Unofficially, the highest payrolls this season are those of the Yankees ($205 million), Red Sox ($150 million), Mets ($135 million), Tigers ($134 million), Angels ($120 million), White Sox ($118 million), Cubs ($115 million), Mariners ($115 million), Dodgers ($115 million) and Phillies ($105 million). … The Brewers could have set up their rotation so David Bush (0-3, 7.00 in the season series last year) missed the Cubs, but manager Ned Yost believes he has added “a couple of extra pitches” that will help his effectiveness. … The Red Sox left Bartolo Colon in Florida when they traveled to Japan but still see him emerging as their fifth starter. They are working as hard on his conditioning as his pitching. … With friends like Jose Canseco, Magglio Ordonez needs no enemies. But in his reaction to Canseco’s latest book, Ordonez did not specifically deny Canseco’s claim that Canseco injected him with steroids while they were White Sox teammates in 2001. … Get well soon, Bob Sheppard. The Yankee Stadium PA man, who is in his mid-90s, isn’t expected to work the final home opener at the great old ballpark. … The Baltimore Sun reports the Orioles turned down an offer of shortstop Ronny Cedeno and pitching prospects Sean Gallagher, Donald Veal and Jose Ceda for Brian Roberts. If Cubs GM Jim Hendry ever made such an offer, the Orioles should have taken it. …
Raise your hand if you knew Tampa Bay had the best record in baseball this spring. It was only the second winning spring in their 11-year existence and could be the springboard to a run at .500. … Few players anywhere were more disappointed at being cut than the Twins’ Denard Span, who lost the center-field job to Carlos Gomez, who was in double figures in stolen bases. … Erik Bedard had a horrible spring for the Mariners, giving up nine homers in 24 innings. He needs a good start to the season to avoid pressing as he tries to justify the high price Seattle paid to get him from Baltimore. … Not sure how many other North Americans agree, but the thought here is breakfast baseball rocks. There’s nothing wrong with sending teams to Japan for an overseas opener, such as the series that Boston and Oakland split last week in Tokyo. That takes nothing away from the traditional openers, and, left to their own devices, teams schedule crazy travel on their own. Consider the Rangers, who played in Arizona on Thursday, Oklahoma on Friday and Texas on Saturday on their way to start the season in Seattle. What? They couldn’t find a game in Boise or Fargo on Sunday? … The best performance in Japan came from the A’s Rich Harden, who pitched six strong innings. He just might be the starter Hendry should trade for at midseason. … Cameron Maybin, a disappointment this spring, goes to Double-A Carolina to begin his tenure in the Florida organization. … Teams were running wild on Padres catchers Michael Barrett and Josh Bard in spring training, but scouts point to the poor job San Diego pitchers do holding on runners. Base stealers were an amazing 44-for-44 against Chris Young last season. … The Dodgers’ Juan Pierre dilemma has not yet worked itself out. The good news: Only four years to go on that contract!
