5 spring training stories to watch in the American League

You were ambling around the Internet, ducking in and out of different click farms, looking for the biggest spring training stories around baseball. Finally, you came here. Thank goodness. We have the biggest spring training stories to watch around baseball, which is a topic you certainly can’t find anywhere else.

On Thursday, we looked at the biggest stories around the National League, from the Mets’ defense to the health of the Marlins’ stars. Now it’s time for the American League. We know you’re not going to pay attention to the scores and win-loss records of March. So what should you watch for?

For years, when people were denigrating Mike Piazza’s defense behind the plate (which wasn’t that bad, apparently), there were calls that he should move to first. The bat would play at first. He wasn’t just a good-hitting catcher, he was a great hitter, move him to first. Just move him to first already.

Then in 2004, Piazza started 66 games at first, and Mets fans screamed, “GOOD LORD, PUT THAT MAN BEHIND THE PLATE.” It turns out that first base isn’t that easy.

There’s obviously a huge difference between an ex-catcher and an ex-shortstop. The former never had to field grounders; the latter had no choice. The former is used to a glove shaped like Janice’s mouth from the Muppets; the latter is used to a normal glove. But the larger point stands: First base is a unique position, and success at it isn’t guaranteed.

Or if you want another anecdote, you could look at Hanley Ramirez trying to play left field last year. Good gravy. It’s like his defense was translated into French then Portuguese then into Cyrillic then back into English. You knew the basic parts, but it didn’t make any sense.

The Red Sox will try Ramirez at first because not only do they have no choice, but he also makes a lot of sense there at this stage in his career. I’m not sure how many players have made the shortstop-to-first transition within a two-year stretch, other than Ernie Banks, but it speaks to just how untenable Ramirez’s play at short had become.

The other option for the Red Sox would be to slide Ramirez to third, which would be a more familiar position for him, and give Pablo Sandoval a firm vernonwellsing. The Red Sox will have a short leash for all of these players because it’s not like Dave Dombrowski asked for them.

Lineup questions, generally, are about as interesting as the terms and conditions you have to agree to when you sign up for a website. If you’re getting excited about the finer points of them, you’re probably in too deep. With the Blue Jays, though, it’s compelling. They have a middle of the order that’s the envy of every team in baseball, but there’s a chance that it’s not the middle of the order at all.

Roster Resource has the lineup looking like this:

It’s as front-loaded as you’ve ever seen a lineup. What happens if the 32-year-old first baseman coming off a surprising season regresses? Colabello did have a .411 batting average on balls in play, remember, which isn’t sustainable for Ichiro in his prime, much less a slower first baseman. What happens if the 33-year-old catcher starts to hit like a 33-year-old catcher? The hopes of the 2016 Blue Jays are pinned almost entirely on the success of their lineup, and there are a lot more questions than we remember.

Then you look at that front four and relax a bit. The question of the spring is if they’re really going full-Sabermetric and making sure their best hitters get as many plate appearances as possible, or if they’re going to find a more traditional leadoff hitter (speed and/or OBP) and chicken out at the last second. The difference could be 10 runs or so over the course of the season, and that could be the difference between the AL East title or missing the postseason entirely.

I’m on Team Tulo at leadoff. We’ll see what the Blue Jays think.

This is a very, very simple one. Michael Brantley was rumored to be out until the middle of the year following offseason shoulder surgery, a crushing blow for a lineup that needs every last scrap of help. The current reports are guardedly optimistic, but at least no one is mentioning June. From the looks of it, no one is mentioning May, either.

So pay attention to Brantley’s continuing rehab, all the way up to a possible spring training appearance. The Indians have a chance to be the 2015 Mets, but they also have a chance to be the 2009 Giants, who wasted one of the best run-preventing seasons in franchise history because they couldn’t hit. The lineup is so dependent on older players bouncing back (Gomes, Napoli, Santana) and middling players outperforming expectations (Chisenhall, Urshela) that the addition of just more steady bat could make the entire difference.

It would be a shame if the Indians’ 2016 season was remembered for the pitching and first full season from Francisco Lindor if those memories were tinged with regrets and what-ifs. They couldn’t go out and buy a Justin Upton, so they had to cross their fingers and hope for the next best thing, which was improved health from the underrated star they already had.

According to Roster Resource Lance McCullers isn’t a lock for the rotation. According to the Astros’ own depth chart, McCullers is their No. 3, and it’s Mike Fiers who gets left off. This is a dilly of a pickle.

McCullers was exceptional last year, and that’s before you get to the qualifier that he was just 21. He’s the age of some of the kids who will be drafted in June, and he’s already shown sustainable success in the majors. There’s no way the Astros are going to mess around with that upside and send him back to the minors.

That means there’s going to be a scrum for the last two rotation spots, with Fiers, Doug Fister and Scott Feldman all battling. Fiers has been a consistently above-average starter for four seasons now, and he was at his best after his trade to the Astros. Fister was getting Cy Young votes just a season ago, and his lost season from last year was more about a handful of disaster starts and general inconsistency than it was getting slapped around like a broken pitcher.

That leaves Feldman as the odd pitcher out, but let’s take a quick peek at his adjusted ERA over the last three years:

2013, 103 ERA+ 2014, 103 ERA+ 2015, 103 ERA+

That averages out to, uh, well, I can’t do that kind of advanced math, but it’s slightly above average, I can tell you that. The only reason you sit a slightly above-average starting pitcher -- and the highest-paid pitcher on the staff, mind you -- is if you get greedy. Assuming that McCullers is a lock for the rotation and Fiers is pretty close, Fister will have to pitch in a way that makes the Astros greedy.

Take everything from the Hanley Ramirez section up there, then copy and paste it over here. Sano has exactly zero professional innings in the outfield. He’s young, spry and athletic, and there’s every reason to think he could succeed in the outfield, if not thrive there, but it’s not a given. Think of it like a flame-throwing starter moving into the bullpen. It makes sense that he would be just as good, if not better, but there are some players who just can’t adapt to the new role.

If Sano is rough around the edges, but generally competent, he’ll stay where he is, and the Twins will figure out a permanent position when Trevor Plouffe or Joe Mauer aren’t in the picture. If he thrives, the Twins might just keep him and his arm in right field for the next 15 years.

But if he struggles ...

Oh, goodness, if he’s a complete wagon accident ...

What a mess that would be. Then you have the future of the franchise stumbling around, failing at something baseball-related for the first time in his life, and taking those fielding miscues up to the plate with him. If that happens, what in the heck do the Twins do? Sit Mauer? Maybe. Or perhaps Byung-ho Park would slide into right and Sano would DH, and the ease of that transition will make all this handwringing seem silly.

When I see the words “generational young talent” and “brand new position” in the same sentence, though, it makes me antsy. My guess is that Sano is still playing right field in 2026, let alone the rest of 2016, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch how he progresses this spring.