First glimpse of Gonzalez; Martin injury update

The "Mystery Man" becomes somewhat less of a mystery on Saturday.

Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez is set to make his highly anticipated debut in red pinstripes today against the Yankees (1:05 p.m., MLB Network), as the 27-year-old native of Cuba is scheduled to throw two innings in relief.

All eyes will be glued to Gonzalez — especially those of Phillies officials.

The righty comes with plenty of hype but fluctuating expectations.

Hence, the "Mystery Man" label.

From Clearwater, CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury has more on that here.

Martin shut down for three weeks
Pitcher Ethan Martin will not throw for at least three weeks before being reevaluated after being diagnosed with a strain of his right shoulder capsule and triceps, the Phillies announced Saturday morning.

Martin was clearly not himself Thursday when he hovered around 85 mph after clocking in the mid-90s last season as a rookie.

Today's lineups
Right-hander David Buchanan starts for the Phils and opposes Yankees lefty CC Sabathia.

Phillies

1. Ben Revere, CF
2. Jimmy Rollins, SS
3. Domonic Brown, LF
4. Marlon Byrd, DH
5. Bobby Abreu, RF
6. Darin Ruf, 1B
7. Cody Asche, 3B
8. Cameron Rupp, C
9. Cesar Hernandez, 2B

Comments

[Sil]

Well, clearly we know that "shoulder capsule strain" really means "torn rotator cuff" and Martin will be done for the year. Obviously.

/sarcasm, for those missing such detectors

[docjoe]

no question martin done. Even if he isn't he only had an outside chance of coming north anyway. Watch Buchanan today he may be the bright spot the pitching staff has been looking for. O'Sullivan also intriguing.

[Scotch Man]

When Kendrick is on another team in '15, it'll be because Dave Buchanan showed up in a game in proved he was pretty much some same thing at a much cheaper rate.

[aksmith]

MLB Network is advertising today as the first American appearance of Masahiro Tanaka. All we can hope, now that the kid already got his Dodger Dollars from the Yankees, is that he complains of shoulder soreness after a few pitches, and somehow, he's mistakenly examined by the award winning Phillies medical staff, instead of the Yankees'.

It would be kismet. The kid is rich, rich, rich on Steinbrenner money, and yet the Yankees still have to trade their best three prospects for Kyle Kendrick to round out their pitching staff. And scene.

[bay_area_phan]

"The first 3 1/2 games here, as a group we've gotten walks when strikes aren't thrown, and that's good."

Sandberg is going to get fired if he keeps saying stuff like that.

[CS]

Gotta love this game will be all over Japan and I'll have to listen on a radio in Montco.

[bittel]

Knowing what we do about Amaro, the Phils almost need a couple of injuries to marginal SPs to maximize their chances. Hear me out.

Let's say the Phils still need a starting pitcher or two as camp is ready to break. Several teams will have 6th-7th starter types ready to be jettisoned at about the same time.

Now, most agree that the Phils would be better off without JMJ on the team (and Ruf on), but if all stays as is, JMJ is making the team. But JMJ would probably be the leading candidate to return a 6th-type starer from a team needing a 4th-5th outfielder who can play center.

It's harder to create a scenario where someone takes Frandsen, but the point is that if we have needs for marginal players coming out of the spring, there's at least a chance that our miscast spare parts get replaced, and we add by subtraction.

[CS]

See also Joe Saunders. But Dave B just worked a solid inning against the Yankees.

[HammRadio]

Buchanan fooling Ichiro on a 3-0 pitch who weakly grounds out to end inning. alright.

[Jackamac]

Uhm. Unless I'm mistaken, Buchanan is the first starter to get through 2 scoreless innings.

[LorecorE]

Is that a normal overhand curve, or does MAG have that slow breaking splitter like fellow Cuban Big Truck used to throw?

[bay_area_phan]

MAG is all over the place. He will fit right in with the Phillies bullpen.

[mm]

Considering MAG hasn't really played in a few years, if they can turn him into something solid for 2015 should be the reasonable test for him. If he can be effective this year even better. ST should determine whether he starts the year in AA or AAA. Bringing him north would be a mistake IMO

[Cyclic]

His stuff looks better than I expected

[LorecorE]

A read a few scouting reports awhile back that said MAG, like many Cuban pitchers, throw a large variety of pitches compared to MLBers.

Seems accurate so far. He was anywhere from 85-93 on different looking cutters/2seamers/sinkers. Only noticed about 1 or 2 fourseamers, which he tried to sneak on a corner. Didn't have control on anything outside a couple real good curve/split/change whatever the hell his out pitch is.

[awh™]

m, I've never expected him to go North with the team. too much time off. Needs the work.

[LorecorE]

kinda getting squeezed too, but def not ontop of his 2seamers.

[bay_area_phan]

A major league 3rd baseman needs to make that play.

[bay_area_phan]

A major league catcher needs to make that stop.

[LorecorE]

That looked like Michael Young at 3B. Ball hit only a few feet to his backhand, and he has to dive, but couldn't even extend his glove since it was so close.

[LorecorE]

The ol' 51 pitch 1.2 IP

[Jeffrey]

Well that unfortunately met all my expectations.

[bay_area_phan]

His curveball looks pretty good. His fast ball looks pretty flat. His command looks pretty atrocious.

