As Spring Training starts to get underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Dodger pitchers and catchers report:
Today is the report date for Dodgers pitchers and catchers, making them the second team to officially kick off spring training after the Cubs did so on Sunday. A number of notable new faces will be in Dodgers camp after a busy offseason, including Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, and Kirby Yates. Aside from the Dodgers’ preseason activities officially getting underway, the start of camp also means that the 60-day IL will open for the Dodgers today. That opens the door for the club to finalize Enrique Hernandez’s one-year deal and hammer something out with veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers started to suffer from a major 40-man roster crunch late in the offseason, but they have a whopping five 60-day IL candidates with each of Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt and Brusdar Graterol on the mend from elbow surgery (Ryan, Sheehan, Hurt) or shoulder surgery (Stone, Graterol).
2. DFA resolutions expected today:
Cubs southpaw Rob Zastryzny and Blue Jays right-hander Michael Petersen were both designated for assignment last week as their clubs made room on the 40-man roster for the additions of Ryan Brasier and Max Scherzer, respectively. Both players’ seven-day DFA windows expire this afternoon, so we should find out today what’s next for both players.
Zastryzny, 33 in March, has a 4.30 ERA in 67 MLB innings across parts of six seasons since he debuted with Chicago in 2016. Petersen, meanwhile, made his big league debut for the Dodgers back in June and pitched to a 5.95 ERA in 16 appearances between L.A. and Miami. If Zastryzny clears waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to elect free agency rather than be outrighted to the minors by Chicago. The same cannot be said for Petersen, who has never cleared outright waivers before in his career and would be available to Toronto as non-roster depth should he go unclaimed.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
Spring training is now officially underway, though seven of MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents remain unsigned and plenty of clubs still have more work to do before the start of the season. Whether you have a trade proposal in the back of your mind or questions about an upcoming camp battle this spring, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Position players date to report has been deferred.
It’s pretty hilarious how so many people are upset by deferrals. Are deferral jokes suppose to upset Dodger fans?
an actual joke would be fine. the level of deferral comment here serves only to highlight the intelligence–or rather lack thereof–of the poster.
I think “it’s pretty hilarious” that the poster has 8 likes. And the two follow up posts only have one each. Who’s the sensitive one here?
It’s pretty intelligent to pick low hanging fruit for joke purposes. Work smarter not harder.
Getting upset about some random dude posting a deferral joke is a sign of being emotionally weak. “Give yer balls a tugg”
Likes? I’m sensitive because I say deferral jokes do not bother Dodger fans at all? Sounds smart, bruh.
it’s not about deferrals. it’s about the low level of humor
Well, you called yourself sensitive. Not me. Sorry deferral jokes upset you. Jokes shall be deferred until the playoffs to appease “sensitive” dodger fans.
You don’t seem that bright.
Can you point on the doll where deferrals hurt you?
You’re right. I deferred my education til after my military service
Yeah. You’re not upset at all about deferral jokes.
“The fact you keep responding having to try and explain yourself”
lol
Why are you so easily triggered by me finding it funny that people are upset about deferrals and the lame jokes don’t bother Dodger fans?
Would you mind telling me who your team is?
Savannah Bananas
For something that doesn’t bother you you’re spending an awful lot of time talking about it not bothering you.
You’re really not going to tell me your team?
I did. Huge Savannah Bananas fan. You ever been to a game? If not you’re in for quite the treat my friend. Definitely worth the price of admission. I’d even go as far to say it’s more entertaining than 75% of mlb games.
Ok, what about the MLB team that you follow?
Don’t really follow mlb teams.
More of a minor league baseball guy. Love watching triple a teams.
I do a lot of Sugar Land Space Cowboys, Round Rock Express, El Paso Chihuahuas, Oklahoma City Comets
No, they’re just extraordinarily easy
It’s even more hilarious how upset dodger fans like dickers gets when people post deferral jokes
It’s a joke not a dick-ers. Don’t take it so hard
Since he is dickers, I guess he has the right to take it hard. For the record, for me personally as a Tigers fan, I don’t mind what LA is doing. It’s awesome for their fan base and will be interesting to see just how good an MLB team can be. And it’s making the extremely cheap owner look terrible. Considering they refuse to even do a tenth of what LA is doing. Those guys are who I have a problem with.
How am I upset? I find it funny that people are so upset about deferrals and they actually think lame jokes about them would upset LA fans.
The fact you keep responding having to try and explain yourself and attempt to convince us you’re not upset. Defer your responses.
I love deferral jokes. It just shows how upset other teams’ fans are about the Dodgers FO being smart enough to build a super team. Meanwhile, their own teams’ FOs are a little late to the party….
No, he’s just letting you people know how lame and unoriginal deferral jokes have become. I agree and I’m not bothered by them. Just bored. Like with Astros trash can humor. It’s gotten old.
Feel bad for comedians…
That may be the funniest, most creative, most original joke since….never.
I can tell that sad soul “This One Belongs to the Reds” is one of the first to like that comment too
Yeah I thought it was a school day most everywhere but some 9-year olds seem to be off.
Y u mad bro?
The youngster is projecting, it seems.
Camelback Ranch sounds like the name of a brothel.
A pretty tacky brothel lol
@acoss
Not that I know what a brothel is though.
But it is an amazing facility. The back fields are great and offer tons of opportunities for player interactions. We’ve played over the line in one, too.
@halos
Looks like it from the website. Certainly works for the Dodgers. White Sox? Not so much. Ha.
I was partial to Dodgertown in Vero where I got to play ball during many adult camps. Was a special place. Camelback is a great facility too.
“The back fields are great and offer tons of opportunities for player interactions.”
Camelback Ranch Brothals mission statement.
Sounds better than Broke Back Mountain or Deliverance
Way too early in the morning for that kind of humor.
I remember back in the day 20-30 years ago they referred to deferrals as back loaded contracts. That’s also when you were injured they put you on the Disabled list and the Cleveland Indians played instead of the Guardians of the Universe.
Ok grandpa back to bed
I never got out of bed.
They’ve got pills for disabled lust now, Roddy.
Backloaded contracts and deferrals aren’t the same lmao
A dude signing a 10 years 100 mill contract is paid 100 mill over 10 years no matter how you cut it up. The luxury tax is the same each year regardless what the player makes. Andres Gimenez contract is a great example of this.
Signing Ohtani to 10 years 700 mill and only paying 10 years 460 mill or 46 a year instead of 70 a year is vastly different
Indeed, owners like Guggenheim group and Cohen can defer more than owners like Nutting and Castellini because they are more successful investors.
It was detailed pretty well by Zack Scott’s piece, but the fanatics likely did not read the whole article because it had too many words.
I wore an onion on my belt! (which was the style at the time)
I can remember when Bruce Sutter got deferred money from Ted Turner, sonny.
Rly rly sick & tired of hearing abt dodgers
Every time they sneeze rumors posts another article
The only Dodger news I want to hear about going forward is what they finally decide to do with Chris Taylor. His contract isn’t just underwater, it’s beneath the ocean floor. My guess is they’ll give him another whirl this year, but if it’s the same Taylor we’ve seen the past several years they simply must pull the chain on him and eat that contract.
He will likely be moved during the season at some point. Ideally, he hits like he did in last 2 months of ’24 regular season and they can move him and get some value back-though likely with money moving with CT3 to make the deal more attractive.
I see the Minnesota Twins are offering a new TV deal with the direct to consumer price of $100 for the whole season as long as you live in the area for the regular season. A bigger discount than the $19.95 a month other teams have wanted to charge in the past
Hoping for the number of dodger players on the Injured List to increase drastically in the next few weeks.
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.