Early spring bullpen thoughts

[RZNJ]

Politi with a 1-2-3 against Springer, Bichette, and Vlad.   Got Springer to go fishing and Vlad on a weak grounder.   He aced his most important test of the spring.
 

Baumann once again shows he’s not ready for prime time.   Leadoff double to Chapman and a walk.  His fastball seemed to be from 93-99.   He got out of it versus some scrubs but even then he threw a flat slider that was lined to center for the 3rd out.   He’s potentially a 97-99 guy with a good slider but consistency and location seem like a long shot.

[RZNJ]

Politi and/or Krehbiel have probably done enough to earn spots, depending on the fate of Givens knee.  Of the remaining candidates:

1. Vespi - Solid depth at Norfolk and he’ll be back.

2. Baumann - Really needs to show something at Norfolk.  The stuff looks like it should translate to short relief but the command is poor.

3. Gillaspie - I wasn’t impressed last year but he’s had a really nice spring.

4. Yennier Cano - He’s a wildcard.  He could be released before the year is out or he could be a dominant setup man.  He’s got a 96-97 mph fastball with movement and a plus change.  His last 4-5 outings have been encouraging. He’ll have to go down to Norfolk and dominate.  He might.

[Aristotelian]

Krehbiel, Bauman, Akin, Gillaspie with 4 shutout innings. Baumann did give up 2 hits.

[Aristotelian]

3/26 Clean inning for Cano, Politi 2 ER in 0.2 innings, Hall 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 2H, 2BB

If spring stats matter, Gillaspie should make it. 

[eddie83]

 

[RZNJ]

Don’t count out Cano.  0 walks and 10 strikeouts this spring with an insane ground ball rate.   

[RZNJ]

On 3/24/2023 at 9:50 PM, RZNJ said:

Politi and/or Krehbiel have probably done enough to earn spots, depending on the fate of Givens knee.  Of the remaining candidates:

1. Vespi - Solid depth at Norfolk and he’ll be back.

2. Baumann - Really needs to show something at Norfolk.  The stuff looks like it should translate to short relief but the command is poor.

3. Gillaspie - I wasn’t impressed last year but he’s had a really nice spring.

4. Yennier Cano - He’s a wildcard.  He could be released before the year is out or he could be a dominant setup man.  He’s got a 96-97 mph fastball with movement and a plus change.  His last 4-5 outings have been encouraging. He’ll have to go down to Norfolk and dominate.  He might.

[Bahama O's Fan]

I watched the O's and Twins on March 17th. Bautista pitched the 6th to face some regulars. The Twins fans were in awe of him. Cano came in the ninth and shut down the game. The Twins fans around me thought that they had allowed Bautista to come pitch again.

[RZNJ]

Cano gives off some Zach Britton vibes as if even if the hitter guesses right (with Britton you didn’t even have to guess) the ball has so much movement that he can practically throw the ball middle middle and the hitter won’t square it up.

[Chavez Ravine]

13 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Cano gives off some Zach Britton vibes as if even if the hitter guesses right (with Britton you didn’t even have to guess) the ball has so much movement that he can practically throw the ball middle middle and the hitter won’t square it up.

I agree. Cano has some nasty. The trick is can it stick for a while?

[Aristotelian]

11 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Cano gives off some Zach Britton vibes as if even if the hitter guesses right (with Britton you didn’t even have to guess) the ball has so much movement that he can practically throw the ball middle middle and the hitter won’t square it up.

Jim Johnson is another comp. I'd say Cano get even more movement on his sinker though.

[RZNJ]

32 minutes ago, Chavez Ravine said:

I agree. Cano has some nasty. The trick is can it stick for a while?

It can as long as the command is there.   If he can start landing the slider a little more that would help too although the sinker/changeup looks like to be enough.

[Alasdaire]

Cano's changeup and Felix's splitter are two of the most unhittable pitches in baseball right now. And they're both gigantic. Incredibly intimidating to face those two in the 8th/9th.

[Sanity Check]

All of the sudden the Lopez trade to the Twins doesn't look so bad, does it?  Plus, assuming this guy pans out longer term, we have years of control, unlike with Lopez.

 

Plus, if he's really lights out, we can trade Bautista for 3 or 4 more pitchers that we've never heard of.   Just kidding....years of control on Bautista as well.

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

All of the sudden the Lopez trade to the Twins doesn't look so bad, does it?  Plus, assuming this guy pans out longer term, we have years of control, unlike with Lopez.

 

Plus, if he's really lights out, we can trade Bautista for 3 or 4 more pitchers that we've never heard of.   Just kidding....years of control on Bautista as well.

I don’t think that trade looked bad even without Cano but with Cano emerging, anything Povich, Nunez, and Rojas provide will seem like a bonus.   Povich was the key.   Let’s see how well they did there.