Nashville makes the top five of pretty much every list of possible MLB expansion sites, and it’s once again making the rounds as the Oakland A’s start banging pots and pans about their stadium situation. But as I mentioned around this time last year when a 2020 baseball season wasn’t a certainty, I greatly looked forward to the low stakes and lower prices of a Triple-A Nashville Sounds game on a random, pleasant midweek evening.
I was finally able to make that happen Wednesday night, catching a Nashville-Memphis game at First Horizon Ballpark, and it met expectations. When the Knights come to town for a six-game series in June, I just might camp out there.
Norfolk 9, Charlotte 2
- Jake Burger homered for the third straight game, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Blake Rutherford was 2-for-4 with a walk and a K.
- Gavin Sheets, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Brian Goodwin wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Reynaldo López made his return to Charlotte: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP
- Tyler Johnson is still struggling: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 WP
Highlights:
*Burger’s homer came later in the game this time.
Pensacola 4, Birmingham 1
- Micker Adolfo was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Carlos Pérez went 0-for-4 with a K.
- Ti’Quan Forbes was 0-for-3 with a K.
- Kade McClure: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 40 of 76 pitches for strikes.
Hickory 3, Winston-Salem 1
- Lenyn Sosa and Bryce Bush both were 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Yolbert Sanchez singled and struck out before being replaced midgame.
- Luis Mieses went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Luis Curbelo, 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Harvin Mendoza was 2-for-3.
Fayetteville 9, Kannapolis 2
- José Rodriguez had his first bad game, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Bryan Ramos was 0-for-4, walking once and striking out thrice.
- DJ Gladney walked thrice and struck out once.
- Benyamin Bailey was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Sam Abbott walked twice and struck out twice.
- James Beard was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Too bad Tyler Johnson is struggling. There may be room for a bull pen arm given some slow starts on the big league team.
The only guy in the big league bullpen that’s had major issues is Marshall (Foster gets lumped in with him, but his FIP numbers are pretty decent.
Maybe they give Burdi a shot and send Marshall down to work on some stuff?
No options on Marshall, so he isn’t going anywhere unless his arm falls off. And he’s obviously way too valuable to pass through waivers b/c he still has multiple years of control on a cheap salary.
The Sox cut Detwiler last year even though his numbers were strong, and showed willingness to dump Hererra and Cishek despite their salaries, so I guess we can’t rule out DFAing Marshall.
But I don’t see it happening, and I’m sure he will bounce back considering how good his stuff has been the last two years.
Not that we need starter depth right now, but Lopez being a reliable seventh starter would be real nice.
Between him and Rutherford/Sheets, I’m looking forward to not being scared of the next injury.
So if Burger resurrects himself, is his main value to the Sox as a trade chip? Third, first and DH are stacked at the MLB level. I assume they don’t want to risk his health trying to learn the outfield
Yeah, I suspect he’d be traded. But, he did look very slimmed down in spring training. I wouldn’t mind the Sox trying him at other positions (OF & even 2B, if the quickness is there) once he gets a couple of months of reps and health under his belt.
We also could really really use some 3B depth behind Moncada who has been injury prone his entire career.
Burger has three more option years. It would be unfortunate if we “wasted” his talent I guess, and it’s also not ideal that he’s another righty.
But it’s quite likely he would get 100 starts over the next three years just as an up and down player, not even a bench guy. If Moncada starts taking reps at 2B again, then Burger would also functionally become our 2B depth in case of Madrigal injury.
That’s the exact kind of depth elite teams like the Dodgers cultivate.