GDT: Spring Training Games, Week of 3/2 - 3/8

[Stangstag]

4 hours ago, Terminator said:

Gunnar Henderson is nicked up and Grayson Rodriguez's velo is down.

Orioles are straight f***ed. Stupid for not signing any support for the main guys

[Laika]

Nimmmmmalllllaaaaa our savior 

Roden the Messiah 

[Spanky99]

Gausman on his start etc...

https://www.mlb.com/news/kevin-gausman-makes-2025-spring-training-debut

[Laika]

Goose looks good. You can tell he enjoyed his offseason. He's not rail thin anymore. 

[max silver]

13 hours ago, saskjayfan said:

Nimmala will be in the MLB next year.

That seems a little optimistic unless you think he's the second coming of Arod.

[Terminator]

Other than the Vlad extension, Spring Training is going about as well as possible.

• We are pretty unscathed health-wise and Varsho is ahead of schedule
• Rivals are picking up some injuries
• Gausman is back
• Bo is back
• Scherzer is turning back the clock
• Kirk is in the best shape of his life
• Roden, Orelvis, Martinez look like future All-Stars
• Hoffman is unhittable
• Josh Walker looks like a shrewd pickup
• Popkins has the guys hitting for damage, even Kilometers Straw

The playoffs will be easy to make

[Orgfiller]

ICYMI: Nimmala hits a bomb on a 96 mph fastball. Explosive swing, you can see how quickly he turned on it. Off of a 5 year MLB vet with good stuff.

https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/video/00u7xoku6J7XfIbb9356/reels/nimmala-s-bomb?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share

Side note: his name is 100% being pronounced incorrectly by the Pirates broadcaster.

[glory]

Did the Pirates announcer think Nimmala was Latino? 
 

Manfred calling him “Ar-JOHN” on draft day was also incorrect but less egregious than thinking the “j” was silent.

[Laika]

I mean, probably but you can't really blame them. 

[Orgfiller]

41 minutes ago, glory said:

Did the Pirates announcer think Nimmala was Latino? 
 

Manfred calling him “Ar-JOHN” on draft day was also incorrect but less egregious than thinking the “j” was silent.

He saw a brown guy and the letter J in a name he's never seen before and knew he wasn't making that mistake again.

[Brownie19]

57 minutes ago, glory said:

Did the Pirates announcer think Nimmala was Latino? 
 

Manfred calling him “Ar-JOHN” on draft day was also incorrect but less egregious than thinking the “j” was silent.

What is the correct pronunciation?  

[glory]

5 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

What is the correct pronunciation?  

I know two Arjun's IRL, and it's either "AR-JUNE" (most common way to pronounce it based on my experience, possibly the westernized version of it) or exactly how it's spelled "AR-JUN". Pretty sure you can't go wrong with one of those two. 

It will take some getting used to as I'm guessing the majority of baseball announcers have never seen the name before in their lives, certainly not on the baseball field. 

[G-Snarls]

Offense from all over the place!

[Orgfiller]

Kirk looks incredible this spring. If he could carry this batted ball performance into the regular season a 5 win season will be easy to make.

[Terminator]

I am kind of liking Bo-Vlad-Taters hitting 1-2-3. 

The Book probably says to bat them 1-2-4 and the cleanup hitter won't be ideal no matter who it is but it makes sense to break up the righties by batting Taters 3rd.

[glory]

There's going to have to be a late Spring Training trade at some point, right? The Buffalo lineup right now will likely have Martinez, Jimenez, Kasevich, Barger, Clase, three of Loperfido/Lukes/Straw/Berroa, possibly Roden if he doesn't make the team, and I'm probably missing a name or two. Turning Barger (for example) into a young backup catcher with team control would make a lot of sense. Either way seems like they will have to do something there. 

[Terminator]

Use those three as the mainstays at the top of the lineup and then just shuffle 4-9 around depending on the matchups.

Not a ton of room in the projections between Kirk, Wagner, Springer, Varsho and Gimenez. Clement should probably bat 8th or 9th.

So depending on the pitcher I think they can mix and match the 4-9 spots. If one of them hits velo better and they have a SP who throws 96 on the hill, move that hitter up. Someone who hits breaking balls really well moves up against the right pitchers. Etc.

[Terminator]

2 minutes ago, glory said:

There's going to have to be a late Spring Training trade at some point, right? The Buffalo lineup right now will likely have Martinez, Jimenez, Kasevich, Barger, Clase, three of Loperfido/Lukes/Straw/Berroa, possibly Roden if he doesn't make the team, and I'm probably missing a name or two. Turning Barger (for example) into a young backup catcher with team control would make a lot of sense. 

You would think but most of them have options so we can make it work if we aren't getting good offers.

For one, keeping them all and seeing which ones break out is a benefit.

Two, if injuries strike either us or another team during the season then the depth will come in handy.

[Laika]

2 minutes ago, glory said:

There's going to have to be a late Spring Training trade at some point, right? The Buffalo lineup right now will likely have Martinez, Jimenez, Kasevich, Barger, Clase, three of Loperfido/Lukes/Straw/Berroa, possibly Roden if he doesn't make the team, and I'm probably missing a name or two. Turning Barger (for example) into a young backup catcher with team control would make a lot of sense. Either way seems like they will have to do something there. 

