Spring Training Mega Thread

[Bertz]

 

It would be really nice if Kilian's issues in the second half last year could just be nestly chalked up to that knee injury.

[Cubswin11]

Building one of the best defenses we can only to put a midget who has to bounce the ball to 1B from 3B, our manger is an idiot.

 

[Tim]

Building one of the best defenses we can only to put a midget who has to bounce the ball to 1B from 3B, our manger is an idiot.

 

I'm still convinced they're just trying to raise his trade value.

 

I can imagine that in talks with other GM's, they're saying that they won't give up much for him because we don't have a place to play him anyway. So we're putting him there for now to bluff that we'd actually do it in the season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Trying to imagine what the answer was supposed to be to that early ST softball question

 

"How does Madrigal look at third base?"

 

"Well Sahadev, I was in the first base dugout so I couldn't see him with as short as Nick is, but I can tell you that his throws across the diamond would have brought rain were we not in the gd desert. He did hit a few line drives against pitchers who haven't pitched in half a year though"

[Bertz]

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/arm-strength?type=player&year=2022&minThrows=100&pos=arm_2b&team=

 

5 guys last year had worse arms than Madrigal at 2B and also played a meaningful amount at 3rd:

 

DJ Lemahieu

Wilmer Flores

Josh Harrison

Brandon Drury

Jon Berti

 

Lemahieu, Harrison, and Berti played well at 3rd, Flores was okay, and Drury sucked. Expanding the sample a bit, Brendan Donavan (good at 3B) and Max Muncy (bad at 3B) throw only smidge harder than Madrigal.

[Bertz]

 

I'm going to be such a sucker for any positive news about Bellinger. I know it's overly reductive but it really feels like he's the key cog on the position player side. If he throws up a 120ish wRC+ it drastically changes the complexion of the lineup. Like here's a sample lineup, with everyone at their projected wRC+s plus that bump for Bellinger:

 

LF - Happ (113)

RF - Suzuki (131)

SS - Swanson (108)

CF - Bellinger (120)

DH - Mancini (106)

1B - Hosmer (108)

3B - Wisdom (101) or Morel (99)

2B - Hoerner (104)

C - Gomes (90)

[Cubswin11]

 

I'm going to be such a sucker for any positive news about Bellinger. I know it's overly reductive but it really feels like he's the key cog on the position player side. If he throws up a 120ish wRC+ it drastically changes the complexion of the lineup. Like here's a sample lineup, with everyone at their projected wRC+s plus that bump for Bellinger:

 

LF - Happ (113)

RF - Suzuki (131)

SS - Swanson (108)

CF - Bellinger (120)

DH - Mancini (106)

1B - Hosmer (108)

3B - Wisdom (101) or Morel (99)

2B - Hoerner (104)

C - Gomes (90)

Then imagine if Mervis is actually somewhat legit and you can maximize some of the 1B/DH stuff with him and Hosmer and Mancini.

[Cubswin11]

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/arm-strength?type=player&year=2022&minThrows=100&pos=arm_2b&team=

 

5 guys last year had worse arms than Madrigal at 2B and also played a meaningful amount at 3rd:

 

DJ Lemahieu

Wilmer Flores

Josh Harrison

Brandon Drury

Jon Berti

 

Lemahieu, Harrison, and Berti played well at 3rd, Flores was okay, and Drury sucked. Expanding the sample a bit, Brendan Donavan (good at 3B) and Max Muncy (bad at 3B) throw only smidge harder than Madrigal.

I don’t buy his arm is good at all regardless of what the numbers say, he has a noodle just trusting the eye test. Plus he has no range (not that you need it at third) but the quick reactions I don’t see either and he’s so small he covers less ground when he has to dive to glove or hand side. I think he’ll grade out terribly at 3B if our idiot manager plays him there for meaningful innings.

[Cubswin11]

I’m under the assumption he’s washed, but he’ll get chances to start if he’s healthy. I wasn’t aware he was this far along in throwing, based on the reports I was under the assumption he was barely throwing. Not already able to go off a mound.

 

 

Edit: Never mind, sounds like he’s a ways away

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Cubswin11

[fromthestretch]

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/arm-strength?type=player&year=2022&minThrows=100&pos=arm_2b&team=

 

5 guys last year had worse arms than Madrigal at 2B and also played a meaningful amount at 3rd:

 

DJ Lemahieu

Wilmer Flores

Josh Harrison

Brandon Drury

Jon Berti

 

Lemahieu, Harrison, and Berti played well at 3rd, Flores was okay, and Drury sucked. Expanding the sample a bit, Brendan Donavan (good at 3B) and Max Muncy (bad at 3B) throw only smidge harder than Madrigal.

I don’t buy his arm is good at all regardless of what the numbers say, he has a noodle just trusting the eye test. Plus he has no range (not that you need it at third) but the quick reactions I don’t see either and he’s so small he covers less ground when he has to dive to glove or hand side. I think he’ll grade out terribly at 3B if our idiot manager plays him there for meaningful innings.

