American League

Blue Jays

• Yariel Rodriguez is working with a pitch limit and won’t go long into games. He could end up in a tandem with Bowden Francis.

With a pitch limit of 70 or so, Rodríguez worked until two outs into the fourth inning, when he ended his outing with a called strikeout on Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers. In all, Rodríguez allowed four hits — including a solo homer by centre fielder Brenton Doyle — along with two walks and six strikeouts.
…
Coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season, Bowden Francis took over in the fourth inning. Combined with Rodríguez, they allowed just three runs over six innings — what a club is generally looking for from a traditional starter.

The Blue Jays hinted at using Rodríguez and Francis as a piggybacking tandem, and given the results this time around, it’s a strategy the club can turn to again, though Francis can also be used in spots out of the bullpen in the games between, too.
…
“We’re gonna build him up a little bit, but it’s not going to be, again, outrageous to where we’re really pushing him, six, seven, eight innings, things like that,” Schneider said. “Things could change, for sure, based on how he’s feeling and how he’s doing, but I think we’re going to play the long game a little bit.”

Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Astros

• The team needs to determine which starter will leave the rotation when Justin Verlander returns from the IL. Just a week ago, it was assumed to Ronel Blanco.

When Verlander does return, Houston could have a compelling rotation crunch to address. Ronel Blanco profiled as the odd man out, but after throwing a no-hitter on Monday, he may be given a longer look. The Astros have four off days from April 18-30, so a six-man rotation isn’t feasible.

Nearly two no-hitters later for Blanco, the narrative has changed to Blanco, J.P. France, and Hunter Brown.

Justin Verlander’s impending return could move Blanco, J.P. France or Brown into the bullpen as long relievers, too, but Houston has more immediate needs.

Blanco is probably safe but France and Brown have both been struggling.

Name: IP, ERA, xFIP
Brown: 7.0, 6.43, 4.94
France: 11.1, 4.76, 4.96
Blanco: 15.0, 0.00, 4.58 Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Astros

• Ronel Blanco added a changeup.

“Blanco has the repertoire to do this every time he goes out there,” manager Joe Espada said Tuesday. “He added that changeup. He can go deep into games because he throws strikes. He’s efficient. We expect him to continue to provide some good outings for us moving forward.”

The changeup could give him a huge boost. Before the change, he was just a fastball-slider pitcher, but in his no-hitter, he threw his changeup more than any other pitch.

     Pitch: Usage

• Change: 34%
• Slider: 32%
• Four-seamer: 30%

Besides giving him a much-needed third pitch, the changeup seems to be above league average. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• I watched this game because Patrick Sandoval was one of the few Opening Day starters who might end up on the waiver wire this season. Most teams were throwing early-round aces. It was a mixed bag for him. On the good side, his fastball velocity was up a tick from 93.1 mph to 94.2 mph. Also, his change-up was on producing a 24% SwStr%.

There was plenty of bad with him allowing 5 R (three earned) in 1.2 IP. The defense behind him, especially Anthony Rendon, was atrocious. The main problem was that he could not throw strikes (40% Zone%, 40% Ball%, 11% equiv BB%).

I’d monitor him to see if the start was a one-off and he finds the strike zone or he’ll struggle to find it again this season. Read the rest of this entry »

• First, there is a ton of garbage coming from writers right now that feels canned as everyone gets ready for the regular season. Most of the news is either the last bench spot or bullpen spot which doesn’t matter for fantasy. Or injury news covered by everyone. I’ve read through so much trash the last couple of days and this is all I have found and I’m sorry for the lack of content. Look at the bright side, you didn’t dig around for the information.

• I mentioned it a few instances in the article, but here is a nice article going through the likely Opening Day lineups. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• The team is considering Andrew Wantz as part of their rotation.

“Those three lefties we have [Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers and Patrick Sandoval], they have the ability to shut games down,” Washington said. “And you got [Griffin] Canning and [Chase] Silseth and [Andrew] Wantz, I mean we have guys who are able to shut offenses down. … If we can get ‘em out there keeping the opponent to two or three runs every night, we’re in good shape.”

