So not to continue preaching to the choir, but it just so happens that Jeff channeled Ozzie Guillen or maybe it was the other way around. But apparently Ozzie is "disappointed" in Jose Contreras for attempting to pitch through pain and not telling anybody. Here is Ozzie's money quote:

When you're hurt, you're not helping the ballclub. I don't want any of my players to go out with pain and try to be a hero. I was -– I don't want to say upset -– a little disappointed when one of my players is hiding stuff for no reason.

Sounds a little bit like something I just read a few minutes ago. It's ridiculous that players try to get away with this crap. Guillen also says that Contreras won't come off of the DL just because he is eligible, he has to prove he is ready. Sounds like advice that the Mariners could use with Bedard.

Here is the link to South Side Sox where I found the story. They do a pretty good job over there.

So if you don't want to listen much to the Mariners today, have I got a tantalizing option for you. Chris Tillman, dearly departed, will be starting today in Bowie, MD against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Now, this is AA ball, but it's still fun to listen to. The Baysox are in 1st place in their division, and Tillman, with his 5-0 record, is a big part of that. The Fisher Cats are incredibly beatable, and Tillman should have any problem with them.

Oh, and I am doing production duties for the radio broadcast of the game, so that 's something else too. Our play-by-play man, Steven Smith is a pretty good guy, and I enjoyed working with him all last summer (and no he doesn't read this (Yankees fan) so I am not sucking up). The radio is all done by college students and can be listened to here or in your iTunes (Radio>Public>WRGW).

So tune in. We don't listener numbers, so it's no hair off my back if you don't, but listening to Tillman has to be better than the Mariners, right?

So I went to the book signing of Will Leitch's (editor of Deadspin) book "God Save the Fan" here in Washington DC last night. Well, on Wednesday, Leitch had a post on one of our favorite topics: Big Richie. So I read that with glee, and showed up to the signing in my M's hat. When I got up to him I said "Thanks for the Sexson post, it's nice to know someone else understands our plight." And he laughed and said he loved the bar that he talked about.

Then he signed the book in the greatest way ever. It says, simply: "Rob- Richie Sexson sucks. Sorry. [signature]"

Will Leitch is my new hero.

Pitchers and Catchers! So it's been 37 minutes here. I'm not going to lie, I sat here at work and watched the mlb.com counter tick down the final two minutes. And then it instantly reloaded and gave me a counter to the first spring training game. I don't know about you guys, and I know it's been a tough offseason, but I am stoked. I couldn't be happier to see baseball returning, and I can't believe it, but I'm optimistic about this team. Realistically so? No. But by god it's spring training and we finally get some baseball. I don't think I could be much happier right now...