The Angels identified sidearmer Joe Smith early in the offseason and went above and beyond to sign him, giving him a three-year, $15.75 million contract few teams, if any, were willing to match.

Michel Enriquez factored in the triumph of the Pirates over Holguin. The third baseman came just ten points below the batting leadership.
HOL 3-IJV 4
MTZ 6-VCL 1
SCU 2-IND 6
ART 5-PRI 10

HOL 3-IJV 4

The Cubs lost a great opportunity in their aspirations to move up in the standings when they sent to the mound the young righty Norge L. Ruiz (8-7 ) - 7.2 INN , 9 H, 4 C , 3 CL 5 SO 3 BB - and this - for the second time could not succeed and was charged with a costly defeat for Holguin . Closer Hector M. Mendoza ( 12) - 2.2 INN , 3H , SO, BB - did a great job in long relief , holding the Cubs at bay and incidentally picking up his twelfth save of the season . Lefty Yudiel Rodriguez (4-10 ) - 5.1 INN , 4 H, 2 CL , 2 SO , BB - worked well enough to deserve the win. The loser Ruíz , with five strikeouts , took the strike out lead among pitchers now 94 surpassing the 91 by the injured Vladimir García . In the clash Michel Enriquez hit 2-4 and raised his batting average to .357 ( 238-85 ) , now just 10 points behind the leader Holguin's Maikel Caceres .367 ( 316-116 ) , who failed four of the five times he went to to the plate. The loss by Holguin left them alone in fifth place on the season, now 6 games behind Matanzas and one game behind the Industrialists and Villa Clara .

MTZ 6-VCL 1

Villa Clara lost again, a major blow, falling again for the second day in a row to Matanzas before 11,500 spectators , 6-1 . Lefty Yoanni Year ( 10-3) - 8 INN , 4 H, CL 10 SO , BB - became the second pitcher to reach ten wins in the season, with his formidable job of 8 innings and 10 strikeouts . Rudeldis Garcia's homer in the 8th inning eliminated any possibility of a shutout . Individually Matanzas featured Raul Gonzalez homer , three RBIs and homers by Ariel Sánchez and Hernández Yadiel marking runs in innings 2, 5 and 6. For Villa Clara lefty Yasmany Hernandez (7-5 ) - 5.1 INN , 12 H , 6 C , 3 CL - started and stoically endured an attack of 12 hits for 6 runs - three earned - , picking up the loss and watching his ERA climb from 1.39 to 1.57 ( 108.2-19 ) , still leading the tournament. The defeat dropped Villa Clara down to fourth place , tied with the Industriales now only 1 game ahead of Holguín.

SCU 2-IND 6

On the Industriales side , Reinforcement Norbelis Jose Betancourt (3-6 ) - 7 INN , 4 H , ER, SO - lead the team to a 6-2 win over Santiago de Cuba , with an attendance of 21,398 fans. Betancourt only gave up four hits and a lone run, to make a major victory for the Industriales. The capital exploded early against lefty starter and loser Edialbert Valentine (1-3 ) - 2 INN , 4 H, 4 ER , SO, 3 BB - when he took the mound giving up a cluster of runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings, respectively . Carlos M. Portuondo , completed 6 inputs with 4 strikeouts and no runs but his relief work was late. Betancourt took the win and lefty Leorisbel Sanchez (9 ) would pitch two innings in relief with a strikeout a hit for his ninth save of the tournament. Alex Malleta and Raiko Olivares drove in two two runs for the winners, while Thomas Yasmani and Yunieski Gourriel batted in the other two. The Industrial victory advance ​​up to the third position of the season, now tied with Villa Clara .

