The Legend of Joey Gallo

Joey Gallo is dating a Disney star, but he might have a greater flair for the dramatic.
The Texas Rangers prospect made his long-awaited debut with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders Monday and wasted no time showing a half-full stadium what the fuss was all about.
Gallo's first swing made a resounding CRACK! and sent a foul ball down the right field line out of the park almost before I could see it. His next swing hit the ball nearly as hard, but on the ground down the first base line. Midland first baseman Max Muncy almost fell over fielding the ball behind the bag, but beat Gallo to the base as a run scored.
His next three times up, Gallo struck out. He batted again with two teammates on base and two out in the bottom of the ninth of a 4-4 game.
Athletics farmhand Seth Frankoff fell behind Gallo 2-0. The right-hander tried to pitch the lefty-swinging Gallo away with a change up.
The 20-year-old swung and hit the ball very high, but how far? Very far. It cleared the left-center field fence and landed at the base of a video display board some 400 feet from home plate.
After Gallo rounded third base, he sent his batting helmet skyward and prepared for an enthusiastic greeting from his new team gathered around home plate. After signing autographs along the third-base stands on the way to the clubhouse, he met the assembled media.
There's video, and the best account I saw was Kevin Sherrington's column in the Dallas Morning News.
Speaking of video, Gallo's girlfriend is 19-year-old Allie DeBerry, best known for her work on the Disney Channel's "A.N.T. Farm."
Tuesday night, I was at the Marlins-Rangers game. Miami RF Giancarlo Stanton hit a ball about as hard as Gallo had the night before. The line drive wasn't high enough to clear the left field wall. The wonder was that the ball didn't go THROUGH the wall. So that was a double instead of a home run.
The Marlins' star was LF Christian Yelich, who was 4-for-6 with four RBI. He hustled his way into a double on what appeared to be a routine single to center field. That was part of my most favorable impression of Miami's surprising team. The Marlins run the bases very aggressively and pressure defenses. Stanton went daringly from first to third on a single to left field. That play led to throwing errors by LF Michael Choice and RHP Tanner Scheppers. When the Little Leaguers finally corraled the ball, instead of having Marlins at first and third, they had a run and a runner at third.
While I was there, I received some updates from Frisco. Gallo doubled home a run in the first inning and hit a home run (his 23rd between Class A Myrtle Beach and Frisco). I found out this mornign that he walked in his other two appearances. In seven Double-A at-bats, Gallo has six RBI.
A legend indeed.

