FORT MYERS, Fla (AP) – The crack of the bat at spring-training camps replaced the sound of trash-can lids banging in homemade YouTube videos as baseball emerged from its winter of cheating scandals and salary dumps to bask in the Florida and Arizona sun.
The Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres held their first official workouts Tuesday, and pitchers and catchers for 16 other teams reported to their Grapefruit and Cactus League complexes. The rest of the major leagues will filter in this week.
Red Sox players checked in without knowing who their manager will be, almost a month after Alex Cora was fired for his part in the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scheme. Bench coach Ron Roenicke, a former Brewers skipper, will serve as interim manager while the team waits for Major League Baseball to wrap up its investigation into Boston’s attempts to steal signs after Cora arrived in 2018.
The Red Sox were also without a former MVP and Cy Young Award winner after the long-haggled trade of Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers was finalized on Monday.
“Great teammates. Great players,” Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. said after arriving at Fenway South on Tuesday. “Time to move forward.”