Big news today: Garrett Richards is making his long-awaited spring debut.
So is some kid named Trout.
The reigning American League rookie of the year and new Angels left fielder will get his first chance to call off center fielder Peter Bourjos in a few minutes against the Seattle Mariners. He’s unlikely to play the whole game, but is any player more exciting to watch for just a few innings? Even at 240 pounds?
As for Richards, it’s his first shot to prove that he belongs on the Angels’ Opening Day roster. Definitely more on the line for him today.
Here are some links from around the league:
• Mike Scioscia, Hall of Fame manager? His hometown newspaper believes the answer to that question could be written this season: “Behind the power of Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols, anything south of a world championship would be a shock for Scioscia’s Los Angeles Angels. That would give Scioscia his second World Series victory as a manager, matching the total of his former manager, Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda. And that should someday earn him consideration from the veterans committees, which elect the non-playing invitees to Cooperstown.”
• Josh Hamilton, Part I: Rangers fans don’t like him.
• Hamilton, Part II: Nolan Ryan didn’t take the bait when he was asked if Dallas is a “true baseball town.”
• Albert Pujols, Part I: Baseball Prospectus has a statistical projection system that claims Pujols is in line for one of the league’s biggest bounceback seasons in 2013.
• Pujols, Part II: A week ago, a bunch of us in the pressbox were trying to figure out how Pujols slipped into the 13th round of the 1999 draft. We eventually got around to remembering that he didn’t really have a position his first few years with the Cardinals. At his pre-draft workout with Tampa Bay (where Josh Hamilton signed) they had him catch; it wasn’t pretty by all accounts. Anyway, take out your counting fingers and listen to how many positions Pujols can play, then watch him hit his first major-league home run.
• One of my favorite tracks from Little Dragon is “Feather.” Enjoy:
