On a day when the Arenado brothers (Nolan and Jonah) were on opposite sites of a Rockies/Giants Spring Training tilt, here are some items from around the NL West…
- Zack Greinke has been dealing with a lack of velocity and a minor groin injury this spring, but after a 40-pitch bullpen session today, the Diamondbacks ace is hopeful of being ready for the start of the season, he told MLB.com’s Owen Perkins and other reporters. “If I felt this good every day for the rest of my career, it would be amazing,” Greinke said. “I’ll definitely be making the next outing. I felt healthy and the pitches were pretty good. Hopefully that continues. It should; it was a good day.” Greinke left a start last Wednesday after just one inning due to mild groin tightness, and though he already seems to be feeling better, manager Torey Lovullo said the club will continue to monitor Greinke’s progress. The setbacks have cost Greinke the Opening Day assignment, though he could pitch as soon as Arizona’s third game of the season.
- With several outfielders seemingly ahead of Trayce Thompson on the Dodgers depth chart, the club is expected to explore trading the out-of-options Thompson, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes. Thompson has shown some promise over three MLB seasons but he hasn’t been the same since suffering back injuries midway through the 2016 season. Thompson appeared in just 27 games for the Dodgers last season, contributing a meager .483 OPS in 55 plate appearances. Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor are slated for starting duty in right and center field, respectively, with Thompson, Matt Kemp, Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez, Andrew Toles, and top prospect Alex Verdugo all competing for left field or backup duty. If a trade partner can’t be found, the Dodgers will risk losing Thompson for nothing, as he would have to pass through waivers before the Dodgers could send him to the minors.
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed his rotation to reporters (including Bill Shaikin) today, with Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, and Hyun-jin Ryu lined up as the Los Angeles starting five. Beyond those five, however, are some question marks, as Roberts admitted “We don’t have the starting pitching depth that we’ve had in past years.” That depth allowed the Dodgers to reach the World Series despite DL stints for every member of their pitching staff, and now since Yu Darvish and Brandon McCarthy have both moved on to other teams, L.A. now has Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart, and Walker Buehler as the top depth options. Tom Koehler was signed over the offseason to bring a veteran arm into the mix, though Koehler is sidelined indefinitely due to a mild AC strain.
- A year after a surprising position switch, Chris Shaw is hoping to eventually crack the majors as a left fielder, Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes. The Giants already had Brandon Belt at first base, so with Shaw’s natural position blocked, the club began to deploy Shaw in left field as a way of finding a place in the lineup for his intriguing power bat. Shaw was San Francisco’s first-round pick (31st overall) in the 2015 draft and is ranked as the second-best prospect in the team’s farm system by both MLB.com and Baseball America, making him a key part of the Giants’ future. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Shaw make his Major League debut sometime in 2018, with a potential starting job awaiting him in 2019 if Hunter Pence isn’t re-signed.
You forgot Wilmer Font (who I think is the right-handed version of Eduardo Rodriguez) in your rotation depth.
Would be nice though if Wilmer Font didn’t get blasted every time he pitched this Spring.
Part of it is he’s getting BABIP’ed to an extreme (.340-.360 range) and two homers in 9 IP, he’s ok with walks and strikeouts. Font is an extreme flyball pitcher and is a risk in allowing home runs. He should perform well, despite the home runs.
I like Wilmer Font and hope he makes the team. As one of the few rare Dodger fans who live in Southern California that gets the Dodgers channel, I’ve seen most the Dodger Spring Training outings this year. That said, he hasn’t looked good at all.
Even with nine strikeouts in almost nine innings, hitters are squaring up on Font’s pitches. I’d love to know what the line drive rate is for opposing hitters against him because it probably would explain to some degree why his BABIP is so high.
Font in the Giants bullpen to start the season? That’s a BOLD prediction if I’ve ever heard one…
…I’ll see myself out.
Wrong Chris Shaw linked, should be this one https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=shaw–000chr
People forget the Big Salad Tom Koehler was a 1006 All-America East Second Team out of Stony Brook. He regains that form and he’s the No. 2 in that rotation.
