With the start of spring training come the barrage of puff pieces, injury reports, and all kinds of other news that makes this time of year so exciting. Here's a little roundup for the past few days.

• This Mac Suzuki profile is notable only because it mentions the Salinas Peppers, from the town where I lived when I was in 5th and 6th grade. I played in the Peppers' stadium once. I was impressed at the time, but later, when I played in high school, I got to see some prep fields that were nicer than this semi-pro ballpark.
• Milton Bradley is freezing out the media, which is awesome. You can't get quoted saying something bad if you're not quoted, right? On the other hand, a large part of the perception of a given player is how they're written up in the local media. Not giving writers access could backfire on Bradley. Hopefully fans are smart enough not to care if he produces.
• Ken Macha is making noise about 12 pitchers, which would leave Antonio Perez off the roster, assuming Marco Scutaro is the backup infielder. If Perez is left off, I'd rather he be left off for a bopper rather than for a second lefty in the bullpen. On the other hand, the A's don't have any obvious pinch-hit candidates in their lineup (except Jason Kendall, and if he's not in there for his offense, what is he in there for?), nor do they really have any Roberto Petagine-types hanging around, so I guess the choice between Perez and Rheinecker (or Ron Flores) isn't really that important.