After one turn through the rotation

[wildcard]

Brandon Bailey will make his second appearance today with a start vs the Pirates.   He marks the beginning of the second turn through the rotation candidates. Those candidates include 8 starters Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Bailey, Rucker, and Hess.  Kohl Stewart will probably join the competition this  weekend as he recovers from some soreness.    IMO Akins, Kremer, Zimmerman, Diplan  and Lowther probably begin the season in the minors no matter how they do in camp. 

Eshelman, who had a good outing; Valdez pitched two good innings; Shepherd, who had a bad outing; Blach who had one bad outing and one good one are all non roster invitee except Valdez who was just brought over from the minor league camp for a look..   They probably have long odds to make the rotation out of ST.

Any of the top 9 candidates that don't make the rotation have a chance to join the pen.   They join Harvey, Givens, Bleier and Castros who are likely to make the pen.   Others battling for pen spots are Armstrong, Carroll (who has looked surprising good), Sulser, Hanhold (also surprising good).

Scott, Fry, Cervenka, Zastryzny, Phillips and Larkins kind of trail the pack with some uneven early performances.  But there is a lot time to make a jump into the thick of the competitions. Rodgers is coming back from injury and could be pitching in ST games soon.

That's 29 pitchers not counting the guys destiny for the minors.    Quite a big number.

The shock of camp has been the hitting of Chris Davis.  He could move from where I had him projected on the bench to the starting 1B.   Alberto 2B, Iglesias SS and Ruiz 3B seem to fill out the infield though Hyde seems determined to give Nunez every chance to win the 3B job.   That is probably because with  Santander, Hays and Mancini in the outfield, when Mountcastle is promoted in mid April the DH spot may turn into a rotation of these four guys  plus Nunez.

Severino seems to have a catching spot.  The second spot has Holaday challenging Sisco in the early going.  Wynns may lose his roster spot late in camp to make room for some of the non roster players which may include LeBlanc, Milone, Holaday and maybe Valaika.

The utility infield spot has a ton of competition.  Valaika is out hitting everyone in  the early going and the relay throw he made to cut down a Pirate trying to score was a thing of beauty.    Others include Velazquez, Urias, Martin, Herrera, Rondon and Wilkerson.  I think Bannon, Canelo, and McCoy begin in the minors.

The 4th outfielder is a competition between Smith, Mullins, Williams and DJ Stewart who is ahead of schedule in his injury recovery.   Mullins looks good in the early going but he is a fastball hitter and as the pitchers off speed stuff gets better it will be a test for him.  Williams not being on the 40 man roster could be a problem for him if Mullins continues to hit.  There may be room for DJ  Stewart or Smith on the roster until Mountcastle is promoted.   However there are a lot of ways the 26th man could go.

JMO

[Woody Held]

Valaika has been most impressive of all the infield cannon fodder Urias a close second.  I like Holiday behind the plate.  Sets up well ,mobile uses his body doesn’t swat with the glove at bad pitches.  Occasional pop in the bat.  
 

pitching wise I agree with Hanhold and Carroll looking the best of the periphery pitchers Larkins, Sulser and Armstrong are the only others that consistently have been throwing  strikes

 

lots of wildness so far, but it’s early

[Tx Oriole]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

Brandon Bailey will make his second appearance today with a start vs the Pirates.   He marks the beginning of the second turn through the rotation candidates. Those candidates include 8 starters Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Bailey, Rucker, and Hess.  Kohl Stewart will probably join the competition this  weekend as he recovers from some soreness.    IMO Akins, Kremer, Zimmerman, Diplan  and Lowther probably begin the season in the minors no matter how they do in camp. 

Eshelman, who had a good outing; Valdez pitched two good innings; Shepherd, who had a bad outing; Blach who had one bad outing and one good one are all non roster invitee except Valdez who was just brought over from the minor league camp for a look..   They probably have long odds to make the rotation out of ST.

Any of the top 9 candidates that don't make the rotation have a chance to join the pen.   They join Harvey, Givens, Bleier and Castros who are likely to make the pen.   Others battling for pen spots are Armstrong, Carroll (who has looked surprising good), Sulser, Hanhold (also surprising good).

Scott, Fry, Cervenka, Zastryzny, Phillips and Larkins kind of trail the pack with some uneven early performances.  But there is a lot time to make a jump into the thick of the competitions. Rodgers is coming back from injury and could be pitching in ST games soon.

That's 29 pitchers not counting the guys destiny for the minors.    Quite a big number.

The shock of camp has been the hitting of Chris Davis.  He could move from where I had him projected on the bench to the starting 1B.   Alberto 2B, Iglesias SS and Ruiz 3B seem to fill out the infield though Hyde seems determined to give Nunez every chance to win the 3B job.   That is probably because with  Santander, Hays and Mancini in the outfield, when Mountcastle is promoted in mid April the DH spot may turn into a rotation of these four guys  plus Nunez.

