OF Rocco Baldelli is back with the Tampa Bay Rays, not as a player but as a special assistant to general manager Andrew Friedman. He is unable to play this season because of a shoulder injury, the latest in a long string of physical ailments that have derailed what once was a very promising career. At 28, he is not yet ready to call it quits, but is preparing a fall-back in case he cannot return to the playing field. He will retire definitely after playing in only a handful of games at the end of this season.

At the Red Sox’s spring training in Fort Myers, FL, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield meets one of his greatest fans, 18-year-old Eri Yoshida of Japan. The 5′ 1″ righthander taught herself to throw the knuckleball by mimicking Wakefield in her backyard and is on a quest to become the first female player in Nippon Pro Baseball. She is still undecided as to whether she will pitch this season in the Japanese minor leagues, or accept a contract offer from the Chico Outlaws of the independent Golden Baseball League.