2026 Exhibition Spring Games

[gehringer_2]

Dan said JV had 7 wiffs on his 4 seamer. Amazing the guy can throw a swing and miss FB at 43. Has anyone else done that since Nolan Ryan?

[1984Echoes]

18 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

WBC announcers giving K. Montero lots of love. Said he has a "great" arm....uhhh...OK. 

He does have a great arm He also has two nasty MLB-worthy pitches (sinker-slider).

His problems:

1) All his secondary pitches are subpar. That makes him heavily dependent on those two pitches.

2) One of those two pitches "off" that day...he becomes very hittable.

3) His control isn't great. Bad Repeatability? When his control is off he's walking lots of batters.

4) The above reasons are why he's had a 1.50-ish WHIP his entire career. Gives up too many runs on a game-by-game basis.

 

But...

When he's on top of his control over his two nasty pitches... and can toss a 4-seamer or changeup or curveball just to keep hitters off balance... he can pitch (starter) a nice little gem. Those are... too far and in-between for me to like him as a starter though.

He either needs to improve control/ improve secondary pitches (to remain a starter, IMO.)

Or just move to the bullpen. I think he becomes much more effective in there, where he can show off his "great" arm to max effect.

With too many injuries right now though, he's stuck as a starter.

Get Melton & Jobe back later this year and I SO want to move Montero over to the bullpen.

Just my 2 cents.

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Colt Keith is probably feeling a bit like a ping-pong ball. No matter what they tell him in Dec about where he is going to play, it becomes inoperative by the end of ST. If as is very possible, McGonigle and Meadows both go north, he's going to end up sharing 1st with Tork, 3rd with McGonigle and McKinstry, and maybe some second with Torres.

While I'm sure he's willing, I'm less sure he has the defensive chops to be able to play well moving around to multiple positions.

Contract or no, he seems to be the guy most squeezed if McGonigle and Meadows both make the team. He hasn't shown the power to play a lot of 1st, McGonigle may emerge as the better hitter from the left side at 3rd, and Torres has been an everyday player. 

OTOH, at least one injury across those positions is almost inevitable esp with Torres' history and Javy's age.

This may also be spring training ping pongs in which there will be a whole lot less during the regular season. Or at least we are hoping for a more consistent line up during the year...

But methinks this is more "cross-training for just-in-case purposes" rather than an actual indication of what Hinch is trying to do.

But then again... injuries or ineffectiveness...

[1984Echoes]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I think that McGonigle will be the starting SS, with Baez spelling him on occasion vs tough lefties.  Keith will be the starter at 3B.  Baez will get plenty of AB’s moving around in CF, SS, 3B and DH.

Odd man out will be Wenceel.

Is it Wenceel or Jahmai?

I know Jahmai does not have an option... but he also offers less than Wenceel...

Isn't Jahmai basically a DH only?

[tiger2022]

48 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

But he could make the team and play 50/50 SS and 3b. Javy plays 50/50 SS/CF and maybe some 3b. Parker just plays 50% or doesn't make the team. Assuming they do keep McGonigle, there are too many combinations to contemplate until they also decide which of Meadows/Perez/Jung/Jones may also make Opening Day.

If they did that to him, they should be fired ASAP.  Give him a position and don't mess around with him.  Don't screw around with your future star to accommodate AAA caliber players.

That would be a Ron Gardenhire move, playing guys in a different position every game for reasons or something.

[tiger2022]

10 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Dan said JV had 7 wiffs on his 4 seamer. Amazing the guy can throw a swing and miss FB at 43. Has anyone else done that since Nolan Ryan?

There were these guys named Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson that played way back.

[gehringer_2]

1 minute ago, 1984Echoes said:

Or just move to the bullpen.

Downside there is that guys with inconsistent command are a bigger risk in the BP since the 3 batter rule.

He's 25 this season, so still at an age when command might improve and he's still under 800 IP for his total career. His demeanor seems solid though. Another guy that's 50/50 to still have unrealized upside.

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

If they did that to him, they should be fired ASAP.  Give him a position and don't mess around with him.  Don't screw around with your future star to accommodate AAA caliber players.

That would be a Ron Gardenhire move, playing guys in a different position every game for reasons or something.

depends on the player. e.g -  I think it's been a mistake with Keith who is not a confident or comfortable glove guy to begin with, but McGonigle looks a lot more like a baseball rat like Javy or McK. Might not bother him at all. You just hope Hinch can tell which is true.