ART 5-PRI 10

And lastly Pinar del Rio before 6,000 spectators secured the series against Artemis, with an easy 10-5 victory . The left-hander Julio A. Martinez (7-3 ) - 7 INN , 6 H, 3 CL , 2 SO , 2 BB - did well enough with his seven innings of work and only 3 earned runs to access his seventh win of the season. Frederich Cepeda , with his home run the 258 of his career in the second inning put Artemis ahead 1-0 , but clusters of four runs in the third and fourth innings by Pinar, quickly tipped the balance toward Pinar. José L. Padron (2-5 ) - 3 INN , 5H , 4 CL , SO, 4 BB - started and lost . The win keeps Pinar easily in the second position of the season, three games ahead of Industrial and Villa Clara .

Grady looks great!

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2 ... Twi/SNMain

I have been displeased with the daily Tigers box scores; runs frequently in the double digits; everyone in the lineup seems to be hitting 400 or above. At least their starting SS is hurt. And fortunately they traded away some pitching. But they are going to be tough to match.

Oooops. Just noticed I placed my last post in the wrong folder. Sorry. I tried to delete it but a can't.

We will excuse you this time, but maybe not again.

Sizemore Hits 2-Run Homer, Red Sox Beat Rays

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. March 25, 2014 (AP)
By MIKE CAMUNAS Associated Press


Grady Sizemore bolstered his bid to become Boston's new starting center fielder, hitting a two-run homer as the Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Tuesday.

Sizemore signed a one-year, $750,000 contract loaded with incentives during the offseason. Despite injuries that have kept him from playing in the majors since Sept. 22, 2011, Sizemore has had an excellent spring, batting .303 in 33 at-bats and scoring five runs.

"Honestly, I'm just looking at the next day and not looking too far ahead — you can't get too far ahead," the 31-year-old Sizemore said.

"I'm happy with how everything has gone ... and didn't expect to feel this good or comfortable so soon. I'm happy with that aspect," the three-time All-Star with Cleveland said.

"We're all perfectionists, so I want to play better each day like everyone else," he said.

Sizemore is competing for the starter role with top prospect Jackie Bradley, Jr., who has struggled this spring, batting just .173 with five RBIs and 16 strikeouts. Bradley was 0 for 4 Tuesday batting ninth and playing right field.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said he expects to take the rest of the week to have internal discussions and make the call between Bradley and Sizemore. Farrell adds that the team is unlikely to carry both Sizemore and Bradley.

"There's still a lot of discussion on who our starting center fielder will be," Farrell said. "We're looking at these next three days as a physical test. Grady has responded to the plan we put forth, but we still have much to discuss."

Bradley, a 23-year-old rookie, was considered the front-runner entering camp. But Sizemore, who hasn't played in more than 100 games since 2009, has had an excellent camp and put him ahead despite durability questions.

Sizemore's workload has increased in the past week, with the Red Sox having him play in five of their last six games.

"Everything's been positive that I've done so far — body's felt good, just keep building off that and put consecutive days together," Sizemore said. "Still need to swing at good balls because I'm going out of the zone still, but I do feel like I can start the regular season."

Will Middlebrooks also hit a solo homer as the defending World Series champions won for just the ninth time in 24 games this spring.

Wil Myers and Jose Molina both drove in runs for the Rays, who are still a Grapefruit League best 15-6-3.

Other ex-Indians who made rosters announced yesterday:

Mark Reynolds, Jason Kubel, and John McDonald (he must be about 40 by now and still can play a solid middle IF)

Prospect Q&A: Gretzky on his own journey

Cubs outfielder dreams of wearing dad's No. 99, winning World Series

By Danny Wild / MiLB.com

Trevor Gretzky. The name immediately makes you think of someone else.

That ordinarily would not be a good thing as a professional athlete, but for Gretzky, it's something he's grown up with and embraced. He's a Cubs Minor Leaguer, an outfielder selected in the seventh round of the 2011 Draft who is better known in Canada than he is in his native U.S.

