NL Central teams struggling to make final roster decisions, while coping with the injury bug that has bitten some key players around the division with just one week remaining before the start of the regular season.
As part of a new weekly feature this season, we will be taking a look at the other teams in the NL Central. NL Central Focus will be a brief, fast-paced look at what other teams are doing, recent trends, injuries, standouts, prospects, etc. If it’s something that impacts what the Pittsburgh Pirates will be facing now, or in years to come, odds are you can find it right here.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals went 1-4 in Grapefruit League action this past week, including a 5-5 tie against the New York Mets on Friday. No team is concerned about their record in spring training, but one thing that has some following the Cardinals concerned is the WHIP of Adam Wainwright. He has a 1.67 WHIP this spring, which is over his career average in spring of 1.25. He had a similar increase in 2009 after missing two and a half months in 2008 to a sprained finger in his pitching hand. In 2010, when he had a similar WHIP in spring, he finished as the runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award. In other words, keep an eye on Wainwright, but don’t use a poor spring as indication of a bad season.
Marco Gonzales was optioned this week. It’s hardly a surprise. The Cardinals starting rotation has been well established all offseason. Gonzales, the former first round pick, will begin the season in Memphis hoping he can work out his struggles in case the need should arise later in the season. He’s struggled with control, and it will be out of his control if the Cards feel Tyler Lyons or Tim Cooney provide better options as a spot starter at some point, although Cooney has battled his own arm issues. Essentially, it sounds like the situation the Pirates experienced in spring 2015, where they lost much of their higher level starting depth to the disabled list.
Yadier Molina continues to try to work his way back from thumb surgery. Talking about his progress on Friday, Cards manager Mike Matheny said, “He’s ready. We will continue to monitor strength and keep testing him, but right now everything is in a good spot.” Whenever it came to Molina’s availability on opening day, Matheny said, “You can make whatever kind of projections you want. There is nothing left for him to check off. So, he’s just one of our other players.”
Chicago Cubs
This spring, the Cubs have been stuck in a similar situation to the Pirates, both in record, 8-17 overall, 2-4 this past week in Cactus League play, and rotation competition. Much like Juan Nicasio with the Pirates, manager Joe Maddon and the Cubs stretched out Trevor Cahill as a potential starter competing for the number five spot against Kyle Hendricks. Cahill was a long shot, but Maddon did confirm he would be the emergency ‘sixth’ starter when he said, “I’ve kept Cahill stretched out in the event something were to happen but the other three guys have been told they’re back in the bullpen. (Adam) Warren, (Travis) Wood and (Clayton) Richard.”
Yesterday, the Cubs-Mariners game had to be halted in the third inning when Jason Heyward, playing center fielder today despite being the anticipated opening day right fielder, was surrounded by a swarm of bees. Heyward took out his frustrations by hitting a two run homerun in the bottom of the inning, but not before he ran for the hills.
See ya later! pic.twitter.com/WLybbGYuim
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) March 27, 2016
Teams have to be certain to take time to find ways to relax before the strain of the regular season hits in just six days. This week, the Cubs were visited by a real bear cub.
Everyone wants a pet cub, right? pic.twitter.com/lGW8rWN956
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) March 26, 2016
Jeff Samardzija recently talked about talks this past offseason for a potential reunion with his former team, although everything he said would indicated the Cubs and Theo Epstein were significantly more interested in the Giants pitcher. “From where we were at, it takes a lot more to get a deal done. I think Theo [Epstein] had an idea of what they wanted and what they were looking for this year. Going through what I went through here, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t in that situation again. There’s nothing wrong. They did what they had to do.” Samardzija would have been a decent addition for the Cubs, so it was in the Pirates best interests that talks never moved past the preliminary stage.
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds went 3-4 this past week in Cactus League play. In a week, Tim Melville is expected to be the Reds fifth starter. The 26-year-old right-hander has a career 31-54 record in his minor league career, but he will likely make his major league debut against the Pirates on April 9. The Reds have had some injuries to pitching that forced their hand, but they feel confident they have the key to success in making Melville a reliable starter, “His stuff is better than his record. We are trying to catch lightning in a bottle. If we can get him to trust his changeup, it may be a career changer,” manager Bryan Price said.
In an effort to bring some sort of stability and clarity to the bullpen picture, the Reds signed Ross Ohlendorf after he was released last week by the Kansas City Royals. Ohlendorf’s role in the Reds’ bullpen is still unclear, but he hopes to be a mentor to the Reds younger pitchers. Ohlendorf discovered a newfound edge in 2013 with the Washington Nationals, pitching predominantly as a reliever for the first time since 2008.
As of Sunday evening, Bryan Price had only told Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Brandon Phillips they were guaranteed spots on the opening day roster. The rebuilding process has been a disaster this offseason for the Reds. The returns they got for closer Aroldis Chapman and third baseman Todd Frazier have been rated as being rather poor given who they were trading. Price is expected to announce Anthony DeSclafani as the opening day starter as soon as later today. The rest of the questions surrounding the opening day roster may not be answered until the day itself.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers went 3-3 this past week, including a 7-7 tie against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. Spring training 2016 has been a peculiar one for the Brewers. While almost everyone can agree spring records are meaningless, the Brewers have gone 12-11 to date, which hardly seems like what was expected of a team likely to struggle to avoid 100 losses. That path got a little more difficult when Will Smith tore a ligament in his knee last week removing his cleats after a game. Smith was expected to play a key role in the Brewers’ bullpen, sharing duties with co-closer Jeremy Jeffress.
It becomes the second freak injury in the span of a week for the Brewers. Rymer Liriano was hit in the face by a pitch, as reported in last week’s edition. Liriano will undergo reconstructive surgery tomorrow, and it will be just the first step in what will likely be a lengthy recovery.
With one week left, the Brewers opening day roster is beginning to take shape. On Sunday, it was reported Jake Elmore, Will Middlebrooks, Josmil Pinto, Manny Pina, Eric Young Jr., and Shane Peterson were all informed they would be heading to Colorado Springs to open the season. Ramon Flores and Blaine Boyer were informed they had made the roster.
News has also surfaced that Jonathan Lucroy was nearly heading somewhere other than opening day himself. He talked about being informed of a three team deal involving the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. “It’s a such a weird feeling. You don’t know where you’re at, what’s going on, what the plan is. I felt like I was going to get traded five times this offseason. I don’t know why it didn’t go down. So I have no idea what’s going to happen. And not knowing is very difficult,” Lucroy said. From many accounts, the reason Lucroy has yet to be dealt heading into the season is the price tag the Brewers have placed on him.
That’s it for this week. Next week, NL Central Focus kicks into high gear with the start of the season and some new features to go along with it.
Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
