Updating the Hottest Questions of MLB Spring Training, Week 4
Nothing counts and everything counts—it's the annual paradox of spring.
On the one hand, yes, these are mere exhibition contests. The scores don't matter, and the performances of individual players should be taken with enough grains of salt to satisfy Jimmy Buffett's lifetime margarita needs.
This is about stretching hammies, shaking off the cobwebs and enjoying the Florida and Arizona sunshine as much as anything.
On the other hand, we just endured three frigid, soggy months with no baseball. Now that it's finally here, you're asking us not to speculate and draw premature conclusions? Please.
In all seriousness, while nothing is settled in early March, there's plenty of intrigue as we update the hottest questions of MLB spring training in its fourth week. There's a shortstop mini-crisis brewing in St. Louis Cardinals camp, a bargain bopper headed to Baltimore, two aces who delivered divergent spring debuts and some controversial comments from a certain MVP.
Take a few practice hacks, tap the tar off your helmet, and dig in when ready.
Will Pedro Alvarez Be the Winter's Biggest Bargain?
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Ever since he broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010, Pedro Alvarez has been a masher without a position.
In his six seasons with the Bucs, Alvarez hit 131 home runs, which is good. During that same span, he posted minus-28 defensive runs saved at third and first base, per FanGraphs, which is…not so good.
Now, after drifting unmoored for months in the free-agent sea, Alvarez has finally found a home with the Baltimore Orioles.
It's a modest one-year deal that will guarantee $5.75 million and could go as high as $7 million with incentives, per MLB.com's Richard Justice. Mostly, it's a chance for Alvarez to build his value and angle for a bigger payday next winter in a thinner market.
It could also end up being the bargain of the offseason for Baltimore.
Playing the bulk of his games at designated hitter in the hitter-friendly American League East could be a recipe for a huge season for the 29-year-old slugger. Plus, with stars like Chris Davis and Manny Machado in the fold, Alvarez won't be expected to shoulder the offensive load.
Nothing's guaranteed, obviously. And you could argue the O's would've been better off landing a more well-rounded player like Dexter Fowler, whom they nearly inked before he re-signed with the Chicago Cubs. But as March signings go, this one's pretty intriguing.
Do the Cardinals Need to Add a Shortstop?
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On Thursday, St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta went under the knife to repair a torn ligament in his glove-hand thumb and could be out until midseason, per ESPN.com's Mark Saxon.
That's a significant blow for the defending National League Central champs, especially given their lack of depth at the position.
In-house options include 25-year-old prospect Aledmys Diaz and former San Diego Padres infielder Jedd Gyorko, who posted a pedestrian .247/.297/.397 slash line with the Friars last season but did club 16 home runs.
Needless to say, the Cardinals could look to bring in reinforcements.
One possible target is veteran Atlanta Braves shortstop Erick Aybar. According to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves "have shown they're willing to trade just about anyone not named Freddie Freeman."
At the same time, as Braves general manager John Coppolella told O'Brien, "We don't want to trade Erick Aybar; he's a great, winning player."
Translation: If you want him, it'll cost you.
There are surely cheaper, if less appealing, options on the trade market. And more names should become available as Opening Day draws nearer and rosters take shape.
For now, St. Louis appears content to bide its time.
"Everyone's sort of pounding on, 'What are we going to do?' I think I'd like to see what we have first and then determine what's next," Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said, per Saxon. "Obviously, our goal is to be competitive this year, and if we feel we need to go outside the organization to improve on those odds, then we will. Right now, I don't think that's something we feel we have to do at all."
No matter what, Peralta—a three-time All-Star who finished second on the team with 159 hits last year—will be missed. And his loss underscores how much the Cards are counting on a veteran roster to stay healthy and fend off the young, hard-charging Cubs.
Should the Giants Be Worried About Johnny Cueto?
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Johnny Cueto, the San Francisco Giants' $130 million man, didn't make his first start until nine games into the Cactus League slate. And when he did, the results weren't pretty.
Cueto lasted just 1.1 innings against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, surrendering five runs on four hits, including a home run and a triple.
"Obviously he didn't feel good," Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said, per the Associated Press (via KNBR.com). "We all had good at-bats against him."
This is the part where we remember spring stats don't matter. The list of pitchers who struggled in exhibition games, especially early, and went on to have excellent seasons is long enough to rival the U.S. tax code stapled to an annotated copy of War and Peace.
