As Spring Training continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Steer to undergo testing:
Reds infielder/outfielder Spencer Steer has been dealing with shoulder discomfort this spring, and Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the club’s plan is to have him re-examined by a team doctor before determining a course of action. That seemingly scuttles plans for him to return to playing catch on Monday, though Wittenmyer adds that the team is “confident” there’s no structural damage in his shoulder and that Steer’s swing is not impacted by the issue.
Steer has been serving as the club’s DH in spring games when he’s played due to the soreness he feels when throwing, but when healthy he’s one of the club’s more versatile players with experience at first, second, and third base as well as in left field. According to Wittenmyer, manager Terry Francona suggested that Steer could see more rest or perhaps receive a cortisone shot in his shoulder to speed up the healing process depending on the outcome of this weekend’s exam.
2. Ohtani to make spring debut:
Shohei Ohtani is set to make his spring debut today at DH, as Dave Roberts told reporters (including the Associated Press) earlier this week. It’s a notable step forward for Ohtani as he’s spent the offseason and early part of the spring not only rehabbing his right elbow ahead of his return to pitching during the first half of the 2025 campaign, but he’s also been rehabbing his left shoulder after undergoing offseason surgery to repair a labrum tear suffered during the World Series. With the Dodgers slated to get an early start to the season in the Tokyo Series in just over two weeks, Ohtani getting into spring lineups is a crucial step to ensuring that he’ll be ready for the two-game set against the Cubs.
3. Alvarez exits:
Atlanta infield prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. departed yesterday evening’s game due to left wrist discomfort, as the club themselves announced. Alvarez, 22 in April, was not projected to make the club’s Opening Day roster with Orlando Arcia slated to serve as the club’s shortstop, Ozzie Albies entrenched at second, and Austin Riley back at third base after last year’s hand surgery. Even so, an absence from Alvarez that extends into the season would certainly be worrisome for the team given their relative lack of infield depth behind those three starters. Nick Allen projects to be their backup infield on the bench at present, with utility men Luke Williams and Christian Cairo also on the 40-man roster.
Just here for the comments… I’ll grab my Nacho(s)
(:
I thought the 3rd tagline said “Alvarez exists”
I might need glasses for my glasses!
When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It’s for fun…
That’s really Nacho business.
For a second I thought the Alvarez from my favorite team was hurt….Nacho Alvarez !
What should worry every other team, is that the Dodgers won the World Series with a rotation fronted by Jack Flaherty and without contributions from either Ohtani or any of the starting pitchers currently on staff.
It’s futile (and silly) to “worry” about other teams, honestly.
@mlb fan
Not quite true since Yamamoto won game 2 of the WS with 6.1 strong innings, but otherwise I take your point.
mlb fan: BP games in the WS. And that idiot commissioner still wants to add two more teams.
I don’t believe lack of starting pitching throughout the game is a problem concerning expansion, the problem is how teams develop those starting pitchers. “Max effort” and trying to get every single pitcher to throw 100+mph on every pitch is what is causing all of these injuries (no its not the pitch clock).
Could you imagine a pitcher like Greg Maddux as a young player today? They would destroy him because they don’t teach pitching; working the corners, developing off speed pitches to make a 90mph fastball look faster, they just teach “throw as hard as you can”
Rsox: All valid points. What I’m saying is, because of expansion, ERAs in the 4-5 range is considered acceptable. Before expansion, a P would never stay on a team with that poor performance. Expansion dilutes talent. Not only pitchers but hitting and defense league wide is more acceptable because teams don’t have anyone better because there isn’t anyone better.
That’s ridiculous. There are more talented players out there than ever for teams to draw from. Players from all over the world. Talent was way more diluted back in say, 1975, when the overall player pool was smaller. And since you think pitching talent is diluted because ERAs are in the 4-5 range, then that surely must mean that hitting talent is the opposite of diluted, since these talented hitters are causing those high ERAs. Right?
Rsox, that narrative is an oversimplification. Teams have never been better at teaching command and control.
Velocity is the pitching equivalent of “chicks dig the long ball.” The players themselves are the driving force behind the focus on more velocity.
I wonder how many more clicks this article would’ve gotten if the title was, “The Opener: Steer, Ohtani, Nacho”
That would be too cheesy.
Lase – I just want to know if Nacho enjoys doing the salsa.
Take Ohtani out and Steer Nachos sounds like something you would find on a menu in Texas
No one mentions how injury prone Ohtani is but he for sure is. That is a fact. A lot of teams dodged that bullet because they saw him as fragile.
Good thing for those other teams they dodged the 9.2 WAR, 54 homers, 59 steals, 130 RBIs, 1.036 OPS and .310 BA last season on the way to a Championship. Whew. They must be relieved.
LAST YEAR bozo. He won’t age well and neither will that dumb contract.
@Youjust
Once again you illustrate your lack of any useful baseball knowledge every time you post. And thanks for the unnecessary insult. Classy.
You’re just a homer who is mad that Ohtani is fragile and won’t age well as proven by how many injuries he already has by the fake age of 30
The only thing I am “mad about” is that you are still around spouting your nonsense.
Youjustmadethatup- are you referring to the most valuable contract in the history of sports?
Sal – Joel wouldn’t be Joel if he didn’t resort to namecalling in almost every post.
