One would think a manager of 23 years would be comfortable with talking to a group of baseball players, many of whom were born after he started managing, but Terry Francona has anxiety as he addresses a young group of Reds on Monday.
“We will have the meeting at 9:00, that is something I probably have anxiety about. It’s weird because everybody has been here. It doesn’t feel like the first day. You’re laying a foundation for how you want your team to be. As many years as I’ve done it I have some anxiety until it’s over. You’re up in front of a bunch of guys you care about. I’m excited but I will feel better when it’s over.”
One of his on-field tasks is sorting through the Reds' glut of infielders.
The plan is for Matt McLain to play second base. That is one of the pieces of the infield puzzle that was put into place. The other is third base which is more complicated.
How many positions will we see Matt McLain play this spring?”
“One,” was Francona’s quick answer.
“That’s the hope. You will see Matt go over to short and take ground balls because he can do that,” Francona said. “In fairness to him and trying to keep him healthy, we’ll keep him at second.”
Francona’s philosophy is based on fairness. He doesn’t want to give players too much, too quickly but players will eventually move around to add versatility.
“If we have to make an adjustment anywhere, we’ll do that,” Francona said. “You want to have players get their legs under them, some reps under them. If you start moving guys to different arm angles, I’m not sure you're setting them up for success.”
With McLain at second and Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, first base and third base are up for grabs for the 12 listed infielders in camp..
The conversation turned to Gavin Lux.
“That’s the thing we were talking to him about. We talked about moving him around. Putting him in left field, second base, third base the first week of camp I don’t think that’s putting him in the best position to succeed. We’re on the same team. This isn’t the time to test his manhood.”
The Reds have a split squad set up for next Saturday in which half the team plays Cleveland at Goodyear while another group plays Milwaukee at Maryvale.
Lux will play second base against the Brewers and have Sunday off and will play third base against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday after a team day off on Tuesday.
“We’ll keep him out of the outfield at least in the beginning because I don’t think that it’s fair. Let’s let him get his legs under him and then we’ll look at some things,” Francona said.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand will play first and third.
“As of now, he will play first base here (Goodyear) and the next day he will play third, because some guys will have to play back-to-back. I’ve never seen a split-squad on the first day. We kind of walked through that with him.”
Jeimer Candalario is another guy who will play third base.
“Candy knew coming in that we really wanted to give him a shot to play third. I don’t think it worked out last year like they wanted to. To his credit, he came in here looking good. He’s given himself a chance to be better. If he can do that it kind of sets us up, it sets us up a little bit better.”
Spencer Steer came to Goodyear with an aching right shoulder. The Reds are going to have him DH the first few games and then play first base because he won’t have to throw as much.
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