‘I MADE SURE TO ENJOY IT’
Mancini cherishes his 1st team workout after fight against colon cancer
When he was furthest away from baseball and in the midst of chemotherapy treatment on his road back from colon cancer treatment, Trey Mancini would stand up in front of the television while watching games and take a few dry swings just to remember what it felt like.
Now, each passing day brings him closer and closer to the real thing.
In taking live batting practice off Orioles pitchers Monday on the first day of fullsquad workouts at spring training in Sarasota,
Florida, Mancini took another step in a comeback that’s inspired his teammates and fans as he returns to the game he loves.
“I made sure to enjoy it and kind of cherish today because there were times, especially when I got diagnosed early on, where I wasn’t totally sure if I’d be playing baseball again” said Mancini, who has been in Sarasota for over three weeks training. “Just being able to come out here and feel like myself and feel great and participate in everything fully is something that I’m very appreciative of and I don’t take for granted at all.”
Mancini reported to spring training last February with designs on building on his career year in 2019, when he hit 35 home runs with an .899 OPS at the heart of the Orioles’ lineup.
However, his spring training physi
cal revealed low iron levels. Further tests pointed to a malignant tumor in his colon, which Mancini had removed on March 12 — the same day spring training was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mancini missed the entire 2020 season and finished a six-month chemotherapy program in late September. By the middle of the fall, Mancini was back swinging a bat and continued his longstanding habit of reporting early to Sarasota this month to get himself going as quickly as possible.
Everyone in his life, baseball and otherwise, has been asking how he feels often, he said, and he insists he’s not lying when he says he feels “no different.”
“We went in there and hit off pitchers and I felt better than I expected to,” Mancini said. “I felt good. I’m always ready to get in there and kind of strap it on and get it going. In every standpoint of the game, I really do feel just like I did before.”
Manager Brandon Hyde said there will be no restrictions on Mancini this spring.
“It feels fantastic” Hyde said. “It’s somebody that is just such a class act and so professional. I know everybody missed him around here big time this year, so to have him on the field is uplifting for everybody. Everybody knows what he went through and how hard he has worked to come back. He looks strong and is swinging the bat great and watching him do defensive drills today. He’s tough not to love, and it’s fun having him out there.”
Now that the full Orioles camp roster is in Sarasota with their first full-team workout underway, the greetings will subside. Both Hyde and infielder Rio Ruiz said seeing Mancini back at spring training was meaningful.
“Just to see the smile on his face when I got to the ballpark, and to see everybody else’s reaction to him too, I think that was a special moment,” Hyde said.
Said Ruiz: “I can’t remember a bigger hug that I gave somebody than seeing him for the first time the other day. You commend everything that he’s done. You can’t even imagine what he’s been through. But he’s back here, he hasn’t made any complaints, he hasn’t made any excuses. He’s just excited to be back on the ball field. He’s definitely a presence that we’ve missed throughout the clubhouse.”
It was that same Sarasota clubhouse where nearly a year ago, Mancini told his teammates of his pending surgery and left on a Saturday morning before the rest of the team worked out and departed for a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
He hadn’t seen some of them since making that emotional disclosure.
“To kind of come full circle and get back down here to Sarasota and see everybody in a place that, when I left it, it was really tough and a really hard time,” Mancini said. “It’s been great to see the guys again and just be back in the locker room. That is what I missed last year, this group here, and not being part of the team and being away from everybody. I’m really cherishing being back with everyone.”
Mancini will be the team’s primary first baseman this year, and said he trained for two hours a day once he was cleared for such activities to ensure he was ready for the demands of a full season on his body. He knows that it being his age-29 season means he has to be even more mindful of that.
But whatever he’s able to do in spring training will just be a precursor to when the games matter come Opening Day on April 1 in Boston. That, Mancini said, will be when he feels his comeback is complete.
