Glorious day in Clearwater yesterday. Assorted ramblings-
1- Since
@LB99 mentioned Charlie, it never ceases to amaze me how popular Charlie is. When you see a crowd of people, Charlie is normally in the middle of it. I asked some of the staff if Charlie is still the first arrival every day and they said first to arrive and last to leave.
2- For a team led by some of the game’s best, Marsh is an interesting guy. They didn’t have the music going at the beginning, so Marsh got his sound bar and turned it up around the cage. There are leaders on the field but Marsh looks like a guy that will be a big factor in keeping guys loose. Everyone heard about Schwarber before he came over, Marsh looks to be cut from the same cloth.
3- I had to do a double take when looking at Turner. He looks like he is 18 years old.
4- What I will be watching? I’m interested in how the new rules are incorporated into strategy. Will Turner take advantage of the bigger bases and run more? Will JT still be as effective in throwing runners out given the throw over rules? The analytics will definitely change with the bases and anti-shift.
From the pitching side, I’m really interested in the plan for Painter. I hear the words Spencer Strider a lot. You have to look at the innings pitched that Strider had and assume they manage Painter’s innings on a similar basis. They obviously had a lot of innings from Zach and Nola last year. I’ve heard a little noise on 6 man rotation to manage everyone’s innings a bit.
I don’t think there are a lot of roster moves as they are pretty set. But one thing I’m watching is how they handle extensions for Rhys and Nola. I’d be SHOCKED if Nola breaks camp without an extension. Rhys is the interesting one. If they don’t extend, than I’m not sure what that says about Rhys in Philly.
Their lineup construction is going to be interesting. You would think Turner leads off but with Harper out for awhile, would they possibly hit Turner in the 3 hole? We will know soon enough when they start playing.
I think you can kind of pencil in what you are getting from most guys. The biggest question is what kind of bounce back Nick has. If he is more like 2021 Nick, they are going to cook. He could not lay off anything that ran off the plate last year so that has to be the mission for Long and NIck this spring. I’m interested in adjustments to Nick and what the continued work with Marsh results in.
Let’s get this started. It’s going to be a bloodbath in the division. I think you should see a wild three team race.
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