Matt Cain allowed a pair of solo HR's in 7 innings and the Giants offense put together some run support. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5. BA= .348. Blanco has sustained his success over the full spring. He would seem to be a lock for a roster spot.
Ryan Theriot- 1 for 4. BA= .182. Theriot has had a terrible spring. Will his RH bat and Veteran Savvy save him?
Joaquin Arias- 1 for 1, HR(1). BA= .275. Arias is, by far the best fielding option for reserve SS. His bat seems to have gotten stronger as the spring went on. Tough to see how Theriot is a better option right now.
Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .407. Man oh man! I understand the concerns about Belt's setup at the plate, but do you really mess with something this good? Sending him to Fresno is going to be a tough, tough sell, even for me. All I can say is if they do, then the Giants better get off to a blazing start, or the clamor is going to be deafening.
Matt Cain- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 1.74. Cainer was solid. If you don't let runners on base, the dingers don't hurt you that much. I still think we're going to get an announcement on a Cain contract by opening day.
Matt Harrison(Tex)- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 1.69. Harrison is a vastly undervalued pitcher in fantasy drafts. I picked him up off the FA market after my draft. I'm expecting big things from him this year with the Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team.
Barry Zito takes the mound against the Padres in Peoria tomorrow. I guess the Giants don't care if the Pads see Zito before the season. Maybe that tells you something about how the Giants view the Padres, or about how they view Zito.
It's getting down to crunch time for the roster. The Giants have to decide by 9:00 AM tomorrow whether to keep The Cajuns. If they keep them beyond that moment, they owe each their full season's salary. If they release them prior, they only have to pay them about 1/3. I think it's pretty safe to assume if they make it past 9 tomorrow, they are on the team to stay.
Bochy indicated that the Giants will carry 12 pitchers despite Vogey starting the season on the DL. Wow! THAT is interesting! with 8 position starters, that leaves 5 position reserves. They have to keep at least 1 reserve catcher and Blanco has the team made, so we're down to 3. The candidates are Belt, Theriot, Fontenot, Arias, Pill and The Hector. I would think Pill is close to a lock for his RH bat. That leaves two. The Giants have all but said Belt is going to Fresno and I think The Hector needs regular AB's more than the Giants need a third catcher on the bench. That gets it down to The Cajuns and Arias for those last 2 spots. I have no idea how it will turn out. Personally, I'd keep Arias' D over Theriot's RH bat. It's not like Arias' stick is anything to apologize for compared to The Riot anyway. Of course, I'm sure the Giants could find an injury in either of the Cajuns, but do they want to pay one of them $1 M to be stashed? Or maybe, just maybe Belts's 3 hits today were enough to change a mind or two? Stay tuned.
Around the League:
Get a load of Anthony Gose's boxscore line today: 0 for 3, BB, 4 SB, 2 R. Toronto beat the BoSox 3-2 and Gose dominated the game with nothing more than his speed. He's going to start the season in the minors, but when he gets called up, fantasy owners who need SB's better be quick on the trigger!
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Belt has done absolutely everything they have asked of him. How do they reward that? Trot out Muelens to a beat reporter and critique his swing? I am having a very hard time with this, I have to say.
ReplyDeleteI'd put Belt at first, Huff in left and sub in Nate after Huff's 6-inning AB.
They want to play prove out rookie with Belt, fine. He is doing it. This stinks of them playing Huff the way they are insisting on playing Zito. Huff deserves a shot, but what's the point of all the lip service if you're just going to justify a contract? While I don't want to join in the chorus of rage that's out there on this subject, its pretty hard to swallow.
Both Belt and Hector Sanchez deserve a month up to see what's what. Looks like they're going to be the cavalry. I don't like it. Hope we can start hot. It will get very ugly very fast otherwise.
I firmly believe Hector Sanchez needs to be playing every day on both offense and defense. He should not be kept up to be a reserve.
DeleteI agree on Belt although I think he is a better LF than Huff, so I would stick him out in LF, move Melky to RF and put Huff at 1B. Release both Cajuns and keep Arias Pill, Nate, Blanco and CStew as the 5 reserves.