Yes, he's Wayne Gretzky's son. He's the 21-year-old child of "The Great One", the most famous hockey player of all time. He was born on Sept. 14, 1992, less than a month before his dad -- playing for the Los Angeles Kings -- began another of his 18 All-Star seasons. And he was only 6 when his father, who immortalized No. 99, retired on an emotional night at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Most would assume the son of hockey's all-time scoring leader would stay on skates, but Gretzky, who sounds like a younger version of his father, left hockey behind, focusing on football and baseball after the family moved back to L.A. There, he split time as a quarterback at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village with the son of NFL legend Joe Montana (the school earned the nickname Hollywood High). He turned down offers from colleges to pursue his dream of being a Major Leaguer with the Cubs and debuted with the organization's Rookie-level Arizona League affiliate in 2012, where he hit .304 in 35 games.

Gretzky moved up to short-season Boise last year, batting .256 in 27 games before earning a promotion to Class A Kane County. With the Cougars, the lefty-hitting outfielder batted .306 in 14 games, slugging his first career home run in front of his parents in the next-to-last game of the season.

Off the field, Gretzky may have the most intriguing social life of any Minor Leaguer. His mother, Janet, appeared in the iconic baseball film A League of Their Own and is still acting, while his sister, Paulina, is a singer, actress and model who recently graced the cover of Maxim magazine (she's also engaged to pro golfer Dustin Johnson, who has eight PGA Tour wins).

We caught up with Gretzky at Spring Training this week:

MiLB.com: You're attending your third Spring Training with the Cubs. What's it been like in Arizona as you enter this season in the Minors? What are you working on?

Trevor Gretzky: It's pretty good, I'm working hard. It's good to get out here and get the season going again. You're at home for so long, so we're all just excited to be out here working and getting amped up.

MiLB.com: Take me back to Draft day in 2011. When you got called by the Cubs, I'm guessing you had a feeling Chicago was interested -- what was it like to get taken in the seventh round?

Gretzky: It was a real special moment for me and my family. Just growing up in a house where we all loved sports, it was such a cool opportunity to be given the chance to play for a great organization like the Chicago Cubs. Anywhere would have been a great opportunity, but it makes it that much more special to go to the Cubs.

Editor's note: Gretzky was traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Angels for Matt Scioscia on March 20, 2014, a day after giving this interview.

MiLB.com: You were heavily recruited by colleges as a quarterback and you had opportunities to play baseball collegiately at San Diego State. How difficult was the decision to leave football and college behind and join the Cubs? What advice did your dad give you?

Gretzky: He never pushed me either way, he wanted me to do my own thing. I was pretty much forced out of football with my shoulder injury, but I always knew at a young age I would go back to baseball. It just so happened it worked out with the Draft. I was hurt, I got an opportunity and kinda ran with it.

MiLB.com: You were high school football teammates with Nick Montana and Trey Smith, the sons of Joe Montana and actor Will Smith. What was that like, getting all that attention?

Gretzky: Yeah, it was unnecessary attention -- they were normal guys. We were just a bunch of kids working hard and playing high school football with our buddies, nothing much different from the other schools in our area.

MiLB.com: You hit your first professional home run last September with Kane County, your parents watching from the stands. There's a story that says your grandmother asked you to hit one for her that week?

Gretzky: Yeah, she gave me a call earlier that day. Anytime you can do something -- I got the opportunity to go up to Kane County those last couple weeks, so to go up and contribute was really special for me. To hit a home run to help the team get a "W," that's what you're there for.

MiLB.com: What was last year like for you overall? You got your first authentic Minor League experience, above the Arizona League, at Boise in 2013.

Gretzky: It was huge for me. These past 2 1/2 years, I've learned more about baseball than ever, just being in this program and playing every day you learn so much. They teach us to be a student of the game -- none of us are where we want to be, so there's a lot of work ahead of us. You just want to go out and get 1 percent better every day.

MiLB.com: Did you have teammates come up and ask you about your dad? Have any of them somehow not heard of him?

Gretzky: Oh, yeah, a lot of guys. We're in America, he's an ice hockey player -- it's not that big in Southern California and the Dominican Republic, they don't know him too much. And that's kinda cool. I can go out there and play baseball and be one of the guys, they don't treat me differently.

