The Giants started Travis Blackley at home against the division rivals to keep them from seeing too much of Matt Cain. The Giants did show some offense and got a nice outing from Yusmeiro Petit who has been somewhat of a mystery man this spring. Key Lines:
Melky Cabrera- 2 for 3, 2B(6). BA= .400. Naw, not gonna drop Melky from my fantasy team.
Buster Posey- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .318. Buster is looking like he's finding his range at the plate.
Hector Sanchez- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(4). BA= .452. Seriously? Maybe the Giants can find new homes for both Whiteside and CStew and just let The Hector be the backup catcher. Probably the smarter thing to do is let him play every day in Fresno, but this kid is ready and is going to be a good starting catcher in the majors someday.
Mike Fontenot- 2 for 3. BA= .310 I guess these roster decisions are a good problem to have, but this is going to be nail-biting.
Carter Jurica- 2 for 2, 2B. BA= 1.000. Nice appearance by Jurica who has been kind of a forgotten prospect. He may be the starting 2B for San Jose.
Joaquin Arias- 2 for 5. BA= .212. Baggs seems to think the Giants may be impressed enough with Arias to want him as the backup SS and that is why they are trying to trade The Cajuns.
Brett Pill- 2 for 2, 2B(5). BA= .313. Pill seems like a lock to make the team.
Yusmeiro Petit- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Nicely done by the one time hot prospect.
Barry Zito takes the mound for the Giants tomorrow on the road against the White Sox.
Jayson Stark(ESPN) is reporting the Giants are actively shopping both Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot. According to Alex Pavlovic, the key to this may actually be Joaquin Arias. That would make some sense as he seems like an excellent defensive SS and none of Theriot, Fonty or Burriss seems like an adequate backup defensively.
Around the League:
Ryan Madson will be undergoing TJ surgery and is out for the year, a major blow to the Reds. The whole story with him and the Phillies and Scott Boras and them pulling their offer and now just seems like something isn't quite right. What spooked the Phillies? Madson never threw a pitch in a game this spring.
Henderson Alvarez allowed just 1 hit in 5 innings against the BoSox.
Matt Wieters went 4 for 4 with a 3 run dinger and 6 Ribeyes for the Baltimore Orioles.
Joe Nathan struggled once again for Texas against the Angels.
Jeremy Hellickson got lit up by the Twins in a spring training start.
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Interesting, Arias and Burriss for the Cajuns. Defense, speed and youth is coming. Shocking given the last few years.
ReplyDeleteIt is very shocking. These are all filler guys, but we do need somebody who can get on base a bit and field the position, multiple positions even better. Arias has a similar vibe to Deivi Cruz or even Juan Uribe. If they trade Huff they would have 30 and under, position player division. I think we need him around for grizzled vet entertainment.
DeleteOn the Madson front, OGC would immediately say "teams know their own players best". While part of it might have been money troubles for the Mets with Jose Reyes, I thought it was interesting the complete lack of effort by Alderson.
Good call on Melky. I was expecting him to be the whipping boy but its leaning Pagan right now. Its only spring training though, and I'd watch the ABs closely for the next two weeks with Blanco as he faces better pitching. Burriss as well of course. I still don't believe in Manny's bat but I'm willing to root for it.
Except Arias is wiry and athletic looking while Deivi and Uribe were both very chunky.
DeleteAs I've always said, Sabean tends to keep going back to what works until it doesn't. When he gets burned, he tends to stay away from similar situations for a long time. I'm guessing that watching Theriot try to field shortstop this spring brought back very bad memories of Miggy T and OCab floundering around out there costing countless runs on defense. That's where Arias fits into the picture.
DeleteExcellent points. I hope Sabean is considering Mig and OCab and saying never again. That was my buggaboo about last year. Arias looks like a pretty decent fielder. And Conor G is cheap as well. Such is life in the majors, its pretty harsh for fringe guys and backup players. I like Fontenot a lot - surprising pop and seems like a nice character for the clubhouse with some position flex, but he's very replaceable. Arias is cheaper as well, and the added bonus of getting something for basically nothing with the LSU guys...
