuela in the WBC.
• The Guardians have signed first baseman Rhys Hoskins to a minor league deal.
• The Cardinals signed infielder Ramón Urías to a one-year deal.
• Buster Olney has his top ten second basemen in the game.
• Will Leitch lists the biggest upcoming free agent from each division.
• Kennedi Landry has the three choices for who will close games for the Rangers.
• Catcher Mitch Garver signed a minor league deal to return to the Mariners. Davy Andrews looks at what’s gone wrong for Garver over the past two years.
• Sticking with Mariners catchers, Daniel Kramer examines how Cal Raleigh is adjusting to the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system in Spring Training.
• Sam Blum and Dennis Lin examine how teams are going to approach utilizing the ABS system. (The Athletic sub. req.) As I’ve written before, teams are going to be reluctant to let pitchers challenge a call because they think everything is a strike. Chris Sale says as much in this article.
• New Marlin (and former Cub) Christopher Morel talks about playing first base this season, for the first time in his career. Christina De Nicola with the story.
• Ben Clemens examines why right-hander Logan Webb’s sweeper was great against left-handed hitters and bad against right-handers.
• Bryce Harper is impressed with Pirates’ top prospect Konnor Griffin.
• Kiley McDaniel has his top prospects for the upcoming draft.
• Eno Sarris looks at new data on bat speed and swing path to try to predict the next breakout stars. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, a newly-discovered Honus Wagner T206 baseball card sold for $5.1 million. It’s the third-highest amount ever for this rare and legendary card. Dan Hajducky with the story.

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