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The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we're running here at MLBDD and rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us at @mlbdailydish on Twitter.
Good morning baseball fans!
Here is the MLB Blog Review for this week.
The Mets are looking to add a backup catcher, as they may feel that Kevin Plawecki is better served getting at-bats in Triple-A.
Marcell Ozuna is happy to still be a Marlin and is looking to make the most of a new chance with Miami, writes Andre C. Fernandez of the Miami Herald.
"I’m happy because they gave me a new opportunity," Ozuna said. "Everything that happened last year made me a stronger person. I had to stay positive and have faith God would put me in the best position possible. Last year, I didn’t work the way I know I’m capable."
Ozuna’s offensive numbers dropped significantly following a solid first full season in the majors in 2014.
The Marlins entertained numerous offers this winter from other clubs interested in the center fielder many including first-year manager Don Mattingly believe has the talent to be a prolific weapon in any lineup.
"With young guys, the second year is tough because you fight to make it here [to the majors] and then you get here and you better keep working because everyone’s trying to figure you out," Mattingly said. "Handling that adjustment is the hard part.
"You just don’t find guys like him. The reason almost every club was calling us about him is because people see he’s that kind of talent. I’m glad he’s here with us."
Overall, most of what we see on the team level is pretty meaningless for predicting the of outcomes of the regular season. Rosters are different, playing time is uneven, and the predictive usefulness of most of the team stats are muddied by the very reasons for having spring training — to shake the rust off, to try out players we won’t get a chance to see during the regular season, and to be able to make mistakes and have it be inconsequential. As we’ve seen, looking at individual spring statistics can be useful, but maybe we should leave most of our conceptions about overall team performance out of it. There’s simply not enough evidence to truly worry about teams that struggle during March, just as there isn’t too much evidence to be overly confident when a team does well.
The Cubs and Pirates will almost certainly be fine, or more than fine. The current outlook for the Orioles is a little murkier, but that’s probably because of the freshness of their recent roster issues; they’ve famously shown a penchant for outperforming their BaseRuns record in many of the past few seasons, and many fans might be expecting more magic because of that, despite some holes. The teams on the extreme ends of the spectrum are the ones we should pay most attention to during the later parts of spring training, so if we reach the end of the month and the Orioles have only won a few games, we might actually have cause to worry. Otherwise, Baltimore’s a good reminder that it doesn’t really matter whether you win or lose — at least in March.
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Today in Baseball History: In 1956, Satchel Page, at age 50, signs with the Birmingham Black Barons to play and manage.