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 Post subject: Pitchers and catchers report to camp (Sosa to retire?)
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:32 am 
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Pitchers and Catchers Report to Camp

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer

Thursday, February 16, 2006

(02-16) 00:57 PST Tampa, Fla. (AP) --

It's time for the words baseball fans couldn't wait to hear: pitchers and catchers. Just 112 days after the Chicago White Sox completed their World Series sweep of the Houston Astros, spring training began Wednesday when pitchers and catchers reported to a half-dozen of the 30 major league training camps in Florida and Arizona.

Workouts started Thursday, and the Minnesota Twins will become the final team to report Sunday. Position players are due in next week, and before you know it will come the April 3 opener, when Cleveland visits the White Sox.

There will be an interesting twist this year, with the spring split by the first World Baseball Classic, a 16-team tournament from March 3-20 in which players will be on national teams instead of major league clubs.

But for now, teams were settling in.

Sammy Sosa, however, was not at spring training. The 37-year-old outfielder, just 12 homers shy of becoming the fifth player to reach 600, rejected an offer from the Washington Nationals and is likely to retire. The former Chicago Cubs star batted .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs last year in his only season with the Baltimore Orioles.

"It wasn't about the money and it wasn't about No. 600," said his agent, Adam Katz. "It was a function of Sammy's expectation of his own performance. He didn't want to go out there and underperform like he did last year because it was just too painful for him, and it's just something he doesn't want to go through again."


While not yet at the San Francisco Giants' camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., Barry Bonds was the big topic of conversation there. The 41-year-old outfielder hit five homers in 14 games last season after recovering from three knee operations. He has 708 homers, six behind Babe Ruth and 47 shy of Hank Aaron's career record.

"As a manager, I'd like to see how he is," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "One time last spring, he was catching fly balls with the outfielders, and after that it was all downhill. He's got to get in shape, but he's a smart man and a smart player. The earlier he gets started, the better."

In Lakeland, Jim Leyland spent his first day on the job as the Detroit Tigers' new manager. He walked into his clubhouse office at Tigertown, stopped and pointed at a huge black and white photo of Ty Cobb on the wall.

"I was the only one in baseball to spike Ty Cobb," Leyland said.

Leyland was hired Oct. 4 to replace Alan Trammell after Detroit skidded to its 12th straight losing season. How did the 61-year-old spike Cobb, a Hall of Famer who retired as a player in 1928 and died in 1961?

"I was frustrated after a Florida State League game back in 1977 and threw my spike up against the wall," Leyland said. "Unfortunately, it hit the picture."

A 6-inch gouge is evident next to Cobb's left cheek in the picture, patched with tape. Leyland was the manager of the Lakeland Tigers that year.

Even as teams got ready to take the field, there was still offseason business going on.

Pitcher Jeff Weaver became the last major free agent to find a team, agreeing to a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels worth $8,325,000. He joins his younger brother, Jered, a former pitching star for Long Beach State, who is a prospect in the Angels' organization.

"It's another quality arm that we're getting in here," pitcher John Lackey said at the Angels' camp in Tempe, Ariz. "You never can have too much pitching."

In Mesa, Ariz., the Cubs said that while Kerry Wood's rehabilitation from shoulder surgery is progressing, the star pitcher might not be ready for opening day.

"I don't put schedules on rehab," Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Wednesday after Wood made about 75 throws off flat ground. "That will be determined as we go. He's where he should be in a rehab from the surgery. No setbacks or anything. As long as we can keep progressing, that's what we are after."

Wood was on the disabled list three times last season. The 1998 NL Rookie of the Year made 10 starts, ended up in the bullpen as an effective reliever and then had arthroscopic surgery Aug. 31.

In Vero Beach, Dodgers closer Eric Gagne addressed his comeback from elbow-ligament surgery. The former NL Cy Young Award winner, who appeared in just 14 games last year, has thrown off a mound six times in the past three weeks.

"I expect to be the kind of pitcher I was," he said. "I feel I'm 100 percent to where I should be right now."

In Dunedin, Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells said he wouldn't mind playing a corner outfield spot or designated hitter for the United States in the WBC so that Ken Griffey Jr. can play center.

"I don't care. I'm going to get a fair amount of playing time," Wells said.

In Peoria, Ariz., Japanese catcher Kenji Johjima stood in the lobby of the Seattle Mariners' spring-training headquarters with his English tutor.

"From what I understand, he's worked really hard to learn the language," Mariners pitcher Clint Nageotte said.

In Tampa, the Yankees said Carl Pavano has lower back discomfort that will prevent him from throwing off a mound until around March 1. After signing a $39.95 million, four-year contract, Pavano missed the second half of last season because of a shoulder injury.

"You certainly don't want to get to this point of taking this much care and then decide that just because the season opener is coming that you've got to hurry up and do something," manager Joe Torre said.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:52 am 
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Kevin Youkalis finally gets a chance to be a starter.

<flaccid wave>


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:58 am 
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I'm so board without baseball, so life is about to start again. :wink:

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:08 am 
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Yeah, when you get to speculating why Derek Jeter spent his Valentine's Day with Peyton Manning at a Magics game, you know you need the season to start up soon.

(turns out they were in Orlando to film a commercial with Dwayne Wade. Guess they weren't out on a date after all).


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:51 am 
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frosted b. spoon Wrote:
Yeah, when you get to speculating why Derek Jeter spent his Valentine's Day with Peyton Manning at a Magics game, you know you need the season to start up soon.

(turns out they were in Orlando to film a commercial with Dwayne Wade. Guess they weren't out on a date after all).


Kenny Chesney breathes a sigh of relief.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:54 am 
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I fucking hate Sammy Sosa.

If he was smart, he'd go to Japan, get back on the juice, bring his corked bats and hit about 98 homers....

"ohh ree ruv sammy-son."

what a fucking prick. i hope they keep him (and mcgwire) out of the Hall.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:11 am 
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Yail Bloor Wrote:
what a fucking prick. i hope they keep him (and mcgwire) out of the Hall.


Hall of Fame, not Integrity.

But, yeah... Of all the big-boppers in the last twenty years, I think Sosa is one of the weaker ones. McGwire, possibly, even moreso.

Over those two, I'll take this, below, any day.

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(First to fifty home-runs in sixteen years ('91, I believe).)


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:11 am 
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sosa's an asshole. the corked bat is way more offensive than the juice. mcgwire shouldn't be kept out of the hall. it's not like he'd be the only guy in there who had some help.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:24 am 
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And, Sosa slapped his wife around a few times back in the day. Classy, classy man.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:54 am 
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Yail Bloor Wrote:
I fucking hate Sammy Sosa.

If he was smart, he'd go to Japan, get back on the juice, bring his corked bats and hit about 98 homers....

"ohh ree ruv sammy-son."

what a fucking prick. i hope they keep him (and mcgwire) out of the Hall.


*high five*

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