In 117 IP over three seasons, Wantz has a 3.85 ERA, 9.5 K/9, and 1.15 WHIP. He features a 94-mph fastball and slider (14% SwStr%) while mainly throwing out of the bullpen.

• José Soriano’s role is not yet set.

Right-handers Chase Silseth and José Soriano will both pitch in Minor League action on Thursday’s off-day. Silseth remains on track to be the club’s fifth starter, while the Angels still haven’t decided whether they’ll continue to keep Soriano stretched out or move him back to a relief role. If Soriano remains a starter, he’s expected to open the year in the Minors.

He’ll either start in the minor league rotation or as a long reliever in the majors.

Athletics

• Tyler Soderstrom will start in the minors in order to play every day.

Coupled with the unlikelihood of regular playing time in the Majors due to the presence of Langeliers at catcher and Ryan Noda at first base, the A’s felt it would be best for Soderstrom to get regular at-bats in the Minors, where he holds an .857 OPS in three seasons.

“Defensively, the improvements he’s made over the last two years back there have made him into a No. 1-type catcher,” Kotsay said. “The offensive side, with the bat, controlling the strike zone is probably his biggest thing. When he swings at good pitches, he does damage. I think shrinking the zone for him is a big goal and something we’ll pay attention to when he’s in Vegas this year.”

Blue Jays

• If healthy, Bowden Francis will be in the major league rotation.

There’s no mystery to this solution. Bowden Francis gets to run with a big league rotation job, and if he pitches as well as many within the Blue Jays’ organization expect, he could keep it. If that script plays out, Manoah wouldn’t just need to get his body right, he’d need to do enough to win the job back. This is a massive opportunity for Francis.

• Kevin Gausman might be skipped the first or second time through the rotation.

Let’s not even call this an “injury.” This was something minor that Gausman felt earlier in camp, but it derailed his schedule and he’s trying to catch up. Gausman threw 23 pitches in a live BP setting Friday in Dunedin and he will get into a game next, but the Blue Jays are in a race against the clock to get him ready in time.

“We’re waiting and seeing,” Schneider said. “We still have to build him up quite a bit, whether he lands at the end of camp at 60 pitches and then he can pitch without overworking and overtaxing our bullpen at the beginning of the year. If it’s at the end of the rotation, that’s probably the best-case scenario.”

Mariners

• Dominic Canzone has a leg up on Luke Raley for the left-field job.

How Servais looks utilizes left field — with Canzone and Raley each being lefty hitters — will be worth following. Canzone has been among the best performers this spring, while Raley is still looking to find his footing, now 1-for-23 in Cactus play. The Rays almost exclusively sat Raley against lefties last season, with nearly 90% of his plate appearances coming against righties.

Rangers

• Josh Jung should return to action ahead of Corey Seager.

The good news is that [Seager and Jung] can still be ready come Opening Day. Manager Bruce Bochy has said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that will be the case.

“I think Josh for certain, but I don’t want to jump ahead yet to Corey,” general manager Chris Young said, confirming Bochy’s thinking. “I think Josh for certain, I think he’s ahead of where Corey is right now. He’s been able to do more baseball activity, but still cautiously optimistic for Corey, too. If it’s not Opening Day, it’ll be shortly thereafter.”

Jung has been taking live batting practice for about a week now and DH’d in a Minor League game on the back fields in Surprise on Monday. He was the leadoff batter in every inning, and went 2-for-4 with two singles.

Rays

• Some made-up player named Jacob Waguespack is being considered for the rotation.

Waguespack is off to a good start. His fastball velocity has ticked up into the mid-90s, and the Rays believe his four-pitch mix gives him a chance to handle a starting/bulk-inning role, though he’s proven to be versatile enough for just about anything. Cash said he’s been most impressed by Waguespack’s velocity, extension (which makes it seem like the ball is getting to the plate even quicker) and ability to make adjustments with Snyder and Co.

