Welcome to Wednesday's Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
WEDNESDAY'S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:MLB: St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 2 p.m. (MLB Network)MLB: Chicago White Sox at Oakland, 5 p.m. (MLB Network)MLB: Cleveland at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m. (ESPN)MLB: Boston at LA Angels, 10:07 p.m. (NESN)NBA: Indiana at Cleveland, 7 p.m. (TNT)NBA: Utah at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. (NBATV)NBA: Minnesota at Houston, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)NHL: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)NHL: Nashville at Colorado, 10 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
-- Former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away on Tuesday at 92 in her home in Houston. Social media was flooded with condolences, including those from sports teams, like the Red Sox, and athletes.
Reid Ryan, president of the Astros and son of Nolan Ryan, also released his own statement on Mr. Bush's passing.
-- Anthony Rizzo has had enough of playing baseball in the cold and has an idea to work the baseball season around winter-like spring weather.
"I think we play too much baseball," Rizzo said Tuesday. "Yes, guys are going to take pay cuts. But are we playing this game for the money or do we love this game? I know it's both, but in the long run it will make everything better."
"I think playing in the cold sucks," Rizzo continued. "I was thinking about this the other day. When you think of Cubs and Cardinals, you think of a beautiful Saturday at Wrigley Field. You don't think about playing in 20 degrees."
He thinks even if the season isn't shortened, it should start deeper into the year.
"In a perfect world, we'd start the season later and play a few scheduled doubleheaders going into an off day," he said. "As a fan you're going to a baseball game in April, and it's raining, snowing and [with> freezing rain. Is it really that much fun? That's my question."
Rizzo also said he's willing to take a paycut to shorten the season but knows not everyone would do the same.
"Once you start taking money from guys, that's where it's going to be a little more dicey," he said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I certainly don't want to be out of line in attempting to speak for them. This is a voluntary program. Every year, guys have different things that come up. Whether it's family issues, personal issues, things come up. The guys that are here, we're going to do what we can to work hard and come together and take this thing one day at a time. That is really all I can say about that. I certainly don't want to put myself in a position where I feel like I can speak for those two guys." -- Matthew Slater, on Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski missing the the first few days at least of the Patriots' offseason program
