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Early Spring Training Thoughts: Gio Gonzalez, Mat Gamel, Matt Kemp, and Others

Ray Guilfoyle offers his thoughts on some of the recent spring training news.

By Ray Guilfoyle
USA TODAY Sports

Here are some quick thoughts on the early spring training news over the last few days.

We learned on Sunday that Cubs starter Matt Garza had to cut short his bullpen session after 20 pitches. Here is the original tweet from David Kaplan:

We later learned that Garza had a "mild" right lat strain. To me, a lat strain for a pitcher is not mild. Garza will not throw for a week, so this may or may not set him back in his plans to be ready for the start of the season.

I don't know of any player in MLB with worse luck than Brewers infielder Mat Gamel. Gamel with his second ACL tear in his right knee. Here is Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt on who will be in play to replace Gamel at first base till Corey Hart is ready:

I think Hunter Morris will have the upper hand here, and he will have to fall on his face to not win the job out of spring training. Morris is rosterable in NL-only leagues and very deep mixed leagues.

I was checking out some recent Dodgers news over the weekend as I am wont to do, and read an article in the LA Times discussing Matt Kemp. The piece stated that Kemp has lost weight this offseason so he can revert back to the "little, lighter Matt". He reported to camp weighing 213 pounds, or around the weight he played at back in 2011. He has vowed to steal more bases this season, so we could see him return to the 30-30 player he was two years ago. He added weight heading into the 2012 season, as he thought it would help him go 50-50, but it resulted in two hamstring injuries instead.

Speaking of the Dodgers, Andre Ethier reported to camp healthy for the first time in three seasons. Last spring training, he dealt with an injured pinky, and two springs ago, he was recovering from a knee injury. Could he return to the 30 home run hitter he was several years ago? I doubt it, but think he can improve upon his 2012 season.

Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez had his named linked to the Biogenesis clinic a few weeks ago, but it was reported last evening that he purchased some drugs to lose weight, and not PEDs. He won't win 20 games again, but is primed to put up another solid season for the Nationals.

One player who was on the Biogenesis list as having purchased PEDs is Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera. Along with Cabrera, others listed were Fernando Martinez, Jordan Norberto, Fautino De Los Santos and Cesar Puello. Cabrera is the only player of note whose value could be impacted in this investigation.