Oritz debuts allowing a 3 run first inning homer to that baseball superstar Jake Bauers.

Guardians reply with 2 runs on a Tyler Freeman single after Ramirez Thomas and Naylor all walked

Oritz with another awful inning, 3 singles and a double for 3 more runs. And he's out of there. Yuck

As we all know, when a pitcher is effective in Spring training, it's a great sign. But if he's lousy it doesn't mean anything.

Travis Bazzana with a good day: 2 walks and a 9th inning 3 run homer [off a pitcher who has spent the past 2 summers in High A with ERAs in the mid 4s]. The 2 walks are good signs too.

Not really much else to report for the G's offense. They totaled 5 hits and did little between the 1st and 9th innings.
Brito is worth noting: 0-3 with 2 strikeouts

Pitching:
Velazquex 2 innings 1 hit 1 run 3 walks 1 strikeout.
Kent who has some major league experience, 2 2 1 1 0 2
The rest are minor leaguers not rated among top few dozen prosepcts

Williams pitches today. Bibee is, I imagine, just getting some extra rest. But he does not need to build up starting the opener in a month.

Suspended all activities for the day to watch the game.

Should have known what was in store after that first inning. Cantillo was awful. He escaped the first inning with 2 runs allowed. Started the 2nd without recording an out. His line 1iNN, 3H, 4W, 4R, 4ER, 2K. What a stinker!

The offensive this spring hasn't been anything to write home about.

Noel 0-3 on the day, 2-12 this spring looked lost at the plate. The last out he recorded was a strikeout hacking at pitches that were not close to being strikes.

Schneemann 0-3 on the day 0-9 this spring still looking for his first hit. Didn't have very good plate appearance today.

Hedges 0-2 on the day 0-7 this spring. Nothing new here.

Brennan 0-2 on the day 0-9 this spring.

Martinez 0-1 today 0-9 this spring.

Santana 1-11 this spring

Ramirez 2-10 this spring

Brito 1-2 today 1-9 this spring. Brito did pick up his first hit today. Well struck ball that left the park. If Brito is going to win that battle for second, gotta start being more effective at the plate.

I think you get the picture.

They don't record strikeouts on the stat sheets, so things would look a lot worse than it is.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned. The big boys should be better that this.

If it weren't for the minor leaguers, our record would be worse. We could be 0-8 which would tie us with the sox for last place. Fortunately we are 2-6 .

The only positive I can take away from this spring so far is the fact that the minor leaguers have been playing better baseball than the guys on the big club.

What new! That's been the story of spring training so far.

From what I've learned so far this spring, the farm system is very alive and well.

This is going to be a fun season for the farm system. I'm very optimistic. Is 4 championship out of the realm of possibility?

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How bad has the offense been this spring for players that are supposed to be on the opening day lineup???

4-67

.059 BA

That's below the Mendoza line

Didn't bother with the other stats like ops , slug, .... Waste of time.

Can't say its too early in spring training when minor leaguers are out performing and producing.

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The sky is falling !!!!!!!!!!

The sky is falling !!!!!!!!!!

I don't think so. I just took a look outside. It's still there.

Just stating some early spring training facts.

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2 games today; Lively and McKenzie with starts.

Of all the 2b contender, in one game Arias is at 2nd with Martinez in CF and Freeman in RF. It appears that Freeman will be a busy utility man but not a serious contender to be regular 2B. Of course his role his changed several times over the past year; became everyday CF at the start of 2024, back to the IF later on. If they give up on Arias, it's always possible they return Freeman to a regular 2B role. He is hitting 438 with 1361 OPS so at least we know he'll make the roster

In the other game Schneeman is at SS and Brito with his 053 batting average is at 2nd.

Nikhazy starting today; this will be his first chance vs. the opposing starting lineup.
For our guys, 4 of the 2B contenders in action: Schneeman at SS, Freeman in RF, Martinez in CF. Arias at 2nd, the fact that he and Brito are getting almost all the starts at 2nd indicate no one else is seriously under consideration. Of course since he's out of options, Arias does deserve a long look.
The JNoel/JRod rotation today has Rodriguez in LF and Noel on the bench

Ortiz ERA 14.14 starting today. We need to something much better than McKenzie and Cantillo have given us the past couple days. And better than Ortiz has looked.

Facing the Rockies who finally came alive yesterday with 4 hits including a double, his first xb hits of the spring.

Another really lousy start for Ortiz. 3 2/3 innings 4 runs 2 homeruns 3 walks 4 strikeouts ERA drops to 12.66

Following up on this outing, my Microsoft AI CoPilot researched his waiver options and concluded that he could be shipped to Columbus without forfeiting him.
He was added to the Pittsburgh roster in 2022 Optioned at the end of the season [although not clear on that one]. Optioned several times in 2023. Not optioned in 2024.

It certainly makes no sense to include him in the rotation over Logan Allen who has pitched very well this spring. McKenzie probably gets the 5th spot since he is out of options, and earlier in his career was a much higher prospect than Ortiz ever was.