Outside The Confines: Old friends in new clothes

Sometimes you just assume you’re going to see a certain player wear the same uniform for their whole career. It rarely happens anymore these days, but it still feels very strange the first time we see familiar faces in unfamiliar uniforms. This past week we saw Kyle Schwarber don Phillies red; Freddie Freeman put on that classic Dodger Blue (and further evidence how good he would have looked in a Cubs uniform, just saying), and Carlos Correa’s Twins signing means he’ll soon be spotted in their red, navy, and white combo.

It’s a part of every spring training, but in never ceases to be weird, like seeing someone’s bad Twitter photoshop come to life.

You’ll get to see some of those new uniforms below, along with the rest of today’s links!

• Those mesh-back caps aren’t only silly-looking, they’re also dangerous if you happen to be bald...

• Gus Garcia-Roberts reports that Tyler Skaggs’ agent evidently urged the pitcher to perform through the pain for years prior to his overdose death.
• Dan Szymborski breaks down the Ryan McMahon extension.
• Mack Liederman spotlights the Black-owned business that now has a season-long deal to make sure White Sox uniforms are looking fresh and clean every game day.
• Alex Coffey provides us a look at Kyle Schwarber’s debut in a Phillies’ jersey.
• Phillip Swann looks at MLB’s lack of action against those who use VPNs to skirt regional restrictions.
• Kevin Goldstein is leaving FanGraphs for a new role with the Twins.
• The Rangers spent a lot of money this offseason, but Jake Mailhot looks at the final missing piece they’ve just added.
• Jacob deGrom was a “little nervous” about returning to the bump in spring training this week.
• Nick Selbe looks at the “Ohtani Rule” and other new adjustments for the 2022 season.
• The Tigers have done a fair bit to bolster their roster this offseason and it seems, according to Jay Jaffe, that they have added the last needed person to their rotation in Michael Pineda.
• According to Joseph Salvador (and the New York City mayor), vaccine requirements aren’t going anywhere if you want to see a game in New York.
• Ken Rosenthal finds out if Anthony Rizzo regrets his contract. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Which 5 pitchers should we expect a comeback from in 2022?
• Alden Gonzalez gives us a look at the first crowd reactions to seeing Freddie Freeman in Dodger Blue.
• Jeff Passan does an overview of an offseason market worth over three billion dollars.
• Don’t expect Max Scherzer to ever get involved in CBA negotiations again, shares Brittany Ghiroli. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ryan Hockensmith spotlights a Ken Griffey Jr. superfan who says the player saved his life.
• A Mets prospect just got himself a brand new kitten, shares Anthony DiComo.
• Bernie Sanders is introducing legislation to put an end to MLB antitrust exemptions. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• And a little general rosters news.

And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.