1. So it begins. Our first injury report of the spring: Cocy Morris with a lat injury. As Morris has had injury problems in the past this is concerning. Our reliever depth is stretched pretty thin as the result of us not adding a reliever or two this winter. Plus Morris profiles as an above average reliever if he can stay healthy. New injuries happen and old injuries resurface or worsen. It's a part of the game. Still, part of this team's success last year was avoiding having players on the DL/IL. So keep your fingers crossed that last year's 'luck' carries over through this year, as well.
2. The WBC Classic will give the Guardians some things to think about when the season begins. Cal Quantrill, in order to be fit for the WBC, appears to have started his winter preparation earlier than normal. These guys are professional athletes. They need to let their bodies heal in the off-season. Thus at least part of the reason LeBron James has a hyperbaric chamber in his home. So Quantrill starting early and pitching in high-leverage situations like the WBC is something that SHOULD cause the Guardians to lessen his workload during the season. Thus when Francona could leave him in to start inning 7 after a good 6-inning performance, he shouldn't. When he picks a pitcher to be pushed back a day or to skip a start, it should be Quantrill, everything else being equal.
3. More WBC: It is concerning to me how Richie Palacios appears to be an afterthought as he appears to be the next man up if we have an outfield injury or disappointment. I think the WBC will help his confidence somewhat but the last outfielder who came up during the year and then was sent down never to return was Nolan Jones...and we know how that turned out. While Palacios is not the be-all, end-all of major league outfielders, I think that cost-concious teams like the Guardians cannot throw away prospects and the Jones history worries me they will.
4. Still more WBC: Andres Gimenez playing in the WBC may be useful to the Guardians if the manager chooses to bat him 2nd. That would be my hope as it would give the Guardians a chance to see if he can handle that spot and Gimenez the opportunity to get comfortable there. Melbys Viloria playing in the WBC cements, I hope, his role as depth at AAA as I hope he doesn't have an opt-out and, if he does, he chooses not to use it.
5. Speaking of backup catchers, we don't hear much about that from camp. My thinking now is that it's Lavastida's job to lose. While Cam Gallagher makes all the sense, Lavastida jumping up and taking the job is perfect as he can just hold that job (similar to Andrew Kizner in St. Louis) while one starting catcher leaves and another arrives. Lavastida would then be a steady and cheap backup who knows our pitching staff and, with Naylor, would help maximize that staff's output over the next 5 years.
6. Finally, I hate to mention this but the Guardians have gone very thin on quality minor league free agent signees this winter. Last winter we had a number of AAAA pitchers we signed AND Bryan Shaw, who was essentially guaranteed a spot due to lack of depth. This year we have less of both meaning that we will lean heavily on our legacy minor leaguers to fill those slots. With the early delay in Morris' season, it highlights, once again, that you can never have too much pitching. If this lack of signing depth guys who actually have a chance to pitch in the majors is organizational strategy because they think they have enough internal options, let's hope it works. One of big successes of last year's team with their tight roster situation is how they rotated fungible assets through 1 to 2 roster spots and, being fungible, didn't care if they lost the guys after having to DFA them. When you are talking about your own prospects, like Misiaszek, Battenfield and Mikolajchak, it is a more uncomfortable to treat those guys as throw-aways who they can afford to lose. Last year Alex Call was about as good a prospect that I would like to lose this way as he did some things for Washington after we lost him on waivers to the Nats.
No comments:
Post a Comment