Our own Joc Pederson goes up against Manny Machado in the first round of the Home Run Derby tonight (5p PT), and the only ESPN pundit to predict Pederson will win the contest is Doug Padilla.
I don't know if I can keep up with all the changes in the new HR Derby format, but maybe being a rookie will allow Pederson to not be weighed down by the format rigidities of the past.
Or maybe, he'll just get hot at the right time.
photo: five years later, it's still AP
In the dead of winter, there's not much baseball to talk about.