Severino seems to have a catching spot.  The second spot has Holaday challenging Sisco in the early going.  Wynns may lose his roster spot late in camp to make room for some of the non roster players which may include LeBlanc, Milone, Holaday and maybe Valaika.

The utility infield spot has a ton of competition.  Valaika is out hitting everyone in  the early going and the relay throw he made to cut down a Pirate trying to score was a thing of beauty.    Others include Velazquez, Urias, Martin, Herrera, Rondon and Wilkerson.  I think Bannon, Canelo, and McCoy begin in the minors.

The 4th outfielder is a competition between Smith, Mullins, Williams and DJ Stewart who is ahead of schedule in his injury recovery.   Mullins looks good in the early going but he is a fastball hitter and as the pitchers off speed stuff gets better it will be a test for him.  Williams not being on the 40 man roster could be a problem for him if Mullins continues to hit.  There may be room for DJ  Stewart or Smith on the roster until Mountcastle is promoted.   However there are a lot of ways the 26th man could go.

JMO

Let CD stay on the bench till that albatross is cut. 

[Spl51]

1 hour ago, Tx Oriole said:

Let CD stay on the bench till that albatross is cut. 

The amount of people buying into the delusion that Chris Davis is no longer a well below average major leaguer shows how easy it is to make people buy into media narratives.

[HowAboutThat]

Davis is bad.

Bad players can have a good streak now and then, especially against a group of guys who are going in the first camp cut.

But they are still bad.

[HowAboutThat]

Meanwhile, I am grateful for this detailed update. I am focusing on the pitchers too, But I didn’t provide the detail on the other guys that you have offered. I haven’t revised my position player choices yet, but several of the arms that I thought were not going to make it( Hess, LeBlanc, Milone) have shown well, And if they do well, it will mean a better staff than I had envisioned.

I was disappointed in Lowther, by the way. He got blasted, and no mistake.

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, Philip said:

Meanwhile, I am grateful for this detailed update. I am focusing on the pitchers too, But I didn’t provide the detail on the other guys that you have offered. I haven’t revised my position player choices yet, but several of the arms that I thought were not going to make it( Hess, LeBlanc, Milone) have shown well, And if they do well, it will mean a better staff than I had envisioned.

I was disappointed in Lowther, by the way. He got blasted, and no mistake.

I don't get disappointed with a guy that spent last season in AA and comes to camp and gets hit around.  He has 3 months to a full season of time a AAA to get used to the major league ball and refine his stuff.  

[DrungoHazewood]

6 hours ago, wildcard said:

The shock of camp has been the hitting of Chris Davis.  He could move from where I had him projected on the bench to the starting 1B.  

Ah, spring training.  Where eight plate appearances can make people forget about hitting .188 over your last 360 games.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

I don't get disappointed with a guy that spent last season in AA and comes to camp and gets hit around.  He has 3 months to a full season of time a AAA to get used to the major league ball and refine his stuff.  

 I understand that, but this was one of the guys we expected to see in the big leagues this season, and his first performance was not encouraging. 

I don’t know what quality of opponent he was facing, but if he was sharing poorly against Guys that are going to be quickly cut by the other team, that looks worse. I’m not closing the coffin yet, mind, But one would prefer a happier result, even if it’s just the first time.

[Enjoy Terror]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Ah, spring training.  Where eight plate appearances can make people forget about hitting .188 over your last 360 games.

On the contrary, Chris Davis hitting well in eight place appearances is something brand new and exciting and must be indicative of something.

Like, if I woke up and my lousy roommate of six years did the dishes once... I'd throw a party.

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

On the contrary, Chris Davis hitting well in eight place appearances is something brand new and exciting and must be indicative of something.

Like, if I woke up and my lousy roommate of six years did the dishes once... I'd throw a party.

Perhaps it’s time to DFA your roommate.   

[DrungoHazewood]

18 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Perhaps it’s time to DFA your roommate.   

In 2016 he signed a seven year lease and it's all paid up.

[wildbillhiccup]

5 hours ago, Tx Oriole said:

Let CD stay on the bench till that albatross is cut. 

2nded. 

[wildcard]

Bailey and Hess both had the opportunity yesterday to go three innings.  Neither could.   Too many pitches per inning.   Bailey was nibbling.  Hess had command problems.  Its early but both may end the spring as relievers.

Scott and Fry locked in a battle for the second lefty in the pen.  Scott has not changed much. He has the stuff but hasn't commanded it so far.   Fry's second outing was better yesterday but he was pitching into the shadows vs a weak lineup.  Not really that telling.