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In the days leading up to the start of Spring Training, MLB.com is running a six-part series that takes a close look at each team in the Major Leagues. The second installment is called "The New Guys," and it focuses on additions that will impact the 25-man roster.

C Russell Martin: The veteran backstop received the largest free-agent contract in franchise history when he signed for $82 million over five years in November. Martin is generally regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball, and his abilities behind the plate should go a long way in helping the development of a young pitching staff. Martin posted a career-high .402 on-base percentage in 2014, and he is expected to hit second in the batting order -- ahead of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson.

1B Justin Smoak: He was mentioned in Part 1 of this series as one of the Blue Jays who is looking for improved production in 2015. Smoak hit at least 15 home runs in three of the past four seasons, and those numbers could improve at Rogers Centre. But he also has to cut down the number of strikeouts and reach base more consistently to fill a significant role. If Encarnacion begins the year at designated hitter, Smoak likely will be part of a platoon at first with Danny Valencia.

Outlook: Smoak may benefit from hitter-friendly park

Justin Smoak was inconsistent during his time with the Mariners but his power could greatly improve after a trade to the Blue Jays

2B Devon Travis: He became the second baseman of the future when the Blue Jays acquired him from the Tigers in a deal for Anthony Gose. Travis is expected to compete for the job at second base during Spring Training, but he's never played above Double-A and ideally would start the year in Triple-A Buffalo. That could change if Travis impresses early, but his overall development would be best served with a little more seasoning in the Minors, which would set the stage for a possible midseason callup.

3B Donaldson: Anthopoulos surprised everybody in baseball when he pulled off the trade for Donaldson. Most people assumed Donaldson was off limits in Oakland because he has four years of club control remaining, but a deal featuring Lawrie and a package of prospects (Franklin Barreto) was enough to get the deal done. Donaldson finished in the top 10 in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player Award in each of the past two years, and he'll combine with Bautista and Encarnacion to cause fits for opposing pitchers.

Outlook: Donaldson should provide power in new park

C Drew Butera: His offensive numbers -- .183/.239/.268 slash line in five years with the Twins and Dodgers -- aren't aesthetically pleasing, but Butera sports an above-average caught-stealing percentage of 33 percent and has a good rapport with his pitchers. He's also out of options, and looks like a favorite to win the backup job behind Chris Iannetta.

INF Taylor Featherston: The Angels picked Featherston up in the Rule 5 Draft thinking he had a chance to be their new utility infielder. The 25-year-old has good power for a middle infielder, with a .276/.346/.457 slash line in four years in the Minors, and solid range at shortstop. But he needs to get better acclimated at third base to be a true utility man.

INF Johnny Giavotella: Giavotella will compete with Featherston, Josh Rutledge and Grant Green for either the starting second base job or a utility role. The 27-year-old has played in only 125 Major League games with the Royals over the last four years and is deemed below average defensively at second base. He's torched through the Pacific Coast League, though, and he can also play third base.

SP Andrew Heaney: The Angels were planning to hold onto Howie Kendrick, and then the opportunity to pick up Heaney came along. MLB.com has the wiry, 23-year-old left-hander listed as the Angels' best prospect and the 25th best in the game. He'll compete with Hector Santiago and Nick Tropeano for the fifth spot in the rotation this spring.

Top Prospects: Andrew Heaney, LHP, Angels

2015 MLB.com Top Prospects: Andrew Heaney has the ingredients to help the Angels in 2015 with his three solid pitches

OF Matt Joyce: Acquired from the Rays for reliever Kevin Jepsen on Dec. 16, Joyce is expected to start mostly at designated hitter while giving the Angels' lineup more length and an additional left-handed bat. The 30-year-old has batted .252/.341/.428 while averaging 136 games with the Rays the last four years and may bat second this year -- at least once Josh Hamilton returns.

