Scott Kingery will start the season with the Phillies even though he only needed to spend a week in the minors for the Phillies to keep control after the 2023 season. It doesn’t matter anyway because they signed him to a six-year contract yesterday.
Where will Kingery play? He proved this spring that he can play anywhere, they need him so we expect him to get a little playing time at shortstop, third base, second base and the outfield. He should get plenty of at-bats to be fantasy relevant and he isn’t going to take enough time from any one person to make him less valuable. Unless he sucks of course, or someone else sucks.
Seven of the Cubbies opening day starters’ salaries combine to equal about the same amount as Jason Heyward will make this season. He is under contract for another six years. And we wonder why clubs are hesitant to sign long-term contracts.
Contract or not, Heyward is not guaranteed playing time if Ian Happ, Albert Amora Jr., and Kyle Schwarber keep playing well
Other players of note include:
Yoan Moncada – Yoan Moncada hit .271 from the leadoff spot with eight walks, three stolen bases, and three home runs.
Adam Engel hit .370 with four home runs
Matt Davidson batted .328 with eight extra-base hits, including four home runs and 19 RBI
Eloy Jimenez hit two home runs and a triple in nine plate appearances
Nate Jones, in competition with Joakim Soria for closing duties in Kansas City, threw seven scoreless innings.
Lucas Giolito finishes the spring with a 2.04 ERA and 17 strikeouts while walking only four over 17 innings. He threw four different pitches well and showed an uptick in velocity. He finished last season with a 2.38 ERA and .95 WHIP in 45 innings for the White Sox. This guy should be on everyone’s radar.
Salvador Perez hit.268 with six home runs in 40 at-bats. His OBP was .299 though and that hurts just looking at it. They say he changed his stance and stuff but he is what he is. A powerful catcher with horrible plate discipline. Still.
Jacoby Jones hit .326 with a .396 OBP. He isn’t good though so don’t get your hopes up. Expect a .210 average and less than 10 home runs. Then if he hits 20 you can be super pleased. Leonys Martin is going to get the first shot at playing center field.
After ulnar transposition surgery last September, Michael Fulmer struck out 15 with a 2.12 ERA and .82 WHIP over 17 spring innings.
J.D. Davis slimmed down to 220 pounds, the lightest since his days at Cal State Fullerton. He will get to play third base until Yulieski Gurriel comes back. Who knows when that will be but yesterday AJ Hinch said that he may not even need a stint on the disabled list.
Since March 12 Frank Schwindel hit seven home runs, four doubles and drove in 17 runs. He was sent down to Triple-A anyway.
Cheslor Cuthbert proved this spring that he could handle first base, too, which will make it easier for Cuthbert to get the 400-450 major-league at-bats the Royals want him to log this season.
Albert Pujols didn’t make an error through seven innings at first base. He only played there once last season
Remember Seth Lugo? The guy with more spin on his curveball than any other pitcher? He had a great spring. 2.87 ERA with 17 strikeouts over 15 ⅔ innings. He is going to start the season as the Mets fifth starter. How long he sticks in the rotation depends on how well he pitches.
Neil Walker and Tyler Austin are expected to share first base duties while Greg Bird nurses his injury back to health. This is like Dejavu with Bird, isn’t it?
Warning that the following video may not be suitable for youngsters or anyone who hates curse words. Check out Bird on crutches …
Deven Marrero was traded to Arizona and Yasmany Tomas was optioned to Triple-A because of his poor defense even though he had a nice spring offensively.
Marrero is a great defensive outfielder and has run out of options so expect Marrero to start the season on the Diamondbacks 25 man roster.
We all know about Bumgarner’s broken pinkie finger on his throwing arm, but how do we manage our rosters while he is out for two months? Most assume the best solution is to pick up another starting pitcher. Be very careful about that because the pitchers still available on the waiver wire can and will have a negative effect on your ERA and WHIP.
If your league does not count holds then there are likely some great middle relievers (effectors) who may not stack up wins but will keep your ERA and WHIP down.
Another approach is to use middle-relievers as your go-to injury replacements when a starter goes down. That has been counter-intuitive in the past, but given how valuable they have become and how damaging a replacement level starter can be, this is more logical than it appears. Increasing the usefulness of middle relievers also helps capture some of the wins that starters are losing, thereby helping to maintain the value of that category.2018 Baseball Forecaster
A couple relievers to think about picking up could be:
Chad Green, Anthony Swarzak, Ryan Madson, Pat Neshek, Matt Albers, Mike Minor and my favorite, Mychal Givens.
The same day Bumgarner was hurt, Chris Archer was hit by a grounder in the forearm and had to leave the game. Chris Sale was blasted in the leg by a line drive up the middle and came out of the game. Danny Duffy exited his start in the third inning with shoulder tightness. All are expected to be fine for opening day.
Shohei Ohtani wasn’t completely healthy when he arrived in the United States, but most overlooked it due to the hype surrounding him. He came with a first-degree sprain in his ulnar collateral ligament. In addition, a “small free body” floats in Ohtani’s elbow near his UCL.
He also had only made five starts last year due to other injuries to his thigh and ankle.
He is going to DH on opening day and starts the Angels third game of the season.
Yesterday was the last day for teams to decide what to do with players who they signed to minor league contracts this spring. They could either add the player to the 25-man roster, release them or pay a $100,000 if they start the season in the minors. You can find a list of all MLB non-roster invitees here but here are some widely known players:
Cuts
- SP- Jeremy Hellickson
- OF – Ben Revere
- RP – Jason Motte
- SP – Ricky Nolasco
- SS – Erick Aybar
- OF – Peter Bourjos
- SP – Bartolo Colon
- C- Cameron Rupp ( The Rangers are showing interest)
Philadelphia has DFA’d Dallas’ Cameron Rupp, in whom Rangers have interest. Question now would seem will they put in claim and be willing to pick up his salary or see if he ends up released?
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 25, 2018
Returning:
- BAL – RF – Colby Rasmus
- TOR – RP- Tyler Clippard
Starting in Minors
- MIL- SP – Wade Miley
- WAS – SP – Edwin Jackson
- CLE- 1B – Mike Napoli
Share this Post