“Easily one of the more improved guys,” Snyder said. “I think it illustrated what Spring Training can be for certain guys.”

Red Sox

• Vaughn Grissom won’t return until mid to late April.

“Regen day today. Getting better. Baseball activites yesterday. Baseball activites tomorrow. We’re talking mid-April probably, [or] late April.” — Alex Cora on Vaughn Grissom.

— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) March 17, 2024

• Connor Wong reworked his swing this offseason.

That said, Connor Wong’s red-hot spring, which continued in Monday afternoon’s 5-2 loss to the Twins with his second two-run homer in as many days, could be a sign that the offensive adjustments he made in the offseason will make him into a better all-around player.
…

“He’s made adjustments,” manager Alex Cora said. “It started towards the end of the [2023] season. And in the offseason, [hitting coach] Pete [Fatse] came down here to Fort Myers. They started cleaning up a few things with the leg kick and all that.

“I think he’s in a good spot. He’s hitting the ball hard. There’s more conviction behind the swing. If that happens, then we go from a decent offensive team to a really good one.”

• Again, Josh Winckowski will pitch out of the bullpen.

Prior to Sunday’s split-squad contest against the Yankees, manager Alex Cora announced that righty Josh Winckowski was taken out of the rotation competition and moved to the bullpen for a multi-inning role.

• The team is considering Cooper Criswell as a rotation option.

Instead of four pitchers vying for the fourth and fifth spots, the derby is down to three. Out of Houck, Garrett Whitlock and Cooper Criswell, only one will be left out of the rotation.

Twins

• Carlos Santana is expected to play every game.

When facing right-handed pitchers, expect to see both Santana and Kirilloff in the lineup, typically with Santana at first base and Kirilloff at designated hitter. When facing left-handed pitchers, Kirilloff will likely often be on the bench in favor of a right-handed hitter, while Santana will remain in the lineup. In fact, based on spring usage, Santana may be the Twins’ leadoff man versus lefties.

• Louie Varland is now in the MLB rotation.

DeSclafani’s status affects Louie Varland, who would likely be the pick to take his spot in the rotation if needed. It could also change the Twins’ plans for the last bullpen spot if they feel more multi-inning coverage is necessary. However, the early-season schedule could buy DeSclafani a bit more time to get healthy, potentially allowing the Twins to skip the No. 5 starter twice.

With scheduled off days following the Twins’ first, third and sixth games, they could easily avoid using a fifth starter until the 10th game, April 9 versus the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

• The team has stated they consider Griffin Jax and Brock Stewart as closing options with Jhoan Duran hurt.

But even with Duran and Thielbar sidelined, the Twins have a strong relief crop to work with, thanks to a number of offseason acquisitions, including Justin Topa (via trade) and Jay Jackson (free agency).

Falvey mentioned guys like Griffin Jax — who dominated in 2023 and spent the spring developing his secondary pitches, and Brock Stewart — who Falvey said, “has a chance to really pitch well towards the back end,” — as players who have stepped up this spring.

“There are a lot of guys in the mix right now,” Baldelli said. “The multi-inning component, it was important before and it’s still very important. We are going to need guys to go out there and throw two or three innings at a time in order for us to win and to stabilize our group over a stretch of games.

White Sox

• Garrett Crochet will be the Opening Day starter.

White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet came into 2024 looking to move from the bullpen to the rotation. Not only will he break camp as a starter, but the Sox announced that Crochet will take the ball on Opening Day.

National League

Diamondbacks

• Ryne Nelson, Tommy Henry, and Bryce Jarvis are being considered for the last rotation spot.

Henry started off the spring hot, but has not pitched as well in his last few outings while Nelson has shown some improvement with his slider, a pitch the D-backs wanted him to work on this offseason.

