Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training for the Brewers tomorrow (Woooooohoooooo!) in Maryvale Baseball Park. It promises to be an action-packed month and a half going into the start of the season on March 31 in Cinncy.
There are some things to watch develop or see if they do develop during the time in Maryvale that should set the tone for the regular season. (Counting down from 5 to 1 with 1 being most important.)
5. Who fills the few roster spots left? This is the first time in recent memory, to me anyway, only two spots on the bench and one or two spots in the bullpen are up for grabs. If position battles are you what you like to watch in spring training, the Brewers will not be your camp to keep an eye on. Every starting position is filled. From the starting five of Greinke, Marcum, Gallardo, Wolf and Narveson to the position players, everything has been answered over the winter on who will start. In the bullpen, one one or two spots remain, with a couple of the young arms likely being sent down to Triple-A Nashville to stay stretched out and possibly come up and make a spot start or two, if needed. That being Mark Rogers, of course. I worked things out on the roster a while back in an Examiner.com post last month after the signing of Takashi Saito that he would join John Axford, Zach Braddock, LaTroy Hawkins, Kameron Loe and Manny Parra as returnees. That would leave Mike McClendon, Mitch Stetter and Sean Green to fight it out for one, maybe two spots, depending on if the Brewers carry 12 or 13 pitchers.
For position players, all eight starting spots are set, leaving four our five spots left on the bench. Two of those spots are filled with Craig Counsell and Mark Kotsay, the latter of which was just signed, but should make the team as a pinch hitter. There are two question marks left to fill on the bench. The first is, who will be the backup catcher? George Kottaras is back in the mix, but so is Mike Rivera and Wil Nieves. To many, Nieves has the experience the Brewers want to help mentor Jonathan Lucroy. They will let those three duke it out in spring training. Mat Gamel is the other question. Would you rather he make the team and site on the bench and pinch hit or stay in Triple A and get regular time at the plate and in the field?
Even manager Ron Roenicke says it is pretty much set. His take on it is pretty good, though. "That means we have a pretty good team going into camp." Yep.
4. Will contracts (or lack thereof) be a distraction? Rickie Weeks is working on an extension leading into his arrival to Spring Training and Prince Fielder is likely in his last year with the Brewers. Roenicke feels that in the business of the game, those guys will not let those things bother them once they get on the field and play. To me, it will probably only be a distraction when it is brought up in the clubhouse by the media after the games. Mainly with Rickie, it will probably be a distraction in Spring Training if a deal is not done. that gives him a few weeks to move on from it and be ready for Opening Day on March 31. The good thing about it, too, is that for the rest of the guys this isn't a distraction. I don't worry about it distracting Prince, at all. He has had this talk circling him for a couple years now, so he'll continue to play his way through it at his high level. Rickie is the same way. There has always been talk surrounding him about his injuries, but last year he showed what he could do when healthy and should be fine now. I don't see it bother him, either.
3. Will Roenicke be true to his word and be more aggressive on basepaths? Spring Training will be the first chance we will get a chance to see if Roenicke will be true to his word and run more on the bases. As Tom Haudricourt points out in his post today in the Journal Sentinel, Dale Sveum hinted the players are excited for the move and with guys like Weeks, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and Carlos Gomez it's clear why. There is plenty of speed on this team and getting out and putting pressure on the defense to stop them from running could be a key to this offense putting more runners in scoring position. Everyone within the coaching staff things running is a good thing for the team and is the one thing they have not done much of over the last couple of years. It will give the team that chance to manufacture more runs. How many times did Yovani Gallardo lose games when he gave up just one or two runs? Putting runners in motion will open things up to squeeze a handful more wins out of the season which could be a difference in the race the Brewers hope to find themselves in.
2. Will the starting pitching live up to expectations? This one won't be answered in Spring Training, but like that saying goes "You can't win a race at the start, but you can lose it" the Brewers just hope things build for the regular season. Part of me also thinks there are a lot of unrealistic expectations put on Greinke especially to be the savior of the franchise this season. Yes, he is and is going to be good, but there is a chance he will lose a handful of games through the season, if not more. And that doesn't even mean he'll pitch bad, that's just how it goes over a long season. Of course, Shaun Marcum and Gallardo have some expectations to live up to, as well. Both were Opening Day Starters last year, as well, and want to be considered 1a and 1b choices for this team. It's hard to get a real gauge on how guys will pitch in the regular season, though from the spring. Some guys work on pitches in the spring and are all over the place. Then, by the time the season gets here, everything is taken care of and they settle in. If they pitch well, they can't be anointed as heroes like that, either. This one will set itself up for the season and we'll have to wait for an answer. I'll revisit it later.
1. Willl the defense be able to help out the pitching that is now in place? Amidst the trades to acquire pitching, the Brewers dealt some solid fielding away. Alcides Escobar was not great, but pretty good in the field and Lorenzo Cain was great when he was in last year. In their places are Yunesky Betancourt at short and Carlos Gomez back in center. For Gomez, defense was never the thing that anyone questioned. He's pretty good in the field, but it's his bat that got him benched. Betancourt is somewhat similar, but has some questions with his glove. Of course, on the infield, there's a bit more pressure and detail to work on. Can he turn the double play with Rickie. There has to be a solid effort from both guys to put this together.
Outside from them Ryan Braun and Corey Hart had their own "D'Oh" moments last year that made you scratch your head with their play in the field. They kept their spots in the lineup because they were hitting the face off a baseball, but still have work to do. Casey McGehee at third was the same way, but is solid with the glove, as was Rickie at second base. And Prince, well, he's Prince. He led the league in walks last year. Finally, there's Jonathan Lucroy he played at Double-A, Triple-A and the Majors last season and will be the starter this season. I'd guess Roenecke will have him as almost as everyday as a catcher can be (thinking 4 of 5 games in most cases). He improved by leaps and bounds during the season last year. Give him an offseason to prepare and a full spring as the No. 1 guy and I expect him to be very solid behind the plate this season.
That's all I've got for now. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments and I'll put something together during Spring Training.
Now on to some other pop culture news from yesterday. The first is a biggie. If you know me, you know I was once a huge WWE fan. I've since cooled off on it, checking in every now and then to see what they have going on. Last night was a big night though because of one ELECTRIFYING MAN!
Here's Part 2...
Before we get into the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast, here's a bit of a teaser. Ten of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models were on David Letterman for the reveal of the cover model and did the Top 10 list. Take a look. Not the best list, but you're not listening to what they're saying, except for the accents, anyhow.
Now to the cover model. Irina Shayk rocked the cover and looks great in the magazine, judging by what I saw on the new SI.com Swimsuit Website. Wow! Here's a preview!
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