Masanori Takei / AP
No player will be scrutinized more carefully during spring training than the so-called Babe Ruth of Japan. Not since Ruth, after all, has anyone thrived as both a hitter and a pitcher in the majors, and even The Babe gave up pitching eventually.
Ohtani’s decision to come over now and sign with the Angels, at age 23, rather than wait two years, when he could have signed for $200 million or so rather than $3 million, makes him all the more interesting.
It would be great for baseball if he’s truly good enough to hit as well as pitch, and even better if he helps make the Angels a serious contender, thereby giving Mike Trout a stage worthy of his status as the game’s best player.
Kathy Willens / AP
It was only a couple of years ago the buzz was gone from George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, to the point where the Spring Training workouts were drawing maybe a couple of hundred people. Suffice it to say things will be different this year; I’m guessing Yankee fans will be lining up at dawn to get an up-close look the first day Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge will be taking BP.
The two behemoths will be a must-see spectacle, all right, giving the Yankees star power not seen since A-Rod showed up next to Jeter in the infield 14 years ago.
And, oh by the way, the championship expectations are back as well, after last year’s feel-good run to ALCS Game 7, but win or lose, the Yankees again will be the Beatles of baseball.
As pitchers and catchers report to spring training, there is one storyline that Orioles and Red Sox fans will like: Former Yankees great Derek Jeter as a loser. And he's going to lose big as part of the ownership group with the Miami Marlins.