Jarvis’ numbers don’t jump out — 9.82 ERA in four games — but he looked nasty in his last spring outing.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo has not said if one of the three pitchers who do not get the fifth spot would be used as a potential long man in the bullpen, but it’s a role that might suit Jarvis.

Dodgers

• Kyle Hurt will start the season in the bullpen.

The Dodgers still view Kyle Hurt’s projection as a starter, but Dave Roberts said it’s a “very good possibility” he is an option in their bullpen when the season opens here in Seoul in a couple days.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 17, 2024

Giants

• Before the team signed Blake Snell, they considered Mason Black to be one of the top four rotation options.

Without locking in the order, Melvin on Sunday confirmed a rotation of Webb, lefty Kyle Harrison and righty Jordan Hicks, along with No. 8 prospect Mason Black, a righty who will pitch a Minor League game at Papago Park on Tuesday.

• Alex Cobb plans to return around May 1st.

Righty Alex Cobb struck out five and allowed no hits or walks over two innings in his 27-pitch Minor League outing Saturday. But he continues to recover from offseason surgery on his left hip, and Melvin said on Sunday that he doesn’t expect Cobb to be ready for Opening Day. Look for Cobb’s return around May 1, at the earliest, though he should get into one more spring game in Arizona.

Marlins

• With all the injuries, the team is considering Bryan Hoeing as a rotation option.

In addition to Meyer, Chirinos, and Smeltzer, McPherson mentions Bryan Hoeing as another possibility for the Marlins rotation. Like Meyer, Hoeing is already on the 40-man roster; unlike Meyer, Hoeing is still in big league camp. Hoeing doesn’t have Meyer’s upside, and he profiles more as a long man out of the bullpen. Still, he’ll be capable of eating innings until Meyer is ready for a call-up or one of the injured arms is ready to return.

Phillies

• Johan Rojas is struggling as he reworks his swing.

“Right now, I don’t care about the results,” Rojas said late last week. “Of course, if I had good results, it’s great. But right now, I’m focusing on the process of everything. I feel like I’m learning a lot of new stuff. I don’t feel like the player that I was last year. Once I feel it click — the new things that I’m getting used to — everything else is going to come with it. The best version of myself is going to follow.”

Rojas is trying to be the Phillies’ everyday center fielder. It is a job they said he must earn, but it is one they want him to win. But Rojas is batting only .171 (7-for-41) with one double, two triples, four RBIs and a .483 OPS in 42 Grapefruit League plate appearances. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in Monday’s 4-3 split-squad loss to the Yankees in Tampa.

“We haven’t made any decisions, but he is improving,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Monday. “We’re going to talk here in the next couple days as a group and try to figure out what’s best for him, and then we’ll go from there.”

Pirates

• Domingo Germán is not yet at 100%.

The Pirates have some question marks at the back end of their rotation, and while Germán feels he is at about “80 percent” right now, he will not be ready to join the team in Miami for Opening Day on March 28.

…

The plan is for Germán to spend two or three weeks in camp so the team can better understand what resources they feel he needs for his recovery.

Reds

• Nick Martinez is in the rotation.

David Bell also said the top four spots in the rotation — Montas, Greene, Ashcraft and Martinez are pretty much set, with the last spot coming down to Abbott and Williamson. Williamson is feeling better after leaving yesterday's game with shoulder soreness

— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) March 18, 2024

American League

Angels

• The manager named Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning, and Chase Silseth to the starting rotation.

The Angels aren’t ready to name their Opening Day starter just yet but Washington said his five starters will be lefties Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and Tyler Anderson and right-handers Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth. It’s not a surprise but Washington clarified his rotation because of the emergence of right-hander José Soriano, who is getting stretched out as a starter after a breakout rookie year in relief last season.

• José Soriano will continue to be stretched out as a starter.

For right-hander José Soriano, it was welcome news when he was told that he’d be stretched out as a starting pitcher this spring, as he wanted to give starting another chance even after his strong rookie season in relief last year.

