The Tigers wanted Bruce Rondon to be their closer, but after an awful spring, the rookie was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Thursday morning. ...more

Many fans say they hate Bryce Harper. Many baseball people said that, too, at least until they watched Harper play. "I wanted to hate him," one said. "But I couldn't." Harper's hard work and passion for the game has made fans of teammates and rivals alike. And he's only 20. ...more

The Blue Jays would like to compare Ricky Romero to Cliff Lee, a left-hander who was sent back to the minor leagues one year, then returned to win the Cy Young Award the next season. But one scout who has watched Romero this spring fears that the better comparison is to Dontrelle Willis, who could never really recover once his career turned bad. ...more

Dustin McGowan has had three shoulder surgeries since he last pitched regularly in the major leagues, in 2008. He's back with the Blue Jays, trying to return as a reliever, and Tuesday he appeared in his first game of the spring. The results -- a scoreless inning and a fastball that touched 93 mph on the radar gun -- were encouraging. ...more

Ricky Romero went from All-Star to struggling starter, and from opening day starter to No. 5 starter to minor leaguer. It's been a puzzling fall, and this has been a worrisome spring, and after another shaky start Tuesday, the Blue Jays admitted the obvious by sending Romero to Class A Dunedin. ...more

It's not hard to find baseball people who say the Yankees could be bad this year, but two of their American League East rivals disagree. ...more

New manager Bo Porter's passion and optimism are easy to like, but the Astros pitching isn't. ...more

The Astros have become the favorite team of baseball bloggers -- and the team that most traditional baseball people love making fun of. ...more

The Braves came to camp hoping Julio Teheran would prove he's ready to be their fifth starter. Instead, Teheran has proven to be the most impressive spring training pitcher anywhere. ...more

The top of the lineup looks great, and so does the top of the rotation. But the back of the bullpen could be a problem. ...more