JUPITER http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , Fla. (AP) — The St. dier Molina first exhibition game appearance at catcher as the nine-time All-Star recovers from left knee surgery in December.The 36-year-old started limited catching of bullpen sessions on Wednesday and took batting practice. Molina will appear in games at first as a designated hitter, and manager Mike Shildt is hoping he can catch in that game against the New York Mets in two weeks.Molina is the only catcher on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster. Francisco Pena, last year’s primary backup, and Matt Wieters are at spring training with minor league contracts.“More than anything else, it was my first and only offer,” said the 32-year-old Wieters, whose deal was announced Wednesday.A four-time All-Star with Baltimore from 2009-16, Wieters spent the past two seasons with Washington. He hit .238 with eight homers and 30 RBIs last year, when he was sidelined between March 31 and April 12 with a strained left oblique muscle and between May 10 and July 9 with a strained left hamstring.“It will be exciting because this will be the first time I’ve competed for a spot on a roster since 2009,” Wieters said. “I’m excited to kind of see what kind of adrenaline I get in spring training, which I haven’t had in a while.”Shildt expects Wieters to make his St. Louis debut behind the plate early next week.“First of all he’s got a lot of experience,” Shildt said. “I also like the fact he’s been on winning teams, so he knows what that looks like.”Molina averaged 133 games behind the plate over the past three seasons.“I’ve watched him for a long as I can remember Yuli Gurriel Jersey ,” Wieters said. “There aren’t many catchers in this league I watched before I was playing in this league.” Brad Ausmus now has full command and control of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani."Boom. Billy Eppler has hired Brad Ausmus as the new LA Angels manager. Now you can start thinking about the rest of the coaching staff from 2018.Here is what we know: Brad Ausmus completed the 2-hour written exam put in front of LAA managerial candidates. Here is what we do not know: did even a second candidate complete the test? Maybe Omar Vizquel?I’m neither pro nor con on this one. But when you have the very best job opening in the baseball industry, located smack in the middle of one of the most desirable places to live, and Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are the top two toys with which you will get to play, I might have expected something more, um, inspired?I suppose the hope is that Ausmus has had some chance to absorb the experiences of 4 years in Detroit, and his chance to reset in Anaheim will create significantly better results. Because, let’s face it, winning only 86 games with this lineup while competing in the deteriorating AL Central is not the kind of thing one should list at the top of their resume.Let’s face it. We are biased, too. We don’t spend much time watching Detroit Tigers games. We don’t know the day in, day out of the Ausmus decision-making process. Others watched Ausmus far more, and are not as impressed as Billy Eppler. In fact, some of those other saw more than enough of Ausmus to think he should not be a candidate anywhere. But he has that Pythag thing going for him Jake Marisnick Jersey , so there is that.But who knows? Maybe hanging out in an office adjacent to Eppler created some kind of knowledge vortex that re-wired how he holds a lineup card. I’m open to that. And I am going to start by listening to, and watching, the players once they start hanging around their new skipper. And I am also going to be looking forward to some of this action. It’s been a long, long time.By the way, Ausmus is 49-years old. When Mike Scioscia took over the Halos, he was only 42.UPDATE: the Predict The Skipper contest is officially closed. Only 2 of the 42 picks guessed right with Brad Ausmus. Charlie Hess #1 was not expecting the naming date until 12/8/2018. But Bariclaw was damned close, hoping that Eppler would have held off on naming Ausmus until 10/25/2018. Charlie Hess #1 also thinks that Mike Scioscia will be doing something in the Dodgers organization come March 1st of next year. Bariclaw thinks Sosh will still be gone fishing. So it is possible that Bariclaw gets 2 out of 3 right, and came within 4 days of the 3rd, but nobody got all 3...........Welcome to these Meet-Your-Future-HaloLinks:A Little Bit Of Angels NewsThere were no Arizona Fall League games scheduled for Sunday, but the Friday recap and the Saturday recap showed some ups and downs for LAA pitching prospects, and Jahmai Jones heating up on offense. He is now batting .346/.485/.389...........Everywhere In BaseballLet’s dig up some WS factoids...........It’s been quite some time since baseball saw this matchup. Like Babe Ruth quite some time..........Cody Bellinger is a part of an odd Bellinger family World Series tradition...........Hyun-Jin Ryu is having a world-class baseball career. Literally...........No World Series has even had the potential for as much air mileage as this one............The Dodgers are marching through Brave territory..........Crotch chops are now a playoff thing?...........I don’t understand this part of the NLCS. Cody Bellinger was named MVP. (Well, some people think he was also named MVP of the ALCS, but we know better Joe Jimenez Jersey , don’t we?) But, uh, why? Except for Bellinger hitting 1 home run and Chris Taylor none, Taylor crucified Bellinger in terms of offensive production. In fact, Chris Taylor was THE offensive force in those 7 games. Plus, of course, Taylor saved Game 7 with this miracle catch early on.......... The Astros learned a valuable lesson as they got bounced in the ALCS. And that is that being talented, even more talented, is not always enough. Sometimes you need the bounces to go your way, too..........They should be great next season, as long as things don’t go worse case scenario on them............But the idea that Houston might paint themselves as some kind of underdog next season is laughable...........The Brewers, though, they contended hard even though they are not one of the modern super teams. Was this year an anomaly for them? Can they do it again? Maybe...........What the Brewers will need http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , though, is for Christian Yelich to sustain his MVP-caliber regular-season performance all the way through the playoffs. He evaporated in the NLCS, which is not the thing you want to see out of your generational talent............. The Angels were not the only team to announce a new manager. The Reds beat the Angels to the new manager punch and selected David Bell...........The Reds had been keen on Ausmus and Joe Girardi. We know what happened to Ausmus. Word is that Girardi pulled his name off the table in Cincinnati, because he thinks Joe Maddon is on his last leg and Girardi wants the Cubs............At first it was also thought that Girardi has pulled his name off the table in Arlington, too, but that got clarified as the Rangers choosing not to hire Girardi............At some time today, the Marlins are expected to announce that all that international money they picked up recently will be spent on the Mesa Brothers...........How dare the Giants think that they might try and sign the Patrick Corbin that is supposed to be in pinstripes next season!?!..............Well, at least one team has connected with the next generation of fans. Somehow the Mets managed to inspire a teenager to for a Super PAC. And somehow that Super PAC got approved as a legal entity............. Halloween is on the way. And it’s time for ghosts, goblins and monsters. Baseball has got ‘em all.............NFL remains the sports ratings king here in the USofA. But they have the same challenge everybody does. How to connect with the next generation..........The Duffle BagSome job postings.....New York Yankees Baseball Operations......Toronto Blue Jays analytics........Free tacos again! Once somebody steals a base in this World Series, Taco Bell will hand out a taco to everyone, no money necessary. It just occurred to me that I cannot recall the last time I ate at Taco Bell..........The worst thing that can happen in a playoff series is for the action to get intense and players start to do good things. Because that is when the FOX broadcast team just starts losing their shit............The Dodgers finally get to face a team that outspends even them.............