Elephant Rumblings: Former A’s First-Rounder Passes, Earthquake Strikes Bay Area

A’s Coverage:

• Yahoo: The A’s are making every ticket free for one special game this season...
• The Hall of Fame Case: Jason Isringhausen...
• Longtime Padres coach and former A’s first-round pick Picciolo dies at 64...

MLB News:

• Astros: Felt ‘responsibility’ to celebrate title at White House as World Series champs...
• Indicative of the off-season’s pace thus far, the Twins want Yu Darvish...but still haven’t met with him...
• MLB’s cold-hearted economics chill the hot stove, puts the freeze on elite players...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot: The Players who will be ‘one-and-done’ this year...
• The $140 million question: Where will Eric Hosmer sign?
• Craig Edwards: On the Craziness of the Relief Market...
• Boldest January signings of this century...

Today in Baseball History:

• 1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers buy a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000, which they will use to transport the club during the season. The Dodgers are the first major league team to own their own plane.
• 1998 – In what amounted to a tough day for the Blue Jays, Toronto catcher Benito Santiago is injured when he loses control of the car he is driving and crashes into a tree in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Toronto also loses first baseman Carlos Delgado to a shoulder injury which he sustains while diving for a ball in a game in Puerto Rico. He will be out until late April.

Best of Twitter:

• Hope you’re all safe...

• More on Picciolo...

• An MiLB deal of note...