If he regains that form that would be mighty impressive considering he’s injured.
truebluela.com/2018/3/2/17073020/tom-koehler-mri-r…
You might want to check out sack lodge’s other comments; he’s doing some kind of annoying troll thing.
Wonder if my Indians would do a trade for Thompson? They need a RH bat in the outfield, and BJ……er, Melvin…….Upton isn’t showing anything in his attempt to make the team. Rajai maybe, but not him.
I like your thinking. Wonder what it would take? Dodgers don’t have much leverage given the reasons listed above.
Probably just something better than a PTBNL unless a couple teams bid against each other for Thompson’s upside. He was doing really well until he got hurt. There is a chance to replicate that past production, he has the tools.
A serviceable RH reliever could interest the Dodgers. McAllister, maybe?
That would be fine with me, but since ZMac is actually having a good spring, I don’t think they’d go for it. How about Ryan Merritt?
I have a question. Can players on ST invites on minor league contracts be traded? Because they several in camp that are pitching well.
Thompson is also having a good spring and is controllable until 2022. McAllister is in his last year of team control. Thompson has so much more excess value at this point, I think Cleveland has to send some money along with that deal. On the invites, if they are non-roster then I believe the team would have to offer them a contract before they can trade them, but I’m pretty sure they can’t trade them right out of spring training.
ATL will be interested in Thompson. He would be an upgrade to Lane Adams with a platoon with Preston Tucker, who has looked really good in ST.
Talking of Dodgers rotation pieces…does anyone have any update on Urias and his recovery from the shoulder injury?
Looking at second half of 2018 at the earliest. The link below is from last month and shows him throwing.
instagram.com/p/BetOlBCBiCN/?utm_source=ig_embed
If he’s healthy then we better see an uptick in velocity his next time out then. The end is near. He’s going to be Weaver /Lincecum pretty soon once he’s throwing 86-88 consistently.
Kemp makes the team
Have always liked Thompson. There are three teams in California that could use him – he would be the ideal missing piece for the evil Giants as well as being nice fit in either the Padre or the Angel outfield. With the Padre farm system as good as it is, I would love to see a corner infielder deal for Thompson – preferably a third base prospect to replace Turner in a year or so.
Turner has 3 years left on his deal. Dodgers dont need to worry about him yet. But Thompson would never be able to command back an impact prospect like that anyways
The evil giants comment made me smile. Even though I’m on the giants side of the rivalry it sure is a good one 🙂
Dodgers had plenty of rotation depth before they made the salary shifting removal of kaz and McCarthy for kemp. Probably not wise to expect those guys to pitch full seasons either but they did have it.
Mccarthey and Kazmir stink. Good riddance
I wish the A’s could use Thompson. Its would be fun to see Klay and Trayce playing in the same parking lot.
Then the giants should trade for him. Warriors moving next door to the giants. The arena is under construction!
Going to the A’s is more likely. How many trades has there been between the Dodgers and the Giants in their history? It’s like the Yankees and the Red Sox making a trade.
On the other hand, there have been a lot of trades between the A’s and the Dodgers.
Thompson would be a better OF option than Gregor Blanco or Gorkys Hernandez, but a trade between LA and SF is really unlikely no matter how much sense it would make for both sides. CLE also has a need in the OF, and they have the rotation depth piece(s) the Dodgers need.
The Dodgers have some leverage. Realistically if they want to they can keep Thompson if they test the waters and don’t see what they like. Which in reality there’s not much value there. The bench would then just consist of Grandal/Barnes, Kikè, Utley, and Thompson. The only drawback is the team then becomes extremely RH. There are only 2/3 LHH in the everyday lineup. Oh there goes the days of 5-6. Toles and Pederson have options. If they are going to play Kemp more days than not you would think they’d want Toles get everyday ABs in AAA. I like the idea of holding Thompson, because of his ability to play cf and before injury he was intriguing. That said the emergence of of guys like Taylor and Diaz have somewhat made Thompson easier to lose.
Ohhh!!! A good Dodgers/Giants trade is long overdue. How about Thompson for Okert?
I have no interest in seeing a player the Giants trade to that team in the south possibly change the outcome of any games between the two. No trades between the Giants and them, it’s bad enough seeing FAs sign with them.