RP Jeremy McBryde: McBryde was signed at the Major League minimum in early November to add to the Angels' right-handed relief depth. The 27-year-old spent his first seven of eight professional seasons in the Padres' organization and has yet to reach the Majors. As a closer for the A's Triple-A affiliate in 2014, McBryde posted a 2.22 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP, striking out 9.1 batters per nine innings.

C Carlos Perez: Perez was the less-notable piece of the trade that sent Hank Conger to the Astros for Tropeano, but the Angels like his skills behind the plate and will have him compete for the backup job behind Iannetta. Perez, 24, has batted .277/.357/.393 and thrown out 35 percent of would-be base stealers in his Minor League career with the Blue Jays and Astros.

The rest is here:
Angels welcome new faces to compete for roster spots

LHP Jon Lester: Lester signed the largest contract in franchise history (six years, $155 million) and rejoins Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, who were all together in Boston. Lester, 31, may be 0-for-36 at the plate in his career, but Cubs execs stressed to the lefty that he could be on the mound at Wrigley Field for the deciding game of the World Series. His signing signals a shift for the team from rebuild mode to contender.

LHP Drake Britton: Claimed off waivers on Feb. 4, Britton, 25, could fill a spot in the bullpen as a situational lefty. Epstein and Hoyer know Britton well, too. They drafted him in 2007 when with the Red Sox.

RHP Jason Hammel: Hammel, 32, is on the new guy list for the second straight year. The Cubs signed him to a one-year contract in February 2014, but flipped the right-hander in a trade with the Athletics last July. In December, Hammel re-signed with the Cubs, getting a two-year, $20 million deal this time. He did well in his first stint, going 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA in 17 starts.

RHP Jason Motte: Motte, 32, has spent his entire career with the Cardinals. Now, he'll be pitching for their rivals after signing a one-year deal. The right-hander led the NL with 42 saves in 2012, then missed all of 2013 after needing Tommy John surgery. Hector Rondon is projected as the closer but Motte also will provide late inning relief and be a valuable veteran presence.

C Miguel Montero: The Cubs tried to sign free agent Russell Martin, and when that fell through, they traded for a veteran catcher, sending two Minor League pitchers to the Diamondbacks for Montero, 31. The Cubs don't need him to bat .286, as he did in 2012, but are hoping for better numbers than last season when Montero hit .243.

Outlook: Montero will look to reverse recent decline

After recording at least 15 homers and 86 RBIs in '11 and ?12, Miguel Montero has since regressed due to a several factors, including injury

C David Ross: Lester thrived with Ross, 37, behind the plate, so why not sign the free agent catcher? Ross, who signed a two-year, $5 million deal, has a career .239 average playing in the NL compared to .195 in the AL. Where this leaves incumbent catcher Welington Castillo remains to be seen.

INF Tommy La Stella: The Cubs like La Stella's ability to get on base, and traded Arodys Vizcaino to the Braves to get the left-handed hitting infielder. Maddon likes to use everyone on the roster, and La Stella, 26, should find playing time in the infield.

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New Cubs bring high expectations to the North Side

SHAMUS CLANCY, Daily News Staff Writer clancys@phillynews.com Posted: Thursday, February 12, 2015, 3:01 AM

Fourth in a series of NL East previews)

Taking a look at the New York Mets:

Manager: Terry Collins

Last 5 years: 2014: 79-83, second place (tied); 2013: 74-88, third place; 2012: 74-88, fourth place; 2011: 77-85, fourth place; 2010: 79-83, fourth place

Additions: OF Michael Cuddyer, OF John Mayberry Jr.

Losses: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka, OF Bobby Abreu

What to expect: The Mets havent been to the playoffs since their 2006 NLCS loss to the Cardinals and have posted six consecutive losing seasons. Although Flushings Finest likely will hover around .500 once again, there is reason for optimism in the years to come.

Righthander Matt Harvey returns after sitting out the entire 2014 season while rehabilitating after Tommy John surgery. According to ESPN New Yorks Adam Rubin, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson says Harvey likely will start the Mets home opener on April 13 against the Phillies.

