Well, if you thought the Ryan Braun story was over, you were wrong. The test collector emailed ESPN's Buster Olney yesterday and it was chock full of interesting quotes. Here is one of them:
"I followed the same procedure in collecting Mr. Braun's sample as I did in the hundreds of other samples I collected under the program," Laurenzi said of his collection of Braun's urine samples on Oct. 1.
It will be interesting to see how long MLB will take to institute a change in the appeal policy for players who fail a drug test.
If you ever wanted to get a job in baseball, Dave Gershman from Beyond the Boxscore is starting a series on the steps required. Check out his first article here.
Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman partially dislocated his right kneecap yesterday and should be out a minimum of two weeks. He will be reevaluated today so we will learn about the injury later today. If Freeman is out longer than two weeks, I have no idea who will man first base for the Braves once the season starts.
More after the jump:
Baseball Nation's Rob Neyer penned this piece on Nationals 2011 first round pick Anthony Rendon yesterday, and discusses the possibility of Rendon playing shortstop. Yes shortstop. Can you imagine a Nationals infield of Ryan Zimmerman, Rendon, Danny Espinosa, Michael Morse and Wilson Ramos? And Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth in the outfield?
Angels manager Mike Scioscia announced last evening that outfield prospect Mike Trout will start the season in the minors unless an injury occurs in spring training. Scioscia will have his hands full in keeping everyone happy in LA with Peter Bourjos, Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu, Kendrys Morales, Mark Trumbo and eventually Trout, all vying for at bats. It is not a surprise that Trout will start the season in AAA, but the real surprise is if he spends more than half the season there.
It was reported yesterday that Giants catcher Buster Posey has yet to make quick turns and cuts on the basepaths, so he won't be able to play in any spring training games till he can prove he can run the bases. He still has time to prove he can run the bases, but I wonder how long it will be before he can catch everyday.
It's quite amazing that Yankees manager Joe Girardi actually announced that CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda are the only two starters who are locks for a spot in the Yankees rotation. The Yankees trade their best prospect for Michael Pineda and he isn't guaranteed a rotation spot? C'mon man.