Spring Training 2023 Thread
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
The reaction now should be fun: the people who were excited over a bunch of wins in spring training will now be reminding us that these games mean nothing, while the pessimists who earlier kept saying these spring games mean nothing will now be saying "Ha, they stink, this proves I was right!"
Speier with some spring training updates:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/13/sports/deep-minors-red-sox-have-prospect-with-eye-catching-potential/
Bleis looked good yesterday, but also showed he's still a million miles from the majors.
He's got a good role model.
I think Cinco would be a good nickname for Bleis.
Speaking of tools, Ceddanne is gone, for now:
Injury updates:
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I think anything remotely predictive about spring training went out the window with the WBC making every game a split-squad game.
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-club-list-of-world-baseball-classic-players
View: https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/1635720635824341029/photo/1
According to Mike Petriello, only about 1/3 of the parks track exit velocity, but, still nice to see McGuire's name on this list.
According to Mike Petriello, only about 1/3 of the parks track exit velocity, but, still nice to see McGuire's name on this list.
I still think Verdugo would be better, but Speier talks about Casas at leadoff:
As traditional leadoff role evolves, Triston Casas is showing himself as a possible solution there for the Red Sox - The Boston Globe
As traditional leadoff role evolves, Triston Casas is showing himself as a possible solution there for the Red Sox - The Boston Globe
One thing that makes Casas interesting as a leadoff guy is that — in the minors, anyways — he still had great OBP's against lefties. It was just his power that dropped off. Of course, this spring, he's looked great against lefties. So we'll see, I guess.
Playing around with baseline lineups with Casas up top:
vs. LHP
1B Casas LH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
CF Duvall RH
LF Yoshida LH
RF Refsnyder RH
C Alfaro RH
2B Arroyo RH
SS Hernandez RH
vs. RHP
1B Casas LH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
CF Duvall RH
RF Verdugo LH
SS Hernández RH
C McGuire RH
2B Mondesí SW
Now these wouldn't be strict platoons: you're not platooning Verdugo and Refsnyder or Arroyo and Mondesí. You're using Refsnyder and... Tapía? Duran? Alfaro? to rest all three of your starting outfielders, and Mondesî or Chang to rest both Hernández and Arroyo. Once Story returns, I think he's probably the leadoff man, and it starts being possible to put some very deep lineups together:
2B Story RH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
1B Casas LH
CF Hernández RH
RF Verdugo LH
C Alfaro RH
SS Mondesí SW
SS Story RH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
CF Duvall RH
1B Casas LH
2B Arroyo RH
C Mcguire LH
RF Verdugo LH
Playing around with baseline lineups with Casas up top:
vs. LHP
1B Casas LH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
CF Duvall RH
LF Yoshida LH
RF Refsnyder RH
C Alfaro RH
2B Arroyo RH
SS Hernandez RH
vs. RHP
1B Casas LH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
CF Duvall RH
RF Verdugo LH
SS Hernández RH
C McGuire RH
2B Mondesí SW
Now these wouldn't be strict platoons: you're not platooning Verdugo and Refsnyder or Arroyo and Mondesí. You're using Refsnyder and... Tapía? Duran? Alfaro? to rest all three of your starting outfielders, and Mondesî or Chang to rest both Hernández and Arroyo. Once Story returns, I think he's probably the leadoff man, and it starts being possible to put some very deep lineups together:
2B Story RH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
1B Casas LH
CF Hernández RH
RF Verdugo LH
C Alfaro RH
SS Mondesí SW
SS Story RH
3B Devers LH
DH Turner RH
LF Yoshida LH
CF Duvall RH
1B Casas LH
2B Arroyo RH
C Mcguire LH
RF Verdugo LH
I love the idea of Casas leading off for a number of reasons
He seems like the best fit and every lineup I make seems better with him at top
Casas
Devers
Turner
Yoshida
That’s and incredible balance of power and discipline in your top 4. The more I look at it the more I love it.
- He doesn’t expand the zone and make pitchers work within the zone to get an out
- High OBP in front of Devers
- He will be pitched to very aggressively in front of Devers. I love that position for him, especially as a Rookie. He’ll get opportunities.
