Spring Training Position Battles - Pitchers

Tyson Ross (7.71 ERA in 2017) and Chris Young (7.50 ERA) are trying to pitch their way
into what the Padres are generously calling a rotation.

ARIZONA: The D'backs are one of the few teams with no rotation questions heading into opening day. Zack Greinke is recovering from a groin injury; he's unlikely to start opening day but isn't headed for the DL. His mates will be Robbie Ray, Taijuan Walker, Patrick Corbin and Zack Godley. The closer competition includes Brad Boxberger, Archie Bradley and Yoshihisa Hirano, with no one chosen yet.

ATLANTA: The Braves will open the season with Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, Brandon McCarthy, Sean Newcomb and ... wait, really? Scott Kazmir? That can't be right. Well, it might be Matt Wisler instead. It would have been Luiz Gohara, but he tweaked an ankle this spring.

CHICAGO: The Cubs are set with Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Chatwood. Eddie "Geezer" Butler and Mike Montgomery would be next in line when Chatwood goes on the DL. 

CINCINNATI: If you know what the Reds' rotation will look like, you're ahead of Cincy management. Anthony DeSclafani and Brandon Finnegan are hurt, so it's looking like Homer Bailey, Luis Castillo, Sal Romano and two of Tyler Mahle, Amir Garrett and Robert Stephenson. Isn't Jose Rijo about due for another comeback?

COLORADO: The Rockies appear to have a solid top four, with Jon Gray, Chad Bettis, German Marquez and Tyler Anderson. The fifth spot is up for grabs among Kyle Freeland, Jeff Hoffmann and Antonio Senzatela.

LOS ANGELES: Until the Dodgers decide to play musical chairs with the disabled list, the rotation is set with Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ross Stripling and Brock Stewart are still around to fill in, and Walker Buehler might be there too.

Why the hell not, Marlins? Nobody's watching anyway.

MIAMI: Wei-Yin Chen is hurt (again), which means Jose Urena is the Marlins' opening day starter. The rest of the rotation is Dan Straily, Adam Conley and who the hell knows? Everyone else is hurt or has pitched so badly this spring that they're said to be ticketed for the minors. But SOMEONE has to be in the rotation. We assume it will be Dillon Peters or Justin Nicolino or Odrisamer Despaigne or Jarlin Garcia or maybe Charlie Hough. Keep up the good work, Jetes. Meanwhile, Brad Ziegler has the closer job for now, but we find it hard to believe he'll be there all season. Keep an eye on Drew Steckenrider or Kyle Barraclough to pick up a few of the 20 save opportunities Miami will have this year.

MILWAUKEE: Ace Jimmy Nelson is out, so it appears to be Zach Davies, Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin for sure. The candidates for the other spots are Brent Suter, Wade Miley and Junior Guerra. Yovani Gallardo is a reliever now, and Brandon Woodruff appears likely to start the year in Triple-A.

NEW YORK: (Disclaimer: Mets projections subject to change as injuries mount.) Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom have locked down spots, obviously. Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zach Wheeler, Jason Vargas, Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman and Rafael Montero are here too. The smart money is on Harvey, Matz and Vargas pitching with a broken bone in his right hand.

PHILADELPHIA: Jake Arrieta, Aaron Nola and Vince Velasquez are locked in, and Jerad Eickhoff was until he got hurt. That means Nick Pivetta is locked in, with Ben Lively most likely to be the No. 5 guy with Mark Leiter getting hurt today. Zach Eflin and Jake Thompson are still around too, so they remain possibilities.

PITTSBURGH: Ivan Nova is starting on opening day. Welcome to the 1993-2012 Pirates! The rest of the rotation is Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams. Tyler Glasnow is probably going to start the year in the minors until he can get some people out.

SAN DIEGO: Besides Miami's, here's another rotation that makes Pittsburgh's look like the 2011 Phillies'. Clayton Richard get the opening day nod and will be followed by Luis Perdomo, Dinelson Lamet and probably Bryan Mitchell, for some reason. Former San Diego legends Tyson Ross and Chris Young are in the hunt for the final spot, along with oft-injured Robbie Erlin.

Sean Doolittle loves the slow jams. 

SAN FRANCISCO: The Giants appear to be set in the rotation with Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Chris Stratton and Ty Blach. But Derek Holland has pitched well this spring and might get a shot. Mark Melancon is the closer to open the year, but Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Hunter Strickland are there if he struggles.

ST. LOUIS: The Cards appear set to open the year with Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Miles Mikolas and Luke Weaver. The closer position is a question mark, though. Luke Gregerson might have the job, but he's been hurt much of the spring. There are rumblings that Dominic Leone might take the job, but he's a former Mariner, so ... come on. Lefty Tyler Lyons might get a shot, too.

WASHINGTON: Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark are the obvious top four; the fifth spot will go to A.J. Cole, Jeremy Hellickson, Edwin Jackson or Tom "Bones" Milone. Sean Doolittle seems to be entrenched at closer, but we know how today's managers feel about southpaws pitching to more than one hitter. Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler, Joaquin Benoit, Koda Glover and Shawn Kelley are in the bullpen too, so the Nats have plenty of options.

Spring Training Position Battles - Hitters

Ronald Acuna, the top prospect in all of baseball, will be arriving in Atlanta a few weeks late.

We are six days away from the draft and 10 days from Opening Day. Here's a look at how some of the offensive positional battles are going in the National League.

