St. Louis leads the majors in players named in the Mitchell report. The Cardinals have five, including three (Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez and Ron Villone) who were brought to camp after the report was released. Rick Ankiel and Ryan Franklin are the two holdovers. … Only four Canadian pitchers have received Opening Day starts: Fergie Jenkins, Ryan Dempster, Erik Bedard and Reggie Cleveland. Five are in the mix for possible 2009 Opening Day starts — the Mariners’ Bedard, Colorado’s Jeff Francis, Baltimore’s Adam Loewen, Oakland’s Rich Harden and Washington’s Shawn Hill. … Shawn Chacon picked uniform No. 1 after signing with Houston. If he sticks with it in the regular season he will become the first pitcher to wear No. 1 since Jack Jenkins, who was 19 when he made his debut with the 1962 Washington Senators. Jenkins dropped the number the next season but still ended his career without a victory, going 0-3 in eight games. … Toronto’s addition of Shannon Stewart has caused the Blue Jays to shop Reed Johnson, who has become a release candidate. … The Tigers are holding their breath about the health of reliever Fernando Rodney, who is having shoulder problems similar to the ones that put him on the DL last year. The thin nature of Detroit’s pitching staff, especially its bullpen, could lead to too many 9-7 losses for the Tigers to hold off the more balanced Indians in the AL Central. … Twins lefty Francisco Liriano is no longer a rail. He reported to camp at 230 pounds, which was 29 more than his playing weight in 2006, when he had a brilliant rookie season. … Boston and Oakland players who make the trip to Japan for the season-opening series will receive bonuses of at least $40,000. Like that BoDeans song, it’s good work if you can get it.
