MLB.com executive correspondent Richard Justice participated in a live chat with fans on Tuesday. During the chat, Justice covered many topics, including the ultra-competitive National League East, how he thinks the Red Sox and Braves will respond from their late-season collapses in 2011, and how the Yankees, Tigers and Phillies stack up as World Series favorites.

At this point in the season, anything is a possibility. And that includes the Major League future of Angels outfield phenom Mike Trout.

Franklin Gutierrez is known as a Gold Glove center fielder who can catch anything hit his way on the baseball field, but the Mariners veteran can't seem to catch a break in the health department after suffering an injury to his right pectoral muscle Tuesday.

The D-backs' first game of the Cactus League will feature a pair of the club's best pitching prospects.

Alexi Ogando is being stretched out as a starter but manager Ron Washington dismissed the possibility of the Rangers going with a six-man rotation.

Third baseman Scott Sizemore limped into the A's clubhouse on crutches and in pain Tuesday, eager to embark on the road to recovery that will keep him off the field all season.

Clete Thomas can't point to a specific play, or a specific day, when he turned the corner on his knee injury. He's not completely sure it was a physical turning point anyway. All he knows is that, at some point, he felt like his old self again when he took the field and stepped to the plate.

Nationals left-hander Sammy Solis, who was at Class A last season, will need Tommy John surgery, according to general manager Mike Rizzo.

The Angels' free-agent spending spree hasn't shaken Don Mattingly's perspective on which is the real Los Angeles baseball team.

Five days after Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun won his appeal of a 50-game suspension by blaming a faulty collection process, the collector of Braun's sample responded with a three-page statement.

Being successful without winning. When Paul Konerko espouses such an idea about the 2012 White Sox, you can bet it's steeped in logic and the wisdom gained from a highly accomplished 15-year-career.

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto, sidelined with a strained groin, is improving but isn't expected to be ready by Sunday's Cactus League opener, manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday.

Joba Chamberlain graduated from being a self-proclaimed “half-mound All-Star” to throwing off a full mound for the first time, another checkpoint in his recovery from Tommy John surgery last year.

Manager Joe Girardi said only two spots in the rotation were guaranteed — CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda — while the other four candidates were competing for the remaining three spots.

Coming off a breakthrough 2010 season, Evan Meek tripped on the doorsill to Spring Training and never recovered. This year, he's healthy, strong and ready to reclaim his eighth-inning setup role.

All of the Marlins' offseason moves were important, but Heath Bell could really stabilize the bullpen situation.

Brett Myers signed off on the idea late Monday after consulting with his family and trusting his 31-year-old body could hold up to the demands of the job, and Astros manager Brad Mills announced Tuesday he was moving Myers into the closer role and out of the rotation.