AAA Omaha Storm Chasers blew down the Fresno Grizzlies 8-5:
Justin Christian(CF)- 2 for 4. BA= .378
Jackson Williams(C)- 2 for 4. BA= .215
AA Richmond Flying were idle
High A Modesto Nuts topped the San Jose Giants 5-3:
Can't say there's anything worth posting here.
Low A Augusta Greenjackets blanked the Rome Braves 1-0:
Kelby Tomlinson(SS)- 2 for 4. BA= .302.
Elliott Blair(CF)- 2 for 3. BA= .234.
Kevin Couture(RHP)- 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.50.
Derek Law(RHP)- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.70.
Steven Neff(LHP)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.00.
Cody Hall(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.20.
Couture gets his first start of the season. He missed all of last year after starting in S-K after being drafted in 2010. He has 22 K's in 24 IP against 7 BB's this year. Neff has not allowed an ER in his last 10 appearances. He has 19 K's against just 4 BB's over 16.1 IP in that span. Hall has 23 K's against just 5 BB's in 16.1 IP.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was thinking Dr. B, how hard is it to have some sort of in-game post format where we can make comments during the game? Sometimes it is hard to recap everything after the fact, would be nice to be able to post midgame right when things are happening and thoughts are fresh....
ReplyDeleteSo far there are some things that I am seeing that are clear as crystal like that Blanco is a pretty damn good hitter and is matching Nate on defense. Melky is gonna get paid this offseason. Pagan looks way more comfortable in the 5 hole then leadoff. There are more then just a few young guys on this team who I have very little confidence in when the chips are down and Belt and Craw are 2 of them. I won't even include Burris right now as he looks like a pitcher hitting when he is at the plate. Culby looks overmatched but to be expected. One thing you can't take away from this team is their heart, I love the fight but would also love if Cuddyer was wearing black and orange instead of purple.
One more thought, Timmy's days of being superhuman are over. He may still have his moments, he clearly has swing through stuff still but when he makes a mistake he no longer gets away with it. In previous years the likelihood of a batter crushing a fastball down the middle was much lower then it is now probably because of the velocity but also has to do with his wildness.
ReplyDeleteI was pining hard for Cuddyer in the offseason and really wish the Giants would have come out of their shell and just done it. Freddie is never coming back, Vegas probably had the odds at 10 to 1. Our middle infield was weak even if everything went right but our owners are just too damn cheap to take a chance on what would have been around a 30 million dollar investment. Doesn't really make me think that winning is at the top of their list even with all the good things they have done, all it would have taken was Cuddyer to make me happy. It just made so much sense, he could have started at multiple positions for us and for 30 million it would have taken just tells me that ownership is flat out cheap. Hey we sold out though for the 100th time last night so at least they are making a profit!
Here is Cuddyer's overall value as a defensive player for the past five seasons plus 2012: -0.4, -0.5, -1.3, -2.8, -2.1, and -1.0.
DeleteYes, in just 35 games this season in RF, Cuddyer's defense has already costed his team one win. Yes, he has costed his team roughly one win (or more) each season. Once he started playing regularly in 2004, he has recorded 5 seasons over -1.0 WAR on defense. And that -0.5 was in roughly half a season, so that really was at least -1.0. That makes it 6 seasons where he costed his team one win or more, out of 8 seasons. Plus, he's already there this season, but who knows, maybe he suddenly becomes good the rest of the season.
HA! HA! Yeah, right.
Here is Cuddyer's full seasons 2B defense rate per Baseball-Reference.com's stats, either method, he's bad: -12 and -17 runs "saved". In other words, he has roughly costed his team one and a half wins over a full season (he hasn't even played more than half a season at 2B) playing time. He's basically Brett Pill defensively when not playing 1B (Pill is excellent at 1B, playing at near 4 WINS seasonal rate; Cuddyer is best there but still roughly 0.5-1.0 loss on defense there as well, he is horrible defensively at ALL positions he has played, except, well, DH).
This is what I've been complaining about since the Cuddyer rumors cropped up last season. He's at best an average type hitter whose value is severely reduced by his horrible defense. Kubel was barely better, though obviously only played the corner OF positions. Cuddyer at least provided some good offensive value, which Kubel hasn't done since 2009, his peak year. But Cuddyer's offensive value was boosted by his great home stats (.290/.360/.489/.849) vs. his below average road stats (.255/.326/.416/.742).
