Long lunch: Spanish civil servant skips work for years without anyone noticing  —  Joaquín García failed to show up for his job at the water board for at least six years - and possibly as many as 14  —  Only when Joaquín García, a Spanish civil servant …

ZiPS' Top 100 MLB prospects  —  Last Thursday, ESPN colleague Keith Law released his Top 100 prospects, his ninth such annual ranking for ESPN.  This means it's time to put Keith's selections through the ZiPS wringer, testing his prospect rankings against the ZiPS projection system's data-driven, emotionless algorithms.

Grassley joins call to delay Supreme Court nomination  —  The Senate should not take up the nomination of a replacement for Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court until after the November presidential election, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a statement on Saturday.

MLB win totals: How we see the 2016 season unfolding  —  From April through October, 30 major league teams will contest 2,430 games and pay out some $3.7 billion in player salaries in the hope they win a few more than they lose, catch a fortuitous bounce or two and - should everything break just right - find their way into the playoffs.

Mookie Betts Drove A Golf Cart Right Into A Lake  —  Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts is an adept baseball man, as well as an extremely skilled bowler.  What he's not good at is driving a golf cart, apparently.  He and Travis Shaw went golfing this afternoon, and they got a bit more amphibious than they wanted to.

100-Win Cardinals Ready to Defend NL Central Title  —  ST. LOUIS — There was no way the St. Louis Cardinals could match the headline-grabbing activity of their biggest NL Central rival in Chicago, the team that was saw to it they were one and done last fall.

Pirates Ready to Prove Themselves Again as Camp Opens  —  PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have the second-best record in the majors since 2013, a run that restored faith in the franchise after two decades of misery and led to three straight playoff berths.

Many Roles to Fill as Overhauled Reds Open Spring Training  —  CINCINNATI — Reds manager Bryan Price was driving to Goodyear, Arizona, for the start of spring training and thinking about all of the decisions ahead.  —  He's got many more than usual because of Cincinnati's near-total makeover.

Expectations Soar as Cubs Try to End Championship Drought  —  CHICAGO — The last time the Chicago Cubs faced expectations this high, the Model T was hitting the market.  —  The Cubs look about as loaded as any team after a 97-win season that catapulted them to the National League Championship Series …

Not every team that's rebuilding should be accused of tanking  —  Here's the thing about “tanking,” which the owners reportedly discussed at their recent meetings, and which some will tell you is a scourge on baseball as we know it:  —  When teams such as the Phillies, Brewers and Braves go young …