JUPITER, Fla. • During the 12 days he spent in baseball limbo last summer, Jeremy Hazelbaker returned home after being released by the Dodgers and worked on the swing that had betrayed him. He ran, he lifted, and he hit and he hit, working to stay ready for the next job offer and distracting himself from the fact not one team called.
“It was definitely an interesting time period,” he said this spring. “I was waiting for that team to pick me up or give me a second chance. A week and a half. It was a week and a half without any phone calls.