Orioles making over pitching staff

Who says you can't change your team even as you're going to spring training?
Clearly not the Orioles and manager Buck Showalter.
They announced a 3-year, $5.75-million contract with RHP Suk-min Yoon, and apparently are within a passed physical of adding RHP Ubaldo Jimenez for four years and $50 million.
Yoon most likely would pitch out of the bullpen, where he would be one bad game removed from a "Suck-min" headline. I'm wary of Jimenez because his pitching motion has so many ways to get out of whack and also possibly hurt his arm.
-- With money that might have gone to Jimenez, the Indians avoided arbitration with RHP Justin Masterson by signing him to a contract for this season at $9.7625 million. What? They couldn't afford another measly $237,500 to bring him up to $10 million?
-- The Rangers apparently have gone into camp with a three-way battle among RHPs Neftali Feliz, Tanner Scheppers and Joakim Soria. I was encouraged about Soria last season until a couple of really bad September outings. Texas must not be too excited  about Scheppers, because he was the headliner among a group of nine mostly marginal major leaguers signed for a year at or slightly above the $500,000 minimum. Scheppers will receive $515,000. If he does become the Rangers' closer, let's hope he doesn't spend too much of his money in The Flats in Cleveland.
-- Additional second base battles.
In Washington, it's shaping up as 2012 discovery Danny Espinosa and 2013 find Anthony Rendon. If neither matches his breakout season, it could be a long year for the Nationals and their pitchers.
The Yankees' front-runner is Brian "Can't Avoid Injury" Roberts. Other options could be Kelly "Can't Field" Johnson, Brendan "Can't Hit" Ryan and Eduardo "Can't Play Third or Short" Nunez. If a team has four second basemen, it really has no second baseman.
The spaghetti method -- take a bunch of players at one position to spring training, throw them at the all and hope one of them sticks -- really works only with pitchers. Among a group of five or six pitchers, one of them will get lucky enough to get some batters out -- at least through spring training, and even then he could become a liability during the regular season.
-- With New Age manager Brad Ausmus, the Tigers will join the growing trend of major league teams using analytics and probability to align fielders and improve their defense. Ausmus and analytics both begin with A. The new skipper's staff includes a guy named Matt Martin as defensive coordinator. Detroit also will be emphasizing speed more this season, with 2B Ian Kinsler and OF Rajai Davis (on a platoon basis) in their starting lineup. Prediction: Kinsler will steal more bases this season than Prince Fielder will.
-- It will be a surprise if the Tigers don't run away with the AL Central this year. Division rivals are making defensive changes by moving catchers to first base (Twins' Joe Mauer) and third base (Indians' Carlos Santana). Santana might be more agile than catcher-turned-third baseman Pablo Sandoval.
-- Looking ahead six weeks, the Blue Jays named RHP R.A. Dickey as their Opening Day starter.
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Basketball. The NBA started up tonight, and I learned that I didn't win Week 16 by an 8-0 margin. Apparently, Week 16 is continuing from the short last week through the short this week -- even though this is a short week loaded with games. And my lead for the week now is down to 7-1; I've fallen behind in free throw percentage.
There were good performances from my roster tonight. The Suns' Gerald Green poured in 36 points, including six 3s. Carmelo Anthony had another (yawn!) double double with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Downs could help White Sox bullpen

The White Sox have announced their 1-year, $4-million contract with free-agent LHP Scott Downs, with an option for 2015.
Their bullpen has been rebuilt, with Downs and RHP Ronald Belisario replacing RHP Addison Reed and LHP Joe Thornton.
Losing a closer (Reed) and left-handed setup man could seem like a big deal, but it's not as if the Sox bullpen was very effective last season.
The leading candidate for the closer's role is RHP Nate Jones. The 37-year-old Downs has 26 career saves, and RHP Matt Lindstrom also has been a closer.
To make room on the 40-man roster, Chicago designated LHP Santos Rodriguez for assignment.
Another up-in-the-air closer situation is in Texas, where RHP Neftali Feliz is considered the front runner, but could face challenges from RHPs Joakim Soria, Alexi Ogando, Miles Mikolas and Tanner Scheppers. Mikolas has been traded from the Pirates. I've seen him and Mikolas pitching in the Texas League. Scheppers was lights out before an arm injury, but pitched very well for most of 2013 in a setup role. For my money, Soria, Scheppers and Feliz would be the top relievers, with the order depending on their physical condition.
Any team needing a closer still could hold out hope to sign free-agent RHPs Grant Balfour (again depending on physical well being) or Fernando Rodney.
The Angels have taken a mild gamble by signing LHP Mark Mulder to a minor league contract. He hasn't pitched in the majors since 2008, but he could earn as much as $6 million this season from an incentive-laden contract.
* * *
Football. Shouldn't have said anything about my success in a college bowl confidence pool. I think I had only one winner in Wednesday's six games. I'm still sixth but down to about plus-170, and some 30 points out of third place and the money.
In my hypothetical $1,000-wager NFL pool, I am putting $200 each on the Saints and Packers and $100 each on the Colts and underdog Chargers. I expect to be in a straight pick-'em pool, where I'd probably take the same teams, except for Cincinnati over San Diego.
* * *
Hockey. Still at 65 points, and in third place seven points out of second. My plus-minus dropped from plus-13 to plus-12. Thursday's lineup has all but three skating positions filled, plus one goalie. I can pick up a point with five assists, plus-two in plus/minus and .04 in save percentage.
* * *
Basketball. After Wednesday, a poor shooting night dropped me down to a 7-1 lead. My team's field goal percentage is down to just .4395, trailing my opponent's .4412. I still lead by only one 3-pointer, two steals and 17 points. I'll have nine players going Thursday, to seven for my opponent.