Daily Thoughts

Unrelated to anything baseball related but did anyone watch the Bieber Roast last night? It was actually quite good. I'm sure CC will re-air it up the wazoo, I'd recommend checking it out.

• Anthony Rendon's knee still ain't right and he's been meeting with Dr. James Andrews. I'm always skeptical when an injury lingers and isn't fully diagnosed, that seems to portend even more lingering and missed time. At this point there is no chance he makes the Opening Day lineup, and it's anyone's guess (or just Mr. Andrews') when he'll be back. If you need a replacement middle infielder, Everth Cabrera will be filling in for J.J. Hardy at the start of the season, and while he doesn't provide what Rendon does, he could steal plenty of bags in April and be a nice bench player once Rendon returns.

• Freddy Garcia signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers. He was last seen pitching for the Braves in 2013. I highly doubt Garcia has many, if any, MLB moments left but you have to appreciate the grind. Freddy's come back from the dead seemingly three times already so here's to one more. 

• Spring Stats don't mean anything, yadda yadda yadda but Holy Taijuan Walker! In 25 innings this spring Walker has allowed one run (off of a homer) and has 24 strikeouts against only four walks. He has the pedigree, the scouts are raving about him and he's having results thus far, Felix might finally have a partner atop of the rotation in Seattle now. In related news, Walker's battery mate Mike Zunino is also having a nice spring and could tap into the potential that made him the third overall pick and a top prospect this year.

• Kris Bryant and Addison Russell were sent to AAA yesterday which surprised nobody. However, joining them was Javier Baez who struggled in his audition last year and again this spring. There is a lot of pop in that bat and I have a feeling we will see him soon in Chicago, but the path to everyday time in the MLB isn't always so easy and Baez will have to fix the hole in his swing before he's popping homers and stealing bases in the majors. Meanwhile, Bryant should be up in April/May with Russell joining him likely as a September call-up if not earlier in the summer. 

• The MLB is looking to add a Spanish translator to each team so that players can fully "express themselves" to the media. This is a a fantastic idea and I hope they follow through with it. As fun as it could be to hear Soriano say "see ball, hit ball" it's obviously better and more interesting to hear an honest and detailed answer, to say nothing of helping out the young ball players who struggle to learn a second language with 10 recording devices in their face.