Things are starting to click in camp

What a great game of baseball.  Ah, nevermind we played some of the Yankees “B” roster, and nevermind that the winds aided the power game, it was just nice to see blue skies, happy faces in the stands, and the club starting to come together.

Oh, and then there was Bob Nutting doing his best Kevin McClatchy impersonation sitting in row 1, seat 1.  At least Kevin liked baseball. Anyway…

My take on Morton.. he’s obviously not got a good feel for the ball yet but you could tell it’s starting to come around. His velocity on the stadium gun with four-seamers was in the mid-90′s, he was able to command an average to plus curveball, he threw an effective backdoor slider a couple of times, and just seemed to be having fun on the mound. I also saw some of the old Morton.. getting behind batters, not trusting his stuff to come in with pitches when he needed to, and having a hard time with command (especially late being up in the zone), but it’s too early in the spring to know if it’s because his arm just isn’t cooperating yet or because I saw same-old, same-old, softie Morton out there. In my scouting book I wrote that it was the latter.

Doonelly was all over the place today, Chulk continues to impress but his stuff just doesn’t excite me. I don’t know if he warrants a spot in my 25-man or not yet. And Machi just needs to go away dragging Karstens with him.

Doumit continues to be a catastrophe behind the plate waving his mitt at the pitcher in the windup, receiving the ball and moving the mitt too quick, bouncing around, stabbing for balls, etc, etc, etc.. then I saw something with him that really concerned me.

In the fourth inning he got good wood on a Sabathia pitch. His swing mechanics were nearly textbook (for him anyway), the ball seemed to explode off the bat, but then it landed in short’ish center field for an out (with the wind blowing out that way, no less).  As he touched first and headed back to the dugout I noticed him flexing his right hand over and over.

Thinking that maybe he just stung his hand, I put the at bat frames into my super-duper slow motion video processor and looked close frame-by-frame and saw what seemed to be his hand twitching and a slight rotation of the right wrist as he flexed his fingers in and out walking back toward the dugout.  So I decided to go back and review every at bat since July last year that I had recorded a hard knock for him. Sure enough, I found it a couple of times.

I’m guessing by what I saw is that Ryan Doumit’s wrist is not 100% yet.  I’d also venture to guess the reason we didn’t see more desire for Doumit this winter is because other clubs have seen the same thing.  But realize these are my own observations.. I don’t know whether Doumit’s wrist is still hurting him or not. Maybe what I’m seeing is awkward swings putting more pressure on the right wrist because he doesn’t trust it yet? I don’t know. 

Regardless, it’s obvious to me he’s continuing to favor that right wrist so I’m going to knock down my projected expectation for him this year.

One guy who has been stinging the ball in the games I’ve watch this spring is Andy LaRoche. It’s refreshing to see a LaRoche actually do something with a bat in March!  Kidding aside, he’s been a tick unlucky in that not as many as he deserved have fallen in, but his swings have been impressive.  I wish he wasn’t as much a guess-hitter as he is, but maybe it will work itself out. One thing I don’t like seeing with LaRoche has been his refusal to be selective at the plate after a batter reaches. He’s up there hacking guessing at the first pitch and, if it’s close, he’s swinging. That’s not a good ‘team’ game plan.

Clement looks a little lost with the bat so far but he’s got that sweet swing that makes you feel he could bust out at any time.  I suspect he’s going to need a lot of consistent at bats before he does, but the times where that light goes off with him, he drives the ball.

McCutchen looks like he is on a mission. He tends to chase some bizarre pitches at times but if the ball is anywhere around the plate, he’ll typically put it in play. I just haven’t seen his afterburners cut in yet. He actually seems to be lollygagging a bit around the bases some. Maybe he’s protecting those hammys?

And how about Mr. Power, Aki? Dude went long today. Ok, so it was wind-aided and would have been a routine out in every park in the game, but still, he drove it without even trying to. That’s not something I’ve seen from him over the years with Tampa.. he’s been more of a contact gap hitter. I hope he stays within himself. He also stole a base.

Cedeno left after sliding into second like a wiener - head first. Cano stepped on his right hand plus crushed his knee into his jaw twisting his neck. Crosby took over and did a good job but you can easily see the difference in range between Crosby and Cedeno. We can’t possibly open with Crosby.

Milledge?  He’s still jerking around on the diamond in showboat mode. He gets a double and then turns the corner without picking up Beasley and then gets caught in a rundown. Later in the game he tries to steal second and got such a bad jump, he probably should have just returned to the bag but he kept going and Cervelli (with a 2.09 pop! by the way) nailed him with ease.

Good defense, good pitching, nice swings, good times, and a win.. all under blue skies. And how about all those retirees in the stands in Bradenton? Man, that took me back to the way it was 30 years ago. Good stuff.

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We made a few cuts and still have 60 players in ML camp. Wow.

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After watching a few more spring training games outside of the Pirates, I’ve come to the conclusion that our pitching is a bit ahead of many teams right now.  Most of the vets seem to be still out working on different things each inning where our guys are locked in every outing (except Ohlendorf, that is).  I’m not sure I like that because I can’t help wondering about injury potential — forcing the arm to meet the mind so early. It’s too regiment.. too stiff.. too impersonal to me.

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I’ve purposely withheld my prediction on this years win-loss record for a couple of reasons. One, I am hoping we’ll see a few more acquisitions from the wire and, two, I’m not convinced there won’t be some trades here shortly. I’ll post it by the 26th.

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Frank Coonelly called John Raynor “interesting” today in the broadcast. I think it is safe to say Mr. Raynor will be going back to his old team, as he probably should despite a good spring so far.

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August 6th.. Andrew McCutchen bobblehead day. I need a volunteer.. I’ll buy the tickets, you go and send me the bobblehead. Leave a comment below if that interests you.

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Bryce Harper update:

From the Sports Information Director at the College of Southern Nevada:

“The College of Southern Nevada baseball team had to endure quite a bit in Saturday’s Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader.  They had to overcome poor pitching, poor defense, lack of offense, and taunting from Western Nevada College, who won the opener 8-2 before the Coyotes won the finale 3-0 at Morse Stadium…

Bryce Harper smacked a solo home run – his eighth of the season – to right-center field in the first inning to put CSN (19-5, 6-2 SWAC) on the board.  He was then ejected in the top of the 2nd inning for a taunting incident.” (my emphasis)

Here is the report I got back from the game:

“Bryce was tossed for taunting the opposing team after being given a warning an inning earlier.  After hitting his HR, he pointed toward the WNC dugout on his trip around the bases and was given a warning.  He made a bow gesture when WNC’s leadoff hitter in the 2nd inning hit a blooper to right-center, and that is when the infield umpire chucked him.  As Bryce walked off the field, yes, he did have some words with the umpire, but it was never a shouting match with the umpire.” 

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We seem to have enough interest to start a fourth New Bucs Fantasy Baseball League. If you want to play MLB.com’s fantasy product for free, don’t have a lot of time to spend, but wouldn’t mind a chance at $10,000, leave a comment below and I’ll send you an invitation.

B&G3 League is now full and the Fantasy Baseball link above has been updated.  Here’s the draft order for this Thursday at 9 PM:

Related posts:

1. Picked to click, Snell delivers.. a shutout no less
2. Mets – Bucs.. semi-live blogging; Bucs hammered
3. PNC Park: Opposing finesse pitcher hell right now
4. One in four Bucs batters are whiffing. Ouch.
5. Buc fans starting to drool again