Elephant Rumblings: A’s Spring Season Begins, Chapman Gets Cortisone Shot

A’s Coverage:

• Chapman receives cortisone shot, expects to hit again in a few days...
• Puk among trio of A’s dark-horse candidates...
• Mengden to start A’s rotation battle in opener...
• Oakland Athletics 2018 top-50 prospects: Austin Beck, OF...
• Former Giants top prospect hopes to revitalize career with A’s...

MLB News:

• Pirates land Corey Dickerson for Daniel Hudson, minor leaguer...
• Angels’ Shohei Ohtani to make spring debut as pitcher Saturday...
• Rays top pitching prospect Honeywell has torn UCL, headed for Tommy John surgery...
• Miami-Dade County wins first battle over ex-Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria in lawsuit...
• Rangers sign Jesse Chavez...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• How a youth coach in Colombia rebuilt a once-successful relief pitcher...
• Baseball as a Business, a Historical Perspective...

Today in Baseball History:

• 1964 - Charlie Finley gives in to American League pressure and signs a four-year lease with the municipal government to keep the A’s in Kansas City. Finley wanted two years. His exasperated AL colleagues vote 9-1 that KC’s offer is reasonable. Finley will move the team out of KC as soon as the lease expires after the 1967 season.
• 2013 - The famous “bloody sock” worn by P Curt Schilling in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series is sold at auction for $92,613. Schilling had loaned the item to the Hall of Fame, but had used it as collateral against a loan to set up his video game company, 38 Studios, which went bankrupt last year. Schilling defaulted on payments, prompting the bank to sell it in order to recover some of its loss.

Best of Twitter:

• Sounds like a good weekend all around for the Piscotty family...

• Interesting...

• Today’s lineup...