DUNEDIN, Fla. — Take a spin around the Grapefruit League with “Three Up, Three Down,” an inside look at what is coming up and what went down on Wednesday.
THREE UP
1. Outfielder Dayron Varona, a 28-year-old who left his native Cuba on a boat to Haiti in November 2013 to pursue a baseball career in the United States, hopes to be one of the 28 players on the Tampa Bay Rays’ squad that will play Cuba’s national team on March 22 in Havana. U.S. President Barack Obama will attend.
“It’s been three years since I’ve seen my family, so it would be a really great opportunity for me to go back to my homeland,” Varona said Wednesday morning through a translator.
Varona, who reached Double-A last season, does not expect repercussions if he makes the trip.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Varona said. “Any Cuban who leaves the island the way we did loses citizenship. I’m not fearful of returning. It’s the decision that I made and it was a good decision. I’m excited to maybe have the opportunity to go back.”
Varona played seven seasons in Cuba. Between Class A Charlotte and Double-A Montgomery last season, he batted .286/.324/.477 with 11 homers and 60 RBIs.
2. And this little pig is going to the butcher. That’s the pig that Yoenis Cespedes bought for $7,000 on Monday at the St. Lucie County Fair. The New York Mets outfielder said Wednesday that the hog is destined to be slaughtered.
It has been a busy spring training for Cespedes. Last week, he showed up in six different custom luxury cars, which combined cost more than $1 million. On Monday, he bought the 270-pound hog. Then on Tuesday wore a cowboy hat and boots and rode a horse named Candy at the Mets’ complex while being followed by pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who also rode a horse.
3. Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista will not make his first appearance in a spring training game for several more days — by design.
“I talked to him and with the longer season (in which the Blue Jays played in postseason), he’s got a pretty rigid program that he follows in the off-season and he thought it would be best to start a little slower so he keeps his routine,” manager John Gibbons said.
Bautista has put together a plan with the team’s new high-performance department, a team of specialists in sports medicine and science.
THREE DOWN
1. Houston Astros reliever Luke Gregerson, who had 31 saves last season, threw off a mound on Wednesday for the first time since he arrived at camp. He is dealing with a minor left oblique strain.
“Everything felt good,” Gregerson said. “Ball coming out nice, moving well and move forward from there.”
He expects to throw another bullpen, then batting practice.
“Then the next thing you know, maybe week or so, be in a game,” he said.
Gregerson did not throw at maximum velocity on Wednesday.
“He probably felt like a pitcher for the first time this spring,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We held him back just enough exertion-wise.”
Gregerson is expected to be ready for Opening Day.
2. New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman apologized Wednesday for using a gun and insisted he never hurt his girlfriend in an incident that resulted in a 30-day suspension that he has accepted from Major League Baseball under its new domestic violence policy.
His girlfriend, Cristina Barnea, 22, told police he pushed and choked her on Oct. 30 at his home in Davie, Fla. Chapman said there was an argument and that he was pushed down by Barnea’s brother. Then he got a handgun and fired eight shots into a wall and window while locked in his garage. Prosecutors declined to file charges, citing conflicting accounts.
“I want to take this opportunity, I want this to be clear, I’m apologizing because of the use of the gun,” Chapman said. “It was bad judgment on my part. But I also want to say that I never hurt my girlfriend. I want this to be very clear. I’m taking this punishment because of my bad judgment, something that I definitely want to put behind me.”
Chapman said he no longer has a gun.
3. Outfielder Domonic Brown, who signed a minor-league deal last week with the Toronto Blue Jays, blamed himself for his problems with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was an All-Star in 2013 but played in Triple-A for half of 2015. The Phillies gave him his outright release in October and he opted for free agency.
“I put everything on myself,” Brown said before going 1-for-3 with one RBI in a 4-4 tie between the Phillies and Blue Jays on Wednesday in Dunedin, Fla. “Accountability for me has always been big. I think that’s the reason I didn’t have any bad times with the fans. It was all on me.”
He is competing for the role of fourth outfielder with Toronto. He has an opt-out clause in his contract and does not seem keen about accepting a demotion to Triple-A.
“The Phillies did me great,” Brown said. “They did a great job. I was over there for about 10 years. A lot of great times. A lot of great memories. It’s just time for a fresh start.”