Baseball Chatter – Play Ball!! 04/02

Rumor has it that Brandon Phillips is a goner as soon as Ozzie Albies is ready for a promotion to the majors. Here is what Manager John Coppolella said exactly.

Q: Brandon Phillips had an impressive spring training, came in extremely fit and looks ready to perform at a reasonably high level in a contract year. So, what does that do to Albies’ chances of being called up at midseason if he shows he’s ready?

A: We were very fortunate to acquire Brandon just before we opened camp. Brandon has been awesome, at the plate, in the field, off the field, with our fans, in the clubhouse. He’s fit in perfectly.

We expect a big year for Brandon and also expect it will have very little impact on when we call up Ozzie. Ozzie is going to tell us when he is ready, and he needs to play, be completely healthy, and dominate Triple-A.

Ozzie is a special kid with a really bright future, and when he is ready to help us in the major leagues, nobody is going to stand in his way. It’s a great problem to have too many good players and too few spots.

Young players with talent and versatility can merge with veteran players on a team looking to win.

Ask the Cubs about Javier Baez.

Forgive me if I do not take that as ‘Brandon Phillips is disposable’ and ‘Ozzie is anywhere near ready to play in the majors’. Sorry. Maybe I am biased so in full disclosure, I own Phillips all over the damn place.

Trevor Story might hit 30 homers again but last season he struck out 29.9 percent, and this spring he struck out 34 percent…no rocket science here.

We knew Melvin Upton Jr. was going to have to split playing time in Toronto this year, but according to Jon Heyman, your boy Melvin isn’t even going to make the opening day roster. I shouldn’t be so surprised, he’s hit crappy since the day he got to Toronto. This spring he batted .194 in 34 at bats. At this point it just feels like this guy only plays well if everything goes his way.

Gerardo Parra came to camp last season looking out of shape, but this year was the just the opposite. He showed up ready to contribute and it is paying off. The injury to David Dahl has created a spot for him to show the team what he is made of and he intends to take take that opportunity. Manager Bud Black has noticed:

The expectations I have are tied to the player I saw in Arizona. My visual of Gerardo is of a guy who can play all three outfield positions, and we can move him to first base. At points in his career, he’s been a formidable offensive performer. He was able to pop the ball out of the ballpark, hit for power, hit for average and make plays in the outfield. He had a good arm. He was a good all-around player. So my expectation is to see that come back Last year as a rough year for him, no doubt about it But there is still a skill set in there that helps a major-league team. … Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, he can help us.Manager Bud Black on Parra

Masahiro Tanaka gave up two runs this spring , only one of them earned, 23 2/3 innings.

Johnny Peralta is going to bat cleanup for the Cardinals and if he can stay healthy it wouldn’t be crazy to see 100 RBI out of him. He is probably not even owned in your league, unless you are playing in a league I am in…

Tyler Glasnow pitched 23.1 innings in the majors last season with a 4.24 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. He was much better facing hitters in Triple-A, where he pitched 110.2 innings with a 1.87 ERA and 133 strikeouts. His ceiling is high only if he improves his command. I own him but I won’t act like believe in him fully yet.

Matt Cain will keep a rotation spot, and Ty Blach will pitch out of the bullpen. If Cain pitches anything like he did this spring, Blach will take over soon…

JaCoby Jones worked his way into a job at center field, although he is expected to share playtime with Andrew Romine, according to manager Brad Ausmus

 

Chris Tillman could return to action May 2, best case scenario.

ZiPS at Fangraphs projects Kyle Schwarber to be the same hitter he was in 2015, but with more playing time. We really have nothing else to go by so it makes sense.

Yandy Diaz forced his way onto the major league roster by hitting like crazy this spring. It didn’t hurt that Jason Kipnis is injured, moving Jose Ramirez over to second base and making room for Diaz at third.

Adam Conley was named the fifth starter and Julio Urias will go to the bullpen.

Adam’s more of a starter, so if he’s going to be on the club that’s where we felt he has to be, I like everything about him in terms of his competitiveness and the way he will go after people. We had to make some tough decisions, We had to look at the whole body of work and put the pieces together that were best for this team.

Conley went 8-6 with a 3.85 ERA in 25 starts last year and at one point set the team record for consecutive scoreless innings by a starter at 11 ⅓.

Jeff Samardzija finished his spring with nine shutout innings over his final two appearances.

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