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Hello and happy Friday to those of you working from home and those of you who are still being required to come in to work alike. No matter where you are, here are some links to help you pass the time before the Mariners take the field tonight against the Dodgers. Marco won’t be getting the start in that game after all; Nick Margevicius will instead take the rubber, which honestly, I’m a little more excited about. Marco is a known quantity, but I’m curious about what Large Marge has to offer. The game will air on MLB Network at 5:05 PT.
In Mariners news:
- Jake Fraley guested on the “Officially Unofficial” pod and it’s well-worth a listen as it totally changed my perception of Fraley, who I have always viewed as a buttoned-up guy focused on two things, faith and family. Fraley is definitely still that guy, but he also has a sense of humor that was refreshing to see. He tells a hilarious story about Alex Bregman and LSU (a school you “don’t attend for the academics”), an even more hilarious story about Donnie Walton, and also gives some insight on why he was so happy to be traded to the Mariners. Give it a listen.
- Yesterday the Mariners continued their offensive struggles, failing to score for the second game in a row, and losing to the hated rivals the Padres 3-0. The scoreless innings streak now stands at 19. On the bright side, Yusei Kikuchi’s velocity was up for a third straight start. Catch up with Zach’s recap here.
Around the league:
- The big news from yesterday was Yoan Moncada of the White Sox signing a five-year extension that will guarantee him $70M; if the club option is exercised, the total value could top $90M.
3B Yoan Moncada in agreement with #WhiteSox on five-year extension with a club option, sources tell The Athletic. Dollars not yet known. Would potentially buy out two free-agent years. If option is exercised, Moncada would hit open market after age 30 season.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 5, 2020
- Coronavirus fears have spread to spring training camps:
Bad news for fans at spring camp: Twins are instituting a no-physical-contact — including autographs — policy due to virus concerns. Considering ways to pass out players’ autographs, but no plans finalized.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) March 5, 2020
- The Rangers debuted the interior of their new park and while it’s been drawing a lot of comparisons to Minute Maid, at least one person noted its similarity to uh, another MLB park:
I'm sorry, we already have enough inferior clones of Safeco. https://t.co/cINDJ4tP2u
— Mike Bates (@MikeBatesTWIBH) March 5, 2020
- Speaking of the Rangers, they’re once again throwing their cowboy hat into the “audacious ballpark foods” category:
The new nacho Stack at @Rangers games. They “recommend” sharing. pic.twitter.com/3FvQMZChZU
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 5, 2020
Angels reportedly fire visitor's clubhouse manager for helping opponents doctor baseballs https://t.co/uZDXMjs0wR
— CBS Sports MLB (@CBSSportsMLB) March 6, 2020
- I love minor league baseball so, so much
Due to an unfortunate typo, we're holding Legalize Marinara night on 4/20! Grab some pasta and come out and fight for the rights of sauce enthusiasts everywhere! Ticket+T-shirt is just $15!
— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) March 4, 2020
️ https://t.co/3Irhtlgx28 pic.twitter.com/vJ5yM9IL11
- I also love Ryan Rowland-Smith so, so much:
Konerko absolutely owned me. I could have tried to throw at his face and he would have still hit it out https://t.co/EmClLR32GS
— Ryan Rowland-Smith (@hyphen18) March 5, 2020
- This feels like something Guillermo Heredia would do, which makes me miss Guillermo Heredia:
Curious to see which player winds up using Bad Bunny’s “Puesto Pa’ Guerrial” as their walk-up song this year, because... pic.twitter.com/4XC6WT63Mo
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 5, 2020
In draft news:
- It was announced yesterday that projected top-10 prospect RHP JT Ginn had TJ surgery. Ginn is still a candidate to go in the early rounds of the draft, although as a draft-eligible sophomore, he has options. We profiled Ginn as part of our draft preview series here.
Kate’s pick:
Grant and I got our wires crossed on recapping the other day, meaning there are 981 words of a recap you’ll never get to read because Grant is a little faster at typing that have just been sent to the online graveyard (I am re-using that document to type these links, palimpsest-style, because LL is a green workplace, baby). However, I could not delete this .gif of Taylor Guilbeau striking out Shohei Ohtani without sharing it with you—and bonus, the caption pokes a little fun at Yale grad Grant.