Guardians 1B Kyle Manzardo is at 0.4 WAR already thanks to a double, triple, homer and walk in his five plate appearances. Seems high for a day’s work, but that’s a good day. I still think they should’ve held onto Naylor, but it’ll sting slightly less if Manzardo becomes a capital-g Guy.
Tigers OF Ryan Kreidler appears to be Detroit’s short term solution for center field while Wenceel Perez takes “at least a month” to convalesce. Bad backs can linger, as you probably know, dear reader, so Kreidler might have quite a bit of runway in front of him if he performs. On the other hand, the club traded for Brewer Hicklen Saturday, and he stole 44 bases last season, so we should keep an eye on him, too.
Brewers 3B Caleb Durbin (25, AAA) hit a home run and drove in a couple on Triple-A’s opening day. Might be another little buy window coming soon now that Milwaukee went another direction with their big league hot corner.
Just for funsies, I’m about to link to an article I wrote in April of 2022. I wound up reading it by googling for my Vinny Capra comments from spring that must’ve landed on the cutting room floor. The most helpful part of this 2022 article begins where I start talking about the future of Baltimore’s bullpen in the wake of the Cole Sulser trade (memba him?) and wind up nailing the Felix Baultista takeover, but I also wrote about the Brewers’ new infielder in Prospect News: Mr. Casey Goes To Washington or My Cousin Vinny Capra:
“Toronto SS Vinny Capra (AAA) is the kind of guy nobody notices until it’s too late to add him. He’s listed at 5’8” 175 lbs, which might be a little generous. In 72 AA games last year, Capra slashed .327/.396/.548 with 10 HR and 4 SB. On the downside, he struck out at a 26.2 percent clip, and guys like Capra just don’t have margin for error like that. They have to be perfect to get that big league opportunity, and Capra’s trying to be precisely that this season. In 8 games, he has three strikeouts, three walks, two home runs, and a .367/.424/.600 slash line. I’ll come right out here and say I don’t think Cavan Biggio is a big-league regular, which is also the primary knock on Capra: he’s a utility piece. And maybe he is. But Biggio is striking out at a 46.2 percent rate this season. It’s just 13 plate appearances, but he’s 0-for-13 and ceding the second base spot to Santiago Espinal. Might soon lose his wings to Capra if his life remains as wonderful as it was this week.”
White Sox RHP Chris Rodriguez (26, AAA) threw three hitless innings with just one walk. Nice to see a strong opener for Rodriguez, who started this game after spending last year in relief. On the downside, he hit three batters to put himself in trouble a couple times. The 0.33 WHIP in his box score is not reflective of his experience that night, is all I’m saying. I don’t understand why we can’t shoehorn the plunk-effect into the WHIP category. It’s even technically a hit, of a kind. We wouldn’t have to change the term to create a more accurate picture of the outcomes.
The Mets are going to need some arms this season to support their dynamic offense, so the organization must’ve been happy to see RHP Blade Tidwell (23, AAA) start the season with an edge, dominating for five, one-hit innings with five strikeouts and a 0.40 WHIP. Looks like he’d be the first man up if they needed a spot start from the farm.
Speaking of teams in need of innings, Rays LHP Ian Seymour (26, AAA) threw five shutout innings with five strikeouts in the Durham opener. RHP Joe Boyle might be the next man up in this case, but Seymour is going to pitch some innings in Steinbrenner field this summer.
Red Sox 2B Kristian Campbell and Astros OF Cam Smith look pretty good out there, big surprise. Kudos to those front offices for playing to win. .
Shame on the Rockies. Nick Martini is not the answer. I know we do this all the time around, but I was watching him yesterday and got the ick. Not the Monia-ick, which is a more confusing experience but similarly underwhelming. Colorado should at least add snag Alexander Canario while he’s waving at them from the wire.
Nationals LHP Andrew Alvarez (25, AAA) got the opening day nod and went five scoreless with six strikeouts. DJ Herz is on the 60-day injured list, so Alvarez has jumped the line a bit on the organizational depth chart. At 6’3” 215 lbs, he’s got the physicality to find a few miles per hour here or there, and lefties tend to be late bloomers, so I’m gonna put a flag here and track Alvarez in the early going.
Orioles C Samuel Basallo (20, AAA) hit a ball 115 miles per hour on opening night after topping out at 110 last season. Hard to say when he’ll play in Baltimore, but it’s gonna be loud.
I really wish I had Cardinals OF Victor Scott II on more teams. It’s pretty tough for me to swing a trade most days, but I recommend you look into acquiring him at cost anywhere you need steals. He gave the Twins fits in game two, and I suspect it’s just the beginning.
Thanks for reading!
