White Sox pitchers and catchers reported to Glendale on Sunday ... and so did Andruw Jones!
Considering his career has taken a nosedive and he's been hammered for being overweight and giving the Dodgers one of the great underperformances of all time, one could take this as a sign that Jones is serious about resurrecting his career.
Ah, but that might be reading into it a little too much. As Chuck Garfien explains in one of my all-time favorite tweets:
Why did Andruw Jones come to camp so early? He thought the whole team was supposed to report today. Seriously.
Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet start to what should be a fairly muted spring, although it did bear some significant news when Ozzie Guillen named Mark Buehrle the Opening Day starter, which would be a franchise-record eighth time.
And if the current pattern holds, he'll be making the start while battling his seventh consecutive spring injury.
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In pitching news:
*Joe Cowley previewed A.J. Pierzynski's contract year, but I found this Buehrle quote at the end the most interesting:
Buehrle knows where he stands. Then again, it was Buehrle who watched his teammates run to his side to pressure the club into giving him the four-year, $56 million contract he signed in July 2007.
''We can tell them, 'Hey, this guy makes our team better, we want him back,''' Buehrle said. ''Tell them that if we go with Flowers, he's a young guy who has to learn a whole new pitching staff. In the long run, though, it's a business, and they're not going to listen to us all the time. I think everyone here would like to have him back. I know I would.''
One, it's interesting how much credit Cowley gives to White Sox players for the Buehrle extension. Two, stick that Flowers quote in your back pocket. Three, if you're reading, Tyler, stick that on your bulletin board.
*Buehrle included, everybody likes the pitching, and Don Cooper's pumped up.
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Johnny Damon aftermath:
*No hard feelings for Kenny Williams:
''Well, I think you see he did very well for himself,'' Williams said. ''He gets to train in Florida, and that's where he wanted to be. Had we gotten into it a little bit earlier and had I known that was really an overriding factor, then maybe we could have considered moving camp out to Orlando and set up shop to accommodate him. It was a little too late for that. We had everyone here.''
*Ozzie Guillen, perhaps getting ready for the MLB Network reality show that will follow the White Sox, said that Pierzynski blew it.
*Over in Detroit, Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog maps where Johnny Damon's home runs would have landed at Comerica.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Continuing the Damon theme, Andrew at 35th Street Review and Mike at White Sox Mix cope with the loss.
*At South Side Sox, Larry compiles Williams' five biggest hits and misses, and Colin has a helpful tutorial on wOBA.
*J.J. at White Sox Examiner previews the infield, outfield and designated hitter situations.
*Garfien introduces a new White Sox 2010 slogan: "This family tree don't fork."
