Sunday, March 2, 2014

Camp Clips...

The Bucs face the only NL team they'll see this spring...
  • As sometimes happens in Florida, the Bucs and Blue Jays ran out of pitchers and played to a 2-2 tie ysterday. The good news is that Wandy looked good and had no pain in his first frame of competition since last year. Russ Martin added a wind-aided homer.
  • Hey, AJ is back - for the Phils. The lineup for today's game vs Philadelphia: Jaff Decker LF, Gregory Polanco CF, Travis Snider DH, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Chris Dickerson RF, Chris McGuiness 1B, Chris Stewart C, Josh Harrison 2B and Michael Martinez SS. RHP Stolmy Pimentel will start for the Pirates, followed by LHP Adam Wilk, LHP Tao-Hsun Yang, RHP Cody Eppley, LHP Joely Rodriguez, LHP Daniel Schlereth and RHP Jay Jackson. The game starts at 1:05 and is on MLB.TV and 93.7 The Fan. It'll be replayed at 10 AM tomorrow on the MLB Network.
  • Wonder where Neil Walker has been? He told Tom Singer of MLB.com that his right side is a little sore "just from swinging too much." The Kid expects to back in action in a couple of days.
  • Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says both Pittsburgh and Milwaukee have scouts in the Bosox camp to watch 1B/OF Mike Carp.
  • IF Chase d'Arnaud cleared waivers and was outrighted to Indy. He lost his spot on the 40-man roster to 3B Brent Morel.
  • MLBAM is rolling out a new analytic measurement system that promises to be beyond cool; the vid explains some of its sweetness.

4 comments:

WilliamJPellas said...

Geez, Walker with aches and pains ALREADY? Methinks this is a crossroads season coming up for him. If he can re-establish his durability, then he will be a starter (if not necessarily for the Pirates) for several more seasons. If not, he is on the fast track to "Utilityville".

Ron Ieraci said...

My guess is that the body breakdowns are the main reason the FO is happy to go year-by-year thru arb rather than lock The Kid up, Will.

WilliamJPellas said...

Oh, I quite agree with your assessment, Ron. I think you're dead on it. It will be interesting to see what happens as Alex Hanson nears the big leagues. I have read---and of course a lot depends on who you believe---but I have read that there are questions about the strength of his throwing arm. If so, he would surely be a logical candidate to succeed Walker at second base. Say, by the end of the 2015 season. Meanwhile, perhaps Jordy Mercer can improve enough with the glove to be a serviceable starter at short for the next few years. I still think Mercer is best as a multiposition, infield "super-sub", but given the weakness of the SS position around the majors right now, I think you could get by with him for, say, two or three years---until his replacement is (hopefully) ready, ie, the next kid in the minors AFTER Hanson.

Ron Ieraci said...

Hard to say, Will - I was surprised they let 2B Dilson Herrera go to the Mets in the Byrd deal; that kinda leaves two jobs for Hansen.

The Bucs do have a lot of good fielding SS types in the lower levels; maybe one will learn how to handle a stick.