Wednesday Bantering and Open Thread for Spring Game 4

The news that everyone is talking about is Ross Atkins telling MLB radio that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. isn’t a major league player. Or “I don’t see him as a major league player”. It will come as a surprise to him when, halfway through April he suddenly is a major league player (unless, of course they decided to leave him in the minors for another season and a month to gain another year of control).

I get that Ross is in a bad spot because he can’t come out and say the truth, but I’d rather he just sidestep the question than to tell a bold face lie. We get it, the system is set up to screw Vlad (and for that matter the fans), and Ross can’t say ‘hey, you know and I know we are doing because baseball’s rules are stupid”. But, straight out lying to us is something that GMs should try to avoid.

In case you missed it:

We have a bunch of regulars in today’s lineup. It isn’t on TV.

Pompey is in the lineup again. He is getting a lot of playing time. I hope they decide to keep him. And our likely opening day 3B is in the lineup too. He’s had 4 at bats and has 3 strikeouts (don’t read anything into 4 at bats Tom).