The Major League Baseball Players' Association is upset over the lack of spending this offseason and has taken the step of filing a grievance against the Oakland Athletics, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays alleging they failed to spend their revenue sharing money.

"Teams are required to spend their revenue-sharing money to improve the on-field product, according to terms of the collective bargaining agreement, though not necessarily on their major-league payroll," writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Major League Baseball responded with a statement to the Times, saying: "We have received the grievance and believe it has no merit."

The MLBPA raised similar concerns back in 2010. That led to the Marlins signing Josh Johnson to a four-year extension worth $38 million.

Jon Lester will take the mound for the Chicago Cubs on Opening Day for the third time in four seasons.

"Pretty cool," Lester said of Joe Maddon's decision. "Anytime the manager picks you to do that it's a huge honor. I'm excited. It's probably the earliest I've ever been told."

Lester spent time on the disabled list last year and fell short of 200 innings and compiled a 4.33 ERA. He blamed most of it on Chicago's expending so much energy on winning the World Series in 2016.

"Last year was 'Hey, we need to slow down, we need to be ready more or less for May than April,'" he stated. "For a few of us, that put us behind the eight ball. I don't think we realized that until the end of the year."

Eric Hosmer has given Glenn Hoffman a Rolex watch as a token of his appreciation after the San Diego Padres third base coach gave up his No. 30 jersey to the club's new slugger.

Hosmer wore No. 35 with the Kansas City Royals, but the Padres retired that number for Hall of Famer Randy Jones. Hosmer wanted to wear No. 30 as a tribute to his late Royals teammate Yordano Ventura, who died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in January 2017.

"Like I said to Hoffy, it was extremely meaningful for me," Hosmer said. "So I wanted to get a nice gesture for him. It's an unwritten rule throughout the league that if a veteran guy comes and asks for a number and somebody has it, you do something like that for him."

Hoffman has since switched to jersey No. 26.

"I bet there were a lot of coaches who were mad they didn't have '30' after that," Hosmer said, laughing.

Shohei Ohtani has played in three of the Los Angeles Angels' last four exhibition games, but the two-way player won't consider himself a Major Leaguer until Opening Day.

"I really won't feel like a major leaguer until Opening Day," he said.

The Angels are using the spring to figure out his unique schedule as a pitcher and hitter.

The Texas Rangers have agreed to a deal with Tim Lincecum, a source has confirmed.

Lincecum, 33, last pitched in the Major Leagues for the Los Angeles Angels in 2016. He went 2-6 with a 9.16 ERA in nine starts.

The right-hander was the National League Cy Young winner in both 2008 and 2009 as a member of the San Francisco Giants.

The Tampa Bay Rays and FOX Sports Net are nearing a long-term extension to continue their broadcasting partnership.

The payout is expected to increase to around $50 million in 2019 under the new deal. Over the 15-year life of the deal, which would run through the 2033 season, FOX would pay, on average, around $82 million per year, according to sources.

That value plays out to over $1 billion as part of the new agreement.

Aaron Judge still isn't feeling 100 percent since his offseason shoulder surgery and doesn't expect to be feeling fully back until Opening Day.

Judge will appear in his first spring training game on Wednesday.

"It's a work in progress until Opening Day," Judge said.

The New York Yankees open the season at the Toronto Blue Jays on March 29.

The club announced in November that the procedure Judge had in Los Angeles involved a "loose-body removal and cartilage clean-up." They also anticipated Judge's recovery time would be complete in advance of the start of spring training.

The Los Angeles Angels are working hard to help Shohei Ohtani maintain the rhythm, timing and mechanics of his swing, even when his batting practice is limited by his pitching schedule.

"I think he's a different animal," pitching coach Eric Hinske said. "We have to wait and see with him. We haven't seen him (hit) in game action. We haven't seen the day after he starts in August, either. I think we're all just anxious to see his talent on the field."

The Angels continue to evaluate Ohtani what type of workload, at both his jobs, that he can handle. Billy Eppler has said they are using objective metrics and tests to evaluate Ohtani's condition. Mike Scioscia wouldn't elaborate on what type of tests they are running on Ohtani.

"I don't know it's anything that isn't happening with other players," Scioscia said. "With some of the advancements in training methods and evaluation, I think all thee players benefit from it, and Shohei is one of those guys."

Russell Wilson reported to the New York Yankees' spring training facility for the first time on Monday.

Wilson will be spending the next five days with the Yankees after a trade last week that sent his rights from the Texas Rangers to New York.

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback took batting practice with Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird.

Unofficially, Stanton paced the group with 15 total home runs, while Judge had 10 and Bird had eight. Wilson got on the home run leaderboard, too, eclipsing Sanchez by one with six long balls.

"This is what I've known my whole life," Wilson said. "Now, I couldn't just step on a basketball court. I wouldn't be good at basketball, but baseball, it's like riding a bike once you get back out there for me. It's not an easy sport, though. It's very, very difficult."

Clayton Kershaw can become a free agent for the first time in his career at the conclusion of this fall's World Series.

Kershaw's seven-year, $215 million contract includes an opt-clause that can be exercised after the 2018 season.

The Dodgers are already expecting Kershaw to opt out and hit the market and they've had an "open dialogue" with the left-hander regarding the situation.