Saturday, March 31, 2012

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap Padres 8 Giants 7

The Giants scored all 7 of their runs in the 5'th inning to overcome a horrendous start by Barry Zito only to lose it late as Sergio Romo had another rough outing. Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 1 for 3, 3B, 2 BB, SB(3), OF assist(Hundley at 3B). BA= .194. Pagan seems to be coming out of his slump just in time. Nice game for a leadoff hitter.

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 5, HR(4). BA= .258. Pablo seems to be rounding into shape just as spring training is winding down. I guess he's a pretty good argument for ST lasting as long as it does. Gotta think he's poised for a huge season.

Buster Posey- 2 for 5. BA= .324. Buster caught the whole game. Baggs had a pretty good argument for keeping 3 catchers. If the Giants were to find themselves leading(or trailing) by 8 runs in the 7'th inning, do you really want Buster finishing the game because you only have one backup catcher?

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4. BA= .288. Baggs and Alex seem to think Huff starting out in LF has the tea leaves pointing to Belt staying up as the starting 1B.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 4. BA= .397. Belt gets the start at 1B.

Barry Zito- 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 7.91. I hope Larry Baer was sitting on the front row for this one and got a good whiff of the malodor emanating from the mound.

Dan Otero- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 5/0. ERA= 0.90. Otero may have won himself at least a temporary roster spot with this appearance.

Clay Hensley- Hensley threw 4 pitches and came out of the game with "calf tightness." Is he headed for the DL and does that open another spot in the pen to start the season?

Javier Lopez- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.22.

Sergio Romo- 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 6.97. Romo serves up the game winning dinger to Hermida. This is why Bochy tends to use him as a ROOGY and he'll probably never be the closer. I doubt he would have faced Hermida in a regular season game. Gotta also wonder if Romo is completely healthy.

The Giants plan to use the bullpen from the start of today's game against the Reds in Scottsdale.

The roster situation got only slightly less muddy with the release of Mike Fontenot. His Cajun buddy, Theriot, survived the veteran cut day so he's on the team because the Giants now owe him his full contract of a little over $1 M. Dan Runzler, Eric Surkamp, Ryan Vogelsong and Freddy Sanchez were all placed on the DL. Brandon Belt, Brett Pill, Joaguin Arias, Hector Sanchez, Chris Stewart and Eli Whiteside all remain in the running for 4 remaining roster spots.

Around the League:

Josh Collmenter(RHP, Arizona), got lit up by the Angels for 8 runs in 4 IP, and now sports a spring ERA of 11.81

Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer continue to rake for the KC Royals with 2 hits apiece. Gordon hit his 4'th spring HR and Hosmer added his 8'th double. Gordon is hitting .410 and Hosmer .429. both are candidates for breakouts although Gordon sort of broke out last year.

Michael Pineda(RHP, Yankees)- got shelled once again and complained of shoulder soreness. He'll have an MRI. I had PIneda on my fantasy team last year when he was with the Mariners. He was great, but not as good in the second half. I'd be leery of him this year moving from the pitcher paradise of Safeco Field to the launching pad of Yankee Stadium even if he didn't have arm issues.

Juan Pierre(OF, Phillies)- 4 for 5, BA= .358. They're starting to talk about Pierre being the starting LF and leadoff hitter in Philly. That would push my sleeper Mayberry to a bench role. Pierre may not be a bad fantasy option for those chasing SB's.

With Howard and Utley starting the season on the DL, possibly for extended periods, there's talk of Jimmy Rollins hitting cleanup there.

Watch out for Chris Capuano(LHP, LAD)- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. Hate to say it , but he's on my Savvy Vets fantasy team. It's been a long road back for him, but he's an example of how you can find good pitching relatively inexpensively on the market. Another reason I like him: he married a girl who is working on her PhD at Duke. Good for him! He has a rep for being a bit of a bookworm himself.

Matt Moore(LHP, Rays)- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.50. Moore is a breakout candidate to watch. I missed out on him in my fantasy draft.

Cody Ross hit his 5'th and 6'th HR's of the spring for Boston. We all know Ross is streaky and can get incredibly hot at times. We'll see if this carries over into the season.

7 comments:

  1. wish cody all the best. hope he hits 40

    tomahawk boy is a one trick pony...knew it wouldnt take long for the league to catch up to him...

    you are aware that rowand got cut...so he now gets to retire on the giants dime

    there really isnt much to say about zito...when he pitches, they should be official forfeit games, the way doofus used to play...and rule of 7 must be used...and this should be officially announced to the team, fans and league....for the 46 mil left on his contract, i dont care if zito feels bad

    not worried about romo...az is starting to get dry, messes with his slider

    if huff is going to left (and i honestly dont believe he can play of on a daily basis) then they must trade nate....period

    one more week

    eff the dodgers...cant wait till mccourt builds the football stadium and high rise parking structures

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    1. The only problem with the Rule of 7 is Zito would still be out of most games by the 4'th inning.

      I agree that the Huff to LF experiment will fail, probably badly. If they want both Huff and Belt in the lineup, Belt is better equipped to play the OF and I don't think it would hurt his bat.

      I don't see the need to trade Nate. He's a valuable reserve OF and it's not like he's going to be a starter anywhere else.

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    2. nate could start in kc....fact

      belt in left would be fine

      and ok....change the rule of 7 to the rule of 11....gives zito till the 6th

      worst fa signing and contract in the history of the game....pretty cool

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    3. I am absolutely sure Nate would not start in KC's OF. They were willing to let Melky go and Melky is a better player than Nate. That should tell you something right there.

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    4. I would not read that much into the trade. I saw it more as found money, or playing with the houses money, and they really need good pitching, so they traded their non home grown for a Boras baby, who they hope to sign longer term.

      While it is not a good signing, and I saw somewhere that most have not been good, it is not the worse, the Rockies signings were pretty bad, Yankees too. Among the worse I can see, but there have been worse.

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  2. Collmenter was one key player for them that I thought was ripe for regression this season. Hopefully Goldschmidt will do likewise and sink their hopes.

    Say, how is their OF sitch turning out with Parra and the Twinny?

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  3. from Henry Schulman twitter account, he mentioned a couple of interesting things about Belt: (1) he's still in the mix (2) He's spoken to a # of former players who were good hitters in MLB, who say Belt won't hit in the majors until he learns to handle the big hole in his swing: the middle in fastball.. I just want to see this kid play everyday somewhere either in the majors or AAA..

    LG

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