Angel Pagan and Joe Panik came within 1 AB of a going a combined 10 for 10 at the plate while Yusmeiro Petit owned the strike zone allowing the Giants to make major gains in their quest for a playoff spot. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 4 for 5. BA= .305. Pagan's teammates helped him parlay his 4-hit night into 3 runs scored.
Joe Panik- 5 for 5. BA= .327. Panik became the first Giants 2B age 23 or younger to get 5 hits in a game since Tito Fuentes. Prior to that, he had become the first Giants 2B age 23 or younger to have 3 4-hit games in one season since Hal Lanier in 1964. Let's all hope Panik has a better rest of his career at the plate than Hal Lanier, or even Tito Fuentes, for that matter! Panik did not drive in or score any runs in the game, but his hits helped Angel Pagan score 3 times. Also of interest: Panik pulled one hit to RF, drove 2 hits up the middle and went the other way for 2 more. Kid uses the whole field on a daily basis. Panik had gone 1 for 10 in his prior 2 games which apparently qualifies as an extended slump for him.
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4. BA= .264. Blanco continued his hot hitting and made several nice catches in LF. His slash line is .326/.407/.492 post All-Star Break.
Yusmeiro Petit- 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K's. ERA= 3.62. Petit threw just 84 pitches in the 9 innings with no inning of more than 14. He threw just 16 pitches that were not strikes in the entire game. He did not get to a 3 ball count the entire game. He threw 26 first pitch strikes out of 29 batters faced. Just a clinic to demonstrate how command can dominate a game. Oh and he had a single, a sacrifice bunt and scored a run too!
The Win allowed the Giants to gain ground on all of their playoff rivals as the Dodgers, Cardinals, Pirates, Brewers and Braves all lost. The Giants now trail the Dodgers by 2.5 games in the NL West while leading the Pirates by 4 games for the first Wild Card playoff spot. They lead the Brewers and Braves by 5.5 games.
Ryan Vogelsong takes the hill tonight facing Josh "Tomahawk Boy" Collmenter who has had a good season for the D'Backs.
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I invite all to take another look at Bill Mueller's line for 1996, his first year, as at this point his line is nearly identical to Panik's. Mueller finished his rookie year with 55 games played and 200 AB's. Panik now 56 games and 199 AB's.
ReplyDeleteR H AB AVG SLG BB K
Mueller 31 66 200 .330 .415 24 26
Panik 24 65 199 .327 .397 14 23
That's pretty darn close.
DeleteI believe that the comparison to Mueller was made when Panik was drafted, perhaps as a sop of hope for that legion of fans who moaned over the pick.
DeleteI remember Conor Gillaspie being compared to Mueller, but not Panik...
DeleteWell Conor G had the hair, that's for sure. Not quite the defensive chops of Mueller though, which is something Panik has, as well as the lateral speed to stay at 2B up the middle...
DeleteWho are the strong NL candidates for Rookie of the Year? Is he part of that conversation at least?
DeleteI'll just go ahead and assume Blanco is a much better every day LF than he is in a platoon. At least when it comes to hitting with consistency, that is. And his post All Star stats make the offseason game plan a little tricky. Resign Morse? Rely on Blanco and let Belt get some reps as a backup LF?
ReplyDeleteLucky
The ideal would be to try to get a LF who hits better, or at least for more power, than Blanco and fields better than Morse. Problem is, if you look over a list of potentially available OF's, FA or trade, that fit that description, it's not a long list.
DeleteThe Morse/Blanco platoon gives you a pretty decent LF, plus backups for CF and 1B. However injuries exposed the lack of team depth and caused Blanco and Morse to get overexposed this year.
DeleteBlanco stepping in for Pagan's annual 2-3 month DL stint, exposed him, again, as a poor everyday CF and lead off hitter. For whatever reason, Blanco falls apart in this role. Put him in a LF everyday when hot and LF platoon when not, and hitting 7th/8th and he seems to thrive.
Morse gets exposed when he has to play every day. First his D in LF is bad, that's a given. When having to play LF or 1B every day he gets overused resulting in his power loss and increase in errors in June - mid-August. He also becomes more injury prone. Morse is a good weapon and teammate to have when he can be subbed out, rested and used judiciously.
The Giants need to get a backup CF who can hit lead off and play everyday for 1 - 2 months. And it ain't Blanco. Gary Brown? I'm waiting for signs. Carbonell gives me hope, can he make the leap mid-2015 when Pagan goes down? MacW, let's see how he comes back from TJ.
The Giants need to resign Morse. He will be cheapish and likes it here. Look at the first two months and recently until he got injured, he has the power to change the game and lengthen the lineup. And he would be a great DH. Again, used judiciously he has paid dividends and provides a valuable power role.
When Blanco has hit leadoff since the All-Star break, he has done fine in an admittedly small sample size. I do not believe we have enough of a sample size to say that position in the order has anything to do with his hot and cold streaks. From what I've read, he has made some mechanical adjustments at the plate and some adjustments in pitch selection that have improved his numbers post-All-Star Break.
DeleteThe problem with Morse playing the first 6 or 7 innings in LF is that fielding failures hurt you just as much early in the game as late. We have seen several examples of it leading up to Blanco taking over as the regular LF.
DeleteShark is correct, they still need a replacement lead off guy, but it doesn't really matter where he plays. I'm pretty sure that between this year and last we have enough sample size to say that Blanco doesn't belong in the lead off spot.
