Madison Bumgarner benefitted from the Giants remarkable defense, but the offense sputtered while the Padres pulled ahead in the later innings as the Giants spring record went to 11-5. Key Lines:
Emmanuel Burriss- 2 for 2, 3B, BB, SB(5). BA= .441. We know Burriss is not going to hit .400 in the season, but I think he is finally capable of posting a solid OBP and using his speed on the bases. He also has developed into a superior fielding second baseman and can play multiple positions. He should definitely win a roster spot and I think he should be the starter at 2B in the increasingly likely event that Franchez isn't able to answer the bell on opening day.
Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.45. Bumgarner didn't seem that sharp. Maybe he was practicing pitching to contact a la Timmy. He greatly benefitted from a couple of DP's and a pickoff by CStew of a runner at 3B. With this Giants wonderful defense, why not pitch to contact more, as long as you can keep it in the ballpark.
The Giants have tomorrow off.
Around the league:
Eric Hosmer went 3 for 3 with a HR for KC. He's now hitting in the high .300's. Hope his fantasy stock isn't rising too much.
Alex Gordon continues to have a hot bat for KC also.
Francisco Liriano pitched 5 no-hit innings for the Twins with 6 K's and just 1 Walk.
Matt Moore got roughed up today by Boston.
Clay Bucholz is having a strong spring. He allowed just 1 run in 5 IP with 4 K's and 0 Walks against the Rays.
Mike Minor pitched 5 shutout innings today against Baltimore. His ERA is 0.00 on the spring so far.
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I thought Hosmer was your keeper. If so, why does it matter if his value goes up?
ReplyDeleteNo keepers this year, switching formats to an auction draft. It's kind of messed up, but it's just for fun and I don't really care that much one way or another. I think I might be able to get the best of these guys in an auction format anyway.
DeleteI expect the Giants to make at least one trade in the next 10 days. They certainly have some tradable players. They may even dump Huff by absorbing part of his salary.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling Huff is on thin ice, but if he comes back, seems healthy and hits well this week, I think they will just keep him and put him at 1B until he proves he's done. Looks like Belt is proving he can handle LF which opens up the possibility of moving Melky to RF and Nate either to the bench or out via trade.
DeleteOne more thing to watch. Pagan clanked another ball into a triple. Like the one earlier in the spring, he had to run a long ways, so wasn't charged with an error, but I bet the manager and coaches are thinking Blanco would have had both of those.
DocB agree that Huff is on thin ice - and good for Belt and Pill for forcing the issue. Still I see Bochy running Huff out at 1B until proven otherwise, just too much vetish grittiness and $$$ tied up in Huff. I think by summer, Huff is traded and Belt/Pill are established. Just a question of who plays where until Huff is moved.
DeleteI still see Pagan as the established starter. Maybe he can put that just pulled wisdom tooth into his glove for good luck. Blanco is still just a good spring training story, but his hustle is undeniable and will carry over to the bigs - hope to see him make the roster.
Wasn't Blanco rated as a good but not franchize prospect at one time?
DeleteI know I read an article by CBSSports that ranked Pagan as the worst defensive CF in all of MLB. I think I would rather have Blanco in CF than have Cain go out there in mid game and take Pagan's scalp. I saw Angel in NY a couple of times and he is not what I want in CF which surprised me that Sabean went out and got him. I was under the understanding that Brian was beefing up the defense.
Pagan's had very positive UZR's up until last year. He's got the speed to have excellent range in CF, but has a reputation for sometimes getting fumble fingers and airmailing throws. In fairness, it's quite possible most CF's would not have even gotten to the two triples he bobbled. Pretty hard for him to be faster than Blanco, though.
DeleteBlanco has always had excellent OBP's and can obviously steal a base. He has absolutely no power though, so he and Burriss in the same lineup are a bit redundant.
In a recent article by Baggs titled "Bumgarner has Scouts Buzzing", more then one seasoned observer is saying that Madbum could be the Giants best starting pitcher this season. Now thats saying something.. We had an interesting college baseball series this weekend with the San Francisco Dons playing in Hawaii.. Kyle Zimmer pitched an impressive 3 hit shutout on Friday night giving up 4 walks @ 11 strikeouts, on 123 pitches. He showed us why he will be a 1st round pick, not sold on him being a top 10 pick yet. He did pitch out of several jams by making key pitches though.. An interesting note to this series is that I heard more then one observer say that they were just as impressed with the Dons Thursday night pitcher (soph) Alex Balog.. Coach Trap said in the paper that Balog was throwing in the mid 90's with a 87 mph slider! He said Hawaii was actualy getting better swings off of Zimmer then Balog. Despite the great Dons pitching Hawaii wins the series 3 games to 1!
