Baseball

Missing “valuable” time will have another meaning for David Ortiz once the season begins in a couple of weeks.

Over the winter, Ortiz signed a two-year, $26 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz is expected to make a base salary of $14 million in the upcoming season and $11 million the following year. But that all could change due to a clause in the deal he recently inked.

The New York Yankees may be struggling in spring training, but the team got a lift when future Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter returned from the injuries they suffered last season for their debuts.

There's a lot of speculation that San Francisco Giants' star catcher Buster Posey will eventually move out from behind the plate and become a full-time first baseman.

After Posey suffered a catastrophic injury in a brutal collision with Scott Cousins at the plate in 2011, his career seemed to be in jeopardy. No one, including Posey, had any idea how much he was going to be able to play last year after his lengthy rehab.

Who would have known that Canada vs. Mexico would have become the most heated rivalry in the World Baseball Classic?

The Seattle Mariners will have some tough decisions to make when the roster needs to be trimmed to 25 players. There is the issue of the starting rotation, but perhaps more complicated is the outfield. Seattle has a fairly large slate of players who will be competing for the three outfield positions plus some bench spots.

All hell broke loose in the ninth inning of a World Baseball Classic game between Canada and Mexico on Saturday. 

Both benches cleared for the brawl, and play was delayed for around 10 minutes. There were fights taking place all over the field, and seven players were ejected, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale:

Seven players ejected from Mexico-Canada game and discipline under review #wbc

There was Hal Newhouser, Prince Hal, who never got the credit he fully deserved because he had the misfortune of dominating during the so-called “war years,” as if he planned it out that way.

There was Jim Bunning, who’d one day baffle America as a Senate curmudgeon. But before that he baffled hitters.

The hottest position competition for the Oakland A's this spring is at second base, which is where one of their hottest hitters happens to play his defense.

Jemile Weeks has had an up-and-down career, having been called up from the minors in 2011, being deemed untouchable in trades that offseason and then being sent back to the minors in 2012.

With the A's trading Cliff Pennington and losing Stephen Drew in free agency, Weeks has gotten his chance to climb back to the top.  

Longtime New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has announced that he will be riding off into the sunset at the end of the 2013 season. 

The Yankees offense has really thinned out since the start of spring training.

The team had lost Alex Rodriguez before the season even began and then lost Curtis Granderson to a broken forearm.

And with the most recent: Mark Teixeira's wrist injury that will sideline him until May.