Given the opportunity to write what could very well be his opening evening training for the inauguration of the exhibition on Saturday, Nationals manager Davey Martinez has included a slightly unexpected name: Asdrúbal Cabrera.
Two weeks after suggesting the rookie Carter Kieboom would be his third everyday base for this shortened season, Martinez offered a clue that probably won’t be 100% true. Cabrera, not Kieboom, has nodded against the Phillies and seems likely to start Thursday against the Yankees and many other games along the way.
“Both of these guys are going to play third base, they know,” said Martinez.
That claim seemed to conflict with Martinez’s statement at the beginning of the summer training that the job belonged to Kieboom.
“As of now, yes,” Martinez said on July 4th. “I foresee a 60-game season that is about to come out and play every day.”
Kieboom may eventually play almost every day this season, but there seem to be times when Martinez prefers his veteran alternative. And the opening night against Gerrit Cole is probably one of those nights.
Emphasize the difficult task that citizens are facing this year after losing the star Anthony Rendon against angels. Unable or reluctant to add a replacement for big names outside the organization during the winter, they decided to proceed with Kieboom, their potential client who has only 10 games of professional experience at third base.
Kieboom didn’t seem entirely comfortable on the pitch during spring training, and although he has done a lot of above-average plays so far this summer, he is still being worked on. Cabrera, meanwhile, is a long-lasting Big League shorttop and second base who didn’t play nearly as much in third, but seemed more fluid than his young counterpart in practice and intrasquad games.
In the end, it seems that both will have the opportunity to play, with the goal of preparing Kieboom to take over in the long run at some point.
“He will play. It’s our third base, “said Martinez about Kieboom.” We definitely want to play Cabby too. But he’ll definitely be out there. He’ll play. But Cabby will play third, play second, play a little earlier, possibly DH. When we start , we will see where we are “.
* Max Scherzer’s start – seven runs allowed in the first two innings before he settled to withdraw nine of the last 10 beats he had to face – garnered all the attention on Saturday night. The guy who gave relief after the ace may have made a bigger statement.
Austin Voth, competing for basic work no. 5, launched four innings without two-shot ball points, hitting five without launching.
“He threw the ball really well,” said Martinez. “He launched some sharp changes. I know he’s working on it. It was really cool. “
Voth remains in competition with the comrades on the right Erick Fedde for the final place in the rotation of citizens. Fedde made his case with four unmarked innings in an intrasquad game on Wednesday.
Any pitcher of the two is not chosen for the initial job, will open the season in the bullpen.
* Citizens are fortunate enough to be able to avoid significant travel during the exhibition season and the first week of the regular season. Their only game away from Washington DC during this stretch is the Monday night show in Baltimore, a simple bus ride.
But their first road series of the season (July 29-30 at Blue Jays) has been looming since the show was unveiled. And now they don’t even know where they will fly for that interleague series after the Canadian government has denied the Blue Jays’ request to play their home games in Toronto.
Citing the significant concern of travel back and forth between Canada and the United States and the inability to quarantine all traveling parties for 14 days after arriving north of the border, the government has informed the Blue Jays that they will look elsewhere for a home baseball field this season.
A final decision has not yet been made, but team president Mark Shapiro told reporters Saturday that they are watching Buffalo’s Triple-A baseball field and the Blue Jays spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida. Buffalo Stadium, built in the late 1980s, doesn’t really live up to the major league standards, but Florida poses a greater health risk due to the recent spike in coronavirus cases there.
The Blue Jays now have 10 days to figure it out. Citizens can only wait and learn where they will fly for their first road trip in this unusual season.
“That’s a bit of what I said to our kids: look, every day will be a challenge,” said Scherzer. “There is something new that will appear every single day. This is the reality of the state of this world. “
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