ReplyDeleteLG
I think Hawaii has a 3'rd baseman who is getting some draft attention. They also have a soph LHP who seems to be pretty good.
DeleteWould like to add as a fan watching a kid like Zimmer pitch is fun because you can speculate where he'll get picked in the draft. He pitched a great game so I was curious to look up his pitching stats when I came home and was shocked that his cumulative 3 yr. stats were only 6 wins 5 losses and a 3.8 ERA. Am I missing something when I ask how can this kid be touted as a potential top 10 pick right now? If he dominates the rest of the year then maybe.. Don't get me wrong, he looks great but I'm skeptical due to the lack of a winning track record. I checked out the College pitching records of 2 1st round pitchers who pitched against Hawaii in 2011 - Taylor Jungman Texas - 12th overall pick by the Brewers 32 wins - 6 losses sub 2 ERA.. Tyler Anderson - Oregan - 15 wins -8 losses 2.5 ERA in soph and junior years.. I like the chances of these two young pitchers to succeed in pro ball, health permitting, because they have the talent and have shown that they can be winning if not dominating pitchers. Tim Lincecum was also dominate in College with the Washington Huskies going 30 wins and 13 losses with a 2.82 ERA.
DeleteLG
I would be very cautious about making too much of college W-L and ERA's. I also pay almost no attention to freshman and sophomore records. Here's what I look for when scouting pitchers for the draft(Junior Year): 1. K/9 2. Velocity. 3. K/BB 4. Size.
DeleteThe stat line you want to look up on Zimmer is this year's. Couple that with reports of velocity consistently in the high 90's, and you have a premium pitching prospect.
Now, the thing that worries me about Zimmer is injury risk. To my eye, he has a rather sudden arm acceleration and deceleration. Couple that with his velocity, and that's a huge strain to put on the arm.
I'd just add with Zimmer he's a converted 3B, he hasn't been pitching for long. He only became the #1 pitcher last year after USF's friday night guy had to tommy john. Also he came up huge against Gerritt Cole last year, stole the show. I think its a nice cherry on top when a pitcher comes up big against a heralded opposing pitcher. Yeah, the UCLA lineup wasn't great last year, but its still a hyped game.
DeleteDrb, I agree that the junior year is the so called "money year" for college players. I've found in the past that you usually don't have to wait till the junior year for a good college player to breakout.. I agree on those 4 traits you look for in a pitching prospect, usually the good pitchers who win have all 4 anyway, although Timmy certainly was the exception on size. Thats what makes it so intriguing! I thought watching Friday's game at the stadium that Zimmer was throwing in the low to mid 90's. The newspaper said he topped out at 96MPH.. Zimmer did struggle some that night with his fastball command, 4 walks, so I thought he was struggling with his release point.. Maybe that has something to do with what you pointed out about his delivery, I dunno..
DeleteShank - It sounds like Zimmer has a lot of talent but is still learning how to pitch. He might be one of the most intriguing players to follow as the draft nears because he sounds like a high reward/high risk kind of pick. He could go anywhere from a top 5 pick to the middle to late 1st round depending on how he pitches the rest of the year.. By the way, USF's #1 Thursday night pitcher this year Alex Balog is pretty good too..
LG
Here's another fantasy sleeper alert: Jeff Samardzjia(or however it's spelled) is being converted to starter by the Cubs and has 9 K's against 0 BB in 10 innings so far. He would be a great source of K's but has had problems with walks as a reliever.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Carlos Zambrano has looked great in ST with Miami so far. He seems to want to please Ozzie Guillen.
ReplyDeleteSure... I figure by May Ozzie and Carlos will be on Sportscenter duking it out. Both guys are strung to tight.
DeleteAny chance the Phillies would be interested in Fontenot? Utley will not be playing any time soon.
ReplyDeleteUtley to Fonty? Oh how the mighty have fallen! Yeah, well, there has been talk of Boston trading Mike Aviles to the Phillies so he can play 2B, so why not?
Delete