In a sense, spring warm up is just ending now and something like the actual competition for the final roster spots ramping up over the final two weeks of Grapefruit League action. The first weeks are mainly just stretching out into game shape and getting rhythm and timing going, both at the plate and on the mound. For players assured a roster spot, there\u2019s really no rush and the trick is to conserve energy and avoid injury while slowly getting up to game speed just in time for Opening Day.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve talked about the position side quite a bit. The main questions haven\u2019t changed. Kevin McGonigle is going to see a lot fewer fastballs to hit over the next two weeks as the big league regulars stretch out and there are fewer minor leaguers getting reps on the mound. He\u2019s done everything the Tigers could\u2019ve asked to prove he\u2019s ready for the starting shortstop job so far, but the big test is seeing a lot more spin and offspeed, from pitchers who can throw strikes without making too many big mistakes. His track record says this won\u2019t be a problem, but it may be an adjustment.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019ll be watching him closely like everyone else, with the center field job really the other main positional question to answer.<\/p>\n
The rotation is set. Will Vest, Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Holton, and Drew Anderson are all locks for the bullpen. That\u2019s five of the eight man bullpen locked in. Three spots remaining.<\/p>\n
The Tigers picking up Enmanuel de Jesus\u2019 contract suggests he\u2019ll be in the Opening Day bullpen, though it\u2019s not certain. The club may prefer to take Brant Hurter as the second lefty, or to take both.<\/p>\n
Brenan Hanifee is on the 40-man roster already. So is Beau Brieske, whose rib cage discomfort has abated and should return to action soon. Sawyer Gipson-Long and lefty Bailey Horn are on the 40-man but dealing with hopefully minor injuries. Troy Melton is on the 60-day IL. Dylan Smith and lefty Drew Sommers are on the 40-man but already optioned to minor league camp along with Keider Montero, who is still with Team Venezuela currently.<\/p>\n
Anyone else in camp, whether Tanner Rainey, Burch Smith, Jack Little, Sean Guenther, Ricky Vanasco, or players already moved to minor league camp like Tyler Mattison, Cole Waites, or Tyler Owens, will require a 40-man roster move.<\/p>\n
In theory there are three spots. One of them will go to a left-hander, whether De Jesus, Hurter, Sean Guenther, or some combination of them. If you\u2019re A.J. Hinch, which three relievers in camp are you taking?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a sense, spring warm up is just ending now and something like the actual competition for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,147,53,72746,2583,4,594],"class_list":{"0":"post-622150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-tigers","11":"tag-detroit-tigers-discussion","12":"tag-detroittigers","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-tigers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116223444120389967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}