Atlanta left field: To start the season, it looks like a platoon of Preston Tucker and Lane Adams, with Tucker having had the hot spring. Of course, they're just holding the position down for a couple weeks before Ronald Acuna is called up after the Braves play the service time game. Tucker is 14-for-37 with six extra-base hits this spring... of course, Acuna is 19-for-37 with four homers.

Milwaukee first base/outfield: The Brewers might have the deepest offense in the league, so who will play? Christian Yelich (LF) and Lorenzo Cain (CF) are playing every day if healthy, leaving RF and 1B to Domingo Santana, Eric Thames and Ryan Braun. Plus there's a Keon Broxton and a Jesus Aguilar who might not even have spots on the roster. Braun and Yelich can't really play right field, which means Santana will likely be the main guy there, with Braun the main option at first base if he can figure out how to play it. So Thames seems to be the odd man out here unless there's a trade before opening day. For a team in need of pitching, you'd think they'd be looking to trade from their strengths, but what do I know?

Milwaukee second base: Jonathan Villar and Eric Sogard will share time to start the season, and continue to do so unless one seizes the job.

Vin Scully would call Jose Martinez a "daddy longlegs."

St. Louis corner infield: Matt Carpenter (1B) and Jedd Gyorko (3B) are penciled in as the starters. But with Jose Martinez continuing to rake this spring, the Cardinals will find ways to get him in the lineup. He may see some time in right field (spelling Dexter Fowler) and at first base, where Carpenter could move to third and Gyorko to second (spelling Kolten Wong). While Martinez isn't listed as a starter, St. Louis will get his bat in the lineup often.

Chicago outfield: Well, it's Joe Maddon, so who knows? For now, Kyle Schwaber-Albert Almora-Jason Heyward is the likely outfield, but Ian Happ is crushing the ball this spring and will play plenty. The Cubs especially like him in the leadoff spot, and who else will bat there? So expect to see lots of all four of these guys, plus a little Happ in the infield.

Arizona outfield: Yasmany Tomas is the odd fat man out here, with David Peralta and Stephen Souza claiming the corner OF spots to start the year. Jarrod Dyson will also get playing time when AJ Pollock gets hurt. Not if. When.

Arizona middle infield: Nick Ahmed and his Swiss cheese bat will start at shortstop, and Ketel Marte will play second, leaving Chris Owings as a super utility guy.

Los Angeles left field: The list of guys competing here is epic: Matt Kemp, Joc Pederson, Andrew Toles, Kike Hernandez, Trayce Thompson and Alex Verdugo. Chris Taylor (CF) and Yasiel Puig (RF) are playing every day. Kemp is in good shape and hitting well this spring, and seems to be the guy to get most of the ABs in left, with Hernandez and Toles seeming to be the most likely to also see time to start the season. Both are crushing the ball this spring.

Miami third base: With Martin Prado starting the year on the DL, solid prospect Brian Anderson will start the year as the starter. His glove is ahead of his bat at this point, but he hit for good power in double-A last year.

Miami outfield: To start the year, Derek Dietrich (LF), Lewis Brinson (CF) and Cameron Maybin (RF) seems to be the starting trio. Dietrich has played just four games in the OF in his career, but can hit better than most of the trash Miami has to choose from. Brinson is Miami's top prospect and having a great spring.

A healthy Mets outfielder? This can't last long.

New York center field: Brandon Nimmo is hitting and pushing supposed incumbent Juan Lagares. It looks like Nimmo will supplant Lagares as the starter, with Lagares rumored to be on the trading block. Michael Conforto will be in the mix when he returns from an injury, which is supposed to be in May. Since it's the Mets, we'll assume there will be setbacks.

San Diego left field: Jose Pirela appears to be the starter here over Hunter Renfroe. Pirela can also play second base, but the Padres like Carlos Asuaje there, leaving Renfroe likely as a bench bat. Franchy Cordero is also in the mix in left field and crushing the ball this spring, but is battling a groin injury (aren't we all) and may not be ready to start the year.

Philadelphia outfield: Philly signed Carlos Santana to play first, moving Rhys Hoskins to left field. With Odubel Herrera in center field, that leaves Nick Williams and Aaron Altherr to share time in right. Williams is likely to get the bulk of the time, but he can also play elsewhere in the outfield if anyone struggles (lookin' at you, Odubel). Altherr is the odd man out for now, but they want to get him at-bats.

Pittsburgh third base: Colin Moran is the likely starter over David Freese. He's developing into a masher but still learning third base... so, he's Pedro Alvarez 2.0, or something.

Cincinnati outfield: The Reds are planning a four-man "rotation" in the outfield, with Adam Duvall, Billy Hamilton, Scott Schebler and Phillip Ervin getting lots of at-bats and hot prospect Jesse Winker also seeing some time. Schebler is expected to play some center field to make this rotation work. Duvall seems unlikely to sit much, so I'm guessing what we're actually talking about here is a three-man rotation between center field and right field.

Colorado first base/left field: With the re-signing of Carlos Gonzalez, there's one fewer spot for the many guys battling for playing time in these two spots. As of now, it sounds likely that Ian Desmond will start the year at first base and Gerardo Parra will be the main left fielder, with Ryan McMahon and David Dahl starting the year at Triple-A. Raimel Tapia will start as the main backup outfielder. Expect to see Dahl and McMahon fairly soon if they stay healthy.