Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and Chris Antonetti discuss the infield and outfield situation as spring training begins. There are many options on the table that they believe are a good problem.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 >> I think we're pretty fortunate.
00:06 You got a list of three or four people who are very capable of playing shortstop
00:10 for us with some defensive versatility as well.
00:13 So I think we're gonna get a good look at a lot of guys playing shortstop,
00:16 playing other positions, playing elsewhere.
00:19 And it's a good problem to have when you have defensive versatility and
00:22 you have a number of guys who can contribute at the shortstop position.
00:26 And obviously we're hoping that between all of those guys,
00:30 we have a great decision to make on how, who and where they're gonna impact the roster.
00:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:39 >> But Andre's playing any short in spring?
00:42 >> Well, we've talked about it.
00:44 We haven't completely ruled it out, but it's hard to move a platinum glove winner
00:48 off of second base when he plays the position at such an elite level.
00:52 There have been conversations, but as of right now,
00:54 the plan is for Andre's to be at second base.
00:57 >> If I look at the outfield picture, it seems like you guys have 4,000 candidates.
01:02 And how do you balance giving a guy enough of a look to feel confident in
01:06 your evaluation versus there are all these other guys who might deserve
01:10 opportunities too?
01:12 >> Yeah, I mean, they're gonna play.
01:15 We feel good that we have a number of candidates that can play in the outfield.
01:19 And we're gonna do our best to give them the optimal amount of at bats to give us
01:24 that look.
01:24 But again, having that roster depth and the ability to know that we have people who
01:29 can step in and play those positions, I view as a great problem to have.
01:33 There's a ton of talent in that pool, and
01:35 it'll be really fun to watch them go out and play this spring.
01:39 >> At least right now, the benefit is almost all of those guys other than
01:43 Florio have options, right?
01:44 So again, it may not be the news that some of them want to hear at the end of camp.
01:50 But some of those guys likely want to start the season in AAA.
01:54 Now, we think over the course of the season,
01:56 they're gonna get plenty of opportunities.
01:58 We all see that there's no roster that we set on opening day that stays the same for
02:03 a week, let alone a full season.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:05 Thank you.