They were at least smart enough to sign with teams with great hitter's home parks, so they won't look totally bad offensively, which is why people love to cry about not signing Cuddyer, because most people don't realize how horrible they are defensively or how much their offense is influenced by their home park.
Yeah, it was disappointing at both Burriss and Belt struck out with a runner at 3rd base and less then 2 outs in that game.. In fact Belt struck out with the bases loaded and 1 out. It sounded on the radio that Belt was over anxious on that at bat. Thats what happens with inexperienced young hitters at the major league level.. 2 out of 17 with RISP, thats what lost this game..
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on Cuddyer, but don't agree that the ownership is cheap.. They rank 7th in MLB team payroll $131 mil according to foxsports. The problem is they have a lot of payroll on this team that is not doing anything, the Beard $8.5 mil, Sanchez $6 mil, Huff $10 mil, and of course Rowand $13.6 mil.. This team needs a veteran rbi bat in the lineup, so they may as well find out if Aubrey Huff can be that person, when he's ready mentally and physically. its a long season..If not, then maybe they trade for a hitter at the trade deadline.
LG
Have to remember that our view of the season is colored by two factors that overwhelm the current record. First is the the 0-3 start of the season. Yesterday, people see an 18-17 team, but since that beginning, the team has been 18-14, which looks a lot better.
DeleteSecond is that Pablo has been out for a while, about a third of the season. We have basically tread water since then. The Giants were 12-12 when he left, but taking out the 0-3, we are 12-9, which is a 93 win seasonal rate. So the Giants are really somewhere between 81 (.500) and 93 wins team, at that point, even with the players scuffling, but views are skewed by that poor start.
And I think that's a valid view because all three of the starters did not really pitch the way they usually pitch. Even Lincecum was at his worse then, not that he's been great since, but at least better. And Bumgarner and Cain have been great. Making those three games an aberration that overweights the view of the season.
It is a long season, and I agree that a hitter will be bought by mid-season if things don't improve enough, but don't expect any big trade like for Beltran last season, at best we get a Cuddyer-type average player for one of our mid-tier prospects, giving salary relief to the other team.
Thanks for the comments, guys. Sorry for the late game wrap, but I was just too tired last night. Went to bed before the game was over because it was just too painful fighting to stay awake trying to watch it.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants ownership is not cheap. They've just shelled out an enormous amount of money to keep the pitching intact. They clearly made a decision to spent whatever it took to keep the pitching intact and go young in the field.
I guess I don't quite understand the constant criticism of Bochy and Sabes hating young players, but when they actually eschew aging clankmitt vets like Cuddyer and give the kids a chance, then the owners take it on the chin for being cheap. Come on guys! You can't have it both ways.
While I can't speak specifically to Pato on this, because I'm not sure what he's advocated for in the past, but a lot of fans wanted this team to get younger and more athletic. Well, they ARE younger and more athletic and they are making young athlete mistakes. There is a downside to everything.
I totally agree, DrB, people seem to expect perfection out of the GM: I want young/cheap and they all have to hit like Posey and play defense like Posey and, I want a unicorn for every ticket holder.
DeleteNever need to apologize for when you can get to this. I greatly appreciate your efforts.
Per the request above, two options I can suggest, depending on your time level, I know how hard it is to do this.
One is to actually have a Game Thread, maybe throw in some thoughts about that particular game, where we are, starters, guys facing (I know, more time). Or you could just open empty one with title and let the in-gamers have at it. Then you can recap the game afterward.
Or two, just have one post for the game. You open it up, maybe provide the two starters (or empty is fine too), let the commenters go at it in-game, then you can repost the post with your updates on your great thoughts of and comments on the game, as per usual.
Just an idea.
I think people's views are colored by the commentary they read at other Giants watering holes and a long history of this. It is accepted by the Giants fanbase that Sabean and Bochy hates young people, Sabean because young prospects aren't given much of a chance, Bochy as a carry-over from the Pad's fans complaints over his vet-love. I think both views are skewed and inaccurate.
DeleteMost people, particularly in recent years, like to complain about Sabean's lack of faith in young prospects, without realizing that Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner, Sanchez all came up relatively young and quickly, to stay. None were sent down when they were scuffling, once they were deemed ready, they have been up to stay, even during the rough patches. Wilson had his little down and up in spring training, but he's mostly been up once up as well.
