Roenis Elias gets the start in the M's second spring training game as they once again take on their interleague "rivals".
The Mariners played baseball yesterday! D.J. Petersonmashed a home run and Taijuan Walker looked sharp and everything was great... until all of a sudden it wasn't. Late in the ninth inning, Ji-Man Choi landed awkwardly while trying to field an errant throw and broke his right fibula. He is having surgery today and will likely be out of baseball for four to six months (per Greg Johns on Twitter).
Baseball, like most things, is terribly fickle and fleeting. What happened to Choi is awful and should serve as a reminder to not take the Mariners (or any of the stuff you care about) for granted. Some things will certainly go wrong as the season progresses, and although the Mariners appear to be built to weather a fair amount of diversity, there are certainly no guarantees. Do your best to enjoy the hell out of the good moments while also preparing yourself for some bumps in the road.
Today, Lloyd is running out a bunch of his regulars and has put together a lineup that likely resembles the one we'll see against right-handed pitching throughout 2015. I'm so excited to watch these guys hit. Cano! Cruz! Seager! Not Kendrys Morales! When I look at that lineup, I can feel my eyes light up a little bit; every one of these players has, for extended periods of time, demonstrated themselves as being capable of doing some damage offensively. The Mariners sure do seem like they have the potential to score quite a few runs this season. (The 2015 projections on FanGraphs predict that the M's will score 4.12 runs per game this year. For the first time in a long time they're projected to be in the top 50th percentile in runs scored. Woo doggie!)
Following Walker's solid start yesterday, we have Roenis Elias pitching today. This is particularly interesting considering the fact that these two fellas seem to be battling it out for the only open spot in the rotation. I like Roenis a lot and I'm excited to see him throw some baseballs. Hopefully he's just as effective as Walker was yesterday. Elias is likely to be followed by Yoervis Medina, Joe Saunders, Danny Farquhar, Charlie Furbush, and Lucas Luetge (per Bob Dutton on Twitter).
The Padres counter with a largely less-good lineup than they used yesterday (although Andrew Cashner is a pretty solid pitcher when he's healthy). Additionally, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, and Will Middlebrooks will all be making their débuts for the Padres this afternoon.
Game Info
- San Diego Padres @ Seattle Mariners, 12:05 PM PST
- TV: ROOT, Radio: 710 ESPN, Online: mlb.tv