[lex24]

Schmitt is an interesting player as well. Won a minor league gold glove at 3B, he's also an accomplished shortstop. He hit .909 OPS in AA Richmond, a pitcher's league. He actually hit better in AA than in high A, and hit better in AAA than in AA. Similarly, it will be interesting to see if Bailey hits well solely from the left side (I assume the Giants will get him to stop switch-hitting, he's atrocious from the right side).

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Spring training is upon us! I think the main battles for non-pitchers will be catcher and first base.

Nice analysis on 1B, Lex. I'm very concerned about catcher. It was pretty clear that Rodon and Webb preferred pitching to Austin Wynns over Joey Bart last year. That's not a good sign. And the public pronouncement that the catching spot is a competition, and that Bart is at the same level as the others...well, those two facts speak volumes, but not as much as their first round selection of Patrick Bailey. That simply screamed that Bart would never develop. My take is that Bart hasn't developed and won't develop...not in the field, not at bat, and not as a handler of pitchers. If Perez can recapture a fraction of his former self, great. Webb prefers Wynns, and the third option is supposed to stay on the roster all year. I figure Bart will be the odd man out, unless he cuts his strikeouts by 2/3rds and the pitchers rave about him, and he hits like he did in August.  Otherwise, it's Perez until he gets hurt (he's 34, has only played more than 100 games once in his career, and has played between 21 and 44 games in the last three years. So...yeah, the IL is in his very near future), Wynns (a right handed hitter who kills it against righties) and Sabol.

Doesn’t help when your manager throws you under a bus.  Kapler bugs me.  Just don’t like him.  But I get the feeling he likes himself enough for the both of us.

[lex24]

Schmitt is an interesting player as well. Won a minor league gold glove at 3B, he's also an accomplished shortstop. He hit .909 OPS in AA Richmond, a pitcher's league. He actually hit better in AA than in high A, and hit better in AAA than in AA. Similarly, it will be interesting to see if Bailey hits well solely from the left side (I assume the Giants will get him to stop switch-hitting, he's atrocious from the right side).

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Spring training is upon us! I think the main battles for non-pitchers will be catcher and first base.

Nice analysis on 1B, Lex. I'm very concerned about catcher. It was pretty clear that Rodon and Webb preferred pitching to Austin Wynns over Joey Bart last year. That's not a good sign. And the public pronouncement that the catching spot is a competition, and that Bart is at the same level as the others...well, those two facts speak volumes, but not as much as their first round selection of Patrick Bailey. That simply screamed that Bart would never develop. My take is that Bart hasn't developed and won't develop...not in the field, not at bat, and not as a handler of pitchers. If Perez can recapture a fraction of his former self, great. Webb prefers Wynns, and the third option is supposed to stay on the roster all year. I figure Bart will be the odd man out, unless he cuts his strikeouts by 2/3rds and the pitchers rave about him, and he hits like he did in August.  Otherwise, it's Perez until he gets hurt (he's 34, has only played more than 100 games once in his career, and has played between 21 and 44 games in the last three years. So...yeah, the IL is in his very near future), Wynns (a right handed hitter who kills it against righties) and Sabol.

Doesn’t help when your manager throws you under a bus.  Kapler bugs me.  Just don’t like him.  But I get the feeling he likes himself enough for the both of us.