MiLB.com: Amazing. And talk about being treated differently, when Boise traveled to Vancouver last year, the Canadian media swarmed in to see you. What was it like to be in that situation? I'm guessing you heard a lot of the same questions over and over.

Gretzky: Anytime me or my family goes up to Canada, it's pretty special. My dad -- the things that hockey has done for him and all of what Canada has done for him and my family is tremendous. The welcoming he gets is phenomenal, it's pretty special for me and my family.

MiLB.com: The Cubs promoted you to Kane County toward the end of last season. Was that a goal of yours entering 2013? What was the jump like, moving to the Midwest League and facing those pitchers?

Gretzky: I didn't have a goal to get to a level, just to learn more about the game, get the experience. Wherever they put me, I would work hard and get better. It didn't matter, I just wanted to play. When I went up to the Midwest League, I started -- MJ, our manager, Mark Johnson, gave me an opportunity to play every day and I ran with it and had a good couple of weeks.

MiLB.com: Have you been told to, or made an effort, to put on some weight and muscle this offseason as you progress? Is that something you think needs to happen for your career to really take off?

Gretzky: Oh, yeah, that's huge for me. Ever since [football] surgery, I lost a lot of weight. I've put on about 25 pounds this offseason and a big part is a lot of time in the weight room. During the season, I'm even in there a lot. That's a big thing for my career.

MiLB.com: Wow, how were you able to just gain 25 pounds?

Gretzky: A lot of eating [laughs]. You could list as much food as you want, if you don't eat the right way, it won't work. I've finally got it dialed in -- eating right will get you there.

MiLB.com: Yeah, I'm trying that, but for the opposite result.

Gretzky: Right [laughs].

MiLB.com: The Cubs are really loaded with elite prospects, guys like Jorge Soler and Javier Baez and Albert Almora. Is there an eagerness, an optimism among the younger guys in the system to get up and turn this club back into a contender?

Gretzky: Oh, of course, the amount of talent that we have in the Minors is awesome. These guys, I look up to a lot of these guys. The vibe in Minor League camp, it's spectacular, the energy we have. I have a feeling the Cubs should be pretty good in the next couple years with the guys we have.

MiLB.com: You had a chance to learn about hitting from George Brett when your dad was coaching the Coyotes in Phoenix. Your dad said last year, "The name has given him some advantages. It opens doors, but in the end he's got to perform on his own." What was it like working out with Brett and how has the family name helped you in your career?

Gretzky: It's helped me in the way I've gotten the opportunities to work with guys like Brett and people of that stature, but when it comes down to it, when you're in Minor League Spring Training games and you go 0-for-3, you know you're not going to play the next day. I've realized that from a young age, I'm trying to go out and work hard like everyone else.

MiLB.com: I'm sure reporters love to ask you about living in your dad's shadow and making a name for yourself in something that isn't hockey. Did you ever feel pressure or some obligation that you had to stick with hockey?

Gretzky: Absolutely not, no. My dad and mom let me do whatever I wanted to do sports-wise. They introduced me to everything, hockey, baseball -- when I moved out to LA for good, it was all football and baseball; none of my friends were playing hockey. The nearest rink was an hour away. I gravitated to baseball and that was it.

MiLB.com: I've read your love of baseball was sparked at Yankee Stadium. What happened that day? Did you have a favorite baseball team or player growing up?

Gretzky: Always Derek Jeter, the way he conducts himself on and off the field, you know he's the captain. I remember going with my dad, when he played for the Rangers, as a little kid and seeing Jeter was awesome.

MiLB.com: Have you ever met him?

Gretzky: When I was younger, I met him, but I was a little kid.

MiLB.com: There's a great photo you posted on Instagram of a family Christmas card, with fake snow falling and sweaters and whatever. It looks like it could be an ad for a reality TV show. Your dad's fame goes without saying, but your mom is still acting, your sister is on the cover of magazines, you're a Cubs prospect. ... What's it been like growing up Gretzky, growing up around that atmosphere?

Gretzky: Nothing different. I don't know, we're a regular family, we all work hard. My dad and mom taught us to work hard; nothing is given to us. My brother [Ty] is in business school at [Arizona State] now. We were just instilled to work hard.

