Rotation Starters look solid across the board, including Blubaugh & Ullola at AAA. Garcia gets on the mound for a couple of innings toward the end of Spring. Bullpen Rafael Montero takes a $5m buyout early for an opportunity to catch on with some other team. Whitley looks great all Spring but performs terribly once the season starts and is released early in the season. Catchers Left handed bat & 3rd catcher Salazar shows enough aptitude at LF/1st base to get a serious look at the bench bat role Singleton is penciled in for. Infield Altuve shags a few flies but does not play a single inning in LF once games begin. Walker and Paredes adapt well and the infield looks very good. Outfield Corona surprises with a great Spring and starts the season in RF. Melton is the best of the left handed bats and in the end splits the center field/bench OF job with Meyers to start the regular season.
I don't know if I can see ANY of this outside of the rotation. Bullpen: Montero has no reason to accept any discount. I actually see him competing for a roster spot in ST but he will get 100% of his contract. Anything else is a dream. Catchers: no reason to play Salazar anywhere but catcher, as he is VERY below average anywhere else. The lack of talent among the bottom of lineup and bench keep him in the minors unless Diaz gets hurt or Caratini gets hurt or traded. Infield: 2nd base is a revolving door, and between LF and DH, Altuve plays more games away from 2b than at 2b. Outfield: a dozen people end up starting games in the OF and at least 1 rookie has a surprisingly positive year. Corona is not one of the dozen and certainly would not he in RF if he did. My puck is Dezenzo getting ROY votes and may be starting RF by September.
Glad to hear it. I posted this to try and get some forward looking conversations started. Hope you have some additional thoughts.
Yea, Montero is getting $11.5 mil this year and has no guarantees of getting another contract (and if he does it may only be 1 year at $4 mil or so). He'd be better off taking the full amount, not playing this year at all and hoping to sign with another club for a year at league minimum than accepting a smaller buyout and hoping his stuff is good enough to make up the difference.
On the Crush City podcast, Espada said Dezenzo will get lots of time early in camp at both RF and LF while still playing 1b.said they don't want to give up on him in the inf then proceeded to not mention 3b at all. Said he watched Matthews play 2b in Puerto Rico and the way he talked made me think that is his future position. Despite all the talk about young guys competing for OF spots, neither Whitcomb nor Leon were mentioned. He said Altuve has been using Yordan's glove in LF. Said he has his own but it isn't broken in yet. Keeping Yordan out of LF is one of the motivating factors to playing Altuve there. It's going to be an interesting ST
Opening day is home vs Mets. Most likely matchup is lefty Manaea vs Framber. My prediction: Altuve LF Paredes 3b Yordan DH Walker 1b Diaz C McCormick RF Pena SS Meyers CF Dubon 2b.
Infield, Dubon plays the most at 2b until Matthews is ready. They could move Dezenzo there at some point. Bullpen- Whitley pitches well and becomes a solid 6th/7th inning guy. Starters- At some point a couple of Gordon/Gusto/Blubaugh/Ullola will pitch in MLB this year. Altuve will make a smooth transition to LF and the Crawford boxes will minimize his lack of arm strength. OF- Meyers- will be Meyers, his lack of arm strength will hurt the team, not to mention his Mendoza line bat. Chas- bounces back with the bat, but since he throws like a girl Dezenzo will get plenty of time in RF. Chas really needs to be playing CF. I could eventually see an OF of Altuve/Chas/Platoon of Dezenzo/Gamel. Melton will get a shot in MLB at some point this year. Dana will make a trade to acquire a RF bat at the deadline. Yordan plays 50 or less games in LF this year.
Other teams won't need Pettis's Windmill at 3B....all day green light for an extra base or 2 Tag and score from 2B on a fly ball to med-deep RCF? Heeeelllll yeah. 1st to 3rd on a single to LF? Yep. This is nightmare baseball for me, personally
I am so ready for spring training; hope is eternal until the bell rings......................Have my tickets for March 29th, gonna make a weekend of it, stay at the Marriott, hang out downtown and have a blast. I have no clue if we will be great or just meh, but dam it it's time for baseball and we can hope
I'll take that one. Less than 162 due to inclement weather and no significance to the outcome of the game at season's end.
