Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap- 03-24-2010 Split Squad Game 2

John Bowker may have won himself a roster spot tonight by driving in all 7 runs in the Giants 7-0 victory in the second split-squad game of the day, a makeup of a previously rained out ST game. Key lines:

Eugenio Velez- 1 for 4, SB(4).

Travis Ishikawa- 2 for 4. Baggs reports that he made a couple of nifty plays at first base too.

Buster Posey- 2 for 3, HBP. BA= .400.

John Bowker- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 HR(4). Leads all of baseball in ST RBI's! I haven't been the biggest Bowker supporter in the world, although I love to see all of the Giants prospects succeed. I just have always thought Nate Schierholtz had the potential to be a more complete player, and maybe he does. The Giants have such a dire need for more power in the lineup, though, that it sure seems like they have to give Bowker another chance to prove he can't get the job done after a game and spring like this. As Bill King would say, "Holy Toledo!"

Henry Sosa- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.00 in 8.2 IP. I was really hoping to see Sosa stretched out to 3 Innings, but it's just good to see him healthy and pitching well.

Horacio Ramirez- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. I believe this is Ramirez' first ST appearance. It looks like he might be this year's version of Ramon Ortiz, a veteran reclamation project who will work on his game in Fresno and be an insurance policy againts injury in the MLB rotation.

Tony Pena, Denny Bautista, Waldis Joaquin and Felix Romero all pitched 1 scoreless inning each.

Jeremy Affeldt signed a contract extension today. This would have been his final year under the old contract. The new one gives him a $500K raise for this year as well as a guaranteed $4.5 M next year as well as a $5.5 M team option for 2012 with a $500 K buyout. With all the great bullpen arms coming up through the farm system, I'm not sure the Giants needed to do this, but Affeldt has been solid for several years and isn't old. If the kids kick the door down, it will create a good problem and maybe create some trade opportunities.

2 comments:

  1. With respect to AAA Fresno, who do you believe will make the OF? Presently they have Copeland, Timpner, McBride. Borchard, Martinez-Esteve and Felmy. Guzman should probably be added to that list pretty soon since he is being practiced in LF. Assuming that Bowker makes the 25 MLB team, who will then be released or re-assigned? Is your information reliable? Are you assuming then that only 5 of them will make the team?

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  2. Gatornation1,

    Is my information reliable? Who do you think I am anyway? I'm just a fan who enjoys talking baseball. I've never been able to accurately predict how the Giants would assign players to the various minor league teams.

    I do know that, historically, assignments have been dictated by the types of numbers crunches you point out. One would think that by this time, Eddy M-E should either get his chance in Fresno or be released to get a chance somewhere else. One would also think that Copeland and Timpner are completely expendable and would be kept only if they are needed to fill roster spots. I have no idea if that is how it will pan out.

    As for McBryde, the Giants had 3 CF's who were eligible for the Rule 5 draft this year, Peguero, Ford and McBryde. They chose to protect Ford and Peguero. I think that tells you something about where McBryde fits on their depth chart.

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