Can I just point out that catchers don't play everyday no matter what level they are? Fresno will give him 80-90 starts. Posey isn't catching more than 100 games. I've said this enough, but 60 starts plus pinch hitting plus the experience of interacting with major league coaches is a pretty fair trade off versus Fresno. And we need that bat.
DeleteI wonder where Belt was standing in the batter's box tonight...
DeleteWas he tall or short in the box?
I hope at least he was confident.
Oh, wait, another thing - was he aggressive?
I like that Belt idea, which is similar to what the Giants did with Pat Burrell in 2010. Maybe Huff won't like it, but to be honest, he'd still be getting at-bats and consistent playing time. And, with Sanchez (it is kinda nice not having to identify WHICH Sanchez anymore) starting the year on the DL, this team needs to maximize its offense as much as possible. I don't think you do that with Nate, Burriss and Crawford all in the same starting lineup.
DeleteAs far as Sanchez, there is a part of me that wants him to get consistent at-bats, which he would in Fresno. But, it's not like the Giants are relying on him to be our catcher of the future. The Giants have a ton of depth in the system (Joseph and Susac) as well as a franchise player at the position already (Posey, though we'll see how long he can last). If we have him in the whole year in Fresno, by that time, Joseph and maybe even Susac will be even closer to him, making the situation at catcher even tougher. I think the Giants should just see what they have with him and just give him a shot to be the backup. Maybe in a month or so in Fresno max, just to give him confidence, but anything more than that in the minors would be a waste IMO.
I don't see it written in stone that Posey is not going to catch more than 100 games. Geez, all of a sudden people are taking possibilities and than projecting them with the metaphysical certitude of something that's already happened! It's like MCC South.
DeleteIf the Giants keep HSanchez as the sole reserve catcher, that's OK with me, but the talk so far has been keeping him a a third catcher. THAT should not happen. Even as the sole reserve, he will get a lot more innings and AB's in Fresno than in the majors.
As far as Belt vs Huff goes, Belt is younger, faster, has a stronger arm than Huff. Yes, 1B is Belt's best position, but i believe Belt is already a better defender than Huff in LF and the dropoff in Belts D moving from 1B to LF is far less than the dropoff in Huff's. With a few games under his belt in LF, I think Brandon can actually be a plus defender out there which Huff will never be.
Definitely don't want to project certitude here. The other thing MCC does at times is focus on exact semantic language and it becomes a legal debate instead of a baseball discussion.
DeleteI would say it is more likely than not that Posey only can catch 100 games. It would behoove the Giants to have a backup plan. My pet theory on them not going onto the FA market for a backup catcher who can actually hit is that they love Hector Sanchez bat just that much (early call up, aggressive promotion, the fact he's still here, etc).
Talk changed overnight, suddenly they ARE thinking of keeping just him. Oh how the Bochy world turns. I love the man's management of a pitching staff. His position moves sometimes don't make sense to me. It just seems a bit too seat of the pants to me instead of making a plan and sticking to that plan.
Here is the problem, and why it is suddenly angst central: With Freddy Sanchez' bat out of the lineup, we are right back to 2011. The Giants cannot afford a 6-7-8 of Burriss/Backup Catcher/Crawford. Its giving away too many outs, but there is also very little extra base potential as well. That might come down to how you feel about Manny B's offensive prowess also. But mainly, with all the PR about Freddy coming back, his not returning exposes a chink in the Giants planning. I love the Cajuns as a acceptable backup. Why in the world are they trying to trade them? 3 weeks of Burriss hot hitting against mainly B-team arms? I'm an optimist Doc, but that gives me pause.
But mainly its about Belt. I hate to see the Brain Trust get bashed about Belt. They plucked him out, developed him, he should be the front office's shiny success story. Instead they are loudly and routinely mocked not only in the Giants blogosphere but all over our fair nation. He has delivered on his side, and is getting met with a PR campaign. This is not the way to handle a top prospect who is expected to be a franchise cornerstone.
I'm rewatching the game this morning, The Riot got robbed by the Texas SS twice. He's heating up.
