tOfficially Official 2016 Spring training thread

[donaldson79]

Bench out the gate I think is (barring trades): Ciriacio, Stubbs, Gimenez & Rua

Gimenez - backup catcher
Ciriaco - Primary SS/IF/OF backup, pinch-runner
Rua - COF, CIF, RH 1B platoon
Stubbs - primary CF backup, pinch-runner

Profar, Alberto go to AAA

Ruggiano I hate to lose but I can't see him having a job after factoring in Rua's spring and Stubbs being the superior defender and cost of Ruggiano's contract if he makes the club

Rua has really played himself into a prominent role and his versatility really works in his favor

Bullpen: Barnette, Faulkner, Wilhelmsen, Dyson, Tolleson, Kela, Diekman

Guthrie and Gonzalez possible for the 5th starter spot... Preferably Gonzalez I feel like the things he needs to work on can be done at the ML level and Guthrie is.... well Guthrie

Edit: And then I see the tweet about Chi Chi coming off the rails haha

Terrific overall post, on who/why. I enjoy it when someone states "this is who, and this is why I think this.."

I was going to disagree ONLY on the Gonzalez position - which wasn't b/c of today, actually - but it took care of itself I guess. ha ha

 

[jta4437]

I wonder if A J Griffin has a shot at the rotation.

Guthrie has pitched better than him so far and Griffin might need a little more time to build himself up

 

[saddles]

Another 5th starter candidate.

 

[jta4437]

One thing to remember about Pedro Ciriaco is that he has always been a much better hitter in ST than he has in the regular season. He has a career .843 OPS in ST and a career .661 OPS during the regular season.

I think that might be related to getting ABs in ST and not in the regular season, I'll take a .661 OPS from my UTIL IFer

Alberto's career OPS is .500 BTW

 

[jta4437]

Another 5th starter candidate.

Also hasn't been all that impressive although but maybe today was a step in the right direction

5th starter was the spot I was probably least sure about, that was just my opinion on how it shakes out, still a good amount of baseball to be played

 

[saddles]

Guthrie has pitched better than him so far and Griffin might need a little more time to build himself up

Guthrie pitched great last ST also and then had an ERA of 5.95 during the regular season. Just based on this ST he would be the 5th starter. I just wonder how deep Guthrie will go in the games that he starts. I wonder if 5 innings of Griffin would benefit us more than Guthrie getting rocked and leaving after 5 or 6 innings after giving up a lot of runs. I guess that is what we find out in the not too distant future.

 

[jta4437]

Guthrie pitched great last ST also and then had an ERA of 5.95 during the regular season. Just based on this ST he would be the 5th starter. I just wonder how deep Guthrie will go in the games that he starts. I wonder if 5 innings of Griffin would benefit us more than Guthrie getting rocked and leaving after 5 or 6 innings after giving up a lot of runs. I guess that is what we find out in the not too distant future.

You can wonder but all you can really base anything on is how they are pitching now and right now those guys would be Guthrie and Klein unfortunately and previously Chi Chi

I don't think anyone is happy with the results from the 5th starter candidates thus far to be fair, its not really worth a stat posting debate bc in the end, they all have warts

 

[donaldson79]

One thing to remember about Pedro Ciriaco is that he has always been a much better hitter in ST than he has in the regular season. He has a career .843 OPS in ST and a career .661 OPS during the regular season.

Good point. I didn't know this.

I know he's wearing it out right now. But for my money, I'll take Alberto in the same role.

 

[saddles]

I think that might be related to getting ABs in ST and not in the regular season, I'll take a .661 OPS from my UTIL IFer

Alberto's career OPS is .500 BTW

Definitely not bad for a utility guy, but I do think it wise to keep his history in mind when evaluating him. Some could look at what he is doing and think he is turning a corner unless they realize this is nothing new for him. He has to be the favorite between him and Alberto at this point I would think.

