Mariners Moose Tracks, 3/24/17: Theo Epstein, Jake Arrieta, and Xavier

Good morning everyone! It’s Friday! Here are some links to get you through the day and into the weekend.

In Mariners news...

• Will we see Steve Cishek representing Team USA in 2021?

• Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz make such cute best friends.
• Here’s some encouraging video of Mariners relievers getting back into action.

• Nathan Bishop previews the upcoming Mariners season on Baseball Prospectus.

Around the league...

• Patrick Dubuque got some work in Short Relief with Baseball Prospectus, finding wise words from an unlikely source.
• It’s as if they read Moose Tracks yesterday and wanted to show me how wrong I am.

• Fortune thinks that Theo Epstein is the greatest leader in the world, which seems like a pretty hot take to me.
• Jim Leyland got to end his managing career on a terrific note: with a World Baseball Classic championship for the U.S.
• Yoenis Cespedes believes baseball would rise in popularity if it made a bigger effort to incorporate Latin culture.
• The Good Phight hopes that Michael Saunders can continue to be a source of power for the Phillies. That certainly never would have crossed my mind while Saunders was a Mariner.
• First baseman Greg Bird has the chance to develop into a star for the Yankees, writes Jeff Sullivan.
• The Angels will be without first baseman Luis Valbuena for a couple of months due to a strained hamstring.
• Watch Cubs ace Jake Arrieta hit this massive home run.

Anders’ picks...

• The Xavier Musketeers continued their impressive NCAA tournament run, knocking off Arizona to advance to the Elite Eight. Gonzaga, Oregon, and Kansas also moved on last night.