DeleteI agree with Shank on both his points. Belt's earned the right to stay and play. Let Huff battle for time with the OFers. Hector has done the same. He should see 250-300 ABs with the Big club. That's got to be better for his development than 400 ABs in Fresno.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the Giants are in a tough position with the vets: Cajuns, CStew, Eli, Huff...but none of these guys has much of a future here. If we're willing to sink or swim with Crawford, we should be willing to do the same with Belt and Hector.
If a guy with a big contract has no value, he has no value. Look at Rowand: 351 ABs last year with an OPS of .621. Was releasing him a mistake? No. No one picked him up. He got a ST shot with his old manager and you see what he did.
Time to put the best team on the field regardless of contracts. Worked pretty well in 2010.
Sorry for sounding like the fringe, but this talk of "no more eating contracts" really pisses me off.
I really think Sanchez should catch 2-3 times a week for the big club this year. What does giving him another year in the minors do for him if he wont get to play next year? Honestly, this year will be the only time in Posey's career he won't catch 140+ games so might as well get some good at bats to showcase Hector to other teams and see what you got. I believe you could pick up a whiteside or Stewart again pretty easily somewhere in the minors and losing them is really no big deal and keeping them is only emotional and not a good way to run a ball club.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Doc, that Belt is a better OFer than Huff. I just wouldn't want Belt losing ABs because he's a superior defender and now has to play out-of-position and fight for playing time with other OFers.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think Shank is talking about and what concerns me is that the front office is posturing for, if not make making decisions based upon, contracts instead who is the best player. And that is frustrating.
I realize that it is difficult to admit you made a $10 million mistake here and a $100 million mistake there. We are just not built to readily admit our mistakes. But it's time to move forward. And a mediocre (at best) offense that does not find a way to get the best bats in the lineup (Belt and Sanchez) is failing.
I am ok with Hector and Belt starting the year in Fresno but under the condition that Huff is on a very short leash. Give him the first month or 6 weeks and if he doesn't perform miracles then it is time to let him go. Addition by subtraction is highly underrated and this is the best example I have seen of it since Rowand and Tejada were dumped. Without Huff you would have several very nice options at 1B creating a nice competition and Hector and Belt could both be called up at that point to inject some pop in the lineup. In 2010 they did whatever it took to win and didn't care about feelings or salaries and last year they kind of showed they were willing by dumping Rowand and Tejada but if they are indicating that they will be going away from that strategy this year then that is just stupid. I expect by the all-star break a heavy rotation of Pill, Belt, and Sanchez in the every day lineup or I will be forced to bitch and complain even more!
ReplyDeleteBad news, DrB, Mike Morse starts the season on the DL with lat injury: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/30/mike-morse-to-begin-season-on-disabled-list-with-lat-injury/
ReplyDeleteThough I think you don't own him anymore, your league went to an auction. Have you done it yet? If so, how did it go? Did I miss the post?
And what are your thoughts on lat injuries? Platelet-rich injections? Oh yeah, isn't that what Runzler had, a lat injury?
Yeah, I wrote a lengthy post on my auction draft about a week ago. Just for you, I'll post my roster with approximate price for each player here:
DeleteC Matt Wieters $14
1B Prince Fielder $30
2B Dustin Ackely $6
SS Dee Gordon $10
3B Jose Bautista $45
IF Pablo Sandoval $20
OF Andrew McCutchen $25
OF Melky Cabrera $4
OF Alejandro De Aza $3
UT Freddie Freeman $4
UT David Ortiz $3
SP Zach Grienke $30
SP Madison Bumgarner $15
SP Ricky Romero $8
SP Brandon Beachy $6
SP Cory Luebke $6
RP Kyle Farnsworth $4
RP Brian Wilson $12(overpay I know. Got into a bidding war with a Dodger fan I didn't want to lose).
RP Joe Nathan $3
P Grant Balfour $1
P Vinnie Pestano $1
BN Jordan Zimmerman $4
BN Brandon Morrow $4
BN Ervin Santana $3
BN Chris Capuano $3
BN Trevor Cahill $1(A mistake. I wanted to nominate Liriano but hit a wrong button. I dropped Cahill and picked up Matt Harrison of FA right after the draft).