Orioles

• Kolten Wong will play some third base.

The Orioles took Wong up on that offer on Friday night, when the 33-year-old made his professional debut at third base in a 4-3 win over the Tigers at Ed Smith Stadium.

Entering the night, Wong had played in 1,189 regular-season MLB games, 38 postseason contests, 320 Minor League games and 183 Spring Training exhibitions — and he hadn’t appeared at third base in any of them. Wong didn’t think he had played third in a game since his time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, which he attended from 2009-11.

Rangers

• Evan Carter will not be platooned.

It’s clear that Carter — MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect — isn’t going to platoon. And he’s confident in his own abilities to hit any type of pitching. In a small sample this spring, he’s gone 2-for-9 in Cactus League play, already doubling his total from the big leagues last season.

“He’s getting more and more comfortable, and that comes with reps that we’ve said he’s going to get,” Bochy said. “Yeah, it’s going well with him.”

Royals

• Alec Marsh is being built up as a starter.

How does Marsh fit on the 2024 Royals? He’s building up as a starter, but he could be in a variety of roles if he’s on the outside looking in at the five-man rotation. He could be used in long relief. The Royals could use an opener for him, like they did last year.

• Nick Pratto is healthy after dealing with injuries over the past two seasons.

Finally healthy after two years of fighting through hip and groin injuries, Pratto feels like himself again – and he’s hitting like it. He has a 1.032 OPS in seven games (19 at-bats) with just three strikeouts this spring, and he’s looked much more aggressive in the zone than last year, when he had a 22% called strike rate. That was the 10th-highest mark among 293 players with at least 300 plate appearances.

“I felt like I was hitting without a backside for a long time,” Pratto said. “Swinging at pitches I don’t normally swing at, having to sell out to certain areas. Taking balls I don’t normally take because I wasn’t able to control my body.

Twins

• David Festa is getting all buff.

And the final step in Festa’s development might be physical development.

“I get pretty sore just based on the fact that I’m not a big, muscular guy, so really, the volume has kind of allowed me to not be as sore in my legs and my arm,” Festa said. “I think that’s something that will help me throughout the season.”

Especially as Festa’s stuff has continued to tick up in his time with the Twins, he admits that he hasn’t tended to recover well after outings due to his frame, with his velocity not sustaining well at times in outings and deeper into the season due to fatigue.

With that in mind, the Twins connected Festa with a trainer close to home in New Jersey, and the right-hander went in five times a week for volume lifting, functional lifting and more unilateral work as part of his offseason strengthening program.

• Jose Miranda felt healthy around December and will focus on playing first base.

Meanwhile, Miranda said he began feeling healthy again around December. He spent most of the winter rehabbing and training at the club’s complex in Fort Myers, working to refine his swing and lock in his timing so that when camp opened, he could hit the ground running.

He’s 6-for-13 (.462) with two walks so far this spring and on Friday played five innings at first base, his first defensive action since the operation.

“He looks stronger physically than he did last spring, and pretty comfortable at the plate,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He needs to go over to first base and handle that position, take ownership of that position. He needs to become a quality first baseman.”

White Sox

• Colson Montgomery is “really close” to joining the major league team.

Colson Montgomery, the White Sox No. 1 prospect and No. 9 overall per MLB Pipeline, was reassigned to Minor League camp as one of seven roster moves made prior to Monday’s loss.

But the shortstop is getting “really close” to the Majors, according to Grifol.

“It was a good conversation with him today,” said Grifol of Montgomery. “He’s obviously ultra talented. He does a lot of things right on the field. But one of the things I told him was that he’s always on the clock. What I mean by that is people always are looking at him.

• Eloy Jiménez adjusted his swing to get more lift.

There’s now an adjustment in Jiménez’s swing with his hands held higher, a suggestion made to him during the offseason by Amaury Nina, his godfather who also happens to be his hitting coach. It’s a way for Jiménez to combat a career 50.4 percent ground ball rate, according to Statcast, which has never been below 47.6 percent in a single season.

