Elephant Rumblings: Coco Crisp on radio, Manny Machado to Padres

A’s Coverage:

• Hall: Coco Crisp will join Oakland A’s radio broadcasts in 2019...
• Slusser: MLB commissioner ‘optimistic’ for A’s ballpark plans at Howard Terminal...
• Slusser: Khris Davis’ asking price for A’s deal has not dropped...
• McWilliams: A dream deferred but not derailed: A.J. Puk is on the road to recovery for the A’s... ($)
• Lee: Estrada optimistic for bounce-back year...
• Slusser: More muscle for A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano this spring...
• Slusser: New A’s reliever Joakim Soria slowed by minor hip issue...
• Slusser: A’s lefty Wei-Chung Wang ‘in the right place’...

MLB News:

• Passan: San Diego Padres, Manny Machado in agreement on 10-year, $300 million deal...
• Rosenthal: Inside the infamous ‘I’m not Johnny Hustle’ interview, and why it won’t define Manny Machado’s career... ($)
• Nightengale: Details on Chicago White Sox final offer to Machado...
• Heyman: Mariners among teams interested in catcher Martin Maldonado...
• Giants: Manager Bruce Bochy to retire following 2019 season...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• McDaniel: Reviewing Last Year’s Top 100 List...
• Sarris: Think you could do better than that bum MLB player? We tried. You can’t... ($)
• Rosenthal: With labor tension high, it’s time for me, Dr. Rosenthal, to stage an intervention between MLB and its players... ($)
• Reiter: Trevor Bauer Is More Concerned With Being Right Than Being Liked...
• Robinson: New Era workers gain an ally in Nationals closer Sean Doolittle...

Today in Baseball History:

• 1980 - The Oakland Athletics sign Billy Martin to a two-year contract as manager. Martin, who was fired by the Yankees only four months earlier, will popularize the notion of “Billy Ball” with the A’s and lead the team to a split-season crown in 1981.
• 2012 - The A’s sign slugger Manny Ramirez to a minor league contract, ending a retirement that began last April when he prefered to hang up his spikes rather than face a 100-game suspension for violating the Major Leagues’ drug policy. He still faces a 50-game suspension before the A’s can add him to their major league roster.

Best of Twitter:

• We’ve heard this one before...

• San Diego could be an incredibly fun team to watch this season...

• This is undeniably, objectively 100% false...