MiLB.com: You're active on social media and have a lot of followers, and it's something that gives fans a look into your life off the field. There are Instagram photos of you with Drake, ringside with Manny Pacquiao, with your family at NHL games, on the set of Conan, at the Hockey Hall of Fame. ... there's even some of you flying planes and hand-feeding dolphins. You just reached Class A and it kind of sounds like the script of one of those "Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials.

Gretzky: (Laughs) You know, I never thought about it all until you just listed all of that. But no, I don't know. Like I said, I've been blessed with so many opportunities because of my father, but I want to be a baseball player, and I'm working hard like all the other guys. It's been my dream since I was a little kid, to get to the big leagues and win a World Series.

MiLB.com: Your dad had some superstitions when he played, from putting on equipment to pregame meals. Do you have any?

Gretzky: Not really. I've gotta eat before the game, but I'm not superstitious at all. A lot of baseball players are really superstitious, but other than the routine every day with the tee and hitting, nothing.

MiLB.com: You've worn No. 9, 19 and 29 so far. I'm guessing the nine is a nod to dad, but let's say you reach the Majors, what number are you going with on the back of your Cubs jersey?

Gretzky: It's always been a dream to wear No. 99. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to wear it one day. That's irrelevant right now -- I've got to focus on getting my career where I want it to be.

Is the Grady Sizemore comeback story a little too good to be true?

By Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Columnist

Grady Sizemore will be your Red Sox Opening Day starting center fielder.

It’s inevitable.

It wasn’t exactly the home run he hit during the sixth inning of Tuesday’s spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays that sealed the deal, even if Jackie Bradley, Jr. may have hired a search team to prove the ball didn’t land some 430 feet away from home plate in Port Charlotte, Fla. After all, it was Bradley who, a year ago, was the shining story of Red Sox camp in Fort Myers, the kid on the rise who forced his way onto the Opening Day roster with a blistering spring in which he hit .419 with a 1.120 OPS.

He hit .097 in 14 games before being demoted to Pawtucket before April ended, the lone highlight being his three-walk, two-run performance against the Yankees in an 8-2 win to open the season.

Bradley has been more pedestrian this spring, batting only .173 over 17 games, while the general consensus is that Sizemore has proven himself to be healthy after missing two full seasons, hitting .303 in his first 10 games in a Red Sox uniform, with a home run and a double included as his only extra base hits. Sizemore has driven in a pair, walked only once. Bradley has four doubles, five runs batted in, and an eye-popping 16 strikeouts in 52 at-bats.

It’s everything the Red Sox could have hoped for.

It doesn’t take a veteran sleuth to comprehend that the team had the highest of hopes for Sizemore this spring, either feeling that Bradley isn’t ready or that his skill set isn’t exactly the stuff of legends that it was made out to be last March. Sizemore had yet to even play in an exhibition game, and there were already endless, positive reports from Fort Myers about the work ethic, strong legs, and bat speed he displayed in the early going behind chain-link fences. You might have thought he miraculously multiplied the number of pretzels in the press box based on the reaction some baseball writers displayed when he got his first hit of the spring.

Look, there’s no denying that the Sizemore comeback story is potentially a great one. Knee and back injuries have kept him off the diamond since 2011. As recently as 2009, he was one of baseball’s most dynamic power hitters, having jacked 33 home runs at 25 years old (an age at which Baseball Reference had his similarity score compared to some guy named Barry Bonds). But he only played in 106 games the following season, 104 games the next two years combined. And maybe the most egregious factor that Team Grady is overlooking as Sizemore marches his way onto the team is that he’s only played in 10 games this spring. Only Shane Victorino (sidelined on Tuesday with soreness in his left side) has played in fewer games among those expected to make the Opening Day roster. Tuesday was the first of three consecutive games Sizemore will play before getting the day off on Saturday. So, this should play well into the regular season, no?