National League

Braves

• Ronald Acuña Jr. plans to keep running.

Acuña produced MLB’s first 40-70 season when he hit 41 homers and stole 73 bases last year. Snitker has said this recent knee ailment won’t affect how aggressive Acuña is on the bases this year.

“He’s still young and he’s still at an age where he can still [steal a lot of bases],” Snitker said. “He’s going to reach a time where he’s going to slow down on his own. For now, you’ve just got to let a kid like that loose and let him play his game.”

Brewers

• Brice Turang will start at second base.

Manager Pat Murphy named Turang the starter at second base on Tuesday — right where the 24-year-old finished off his rookie season after serving as Milwaukee’s second baseman during the National League Wild Card Series.

“I think this kid’s gonna make a quantum leap,” Murphy said. “I think he’ll establish himself as an everyday player. I’m really confident.”

Cardinals

• Victor Scott II is not an option for one of the team’s outfield spots.

Prospect Victor Scott II doesn’t seem to be an option at this time.

“I think we have to be a little bit more patient with (Scott),” Mozeliak said. “Clearly he’s opened up some eyes early on, but we have three weeks of camp left, so a lot of time to still make some judgments and decisions.”

Cubs

• The team will try to pitch Shota Imanaga every sixth day.

What throws a little wrinkle into how the rotation plays out to start the season is Shota Imanaga’s schedule. Coming from Japan, Imanaga is accustomed to pitching every sixth day. Imanaga has remained on that schedule this spring and while Counsell has said they won’t go to a six-man rotation, there have been hints that they’ll be creative with how to get him some rest.

“He’s gonna be a starter,” Counsell said. “How often he pitches — we’re not going to make a special schedule for Shota, we’re going to make a schedule for our pitching staff.”

Giants

• Alex Cobb is ahead of schedule and won’t be put on the 60-day IL.

However, Cobb appears slightly ahead of schedule as he works back from last year’s hip labrum repair.

The veteran righty got through a 25-pitch bullpen session yesterday and will throw live batting practice early next week. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters that while the team will be cautious not to push Cobb too quickly, they’ve “probably sped (the timeline) up a little bit” based on his progress (via MLB.com). The team announced a six-month recovery timetable for Cobb to log game action of any kind when he underwent surgery on Halloween.

It now looks as if he could be on track for a minor league rehab assignment earlier than that. To this point, the Giants have kept him off the 60-day injured list — a move that would prevent him from pitching at the MLB level before May 27.

• Nick Ahmed has the inside track to be the team’s starting shortstop.

With less than three weeks to go until Opening Day, it’s beginning to look like Luciano may no longer have the inside track. The Giants’ No. 2 prospect was slowed by a hamstring issue early in camp, prompting the club to bring in two-time Gold Glove Award winner Nick Ahmed on Minor League deal last month.
…
Manager Bob Melvin said the Giants haven’t made a decision, but it felt notable that Ahmed started at shortstop in Thursday night’s game against the Dodgers, which featured most of the club’s regulars following Wednesday’s off-day.

…
“The defense is what the priority was,” Melvin said. “We talked about infield defense. Chapman is here. But I think it’s [Ahmed’s] health. He had the shoulder thing, and we want to see what it looks like compared to the past. So far, so good. He’s also had big offensive years, too. It doesn’t surprise you when he hits the ball over the fence. He’s got a couple of those already.”

Marlins

• The team will split the catching duties between Christian Bethancourt 베탄코트 and Nick Fortes fifty-fifty.

“I’m pretty confident Nick knows how to catch Luzardo, so I’m just trying to make sure everybody knows each other, and then make a decision maybe a week before camp breaks and to see exactly who’s going to get bulk and that type of thing,” Schumaker said. “I’ve got no problem pinch-hitting still, and they’re both going to play maybe the same day, whatever. Maybe the offensive profile just takes off. I don’t know. But I think to say it’s 50-50, I don’t know. It’s not a good answer for you right now, but it’s also [March 9] or whatever it is, so time will tell.”

