Man. Where did everybody go? I guess there’s not much to complain about at the moment. Matz got beat up yesterday. Looks like he just didn’t have it. Stuff was worse than usual and wind was blowing out. Still think he’ll be a solid #4 this year. Who’s the starting 25? I got:
1.) Nimmo LF
2.) McNeil 3B
3.) Cano 2B
4.) Ramos C
5.) Conforto RF
6.) Alonso 1B
7.) Rosario SS
8.) Lagares CF
Broxton, Dom, Hech, JD Davis, TDA
1.) deGrom
2.) Wheeler
3.) Thor
4.) Matz
5.) Vargas
Diaz, Familia, Wilson, Lugo, Gsellman, Avilan, Santiago.
Anybody else?
Players making things interesting. Guillorme, Tim Peterson, Rajai Davis, and O’Rourke. Possibly Gomez when he ever gets here.
Not to say there haven't been a lot of positives this spring - I think the contact oriented approach is going to be a huge upgrade. Smith, Alonso, and Davis look like they could end up having an impact. Mcneil, Conforto, Cano look poised to have big years.
Still makes no sense to not give Dom the opening day shot at 1B and start Alonso in the minors. Dom has been through a lot of ups and downs and clearly put in the work to earn it. He's been at the MLB level before and knows what to expect from big league pitchers. He's the better defensive player. Let Alonso get his season on track hitting .400 in AAA for a couple weeks then make a decision.
What’s working in our favor is that 1B only offensive type players generally don’t command huge dollars on the open market. He’d have to truly be like the best hitter in baseball to get a mega deal someday. Also, he’s a college kid and older so we’ll get his prime years either way most likely. Maybe we lock him up and extend him in a year or two. It’s still just so far away. We are talking about 2024. So much can happen between now and then. If Alonso is you’re “guy”. Fuck it. Let’s go.
Wilson has a history of starting slow in ST. Reminds me of Familia. Some guys ramp it up when the lights go on. Not saying that’s 100% the reason either but it could be.
Santiago has had an excellent spring and was pretty good out of the pen in recent years. I think they’ll like having a vet long man/mop up guy who can spot start once in a while. A third lefty won’t hurt either.
I think he semi-breaks out. 2016 Lindor offensively. Improved D from last year also.
I doubt he would get anywhere near $3M plus games played incentives open market right now.
I doubt he would get anywhere near $3M plus games played incentives open market right now.
I’m hoping for this too but just don’t think it’s going to happen. If you look at the roster from the standpoint that you need 40 guys or so to get through a season they might see value in keeping both to start. I’d prefer to save the 3 mil though.
Morning sunshine! ;)
That’s true but the lineup is lefty heavy and guys will rotate in and out. Some days you’ll have McNeil, Cano, etc available. It does make an added case for Guillorme maybe.
And c'mon Matz.....grow up. A few more starts like that will get you a ticket to the bullpen.
As for Pete/Dom -- Baseball Accounting 101 says you send Pete down to take advantage of the Super Two thing, while Dom plays 1B for a steady few weeks. He might just improve his trade value.
But Alonso is tearing the cover off the ball, and spraying line drives all over the field. The game the other day, his Box Score didn't look like much, in successive at-bats he put one to the wall in RF(wind blowing in), and then he dropped one just a foot foul in LF (one hop to the wall). That was Gerrit Cole starting for the Astros.
And as far as Alonso's fielding is concerned, he's shown some decent footwork around the bag, and I saw him make a nice scoop to save an error on a throw. He's not Keith Hernandez, but reports saying he's "unplayable" at 1B were greatly exaggerated.
Jeff McNeil (LF)
Pete Alonso (1B)
Robinson Cano (2B)
Michael Conforto (RF)
JD Davis (3B)
Travis d’Arnaud (C)
Amed Rosario (SS)
Juan Lagares (CF)
Jason Vargas (P)
Starting Pitcher: Jason Vargas
It wasn't me who just jinxed him - it was the announcers!
Let’s also ignore that Cano is 3-3 (again), Conforto has heated up with a HR and a single, Alonso, McNeil, JD Davis, Lagares, Rosario all have hits and Rosario has another SB.