MLB Bullets Lifts (Some) Fox-TV Blackouts

While the Cubs were busy opening their new park Thursday afternoon, there was plenty going on elsewhere in the major leagues. Here's a sampling of Friday morning links for you.

• Blackouts are over! Well, some of them, anyway. Maury Brown of Biz of Baseball has Fox-TV's schedule for the year, which includes extra games on Fox Sports 1, live streaming on Fox Sports GO and the ability to watch out-of-market Saturday afternoon Fox games if you subscribe to MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV.
• MLBPA chief Tony Clark says the union is going to be keeping a close eye on the new catcher-collision rule, saying that "experimental" wasn't put in the rule by accident.
• MLB's official historian John Thorn writes about connections that U.S. presidents had with baseball, going all the way back to George Washington. Here's Part 1 of a promised two-part series.
• Frank Deford, who used to be an influential sportswriter, has turned into an old crank. Here's his take on how to fix baseball: make home plate smaller. I don't think I have to tell you what a bad idea that would be, but you'll enjoy reading the comments.
• Rob Neyer says the Red Sox likely won't be as good as they were last year -- but that's okay for the long-term future of the franchise.
  
• And Rob also says the Royals should be contenders this year.
• Carl Pavano announced his retirement. He hadn't pitched since 2012, so maybe this was acknowledging the inevitable. Emma Span has a Pavano career retrospective at Sports on Earth, which includes one of the best scoreboard closed-captions ever.
• Josh Hamilton could be out for "weeks" with a strained calf, writes Bill Shaikin in the Los Angeles Times. Will you miss him?
• Adam Dunn is headed to the Oscars Sunday night; he's a part owner of the production company that produced "Dallas Buyers Club." Makes me want the movie to win just so Dunn has to stand up on stage to accept the award. (Dunn also amde a cameo appearance in the film as a bartender.)
• Indians outfielder Carlos Moncrief didn't really catch a baseball in a kitchen. But this photo of him next to an ad on the outfield wall at Goodyear is a pretty cool illusion.
• They played "Calvinball" with the rules during the Cubs' intrasquad game Wednesday. Read about how the Elias Sports Bureau was called on to do some rule-bending with the Braves/Tigers spring-training opener.
• If you've enjoyed Dirk Hayhurst's books such as "The Bullpen Gospels" and "Out Of My League," he's got a new book out this spring, "Bigger Than The Game." Here's a review from Hardball Times.
• Have you ever seen a Lego version of Fenway Park? Click this link and you'll see one.
• Will Clayton Kershaw start for the Dodgers in the season opener in Australia? It's an open question; here's the take of the Sydney Morning Herald. And another Herald columnist applauds Zack Greinke for his dissing of the Australia trip.
  
• Speaking of the Dodgers, one of their beat writers had a pretty bad view for the team's first spring-training game.
• Speaking of views, I love historical shots like this one, an overhead shot of the Polo Grounds in New York during Game 1 of the 1921 World Series.
• Could Florida State QB Jameis Winston also be a baseball pitching prospect? Bob Nightengale of USA Today says yes, and one scouting report quoted in the article says Winston throws 93 with command.
• David Cooper, first-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2008, suffered a serious spinal injury in 2012. Here's the story of his comeback try with the Cleveland Indians.
• Marlins president David Samson was on "Survivor." He was the first one voted off the island. (Please tell me you are not surprised by this result.)

To conclude this edition of MLB Bullets with some non-baseball entertainment, and for the second Lego-related link in this edition, check out this awesome gallery of a "Lego photographer."