Friday, July 15, 2011

Down on the Farm: Hector Sanchez Called Up.

Today, the Giants announced that they had purchased the contract of catcher Hector Sanchez from the Fresno Grizzlies. To make room on the 35 man Active Roster, they placed Pat Burrell on the 15 day DL with a bone spur in his heel. To make room on the 40 man Major League Roster, they moved Mark DeRosa from the 15 day DL to the 60 day DL. Making the situation even murkier, DeRosa is slated to begin a rehab assignment in San Jose!

Hector Sanchez had obviously been a candidate for promotion to the majors since he jumped all the way from High A San Jose to the AAA Fresno Grizzlies. The timing is a big surprise, though. Eli Whiteside has been playing much better of late and getting steadily better as he gets more regular AB's under his belt. He is hitting .333 over his last 10 games and has an overall OPS of .735. While Sanchez may be a better hitter and catcher long term, it's hard to imagine him being an immediate upgrade at the position. Backup catcher Chris Stewart has been struggling a bit more of late, but has become Timmy's personal catcher. I don't think the Giants want to disrupt Timmy's finely tuned game one more time.

The move does provide better in-game flexibility since you don't want to use your backup catcher as a substitute in case an injury leaves you without anyone to play the position. Sanchez also gives you a switch-hitting bat off the bench. Ideally, though, you want a young player to be playing and it's hard to see Sanchez replacing Whiteside as the starter in the short term.

If the move was precipitated by the need to put Burrell on the DL, why not bring up one of the hitters already on the 40 man roster? The Giants think Brandon Belt needs more AB's in the minors coming off his fractured hand, but Thomas Neal and Francisco Peguero have been hitting at least as well as Sanchez.

The move has the feel of a prelude to more moves to come, but what moves? If a trade for Beltran is in the works, Burrell was the obvious guy to drop anyway. Now they would have to drop someone else. Another thought is they want to audition Sanchez before the trade deadline to answer the question of whether they need to trade for a catcher, but again, you run into the fact that Whiteside has been pretty good of late. Trading for a catcher is more of a long term decision about Whiteside's future than Sanchez'.

Interesting to see how it all plays out.

8 comments:

  1. First reaction is that the Giants are trying to strike gold with Sanchez as trade bait. With his great year so far, maybe their hopes are that he sizzles right out of the shoot in the Bigs, boosting his value a little more and using him as bait?

    Also, we keep talking about trades for obvious reasons, but I wonder which players will be candidates to hit waivers later in the year? If the Giants are willing to take on salary now, I wonder which Cody Ross will show up next?

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  2. Your reaction is the same as mine DrB. I really can't figure out this move. I think a Belt, Brett Pill, even Brad Eldred make more sense at this point if the Giants are just looking for another bench player. 3 catchers doesn't make much sense either.

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  3. dont get the move

    if they wanna see the kid, then wait till sept

    looks like he is gonna be zito's personal catcher...but he needs consistent at bats

    that was the reason given for not bringing up belt

    would much prefer to see pill...if he impresses, there is a part of your trade package

    quick note, david mixon officially retires as of tomorrow

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  4. The timing of Sanchez's callup was surprising but encouraging since it shows this kid's stock is way up! The Giants must be very intrigued with Sanchez's skills..

    I'm ok with their reasoning on not calling up Belt again. He's had such an uneven season with limited playing time in the big leagues, dealing with a major injury, being sent down to Fresno twice.. He only has a little over 200 ABs combined in the minors and majors! I rather see him back up to the big leagues when the Giants make room for him to have consistent ABS.

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  5. I forgot to add that maybe the Giants are finding it tough to acquire a good catcher in the trade market also

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  6. Sanchez looked like the spittin' image of Pablo up there at the plate last night. He looks bigger than Panda though. Maybe he will be Big Panda!

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  7. Clearly the Giants think a lot of Hanchez. They would not jump him two levels unless they think he is ready, else that is just being foolish, as it would become clear quickly that he is not ready. And I think he did well in AAA considering his age and experience. I think he is on their keeper list.

    Given that, and Posey admission he would not allow his unborn child to play C, the Giants need to decide now how close he is to majors, so they could decide what type of C to possibly trade for, 2011starter, 2012 starter. Or if he is ready now, as do not know if Posey coming back as C, either short or long.

    News is that he catches for Zito and Vogelsong, CStew Lincecum, Whiteside Cain and MadBum. That, plus defensive switches will result in him playing at least half time, maybe slightly more, depending on how rotation works that week, as I assume he will be getting to play more with Whiteside being swapped out. That is not bad, most starting C need a lot of rest anyway, plus he is not used to full MLB season. And I assume he will get a lot of instruction when not starting.

    So I think,particularly given Poseys stance, this makes a lot of sense. People are too blinded by Belts hits to remember that his problem is that he strikes out waaay too much even in AAA, let alone in majors. Until he solves that, hes AAAA. With Posey iffy, we need to see if Hector is ready soon or if Giants need longer solution, as backup if Posey continues to be iffy. And Pill? Not a prospect, sorry.

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  8. OGC,

    A little harsh on Belt, I would say. Selective hitters are usually going to strike out more than free swingers simply because they get to two strikes more often and you can strike out unless you get to two strikes first. I think Belt will be fine.

    Maybe Huff can have a strong second half so he can be traded in the offseason to make room for The Belter.

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