BOSTON — A lot of the consternation and calculus about playing time coming out of spring training has obvious solutions, one is production and the other all teams want to avoid.
With injury can come clarity.
The Cardinals’ approach to starts at second base simplified Friday when they placed Nolan Gorman on the 10-day injured list because of a hamstring tear that will sideline him for at least another week. Gorman said the diagnosis of the strain in his right hamstring was “super-mild,†and he already has been cleared for some baseball activities. Gorman can play catch and hit, but because he’s unable to play the field without aggravating the injury the Cardinals did not want to go all weekend without depth for the infield.
“We can’t go a man short for that long,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
The Cardinals promoted Thomas Saggese from Class AAA Memphis, and he joined the team at Fenway Park on Friday afternoon. He did not play in his team’s 13-9 loss. Saggese has played several innings at shortstop for the Redbirds, and will offer a backup at the position for Masyn Winn.
People are also reading…
In Memphis’ first four games, Saggese started 4 for 14 (.286) with a home run.
Gorman injured his hamstring while running into second base Tuesday night in the 10th inning. He was forced out at the base in a situation that previous years would have required him to run full speed through the base — in an attempt to outrun the throw and create a little chaos on the bases. Major League Baseball has outlawed that run-straight-through gambit for this season and said runners must turn toward third base, prompting some concern that attempting a tighter turn at second would lead to injury.
That is not what happened to Gorman, he and his manager said. Gorman had his hamstring grab on the way to second base, not as he put the brakes on near it.
Gorman traveled with the team to Boston to remain with athletic trainers.
“I’m able to get on the field and do stuff here,†Gorman said.
The Cardinals’ decision to start Victor Scott II in center field had a downstream impact on Gorman’s playing time at second base because of other players shifting position, namely Brendan Donovan from left field to second. The Cardinals believe it will be possible to get Gorman regular at-bats at second, sometimes third, or occasionally designated hitter. In his lone start so far this season, Gorman had three hits, including a home run, and he started the year 4 for 8. His absence positions Donovan for the bulk of the starts at second on this six-game trip, as he did Friday.
The Cardinals backdated Gorman’s stint on the injured list to Wednesday. He will be eligible to come off the IL at the start of the Cardinals’ next homestand, which begins April 11.
Arenado eager for Fenway — with Cardinals
There was a window just before the start of spring training when the Cardinals believed the Red Sox would be their most likely trade partner for All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, and the Red Sox had interest, sources said. They also had an offer out to another third baseman.
When Alex Bregman signed a three-year, $120-million deal to play third for the Sox, it became certain that Arenado would spend spring training — and longer — with the Cardinals.
That still meant he’d be at Fenway for Friday’s opening day.
“I love to pull the ball,†Arenado said after batting practice, smiling and looking toward left field’s Green Monster. “I like that wall a lot. As a right-handed hitter this is a great place to hit, of course. That excites me. When I’m right, I feel good at any ballpark.â€
In his first 13 games at Fenway, Arenado hit .333 with a .704 slugging percentage, six home runs, 15 RBIs, nine runs, and a total of eight extra-base hits. He had far more total bases (38) than strikeouts (16). He was 1 for 5 Friday.
The Red Sox were one of the few teams he would have waived his no-trade clause to approve a move, and one of the reasons he would was reuniting with Boston shortstop Trevor Story, a close friend and former teammate on the left side of the Colorado Rockies’ infield.
“We had our run, and it’s all good,†Arenado said. “I’m not coming here (to Boston), and I’m OK and I feel good. And I like what I’m doing and where I’m at. I’m just focused on that.â€
New dimensions for Scott’s game
At the start of every road series, Cardinals outfielders and coach Jon Jay have a checklist of things to discuss and sometimes explore along the walls of the away ballpark. In Pittsburgh, they talk about the chain-link fence that’s in play, and how PNC Park and a few other stadiums have firm padding at the wall that kicks balls back to the infield. Fenway offers all kinds of quirks for that checklist.
There’s the Monster looming in left, the wall half as high in center, an alley for triples, and the waist-high wall jutting out there between right field and the bullpens. There also are the seats in the short right-field corner around Pesky Pole.
“Down the lines, gaps, and how the wall plays and if there’s different padding,†Marmol listed. “They go through that no matter where we play.â€
If before the game wasn’t enough, center field Victor Scott explored them during the game Friday, too. In the second inning, Scott went back to the high-wall in center and jumped to pluck a fly ball just before it hit the padding. In the fourth, Scott dashed from straight-away center to leap and catch a ball headed for the Sox bullpen over one of Fenway’s lower walls.
Herrera’s batting gloves, etc.
As a memento from Ivan Herrera’s three-homer game Wednesday at Busch Stadium — the first three-homer game by a Cardinals catcher at any ballpark — the Cardinals Hall of Fame received the batting gloves he wore.
- The Cardinals will not have their victory blue jerseys for this weekend series at Fenway Park. They’ll wear road gray on Saturday. The team expects to have the blues later in the season for road Saturday games. The Cardinals will wear their “The Lou†City Connect jerseys for all Friday home games this season.
- Before their home opener, the Red Sox honored the 1975 team that won the American League pennant. Among the greats in attendance: Carlton Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, and Fred Lynn, who won the MVP and AL Rookie of the Year in 1975.
