Games on March 3 and 4, 2023

MARCH 3rd GAME

• Zach Plesac stunk it up again in the first inning.  Maybe we need to do an opener for him because he had much better results in innings 2 and 3 after the Guardians exploited the brought-back-from-the-dead rule to give him extra work.
• Myles Straw played...much better than the alternative
• Petey Halpin replaced Straw and got the game winning hit.  A minor league pundit predicted that Halpin would have a better career than Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs.
• Out of the bullpen Tim Herrin did a Tim Herrin impersonation and gave up a walk and had a K in his one inning.   Right now he is our only true lefty option in the bullpen if you don't count Konnor Pilkington who is really a soft-tossing starting pitcher and is so not ideal for a bullpen guy.
• Luis Oviedo is still a little intriguing to me.  We have a lot of RH relievers in the majors and in our system but, still, I think Oviedo has a little helium with me, at least.
• Speaking of RH reliever prospects, Nick Mikoajchak righted the ship and K'd 2 in the 9th for the save.  Still like him better than any of our AAAA minor league signees as a guy to bring up later this year, if needed.
• Hunter Gaddis was shaky.  He needs to be better than this and I think if they told him and groomed him as a reliever he would be.  This bouncing back and forth only worked for Josh Tomlin.  In my opinion, Gaddis' stuff and demeanor screams reliever.
• Bilous showed why he was DFAd, giving up a HR and a walk with 2 Ks in his one inning.  Still like the Church guy from KC's minor league system (I think).  Could we trade him even up for Bilous?  I really think Bilous' 40-man roster spot goes to the backup catcher (Cam Gallagher?).
• Brito with 2 more walks.  I think he will have a monster offensive year this year but I think his defense will be exposed.  Maybe it is time to switch him over to being a catcher.  I also think, for the trade for Nolan Jones to even have a chance of bearing fruit, Brito will have to spend a successful half-season at Akron.   He is 2-7 with 6 walks and his two hits were slap hits (one a double) the other way from the left-hand side of the plate.
• Freeman and Martinez with identical lines while splitting third base.  Don't think we have seen Freeman in the outfield, yet.  Arias has been out there, including yesterday.  Zunino with another 0-2.  Brennan, Rosario and Rocchio with doubles.

Summary - Solid game for the Guards with Plesac's struggles being frustrating.  All he needs is to be a quality #4 or 5 pitcher.  Clearly with the bar set that low he should be thriving.  Yet, not so much right now.  I hope he gets his act together as, assuming everyone else does their job, Plesac having a good year could be a difference maker.  If he had just pitched .500 ball last year we would have gone 97-65.  If he pitched a little over .500 we could have won 100 games.  Think about that!  A good Plesac is a huge difference maker.   He just needs to thrive in his role.   Everyone else today just held serve with no one causing movement on the 26-player roster needle. 

MARCH 4th GAME

• Bieber with another strong start today. This is what I am used to seeing from veterans as they ramp up in spring training.  Obviously anyone can get hurt at any time but he is looking like he is going to have a good season.  I do see the bullpen maybe undoing his season if we don't have enough quality arms to get him out of games after 6 innings.  And, right now, our bullpen is questionable.
• Speaking of the bullpen, Trevor Stephan had his first outing today and it did not go well.  Not to go all Chicken Little but this (starting late and having an outing like this) is starting to smell like Stephan has an injury and that is the reason he was brought along slowly.
• Speaking of the bullpen, part deux, Karinchak did not look sharp as he walked two guys.  Pilkington gave up some hard contact but got out of it with only one run in 2 innings with 2 Ks.  Then, of course, we had our minor league invitees Simpson, Toussaint and Kelly.   These guys were brought in, I think, to fill bullpen roles at AAA to save our prospects' arms.   If any of them are on the opening day roster then something is wrong as the FO should have brought in enough talent this winter for situations like this.  I don't believe they did.
• Looking at the hitters, it was Micah Pries again who stood out with a homer and a walk.  I think he is 5-14 on the season with two doubles, one triple and two homeruns.  He should start the season with Columbus but it is hard to ignore his performance this spring.  Oh, BTW, don't trade him now as no one trusts spring training perfomrances and we will never, with this front office, get equal value for him.
• Gimenez hitting second is a hopeful sign for me.  He is penciled into my opening day lineup hitting there.  Him play SS is a nod to him playing in the WBC.  Again, as I said, the ideal thing would be for him to hit after a leading-off Altuve on their WBC team.   That would hopefully put it squarely in Francona's mind that moving Rosario way down in the order and hitting Gimenez second, in front of Ramirez, is the right thing to do.
• Once again, no one got more than one hit today, meaning no one is taking the bull by the horns to take over spots on the roster.  Contrast this to Jordan Walker who, in the absence of Arenado and Goldschmidt to the WBC US team, is hitting in the middle of their order and went 4-4 today with a double and 2 HRs.  It would be nice to see some of our young hitters break out.  People are just getting by with 1 hit or a hit and a walk.  No one is breaking out yet.
• Juan Brito got another walk today but struck out later in the game with the lead runs in scoring position and one out. Again, breakout season predicted by me for Brito this year but his hits so far this spring are two slap hits from the left side of the plate.  Freeman did get another hit and stole another bag.  If Rosario is hitting 8th Freeman would just slide into that position in the field and the order seamlessly if they wanted to give Roasrio a day off.   Something to think about.