Jim Thome and his mitt are ready to field stuff as Ryan Howard looks on. (AP)Baseball is back! Here at Big League Stew, we'll take a quick dash around the league each morning in an attempt to keep you updated on all the springtime story lines.

• The Philadelphia Phillies have warned us all spring it would happen. On Monday, we'll see the plan in action. Jim Thome, at 41 years old, who has played in the field a grand total of eight innings and one batter since 2006, will play four or five innings at first base in a minor-league Grapefruit League game. Reporter Ryan Lawrence of the Delaware County Times writes that Thome will work his way up to major-league exhibitions later this month.

Thome's chronic back problems, along with being in the American League where they use a designated hitter, have limited his opportunities on defense. But Thome is game to help the Phils at first while slugger Ryan Howard continues to recover from his Achilles' tendon surgery.

"We've been doing our work. That's no worries there, just have to continue to try to make improvement. Any time you haven't done something in 6 or 7 years, you know there are going to be those steps you have to take to get where you wan[t] to get. We've been trying to do that, and its been great."

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• It doesn't sound so bad once you read the details — that David Wright is heading back to New York to get a cortisone shot in his ribcage. But when you think "Mets" and "injury" and "medical staff" and "getting on an airplane," it does give you pause.

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PHOENIX — In this corner, from parts unknown, wearing gold and green slacks, suit coats with the sleeves ripped off, bow ties and wrestling masks ... two kids hunting for Oakland Athletics signatures.

These young men, perhaps in their mid-teens, obviously have a theme going on here. Given the nature of what happens in the grandstands of whatever they're calling Oakland Alameda County Coliseum these days, the dynamic duo surely fit in. And the A's will be a little bit more of a circus this season, as long as Manny Ramirez stays on the right side of the rules and Yoenis Céspedes can build on his debut performance.

PHOENIX — With many eyes watching, Yoenis Céspedes performed with power and patience in his Cactus League debut for the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

Céspedes launched a long home run, hit a sharp RBI single and drew a walk on six pitches without swinging in making a great first impression on the A's.

"The results from today make me feel good," Céspedes said through his translator and countryman from Cuba, former major league pitcher Ariel Prieto.

"The baseball players here are a lot better than in Cuba. You can find good pitchers in Cuba but here, as you can see, I believe every pitcher I'm going to face is going to be better."

[ Related: Why the universal DH will be baseball's next big controversy ]

Céspedes, a defector the A's signed for $36 million over four years after a small bidding war back in February, batted second and played center field against the Cincinnati Reds in a game televised on the MLB Network. Oakland won 6-3.

It was hard to tell if Céspedes was nervous or just curious against right-hander Johnny Cueto in the bottom of the first when he didn't swing — he barely checked on a couple of pitches — on six straight pitches. But he worked a walk — which is always better than making an out.

"I was just trying to recognize pitches," Céspedes said.

Céspedes lined a single in the third inning, but showed his power — what the sellout crowd at Phoenix Municipal Stadium really came to see — in the fourth.

(Big League Stew)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Buster Posey heard the fans and he presumably saw them in a Cactus League game Friday, his first action for the San Francisco Giants since breaking his ankle last year. Thousands roared whenever his name was called, and dozens wore jerseys, shirseys and other T-shirts with Posey's No. 28 and likeness. Right-hander Matt Cain pointed out how neat the reaction was, saying that fans were happy just to see his teammate on the field again. There seemed to be a Buster Posey in every section, in every corner of Scottsdale Stadium.

Therefore, we present: The Posey Poseurs in Pictures!

Buster Posey said it felt good to do this. (AP)SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Buster Posey squatted behind home plate. He sprung to his feet trying to throw out a runner stealing second base. He dropped to his knees three times to block pitches in the dirt. He stood in the batter's box against left-hander Aroldis Chapman throwing 99 mph. The usual.

He was playing baseball again. The San Francisco Giants had their franchise catcher back.

"I've been looking forward to playing for some time, so I was just happy to be out there," Posey said Friday in his first action since May 25, when he broke his left leg in a gruesome crash at home plate with Florida's Scott Cousins.

Posey played two innings on defense, and flied out on a slider in his only at-bat in San Francisco's 6-3 victory against the Cincinnati Reds. Posey said the plan was to catch again Sunday, as long as his ankle felt OK.

"Every indication now is it'll be good," Posey said. "We've kind of stuck to the plan the whole way and ... I'm trying to treat it like I'm preparing it for opening day."

A full house in full throat at Scottsdale Stadium greeted Posey when he and pitcher Matt Cain took the field to warm up about 20 minutes before the first pitch. Dozens of "Posey 28 jerseys" dotted the grandstand among the "55 Lincecum" and "38 Wilson" shirts. But this was Posey's day.

"I thought everyone really loved me," Cain said about the uproar. "Then I looked behind me and saw Buster.

"That's pretty cool, to have that kind of ovation just to go out to a bullpen. The fans are excited just to see him on the field."

Posey said the experience made him nervous.

(AP inset)

The most dominant 6-foot-10 pitcher in major-league history called The Stew the other day. More than 300 career victories. Nearly 5,000 strikeouts. One John Kruk nearly scared to death. Yes, we're friends with Mr. Randy Johnson himself.

OK, that's not entirely true — one of his representatives set it up so we could ask the "Big Unit" what he thought of Justin Verlander's MLB 2K12 video game commercial with supermodel Kate Upton.

The ad in a nut shell: Verlander, who has two no-hitters and other awesome accomplishments but has never pitched a perfect game, wants to dine at "The Perfect Club," where Scooby Doo haunted mansion portraits of Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay hang on the walls. But the Perfect Club is only for perfect pitchers (including players of the video game who throw perfect games), so Verlander disguises himself to sneak past Upton.

Even if you've seen it, watch it again:

(Big League Stew)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jarrod Parker wears a uniform number for the Oakland Athletics — 74 — that suggests a player who is a long shot to make the team out of spring training. Roster filler. Or an offensive lineman in football. But A's brass thinks much more highly of Parker than that, as do his new teammates, who have been teasing him about it.

"I think some of the guys are going to make me switch if I make the team," Parker said Thursday. "It's just a number right now; we'll figure it out when that time comes."

Despite a rough outing against the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch, the time is coming for Parker. As the ninth player taken overall in the 2007 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, he has been rated as highly as the 26th best prospect in the majors by Baseball America.

Now 23 years old, Parker is the prize right-hander coming to Oakland in the Trevor Cahill trade — though it stung his ego to discover he was no longer an untouchable commodity with Arizona. After he spent a full season at Double-A for the D-backs, they brought him up for a late-season start and a playoff appearance against the Brewers.

And then they traded him in the offseason.

"I think I could have pitched there," Parker said. "But that's their opinion and whatnot. I think it's the same game, just a different place now."

This is the first spring training since having Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in October 2009 that Parker feels he can turn it loose.