 

I'm not saying this as an endorsement of him getting time at third, but I disagree with the "noodle arm" assessment. I remember seeing him shifted over against right-handers and making multiple strong throws to first. That said, I think the Cubs have numerous better options at third.

[Cubswin11]

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/arm-strength?type=player&year=2022&minThrows=100&pos=arm_2b&team=

 

5 guys last year had worse arms than Madrigal at 2B and also played a meaningful amount at 3rd:

 

DJ Lemahieu

Wilmer Flores

Josh Harrison

Brandon Drury

Jon Berti

 

Lemahieu, Harrison, and Berti played well at 3rd, Flores was okay, and Drury sucked. Expanding the sample a bit, Brendan Donavan (good at 3B) and Max Muncy (bad at 3B) throw only smidge harder than Madrigal.

I don’t buy his arm is good at all regardless of what the numbers say, he has a noodle just trusting the eye test. Plus he has no range (not that you need it at third) but the quick reactions I don’t see either and he’s so small he covers less ground when he has to dive to glove or hand side. I think he’ll grade out terribly at 3B if our idiot manager plays him there for meaningful innings.

 

I'm not saying this as an endorsement of him getting time at third, but I disagree with the "noodle arm" assessment. I remember seeing him shifted over against right-handers and making multiple strong throws to first. That said, I think the Cubs have numerous better options at third.

Would be glad to be proven wrong but I think he’s much more Lastella/Descalso/Villar type useless and terrible at 3B vs any of the guys mentioned above who play the position well

[CubinNY]

First game is tomorrow. Will MLB.TV have it?

[sweetpeteman]

First game is tomorrow. Will MLB.TV have it?

 

 

It's listed here: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/2023/02/25

[Tim]

Holy hell do I want this guy to be for real

 

 

[Bertz]

[Cubswin11]

That’s probably the OD lineup assuming health and we face a RHP (vs the Brewers so Burnes or Woodruff). Don’t like Nico leading off

[NOLA]

Did I miss a discussion over YouTubeTV cutting MLB Network?

[mul21]

Did I miss a discussion over YouTubeTV cutting MLB Network?

 

They sent out a notice a couple weeks ago that they were dropping it.

[Backtobanks]

 

Nooooo

 

Who needs Machado when we have Wisdom, Rios, and Madrigal.

[Backtobanks]

Who needs Machado when we have Wisdom, Rios, and Madrigal.

 

Tbf both the next Bregman *and* Machado are said to be in the org as well

 

We seem to have a lot of "future Hall of Famers" in the organization, but somehow it loses something by the time they get here.

[UMFan83]

 

Nooooo

 

San Diego has a metro population that is 400k less than Minneapolis and roughly on par with Tampa Bay. This doesn't give small market teams complaining that they can't afford a competitive payroll much credibility.

 

In other news the Padres will owe approximately $122m to 5 players in 2026: 39 year old Yu Darvish, 33 year old Manny Machado, 33 year old Xander Bogaerts, 33 year old Joe Musgrove and 27 year old Fernando Tatis Jr.

 

They are paying Bogaerts until 2033 (age 40), Machado until 2034 (age 41), Tatis until 2034 (age 35) and Darvish until 2028 (age 41). Some fascinating stuff.

[CubinNY]

 

Nooooo

 

San Diego has a metro population that is 400k less than Minneapolis and roughly on par with Tampa Bay. This doesn't give small market teams complaining that they can't afford a competitive payroll much credibility.

 

In other news the Padres will owe approximately $122m to 5 players in 2026: 39 year old Yu Darvish, 33 year old Manny Machado, 33 year old Xander Bogaerts, 33 year old Joe Musgrove and 27 year old Fernando Tatis Jr.

 

They are paying Bogaerts until 2033 (age 40), Machado until 2034 (age 41), Tatis until 2034 (age 35) and Darvish until 2028 (age 41). Some fascinating stuff.

 

Yes, the demographics of the cities are a little different, but this lays bare the lie that small market teams cannot afford to spend on talent. They don’t need to have the third highest payroll, but the differences between them and the handful of big market teams should not be so large.

[Bertz]

I saw on BleacherNation this AM but hadn't otherwise seen it discussed that Tucker Barnhart is planning on ditching switch hitting this year.

 

He already had pretty stark splits: 77 wRC+ vs. righties the last three years compared to 56 wRC+ vs lefties. If dropping switch hitting makes those more stark, something more like 85/40, I think that's a worthwhile tradeoff to get those vs. RHP numbers up closer to respectability.

 

I do wonder what the plan is for Gomes/Barnhart. Are they going to be largely platooned to maximize what little offense there is, or is each guy going to own the relationship with 2-3 SPs and time behind the plate will be doled out that way.

[CubinNY]

Brisby has a great article about the pitch clock and listening to the “radio” broadcast. It made me think about how much more i enjoyed games listening to them rather than watching them. Of course there must be good broadcasters like Pat Hughes.

[Derwood]

Brisby has a great article about the pitch clock and listening to the “radio” broadcast. It made me think about how much more i enjoyed games listening to them rather than watching them. Of course there must be good broadcasters like Pat Hughes.

 

How will Pat get his forty dozen ad reads in with fewer time between pitches?