FLB: Spring Training Notebook 3/15
• The Yankees finally assigned Philip Hughes to their minor-league camp on Wednesday. The move was announced a few days ago, but MLB.com reports that the Yanks wanted to see Hughes throw one more bullpen session in the big-league camp before sending him down. Hughes is still eminently draftable in deep leagues; he'll be up sometime this year.
• The dream is over for the juggiest ears in the majors: Fernando Tatis was released on Wednesday by the Dodgers. There wasn't much chance of Tatis getting at-bats in L.A., but the team wanted to send him to the minors for insurance. However, Tatis refused the assignment and appears to be at the end of the road.
• Oh, Grady Little, you magnificent bastard. The Dodgers' Web site reported Wednesday that Little has decided to keep Chad Billingsley on the big-league club, but not as the team's fifth starter. Instead, Billingsley will pitch in relief. Ruh? Raggy? Now, I'm not saying Billingsley's control is truly ready for prime time. But certainly, pure-stuff-wise, he's the best candidate they've got to fill out the rotation, and if you judge he doesn't have the control necessary to get big-league hitters out, it seems logical that you'd send him to Triple-A Las Vegas to get straightened out. What good is middle relief going to do the 22-year-old? In the meantime...Brett Tomko? Mark Hendrickson? Insert shudder here.
• Cristian Guzman played in his first spring training game Wednesday and went 1-for-3 at the plate. Heck, that's a month's worth of hits for the erstwhile shortstop, right? Save 'em up, Cristian! Guzman suffered no setbacks in the field, which is good news considering he underwent major shoulder surgery this offseason. At the moment, the plan to go with Guzman at short and Felipe Lopez at second (with Ronnie Belliard pretty much out of luck) still looks on track.
• The Cincinnati Enquirer voiced concerns almost everyone else has mentioned this spring: It's looking less and less like Ken Griffey Jr. will be able to begin the season starting for the Reds. His oft-broken hand still hasn't allowed him to play in exhibition games, and Josh Hamilton is pulling some kind of Roy Hobbs magic and literally tearing the cover off the ball. Could Hamilton start in Griffey's place in center field? Could Ryan Freel get healthy enough to start in Griffey's place, and allow Hamilton to play right? Hm.
• Tony La Russa told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that he believes both Juan Encarnacion and Jim Edmonds will begin the year on the disabled list, Encarnacion because of soreness in his surgically-repaired right wrist, and Edmonds because of his right shoulder and his left foot. Sure, the Cardinals' rotation looks rough to begin the season (Braden Looper, come on down!), but how about an outfield of Chris Duncan, So Taguchi and Scott Spiezio? Eep.
• From the "Who Are You And What Have You Done With Zack Greinke Dept.": Greinke fanned six in four shutout innings against the Rockies on Wednesday, and he now stands at 11 strikeouts to zero walks so far this spring. All signs still point to Brian Bannister winning the Royals' fifth-starter role, but stay tuned. Greinke has fallen far and hard over the past 18 months, but other than Gil Meche, the Royals really aren't committed to anyone in their rotation.
• The Boston Herald reports that rumors earlier this week about the Red Sox looking into Armando Benitez to fill their closer's role were spurious. General manager Theo Epstein told reporters, "We don't have anything going right now with another team. I anticipate we'll figure something out with guys we have here and build a good bullpen throughout the course of the year." In related news, Mike Timlin won't throw Thursday as initially hoped because his strained oblique still isn't healed. A season-starting stint on the DL is still a possibility. Oh, yeah, and Julian Tavarez got lit up again on Wednesday.
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Mariners do have interest in bringing in Benitez as a setup man for J.J. Putz. Now, I know the M's love spending for past-their-prime pitchers, but this seems odd even for them. One has to wonder if the Giants themselves might not be the source of all this speculation.
• Hunter Pence has been the talk of Astros camp this spring, hitting .652 with a 1.174 OPS in 23 at-bats. On Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reports, the team decided to send the 23-year-old Pence to Triple-A Round Rock to begin the season. It was always going to be this, simply because Pence probably wasn't going to be the team's right fielder just yet. But all this does beg the question: What would things in Houston look like if Craig Biggio took a seat alongside Jeff Bagwell? Chris Burke's bat probably looks better at second base than in center field (although he's 2-for-34 for the spring), and someone other than Biggio could hit leadoff. Would Pence make the team the ? Hard to say ... because Luke Scott is quite the folk hero. Still, Pence's future looks brighter than it did a month ago.
• I have to admit that before spring training began, I didn't take the Marlins' competition in center field all that seriously. It seemed to me that Reggie Abercrombie had skills enough that he'd stick around to begin the year. Wrong. Abercrombie was sent to minor-league camp on Wednesday, leaving center to some combination of Alex Sanchez and Eric Reed. Abercrombie is quite a bit more talented than either of those guys but evidently can't put it all together in the eyes of Florida management.
• I think I'm about done getting breathless over the Gary Matthews Jr. HGH situation, so here's my last note for a while: Matthews issued a statement Wednesday through the Angels denying that he ever took HGH. One would assume that, for the moment, this will satisfy the team's management, and Matthews will go back to being a solid-if-somewhat-overrated option in center field. Clearly, news can change, and if there are any actual developments, we'll keep you posted.
Christopher Harris covers fantasy sports for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.
