Lineup

2014 BASEBALL PREVIEW

22 Masahiro Tanaka

Want to see hearts race and salaries rise? Drop a ready-made ace on the market

By Tom Verducci

32 The Power Gap

Slugging is in short supply—especially from the righthanded side

By Tom Verducci

40 Long Story Short

Where did all the shortstops go? Not far, it turns out—an elite class is on the way

By Cliff Corcoran

42 Yadier Molina

Why he's the game's best catcher, a lethal force with his glove and his bat

By Ben Reiter

48 Framing Pitches

The catcher's dark art of turning balls into strikes can now be quantified

By Albert Chen

54 Béisbol Prospectus

A guerrilla group of sabermetricians is bringing science to Cuba

By Eric Nusbaum

60 Robinson Cano

A megadeal with a struggling franchise complicates a slugger's job

By Greg Bishop

66 Advance Report

Rebounding MVPs, rookie managers, Derek Jeter's last stand: Who and what to watch for in the new season

70 Scouting Reports

SI breaks down all 30 teams, handicaps the field and tells you who'll win it all

2 SI Digital

4 Leading Off

11 The Mail

12 Scorecard

19 Faces in the Crowd

20 Just My Type

Dan Patrick: Receiver Steve Smith does not have Carolina on his mind

108 Point After

LaTroy Hawkins: MLB's elder statesman plays commish for a day

SI HAS FOUR REGIONAL COVERS THIS WEEK: ROBERT BECK/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (ROBINSON CANO, MIKE TROUT); SIMON BRUTY/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (YADIER MOLINA); CHUCK SOLOMON FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (MASAHIRO TANAKA); PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY STEPHEN SKALOCKY

PHOTO

ROBERT BECK/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

RAKING NEW GROUND After nine years with the Yankees, Robinson Cano takes over at second base for the Mariners.