MLB Spring Training: Cole vs. Cabrera – the $66M question

Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera twice go back-to-back on Gerrit Cole, and Mike Fiers looks strong in Thursday’s MLB spring training matchups.

The Detroit Tigers will pay Miguel Cabrera $30 million to hit baseballs this season. The New York Yankees will pay Gerrit Cole $36 million to prevent people like Cabrera from doing so.

Which one had the better of their tete-a-tete Thursday? That’s the $66 million question. And here’s the bonus question: How did Travis Demeritte horn into this discussion?

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Demeritte, Cabrera, and Cole were all prominent players in Thursday’s MLB spring training action, which included Detroit’s back-and-forth with the Yankees in Lakeland.

Here’s a look at the day’s winners and losers.

Loser: Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees pitcher

Obviously Cole has nothing to prove, so his third spring start against the Tigers was fundamentally an exercise in staying healthy. Still, it would be hard to see much positive in it.

In two innings, Cole faced 13 batters and whatever he intended to work on got worked over. Four Tigers homered off him (more on those momentarily), two others hit safely and he walked a seventh.

The sum of the damage was six earned runs, driving Cole’s spring ERA to 9.53. Forty percent through the team’s planned 35-game spring schedule, Cole has made it through just 5.2 innings, less than a third the 16  innings he got in last spring.

Afterward, he tried to keep it in perspective. “It’s not my favorite day of 2020 so far, but it’s just spring training,” Cole said.

MLB Spring Training Recap: March 5

Winners: Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

Most of Cole’s problems dealt with these two figures toward the top of Detroit’s batting order.

After Victor Reyes sent a ground ball double into left field to begin the bottom of the first, Demeritte lined a 2-1 Cole offering for a home run into the left-field seats. Cabrera followed with a home run of his own to left-center.

Just one inning later, with a runner on base and two out, the duo delivered a second time. Demeritte’s home run struck the batter’s eye in deepest center, and Cabrera followed suit higher up on the same barrier.

The back-to-back back-to-back blasts off Cole gave the Tigers a 6-0 advantage, and they eventually won the 30-hit volley 15-11.

Demeritte, who has been considered marginal to make the team, is now hitting .308 for the spring. Cabrera is at .316.

Winner: Mike Fiers, Oakland Athletics pitcher

The Athletics stretched out Mike Fiers in his third MLB spring training appearance Thursday, and he gave every indication of being ready to handle it. Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, he delivered four innings of one-hit ball, striking out four.

The only base hit was a second-inning single by Edwin Rios, and Fiers rendered that hit meaningless by fanning the side. In fact, he retired the last eight batters he faced as the Athletics won 5-1.

There have been concerns that Fiers’ performance might be affected by his role in exposing the Astros sign-stealing scandal, but so far Fiers has given no cause for concern. In his eight innings of work, he has allowed just five hits and a .179 batting average. That’s on course to make this the best spring of his career.

MLB Spring Training Recap: March 5

Winner: Nelson Cruz, Minnesota Twins designated hitter

With a .210 team batting average, the Twins have spent most of this spring wondering when their offense will show up. On Thursday, Cruz delivered a big portion of it.

In a 5-5 tie with the Baltimore Orioles, Cruz produced three of his team’s 10 hits, raising his spring average to .500. Among Twins with at least 15 spring plate appearances, only Cruz and reserve outfielder candidate LaMonte Wade are batting above .294.

Cruz’s hits included a first-inning home run that was followed by third and fifth inning singles.

Loser: Jorge Soler, Kansas City Royals outfielder

The defending American League home run leader remains locked in a spring-long batting slump.

Thursday against the Colorado Rockies, Jorge Soler got three hacks and came up empty with two strikeouts. For the spring, he has just two hits – both home runs – in 18 at-bats. The home runs are offset by nine strikeouts.

For the record, Colorado beat the Royals 5-1.

Losers: The left side of the Philadelphia infield

Third base prospect Alec Bohm and veteran shortstop Didi Gregorius have had diametrically opposite springs. While Bohm, a AA player ranked the team’s No. 1 prospect, has opened eyes with a .444 spring average, Gregorius is laboring through a hitless spring that is now 18 fruitless at-bats long.

During Philadelphia’s 5-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, however, the two were on equal footing: They both delivered fruitless at-bats.

Didi’s 0-for-3 afternoon included a double-play ground ball with two runners on base in the first, a routine flyout in the fourth and a fifth-inning ground out with another runner in scoring position.

Bohm, meanwhile, found that the game isn’t as easy as he has been making it look. He did single in the second. But Bohm grounded out with a runner in scoring position in the fourth and his fifth-inning ground ball killed another inning with the bases full and two out.

Winner: Derek Holland, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher

The Pirates desperately need some stable pitching, and they hope Derek Holland might be part of the answer.

Against the Rays Thursday, he gave reason for that hope. Holland delivered four solid innings and allowed just one hit, a home run.

It was the best of his three Cactus League appearances, games in which he has allowed three runs and a collective .200 batting average against him.

Because the Pirate offense continued to look as anemic as it has been all spring, they still lost 2-1, Pittsburgh’s 11 defeat in 13 spring decisions. But at least Holland looked good.