A few thoughts as spring training starts to get serious

[mdbdotcom]

42 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m in Florida now and will be at the games this weekend.   I’m feeling good about the recent outings of Gausman and Cashner, and I’m disappointed to be seeing Wright today instead of Bundy.    Tomorrow I assume I’ll get a first hand look at Tillman.   In any event, I’m looking forward to seeing some baseball!

No TV this weekend, not even a visitor's feed on MLB.TV. We will be counting on you for complete reports on all the action and descriptions of amazing plays that leave us breathless. Also, have a good time!

[weams]

15 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

No TV this weekend, not even a visitor's feed on MLB.TV. We will be counting on you for complete reports on all the action and descriptions of amazing plays that leave us breathless. Also, have a good time!

Indeed. 

[NCRaven]

The injuries may help the spring performance, but last time I checked, these games don’t count.

Those guys are going to be on the ML roster so a least Davis needs to get some work in.

[mdbdotcom]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’m in Florida now and will be at the games this weekend.   I’m feeling good about the recent outings of Gausman and Cashner, and I’m disappointed to be seeing Wright today instead of Bundy.    Tomorrow I assume I’ll get a first hand look at Tillman.   In any event, I’m looking forward to seeing some baseball!

Tillman to start Monday vs. Tigers,, according to Roch.

[theocean]

On 3/12/2018 at 7:15 PM, sportsfan8703 said:

My three big takes on ST so far,

1.  Sisco is going to rake this year. Maybe leadoff by May. 

2. Harvey might be ready, but Castro has earned the first month.  We are going to be following Harvey real close. He’s added the cutter and needs to work on the change. 

3.  Santander isn’t an obligation. He’s one of our 5 best OF’s. 

What's Sisco's speed like? His bat is pretty good as a leadoff hitter if he can move on the bases.

[weams]

 

[Ruzious]

It's very important to see how the Rule 5 pitchers do.  Araujo definitely belongs on the roster.  Cortez has shown enough to make the roster with his 8/2 SO/W ratio - even though he has gotten hit.  Mesa right now hasn't shown enough, but he should get more chances to impress - I would not write him off at this point.    

[weams]

 

[weams]

 

[Luke-OH]

6 hours ago, theocean said:

What's Sisco's speed like? His bat is pretty good as a leadoff hitter if he can move on the bases.

He runs well for a catcher, but he's not fast, maybe grade 45 speed.

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, weams said:

 

They question is, three inning starts or real starts?

If it's real starts I think it's a bad idea.

[Frobby]

Here’s a few thoughts on today’s game:

1.   Wright was Wright.   First inning, there was a botched 3-1 play scored as a hit, but it should have been an out.    I couldn’t tell whether Mancini’s throw wasn’t accurate or Wright just dropped it, but he was there before the runner.   The runner ended up on 2B but then got doubled up when the next hitter took off on a line drive caught by Jones.    Another runner got caught misreading a liner to Jones in the third inning and was doubled up.    Later that inning, a runner scored on a single to RF when Gentry’s throw was offline to the RF foul side, but Sisco caught the runner rounding first.   So, Wright only got one out that inning, but the fielders/baserunners bailed him out twice.    In the fifth, after allowing a single and a walk, Wright balked the runners over and then allowed a two-run triple.   Typical Wright, he was rattled.   The next guy hit a grounder to Sardiñas, who was playing in, but his throw home was head-high and Sisco didn’t get the tag low enough and the runner slid under it for the fourth run.    Overall, not a sharp outing by Wright.   He topped out at 93, I think.  

Joely Rodriguez came in with two out and his first pitch was clocked at 100 mph.   He got one out to end the inning and that was all we saw of him.   

Mesa threw two innings and was sitting 90-91; I saw him hit 92 once.  He threw mostly breaking stuff and it looked decent; he got one batter to look foolish striking out on an 82-mph pitch that was either a slider or a change.   Mesa also botched a comebacker and allowed a stolen base that didn’t even draw a throw (Sisco bobbled it, but it didn’t matter as the runner was practically standing on 2B).

O’Day pitched the 8th and struck out the side very easily.   I think he faced three minor leaguers and they all looked helpless.

Scott closed it out and didn’t have his good fastball or great command.    He sat 94, topping out at 95, with his slider in the 85-86 range.    He broke off about 2 good sliders but missed badly with several, including one that didn’t break and nearly beaned a guy.   A run scored on a grounder to Adrian Marin at SS, who bobbled the transfer and had to settle for an out at first instead of trying to nail the runner at the plate.    

I’ll put some comments on the hitters in a separate post.

I should add, my seats were beyond 3B in the upper section, but I spent 1.5 innings visiting with Bruce (vatech1994) who was sitting 5 rows behind home plate.   He may have some comments on the pitchers from that vantage point that I couldn’t give from where I sat most of the time.   Awesome seats for Bruce!

 

[Aristotelian]

Cashner coming in sharp is a great sign. If he is a dud like Ubaldo, we will be in serious trouble, but so far so good. I'm actually kind of excited to see what he can do.

One more solid outing and I think Cortes locks up a spot. Impressive minors resume, let's see what he can do. I prefer him to start

Tough choice for the final bullpen/SP spots. All eyes on Joely, Wright, Tillman, Mesa, Castro, possibly Scott.  Hard to cut any of these guys.

Agree, Santander is an exciting player. At this point I would prefer to see him getting time over Davis and Trumbo. 

 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

37 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Here’s a few thoughts on today’s game:

Thanks for the updates!

2 questions: How long are you down there and did it seem like any of the pitchers were hit hard, or the ball was just hit in the right spot?

[Frobby]

19 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Thanks for the updates!

2 questions: How long are you down there and did it seem like any of the pitchers were hit hard, or the ball was just hit in the right spot?

Alas, this is just a Thursday-Monday trip, so the only games I’ll see are today’s and tomorrow’s.

Wright allowed a lot of hard contact today, I thought.    Only one extra base hit, but he got squared up a lot.    As mentioned, Jones caught two liners that were smashed and turned them into DP’s, and the other DP was on a hard hit grounder that was right at Valencia, playing 3B.

The others weren’t hit too hard.   Only Mesa allowed any hits (2), one of which was a swinging bunt that he fielded but botched the throw.