MLB Bullets Has No Comment

For those who wonder why we're talking about Ryne Sandberg, this is MLB Bullets and not Cubs Tracks. And Ryno does seem to be the big story this news cycle.

• Jimmy Rollins sat for three straight spring training games as Freddy Galvis played shortstop for the Phillies. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed that Rollins was not hurt. When Ryne Sandberg was asked about it, he praised Galvis' energy and positive influence. When asked about Rollins, he replied "no comment."
• Rollins, when asked about it, replied "obviously he is upset about something," although Rollins claimed to not know what it was. But the former MVP characterized his relationship with his new manager as "good."
• Jim Salisbury thinks Sandberg is sending Rollins a message.
• Buster Olney in an ESPN Insider article ($) says that not only is Sandberg sending Rollins a message, he's sending everyone a message that the Philles are still in "win-now" mode. Olney notes that Sandberg had gotten a reputation in the game for being a bad interview, which was why he had been passed up for managerial jobs in the past. But Olney says that Sandberg's calm, detached demeanor, which comes across as disinterested in interviews, was actually hiding an extremely competitive personality.
• Our friends over at The Good Phight have an excellent summary of the situation and three guesses as to what Sandberg is up to.
• Craig Calcaterra seems to believe what is going on is that Rollins' lackadaisical attitude is running into a manager who is running spring training at a boot camp intensity that the Philadelphia veterans, who were used to the laid-back style of Charlie Manuel, are having trouble adjusting to.
• Grant Brisbee wonders what the impact of Sandberg making Galvis the starting shortstop would be on the Phillies. He says it makes little sense for a team trying to win now to make such a change. But he adds that this whole brouhaha will be forgotten in a week.
• A week? Maybe by today. Sandberg has spoken to Rollins and downplayed the rift. Apparently Sandberg was upset that Rollins responded to a question about the Phillies poor hitting in spring training by saying "who cares?" although Rollins made it clear what he meant was that there was little correlation between spring training stats and regular season performance. Sandberg also said he regretted his "no comment" comment.
• In any case, Rollins is scheduled to start and bat second for the Phillies in this afternoon's game. So this is all a lot of pixels being spilled over maybe nothing. Still, Jimmy Rollins is a nothing special as a ballplayer these days. He is slightly better than Freddy Galvis, though.
• This story broke just a few hours after my last column. Ervin Santana signed a one-year, $14.1 million deal with the Braves. So essentially, he got what he could have gotten if he'd accepted the qualifying offer, although then he'd have to play for Kansas City.
• Playing in the NL may have been the deciding factor in Santana's decision to pick the Braves over the Blue Jays. So it wasn't just the Royals.
• Jonathan Bernhardt thinks the Braves are a good fit for Santana.
• Ken Rosenthal finds it interesting that the Braves, supposedly at their payroll limit, somehow found $14.1 million for Santana right after Kris Medlen went down. He does note the Braves didn't have much choice in the matter.
• It's not official yet, but Medlen is preparing himself for his second Tommy John surgery in five years.
• Mike Axisa reminds us that while Tommy John surgery has an excellent success rate, there's no guarantee that a pitcher will be able to recover from it. Between 15 and 20% of pitchers do not return to their former skill level.
• Francisco Rodriguez doesn't need Tommy John surgery, he just stepped on a cactus and will miss a few games.
• Miguel Sano isn't a pitcher, so he has a much better chance of returning for Tommy John surgery. He recorded a message to his fans just before going under the knife. This is my chance to plug the movie Ballplayer: Pelotero about Sano. It's an excellent movie about the way Dominican ballplayers get signed and the filmmakers are working on a sequel that follows Sano through the minors to Minnesota. It looks like their project just got one year longer.
• Kendrys Morales and Stephen Drew are now the two remaining free agents. Drew is allegedly telling former teammates in Boston that he regrets not accepting the qualifying offer.
• Manny Ramirez is also a free agent and is still looking for a job. He is now talking about his PED use and says he wants other players to avoid the mistakes he made.
• In related news, Jason Giambi was hit by a pitch and broke a rib. Normally, that's not that big a deal but for the 43 year-old Giambi, that could end his career. He'll start the season on the DL and hope there is still a job for him when he gets healthy.
• Jon Heyman has a list of 14 players who could still be traded this spring. Heading the list is Jeff Samardzija.
• Craig Calcaterra thinks the Mets should make a trade with the Diamondbacks for a shortstop. Arizona has two and the Mets have none. They're going to give up a pair of prospects for Chris Owings or Didi Gregorius instead of giving up a draft pick to sign Stephen Drew. That makes sense only when you remember this is the Mets we're talking about.
• Jonah Keri talks about the Red Sox and says that while the team has lots of money, that's not the key to their success. Although it doesn't hurt. He writes they're playing Moneyball but with lots of money.
• Speaking of Moneyball, the original moneyball team, Oakland, is looking for a temporary home. The Athletics are considering the 5000 seat minor league stadium in San Jose as well as the now-abandoned Candlestick Park among other sites. Ironically, the Giants would probably have fewer problems with the A's playing at Candlestick than they would in San Jose.
• The Athletics are leaving their spring training home at Phoenix Municipal Stadium after this season and moving into the Cubs old digs at HoHoKam Park. Jim Caple has a nostalgic look at this old, crumbling stadium. It's what we often say about old stadiums. They may be a dump, but that dump had character.
• I would absolutely rent an apartment that was built into an outfield wall, except then I'd have to live in Lansing.
• Brian Costa tries to see eight Cactus League games in the time it takes to drive to one Grapefruit League away game. He doesn't quite make it, but he does get to six.
• Rob Neyer thinks that Barry Bonds has a chance to repair his relationship with baseball.
• I really couldn't follow all the math in this article, but it seems like an excellent study about the relationship of pitch location to caught stealing statistics. If you can slog your way through it, maybe you can tell us whether it says anything important.
• A summer league team has the worst idea for a uniform ever.
• The new protective caps are really too heavy and bulky for pitchers to use.
• Emma Span has a profile of Mike Trout, because you really can't read too much about Mike Trout.
• Grant Brisbee is upset with the look of the new R.B.I. Baseball video game.
• An Indians fan was upset about the look of Chief Wahoo on his jersey, so he did something about it.
• Will Leitch looks at all the teams who didn't win 70 games last season and examines when they can likely expect to contend. He notes that the Cardinals fan in him really hopes the Cubs get impatient with all the losing, because he expects them to be a monster when the kids are ready.
• Gabe Lacques examines players who picked baseball over football and why. The biggest reasons seem to be the money, benefits and being able to retire without having your brains scrambled.
• Finally, Joe Posnanski looks back at the scandal of 1926 when Dutch Leonard accused Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker of throwing a ballgame. There are a lot of moving parts here and Posanski tries to separate fact from fiction. It's an interesting story involving a lot of baseball politics and feuds.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.