I think people are treating our greatest assets as the invisible child in the family. They look mostly at the hitters and while they acknowledge the great pitching, they clearly don't consider them when they are complaining, else they wouldn't be complaining about the lack of faith in youth.
And I know I exaggerate a bit, but that's how they are treated.
What I think is more on point is that these fans already have an opinion on Sabean - they want to get rid of him, or at minimum, don't think he's very good - and look for reasons why he should be removed, in their minds. I think basically the same is true with Bochy, as he's went with young pitchers, as well as young hitters, when they prove that they can hold their own.
For example, I don't think they get enough credit for trading away Molina and installing Posey as starting catcher. In these fans' mind, that should have never happened, they should have just started Posey and never signed Molina. Nevermind that the Giants were worried that Posey did not have the stamina to last a full season (which appears to be true, when you add his games catching in AAA to his games in the MLB, his batting line after 100 games nosedived; you pair that with Posey's comment that he was totally gassed at the end of the season and greatly welcomed the break between the season and playoffs, and the Giants judgement was accurate) and that he wasn't ready defensively (a condition that Baseball America concurred with), damn it, he should have been the starter from the get-go (nevermind the fact that many of them felt that Smoak should have been drafted over Posey, as Grant banged the drumbeat on that on MCC and many rode along and agreed).
What most of these people don't realize is that Posey was in a horrible slump leading up to the trade (though hitting disciplined, as he was taking walks and not striking out that much, so it was more bad BABIP) and his OPS was dipping below .700 OPS when the trade was made. He was on the decline offensively, yet the Giants traded away the vet and installed Posey as the starter, right about the point where he would roughly play the 100 games starting at catcher that they thought was his physical limits. If that is not belief in youth, as well as accurate judgement as to his physical limits, I don't know what is then.
In Bochy's case, I think his rep preceded his joining the Giants, as the Pad's fans have complained about his vet-love for a long time now. I was aware of his rep but resolved to let his record with the Giants speak for him. I think his handling of young players has been even-handed and did well balancing winning this season and developing for the future.
DeleteWhat people seem to forget is that the Giants are professional talent evaluators. And they have done a pretty good job of it, at least for people they have on hand and in the farm system. If they don't think much of the fans' current pet prospect, whether Todd Linden, Fred Lewis, John Bowker, Kevin Frandsen, or Brandon Belt, then these fans just give Bochy both barrels.
And it don't matter to these fans that the Giants evaluation of of Linden, Lewis, Bowker, Frandsen were correct, all of them got their chances outside the Giants, good chances, and all of them failed to stick as a starter anywhere. They felt that they were good and thus Bochy sucks because he has vet-love.
And the reason I lumped all those players with Belt is not because I think he's like them, but because I think he's very unlike them but these Bochy Baiters probably lump them together. While I liked all those other prospects, I knew that their possibility as a MLB starter was iffy. But as the saying goes in baseball, you never know until they get a chance, and they had done well enough to get that chance. The key difference between those fans and me is that I realized that they most probably are not major leaguers, but until they get that chance, you never know. They raged for a long time once the Giants gave up on these prospects, whereas I moved on easily, they got their chance.
Belt is clearly different. Unlike the others, he was rated very highly in the overall prospect rankings, none of them ever were on those lists. He also did very well for the level for his age. The others were much older before they did well that well high in the minors. Heck, Belt is still only 24 YO now, whereas the others were still trying to figure out hitting in the minors.
I don't feel that these fans realize the difference.
They also don't realize that the Giants for years now have been leaving a starting position open to win for their top position prospects as a regular practice (like Frandsen, Niekro, Ellison). Or making space for them during the season (Posey, Sandoval, Ishikawa, Lewis). Or letting the young prospects battle for a starting spot (like Bowker vs. Schierholtz, or Schierholtz this season). Or giving young players opportunity (Linden, Ortmeier).
And similarly with the pitchers again, Bochy has handled putting young pitchers into significant roles immediately with no problem. Yet, this reality does not exist for these fans, because their view is vet-love, but once here, Bochy had no problem using them.