“I’m very proud of where I am right now and I’m extremely happy to be here, but I think being in that major league game, one of 162, that’s kind of what I always saw as making the comeback,” he said.
Around the horn
First baseman Chris Davis had his physical Monday morning and worked out with the team, Hyde said. Davis was delayed getting to Sarasota because of bad weather last week in Texas.
Hyde said the team will use spring training games to give pitchers young and old alike the chance to make the team.
In the locker room after the Washington Football Team’s playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, veteran tackle Morgan Moses told his linemate and good friend Brandon Scherff that he hoped the game wasn’t their last together.
“I said, ‘I hope it’s not either,’” Scherff told reporters the next day. “Being here for six years, playing with Morgan … just seeing how far we’ve grown and seeing how close we’ve become, I absolutely love him.”
It’s possible Scherff will be around for at least a seventh year.
According to people familiar with the situation, Washington could use a franchise tag on Scherff again, but the organization appears more interested in signing him to a long-term deal, with talks expected to start in the coming days.
Keeping Scherff on a long-term deal will be costly. Keeping him on a second franchise tag will be even costlier in 2021.
After playing last season on a $15.03 million tag, it’s widely believed that Scherff could reset the market for his position and fetch at least $15 million a year. Philadelphia’s Brandon Brooks leads all (non-franchise-tagged) guards with a $14.1 million average annual value.
“People are going to look at him as a high-end talent, and he’s probably going to be paid as the top guard that’s available,” said Jason Fitzgerald, the founder of salary cap website Over the Cap. “He’s one of those players where you put a bunch of per-game bonuses and stuff in there and try to protect yourself a little bit.”
The window to designate franchise players opens Tuesday and closes March 9, and even if Washington tags Scherff, it doesn’t necessarily mean he will play on the tag. The sides have until July 15 to hash out a long-term deal, and with a new contract, Washington can lower Scherff ’s cap number with a prorated bonus and incentives.
If he’s tagged a second time, Scherff ’s salary for 2021 will be $18.04 million, or 120 percent of his previous salary, which would put him in the pay range of the game’s top tackles and make him the fourth-highest-paid offensive lineman.
“It doesn’t make sense, but they have the cap space to do it,” CBS Sports salary cap analyst and former agent Joel Corry said. “It ensures he doesn’t leave. But it also ensures that you better get [a deal] done now because you’re not going to tag him a third time.” According to Over the Cap, Washington is expected to have around $38 million in salary cap space, the fifth-highest number in the NFL, based on a projected cap of $180.5 million. (The league informed teams last week that the cap minimum for 2021 will be $180 million. The final number has not been determined.)
Though the pay on a tag is significant, it offers no future guarantees in a sport riddled with serious injuries. Scherff missed three games last year because of a medial collateral ligament sprain he suffered in Week 2. He has landed on injured reserve in each of the past three years and hasn’t played a full season since 2016, his second year in the league.
But when healthy, he’s one of Washington’s most valuable offensive players. Last season, according to Stats LLC, he allowed only one sack and committed only one penalty (a false start). He was the first Washington player since punter Matt Turk in 1996 to be named a first-team all-pro, and he was selected to his fourth Pro Bowl. Scherff was also voted by his teammates as Washington’s Ed Block Courage Award winner.
At season’s end, he said he “absolutely” wants to stay with Washington and praised Coach Ron Rivera and offensive line coach John Matsko.
“I’ve always said I want to stay where I got drafted,” he said. “And I’ve been here for six years, and I absolutely love it here. ... We are building something here to absolutely make a run for it in the future.”
Keeping Scherff also would keep the right side of Washington’s offensive line intact until at least 2023. Center Chase Roullier re-signed on a four-year deal in January, and Moses has two seasons remaining on his contract.
“Those are the leaders up front for us,” offensive coordinator Scott Turner said last season. “They’ve done a great job, Brandon in particular. He brings it every day. He’s the same guy, the toughness, the blue-collar mentality. It helps, energizes and drives our team.”
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