He is the exact opposite of every Cardinals fan I’ve ever met, all of whom were very nice and intelligent.
Every time you post you set a record for dumbest post ever, congrats BITA/Youjust…
You’re batting 1.000 when it comes to uneducated rants.
Are you under the impression that Japan is similar to the Dominican when it comes to keeping track of ages? Because it’s really, really not…
Name calling aside, there is an actual point in there that that contract won’t age well. We’ll see if he makes it as a Pitcher the next couple of seasons because one more elbow injury and that’s probably over. As for his offense; last season was a season for the ages and realistically no one should expect him to be able to duplicate that again. It will be interesting to see though if he is able to keep up the Home Run pace will teams start giving him the Barry Bonds treatment; give him one pitch per game to try to hit and pitch around him the rest of the time
Youjustmadethatup: You have your whole life to be an ignorant shmuck.
Why not take a day off and keep your piehole shut from time to time?
Rsox – I totally agree with you on the pitching, coming back and pitching well after a third TJS is unheard of (if he requires one more surgery).
However on the offense side, I do believe he can put up similar seasons in terms of OPS and OPS+. In fact he had a better OBP, SLG and OPS in 2023 than he did in 2024.
i don’t foresee him getting the Bonds treatment anytime soon, not with Mookie/Freddie/Teo batting around him. In fact his walk percentage went significantly down last year because he went from the lesser Angels lineup to the more potent Dodgers lineup.
I agree he likely won’t see 50 SB’s again though, he specifically said he ran a lot more last year only because he wasn’t pitching.
@Bivouac-Sal
But he doesn’t show any of that in the playoffs. Who wants a no-show on the team when it counts the most?
The facts speak for themselves, as opposed to your meaningless take. They won.
@Bivouac-Sal
How do you mean? Did you watch the playoffs or were you watching synchronized swimming?
@Old York
If you knew the first thing about baseball you’d realize Ohtani’s presence in the lineup even with only one good shoulder was valuable to the Champs. Bear down a bit will ya?
@York
First of all you mean the Series, not the Playoffs. Ohtani was a factor until he hurt his shoulder in the WS. And while you were at the pool, I was at all of the Series games.
World series champ, 4 time all star, 3 time MVP, 5 time all MLB first team, 2 time all MLB second team, rookie of the year, 3 silver sluggers, led league in HR last two seasons, led league in RBI last year.
My time never had a shot at him, but I bet they’d take that bullet
Phew thank God my team dodged that super fragile player who just won an MVP on a bum elbow. No one needs the type of player who tears his shoulder and still stays in the lineup just to be menacing to the opposing pitchers.
Let’s go get Trevor Bauer instead! Right, BITA???
I’m sure with the excellent medical staff the Reds have Steer is well on his way to being out for the season.
Unfortunately, that seems to always be the case.
“Excellent medical staff”..Exactly how do you rip a medical staff when you’re not there, have not seen the appropriate medical charts and most likely have no medical knowledge or expertise whatsoever?
I’ve never understood how people can be so critical of professionals with virtually no knowledge, insights, training or information whatsoever.
I’ve never understood how people make Twitter rants without any knowledge of the long background of evidence of which the actual fans of the team are speaking of either.
@mlbfan
“critical of professionals with virtually no knowledge, insights, training or information whatsoever.”
Well Youjustmadethatup does it every day.
every *post
Fixed it for ya, Sal!
Appreciated G-man.
Honestly just gonna do a big ol *eye roll* at that comment.
Why don’t you go ask 2024 McLain and CES about the Reds medical staff.
I’m not going to criticize the medical staff, rather who does what with what they say. Reports were Steer was dealing with discomfort for most of last season. We wait until spring training to reevaluate the shoulder and now send him for another test. Should have been worked on all off season with an eye to having him ready and if the worst happens surgery. Maybe he can DH all season but what happens beyond that? Too good with the glove to DH full time.
Yep. Tale as old as time
They’ll wait until May to decide he needs surgery and lose the entire season when this could’ve been dealt with in November
Typical Reds modus operandi
All three of these stories point to a bigger shift happening in MLB: teams are pushing “depth efficiency” to its limit, and some are about to get burned by it. The Reds, Dodgers, and Braves all have elite rosters on paper, but they’ve also built them in a way that leaves no margin for error. The next few years will show that while versatility and early contract extensions seem like smart strategies, they also come with hidden risks that are only now starting to emerge.
Idk if I’d agree with that sentiment for the Dodgers. If they lose Ohtani they can’t replace him, but who could? But their AAA team alone has a ton of guys who would either be starting or at least be capable of serving in a reserve role on the vast majority other teams. The Dodgers are getting closer to the point of having to jettison good players because they don’t have spots for them anymore.
It’s an almost “castle’s built on sand” approach. The Red Sox have the same issue to a point. They have middle infield depth for days, yet 2B was a black hole last season. And now everyone is knocking at the door at the same time similar to the Reds situation. The Dodgers situation is while they have players in AAA knocking at the door that are eventually going to have to get rid of they keep bringing back Hernandez and letting Taylor keep his roster spot
The question marks about Spencer Steer’s health make me wonder about his long-term outlook in the bigs. I’m rooting for him, but baboons don’t get shoulder discomfort….
Nacho Nacho man