Another complaint that I see is that he doesn't give them the chance to play enough to show off what they can do. I don't think these people realize how much time Bochy gives these prospects in their starting roles. He often gave them 1-2 months to get themselves going. Any longer than that, and you risk losing too many games and risking the window to win.
People seem to think the Giants don't see the window, but they do. That's why they traded to get Beltran. That's why Bochy has vet-love, if you want more reliable production, the vets are more apt to give it. yes, sometimes they don't, but as we are seeing with the young prospects, you can get pretty bad production. Yet he still gives the young players playing time to keep them on their toes and ready to contribute. Bochy has been balancing development and winning for years now, and a lot of these fans don't seem to realize that playing the young players for too long with poor production risks the season.
People seem to think that regular playing time is necessary for a prospect to develop. People don't seem to realize that it depends. Some figure it out quick, some just have bad BABIP luck initially (or maybe is still figuring it out, but at least showing good batting discipline), some are just struggling but need time to figure it out, or then there is most who just never really figure it out.
DeleteI think Belt has been struggling but need time. His numbers bear this out, and his AAA stats portended his struggles as well. Some figure it out eventually, like Matt Williams, but take a few seasons to figure it out. Most don't, like Niekro, Linden, Bowker, Lewis. Not that I think they were equal in talent, but again, I think a lot of fans don't realize the difference, nor appreciate that some prospects need time to figure things out, and no matter how much playing time you give them, they aren't going to figure it out this season.
So do you sink the season just to give your top prospect time to figure things out, or do you give him regular playing time while balancing the needs of the season vs. the needs of the prospect? I think Bochy has been doing that well, giving a prospect who is doing well (Pill, Blanco, Sanchez) more playing time, while still giving other prospects regular chances (Schierholtz, Belt, Burriss).
And people don't seem to realize that the Giants treat Sandoval and Posey as vets. Posey has a .407 OPS since Sandoval went down a couple of weeks ago. If a older vet was doing that, there would be cries for Hector to start over Posey.
Bochy has done well in balancing things, and, if anything, gave young players more leeway than i would have.
You make some good points. I'll say this about Belt: The Giants don't really have a choice at the moment. They need to let him sink or swim with the contact issues in the 2 spot, because he is giving them good OBP. Is this a perfect situation? Of course not. Being dinged up, and young, the team will struggle. I'll just point out that Belt saved Crawford's bacon 3 times last night at first. The Giants need THAT as well. The defense has been so bad this season its getting close to unwatchable, keystone cops out there.
DeleteWith Pablo and Freddy Sanchez out, there is a whole lot of scramble. I don't think its plan A or plan B to have Culberson up. Arias has been doing OK at third, but he has his adventures as well. I don't like playing the 2nd guess game, but I would really like to have Fontenot instead of Manny Burriss right now. The balance between youth and vets has been thrown completely out of wack with Huff shelved, Freddy shelved and Pablo shelved. So we're a AAAA team offensively and defensively, and the pitching staff will be challenged.
Agreed that there is really no choice at this point.
DeleteSpeaking of second guessing where I think the Giants might have done better, I've been wondering why not bat Belt second in the lineup, a la Jason Heyward, where there is less pressure on the power and encourages patience and working the count. Especially now that we are seeing an underpowered Belt at the moment.
Yeah, hard to have a plan for so many people being injured. Even average hitters like Huff and Freddy (OK, slightly above average) are impossible to replace from the minors or bench. I missed Fontenot too. I can see why they gave Burriss a chance over Fontenot, but given that it was known that Theriot had elbow problems stretching out to spring training, not sure of timing, but if known early enough, should have kept Fontenot and DL Theriot until he was healed.
Good points, the Heyward comp and the Cajun DL/cut choices. The Giants are always DLing people, its a bit odd they didn't make that move, to hedge whether Burriss could hack it. I can't blame them for Freddy Sanchez. They make the observation, they have the history, you make your best effort. Its pretty disheartening not to have him, and Huff being out for the panic attacks takes away that avenue (hell, maybe that's the complete reason for 2011 Huff).
DeleteThis is the interesting part of team building for me. You've made a plan, its going to hell in a handbasket, so you have to see what works, what doesn't and make adjustments. Sabean has a mixed bag record on this - sometimes not enough strong moves, but generally can scrap together. 2B is a pretty big hole right now, which is why he traded for Freddy Sanchez in the first place back in 2009!
