Spring Training story lines

[Donn Beach]

Those O'Brien videos are interesting

[Donn Beach]

Billy eppler on putting together a bullpen, sounds a little like dipoto to me

. It wasn’t the only such gamble the Mets took this winter. In fact it was part of a specific strategy: after building the nucleus of the 2023 bullpen with key free-agent signings and a significant trade this winter, Eppler could have spent more of Steve Cohen’s money for added depth on veteran relievers but instead decided to make several bets on high-ceiling, high-risk arms that have the potential for dominance.

“You want to take some shots,” was the way Eppler put it Wednesday when I asked him to explain his bullpen philosophy. “You start out needing a minimum of four, maybe five high-leverage relievers. After that you look for high-upside guys with certain level of tools -- some element of velocity, secondary stuff or maybe a deception component.

“If you take maybe 10 of those shots and you hit on one or two of them, it’s worth it. Maybe you wind up with a sixth high-leverage guy, which really adds to the bullpen.”

In addition, Eppler thought it was critical to have at least a few relievers with minor-league options, giving the Mets the flexibility to send someone down and bring in a fresh arm when the bullpen gets overworked, an inevitability in this era when analytics dictate that starters are pulled earlier in games than ever.

“If you don’t have flexibility,” the GM explained, “you can’t make moves when you might need to, and you’re going to wear guys down physically.”

[Coeurd’Alene J]

With Diaz on the shelf that will impact some decisions

[Donn Beach]

Yeah, believe they have had some other bullpen injuries as well

[Donn Beach]

Mariners win the best training camp vibe award


MLB network's Greg Amsinger

. “A segment that I came up with that I wanted to bring to our national viewers (Tuesday) is which camp in Arizona did we love the most,” Amsinger said. “Dan Plesac and I got a chance to go to nine different camps, and which camp do we love the most? … Dan Plesac and I are united on this front – the Seattle Mariners spring training camp that we spent an entire day at was by far the best vibe of any camp we attended. It’s not even close.”

[Big_Maple]

With Diaz on the shelf that will impact some decisions

So Diaz tore a patellar ligament. Will have surgery today. Out for the season (likely).

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/ ... endon.html

You could argue that anyone could tear a ligament doing what he did at anytime. But as others have opined, this is crazy. Why do teams allow players to play in the WBC? Why does it have to coincide with spring training? I mean I guess you can't control a player's personal life just because they sign a zillion dollar contract with you (like Tatis crashing his motorcycle) - but isn't this a professional liability and not a personal one?

Does anyone know if a MLB team can prevent one of their players from playing the in WBC? Does it vary contract to contract?

[Donn Beach]

They can't but they do it anyway. I don't see it as having to do with the WBC. It was a freak accident. Its no reason not to let them play, tell them not to celebrate. If you're going to ban the WBC then what about Winter ball?

[desbcoach]

With Diaz on the shelf that will impact some decisions

So Diaz tore a patellar ligament. Will have surgery today. Out for the season (likely).

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/ ... endon.html

You could argue that anyone could tear a ligament doing what he did at anytime. But as others have opined, this is crazy. Why do teams allow players to play in the WBC? Why does it have to coincide with spring training? I mean I guess you can't control a player's personal life just because they sign a zillion dollar contract with you (like Tatis crashing his motorcycle) - but isn't this a professional liability and not a personal one?

Does anyone know if a MLB team can prevent one of their players from playing the in WBC? Does it vary contract to contract?

Pretty sure it is contract to a contract on control and just as the Mariners did they persuaded Castillo not to pitch

[Sibelius Hindemith]

That Cohen dude must have micturated in his drawers when he saw what happened.

[Big_Maple]

Pretty sure it is contract to a contract on control and just as the Mariners did they persuaded Castillo not to pitch

Sounds right.

Was just Googling injuries that happen during the WBC. Obviously, this is not the first year that this has happened - and to Donn's point, there are other off-season games and tournaments that happen, and can we reasonably ban athletes from competing in all of them? And arguably the WBC is a little like the World Cup of baseball, and it's obviously good for the sport, writ large. But here is a paragraph I read that resonated with me:

"However, there’s no question that any injury that doesn’t occur under team supervision will be considered more worrisome than those that happen during a normal spring training or regular season game. And that’s why the Diaz and Freeman scares will likely cause MLB teams to rethink participation in the next World Baseball Classic."