Photo above of Manny Mota and his little balloon via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016. Go here to check out more pics by Jon from yesterday.
Below are more links to check out:
- Awesome! I want to see this so bad. Via One Nación on ESPN, "A-Gon proposes friendly bet the Dodgers will make playoffs."
@Buster_ESPN so no @Dodgers? How about a friendly bet? We make playoffs you do a @BBTN segment in full @Dodgers uniform.— Adrian Gonzalez (@Adrian_ElTitan) March 4, 2016
- Topps has signed up Kenta Maeda, so his autograph will be appearing in their Baseball cards very soon. In fact, Blowout Buzz shares a pic of a Topps Tribute autograph card on their blog (link here). See it on the right.
- Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Dodgers tab Lee to start in Anderson's spot."
The Dodgers still consider Brandon Beachy and Mike Bolsinger the early front-runners to replace Anderson in the rotation, but with an entire spring slate remaining, there is time for a full competition that includes Lee, Ross Stripling (who also pitches Sunday), Jose De Leon and Carlos Frias, among others.
- Video: Go behind the scenes for an exclusive look into the team’s first full squad practice and first BP session of the season. (Link Here)
- Via Andy McCullough at the LA Times, "J.P. Howell and Turner Ward bury the hatchet over 2013 Dodgers-Diamondbacks brawl."
"I just wanted to clear things up," Ward told Howell when they connected a day after the initial message, "so you don't get me in the clubhouse when we get there."
Howell found himself laughing. Ward sounded so "gentle" over the phone, his soft Alabama drawl offering a contrast to the image cast by his stern eyes and lantern jaw.
"I'm like, 'Hey, I'm hoping you don't want a rematch,'" Howell said. "Because I think if we went 1-on-1, he's a big boy. I liked the atmosphere a lot better during the brawl than I do 1-on-1 with that guy."
- Via Bill Slane at MLB.com, "Spring full of lessons for Dodgers prospect De Jong."
"Not so much what to do on your start day but what to do between them to get ready for your start day," he said. "We all know how to pitch, but to do the preparation and the little things right to get yourself prepared for that start is what I'm trying to learn from these older guys."
- Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Mike Rosenbaum at MLB.com, share their rankings for best minor league systems in Baseball (Link Here). The Dodgers #1.
Shortstop Corey Seager, baseball's top prospect, and left-hander Julio Urias, the game's second-best pitching prospect, give the Dodgers a fine head start. But they rank No. 1 on this list because their depth of talent runs so much deeper than it did a year ago. Thanks to breakout players (right-hander Jose De Leon, first baseman Cody Bellinger), fast-developing 2014 draftees (righty Grant Holmes, outfielder Alex Verdugo) and products of a nine-figure 2015 international spending spree (righty Yadier Alvarez, outfielders Yusniel Diaz and Starling Heredia), this system is loaded.
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