[LorecorE]

Rufzilla

[Cyclic]

I love Darin Ruf

[Corn]

Why do I picture Amaro shaking his head in disgust & anger at Ruf.

[bay_area_phan]

If Tanaka can consistently get the kinds of calls that he got on Cesar's AB, he'll go 24-0 here too.

[LorecorE]

ha jesus asche, you blow.

[bay_area_phan]

Franco has underwhelmed early in ST. Which is too bad because Asche has managed to look even worse.

[MG]

Disappointed a bit by what MAG showed today. MAG had an assortment of junk today at different arm slots and release points and didn't have a good feel for anything. No way the guy who pitched today would help the MLB club on opening day in a month.

Basically needs to learn how to pitch yet and develop a more convenient release and arm angle if he is going to gain any kind of consistent command.

Probably should open the season even at Reading as a starter. Try to help him develop a bit more consistency and pitch regularly.

[MG]

Munson and Giles both have plus fastballs and given the lack of quality RHP relievers in this pen I have to think at least one of these guys makes the opening day roster with Munson a strong choice as the Rule V pick.

[Kashmir]

By giving Tanaka an opt-out after 4 years the Yanks have invested 108 million (including the posting fee) for a pitcher most scouts have tabbed a number 2 starter. It's been near unanimous among the writers I've read that he won't be as good as Darvish. If Tanaka pitches good he'll most likely opt out and it will cost even more to retain him. If he gets hurt or is a bust the Yankees are still on the hook for 67 million from 2018-20.

For about 102 million the Yankees could have had Garza and Jimenez for the next four years. Granted neither has the ceiling Tanaka does, but both are proven # 3's. Both have pitched better than that at times and will start twice as many games as Tanaka. Why I think this may have been the wiser route is the Yanks rotation still looks thin. Sabathia is coming off his worst season and perhaps all the innings he's thrown are catching up to him. After Sabathia they have Tanaka and Kuroda. They're placing some big bets on Nova and Pineda rounding out the rotation as well as a return to form from Sabathia, and another good season from 39 year old Kuroda.

The lineup is improved but the infield is full of question marks. No Cano and possible platoons at both 2B and 3B consisting of mediocre players. Not sure what they'll get from Jeter and Tex after missing most of last year. Catcher and OF are definitely better than last year. The bullpen could be shaky too. With Rivera gone they just lost one of the best set up men in Robertson, who will now close. Who takes his spot setting up? For all the money they spent adding to an 85-win team they should be the favorites to win it all, but they're currently behind the Dodgers (13/2), Tigers (9/1) and Cards (10/1). They're tied with Boston, Tampa Bay and the Nats at 12/1. Odds by Bovada.

Sorry for all the Yankees talk but I'd love to see them fall on their faces.

[aksmith]

Not sure why people are grousing about MAG. I thought the writers were talking about his mid-80's fastball and fragile arm.

Well, the Phillies, in their usual wisdom, sent him out there for 51 pitches. I kept wondering what they were thinking, but then I figured that thinking takes . . . you know . . . thinking. But that aside, his velocity looked good, fastball from 89-93 and a nasty breaking pitch in the mid-70's that is unhittable. Of course, his control was all over the place. But I'm not sure what people expected after the long layoff. From what the Phillies beat writers were saying, I fully expected him to throw one pitch, break his arm, and drop to the rubber in the fetal position. I found his outing encouraging.

Oh, and Buchanan does throw a lot like Kendrick, but didn't show a two seamer. Giles has apparently a fastball and it's fast. Munson is throwing that imposing fastball at 91, which would look really impressive in kilometers. Also, Horst looked awful and Shawn Camp would have to climb the ladder a bit to become mediocre.

All in all, I don't see why people would complain about MAG until he's had a chance to actually get re-acclimated to pitching.

[Bubba]

MAG after the game, from Salisbury:

"Despite the control problems, Gonzalez was pleased with his performance.

“It’s a great first time out,” he said through Jorge Velandia, a Phillies’ minor-league coach who served as an interpreter for the 27-year-old pitcher.

“I felt good. I felt strong. I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be. There were a couple of pitches I left up. Pretty much, for the first time, I felt good.”

Two reads on these comments
First, taken at face value, this is good. Hasn't pitched for a while, early spring training, Let's see how he does next time

Second, BL conditioned, lifelong Phillies fan.
This guy sounds like the second coming of Adam Eaton. Talking about how good he feels after a crappy performance.

Pay your money, take your choice.

[Jack]

Who cares what Franco does in ST? He was never going to make the roster, nor should he have been in contention to make the roster.

I am one of the first to embrace playing young players. But when your top prospect is 21 and has 290 PAs at AA (where he walked a grand total of 10 times), you send him back down and don't think twice about it.

[LorecorE]

Asche played 7 innings at 3B and didn't record one out.

[aksmith]

Asche truly looked worse than Michael Young today. I'm hoping it's just an awful day and he can get past it. Everyone has bad days. But he looked like someone had nailed his feet to the turf, then broken both his hands. It was one of the worst defensive performances I've ever seen out of a third baseman. Tough to watch.

I think it's easy to find problems and be overly negative the first week of Spring Training. I'm willing to wait until Clout day before labeling anyone a failure.