Take a spin around the Grapefruit League with “Three Up, Three Down,” an inside look at what is coming up and what went down on Thursday.
THREE UP
1. The Marlins have targeted Sunday against the Mets as a return for Giancarlo Stanton, who has been sidelined since Saturday with a sore right knee. The Marlins have two-day trip to Fort Myers to face the Twins on Friday and Red Sox on Saturday. Stanton will stay behind and get some at-bats off pitchers who are also staying back.
“If everything goes well, we’re kind of shooting for him when we’re back, Sunday,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Obviously, we’re still day to day and will see how everything goes. It seems realistic. Everything seems to have been pretty good so far.”
Stanton has appeared in two Grapefruit League games this spring, going 1-for-3 with a double.
2. Loosen up, everyone. That’s what Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper would like baseball to do. Harper, the reigning National League MVP, recently said baseball is “a tired sport” because players aren’t allowed to express themselves without being subject to scrutiny for doing so.
“Baseball’s tired,” Harper said in an interview with ESPN The Magazine. “It’s a tired sport because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do.
“I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair. If that’s Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel Puig — there’s so many guys in the game now who are so much fun.
“Jose Fernandez is a great example. Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling — hoorah … if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot … I mean — sorry.”
3. Meanwhile, Yankee Hall of Famer Goose Gossage would like a return to the old school. Gossage is not happy with Toronto slugger Jose Bautista or some of the current front-office types.
“Bautista is a (expletive) disgrace to the game,” Gossage told ESPN. “He’s embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him. Throwing his bat and acting like a fool, like all those guys in Toronto. (Yoenis) Cespedes, same thing.”
“He’s a great ambassador for the game,” Bautista told ESPN after being informed of Gossage’s comments. “I don’t agree with him. I’m disappointed that he made those comments, but I’m not going to get into it with him. I would never say anything about him, no matter what he said about me.
“I have too much good stuff to worry about his comments. Today is my first game (of the spring), getting ready for a new season; hopefully, we will whoop some more —.”
Gossage also took issue with some of the game’s decision makers.
“The game is becoming a freaking joke because of the nerds who are running it. I’ll tell you what has happened, these guys played Rotisserie baseball at Harvard or wherever the (expletive) they went and they thought they figured the (expletive) game out. They don’t know (expletive).”
THREE DOWN
1. Left-hander David Price made his Grapefruit League debut with the Red Sox on Thursday against the Twins. He went three innings, allowing two runs, four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Price threw 51 pitches, 33 for strikes.
The first pitch he threw was knocked off the replica Green Monster by Twins second baseman Brian Dozier for a double. The two runs that Price allowed came on back-to-back home runs to Eduardo Escobar and Kurt Suzuki, the first of the spring for each.
It has been almost two years since consecutive batters went yard against Price in the regular season. The last time Price gave up back-to-back home runs in the regular season was for the Rays against the Yankees on April 17, 2014, in the fifth inning at Tropicana Field to Alfonso Soriano and Brian McCann.
Price’s offense did him no favors, going hitless until Dan Butler’s one-out single in the sixth inning.
Price, who signed a seven-year, $217 million contract with Boston in December, was not concerned with the line after his first outing.
“I’m process-oriented. I’m not results-oriented at all,” he said. “You can’t worry about the results. Have to stay focused on your process, and that’s what I do. I went three innings, I don’t know how many pitches I threw, but I know I can go back out there and give four more innings of no-run baseball and then I’m sitting there at seven innings with two runs and that’s fine.”
2. Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera left Thursday’s game against the Cardinals with a sore left knee. Cabrera singled against Jaime Garcia with one out in the first inning then tagged up and took second on Yoenis Cespedes’ fly ball. But Cabrera pulled up going into second, appearing to tweak something.
“I felt something in my knee,” Cabrera said. “It’s sore right now … (but) I’m walking fine. I don’t think it’s anything serious.”
Cabrera joined the Mets as a free agent in December, signing a two-year, $18.5 million contract. If he is forced to miss significant time with an injury, Wilmer Flores, the Mets’ primary shortstop last season, will likely take back his shortstop role, giving a roster spot to Ruben Tejada, who might otherwise become trade bait.
3. Right-hander Carter Capps entered spring training expecting to compete with A.J. Ramos for the Marlins’ closer job. Instead, Capps’ 2016 has been wiped out by Tommy John surgery.
The job would appear to be Ramos’ now. But he has been delayed after dealing with a sore right calf early in camp. He threw 25 pitches in a simulated game on Wednesday.
The Marlins are deciding whether Ramos needs another simulated game before he makes his Grapefruit League debut. He is about a week behind the rest of the pitchers but should be on track for Opening Day.
“”We’re not really worried about A.J. or the timing of (his return),” manager Don Mattingly said. “Just continue to progress him. This was basically his second time against live hitting. The same thing that everybody else got, two live BPs before they got into a game.”
After taking over the closer’s job in May, Ramos converted 32 of 38 save opportunities.