 

[saddles]

You can wonder but all you can really base anything on is how they are pitching now and right now those guys would be Guthrie and Klein unfortunately and previously Chi Chi

I don't think anyone is happy with the results from the 5th starter candidates thus far to be fair, its not really worth a stat posting debate bc in the end, they all have warts

Well, as long as I am wondering I will probably keep wondering about other things besides what they are doing now. Just thinking out loud, or in print I guess. lol

 

[jta4437]

Well, as long as I am wondering I will probably keep wondering about other things besides what they are doing now. Just thinking out loud, or in print I guess. lol

Well don't forget to wonder out loud about Griffin's inability to pitch the last 2 seasons, I'm sure that shoud be a factor

 

[saddles]

Well don't forget to wonder out loud about Griffin's inability to pitch the last 2 seasons, I'm sure that shoud be a factor

Well, I hope he is past that and I would think he wouldn't be pitching to live batters now if the training staff didn't think he was. That was definitely a factor for me in the offseason when I considered the 5th spot, but I have let that go as a factor for now.

 

[jta4437]

Well, I hope he is past that and I would think he wouldn't be pitching to live batters now if the training staff didn't think he was. That was definitely a factor for me in the offseason when I considered the 5th spot, but I have let that go as a factor for now.

You sure do like to cherry pick the facts and factors, but hey that's your MO

 

[saddles]

You sure do like to cherry pick the facts and factors, but hey that's your MO

What is wrong with cherry picking what a person decides to consider? Everyone does that in forming their opinions, you included. Why is it a personal thing to you how I come up with my own thoughts and opinions? That seems rather odd. No one lives or dies with how I think so what does it matter? It is an opinion. It doesn't need to be personal at all.

 

[jta4437]

What is wrong with cherry picking what a person decides to consider? Everyone does that in forming their opinions, you included. Why is it a personal thing to you how I come up with my own thoughts and opinions? That seems rather odd. No one lives or dies with how I think so what does it matter? It is an opinion. It doesn't need to be personal at all.

Personal? How is it personal? I believe you like to cherry pick more than most, pointed it out, and that is all, nothing personal about it at all, and so ends my discussion on this issue

 

[saddles]

Personal? How is it personal? I believe you like to cherry pick more than most, pointed it out, and that is all, nothing personal about it at all, and so ends my discussion on this issue

The MO comment is you making it too personal. Not irate or anything like that but too personal nonetheless. It is your MO. lol But hey, a lot of folks on boards like this take things too personal from time to time. It happens.

We base our opinions on different things. It is no big deal really.

Everyone is free to cherry pick to their hearts content as far as I am concerned. A lot of people do just that because of the importance they place on different factors. Some even cherry pick by devising complicated formulas based on their cherry picking which stats are more important.

ST stats are cherry picked all the time and some choose to ignore them for some players and emphasize them for other players. We are usually all going to see things in different ways unless we let someone else do our thinking for us. Vive la différence.

No hard feelings or anything on my part though. Enjoy your day.

 

[jta4437]

The MO comment is you making it too personal. Not irate or anything like that but too personal nonetheless. It is your MO. lol But hey, a lot of folks on boards like this take things too personal from time to time. It happens.

We base our opinions on different things. It is no big deal really.

Everyone is free to cherry pick to their hearts content as far as I am concerned. A lot of people do just that because of the importance they place on different factors. Some even cherry pick by devising complicated formulas based on their cherry picking which stats are more important.

ST stats are cherry picked all the time and some choose to ignore them for some players and emphasize them for other players. We are usually all going to see things in different ways unless we let someone else do our thinking for us. Vive la différence.

No hard feelings or anything on my part though. Enjoy your day.

I believe this is more of an issue of you TAKING it personal and not me MAKING it personal, but whatever you choose to believe, but that's what I think about it

 

[jta4437]

Does anyone think we try to make a move on improving the backup catcher or starting catcher spot before the season starts?

 

[Bmurph]

Does anyone think we try to make a move on improving the backup catcher or starting catcher spot before the season starts?

Doubtful, it seems to have been a need they choose to dismiss each year. Obviously it isn't extremely pressing but an area they could upgrade and have been talking about it for several years. Now that there isn't really a prospect in the system expected to be a future star, you would think they might make some kind of move.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Chi Chi not inspiring a lot of confidence right now.