What is the story about?
Hello everyone!
The Mariners continued their run as the Cactus League’s sad sack losers, falling prey to the Rockies in an 11-7 slugfest. The good news is Matt Brash made his spring debut and appears to be on track for an Opening Day return.
If you were the Mariners, would you ever consider stretching Brash back out as a starter at any point? I highly doubt they’d consider it, to be clear — but would you?
In Mariners news…
- In case you missed it, Bryce Miller exited a planned bullpen session as he felt some renewed discomfort in his oblique. The Mariners are not planning to shut him down from throwing at this time, but it seems unlikely he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
- The Mariners announced their slate of new menu options at T-Mobile Park this summer. I’m jealous of all of you who live in the Seattle area and will get to try some of these delectables!
- Former LL staffer Patrick Dubuque wrote about the Cal Raleigh-Randy Arozarena beef as if it were a Jane Austen novel in his latest post for Baseball Prospectus. ($)
- Miles Mastrobuoni’s run with the upstart Italian squad appears to be at an end.
In the World Baseball Classic…
- The dream tourney run for Team Italy rolled on with an easy 9-1 victory over Mexico, punching their ticket to the next round and securing the U.S. a spot there too.
- Team Canada is advancing to the quarterfinal for the first time ever after a 7-2 win against Cuba gave them the top seed out of Pool A.
- The Dominican Republic continued its dominant run in the tournament with a 7-5 win over a talented Venezuela squad, giving the DR the top seed out of Pool D.
- For Team Venezuela, the World Baseball Classic is giving the team’s players a reason to celebrate and hope during a time of political upheaval.
Around the league…
- Astros closer Josh Hader is set to begin the season on the injured list while he recovers from a biceps issue.
- Ian Cundall at Baseball America listed ten pitching prospects with intriguing velocity increases this spring, with Ryan Sloan headlining the bunch. ($)
- Smarty Jones at The Good Phight wrote that “lineup protection” clearly isn’t the issue for Bryce Harper given how poorly he’s performed during the WBC.
- Congratulations to fellow LL staffer Ryan Blake, who is now a contributor over at Fangraphs! In his first piece, he wrote about the slow, sad death of Mike Trout’s career amidst the apathetic Angels.
- Ben Clemens at Fangraphs wonders how long it will be until someone other than Aaron Judge is the best hitter in the sport.
