Wonderful to see Minnie Minoso being honored. He deserves far more recognition than he gets today. A wonderful balance of speed, average, power, and defense. Nearly .300 career hitter, .385 or so OBP, 130 OPS+, 3 gold gloves, 7 time all-star, and in top 10 MVP voting 5 times. He is a legend for everyone.

Geoff - Was AFK all day, and I just can't keep up with your awesome volume today, man. I just posted to a thread several tabs down. I need some island time I guess.

What's your take on the bullpen size? It seems like the M's are seriously leaning toward 11 total pitchers, which would be very different from recent years and (I think) a nice development, given that our biggest challenges are likely to be offensive this year.

Jose, thanks for thinking of us. Nice comment about Eddie G. Congrats to Batista. Vera Clemente seems like a very classy woman. It's hard to live as the widow of a legend. And Orlando Cepeda. One of my all time favorites. Good for all of them.

It's still impossible to hear or read "beisbol" without thinking about Chico.

oregongal, as a fan or Orlando Cepeda you might be interested to know that his son, Ali, is a wonderful person and a terrific baseball coach involved in both his own program and clinics around the country. I've met him several times and can't say enought good things about him.

Thanks, DrLo, I do like hearing stuff like that. It's got to be tough on kids of athletes who get to see their father sporadically, and a lot of them don't do well with it. Good to hear there's another stand-up Cepeda.

Donovan: "AFK"??

Jose, thanks a lot for the updates. Sure hope Eddie's all right.

Forgive me if the next couple of comments aren't in the right sort of reverent spirit for this post; I don't mean anything naughty by it...

Oregongal, I always think of Garrett Morris on the original SNL whenever I hear or see "beisbol."

Geoff, or anyone, got any idea who the band was, and the name of the song, playing in the background of Mac's interview? Old Southern-rock type song, always loved it, never knew the name of it. Rossington Collins Band?

Head East, "There's Never Been Any Reason."

Guess they're Midwesterners, not Southerners.

Anyway, sorry... Should've looked before posting, not after.

You guys see Clay Buchholz' girl?? Wow. Lucky man. His dad's comments are classic.

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2008/03/13/clay-buchholz-has-a-new-pet/

Merril - Away From Keyboard - was traveling yesterday. Checked the blog last night and Geoff had put up about 50 posts. He's clearly charged up from his vacation. Did I mention I need one?

Merrill, we've got the same guy for "beisbol." Morris' character was Chico Escuela. One of the few funny things he did.