Rise and Phight: 2/15/2023

All over social media, you saw it happening. Teams were giving people the pictures of players having catch, maybe taking a swing or two, enjoying each other and the sunshine.

Yes, spring training has arrived.

It’s always fun at this point. It’ll continue to be fun until we hit about mid-March when everything gets kind of boring, but let’s enjoy it now. Pitchers and catchers! Woo!

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• A smattering of roster notes are here as things start to heat up for camp.
• In case you didn’t see it (and judging by our numbers, you didn’t), here is John Stolnis with the storylines that will dominate spring training for the Phillies.

MLB news:

• Looks like the emphasis of the game (now that pitch clocks are here) is going to be on enforcing balks more often.
• Hey, the new bases made their debut yesterday. Surely you’ve seen the pictures. One manager called them a “pizza box.”
• If you think the ban on the shift is going to help the game, I think you should read this about how exciting it’ll make the game.
• Randal Grichuk will miss about six weeks after having surgery to repair a sport hernia.
• Michael Wacha finally has a home, agreeing to a one year deal with the Padres that will push them further into the second luxury tax bracket.