On Wednesday at Cincinnati’s Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy, Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson, spoke to a group of about 50 young girls and later helped them craft their entries for the annual Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life Essay Contest.

The Twins, in an effort to bring in experienced leadership spent $67.7 million on three free agents — Torii Hunter, Ervin Santana and Tim Stauffer — this winter.

How talented is Cuban infielder Yoan Moncada? Let’s take a look at how the 19-year-old stacks up, tool for tool, against the 15 middle infielders on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 Prospects list.

Relievers tend to drive fantasy owners crazy. Ninth-inning gigs are often tenuous and closers can go from key contributors to waiver-wire fodder after a few bad outings. But, despite their wild fluctuations in value, closers are a necessary component of a championship season. For that reason, smart owners should spend some serious time researching their options at this position.

Victor Martinez underwent surgery as scheduled on a torn meniscus in his left knee Tuesday morning, but is expected to return to full activity in four to six weeks, putting him on track to be ready when the Tigers start their regular season April 6.

A little more than 13 months after signing a two-year, $9.5 million contract to serve as the Cubs’ closer, Jose Veras will come to Braves Spring Training with nothing but the guarantee to be given a shot to prove he is still capable of being a valuable Major League reliever.

Twenty years have passed since Billy Bean walked away from Major League Baseball, but not even two full decades can erase the regret the former outfielder has for giving up on this sport he loved before it was time.

Buster Posey, Matt Cain and Bruce Bochy were among those representing the world-champion Giants on Wednesday at the Chevron Shoot-Out, a charity golf tournament at Pebble Beach benefiting the team’s foundation and other charities.

The A’s will no doubt enter the season with an enviable stock of starting-pitching depth, but first they must sort through their many options to fill out an Opening Day rotation, paving the way for a potentially fierce competition in Spring Training.

D-backs ace Patrick Corbin has been playing catch from a distance of 105 feet as he continues his recovery from last spring’s Tommy John surgery. Corbin, who is back in Arizona working out at the team’s Spring Training facility at Salt River Fields, actually began playing catch toward the end of last season, before taking a planned two months off and starting up again in January.

Top prospect Jon Gray and shortstop Trevor Story, one-time Rockies first-round picks in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, are among the prospects from the Rockies’ organization to receive non-roster invitations to Major League Spring Training.

Alex Rodriguez met with several high-ranking Yankees officials, including managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, during which time he issued an apology to the club for his actions over the past several years.

It was announced Tuesday that the “Nasty Boys” trio of Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers will serve as grand marshals of the Reds’ 96th Findlay Market Opening Day Parade.

How the Red Sox handle Mookie Betts is at the heart of one of the most intriguing positional battles shaping up for Spring Training.

The Red Sox will save the fretting for everyone else. Ace or not, they feel confident about a rotation that has three newcomers, plus the tantalizing Clay Buchholz and the possibly underrated Joe Kelly. The “no ace” label could be a driving force for the staff.

Barring the trade of a Competitive Balance pick, the final piece of the puzzle has been placed. The order is set for the 2015 First-Year Player Draft. The last variable was the signing of free agent James Shields. The Padres are set to ink the right-hander to a four-year deal, removing one last question mark about who will be picking where when the Draft begins on June 8.

After spending the past few months managing in Venezuela, Eddie Perez is confident that he is prepared for the potential opportunity to become an MLB manager.