ROSTER
There was a scene in "Moneyball" where Art Howe said he was going to play Carlos Pena against Billy Beane's wishes that Howe play Scott Hatteberg. When Howe wouldn't relent, Beane simply traded Pena to Detroit, ending the disagreement.
Today, I had to laugh as all of the pundits, including me, probably got a little bit like Art Howe must have felt (if you believe that the movie told what really happened).
While we were all arguing back and forth about Roman Quinn and Richie Palacios and while my choice: David Fry, was sent to the minor leagues, the Guardians instead chose to, most likely, include Mebrys Viloria on the opening 26. So we will start the season with 3 guys who are all slow, not very good hitters and all play the same position, exclusively.
I don't understand it as, if you are going to keep Viloria why not keep Fry who has shown good defense at 3rd and at first, in addition to his work at catcher? I don't really understand the FO decision here, but it is what it is. Fry punctuated this again tonight with a good play at 1B, a good batting eye (drawing our only walk) and a HR to the opposite field off Rockies' closer Daniel Bard.
THE WILL BENSON TRADE IS NOW COMPLETE
Will Benson was traded for two second round picks. Are these guys really second round talents? Hajjar was the 100th best player in his draft class (drafted 61st) and Boyd was the 135th best prospect in his draft class (drafted 65th), Still, we did a lot better in this trade, at least so far, than two other times we made a move to jettison a player we didn't think would be anything who was picked up by the Reds.
April 7, 2006 - Traded Brandon Phillips to Cincinnati for a PTBNL who turned out to be Jeff Stevens.
December 2, 2020 - Granted Tyler Naquin free agency. He was signed by Cincinnati on February 18, 2021.
So, here's to hoping we hit big with Hajjar (ranked in the top 30 of Cincinnati's sytem) and Boyd (currently ranked 29th in our system). I think if someone would have told me that we could get two prospects this good for Benson I would have taken it then...just like I am taking it as a good return now..
TONIGHT'S GAME
Crap, I don't ever remember seeing a spring training performance like I did from Bieber tonight. I mean, like EVER> Eleven Ks in 6 2/3 innings and only 4 hits and no walks. And against a lot of Colorado regulars.
Karinchak and Sandlin looked good and Davis Sharpe looked not so good as his fastball only sat at 91 and he had trouble with his control/command. But he still got the save.
As far as the hitters, besides Fry's HR and walk, Straw ripped a double (albeit on a 77 mph pitch), Brennan ripped a long double off the wall in left-center, Kwan had an RBI single while hitting out of the 3rd spot, Gonzalez hit a hard double down the line in left, Zunino got a bloop double and Tolentino got a triple and Delgado beat out an infield hit and then scored from first on Straw's double.
I still think Straw and Gonzalez have some work to do as they took some weak swings but they are at least trending in the right direction.
I hope to see Fry back here helping us sooner rather than later.
No defensive gaffes tonight except for Brennan's bobble of McMahon's base hit that let him to get into position to score the only run Bieber gave up and, of course, Fry's good catch near the first base stands.
Whatever else, good or bad, happened in the game tonight, Bieber's performance makes the night feel good. Let's keep him healthy throughout the season and let that arm eat!
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