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Don't look now but the regular season starts in less than a week!
Sunday's Scores:
Braves 3 Nationals 9 (7 inn.) - The rain arrived a little too late for Kris Medlen, who got rocked for six runs in five innings. Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche hit long balls for the Nats.
Orioles 12 Pirates 10 - The O's and Bucs decided to make up for their scoreless tie on Friday with an offensive free-for-all. Baltimore plated eight runs in the first and still almost lost.
Red Sox 7 Phillies 6 - Jackie Bradley made a strong case for a roster spot with the Sox yet again Sunday, mashing a two-run shot off of Cliff Lee. The young outfielder is now hitting .423/.508/.615 in 52 plate appearances this spring.
Marlins 1 Astros 4 (4⅔ inn.) - Marlins right-hander Jacob Turner turned in what is sure to be the shortest complete-game loss of his career. The game was called in the fifth due to rain.
Mets (ss) 10 Cardinals 7 - New York put up a six spot in the seventh -- aided by a pair of two-run blasts from Jamie Hoffman and Zach Lutz -- to grab a comeback victory over St. Louis.
Rays 6 Yankees 7 - Youkilis hit two blasts for the Bombers on Sunday, but it was a solo shot by Ronnier Mustelier in the 10th that gave the Yanks a walk-off victory.
Blue Jays 5 Twins 14 - Joe Mauer and the Twins put the hurt on Toronto Sunday. Mauer had six RBI on the day even though he played only four innings.
Tigers 9 Mets (ss) 4 - New Mets right-hander Brandon Lyon imploded in the seventh, giving up five runs on six hits in just ⅓ of an inning.
Cubs 4 Indians 3 - Chicago held a 4-0 lead going to the bottom of the eighth and almost gave it away. Right-hander Jensen Lewis preserved the win for the Cubbies, striking out two in the ninth.
Reds 2 Rangers 7 - New Ranger Lance Berkman did much of the damage for his club on Sunday, knocking in three runs on two hits -- one of which was a two-run blast.
Rockies 5 Brewers (ss) 7 - Troy Tulowitzki didn't have his best day. The Rockies allowed a run to score on an error, had another deflect off his glove, and went 0-for-3 at the plate.
Royals 8 White Sox 2 - Kansas City's crazy spring run continued Sunday. The Royals have the best record in camp at 21-6. Jeremy Guthrie shut down the Sox for six innings, striking out eight.
Dodgers 4 A's 7 - Yasiel Puig finally showed that he's at least a little human. He failed to record a hit Sunday for the first time this week. NB: He has yet to walk in 55 plate appearances.
Brewers (ss) 4 Padres 6 - Yonder Alonso hit an absolute bomb to right and drove in three runs total on the day. WIly Peralta gave up all the Friars' runs.
Giants 5 Angels 4 - Barry Zito and Jason Vargas both put together solid outings on the day, which is probably the last time I'm ever going to write that sentence.
Mariners 4 D'Backs 8 - The bad springs of Wade Miley and Joe Saunders just got worse on Sunday. The pair combined to give up all 12 runs in just 8⅓.
The Big Three
1. Desperation has a name, and that name is Vernon Wells. The Yankees did the unfathomable Sunday night, acquiring Vernon Wells from the Angels and agreeing to cover $13 million of the remaining $42 million he's owed. Yes, New York has had some unfortunate injuries take hold over the last several weeks, but do they really expect Wells to give them any more production than some combination of Juan Rivera, Brennan Boesch, and Thomas Neal? There's really no one else they could have gotten for $6.5 million on a one-year deal? Just a terrible deal not matter how you look at it (unless you're an Angels fan). Ichiro and Wells alone are owed $26 million over the next two years. Gross. As difficult as it was for anyone to be able to trade Vernon once with that contract, to do it again is a miracle. All hail Jerry Dipoto.
2. While the Yankees were busy making themselves look foolish, the Cubs got some bad news concerning their rotation. Chicago knew they were taking a chance when they inked Tommy John rehabber Scott Baker to a one-year deal, but they probably hoped to get more than half a year out of him. The right-hander has been diagnosed with a strain in his surgically-repaired elbow and now isn't expected to make his rotation debut until some time in July. Another recent acquisition, Carlos Villanueva, seems the most likely candidate to jump into the rotation in Baker's absence.
3. Now that we're just a week from Opening Day, Kyle Lohse seems to be getting a little more reasonable in his contract demands. The right-hander was thought to be looking for something in the Ryan Dempster range (two years, $26.5 million), but now it appears that he and agent Scott Boras have resigned to taking the Edwin Jackson approach. Lohse is now looking for a one-year deal for around $14-$15 million, guaranteeing him at least a little more than his qualifying offer and putting him back on the market following the 2013 season. Teams still seem to be reluctant to even give him a deal at that price, though with the money the Angels just freed up by trading Vernon Wells away, they could become a factor very quickly.
In Other News...
1. The Houston Astros have signed Ronny Cedeno and plan to put him at shortstop right away, leaving Tyler Greene on the trading block. The Cardinals' trash is the Astros' treasure, apparently. Cedeno is a long way to fall from Jed Lowrie. At least he's not Betancourt?
2. Brian McCann's surgically-repaired shoulder is still acting up on him. The Braves backstop isn't expected to play in even a minor-league game until mid-April, meaning that he'll likely be sidelined into May. Gerald Laird will start in the meantime.
3. More injury news, this time from D'Backs camp. Center fielder Adam Eaton has been diagnosed with a UCL strain in his elbow and will miss at least two months. At least they've got Justin Upton and Chris Young out there, right?