Harvey, 25, was an All-Star in 2013 in only his second big-league season, creating a Mets-themed buzz around the Big Apple similar to Dwight Goodens NL Cy Young Award year as a 20-year-old in 1985. Harvey placed fourth in the NL Cy Young voting 2 years ago, posting a 2.27 ERA, striking out 9.6 batters per nine innings.

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NL East preview: Preseason look at New York Mets

The secondSpider-Manmovie franchise died a quiet death on Tuesday night. News broke that Sony will partner with Disney in an unusual, rival-schools-united-by-fate arrangement that will bring the web-swinging superhero into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That will be followed by a standalone Spider-Manmovie in 2017, and then probably by at least one Marvel-movie guest appearancethat will last just long enough for Spidey to ask what an Infinity Stone is.

Long live Spider-Man; Spider-Man is dead! For this news almost certainly sounds the Sad Funeral Trombone forThe Amazing Spider-Man, a preboot saga that Sony had once envisioned as a megafranchise to rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Amazing Spider-Manwas supposed to produce spinoffs, sequels; there was a time when Sony boldly announcedAmazing Spider-Man 3and4before2had even arrived in theaters. Butlast yearsAmazing Spider-Man 2underperformed significantly at the box office, proving decisively that people maybe only needed twomovies where Spider-Man fightssome kind of Green-ish Goblin-type.

There are already some reports thatAmazingstar Andrew Garfield is definitely out as Spider-Man. Sony did not immediately respond to EWs request for comment, but even if Garfielddoeskeep the job, its a fair bet that Spider-Mans future will pretty much ignore the tone and plot of theAmazingsub-franchise. Best-case-scenario, Sony and Marvel decides to just skip a decade of Peter Parkers life and let the 31-year-old Garfield act his age. Most likely scenario, Marvel Studios pays about as much attention toThe Amazing Spider-Manas it does to any movie with the word Hulk in the title.

This would be the time to mournThe Amazing Spider-Man, if there was anything in particular to mourn about. But future historians will mainly remember Sonys prequel duet as a rare example of almost everything that could go wrong with Hollywood in the franchise era.Amazing Spider-Manwas a trope factory for hand-me-down concepts.

The first film was an awkward attempt to simultaneouslytransform theSpider-Manfranchise into bothThe Dark KnightandTwilight. Here was an explicitly darker-realer-grittier Spidey than the Raimi filmsPeter Parker wears ahoodie, bro!but that realness was already approaching sub-Poochie market-tested Xtremity. There is a scene where Peter Parker demonstrates his new powers by doing rad skateboard tricks; the scene is set to Coldplay. Spider-Man, Skateboard, Coldplay; Spider-Man, Skateboard, Coldplay: Repeat it 10 times and it still wont quite make sense.

ButThe Amazing Spider-Manalso bears a strong resemblance to the bumper crop of YA-inflected romances that followed inTwilights wake. The idea to send Peter Parker back to high school wasnt bad; theres plenty of material in the comics, and the notion of an everyteen loser superhero feels just as unusual now as it ever did. Superheroes onscreen now are trending biceppy(Hugh Jackman, Henry Cavill, Chris Hemsworth) and uber-rich (Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark.) Why not bring back lovable, puny, relatable Parker?

ExceptThe Amazing Spider-Manopted to include some of the less well-conceived later additions to the canonSpider-Mans parents were spies or whatever!and in the process transformed lovable, puny, relatable Peter Parker into a sneering James Dean-chosen one. A young boy, left on his aunt and uncles doorstep, hunting down a mysterious Great Evil who killed his parents mysteriously: Some of this comes from the comics, but it still felt like J.K. Rowling deserved a co-writing credit.