Padres

• Dennis Lin of The Athletic believes Graham Pauley will fill in at third base while Manny Machado is the DH.

This was always a distinct possibility for Machado coming off right elbow extensor tendon repair. He will ease back, at some point, into regularly playing third base. In the meantime, Pauley has emerged as a strong contender to fill in at third base (and first base) in Machado’s defensive absence. Yes, between Pauley and Merrill — who essentially has been a roster lock for some time — the Padres could start two rookies on Opening Day with limited experience above Single A.

Pirates

• Oneil Cruz is healthy and hitting the ball hard.

[Cruz’s] first swing of the day was a 412-foot missile off a Max Castillo fastball, which left the bat at 116.6 mph.

In the Statcast era (since 2015), the only Pirate who has hit a harder homer was, of course, Cruz (117.5 mph on Aug. 29, 2022).

The next inning, Cruz was caught a bit off balance against a Castillo changeup. It didn’t matter, and he blasted that one 434 feet, leaving the bat at 114.4 mph.

Reds

• Nick Lodolo will be skipped the first time through the rotation.

Though Lodolo’s slow progression this spring won’t have him ready for the first turn through the rotation in the regular season, he is on schedule to join the Reds very soon thereafter. Cincinnati made investments in veterans Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez to support the rotation, but the biggest upside still exists in Lodolo and Hunter Greene shaking off last year’s injury issues and continuing their upward trajectory.

Rockies

Brenton Doyle’s swing has become more efficient.

The Rockies identified some mechanical adjustments Doyle could make toward the end of last season. It’s only early March, but the early returns have been good.

Doyle has focused on being more efficient with his swing, positioning his hands in such a way that he has a more direct path to the baseball. He’s also been keeping more weight on his back leg during his set-up at the plate.

“It’s about giving my eyes a little more time to react to pitches,” Doyle said. “And the point right before I get my barrel through the zone, just keeping that a little tighter than I usually do. It helps me stay inside the ball — that’s been a big emphasis.”

• Here is a list of players out of options. Either they will need to remain on the major league team or be released.

Read the rest of this entry »

• I expected more articles on the effects of the pitch clock but here is the first one I’ve seen. While I would have liked more details on results/methods used, it did find that “slow” starters struggled more than “slow” relievers. They used fWAR to determine if the pitcher struggled. I wish they would have divided up the talent and playing time components.

Though there are a number of factors at play in determining how well a pitcher performs, we can, at the very least, hypothesize that starters were more greatly impacted by the pitch clock than relievers. Starters’ changes in fWAR and tempo between ‘22 and ‘23 were more heavily correlated (0.55) than those of relievers (0.35). While correlation doesn’t imply causation, it does lead us to believe that starters were likely more strained from a performance standpoint than relievers. This would make sense, too, when considering the staminal game starters endure as opposed to the fast-paced, max-effort environment relievers face.

Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• The team plans on running more.

Angels manager Ron Washington said he plans to change that this year and it’s already showing up early this spring. The Angels have stolen 11 bases through their first five games, which ranks second among all clubs this spring. Washington is coming from the Braves, who stole 132 bases last year, which ranked 10th in the Majors, while they were also the best team in baseball at taking the extra base at 51 percent. Washington’s teams with the Rangers were also aggressive and led by basestealers such as Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler.

“I think everybody is going to be pleased because that’s what they were used to seeing from the Angels, when Mike [Scioscia] was managing, it was a regularity,” Washington said. “When I was in Texas, it was a regularity and when I was in Atlanta, it was a regularity. We stole five bases yesterday and three before that, but I want these guys to keep building. I don’t think teams are going to let us run crazy but if they fall asleep, we’re going to run. I want to be aggressive, that’s the way I want to play.”

Read the rest of this entry »