Mining the News (2/23/23)

American League

Angels

• The manager already has his desired top four in the lineup.

Manager Phil Nevin said he has seen a committed, centered Rendon this spring, with visions of a batting order starting with Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Rendon.

Blue Jays

• José Berríos has made some mechanical adjustments to his windup.

José Berríos has made some changes — and we’re not just talking about his bleach-blonde hair in support of Team Puerto Rico, whom he’ll pitch for next month in the World Baseball Classic. After a disappointing 2022 season, the right-hander has made a series of mechanical adjustments to his delivery in the hopes it’ll lead to consistent results.

The changes include keeping an even eye level with the plate and not leaning his head to one side but instead keeping it aligned with his spine. He’ll also be standing in the middle of the rubber after he moved around a lot last year. He’s also aiming to drive more off his back leg while staying firm on his front side, keeping his glove arm close to his body so he doesn’t fly open early, ensuring his throwing arm won’t drag out in front of him and impact his release point.

Guardians

• Michael Brantley is taking reps at first base.

One of the most interesting sights on the back fields of Ballpark of the Palm Beaches early at camp has been veteran outfielder Michael Brantley taking ground balls at first base. It’s not uncommon for players at other positions to take grounders on the infield, but the Astros are interested to see if Brantley is a viable option to play some first base in a pinch.

The Astros, of course, signed free-agent first baseman José Abreu to play that position this year, but there could be a scenario where Brantley gets some time at first against a tough right-hander when Abreu is out of the lineup. Brantley did play some first base in the Minor Leagues in 2007.

I expect David Hensley to be the infield backup, but I guess someone needs to back up Hensley.

Orioles

• Adley Rutschman will not be taking reps at first base.

Hyde said catcher Adley Rutschman could be a fill-in first baseman at some point, but, “not right now. Might be possible down the road.”

Rays

• Yandy Díaz will play “a lot” of first base.

Asked when he planned to utilize the glove most, Díaz replied: “During the season.”

Rays manager Kevin Cash then put things even more directly.

“He’s going to play first base,” Cash said. “A lot.”

Royals

• With Drew Waters headed to the IL, Kyle Isbel will be the primary centerfielder.

#Royals OF Drew Waters has a left oblique strain & will be out for 6 weeks, Matt Quatraro said. Waters was competing for the CF job this spring. Kyle Isbel will “get every opportunity to grab that spot.” More innings/ABs will go to Nate Eaton, Edward Olivares, Samad Taylor, etc.

— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) February 21, 2023

Isbel is a decent option in about all formats with full-time at-bats. His Steamer600 projection has him at 14 HR and 21 SB while hitting .239/.300/.382.

Twins

• Joe Ryan reworked his slider and added a split change.

It’s not exactly a new pitch, but Joe Ryan’s slider looks different enough that manager Rocco Baldelli says it very nearly qualifies. No matter how you identify Ryan’s revamped off-speed pitch, nobody disputed its nastiness.

Ryan’s slider drew rave reviews from hitters and Baldelli after two hitless rounds of live batting practice during Monday’s first-full squad workout. The right-hander also featured a split-changeup he added this offseason. Both pitches were refined during several offseason trips to Driveline.

• The team is not going to have a set DH.

If they had a Nelson Cruz or David Ortiz-type player, the Twins might dedicate the DH role to one player this season. In the absence of such a profile, Baldelli said the Twins expect to use multiple players as their DH when the season begins next month.

With a roster predicated on depth, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Twins use the spot to give players a day off from the field as they often did with Byron Buxton last season. Whether it’s Buxton, Carlos Correa, Jorge Polanco, Jose Miranda or any number of outfielders, the Twins could rotate a series of players through the spot.

National League

Cubs

• It seems like the team is going with a mix of players at third base.

“Third base is probably the spot where there’s more options,” Ross said. “It’s one of the things where we’ll try to find the right mix and who complements each other well and make sure the buy-in is real.”

Here are our projections for the options.

And all of them are similar so it’s tough to pick a favorite.

Dodgers

• Jason Heyward has a new swing.

The Dodgers made it clear to Heyward that his swing needed a major overhaul. There were some things that weren’t working for him and had prevented him from producing at a high clip for a few seasons. The biggest thing was his stance and the use of his hands.

Over the years, Heyward preferred to keep his hands closer to his body. But this spring, Heyward has kept his hands higher and more compact, allowing him to catch up to the ball more freely. Spring Training games — and ultimately regular season games — will be the real indicator if those changes worked, but Heyward showed off his new stance on Monday, taking Tony Gonsolin deep during live batting practice.

Giants

• LaMonte Wade Jr. played with a messed up knee for over a year…

LaMonte Wade Jr.’s left knee injury turned 2022 into a lost season. He claimed he injured it early that spring when he felt a pop as he stopped on the basepaths in an exhibition against the Milwaukee Brewers at Maryvale. The official diagnosis was a bone bruise. Every medical intervention to get it right led to mixed results at best and exasperation at worst.
…

And after the Giants’ first full-squad workout Monday afternoon, Wade made a small admission about his knee injury: He didn’t hurt it in Maryvale. He merely aggravated it there. The knee bothered him in the final weeks of 2021, too.

“So I wasn’t really too surprised when the knee blew out when it did,” Wade said. “I actually thought it was going to be sooner than that.”

…

“Couldn’t even bend my legs,” Wade said.

…

Wade, who turned 29 on New Year’s Day, received a series of synthetic lubricant injections into his knee during last season and solicited a range of opinions on whether to undergo surgery.

…and should get a ton of run at first base.

The Giants don’t have other left-handed hitting first base options behind Wade, although they continue to feed Joc Pederson ground balls there in the hope that he can become playable. Mostly, they’re pinning their hopes on Wade. Between him and Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto, they’re expecting a lot of offense out of three players who missed most or all of last season.

I’m pretty sure Wade is just going to face righties (career .800 OPS vs RHP, .312 OPS vs LHP) with about anyone (i.e. J.D. Davis or Wilmer Flores) else facing lefties.

Nationals

• Joey Meneses will play in the outfield or at first base.

Manager Dave Martinez is expecting Meneses to alternate between first base (backing up Dominic Smith), left field (backing up Corey Dickerson) and the designated hitter role. Meneses made 40 appearances at first, 22 in right field and three in left field last season (the totals add up to more than 56, since he played multiple positions in nine games).

“Joey’s probably going to do a lotta bit of a little bit of everywhere,” Martinez quipped, adding, “We want his bat in the lineup every day.”

Phillies

• Edmundo Sosa will try to play some center field.

But Thomson said this experiment is real. They really want to see if Sosa can play center field. He will play there this spring.

“We think because of his athleticism and intelligence, we think he can play,” Thomson said.

If Sosa looks good, he could see time there in the regular season. Last season, Marsh played mostly against right-handed pitchers, including the postseason. He has a career .732 OPS against right-handers, and a career .519 OPS against lefties. The Phillies said they expect Marsh’s playing time this season against lefties to increase to a point.

This looks to be a platoon and cuts into Marsh’s playing time.

Pirates

• Mitch Keller is adding a sixth pitch, a cutter.

Adding the sinker expanded Keller’s arsenal to five pitches. This spring, he’s tinkering with pitch No. 6. This one acts like a cutter when it’s up and in the zone — a tool to nudge left-handed batters off the plate — and dives hard when it’s at the bottom of the zone, what he described as a gyro action.

Yu Darvish Rule pic.twitter.com/FCICfcRXZA

— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) February 18, 2022