“There’s still a lot of internal discussion on who our starting center fielder is going to be,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said on Tuesday.

That’s likely not because Sizemore won’t be there, but because the Sox will indeed need someone to play every fourth day or so. Is Mike Cameron available?

Sizemore has been the story of camp, whether or not that’s because the Red Sox feel they have found a diamond in the rough, or because the narrative puts the memory of Jacoby Ellsbury further out to pasture. But what can the team realistically expect from the guy? A repeat of 2008 is probably about as much a possibility as Sid Bream being invited to back up Mike Napoli at first. If he gives what he was able to produce from 2009 to 2011, how is that in any way better than the potential of Bradley?

The “against-all-odds” story line can be a difficult one to ignore, but what has Sizemore truly done this spring that should have Sox fans ooh-ing and ah-ing at the thought of him? Spring training stats normally mean nothing (remember Gary Gaetti?) except for players wet behind the ear, or making a comeback. In that respect, neither Bradley nor Sizemore has been particularly impressive. So why do the Red Sox seem to feel the need to shoehorn Sizemore into the everyday (well, almost…) lineup?

The reality is that Sizemore is probably going to give them more along the lines of what the Red Sox got out of Rocco Baldelli in 2009 than any Barry Bonds comparison. But everybody loves a feel-good ending, even if it ultimately results in a trip to disabled list only weeks into the season.

Sizemore will be there, in center field, Monday at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Bradley will be holding down the same spot at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket come Thursday.

They’ll likely be reversed in no time; Sizemore on a rehab assignment, and Bradley taking his spot in Fenway.

Everyone loves a comeback story, but this one just feels like it’s being a bit too force-fed to truly believe in it. Here’s hoping we’re wrong.

Red Sox assistant general manager Mike Hazen talks Grady Sizemore decision
03.28.14 at 7:33 am ET
By Rob Bradford
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Mike Hazen

Mike Hazen

With the Grady Sizemore decision dominating conversation as the Red Sox finish off their spring training, one person who has a unique perspective on the outfielder is assistant general manager Mike Hazen.

Hazen is not only in the middle of the decision-making making process when it comes to formulating this year’€™s Red Sox roster, but he also watched Sizemore regularly while working in the Indians’€™ organization.

Appearing on the Red Sox radio broadcast with Alex Speier and Joe Castiglione Thursday night, here is what Hazen had to say about Sizemore, and fellow Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.

WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED TO SIZEMORE

He was an exciting prospect but I don’t think we knew exactly what we were going to get when we got him. He was a little skinnier. He was a little more wiry even than he was now. Didn’t show the power that he has come to possess. On-base guy. Good hitter. More of a line drive stroke. He really moved into his power in his Double-A, Triple-A seasons, and that was when we really started to see the full measure of the kind of player he was going to be offensively and defensively. He was one of the best players in the game for those first few years he was in the big leagues. He does play the game extremely hard. The injuries certainly took a toll. This was a really good player. If we get him back to even some percentage of what he was, we’re going to have a pretty good player on our hands.

ON SMOOTHNESS OF SWING

Those are going to be some of the swings that you’re going to want to see when he starts getting locked in. He has the pull power and he’s more of a pull/line drive approach right now with that swing, but when he was a really good player, he was able to do that — go to left field, go to left-center, as well as yank the ball to right. I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of home runs to left field. You’re going to see balls get driven through the left-center field gap. You’re going to see most of his home runs going from right-center to the right-field line. But when he’s locked in and you see some swings like that, that’s going to be encouraging.

ABILITY TO PICK UP SWING AFTER LONG LAYOFF

It has been something that has been very surprising.

To not even have a live AB — minor league or major league — in the last couple of years, to be able to step right in, from the timing standpoint, he’s seen velocity. he’s handled some velocity. Certainly there’s been some breaking stuff and velocity that’s gotten him, but you would expect that.

