The boys are back! Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:"The challenge is keeping guys sharp but rested," said Roberts, embarking on his third season as manager of a club that has won its division each of the last five years. "We'll cut guys short, give them more days off, back-field work, at-bats in Minor League games. But to sit in a Major League game for 2 1/2 hours to get two or three at-bats the first couple weeks doesn't make much sense."
General manager Farhan Zaidi sounded the same cautionary tone.
"Our responsibility is to monitor and make sure in April this group is not experiencing any physical effects from the long season," Zaidi said.Photos above via @Dodgers on twitter - likely taken by Jon SooHoo. BTW, Jon SooHoo shared even more pictures from the first day of Spring Training, here. Below are more links to check out:
- Happy Birthday, Mike Hechinger, Candy LaChance, Tim Jordan, Abe Kruger, Len Gabrielson & Takashi Saito!
- It is not news that Clayton Kershaw will pitch his 8th Opening Day start this coming season.
- Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA; "Dodgers sign Brian Schlitter, who is not Jake Arrieta, to minor league deal."
- I think this is silly, but here ya go. Per Bill Plunkett at the OC Register; "Dodgers’ Matt Kemp has some explaining to do about ‘baseball town’ remark."
“A lot of LA fans got mad at me,” he said with a smile. “I’m glad you asked me that question because I wanted to clear that up.“Somebody had asked me how it was to be in Atlanta and I said Atlanta’s always been known for the Braves. The Atlanta Braves, it’s a baseball town – not the Atlanta Hawks, not the Falcons but the Braves. But in LA, when I first got here (in 2006), it was all about Kobe and Shaq (and the Lakers). As the years went on and we started winning more games, the city came alive. We had the best fans. It became more of a baseball town.
- Via Pedro Moura at The Athletic; "Matt Kemp and the Dodgers are ready for their odd reunion." Here is what Clayton Kershaw said:
“I’ve seen him at his best,” Kershaw said. “I know he still has the ability to play baseball very well.”On Tuesday morning, Kemp surveyed the changed landscape around him, the new spring-training hats and the new players. He lumped his goals and the Dodgers’ together, and professed hope for what could come.
“As of right now, this is it,” Kemp said. “This where I am. I’m gonna ride this thing until the wheels fall off. Literally.”
- Dem are fight'n words! Via a tweet from Cubs beat reporter Josh Frydman:
Darvish told Dave Roberts he was signing with the Cubs and said to him "My main goal is to beat the Dodgers."— Josh Frydman (@Josh_Frydman) February 13, 2018
- Nickle & Dimin'. Per Eric Fisher at Biz Journals; "Dodgers shift ticket strategy with Eventellect deal."
The Dodgers, playing in MLB’s largest ballpark with a capacity of 56,000, have long held a liberal stance toward ticket brokers. The club has declined to specify its level of business with brokers, but some industry estimates point to a third of its season-ticket base of more than 35,000 full-season equivalents being previously held by brokers.But in the new alignment with Eventellect beginning this season, many of those broker accounts will be canceled and the company will assist the Dodgers in overseeing its local ticket resale market. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but agreements between MLB teams and ticket distribution companies typically involve profit sharing on ticket resale revenue, exchanges of sales data, pricing analysis, and controls over the amount of secondary inventory entering the market.
- Via Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors; "Rays Outright Micah Johnson." The former Dodger prospect has been bouncing around lately.
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