- He’s a fatiguing at bat. And fatiguing at bats in front of Devers should be the goal.
He seems like the best fit and every lineup I make seems better with him at top
Casas
Devers
Turner
Yoshida
That’s and incredible balance of power and discipline in your top 4. The more I look at it the more I love it.
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Casas at leadoff against RHP would be fine, but I can't see them going with 3 LHH in the top four against lefty starters. I would guess Kike will leadoff against LHP, at least until Story is back.
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I agree with this post 100%.
The only thing that makes me wary is that leadoff is a lot of pressure for a 22 year old rookie, Moreso in Boston. If anyone can handle that, it seems like Casas is that guy, but you never really know.
I agree- let Casas break in to the league in the bottom half of the order for a couple of months. There is already going to be a bunch of pressure on him- why ramp that up immediately?
I think Verdugo would be the best option. Career .341OBP (compared to Hernandez at .314). Bump Hernandez to the lead off spot against lefties (or maybe Refsnyder if he continues to hit like he did last year).
Against righties:
Verdugo
Devers
Turner
Yoshida
Duvall
Casas
Hernandez
McGuire
Arroyo
Against lefties:
Hernandez
Devers
Turner
Yoshida
Duvall
Casas
Verdugo
Arroyo
Wong/Alfaro
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Ort getting shelled again today. If they need a 40 man spot for Alfaro, this has got to be the obvious guy who goes, yes?
Nick Pivetta is apparently in the best shape of his life, shape in this case being pitch shape:
https://theathletic.com/4317119/2023/03/17/sarris-spring-training-stuff-surgers?source=user-shared-article
https://theathletic.com/4317119/2023/03/17/sarris-spring-training-stuff-surgers?source=user-shared-article
Other than when facing Matt Olson (2 HR, 3 RBI), he looked pretty good today. 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K against non-Olson batters. Ran into trouble in the 5th which, coincidentally or not, was the third time through the order. He's working on a new pitch (splitter), so it's hard to read too much into the stat lines.
Should he stop trying to get better, or bear down and try to win some spring training games?
I’d honestly rather see Mata dominate AAA as a starter and then have him come up In August and September as a relief ace… help the team to a long deep playoff run and start in the ‘24 rotation with Bello, Whitlock and Houck as a young rotation core for the next 4 seasons.
And Crawford get Ort’s BP spot
Split quad today. Batting 1-2 in Tampa game is Bleis and Mayer. Should be a fun glimpse of the future...
Unfortunately, it's the other game (the one with the big league lineup) that will be televised.
Joely injured today, may need to start the season on DL. Not sure who the next man up would be; no other lefty relievers on the 40.
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2023/03/red-sox-reliever-leaves-game-with-side-injury-seen-groaning-in-pain-report.html?utm_campaign=redsox_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3LvRluCK1mRB2D7WU0n1rApt2ZP1BTLEcQy152qZoLcs1pWTyXzoaSAL8
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2023/03/red-sox-reliever-leaves-game-with-side-injury-seen-groaning-in-pain-report.html?utm_campaign=redsox_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3LvRluCK1mRB2D7WU0n1rApt2ZP1BTLEcQy152qZoLcs1pWTyXzoaSAL8
No others if we're just looking to replace him with another lefty. They do have Richard Bleier already in the pen. Ultimately it depends on how long they think Joely is down. If it's just a couple weeks and they really want a second lefty in the pen, they could promote Murphy or Walter. If it will be a while, they could promote Ryan Sherriff or Matt Dermody to the 40-man.
If he can't cut it in the big leagues, they can always send Mosqueda down to Triple-E.
Everyone. But Mata will likely start in Worcester. And Ort could be DFA'ed this week
Unfortunately, tsetse flies are glossinidean dipterans, not culicideans. Your major mosquito vector pun choices are Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex, which makes things rather challenging.
View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1637907811639099392
Not so great. Going to have to rely on a AAA LHRP for awhile.
Not so great. Going to have to rely on a AAA LHRP for awhile.
Pretty remarkable that if everything breaks right - and it's a huge, huge if - we could be looking at an entirely homegrown rotation in the next few years. Bello, Mata, Whitlock, Houck, Crawford. How the times change.
