White Sox P Jake Peavy is diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinitis and his return to action is uncertain. Peavy has been very effective when he has been able to pitch since the Sox acquired him in a trade with the Padres in 2009, but he has spent most of his time in Chicago on the disabled list.

The Padres claim sidearming reliever Pat Neshek on waivers from the Twins. It’s a bit of a gamble as Neshek’s last effective season was in 2007; he has since been slowed down by a string of injuries.

The 2011 CPBL season begins with a 10 – 4 win by the Brother Elephants over the Sinon Bulls. Chien-Fu Yang loses his fourth Opening Day decision, a record, while Orlando Roman gets the win.

Giants closer Brian Wilson has a strained oblique muscle and is likely to miss the beginning of the season.

The Mets release veteran 2B Luis Castillo. While Castillo is coming off a poor season in which he hit only .235 with no homers and 17 RBI, the move is surprising as he is owed over $6 million and there is no obvious candidate to replace him as the starter. On March 20th, the Phillies, worried over Chase Utley’s persisting knee problems, will offer Castillo a minor league contract, but he will fail to make the team, ending his career.

Mariners OF Ichiro Suzuki is giving 100 million yen, equivalent to $1.25 million, towards the relief effort for the earthquake and tsunami which devastated northeastern Japan a week ago.

2011 – Injured Philles All-Star 2B Chase Utley is absent from spring training today, visiting a specialist to look at his injured right knee, which has kept him off the playing field since the beginning of camp. As the knee is apparently not healing, surgery is becoming more likely, and no one in the Phillies’ front office dares to set a timetable for Utley’s return to the line-up. He will only play his first game on May 23rd.

Commissioner Bud Selig forms a twelve-person committee to study the origins of baseball, with newly-appointed official historian John Thorn as its chair. The issue has been rekindled with the publication this week of Thorn’s book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, which casts doubt on the role of Alexander Cartwright in laying down the fundamental principles of the game. Ironically, Cartwright was promoted as the “real” founder of the game to counteract the unfounded legend that Abner Doubleday had laid down the first baseball diamond in Cooperstown, NY in 1839. Thorn argues that the game is in fact much older than once thought, with traces found in 18th century records.

2011 – A’s closer Andrew Bailey leaves a game after experiencing discomfort while throwing. The team announces that he is headed to visit Dr. James Andrews in Alabama with what is described as “tightness in the forearm”. Bailey already underwent Tommy John surgery after tearing a ligament in his elbow in 2005, and missed the second half of last season with an elbow injury. The A’s will get some good news a day later when Dr. Andrews confirms that the injury is indeed only a strained forearm.

2011 – Marlins P Ricky Nolasco, usually known for his outstanding control, goes wild in a spring training start against the Nationals in his first outing since August 28th, when his season ended with a knee injury. He gives up 4 runs on 4 hits, a walk, a wild pitch and two hit batsmen in 1 2/3 innings of work. After he is plucked, the game’s leadoff batter, Nyjer Morgan, claims Nolasco is throwing at him, but the Marlin hurler’s further performance is proof that he is simply out of form.