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Good morning folks and happy Friday! The M’s are off today thanks to an odd scheduling quirk. I don’t really understand it. But here are some stories to get you through your day.
In Mariners news...
- I hope nobody was counting on seeing the guy play in Tacoma.
Ben Gamel will begin his rehab assignment when High-A Modesto opens its season today at Lancaster. Mariners going with warmer weather site instead of Triple-A Tacoma as he recovers from strained oblique.
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) April 5, 2018
- Mark Simon at The Athletic dives into the stats of Ichiro robbing a home run.
- James Paxton headed to Minnesota early in order to try to prepare for the cold weather he was going to face there.
- Here’s an update on Nelson Cruz.
Servais says the swelling is out Nelson Cruz's sprained ankle he should begin baseball activities again in next day or two. No decision yet whether he'll need a rehab stint or just rejoin Mariners when ready, which could be start of next homestand.
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) April 5, 2018
Around the league...
- Some Indians fans are holding a pro-Chief Wahoo rally at the ballpark before their home opener.
- Well this feels like cheating.
Oh so Yuli Gurriel served his suspension. While hurt. Now he’s on the DL. Blech.
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) April 5, 2018
- This is pretty funny.
how could anyone not love david ortiz pic.twitter.com/bcPZGNyY2x
— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) April 5, 2018
- Diversity in baseball begins at its very lowest levels, notes Shakeia Taylor at Fangraphs.
- Jon Heyman compiles a list of managers to keep an eye on this season as their jobs might be on the line.
- A Chicago high school freshman is the first girl at her school to ever play for the baseball team.
- Michael Salfino at FiveThirtyEight explains that you can’t be an effective pitcher with just a good fastball anymore.
- Adrian Beltre recently passed Rod Carew for the most hits by a Latin-born player.
- One Phillies player said that the team just needs to get its manager “out of the way.”
- Another Phillies player is unhappy that he hasn’t been starting as much as he would like to and said that “computers are making the lineup.”
- Tim Tebow homered on the very first pitch he saw in Double-A this season.