With the Mets doing well, I don't think my pipedream of Daniel Murphy is coming true any time soon.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if that was legit or not. I'll just comment that we are getting over 1000 views per day on the site for which I am very grateful. I do not accept advertising on the site. It is purely a hobby and a labor of love.
DeleteOh, and once again, a huge thank you and shout out to everybody who comes here to read and/or comment.
DeleteKick in the teeth game. Coming back to tie and then not put it away...
ReplyDeleteI agree, you can't have it both ways. The hitting with runners in scoring position was looking up for a second. As the team treads water, waiting for Pablo, its just part of the process. They are basically a 500 team. There will be some scrappy wins and some kick in the teeth losses.
If our fielding was on par, we would be closer than six games off the lead. The hitting is always the focus, but the fielding is what is losing games for us. Hey, at least they fought back last night. Blanco and Belt at the top of the order is looking nice so far. Posey might need a day off to clear his head, its a lot to ask of the guy.
Pato, the fielding with Cuddyer was the tipping point for me, I thought he might a nice signing as a DeRosa type. As I remember Capanari came with the exact argument OGC put up. Its a good one. There really are downsides to everything.
Crawford with 2 hits and 2 walks? His OBP skyrockets to 275! Pato, I think the bet is on the home stretch and although his play has been subpar, the Giants have stuck with him. Pretty amazing actually.
I was wondering about Crawford, after you noted him, and he has had an interesting 2012 season so far. This info is good for your bet.
DeleteInitially, really bad hitting, Apr 6-25, .213/.235/.348/.584 in 18 games, but he actually had an OK contact rate, seeing the ball well, just not making good contact, with 10 K's in 66 AB (roughly 85% contact rate, where good players reach). Then the Giants sat him a bit, with 5 starts in 11 games, while he's practicing, I assume, what they are teaching him. As I noted about Malcolm Gladwell's article on choking, there are two mental modes while playing, one is active thinking, where your actions are reduced to beginner's level, doing things with a focus on getting things right, and the other is basically using muscle memory, where you basically see ball, hit ball. He was really bad then, .133/.133/.200/.333 with 5 K's in 15 AB.
Since he started regularly again, starting May 8th, in 7 games, .333/.462/.381/.842 with 4 BB and 7 K in 21 AB, so much higher strikeout rate, but also much higher walk rate (which was an element of his hitting in 2011 that had been missing this season, up to now).
So he has been hitting much better since the break they gave him, batting-line-wise, though striking out more. High BABIP that will fall, but he is definitely a different hitter now, lets see if he can continue to absorb the training that they gave him and incorporate it into his hitting more and more, and keep up the good results going forward.
See, DeRosa is a totally different matter, why Cuddyer got such a huge contract and DeRosa didn't, is probably due to the Twins not really playing Cuddyer as a platoon player when they probably at minimum should have. But DeRosa absolutely killed LHP plus was great defensively, almost the opposite of Cuddyer, he was worth roughly 1 win on defense, on a seasonal rate, for almost any position that he played. If he didnt' goof up by going to the wrong doctor to do his operation (he went for close by instead of the best, who he finally went to), we might have gotten two good seasons out of him, instead of two years of nothing.
The element missing from his game was the walks, and keeping his K rate down. His low babip may be bad luck, but it may be an indication he isn't a MLB hitter also. The Gladwell theory is interesting to juxtapose on him. The other thing are those nagging injuries - just like Nate the Great, playing hurt, kills his performance. I made the observation that Crawford actually gets hurt as much as Nate does, he has to prove out on the injury front as well. Its great that he could play through, but I think it did hurt his defense as well as the hitting, which went from bad to abysmal. Hopefully the time off and the confidence shown will allow him to get over the yips on defense and resume his student approach to the plate.
DeleteI thought DeRosa was a very nice signing that unfortunately went south. But that is also what kills me - Sabean is supposed to go after known injury risks after enduring a terrible 2011, DeRosa and Renteria being injury busts? The hidden value of a player who might be more slow but steady is the staying on the field factor. Its why Jeff Kent was so damn valuable. Sabean is held to an impossible double standard. I don't mind busting on the guy for bonehead moves, but you have to be hard and fair. The fair part really just gets forgotten. Its why I keep my lunatic fringe card locked up for special occasions.