Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
Panel Part III: Efforts to develop black talent in USA insufficient — SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Fans look down from their seats onto the baseball field, see dark-colored skin and might assume they are African-American players. — But increasingly, the players instead hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.
Gordon Edes / ESPN:
Longtime Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra announces retirement — FORT MYERS, Fla. — Longtime Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra announced his retirement from baseball on Wednesday morning, signing a one-day contract with the Red Sox in order to retire as a member of the team.
Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER:
One great debut; now what? — Stephen Strasburg couldn't have done much more in his spring training debut. — VIERA, Fla. — It lasted all of 20 minutes, included only 27 pitches (21 fastballs, four breaking balls, two change-ups) and was witnessed by 4,305 fans, several dozen scouts …
Jason Beck / MLB.com:
Damon misses Yanks matchup with turf toe — Injury not believed to be serious for former Bomber — LAKELAND, Fla. — Tigers outfielder Johnny Damon missed his first matchup with his old team Wednesday due to turf toe in his left big toe, but the injury is not believed to be serious.
Sports Illustrated:
Tom Verducci: Selig, committee making good on promise to better the game … When baseball commissioner Bud Selig named a 14-person “special committee for on-field matters” four months ago, he promised that all topics would be in play and “there are no sacred cows.”
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Nomar: It's a dream fulfilled to retire as a member of the Red Sox — UPDATE, 11:11 a.m.: Theo Epstein, the man who traded Nomar to the Cubs, said during the press conference that this day meant a lot to him personally. He expanded on that thought later on.
Joe Pawlikowski / FanGraphs Baseball:
Replacing Joe Nathan — For the past six seasons the Twins haven't had to think about the ninth inning. If they had a lead in a close game, Joe Nathan was there to ensure victory. In only 25 of 272 instances did he fail to deliver. This year, though, the Twins will likely have to turn to someone else.