Thursday, November 7, 2013

2014 Giants Depth Chart: Third Base

No Giants player in my memory has been at the same time as lovable and exasperating as Pablo Sandoval.  He has 1 more season left on his current contract after which he will be a free agent making it interesting to look at what the Giants might be able to replace him with from within the organization.  

MLB Starter:  Pablo Sandoval  .278/.341/.417, 14 HR.  Pablo started the season in obviously terrible shape and it clearly affected his performance and ability to stay on the field.  His brother is a professional chef and came to live with him and cook healthy meals.  Pablo dropped some weight and was moving much better by the end of the season.  He hit .322/.410/.540 in September, but 3 of his 4 HR's came in one game after he took some needling from Brandon Crawford about his power.  As always, you get the feeling that he has this incredible talent that allows him to do pretty much anything he wants at any time, and motivation is huge.  He did hit .294/.371/.443 after the All-Star Break.  

In his end-of-season press conference, Brian Sabean sounded pretty fed up with the Panda and it would not be a shock if he was traded over the winter, but the most likely scenario is the Giants hoping that playing for a contract will keep him motivated and they will deal with the future after the season ends.

MLB Reserve:  Joaquin Arias  .271/.284/.342.  Arias is a superior defender at 3B but has very limited power and never walks.  Much as everybody is frustrated with Pablo, Arias would be a huge downgrade.

AAA:  Chris Dominguez  .294/.334/.464, 15 HR, 16 E.  Dominguez has enormous power potential but extreme contact isuses.  He seemed to concentrate on hitting for a higher BA in 2013 and still hit 15 HR's.  I could see him repeating AAA and if he continues to hit well, he might be a plausible replacement for Pablo in 2015.  He turns 27 years old this month.

AA:  Adam Duvall  .252/.320/.465, 17 HR, 18 E.  Duvall missed some time with injury but continued to show impressive power in the toughest place to hit on Earth.  His throws to 1B tend to sail on him and he still made quite a few errors.  Who gets the PT at Fresno next year, Dominguez or Duvall?

High A:  Myles Schroder  .296/.359/.467, 6 3B, 6 HR, 12 SB, 15 E.  I like Schroder, but more as a potential future utility guy.  He can play multiple positions and may move somewhere else at higher levels if his way is blocked by Duvall and Dominguez.

Low A:  Mitch Delfino  .270/.324/.413, 13 HR, 35 BB, 76 K, 477 AB, 13 E.  I see Delfino as a real sleeper in the system.  He has no one outstanding attribute but does everything well.  Promoted to SJ for the Cal League playoffs.  Was the only SJ Giants who did not seem to be baffled by the junk the IE pitchers were throwing in the game I saw.  Should be the starting 3B for SJ in 2014.

Short Season:  Ryan Tuntland  .254/.393/.393, 3 HR, 26 BB, 30 K in 122 AB.  Nice pro debut for a lower round draft pick.

Rookie AZL:  Ryder Jones  .317/.394/.400, 1 HR.  
                     Jonah Arenado  .211/.286/.263 in 38 AB.  

Nice pro debut for the Giants second round draft pick.  I would think he'll be the starter for Augusta in 2014.  Arenado is more of a project who will either repeat the AZL or go to Salem-Keizer next summer.

DSL  Nathanael Javier  .229/.276/.326, 2 HR.  A bit of a rough pro start for the bonus baby.  He was hammered with a 50 game suspension for anabolic steroid use after the season ended.  That is pretty much a full season of short season ball, so that is a big deal.

15 comments:

  1. You can add Noonan to the mix here.

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    1. Maybe as a utility guy who plays multiple positions, but no, not as a future starting 3B.

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  2. Didn't they play Dominguez in LF for a while?

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  3. If Dominguez is not a complete liability in LF maybe it would be a way to introduce some power into the lineup. Have him play a ton of LF in Spring Training and see if he can hack it. If history repeats itself Panda will miss time even with both of his hamates removed. Chris could be plugged in quickly at his native position if this happens and hopefully there wouldn't be a power shortage. What do we have to lose? We have had almost zero power from LF since #25 roamed that area. Blanco could always replace Chris in later innings as a defensive replacement and speed upgrade. What do you think?

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    1. It is not given that Dominguez can hit at the MLB level. Actually if the front office had thought Dominguez could hit, he would have been called up last year. I am not saying he will never be major leaguer, but we should not assume he will hit as he did in PCL. Note that Pill had much better numbers in PCL than Dominguez for an extended period of time. He did not hit enough to claim the LF.

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    2. I would favor signing a Chris Young or trading for a Justin Ruggiano to play LF. They give you both some power and SB's but would be plus defenders in LF too.

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  4. Ruggiano to me seems like one of the only realistic trade options out there (don't know if the Giants have made any calls though), while Young is about the only LF I'd take to use in a platoon with Blanco... the estimates have him going at 1-$5 million or so. Very affordable... didn't hit lefties last year, but he has pretty well during his career.

    What about this, though? What if the Giants signed Young for cheap and gave a 2-year deal to James Loney? Maybe 2-$15 mil? That would move Belt to LF against righty's but Young could still start against lefties, with Belt moving back to 1B. The Giants could do much worse than having Young or Loney as the 7 hitter in the lineup... Loney isn't a guy who'd have power numbers taken away by AT&T - he doesn't hit for much power anyway!

    Vs RHP
    Pagan
    Scutaro
    Belt
    Posey
    Pence
    Sandoval
    Loney
    Crawford

    Vs LHP
    Pagan
    Scooter
    Sandoval
    Posey
    Pence
    Belt
    Young
    Crawford/Arias

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    1. I think there are a few options like that which would be very affordable and allow any big spending to be on another SP.

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    2. In recent years, I don't know that I'd have wanted Loney and Belt in the same lineup, but now with Belt's power and emergence, I think Loney would be a solid addition against righties... really, he doesn't hit lefties all that poorly either. .299 exactly against both last year, off the top of my head. If Belt holds strong as the 3 hitter, you can also break them up pretty well in the lineup too... no more of the Belt/Blanco/Crawford at the bottom. It's an option I'd definitely take a look at.

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  5. The guys in the minors just makes me sad that the Giants didn't draft Matt Davidson when they could, I forgot in which draft, but they bypassed him for either Brown or Panik. I recall comparisons with David Wright. He could be the heir apparent, heck, with his hitting last season, he might have made Sandoval expendable. Instead, the minors are filled with maybes and hope so's.

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    1. Seems like I remember you being a pretty big booster of Brown when he was drafted, so I hope you aren't now saying you knew all along they shoulda drafted Davidson instead.

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    2. Wheeler draft, 10 after some kid from Jersey named Trout.

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    3. Yeah, I don't see how you can be breaking Sabean's stones over not drafting Matt Davidson when he was taken at #35 overall whey they took Zack Wheeler #5 and they did not have a Supplemental Round choice that year.

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  6. Just say no to Looney. He isn't the answer to any of our offensive woes.

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