Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
There’s really not much to add here, but most teams around baseball are officially starting their pitchers and catchers workouts today after players were mandated to report on Tuesday. If you love watching professional baseball players wear shorts and play catch in the outfield then throw off a bullpen mound for a little bit, today is the day for you! In all seriousness at the very least this is exciting because we’ll be getting some forms of actual news starting today with players and media all being in the same place. I hope they get used to each other because they’ll all be in the same place for at least the next seven or eight months.
Chase Utley was mentioned as an outside possibility at the start of the offseason for the Red Sox to fill their second base hole with Dustin Pedroia out to begin the year. The Phillies legend was never seriously connected to Boston, though, and on Tuesday he signed a two-year deal to go back to the Dodgers. It being a two-year deal was a bit strange at first, but then we learned that it’s only worth $2 million total so it’s not as if the Dodgers won’t be able to get out from under that deal if it goes south. Utley, who I suspect won’t get nearly enough Hall of Fame support when the time comes, isn’t close to the player he once was. That being said, he can still hit here and there and is known as a strong clubhouse presence. It doesn’t seem like a deal the Dodgers will regret.