Pulled or torn muscles anywhere on the body take a long time to heal. I don't really know anything about Platelet-rich injections, but have to say I'm skeptical.
I think the Giants have shown that they are capable of ignoring salaries in making decisions.
ReplyDeleteMy issue with all the complaints about Belt (and Sanchez) is that whereas his great hitting in spring is viewed as verification of his ability to hit, Huff's great spring in 2011 is just seen as an aberration, well, because many just didn't believe in Huff's abilities to hit (of course, we didn't see any of these comments about Huff right after spring, these "beliefs" all came up in May and June when Huff was struggling).
I'll go with what I said before: I want Belt to be ready to be a superstar, and if he can get his strikeouts down like he did in AA, that's what he'll be, hitting for average, power, high BB, low K's, plus great defense in 1B or LF (the fielding metrics I've seen for him had him playing a good defensive LF). He's not going to figure that out in the majors, as he'll be focused mainly on mashing. And I fear a Dave Kingman redux, who had many of the same qualities as Belt as a player, only he degenerated to an all or nothing hitter.
And if the Giants say that he has a hole in his swing that he needs to fix, that flows along with my desires for a Superstar Belt and not a merely mashing Belt, go to AAA and fix that. Maybe they know Belt better than most fans, they are the ones who drafted him while all the fans and prospect hounds said "who?" and are the ones who molded his mechanics such that he went from a nobody to one of the hottest prospects in baseball, reaching Top 20 overall status, and are the ones who pushed him higher and higher, when they thought he might be ready. They have clearly demonstrated that they know what they got.
Not all prospects figure it out the first time they are up. Heck, some regress, see Jason Heyward in 2011. Some can't stand the heat in the kitchen. Belt seems like that type of player, from what I've read of his struggles in 2011. He was fine when he's in a groove, but once he struggles, he just thinking too much up at the plate, because of the internal pressure to hit 5 homeruns in each at-bat.
And the Giants were willing to admit they made a mistake, if Belt would have started hitting the way we hope he would, they would have sat Huff down like nothing. Belt didn't. Their mistake was probably bringing up Belt in the first place, though I still think that was a good move to see where he was at developmentally, but fans read too much into the promotion when the only reason he was started was because Cody Ross was on the DL.
Not placing the $100M pitcher on the playoff roster demonstrated they can admit a mistake. Making him the 4th or 5th starter does too. Placing a $60M OF on the bench also demonstrated that, and so does releasing him with a lot of money still on the contract.
The fact is that Huff is capable of hitting really well. He's done it throughout his career. He obviously didn't do it last season, but given how well he hit in 2010, I still can't believe how many people think it was a mistake to sign him to that contract, here we are, a poor offensive team and all these people want to kick an mid-800 OPS hitter to the curb and lifetime low .800 OPS.
Given the Giants behavior before, Huff has until mid-to-late May to hit, and if he fails, Belt will probably get the call then. If they don't do that then, then I'll believe that the Giants are keeping Huff around just because of the contract.
The Giants know and don't know what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteThey picked Belt when all the fans were saying 'who?' - they know.
They didn't pick him a few rounds earlier - well, it's more art than science.
They molded his mechanics once successfully - we give them credit that they know, but publicly they will probably humbly say they 'hoped' it would work.
They want to mold his mechanics further - well, it's more art than science, let's just say that.
They thought Belt was ready 12 months ago when 2011 started - they don't really know, I guess.
They think Belt needs more adjustments - they know or they don't know?
I think because the we know the Giants have not been be averse to admitting mistakes, we have to be open to the possibility that they are making a mistake now.
Either way, I am quite confident that Brandon Belt will have a long and successful career as a Giant.
DeleteI am rooting for the same.
DeleteDo we need 13 pitchers?
ReplyDeleteWith Barry Zito in the rotation? Yes, the Giants need 13 pitchers!
DeleteAnyway, they are only going to carry 12 pitchers, but will carry an extra reliever while Vogey is on the DL.
Delete