Clearwater update 2019

[Les229]

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

R-e-a-l-l-y? It has been 75 to 85 degrees and sunny for the past two weeks solid. I finally decide to go to a game, and it goes from 82 yesterday to 52 and raining today. The weatherman says that it will last all day and not get any warmer. Now I know the Phillies. They will do everything possible to get 5 innings in. That includes leaving the crowd standing and shivering under the overhang on the concourse behind home plate. This the time of indecision. Do I go, or not?

MLB-TV says it is going to televise it. I have decided not to go and to watch it if they get it in, in my recliner.

Sorry Toolong, I really was looking forward to meeting you. Hopefully another day.

[donaldorc]

MLB-TV says it is going to televise it. I have decided not to go and to watch it if they get it in, in my recliner.

Sounds like a plan! With a beer in hand, of course.

[Les229]

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

I guessed wrong again. The rain did stop just before the game and they did play it. I watched it over the MLB-TV. I went to the beach yesterday and saw 2 Harper uniform shirts walking around already. Boy it didn’t take them long to start to cash in. I don’t know if the Harper signing had anything to do with it, but today was also the biggest crowd at the ball park this spring (8,467). At any rate, it was still the worst day this spring. When I saw people huddled under blankets, I can’t say that I was sorry I stayed home. It was cold and overcast all day with a stiff wind blowing in from left field(north). I glanced at the box score on the Phils’ page and it listed the weather as 76 and sunny. I don’t know where the guy who posted it was, but it wasn’t here.

Nola started the game and went impressive 3 shutout innings. I thought he looked pretty far advanced. This is the first that I have seen of him this spring. Kapler is trying a new gimmick this spring. He has been keeping the potential starters down in the complex and working them in what they call game situation game sessions. I described that in an earlier installment. I was wondering where they would be in their readiness. I’ll have to say that Arrieta, Nola and Pivetta have looked pretty good. Today, Nola pitched 3 shutout innings, striking out 3. He threw 45 pitches. Pivetta followed him in and threw 2.1 innings scoreless. Pivetta was wild and got in trouble with walks, but managed to work himself out of it. He was taken out early because he hit his pitch count with all those walks. Leftwich finished the inning up. Nicasio had a rough day giving up the only run that the Phils yielded. Neris, Garcia and Gilbert all pitched scorelessly. I missed most of Neris’ outing. They cut away to more important things…that goofy minute with Murph. That has got to be the lamest bit on TV.

There wasn’t much hitting today. The Cards started Flaherty and he struckout 9 in 4 innings. All in all, the Cardinal pitching struck out 16 Phils on the afternoon. Altherr has absolutely no idea where the strike zone is. I think he cannot judge a breaking ball.

Tidbits: The Mets just hired a girls softball player as an advisor for baseball operations. Why do I keep thinking that they don’t know what they are doing up there? The Phils have 241 active players in camp. There are 60 on the Major League roster and 181 minor leaguers. Harper is due to start his first spring game on Saturday against Toronto.

[Les229]

I kept looking at those fans huddled together and laughing. I'm getting too old for that stuff

[tom81]

Tidbits: The Mets just hired a girls softball player as an advisor for baseball operations. Why do I keep thinking that they don’t know what they are doing up there?

I think you’re off base on this one Les. My 31 year old, Mets fan daughter, texted me about this at 10:43 yesterday morning on how excited she is by this signing. Jessica Mendoza knows baseball, and has a tremendous resume as both a “softball” player and as a MLB analyst for ESPN. She will help that organization in many ways.

Jessica Mendoza

[phillychuck]

Mendoza is a great hire for the Mets. Wish we had stolen her.

[tom81]

Good article in the NY Post about the hire.

Van Wagenen pointed to his own hire by the team as an inspiration to take a chance on Mendoza.
“First, I was an outside-the-box hire and I have been a believer in getting new voices and fresh perspectives in the room, especially when you are making decisions,” Van Wagenen said at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie. “And Jessica has a very high baseball IQ. She has aptitude to learn anything. And she knows the game. Like Al Leiter, like David Wright, like John Franco, she’s a winner. She played the game at an extremely high level, an Olympic champion.”

Jessica Mendoza: ESPN helped push me to take Mets job

[zambonir]

Mendoza is great. And a "woman" not a girl. The problem is she still works for ESPN. Do you want an adviser to the Mets covering a Phillies game?

[Les229]

Sorry. I just constantly have the impression that the Mets front office are a bunch of guys walking around the halls scratching their heads with out a plan from one day to another and this move seemed to fit that scenario. I wish her well.

[jimbomill]

I just constantly have the impression that the Mets front office are a bunch of guys walking around the halls scratching their heads with out a plan from one day to another

I think this present NYM regime is so busy thinking "out of the box" ( look, we hired an agent to become our GM, look, we hired a female as a consultant ....) that they're not focusing enough on the core concepts, you know, hitting, fielding, pitching et cetera. But heck, it's New York New York

[Lawman]

She's actually really good on the broadcasts.

[jimbomill]

She's actually really good on the broadcasts

She is, but I still miss Kruk

[Les229]

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019

It was a much better day than the two previous ones. Spring Break is in full swing and the crowds are getting bigger. Today, the crowd topped out at 8,912. The temperature hit 70 with a slight breeze in from left field. It is supposed to get be warmer tomorrow and get to the 80’s on the weekend. The Phils had a split squad game today, and I think that most of the roster players went to Lakeland to play the Tigers.

