Franco's 600-LB Dead Lift, Death of Dodgrtown, Strassburg and Storen, Alex Citron... and Tejada

Franco's 600-LB Dead Like:

Franco, serving as a special camp instructor, was at it again Friday. And he was his best. At the urging of David Wright, he once again pulled off the Three-Man Lift, an annual spring event during Franco's 14 years with the Mets. The players initiated the ruse last week during a meeting when some one offered a fact of the day and said "Franco can dead lift 600 pounds." - Franco, serving as a special camp instructor, was at it again Friday. And he was his best. At the urging of David Wright, he once again pulled off the Three-Man Lift, an annual spring event during Franco's 14 years with the Mets.-  Marty Noble

Death Of Dodgertown:

Unable after eight months to nail down the right to use Dodgertown as part of its official name, Minor League Baseball is renaming the iconic facility "Vero Beach Sports Village." The new name will allow MiLB, which owns the 65-acre complex, to market the former Dodgertown facility with its vision of a multi-season, multi-sports operation. - link

Strassburg and Storen:

Nationals prospects Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen will both open the 2010 season at Double-A Harrisburg.  Storen is arguably the bigger surprise here, but ultimately it was unlikely that either would break camp with the Nats. These two are the future of the franchise--ideally, their ace and closer for years to come--and GM Mike Rizzo wasn't about to do anything to jeopardize that. It's a virtual certainty that both will be up at some point during the year, it's just a matter of when. - rotoworld

-this is what teams with future top talent are supposed to do... be patient and wait your turn. Good move, Rizzo.

Alex Cintron:

The end of last month the Mets signed Alex Cintron to a minor league deal, the 31 y/o switch hitter is a lifetime .275 hitter who plays 2b/ss. Cintron wasn't even invited to major league camp but he sure made a name for himself with the Bisons:  -  Bisons INF Alex Citron was the hitting hero for the Herd, going 2-3 with a pair of home runs and 3RBI. The switch hitter homered from both the left side and right side of the plate. source Bisons.com  - link

-let's not forget this guy... and not a bad debut at AAA ST yesterday... serving notcie to the brass

Tejada:

Alex Cora remains penciled in to be the Opening Day replacement for Jose Reyes as long as the Mets opt for experience over the youthful athleticism of Ruben Tejada. But Cora, whose temporary starting job already is being threatened by Tejada's rise, still is one of the 20-year-old's biggest fans. "He reminds me of Cesar Izturis in a lot of ways," Cora said Friday after...  link