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Welcome back, baseball. Today the pitchers and catchers for the San Francisco Giants officially report to duty.
For the next 229 days, there’s Giants baseball, in some capacity or another. Maybe even for more than the next 229 days, though that would mean that something has gone horribly, terribly wrong (for the other teams in baseball).
But for now, it’s the simple bliss of pitchers and catchers reporting, when the spring air in Arizona is fresh and full of hope and optimism about winning baseball, even if it’s just ignorance delaying the inevitable. It doesn’t matter. It’s baseball.
Except the Giants have encountered a funny problem. Between Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris inviting a full league’s worth of players, and Gabe Kapler filling out his coaching staff with more people a Saturday Night Live finale, the Giants find themselves with a shortage of available numbers.
Such crazy concepts as double zeroes are coming out to save the day.
The Giants have a problem as players report tomorrow: not enough numbers. That’s what jersey retirements and a 13-person coaching staff will do. Billy Hamilton will wear zero. 1B coach Antoan Richardson will wear Robert Parish’s 00.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) February 10, 2020
Also, that’s as good a time as any to point out that the Giants signed Billy Hamilton to a minor league deal, because okay, sure, why the hell not.
Enjoy day one, everyone, even if it really doesn’t change much.