Spring Training thread

[tjfla]

Telis,Nicolino,Cervenka and Ellington to NOLA

Cervenka was a great trade for us!! HAHA. Telis might have lost his #3 C spot to Cabrera,they love the bat but Mattingly likes Cabrera as a C

Nicolino and Ellington just going to NOLA to work on mechanics and be sharp

[fish16]

Telis,Nicolino,Cervenka and Ellington to NOLA

Cervenka was a great trade for us!! HAHA. Telis might have lost his #3 C spot to Cabrera,they love the bat but Mattingly likes Cabrera as a C

Nicolino and Ellington just going to NOLA to work on mechanics and be sharp

I never understood that Cervenka trade. He has literally never been an overly effective guy against lefties and he's always had control problems. Couple that with the fact that we gave up Michael Mader, who isnt some top prospect but he is a lefty starter who we drafted in the supplemental round only 2 years ago who was having a pretty solid year last year and of course went on to pitch really well in his first taste of AA action with the braves.

Also, I find it weird that at the very least Telis didnt make it closer to the cut day compared to some of the other guys who are still around, at least in regards to the Prado injury. I didnt think he would make the team on merit just cause we want to carry a short bench but i figured he might be the guy who we kept up for a few days until Prado comes back.

Ellington will be up pretty quickly into the year and Nicolino will probably start at least 15 games for us this year id assume.

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So roster math:

Starting position players- Realmuto, Bour, Gordon, Hech, Prado, Yelich, Ozuna, Stanton
Starting pitchers- Volquez, Straily, Chen, Conley, Koehler
Bench- Rojas, Ichiro, ellis, ?
Bullpen- Ramos, Ziegler, Tazawa, Barraclugh, Phelps, McGowan, Wittgren, Urena(?)

That's 25. As for that last spot i'd assume we just go with Riddle or Hood since they are already on the 40, but I guess Den Dekker or Moore, whoever the hell those guys are, have a chance too because their spring numbers are good. Or we claim someone, which is what im hoping.

[emkayseven]

Derek Dietrich doesn't have a spot on your team?

[fish16]

Derek Dietrich doesn't have a spot on your team?

Forgot about putting him, but to start the season it doesnt make a difference cause he was in Prado's place in the lineup. I think thats why I didnt put him as a bench spot. Just forgot to put his name instead of Prado.

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Strailly with a great outing today against the opening day lineup for the Astros. 6 innings, a run, 4 K's and no walks. He's had a pretty good spring, and a 17/1 K/bb ratio. Same with Chen except for that he is giving up an absurd amount of solo HR's.

And pretty much our entire lineup looks ready for opening day. Hech especially, hitting .254/.254/.373. Mid season form for Hech.

[fish16]

Random, but was just looking at the nats roster. Holy shit, they are absolutely loaded this year. Health is needed obviously, but my goodness their rotation and lineup is incredible. Especially when they inevitably add a closer at the deadline. They have done a great job building that roster over the course of years. I see them being well better than the mets, even though they will be pretty solid as well. But on paper the nats roster is on a different level.

[tjfla]

3 years late but they finally got Vance Worley

Signed him to a minor league deal

[fish16]

Melvin Upton released by the blue jays. Id be all in favor of going after him. We could really use a 4th/5th OF and another right handed bat off the bench. One injury away from Ichiro playing every day is not a position i'd like to be in, plus he's a better option than anything else we have.

[emkayseven]

Ignoring the money aspect, we aren't carrying 5 bench bats, so either he reports to AAA (probably not happening), replaces Ichiro (obviously not happening), or replaces Moore/Dietrich's spot which means we don't have a backup corner IF. Unfortunately when you carry 13 pitchers you don't have the luxury of a 5th OF.

[Namaste]

I do not want anyone named Melvin on our team. Especially Melvin Upton.

[fish16]

Ignoring the money aspect, we aren't carrying 5 bench bats, so either he reports to AAA (probably not happening), replaces Ichiro (obviously not happening), or replaces Moore/Dietrich's spot which means we don't have a backup corner IF. Unfortunately when you carry 13 pitchers you don't have the luxury of a 5th OF.

There is no need to carry 13 pitchers. Realmuto, Bour, and Dietrich can all play first and Prado and Dietrich can play 3rd. Upton provides a major need which is a RH power bench bat. He isnt great, but he would probably become our best RH off the bench and gives us more speed and power.

[emkayseven]

There's no need to carry 13 pitchers. But they're going to, it's never been up for debate.

[fish16]

There's no need to carry 13 pitchers. But they're going to, it's never been up for debate.

What has never been up for debate? I've always thought it was stupid, specifically in the NL, to carry that many pitchers, especially given how theyve already said how they intend to use Phelps. If he is going to be a multiple innings guy, WTF is the point of Urena wasting a spot on the roster simply because we dont want to lose an at best mediocre pitcher? We are intentionally leaving our manager short handed on options for pinch hitting and double switches, etc, in favor of keeping a flat out bad pitcher in Urena. It is absolutely mind bogglingly stupid.

Hence, today, we have a chance to add on, and even if there were already 2 outs, we sent a reliever out to pinch hit in a close game, just giving away an out. Combine doing that once a game with 3-4 ab's from Hech, and 3 AB's from out SP, and we're already down 8 outs or so in a game where were allowed 27. Carrying 13 in the AL, that makes sense. In the NL, when we've already disclosed how we intend on using Phelps as a guy who goes multiple innings, not even talking about the ability of the pitcher we are doing it for in Urena, is unreal dumb. We're essentially hand cuffing Mattingly's decisions in games to only giving 3 available possible pinch hitters, because we will never use Ellis or our backup C as a pinch hitter, simply because we dont want to lose Urena. If Urena had never pitched in the majors or had shown any hints of possibly becoming a quality major league pitcher, maybe that would be rational, but he has always been flat out terrible. And it is going to lead to further blown chances to increase leads or cut deficits. Doing that to keep a pitcher the likes of which has Urena's ability, is unreal stupid.

[emkayseven]

I'm not disagreeing with you. What's not up for debate is them carrying 13 pitchers, because they said they were going to do it. If they do that, there is no room for Upton. They are going to do it. Therefore, there is no room for Upton.

[fish16]

I'm not disagreeing with you. What's not up for debate is them carrying 13 pitchers, because they said they were going to do it. If they do that, there is no room for Upton. They are going to do it. Therefore, there is no room for Upton.

That doesnt make it right or unable to be rightly criticized every time it comes back to bite them in the ass..