GOODYEAR, Ariz. \u2014 Manager Stephen Vogt was going to wait until Wednesday to give his tone-setting speech to the Guardians for spring training and the regular season.<\/p>\n
The Major League Baseball Players Association was scheduled to visit the Guardians on Tuesday to start its annual trek through the spring-training camps. Vogt didn\u2019t think his message would carry the same punch after the players listened to the union\u2019s update on a possible work stoppage following the upcoming season when the basic agreement expires.<\/p>\n
However, when MLBPA canceled the meeting following the resignation of executive director Tony Clark, Vogt was able to rearrange his schedule.<\/p>\n
The message was a familiar one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here for one thing … that\u2019s to win a World Series,\u201d said Vogt. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be the goal as long as I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Guardians have not won a World Series since 1948. It is the longest drought in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
Vogt says he tries to be as consistent as he can with his message.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me this is why we\u2019re here,\u201d said Vogt. \u201cWe have to go set the tone for the year. Now we have to go and back it up. And myself, I have to go back it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t upset the boss<\/p>\n
OF Stuart Fairchild, in camp on a minor league deal, was a teammate of Vogt\u2019s in 2021 with Arizona.<\/p>\n
In fact, Fairchild made his big-league debut by pinch running for Vogt and scoring the winning run on July 6, 2021.<\/p>\n
Vogt was asked about that Tuesday. He laughed and said, \u201cIt\u2019s offensive that I got pinch-run for. I didn\u2019t remember that. I\u2019ll have to touch him up on that. Make him take a lap for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easy does it<\/p>\n
Vogt said relievers Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis will be \u201cslow-played\u201d at the start of the Cactus league season because of their workload.<\/p>\n
In the last two years, Smith has made 162 appearances, counting the postseason, while pitching 162 1\/3 innings. Gaddis has made 162 appearances, including the postseason, in 161 1\/3 innings over the same two seasons.<\/p>\n
No loitering<\/p>\n
Vogt\u2019s philosophy that everyone on the roster plays will be on full display Saturday when the Guardians open the Cactus League season with split squad games against the Reds and Brewers.<\/p>\n
The Guardians are expected to have 18 pitchers ready for both games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI broke the news to Carl (Willis) because I don\u2019t want him to hit me,\u201d said Vogt.<\/p>\n
Vogt added that every position player who\u2019s in big league camp or the depth camp will play Saturday. \u201cThat\u2019s 36 players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s game against the Reds will be on Guardians TV.<\/p>\n
Finally<\/p>\n
The Guardians have so many outfielders in camp that CJ Kayfus is expected to get most of his playing time at first base. Last season Kayfus played 29 games in the outfield and 17 at first base … Vogt, a former catcher, is a fan of catchers going down to one knee behind the plate. He says it improves a catcher\u2019s blocking ability, helps his throwing and is easier on the body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GOODYEAR, Ariz. \u2014 Manager Stephen Vogt was going to wait until Wednesday to give his tone-setting speech to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-487034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}