Drew Anderson started and looked very sharp. He pitched 3 innings and gave up one hit, no runs and struck out 6. It is still too early to get excited, but for his 3 starts, he has pitched 8.1 innings and is sporting a 1.04 era. He has struck out 11. I really am not going to get a good reading until the teams start to send the minor leaguers back to the minor league fields, but wouldn’t it be great if the Phils found another starter this spring. Neshek pitched his first outing today and looked out of sync. He only pitched a third of an inning, gave up single and a walk and was tagged for the loss when Brogdon (nonroster player) relieved him and let one of the runs in with a wp/pb. Morgan pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two. He has not been scored on yet this spring. Arano is having a rough spring. He got bombed for 4 runs and currently has a 30.86 era.

The Phils only had 4 hits today and nobody was really tagging the ball. All the hits were singles. The only real threat they mounted was in the first when they got two of their hits, but let them die out there. Kingery started in centerfield and only had routine plays to make. The Phils seem to be determined to turn him into a super sub rather than let him try to beat Hernandez out. I think they are being unfair to him.

The problems of being Bryce Harper. He and his wife are staying in the Sand Pearl hotel. They have been eating at the Clear Sky restaurant on the beach. He and his wife came in to eat one evening and the baseball fans made such a fuss and asked for autographs that they had difficulty eating. Since then, I understand that he orders takeout for he and his wife. For 330 million, I guess I could learn to put up with the hassle.

The next home game is Saturday when the Phils play the Blue Jays. We’ll see if the attendance can reach 11,000.

would I care who covers the Phillies?

[Les229]

The Mets don't value defense. If you look at last years team, there was not one good fielder at any positions. They were all stone gloves that could hit a few home runs.

[zambonir]

But the Mets have a new GM since last year.

Kingery is not in the mix for 2B at all, the only guy he's been invited to beat out is Franco. But that's probably not gonna happen either. Anyway, how would that even work? History says his spring training performance means nothing in the regular season. He'd have to have a torrid first half (in limited action) and one of the other guys would have be terrible to hand him the job. And that would be a bummer for Hernandez's future trade value if it was him.

But also he's mostly playing CF now because of the injuries. Definitely need to look at him there given Quinn's unreliability.

[Les229]

I understand the injury issue in centerfield, but they also have an injury problem at second base. There is no doubt that that second base is Kingery's best position, but they keep playing him somewhere else and this spring, they have played other team's castoff utility players, or prospects who are so far down the food chain that they won't be able to help on a major league level for at least 2 years.

I saw this spring a chance for Kingery to finally settle in and show what he could do at his best position over an extended period of time. Maybe he would become the guy that let them trade weak fielding Hernandez. Some times, I think that front office sees things the way they want it to be, rather than the way it is.

[tom81]

It’s clear that Kapler and the front office value Hernandez higher than most posters on this board. I happen to agree with their evaluation, mostly because of his value as a lead off hitter. It is not only his high OBP that gives him this value it is also his seeing so many pitches which helps the other batters behind him, and helps wear out the pitcher,

[julio]

It is not only his high OBP that gives him this value it is also his seeing so many pitches which helps the other batters behind him, and helps wear out the pitcher,

This is kind of saying the same thing twice, IMHO. Hitters with high OBP almost always see lots of pitches - there are very few hitters who produce a truly high OBP purely on the basis of balls in play, with low pitches/plate appearance numbers.

[DurhamBull]

I understand the injury issue in centerfield, but they also have an injury problem at second base. There is no doubt that that second base is Kingery's best position, but they keep playing him somewhere else and this spring, they have played other team's castoff utility players, or prospects who are so far down the food chain that they won't be able to help on a major league level for at least 2 years.

I saw this spring a chance for Kingery to finally settle in and show what he could do at his best position over an extended period of time. Maybe he would become the guy that let them trade weak fielding Hernandez. Some times, I think that front office sees things the way they want it to be, rather than the way it is.

I agree with you about Kingery. They play him everywhere but his best position. I like Hernandez just fine so I understand the Phillies’ dilemma, but all the defensive changes have to be undermining Kingery’s ability to focus on his offense.

[zambonir]

I just think if Kingery is good enough he'll roll with it. The Reds just moved Nick Senzel to CF. We know what the Dodgers do with multiple players. Good players succeed in this role (or if you prefer, in spite of it). But it's not the reason they fail.

Hernandez was on his way to an All-Star season for a while last year (was probably Top 5 at the time of the game, just not Top 3). He's also fine defensively, just not elite. And getting hit by a foul tip is not an injury issue. I'm all for the Phillies trading Hernandez to make way for Kingery at some point. Probably should have done it last year. But they haven't, and the rebuilding is over (it wasn't last year) so the better player should play.

And it's still just a few weeks into spring training. Dylan Cozens has also played CF. And seeing the fringe guys is just a normal part of spring training. Some of them are actually competing for that 4th or 5th bench job and need to be seen just as much as Kingery. If anything, if I were him, I would wonder if I'm going to get to play enough 3B to actually compete for the job the manager says I'm competing for. But I think we all know he really isn't. Bottom line, Kingery's spring training is to train for the job he is actually going to have this season. If he was onlly a 2B it should either be, beat out Hernandez or go back to the minors (also a thing that should have happened last year. Without the contract, even. As it turns out, they didn't have to manipulate his service time. They could have just kept him on the big club until he'd earned the demotion).