Yes I hope so. Could also use more P depth in AAA. 

[Orgfiller]

12 minutes ago, glory said:

There's going to have to be a late Spring Training trade at some point, right? The Buffalo lineup right now will likely have Martinez, Jimenez, Kasevich, Barger, Clase, three of Loperfido/Lukes/Straw/Berroa, possibly Roden if he doesn't make the team, and I'm probably missing a name or two. Turning Barger (for example) into a young backup catcher with team control would make a lot of sense. Either way seems like they will have to do something there. 

I think Jimenez makes the team, otherwise there's no backup 3B/SS behind Bichette and Ernie Clement. Wagner probably makes it as a 1B/2B/DH type who platoons againt RHP, and Schneider is likely the LHP LF/DH platoon. You add a backup C and that leaves one bench spot open for a utility infielder. If Orelvis or Barger rakes then one of them could take it, assuming they can play 3B, which makes Ernie the de facto only backup SS.

At the end of the day all these guys have options so it's not a super big concern to keep them all and shuffle them as required depending on injuries or underperformance to the fringy guys.

[Orgfiller]

Myles Straw might just be hitting his way onto the roster. Not exactly looping balls into the outfield, he's been driving the ball often.

[Laika]

12 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Myles Straw might just be hitting his way onto the roster. Not exactly looping balls into the outfield, he's been driving the ball often.

Who gets booted from the 40 man? 
The shittiest players are all P but I'd hate to lose P depth. 

[glory]

43 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

I think Jimenez makes the team, otherwise there's no backup 3B/SS behind Bichette and Ernie Clement. Wagner probably makes it as a 1B/2B/DH type who platoons againt RHP, and Schneider is likely the LHP LF/DH platoon. You add a backup C and that leaves one bench spot open for a utility infielder. If Orelvis or Barger rakes then one of them could take it, assuming they can play 3B, which makes Ernie the de facto only backup SS.

At the end of the day all these guys have options so it's not a super big concern to keep them all and shuffle them as required depending on injuries or underperformance to the fringy guys.

I don't see Jimenez making it. The only positions he plays are SS and 2B, and I can't imagine either Bo or Gimenez will get too many off days. DS definitely looks like he's making it, and will platoon against LHP. Obviously they will have a backup catcher and 4th OF who can cover CF (one of Straw, Loperfido, Berroa, or Lukes). That leaves one extra spot with no obvious solution. Maybe Stefanic makes the team, he's another player you have to factor into the Buffalo lineup, but he's also someone you can stash on a big league bench and not have to worry about lack of playing time. Of course, that means a 40 man roster spot, in addition to Straw needing one if it comes to that.

[Orgfiller]

35 minutes ago, Laika said:

Who gets booted from the 40 man? 
The shittiest players are all P but I'd hate to lose P depth. 

Bastardo and Manoah are currently on the 40-man and are recovering from TJS, so I think that's an easy pair of 60-day IL immediately to begin the season which opens up two spots. Not sure if you can/want to 60-day IL Macko who hasn't debuted, but if it's possible then that's another spot that opens.

[Orgfiller]

I could also see Nathan Lukes traded for a bag of chips that happens to be classified as a starting pitcher. The org just hasn't given him a chance despite continued success in AAA, and he doesn't even play CF anymore in the minors which severely limits his utility. Now 30 years old on his last option year, the writing is on the wall for him.

Just can't see him being kept over Berroa, Loperfido and Clase who are younger and/or have more options, all of whom play CF.

[Terminator]

Jimenez makes sense but I could see him being left off.

If we keep Wagner (2B), Barger (3B) or Schneider (2B), when one of those guys play the infield it frees up Gimenez or Clement to play elsewhere. Orelvis (2B/3B) too but I think he starts off in Buffalo.

[Spanky99]

Birds swinging it here early on, nice to see. 👀😎

 

[Terminator]

Ha, both Grayson and the team tried hand-waving his velo dip by saying he wasn't trying. Turns out he's hurt after all. O's might want to wait on moving those fences in.

[Orgfiller]

47 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Ha, both Grayson and the team tried hand-waving his velo dip by saying he wasn't trying. Turns out he's hurt after all. O's might want to wait on moving those fences in.

Grayson is following the Manoah arc almost exactly. Stud rookie year, elite-ish sophomore season, breaks. Same ages too.

Manoah was way better those two years though lol. Cleared him in fWAR and lapped him in RA9-WAR.

[BatFlip]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

Ha, both Grayson and the team tried hand-waving his velo dip by saying he wasn't trying. Turns out he's hurt after all. O's might want to wait on moving those fences in.

Term, during the off-season I predicted the O's rotation would be a dumpster fire this season.  I was then roughly tarred and feathered by the Mike Elias FanClub on this board.  

Over the next year or two, I believe the Mike Elias FanClub may end up reconsidering their claim that the Orioles are The Most Amazing and Well Run Organization of All Time. 

Soft Mattresses are only the first domino to fall.  Mark my words.