https://wbl.dmlco.com/wp Baseball The Way It Never Was Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:17:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 178681366 https://wbl.dmlco.com/wp/2020/06/19/spring-training-preview-kansas-city/ Fri, 19 Jun 2020 21:14:34 +0000 https://wbl.dmlco.com/wp/?p=194

Kansas City is more “set” than most of the teams in the league, with only a few positions up for grabs, beginning with the 5th starter, who should come from the group of Joe Blong, Frank Castillo, and Luke Hamlin.

• Bob Gibson has struggled, but is still slotted to make the rotation. Blong has probably pitched himself out of the picture, with Castillo and Rube Marquard most likely to get the 5th spot.
  • This whole thing is rough now. The best SP have been Marquard, Andy Petite, Jock Menefee, and Castillo. Gibson’s stuff is apparent, and probably gives him a slot. But it’s really unclear who between Menefee, Castillo, Rijo, Hamlin, and Connie Johnson get the final 2 slots.
  • That situation moves Adam Wainwright into a long relief role, and sends Blong to AAA.
• Unexpectedly, Craig Kimbrel has struggled as the closer (3 saves, 2 losses, an ERA over 10 in 5 games), with both Jeff Pfeffer and Trevor Rosenthal making arguments for consideration for the role. Charlie Comiskey has been recalled from AAA as well.
  • It looks like closing will be split between Pfeffer and Rosenthal in the short term while Kimbrel tries to get back on track.
  • Jeremy Bonderman heads to AAA as well, with Todd Worrell coming in as middle/long relief.

After that, it’s really a matter of which reserve IFs are kept–the odds are one of Rex Hudler, Ozzie Smith, or Gene Freese start in the minors.

• This looks to be Hudler, as Freese is having a great Spring and Smith, whose glove compensates for a lot, is actually out-performing Jack Rowe at SS. The situation is complicated by Frankie Frisch‘s early struggles.
  • Freese is emerging as the leading candidate to start at 3B, while there is little to differentiate between Smith and Rowe still.
  • Ken Oberkfell has been recalled, as has Jim Bottomley.

Similarly, the final OF slot (perhaps, 2 slots) is unknown, with the competition between Lou Brock, Ducky Medwick, Willie McGee with Cool Papa Bell (due to his speed) and Mark DeRosa (due to his defensive flexibility) having outside shots as well.

• Stan Musial is yet to get going, but retains his likely starting spot. However, Steve Evans, Medwick, and Jim Edmonds are both struggling profoundly, with Edmonds being jettisoned to AAA.
  • The fact that Musial is hitting surprises noone, the fact that Fielder Jones continues to smash the ball is. Brock looks to be a solid bet for the roster, which may move both Medwick and Evens to AAA when all is said and done.
• The biggest question here is whether a team really need both Brock and Bell, especially with McGee playing fantastically?

Salvador Perez can’t stop hitting and Ted Simmons can’t start, throwing plans at C into turmoil.

• This is still true.

	Near Definite	Likely	Possible	Long Shot
Starting Pitchers	Andy Petite Rube Marquard	Bob Gibson	Connie Johnson Jose Rijo Luke Hamlin Jock Menafee Frank Castillo	Adam Wainwright
Middle Relievers		Craig Kimbrel	Charlie Comiskey	Todd Worrell
Setup		Adam Russell Frank DiPino
Closer		Trever Rosenthal Jeff Pfeffer
C			Ted Simmons Salvador Perez Lew Brown
1B	Boog Powell		Andre Thornton	Jim Bottomley
2B	Rogers Hornsby			Rex Hudler
3B		Gene Freese	Frankie Frisch	Ken Oberkfell
SS		Jack Rowe Ozzie Smith
OF	Albert Pujols Fielder Jones Stan Musial	Willie McGee Lou Brock	Steve Evans Ducky Medwick	Mark DeRosa Cool Papa Bell

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