Baseball Chatter 03/04

#WhiteSox said all along that Carlos Rodon is fine. Taking “measured” approach w/ him to help w/ bigger expected workload. 1st side today.

— Dan Hayes (@CSNHayes) March 3, 2017

Carlos Rodon threw his first bullpen session yesterday, the White Sox claim this is just to keep his workload down as he will be expected to throw more innings than the 165 he pitched last year.

Trading Clay Buchholz in a salary dump could come back to haunt the Sox as they now have no depth in case one of their starters goes down.

Regarding Gsellman: Indications are he’ll be 5th starter and source confirmed expectation is Wheeler to start year extended spring.

— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) March 3, 2017

Zack Wheeler could open the year on the disabled list and head to extended Spring Training to continue to build up strength after missing the past two seasons

Braves GM John Coppolella made it clear that when Ozzie Albies is ready, he will have a spot on the major league team. The addition of Brandon Phillips may change that. Albies fractured the olecranon bone in his right elbow back in September and has yet to face live pitching since. He will see the doc on Monday.

The White Sox released Brett Lawrie, which means more playing time for Tyler Saladino at second base. Yolmer Sanchez and Leury Garcia will also compete for playing time.

Yoan Moncada has also been working out at second base, but word is that he will start the season at Triple-A Charlotte

Jason Kipnis has a strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder. He received a cortisone shot last Saturday and yesterday

Cautious isn’t the word I’m looking for, He’s been throwing the heavy ball. Now he’s starting to do his throwing on the field. He’ll probably be ready to DH in a week, but playing second base will probably be four or five days after that.Terry Francona on Rodon

The upper back issues keeping David Dahl off the field are more serious than the Rockies first thought.

We first said David would be out a couple of days, but it’s going to be longer than that, for sure. I don’t have a timetable on it … There are some things going on with his back. David is undergoing some tests, and scans, and treatment to see what is going on. I don’t know if this is a setback, we are just getting closer to a diagnosis. Where it’s hurting, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint. He’s gone through a number of scans. We are going to be cautious with this to make sure it heals. He’s going to be out of action for at least a few weeks.”Bud Black on David Dahl

Tigers pitching has given up 41 runs in the last five games, not counting Michael Fulmer’s start in the split-squad game at Dunedin. Matt Boyd has a five-pitch repertoire, but he doesn’t have one overpowering pitch. So it’s imperative for him to pitch ahead as often as possible.

Carlos Correa is positioning his hands higher and standing a little taller at the plate after making some adjustments to his stance.

Huston Street doesn’t believe in the Effector:

The Angels’ reliever could only shake his head when hearing October used as an example that a revolution is coming. For as much as Street enjoyed relievers getting out of their boxes in the postseason, he believes that can’t work in the regular season.

It’s such a simple answer, It’s not sustainable because we are are human beings with actual muscles we need to loosen. And they get sore.In the postseason it’s not an issue because there is so much extra adrenaline and you don’t need to worry about the long haul. You are geared up and ready at a moment’s notice,You are ready for the phone to ring. You are ready to be ready in one hitter and it’s OK because you have four games left in the season. Or it’s a do-or-die game. In the season, when you have 30 games in the next 32 days and you’re on Day 1 of that, it is not OK, physically speaking, to get ready at a moment’s notice every single night. It’s just not sustainable. We have developed a strategy of getting our body loose, no different than anyone else,” he said. “If you wake up in the morning and work out, I doubt you go straight to the bench press and put on your max weight. You warm up a little bit. And if you do go to your max weight right away, there is a higher chance you will get hurt or are going to be more sore.”Huston Street

The basis for the theory is that teams shouldn’t wait until the ninth inning to use their best relief pitcher. Sometimes the game is won or lost in the seventh or eighth. Sometimes that’s the inning when the heart of the opponent’s order is up, and runners are on base.

In practice, Street doesn’t believe it can work because pitchers need to be ready before they go pitch, and it’s not realistic to have a closer prepare himself every night to pitch at any point in the last three innings.

The Phillies have averaged 94 different batting orders per season since the National League adopted a 162-game schedule.