When, exactly, can you say that a player “played his way” onto the team? I sort of get the feeling that these decisions are usually made pretty early in the spring. Or do the manager and GM have their minds made up before games even start, then they hope that the guys they’ve selected do better than the guys that they want to cut? Which is to ask, how long does Garrett Atkins have to keep hitting before Clint Hurdle announces that he’s made the team? Hurdle doesn’t seem to mind just flat-out telling people that NRIs have made the roster. And just how frustrating would it be to be Steve Pearce?
Also, James McDonald makes his first start of the spring in Tampa against the Yankees, which is definitely something worth keeping an eye on. McDonald is my next PitchFX target, hopefully sometime this week.
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