Fish Bites

Some morning Fish Bites to keep you nice and busy.

– Apparently Cameron Maybin isn’t the only one with a groin pull. Cody Ross is similarly afflicted. Neither is expected to miss playing time by Opening Day, so right now this is no cause for concern.

– Now you know I don’t care about Spring Training. But you should check out Mike Stanton’s home run, because all things Mike Stanton are awesome.

– Speaking of stuff from our prospects, totally forgot to link this last week. Scout.com has their minor league review of the Marlins, and it was written by none other than Ramp from Future Fish and SoFlaMarlins. That guy is good, so listen up.

– The Marlins have went ahead and named the levels on the new stadium. One thing I don’t like: why are there “Fiesta Party suites?” Seems a little redundant to me.

– Here’s some bad news. Ryan Tucker already suffered a major setback last year, missing most of the season to injury, but it turns out he also apparently has Raynaud’s Syndrome, a condition which impairs blood flow to his extremities. Hopefully all goes well with Tucker this season, and he can get back to focusing on his pitching and his health.

– Here’s a New York Times piece on new pitching coach Randy St. Claire. Fun Fredi Gonzalez quote:

"“Randy’s not a magician,” Gonzalez said. “Sometimes, we give too much credit to coaches and we make it the coaches’ fault when it’s not. It’s about the players.”"

Amen. Unfortunately, Fredi still writes the lineup cards, so we’re stuck with that.

– Joe Capozzi thinks Rick VandenHurk’s nice Spring start might earn him a rotation spot. I would not be against it.

– Okay, two notes about me personally. One, I’ll be running a CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League with a saber slant over at Beyond the Box Score. Check out the scoring system; you’ll note the hitting stuff looks like linear weights, and the pitching stuff looks like FIP! Check it out and sign up if you’re interested.

– Another thing, my first piece as part of Baseball Prospectus’ Fantasy Beat blog is up here. I discuss recent PT changes in catcher, second base, and shortstop positions, and how they would affect fantasy baseball. Check it out.

– And now for some FanSided material. Two important links from Wally Fish at Kings of Kauffman. One, a reaction to Alex Gordon’s injury, among others. Two, Wally announces the coming of Call to the Pen, a new FanSided general MLB site. Weekly columns from different FanSided authors will be put up, including sabermetric primers from yours truly. I’ll keep you informed as details flow out from our bosses up at headquarters.

– Taylor over at SodoMojo points out some interesting FanGraphs FAN projections.

– Fetch of Twinkie Talk goes over Nick Blackburn in light of his new contract.

– Ed over at Deep Left Field gives the details on the possible end of Jeremy Sowers’ career with the Cleveland Indians.

– Justin Klugh of That Balls Outta Here likes Domonic Brown, and he tells you why. Really, I linked it for this picture.

– Tom over at Rum Bunter writes his letter to Ian Snell about the lack of cheering.