Deletepat is now a scout...thought for sure he was gonna work with kids on hitting....although, gonna be a plus for the org to have pat shmoozin up a family
ReplyDeletealmost for sure that both freddy and vogie are starting the year on the dl...vogie, only because he needs inning to build up arm strength (although he says he ready to go now)
i think hector is ready to go...hector, joseph, susac...and a bunch of others who can be used as backups....very nice
i think nate is injured....i think nate is afraid to say he is injured....i think nate is gone...and i love nate...and im so dissapointed...even if pill and craw make up for it...thing is, org has a cf (brown) and lf (peguero or belt) waiting in the wings....no strong armed rfs
Ha! Those families Pat is schmoozin' up better keep the daughters locked up in the back room. LOL! Just kidding.
DeleteI'm not convinced Nate is gone, but he might be relegated to a backup role. I don't think he's the only RF arm in the system. Roger K can bring it. Peguero can too. I've seen Jarrett Parker make a throw that would rival any Nate has made. Brandon Belt used to be a pitcher and has an arm. Melky's arm is much better than what you need in LF
had a thought about pat starting out as a scout. is it possible that his goal is in management and not coaching, and sabean is setting him on the way he did it?
DeleteI would say you are onto something there, Bacci.
DeleteBaggs posted an interesting article tonight titled, Surprising names in roster conversation..Very encouraging what Bochy had to say about Manny Burriss working hard to hit more ground balls and less fly balls..
ReplyDeleteDidn't know Arias was the SS of the future at Texas before they acquired Elvis Andrus.. I've always liked Fontenot's surprising pop in his bat for someone his size. Baggs also had nice things to say about Joe Panik..
I have a feeling that the Giants won't give up on Nate yet.. He's a homegrown player who seemed to be finally figuring it out in 2011. I think what will happen is the org will keep both Huff and Nate, send down Belt to play everyday at Fresno, while they wait and see how the roster shakes out for the 1st 2 months of the season.. If Huff or Nate struggle, then they make a roster move and call up Belt in June to stay.. I know that scenerio is not popular with Giants fans, but just my feeling as to what will happen with the roster in the next few days, which I don't think is a bad thing..
LG
Bochy says he likes Arias' "baseball savvy." He's 27 yo and has kicked around awhile. Does this mean he's a Savvy Vet?
DeleteNot sure, it sounds like Bochy is complementing him for his knowledge of the game or playing the game the right way.. Either way, it sounds like Arias could be a future baseball coach..
DeleteI just read in another Baggs posting that eating Rowand's $12 million contract contributed to Neukom's ouster.. Wow, if true Zito's roster spot might be safe for awhile.. yikes!
Tony LaRussa was very complementary regarding Ryan Theriot's skills saying he does the little things that help win ballgames and was starting in the 7th game of the WS for the Cardinals. I think they will end keeping either Theriot or Fontenot, Burris, and Arias. Can't wait for the season to start..
J Sanchez is having a poor spring with the Royals, in 3 starts going 0-3 with a 9.82 ERA.. According to reports, Melky is focused and ready to have a good year.. I remember being shocked watching him hit some bombs to left and right centerfield last year against good Angel pitching on TV.. Melky might surprise and make the trade look good for the Giants.
LG
I read that comment by Baggs too. That's the most reputable source for that theory I've read. I really hope that is not true. More comments in today's post.
Deletecrick hit 97 today....
ReplyDeletei know...crick is the reason they felt they could trade wheeler
just wouldve been nice to have 2
Good to hear about Crick. I agree, it would be nice to have 2. Can't undo the past. We will enjoy seeing Crick develop and watching Gary Brown cover CF like a blanket, pepper the OF with line drives and run the bases.
Delete