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Today is the day! Weather permitting, the Mariners will play their first Spring Training game of 2020 against the San Diego Padres. There won’t be another weekend until late October or early November without Major League Baseball. But, first! The almighty LINKS to start your Saturday.
In Mariners news...
- Mariners pitching prospect Sam Carlson threw in a live game yesterday for the first time since having Tommy John surgery in 2018. Way to go, Sam!
- Ichiro pitched in a sim-game yesterday to a bunch of Mariners prospects and he was clearly not fucking around. However, Julio Rodriguez did go oppo on him during his second at-bat:
Julio Rodriguez with an oppo double in his second AB off Ichiro. pic.twitter.com/S0xZ9a3tWh
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) February 21, 2020
- Did you know that Jarred Kelenic was once a New York Metropolitan? (Athletic $)
- Big day in the news cycle for Kyle Seager! Here he is very politely commenting on the Astros and how their cheating impacted his brother.
- Dee Gordon says the Blazers are trash, Giancarlo Stanton and the Marlins were trash, etc.
- Mariners 2019 draftee Kyle Hill got suspended yesterday:
Three minor leaguers have been suspended 50 games for after testing positive for stimulants
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) February 21, 2020
Reds C Edward Guzman (Amphetamine)
Mariners RHP Kyle Hill (Amphetamine)
Mets OF Ryan Shinn (Ritalinic acid)
- The West Virginia State Senate supports Minor League Baseball harder than Rob Manfred does:
Thanks to members and leaders of the WV House of Delegates and Senate for unanimously expressing their support for Minor League Baseball!
— West Virginia Power (@wv_power) February 21, 2020
Baseball is back in Charleston in just 49 days, and with support like this, it's going to be around a lot longer! pic.twitter.com/Z7Pq9UUYg7
Around the league...
- Jonathan Lucroy further confirmed that the Oakland Athletics complained to the league about the Astros and their sign stealing ways and the league just sat on its hands for 2 more years.
- Read about UCLA’s Jenavee Peres and her inspirational return to softball.
- The BBQ Boyz are movin’ on from @Cut4:
CFBBQ NEWS
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) February 21, 2020
After 2.5 years working @Cut4 we’re moving on to something new.
Beyond grateful they took a chance on us when we were still in college. Twas a privilege getting to make weird baseball stuff with such awesome people.
(More about our next move in the near future)
- I’m sure this was very productive:
Players' union chief Tony Clark met with the Astros today for nearly 4 hours, then spoke to reporters about the concerns of Houston's players, the concerns of players across MLB and how this scandal is part of a larger issue: technology in baseball. https://t.co/dqyTGAYObw
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) February 21, 2020
- No, you see, when the Yankees did it, it was all above board:
This is exactly right. Yankees used video to decode sign sequences. As previously reported, Chris Young was big factor in this and with 2017 Red Sox. This story adds A-Rod, which makes sense bc he was always one of the best at picking up on tipping and signs. This was not illegal https://t.co/aleG6jfruf
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) February 22, 2020
- In other news, somehow MLB.TV lost the streaming rights to the Toronto Blue Jays for their entire home country:
Just got this myself. Welp, it was fun while it lasted. Go cancel those automatic renewals — they’ve at least made it easy to do that. (I’ve had success using a VPN in the past so maybe that’s something to look into as well). https://t.co/p2SAUyUX61
— Andrew Stoeten (@AndrewStoeten) February 21, 2020
Eric’s picks...
- Hat Club is dropping its own line of Spring Training hats are that way cooler than the inlaid logo nonsense hats all the teams are wearing this year:
The sneakiest of previews #SpringTraining pic.twitter.com/b7CDI7PqJf
— HAT CLUB (@HatClub) February 21, 2020
- Accurate!
My friend & amazing artist Erin Kendig drew up this #SeattleSeasons! pic.twitter.com/3KdLWqFo1Y
— Kevin Zelko (@Msbeervendor) February 21, 2020
- If you saw “Uncut Gems,” please enjoy:
might fuck around and produce a muppet version of uncut gems at some point in my life pic.twitter.com/R7I3wjKNUx
— in the mood for joe (@writerdudejoe) February 11, 2020