Outside The Confines: It might as well be spring

I just want to say that my elderly mother got her first COVID vaccination two weeks ago and she goes in to get her second one a week from tomorrow. Tomorrow my wife, as a public school teacher, gets her first vaccination with the second one coming three weeks later. It’s going to be a while before I get mine (somehow Cubs bloggers aren’t as high on the priority list as teachers) but for the first time, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel, folks.

• The fallout from the comments from now ex-Mariners team president Kevin Mather continue as Mariners prospect Jarred Kelenic told Bob Nightengale that he was told several times by team officials that he’d be promoted to the majors if he signed a long-term extension and that he was being punished for not agreeing to one.
• Gabe Lacques notes that the players are getting agitated by the blatant service time manipulation, just as talks on the next collective bargaining agreement are set to start. Yankees ace (and player representative) Gerrit Cole spoke at length about the situation.
• One top prospect who won’t be getting a call in 2021 in Twins top prospect Royce Lewis. That’s not service time manipulation. Instead, Lewis has torn his ACL and will likely miss the entire season.
• Jayson Stark examines what Fernando Tatis Jr. has to do to become the “face of baseball.” (The Athletic sub. req.) In other words, MLB’s Steph Curry or LeBron James or Patrick Mahomes.
• Ben Clemens asks why more teams don’t try to lock up their young players to long-term deals like the Padres did with Fernando Tatis Jr. It has to do with incentives.
• Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán apologized to the Yankees and his teammates for “mistakes he’s not proud of.” He didn’t mention what “mistake” he was apologizing for, but one assumes he was talking about the domestic violence incident that got him suspended for the 2020 season. You’d think he’d want to mention that if that’s what he was apologizing for.
• Pete Caldera says that Germán has a long way to go before regaining the trust of his teammates.
• Free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo has signed with the KBO team formerly known as the SK Wyverns. The Wyverns were sold over the winter and are in the process of picking a new name.
• Jay Jaffe looks back at Choo’s career. Despite being from Korea, Choo has never played in KBO before, signing with the Mariners right out of high school.
• Bradford Doolittle revealed ESPN’s projections for the 2021 season. (ESPN+ sub. req.) They’ve got the Cubs at 87.2 wins and winning the NL Central again. I hope that’s right.
• Matt Martell thinks that you shouldn’t discount the Phillies chances of winning the NL East.
• Dan Szymborski examines how the different number of playoff teams affects the value of each individual win. This has been a point of contention for the players, who argue that more playoff teams give teams less incentive to get better. Szymborski’s calculation agree with that and he also notes that the current 10-team playoff format seems to strike the right balance.
• R.J. Anderson has four young players with something to prove in 2021 after disappointing 2020 seasons.
• Travis Sawchik notes that the Pirates under general manager Ben Cherington are taking an extreme risk/reward approach to rebuilding. (Baseball America sub. req.)
• Will Leitch has three reasons why Tony LaRussa could be successful as the White Sox manager and three reasons why he may not succeed.
• Jeff Passan answers 20 questions you may have going into Spring Training. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Blue Jays infielder Vlad Guerrero Jr. has lost 42 pounds since last season started.
• Thomas Harrigan argues that Framber Valdez is the new ace of the Astros pitching staff.
• Alex Coffey and Steve Berman have an update on the Athletics efforts to get a new stadium built at Howard Terminal and the legal appeal that could shut the project down. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• After dislocating his shoulder on a forearm bash in last year’s National League Championship Series, Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger says he’s “a handshake guy” now.
• Braves pitcher Josh Tomlin tells David O’Brien about his week without power in Texas.
• RJ McDaniel looks back at the history of the now-defunct Northwest League and baseball in Vancouver, BC.
• It’s a widely-accepted story that the hitter in the MLB logo is based on Harmon Killebrew. But is that story true? Michael Clair looks at the facts behind the legend.
• Shortstop Francisco Lindor showed up to his first Mets Spring Training dressed up in Eddie Murphy’s Mets jacket from “Coming to America.”
• Willow Johnson is 6’3” and with a powerful left arm, she is one of the best volleyball players in the country. She’s trying to get a women’s professional volleyball league started in the US. Why is this a baseball story? Because Willow is the daughter of Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. Just call her “The Dig Unit.”
• And finally, Grant Brisbee examines what could have been as he examines how every expansion team got their nickname and what other names they considered. (The Athletic sub. req.) One name proposed for the Mets was the “BCBs,” which would have made things awkward around here.

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