There were good parts in bothAmazingmovies, but even those good parts feel weirdly emblematic of the failings of contemporary blockbuster franchising. The films caught Emma Stone at the specific moment that she became Emma Stone: Filming onAmazing 1began just a few months after Stones star turn inEasy A, feels in hindsight like a gift from an alternate universe where teen films trended goofy instead of moody. The year beforeAmazings release saw Stone in fine form, inThe HelpandCrazy, Stupid Love; in the months sinceAmazing 2hit theaters, Stone earned her first Oscar nomination, forBirdman. So her work in theAmazingfranchise feels like a particular black hole on a sparkling resum: An excellent actress struggling against all odds to triumph over material that was always going to turn her into a damsel in distress. Her chemistry with co-star Andrew Garfield was palpabletheyre dating, have you heard?but you watch the movies now and wonder if a bold bit of casting couldve just given us thesuperheromovie we all really wanted. Emma Stone as Patricia Parker, maybe? With Andrew Garfield as handsome emo-BF Glen Stacy, her dude in distress? It couldve been bad; it couldnt have been worse than what we got.

In director Marc Webbs defense, the films looked prettyespeciallyAmazing 2, which was shot on 35 mm film in some actual New York locations. The locations look great inAmazing 2: Your eyes turn to them, desperate to get away from whatever is happening in the actual movie. TheAmazingsequel tried to pack a lot in: Electro, the Green Goblin, the Rhino made appearances; there were endingteases for Doctor Octopus and the Vulture; Felicity Jones played a character who was maybe kinda sorta the Black Cat, which if youre counting makes two future female Oscar nominees just utterly wasted. Jesus Christ, BJ Novak had a cameo as Alistair Smythe, a B-minus level villain who built anti-Spidey robots!

Amazing 2ended with a tease for future films: A mystery man walking through a laboratory filled with evil supervillain hardware. Remarkably, insanely, this was almost precisely whereAmazing Spider-Man 1had ended. The intrinsic message of both movies seemed to be: Stick with us! Were almost about to start getting to the good stuff! In that sense,theAmazingscould be Patient Zero for encroaching Origin Fatigue: The sense that people might finally be getting fed up with the storybeforethe story. How many more times do we have to see Uncle Ben get killed? How many more times do we need to watch Peter hanging out with his best pal Harry Osborn, blissfully unaware that anybody named Osborn will probably go Green sooner or later?

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'Spider-Man': Requiem for the Andrew Garfield era

February 10, 2015 - Arena Football League (AFL) Portland Thunder PORTLAND - The Portland Thunder will open their second ever training camp on Friday, March 6 at the Oregon Soccer Center (17015 Southeast 82nd Drive, Clackamas, OR 97015) as they prepare for the upcoming 2015 AFL season.

"As a staff, we are excited to continue cultivating our relationships with the returning players, and establish connection with our rookies and new additions," head coach Mike Hohensee stated. "Any time you begin a project, you are anxious to set an attitude or tone. This camp will help us do that, while getting the team to a position where we can interact and understand each phase of the game together."

Players will report to the team offices on Wednesday, March 4. Physicals will be conducted at Sports Medicine Oregon the next day, followed by a headshot photo session and introductory meetings. Practices will begin at 8:00 AM on March 6 at the Oregon Soccer Center, with the first two practice sessions being held without pads. Pads will be introduced on March 8.

The Thunder will make one road trip during training camp, traveling to eastern Washington on Thursday, March 12, for workouts and scrimmages with the Spokane Shock. The practices in Spokane will be closed to the public.

The training camp roster consists of 35 players, plus invitees, who will compete for 24 spots on the opening roster. Final rosters must be turned into the Arena Football League office by 5:00 PM CT on Friday, March 20.

All training camp practices are open to the public, and media availability will begin at 11:00 AM on every practice day. Interested media and photographers may begin filing for appropriate credentialing on Thursday, February 4 via email (rboelke@portlandthunder.com) or through the Thunder website at portlandthunder.com/media/2015Credentials

The Thunder open the 2015 AFL season at home against the LA KISS on March 27.

Portland Thunder Training Camp Practice Schedule

Friday - 3/6/15 Oregon Soccer Center 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Saturday - 3/7/15 Oregon Soccer Center 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

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Portland Thunder Announces 2015 Training Camp Schedule