There's not much to talk about early in spring training other than finding websites that have pictures of players not doing a whole lot. It's a good baseball fix after a winter of free agent gluttony. It's fun to ooh and ah about who looks like they are in shape and who doesn't. For the record, Pablo doesn't look thinner, but if he can see better with those glasses, look out! He looks even more like a panda with those things on. For a great picture fix, I recommend www.azgiants.com.
Here are some things I'll be watching in spring training:
1. Nate Schierholtz: The Giants need Nate to have a good enough spring to establish himself as the undisputed starting RF, mainly to give him a bit of breathing room to get his feet on the ground once the season starts. I've been a huge fan of Nate since he "broke out" in low A ball low those many years ago, and after seeing him play for San Jose in high A ball. He's a great athlete with a lot more speed than he's often credited with, and a cannon for an arm. He's a good hitter. The only question is if he can control the strike zone well enough to hit in the majors. In my opinion, he's shown enough already to give him a chance. I am not expecting Nate to be an MVP or even an All-Star. If he can hit .280-.300 with 15-20 HR's and plus defense in RF, he'll be a valuable player, mainly because the Giants that's one more position the Giants won't have to spend free agent $$$ on for awhile.
2. #5 Starter: If there is one thing that worries me about this season more than several others, it's the apparent total lack of a major league caliber #5 starter. Two years ago, the Giants combined #5 starters won a total of something like 3 games all season. Last year, RJ won 5 more than that in about a half season and he didn't even pitch all that well. This season is looking a lot more like 2008 as far as #5 starter candidates goes. Of course it would be great if Madison Bumgarner blew down the doors with overpowering stuff in spring training, but I'm not holding my breath. Wellemeyer looks like the odd-on favorite to win the job, but he's been terrible for all but one season out of 5 or 6. I'd love for Joey Martinez to win it, but how much confidence can you have in him? Steve Johnson is an interesting story and has starting experience in the minors, but I don't see any reason to favor him over Joey. Pucetas needs to prove the late season meltdown if Fresno wasn't a fluke. That's it! Unless a reliever converts to starting, and when was the last time you saw that happening?
3. The bullpen: Wilson, Affeldt, Romo and probably Runzler are locks. That leaves at least 3 spots wide open. There are some intriguing names competing: Guillermo Mota, Waldis Joaquin, Santiago Casilla, possibly Steve Edlefsen. Should be interesting sorting it all out in the exhibition games!
4. Buster Posey: Buster might be the single most interesting player in spring training. If he lights it up at the plate, there's going to be a lot of people second guessing the re-signing of Bengie Molina.
5. The kids: No, I don't mean Fred Lewis, John Bowker, Kevin Frandsen or John Bowker. I mean the kids who won't make the 25 man roster, but might be stars in a couple of years. There are some very interesting ones to choose from, Peguero, Kieschnick, Brandon Crawford, Darren Ford. The one guy I think might have a chance to really open eyes and put himself on the map for the future is Thomas Neal. This kid can flat out hit, and he's not just a one dimensional player either. He had the best LF arm in the Cal League last year and almost won the stolen base title in the Arizona Fall League. I think he is our LF of the future. It's a longshot, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him force his way to the majors before this season is over.
What will you be watching?
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I'm watching the old guys. A bad couple weeks from Renteria and one of Huff/DeRosa/Sanchez, and things could get sticky. All of those guys were terrible or hurt last year. If two them don't bounce back I hope someone like Bowker performs well enough to slide into a starting role.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why he can't be the opening day LF considering DeRosa could be filling 2B for Sanchez.
I think Bowker is so far in back of the doghouse that it would take at least 3 or 4 injuries to give him a shot. Heck, I think even Fred Lewis might be ahead of him on the depth chart and Fred's pretty far back in the doghouse himself!
ReplyDeleteIt sure seems like maybe we could have spent $3-4 Million on a legitimate #5 starter rather than collecting utility players like Sabes used to collect CF's.
You forgot about Medders for the bullpen so it should only be 2 spots open.
ReplyDeleteYup, Medders is a lock too.
ReplyDeleteMy fear is that Wellemeyer will be the fifth starter. My hope is that one of Martinez and Johnson locks it down and the other takes the long-reliever role. I expect one of these three to get the long job in any event.
ReplyDeleteThat leaves one middle-reliever job open. My guess is they send Joaquin to Fresno to work on control, along with Edlefsen. They then give the last spot to the best of the glut of scrap-heap vets they've signed. My money will go on Casilla as the one that still has the highest upside.
Jim