ON PITCH RECOGNITION

Those are probably still some things he’s going to have to work through. They’re not pitching to an advance report yet. If the breaking ball down and in is something he’ll be susceptible to, they haven’t started pounding and picking at it yet, which they will. Now, you’re still getting guys throwing fastballs who are trying to work on their stuff. You may not get the exact attack plan that he’ll get during the season. He’ll have to readjust back to that. But what we’ve seen so far, he’s hit breaking balls, he’s hit fastballs and the timing’s been there and that’s probably been the biggest thing.

WHAT WERE EXPECTATIONS?

I don’t think we had that level of expectations.

What we thought was, we’re trying to build depth, we’re trying to add depth at a reasonable cost. We know there’s going to be some uncertainty given his track from an injury standpoint, but we felt like when he left the game, from an injury standpoint, the talent was so extreme, the bar was so high that we know there’s probably going to be a tick back from that.

He’s a little bit older. He hasn’t played.

WHAT ELSE DOES HE NEED TO PROVE?

I don’t think from a talent or a performance standpoint. It’s more just the physical questions that we need to answer. And who knows when we’re going to have those 100 percent answers? What we’ve seen so far has been extremely encouraging.

IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL THERAPIST DAN DYREK

That’s certainly something that’s been discussed. I don’t think it can trump everything.

We’re delivering consistent care throughout the major leagues and minor leagues. No matter where anybody would go, where they’d be, they would get that same quality.

But certainly on the medical standpoint, when guys develop a rapport with the people that are treating them day in and day out, it can be the same way with a coach. They know their bodies better. They have the daily conversations with them. There can be some advantages to that. I don’t think it would trump what we were seeing from a baseball standpoint. In the end, it’s not about one guy. It’s about all 25 guys who are going to be out there on Opening Day.

WHY HE MIGHT BE DOWN IN THE ORDER

He’ll sacrifice some at-bats early in the season because of that, but maybe that would be good for him a little bit. Daniel gets on base so much or whoever John chooses to lead off, Daniel would probably be a good candidate for it, to put as many guys on base as possible for Pedroia and Ortiz and Nap. It will probably give Grady a way to ease in a little bit. He’s going to have a lot thrown at him when he’s up there, just with regard to getting back into the flow.

HOW GOOD WAS SIZEMORE WITH THE INDIANS?

Somebody has said he was somewhat of an equivalent to Trout. I don’t know that he was Trout. There may be only one of Trout in the next 20-30 years, or in the past, or present. But it was that type of dominance in the game for one player: defense, base running, offense, he did everything. He hit for power, he hit for average, he got on base. He played very good defensive center field. And he could really run. He was a physical speed with regards to his speed, his explosiveness and all those other things. He played in the middle of the diamond and he hit in the middle of the order.

HOW FAST?

Pretty good. He’s probably down a tick from where he was — understandably, given what he’s gone through physically. We’ve gotten him 4.2 down the line. ‘€¦ For a left-handed hitter, around there, maybe 4.3. So he’s probably right around average, maybe still a tick above depending how he gets out of the box. He gets out of the box decent. But underway, he’s been very good as well. You’ve seen some of the explosive plays.

Ten-aka: Masahiro dominant as Yanks blank Marlins

TAMPA, Fla. --

As Spring Training draws to a close, Hiroki Kuroda and Masahiro Tanaka gave the Yankees more reason to feel good about their rotation, pitching New York to a 3-0 victory over the Marlins on Friday at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Tanaka was dominant, striking out 10 while holding the Marlins to three hits over six innings. He threw 82 pitches, 60 for strikes.

Scheduled to start the Yanks' fourth game of the year on April 4 in Toronto, Tanaka wrapped up his first spring with the Yankees with a 2.14 ERA, striking out 26 and walking three in 21 innings.

The Yankees announced Saturday that Tanaka was the recipient of the 2014 James P. Dawson Award, given annually to the outstanding Yankees rookie in Spring Training.

Not too shabby for spring training. Tanaka should be a fun pitcher to watch this summer. I'd be drafting this guy #1 in a fantasy league if I were a participating owner.

Over Trout?

I guess I should have specified pitchers (if available for my team).