{"id":352,"date":"2020-06-21T20:57:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T01:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/?p=352"},"modified":"2020-07-21T19:18:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T00:18:09","slug":"spring-training-preview-cleveland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/2020\/06\/21\/spring-training-preview-cleveland\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Training Preview: Cleveland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The starting rotation seems set, which means <strong>Hardie Henderson<\/strong>, <strong>Whit Wyatt<\/strong>, <strong>Stan Coveleski<\/strong>, and <strong>Bill Steen <\/strong>are battling for some long relief innings.<ul><li><em>Injuries to Steen and <strong>Phenomenal Smith <\/strong>have opened some opportunities here, especially with Smith being out until sometime in June. Adding to the uncertainty, the projected top 3&#8211;<strong>Bob Feller<\/strong>, <strong>Pat Malone<\/strong>, and <strong>Mel Harder<\/strong>&#8211;have all struggled mightily. It feels like <strong>Cy Young<\/strong> and <strong>Wyatt<\/strong> will end up in the rotation, but its all up for grabs right now.<\/em><ul><li>Wyatt, Young Feller, and Henderson are in, leaving 5 pitchers&#8211;Harder, Malone, Coveleski, <strong>Hank Gastright<\/strong>, and <strong>Sudden Sam McDowell<\/strong>&#8211;vying for the final slot.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Chad Qualls <\/strong>and <strong>Terry Adams <\/strong>are fighting for the closer role.<ul><li><em><strong>Cory Gearrin<\/strong>, Qualls, and <strong>Doug Corbett<\/strong> will setup Adams at the back end of the bullpen. <strong>Firpo Marberry <\/strong>has been recalled for some help in middle relief.<\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Louis Santop <\/strong>has an edge over <strong>John Ellis <\/strong>to start at C who has an edge over <strong>Andy Etchebarren<\/strong> to back him up.<ul><li><em>Ellis&#8217; Spring has him pushing for playing time, but he won&#8217;t displace Top behind the plate.<\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Jake Stahl <\/strong>and <strong>Hal Trosky <\/strong>are fighting to backup <strong>Jim Thome <\/strong>at 1B as are <strong>Bob Elliot <\/strong>and <strong>Sammy Strang <\/strong>at 3B behind <strong>Ken Keltner<\/strong>.<ul><li><em>Not only has Strang played well, his ability to serve as a backup to <strong>Chuck Knoblauch<\/strong> at 2B probably assures him a roster spot.<\/em><ul><li>1B is very crowded, making Trosky&#8217;s Spring struggles enough to send him to AAA.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Bill Dahlen <\/strong>starts at SS, and <strong>Joe Sewell <\/strong>looks to be his backup, but <strong>Tom Veryzer <\/strong>could slip in if the Spiders decide a defensive option at SS  is needed.<ul><li><em>If Sewell continues to hit no better than Veryzer, the better glove will make the roster.<\/em><ul><li>None of them have an OPS over .300. OPS. Someone had better hit soon. <strong>Bill Knickerbocker <\/strong>has been recalled to see if some more competition helps.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Either <strong>Harry Stovey <\/strong>or <strong>Kenny Lofton <\/strong>should make the team, but probably not both.<ul><li><em><strong>Tris Speaker<\/strong> is out for several months, opening the door for Lofton. <strong>Gus Bell<\/strong>, called up from AAA, will also get a look as a CF option.<\/em><\/li><li><em>The Spiders have also recalled OF <strong>Rowland Office<\/strong> and IF <strong>Jim Gantner <\/strong>to help with the Spring roster.<\/em><ul><li>Office is making an argument to stay; Gantner is just sticking around for Spring flexibility.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-18\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-18\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><th class=\"column-2\">Near Definite<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Likely<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Possible<\/th><th class=\"column-5\">Long Shot<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Starting Pitchers<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Whit Wyatt<br \/>\nCy Young<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Bob Feller<br \/>\nHardie Henderson<\/td><td class=\"column-4\"><s>Phenomenal Smith<\/s><br \/>\nStan Coveleski<br \/>\nHank Gastright<br \/>\nSam McDowell<br \/>\nPat Malone<br \/>\nMel Harder<\/td><td class=\"column-5\"><s>Bill Steen<\/s><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Middle Relievers<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\"><\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Chuck Porter<br \/>\nYordano Ventura<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Firpo Marberry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Setup<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Chad Qualls<br \/>\nDoug Corbett<br \/>\nCory Gearrin<\/td><td class=\"column-4\"><\/td><td class=\"column-5\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Closer<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Terry Adams<\/td><td class=\"column-4\"><\/td><td class=\"column-5\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">C<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Louis Santop<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">John Ellis<\/td><td class=\"column-4\"><\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Andy Etchebarren<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">1B<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Jake Stahl<br \/>\nJim Thome<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Napoleon Lajoie<\/td><td class=\"column-5\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">2B<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Chuck Knoblauch<br \/>\nSammy Strang<\/td><td class=\"column-4\"><\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Jim Gantner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-9\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">3B<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Ken Keltner<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Bob Elliott<\/td><td class=\"column-5\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-10\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">SS<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\"><\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Bill Dahlen<br \/>\nJoe Sewell<br \/>\nTom Veryzer<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Bill Knickerbocker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-11\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">OF<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><s>Tris Speaker<\/s><br \/>\n<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Harry Stovey<br \/>\nLarry Doby<br \/>\nJohnny Bates<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Ron Blomberg<br \/>\nKenny Lofton<br \/>\nRowland Office<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Gus Bell<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-18 from cache -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The starting rotation seems set, which means Hardie Henderson, Whit Wyatt, Stan Coveleski, and Bill Steen are battling for some long relief innings. Injuries to Steen and Phenomenal Smith have opened some opportunities here, especially with Smith being out until sometime in June. Adding to the uncertainty, the projected top 3&#8211;Bob Feller, Pat Malone, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[368,375,668,363,372,459,364,463,359,665,462,666,667,465,370,663,360,378,369,467,371,376,367,374,379,366,461,460,458,466,664,373,362,365,377,464,361],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news","tag-andy-etchebarren","tag-bill-dahlen","tag-bill-knickerbocker","tag-bill-steen","tag-bob-elliot","tag-bob-feller","tag-chad-qualls","tag-chuck-knoblauch","tag-cleveland-spiders","tag-cory-gearrin","tag-cy-young","tag-doug-corbett","tag-firpo-marberry","tag-gus-bell","tag-hal-trosky","tag-hank-gastright","tag-hardie-henderson","tag-harry-stovey","tag-jake-stahl","tag-jim-gantner","tag-jim-thome","tag-joe-sewell","tag-john-ellis","tag-ken-keltner","tag-kenny-lofton","tag-louis-santop","tag-mel-harder","tag-pat-malone","tag-phenomenal-smith","tag-rowland-office","tag-sam-mcdowell","tag-sammy-strang","tag-stan-coveleski","tag-terry-adams","tag-tom-veryzer","tag-tris-speaker","tag-whit-wyatt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":556,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}