ST 2023 MLB News & Notes

bosox188

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The Cardinals have said Jordan Walker has a fair shot at winning an outfield job this spring and he is answering the bell and then some. 1.376 OPS so far this spring and top 5 exit velocities as a 20 year old.

 

Yelling At Clouds

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The Cardinals have said Jordan Walker has a fair shot at winning an outfield job this spring and he is answering the bell and then some. 1.376 OPS so far this spring and top 5 exit velocities as a 20 year old.

I think about twenty years ago they called up a different 21 year old after minimal time in the minors because he was hitting well in ST. I wonder how that worked out for the Cardinals and also the Angels?
 

trekfan55

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There s a very famous Arab singer called Farid ElAttrache. My folks and their generation listened to him a lot. (My late father was born in Syria and was among many Syrian Jews who left and ended up in Panama, among other places like New York, Colombia and Brazil)
 

Sad Sam Jones

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And here's why this took so long: a second opinion was sought from the always funny sounding name, ElAttrache. It's a serious injury - UCL sprain / partial tear.
The orthopedic surgeon for the Cleveland Guardians is Dr. Schickendantz. I can't read his name without the song immediately following in my head.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Juan Soto (and also Austin Nola) got injured yesterday.
https://theathletic.com/4326618/2023/03/20/padres-juan-soto-austin-nola-injuries/
Sounds like they need to get rid of these B games and spring training games. Players can get hurt in them!

Luckily Soto's injury doesn't sound like a big deal:
Soto had planned to take multiple at-bats in a minor-league game at the Peoria Sports Complex. He left after one at-bat, with the Padres describing his exit as precautionary. Soto is considered day-to-day.
On the other hand, why not speculate that it is?
The team is expected to provide more of an update after Monday’s off day, but oblique injuries tend to be tricky; some studies have found that major-league hitters typically take close to a month to recover from a mild strain. While certain cases resolve in a matter of days, Soto at least is questionable for Opening Day, now less than two weeks away.
 

LogansDad

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I mean, Seiya Suzuki has been basically shut down since the first week of spring with a "mild" oblique. I don't think they are saying anything wrong there.
 

BigSoxFan

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Juan Soto (and also Austin Nola) got injured yesterday.
https://theathletic.com/4326618/2023/03/20/padres-juan-soto-austin-nola-injuries/
Sounds like they need to get rid of these B games and spring training games. Players can get hurt in them!

Luckily Soto's injury doesn't sound like a big deal:

On the other hand, why not speculate that it is?
Is it me or are these oblique injuries seemingly more frequent now? Hard to know if Soto’s is real or just a very minor blip but I generally get nervous when I read of an oblique injury. Wonder what the risk of re-injuring is as well.
 

BigSoxFan

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I mean, Seiya Suzuki has been basically shut down since the first week of spring with a "mild" oblique. I don't think they are saying anything wrong there.
Good call. Is there such thing as a mild oblique injury? Feels like it always means missed time for the player. Glasnow had a grade 2 strain and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. These things just linger.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Depends on your definition of "now", but I'd say they've been very common for at least the past 15 years (you could pencil CC Sabathia down for one in the spring when he was still in Cleveland), especially in spring training or guys on rehab after a lot of downtime, and seemingly more with pitchers. Sometimes it's also just terminology. I'm pretty sure I'd never heard of an oblique strain 30 years ago, but I'm also sure they were happening and they were just calling them another name, like a strained midsection or torso or some such thing.
 

BigSoxFan

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bosox188

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Throwing your star pitching prospect publicly under the bus for his spring performance sure is a hell of a tone to set for the season.


@afkostka

Mike Elias on Grayson Rodriguez: He “was not ready to jump into a major league rotation. Just getting not past the fourth inning. And we know what he’s capable of. I wasn’t expecting this. We were hoping he would show up as a better version of himself.”
Small sample sizes in spring training are a shit way to gauge raw performance to begin with. Per Eno Sarris and his pitching model: Grayson Rodriguez had roughly the same Stuff+ numbers and better Location+ than Sandy Alcantera this spring.
 
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DeadlySplitter

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Elias is off of the Astros tree, I doubt he believes any of that quote. This smells of service time manip (despite the new CBA) but trying to justify it to the fanbase through other means.
 

bosox188

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It may or may not be. While I do have a high regard for pitching models, I think one could still make the argument that his spring was a little shaky and maybe he should take a month to get a better feel for his pitches after a long injury absence last season.

But I just think putting it that harshly in a public quote is an awful way to go about things.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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It's definitely a depressing way to open the season. I fully expected Dr. Sticks to be at least Cleveland's "1(B)" this year, if not better than Shane Bieber. Hunter Gaddis was already Cleveland's "#6 starter" on the opening day roster, getting the last spot in the bullpen, but of all the kids who made their debut for the Guardians last year, he's the one I just don't see having any upside as a starter. Xzavion Curry was also in the battle for that spot in the pen, so my preference would be to keep Gaddis where he's at and give Curry the first shot in the rotation.

Cody Morris was the biggest reason I absolutely wanted Zach Plesac gone in the off-season, but he immediately went down in early March and will open his second straight season on the IL. Lefty Konnor Pilkington is the other immediate candidate. A crazy-for-now-but-maybe-in-May option would be soft-tossing Joey Cantillo, who's the only one of the six players received in the Mike Clevinger trade who hasn't contributed in Cleveland yet. If this drags out, 2021 1st rounder Gavin Williams also comes into play, since he should be MLB-ready before the end of the year but won't be added to the 40-man roster until they're sure about that.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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It may or may not be. While I do have a high regard for pitching models, I think one could still make the argument that his spring was a little shaky and maybe he should take a month to get a better feel for his pitches after a long injury absence last season.

But I just think putting it that harshly in a public quote is an awful way to go about things.
There could be something going on behind the scenes too. It might not just be his game performances, but what he's doing on the practice field or in the gym or something. Maybe the public rebuke and the demotion is intended as a wake up call they were failing to get through in private.
 

Heating up in the bullpen

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It may or may not be. While I do have a high regard for pitching models, I think one could still make the argument that his spring was a little shaky and maybe he should take a month to get a better feel for his pitches after a long injury absence last season.

But I just think putting it that harshly in a public quote is an awful way to go about things.
If they also said that to him in person -- before sharing it with the press -- I don't see the problem.
If they didn't, then that's poor management.