But Giants fans are allowed to be jittery. Cueto, recall, saw his numbers tumble after a trade-deadline swap to the Kansas City Royals last season. And while he finished 2015 on a high note, twirling a masterpiece in Game 2 of the World Series, he's coming off a campaign in which he threw 237 innings between the regular season and playoffs.
San Francisco still remembers Barry Zito and his seven-year, $126 million albatross of a contract. That was, in fact, the biggest deal the franchise had handed to an outside free agent—until Cueto.
Zito comparisons are obviously premature bordering on ridiculous after one rough spring outing. Still, the angst is real, as McCovey Chronicles' Grant Brisbee spelled out:
"If Cueto follows that Zito path, where he shows up and gives the Giants nothing in the regular season for the life of his contract, it will hose the team this season. It'll hose them in the offseason. It'll hose them next season. Then it'll hose them in the next offseason. Then, well, you get it. You've lived it. It would be unfortunate because you know that the Giants won't follow the mistake with a big contract to another player to help the roster. This is probably it, at least for the next couple years, so it had better work.
"
Now, take a deep breath and repeat after me: Spring stats don't matter, spring stats don't matter, spring stats don't matter…
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Will Noah Syndergaard Be the Mets' Ace?
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If the New York Mets' starting rotation were an '80s sitcom, it might aptly be titled, Who's the Ace?
Is it Matt Harvey, the Dark Knight himself, slinger of fastballs and wicked sliders?
Is it Jacob deGrom, who followed his 2014 NL Rookie of the Year campaign with an even more dominant 2015?
Or, perhaps, is it Noah Syndergaard, the bolt-throwing, flowing-locked kid they call Thor?
It might seem premature to toss Syndergaard into the conversation, considering he's yet to log a full season at the big league level.
But with his first start of the spring, the 23-year-old right-hander flashed the stuff and polish that suggest he could be on the edge of something truly special.
In three innings of one-hit ball against the Cardinals on Thursday, Syndergaard unleashed his trademark high-90s heat and backed up comments by multiple people associated with the team that's he's in "midseason form," per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
And he's working on perfecting another pitch, which he identified as a "cutter, slider, depends on what day it is," per Bleacher Report's Scott Miller.
A new weapon, early results, burgeoning confidence—does all of that add up to Thor assuming the ace mantle?
"There's always a debate about who's going to be the best," skipper Terry Collins said of his enviable starting five, per DiComo. "This kid's got a chance to be the guy."
More than anything, Mets fans should sit back and enjoy the show.
Did Bryce Harper Start an Old School vs. New School War?
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Oh, Bryce Harper. You always make things interesting.
Just as spring appeared to be settling into the usual rut of injury updates and exhibition box scores, the reigning National League MVP decided to put the game itself on blast.
In case you somehow missed it, here's the quote—from a profile of Harper by Tim Keown in ESPN The Magazine—that sent minor shock waves through the MLB landscape:
"Baseball's tired. It's a tired sport, because you can't express yourself. You can't do what people in other sports do. I'm not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it's the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair. If that's Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel there's so many guys in the game now who are so much fun.
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Harper likes bat flips. He likes staredowns between pitchers and hitters. He likes showing guys up and, yes, being shown up when he deserves it.
"If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I'm going to go, 'Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time,'" he said.
That's the way sports are trending. Demonstrative celebrations that often border on taunting are commonplace in the NFL and NBA. Players are allowed—even encouraged—to brandish their personalities and wear their excitement.
Baseball, however, remains stuck between the old school and the new school. And sure enough, soon after Harper's comments made the rounds, the old school hit back.
"Don't put your foot in your mouth when you're the face of the game and you just won the MVP," Giants reliever Sergio Romo said, per Carl Steward of the San Jose Mercury News. "I'm sorry, but just shut up."
Romo, with his tattooed arms and frequent displays of emotion on the mound, seems an odd spokesman for baseball's ancient unwritten rules.
To hear him tell it, though, there's a difference between passion and showboating.
"As emotional and as fiery as I am, I do my best not to look to the other dugout," he said, per Steward. "I look to the ground, I look to my dugout, to the sky, to the stands. It's warranted to be excited. But there is a way to go about it to not show disrespect, not only to the other team but the game itself."
Whichever side you land on, this conversation clearly isn't over. That's probably a good thing; baseball should always be willing to adapt to changing times.
Of course, the next time Harper "pimps a homer," as he put it, he could still get a four-seamer in the back.
All statistics current as of March 10 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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