Fans give Fiers warm welcome
Athletics fan K.C. Sandstrom was sitting down the right field line watching his team warm up while armed with a small dry-erase board, a marker and a statement written in all caps. “MIKE FIERS FOR PRESIDENT” It’s been a tumultuous few months for Fiers, the current A’s pitcher and former Astros player who helped expose that team’s sign-stealing scandal that’s rocked Major League Baseball. But on a cool Sunday in Mesa, Arizona, the 34-year-old received a largely warm reception during his first spring training appearance in Mesa.
“Oakland’s going to support us no matter what,” Fiers said after throwing two perfect innings against the Giants. “They’ve always been there. It’s fun, it’s fun playing in front of these fans and with these guys. Just a great day of baseball.”
While Fiers is now widely known for his connection to the Astros’ signstealing, he’s also an accomplished pitcher. He’s thrown two no-hitters over nine seasons and is coming off his best year in the big leagues — he finished with a 15-4 record and 3.90 ERA in a career-high 1842⁄3 innings in 2019.
He’s expected to have a prominent role on this year’s staff as well.
The right-hander had a good start to spring, retiring all six of the Giants he faced. When the A’s lineup was announced before the game, he received loud cheers from the A’s side of the stadium. The Giants’ side was a little less enthusiastic, but certainly not hostile.
Cespedes speaks: Yoenis Cespedes expects to be ready to play by opening day. He said so himself.
Six days after saying he didn’t plan to speak to the media all season, the Mets slugger broke his silence.
Out of the lineup since July 2018 with heel problems, Cespedes said he planned to play in spring training games by the middle of March. And if all goes well, he intended to be in the lineup on March 26 when the Mets host the World Series champion Washington Nationals in the opener.
“If I continue progressing the way that I am, yes,” he told reporters through a translator. “I feel good. I’m happy with the progress. Every day I’m still working to get better and better. It’s not as fast as I want it to be, but as the season approaches, I’m feeling like I’m really good right now.”
Asked about his motivation level this year, on a scale of one to 10, answered in English: “Twelve.”
That’s a lot more than Cespedes said Monday, when he shut down media members who approached him in the clubhouse.
“Not today, not this year,” he said.
The 34-year-old Cespedes has played in only 119 games in the first three seasons of a four-year, $110 million contract, only 38 since the end of the 2017 season.
The two-time All-Star outfielder was out for much of 2017 with hamstring strains, then missed more than two months in 2018 because of a strained hip flexor. He homered at Yankee Stadium in his return July 20, then went back on the DL and had surgery to remove bone calcification from his right heel on Aug. 2, 2018, and his left that Oct. 26.
While recovering from surgery on his heels last May, Cespedes fractured his right ankle in multiple places in an accident at his ranch just west of the Mets’ training complex.
“I am not going to speak about the past,” Cespedes said. “I committed an error and paid the price for it, but today I will be talking about the present and the future.”
Cespedes and the Mets agreed in December to an amended contract that cut his base salary from $29.5 million to $6 million. tomorrow, not at for he all
Pedroia to IL: The Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia 60-day injured list.
The 36-year-old former AL MVP has played just nine games over the last two seasons.
The four-time All-Star has spent the time trying to recover from an injury he sustained when the Orioles’ Manny Machado slid spikes-high into his left knee in May 2017.
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