Periodic Spring Training Updates

1. Baker signed for four years at $15M. Obviously, if he gets hurt this will hurt, but if he pitches like last season for another four years, it's a great bargain.

2. Joe's back soreness does not appear serious. They upped the dosage on whatever medication he's on, hoping that'll do the trick. Not related to the offseason surgery, though.

3. Francisco pitched like the mac last weekend. 4 innings of perfect ball, 6 K's against most of Baltimore's starters. It's only Spring Training, blah blah blah, but for some reason I react differently to this out of Liriano than I would if Blackburn had done it.

4. Apparently, Punto's on the Italian team in the WBC. That whole thing's sort of a joke, still. I don't know if it'll ever really take off, given the timing of it. The concept is great, but it's an awfully tough sell to get enough players to buy in that fans will care.

5. That said, it's pretty cool that Bert and his Dutch team knocked off the Dominicans. Twice. That's kind of like a 16 seed finally beating a 1 seed in the NCAAs, and then backing it up by making the Sweet Sixteen.