Edited 1 hour ago by gehringer_2

[gehringer_2]

31 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

There were these guys named Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson that played way back.

Velo data isn't available before Clemens last season, when he was 44 and fangraphs has his vFA at 90mph. I don't remember that much about what he was doing late in his career  with his half season appearances etc -- but for a lot it his out pitch was his split.  Johnson with 100 mph 4 seamer - probably a good comp in that sense. With Johnson he was so long with a release point that made his FB really play up even more. JV has made his living on his FB spin/life. I guess another guy that pitched into his 40's with tons of FB spin was Bartolo Colon. Obviously he wasn't as good overall and didn't have the matching velo (low 90s at best) but guys still always had trouble catching up to the life on his FB even near the end of his career.

Edited 1 hour ago by gehringer_2

[tiger2022]

I don't believe Clemens threw as hard as Ryan, but he was a much better pitcher.  He still had a lot of movement on his fastball.

Johnson probably threw almost as hard as Ryan.  At 43, he averaged 11.4 k/9.  Ridiculous. 

Of course, you can make a very convincing case that Clemens was the greatest pitcher of all time.  And Johnson was a top 5 of all time.  

Ryan was probably a top 30-40 pitcher of all time.  Probably the best arm of all time though.

Verlander has taken care of his arm but it's tough to trust a 43 year old to deliver on a consistent basis.

Edited 1 hour ago by tiger2022

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

I don't believe Clemens threw as hard as Ryan, but he was a much better pitcher.  He still had a lot of movement on his fastball.

Johnson probably threw almost as hard as Ryan.  At 43, he averaged 11.4 k/9.  Ridiculous. 

Of course, you can make a very convincing case that Clemens was the greatest pitcher of all time.  And Johnson was a top 5 of all time.  

Ryan was probably a top 30-40 pitcher of all time.  Probably the best arm of all time though.

Yup. Nolan was more a the biological pitching outlier than pitching performance outlier. Agree the most remarkable arm of all time  (along with Paige?) but not really close to the best pitcher. I remember in Nolan's years with Angels when we faced him it always about whether he could throw the curve for a strike consistently on any given day, because if he couldn't, which was often, you could sit dead red and eventually catch up or he'd walk himself into trouble. Still, whose starts did you anticipate more since if he was on it was a good chance of being a no-hitter?

Edited 1 hour ago by gehringer_2

[tiger2022]

It really is crazy that these guys can throw like that even into their mid 30s.  I played one year in college and my arm was always sore and in pain and I wasn't even a pitcher.

[monkeytargets39]

2 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

McGonigle isn't going to make the team and be in a 3B platoon.  

No team is going to platoon the #2 prospect

I didn’t specifically mean McGonigle.  Just Keith in general.  Just saying that if Keith hit RH, it’d be easier to get him into a more defined position.  

We could’ve not re-signed Gleyber and put McG and Keith at 2B/3B, but we need Gleyber as a righty bat (and he’s a solid signing anyway—but absolutely necessary as a RH bat on this team.)

Or you’d have the option of McG at SS, Javy platooning CF with Meadows and Keith platooning 3B with McKinstry and DH with Carpenter.   
 

As it stands, he just gets out wherever there’s an opening to keep him in the lineup 

Edited 53 minutes ago by monkeytargets39

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I think that McGonigle will be the starting SS, with Baez spelling him on occasion vs tough lefties.  Keith will be the starter at 3B.  Baez will get plenty of AB’s moving around in CF, SS, 3B and DH.

Odd man out will be Wenceel.

Agreed.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

But he could make the team and play 50/50 SS and 3b. Javy plays 50/50 SS/CF and maybe some 3b. Parker just plays 50% or doesn't make the team. Assuming they do keep McGonigle, there are too many combinations to contemplate until they also decide which of Meadows/Perez/Jung/Jones may also make Opening Day.

I think Kevin's just marking time until he moves to 2B, anyway.

[monkeytargets39]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I think that McGonigle will be the starting SS, with Baez spelling him on occasion vs tough lefties.  Keith will be the starter at 3B.  Baez will get plenty of AB’s moving around in CF, SS, 3B and DH.

Odd man out will be Wenceel.

I agree this is the way to go.  Have a base lineup and then use Javy and McKinstry as the RH/LH utility guys.  Rotate the OF/DH between Greene/Vierling/Meadows/Carp and Javy.  
 

Keep Jones as just a RH situational pinch hitter and let Wenceel force his way back up from Toledo or swap him with Meadows if Meadows doesn’t hit.