- Pitching in back to back games for the first time this spring, Andrew Bailey looked sharp had good pace and showed a lot of movement on his breaking ball.
- Tough weekend for Aceves and Bard as neither was able to make a strong push for the rotation.
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Oh Pap: “The difference between Boston and Philadelphia, the Boston fans are a little bit more hysterical when it comes to the game of baseball,” Papelbon said. “The Philly fans tend to know the game a little better, being in the National League, you know, the way the game is played.”“It was a situation where the Red Sox didn’t really come at me the way I was expecting them to come at me in the off-season,” Papelbon said. “And I told my agent that the first team that shows me interest and shows me loyalty, I’m going to show that right back to them, and that was Philadelphia.”First team to show you ‘loyalty’? As opposed to the team that drafted, developed, paid, gave you your start oh and even drafted your terrible brother.
- Valentine continues to shuffle players around the lineup as Ellsbury hit 2nd again. Not sure what the point of this is. Ellsbury is your leadoff guy so what exactly is the point of hitting him second?
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Prince Fielder hit a BP homerun that was measured at 611 feet. Important? No. Disgusting? Yes.
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Great point by Tony Maz RE: Bard. Never faced > 8 batters in a game. In game adjustments will be something to watch since he’s never faced a batter twice in one game before.
- Per Ken Rosenthal’s Notes Column on 3/13: One scout says he also is worried about right-field candidate Ryan Sweeney, explaining, “He has power, but it’s not game-usable. His swing is long. He gets tied up inside and chases away.”
- New Yankee acquisition Michael Pineda has been consistently clocked in the high 80′s, low 90′s after pitching in the upper 90′s last season. One scouts take: “and there was effort to get to 90.” Still early for panic but an unexpected twist to what I thought was one of the best pick ups of the offseason.
- Gordon Edes updated the progress of Ryan Kalish: “Kalish is not yet close to playing in a game. He has been playing catch three times a week from 60 feet. On Monday, he took his first swings in the cage, hitting from a tee.”
- Cincinnati Reds new closer Ryan Madsen will need Tommy John surgery and miss this season. How good does the Andrew Bailey trade look now?