DeleteSure Morse making a bad play early in the game can hurt, but atleast he is still able to make up for it at the plate.
It would be interesting to see if Morse was used more when ground ball pitchers were starting (I don't know how the Giants rate out this way).
Neither guy is perfect in the over an entire season, but Bochy can make it work out to better than a replacement level guy.
Ummm, DocB I will let the stats counter your Blanco has been "done fine" as a leadoff hitter and playing CF for Pagan.
DeleteBatting 1st - 107AB, .224 Avg., .303 OBP Note that is from a leadoff hitting where OBP is highly valued.
Batting 6th - 52AB, .269 Avg., .367 OBP
Batting 7th - 45AB, .244 Avg., .358 OBP
Batting 8th - 50AB, .440 Avg., .481 OBP Now that's better!
Or, by position.
CF - 193AB, .233 Avg., .308 OBP Sucks
LF - 110AB, .318 Avg., .409 OBP Better
This is the Blanco we have seen in 2013 and 2014. Unable to step in and be a full time replacement for Pagan when he goes down - either by OF position or batting order placement. We need a better option to step into CF and leadoff, when Pagan takes his annual injury stint.
On Morse. We can disagree, but my sniff test says he has added a needed power element to the lineup, WHEN he can be subbed and rested, used judiciously. An every day frontline player he is not. And I am all for playing Blanco in LF when he has the hot hand.
Shark,
Delete#1 107 AB is still a very small sample size. I SAID when he hit leadoff AFTER the All-Star Break. I really don't think this has anything to do with position on the field or in the lineup.
I honestly don't think there is another OF we can afford that will put up Morse type numbers. So I am fine with Blanco and Morse switching time. The biggest problem this year was health with Belt, Morse, Cain and Pagan missing a ton of time. But, on the other hand there were teams that took significant blows and didn't have the horrible June that we did. 2 years in a row with a huge slump. You can chalk that up to depth. Our solution at 3B and SP I think is more important than LF. If we lose Sandoval and Peavy both to free agency it will be very hard to replace them will similar talent within our budget. I think if we lose Morse to free agency we might not be able to find the power he provided but when you calculate in defense I think Blanco and another guy from either a trade or free agency we can replicate similar numbers. Yes, Mike Morse has a 2.3 offensive WAR but his defensive WAR is -1.8 which is not very good at all.
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 very exciting OF prospects: Mac Williamson, Tyler Horan and Daniel Carbonelle. I agree that the OF is a total wasteland in FA, another year of patch work waiting on these guys to bust through is preferable to a multi year deal with the dregs.
DeleteAnother knock on Morse besides his defensive woes are his baserunning skills. His UBR is -4.8 which is horrible. Which means he is not advancing as much on balls in play. I saw several times where an average player would have scored on a double from first or a single from second and he didn't.
DeleteTo put it into perspective Pence's UBR is +6.2, Pagan +4.3 and Blanco is +0.3. I think we knew that Pagan and Pence were great baserunners and Blanco was about average.
So, to think we have to stick with Morse is not that important. I believe we can find someone who won't hurt us so much on defense and baserunning and provide decent results.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/02/2015-mlb-free-agents.html
DeleteIts a wasteland. Colby Rasmus? He's a terrible fielder with a terrible attitude who's never really hit well. Melky? Cruz? Not happening. There are a ton of retirees mixed in that list as well.
You have to develop from within most the time, or get a good trade like Pence and then pounce. The sweet spot of youth and talent just doesn't happen. Pablo is the best hitter on the market, and it remains to be seen what happens once the Giants slap that QO on him.
I agree though, Morse is a bad runner. He needs to be hitting extra bases and keeping his nose as clean as he can on defense. Its definitely a compromise, and the 2nd year in a row Pagan injury has opened it up a ton. Belt being injured hasn't helped either though. Pagan has sneaky baserunning value, he scores from 2nd at will.
Rodger, good points on Morse's baserunning skills. I have noticed this too, he sucks at taking the extra base. Comparing him to Pence/Pagan/Blanco is a little rough, though.
DeleteSo, we have lots of negatives on Morse. BUT, as Shank points out, who ya gonna call? Especially if Pablo leaves and Duffy steps in. Big power loss. Duvall steps up? Maybe, but have you seen his error rates? I say you keep Morse at a reasonable cost for the power he provides and develop yoots for CF backup, Expose Morse less and I think you get an okay payoff.
The only name that sticks out after looking at the list of outfielders that are available to me is Ben Zobrist. I think he could be had in a trade. He is relatively affordable at $7.5MM. He clearly does not have the power of Morse. However, he is a decent baserunner with a 2.9 UBR. He stays healthy averaging over 150 games the last 5 years. Besides 2011 he is pretty close to 1:1 on KK:BB ratio. Good plate discipline. He gets on base with a career .355 OBP. His career average for WAR is about 4 which is very good. Also, he is versatile. He can also play 2B and RF. So, if Morse was to leave and we were able to get Zobrist in a trade I think I would be happy.
DeleteThe price for Zobrist was sky high at the deadline, it'll be sky high or non-existent in the offseason.
DeleteYou never know until you pick up the phone. Hunter Pence with an additional year of control for Schierholtz, Joseph and Rosin. I highly doubt the Giants considered that a lot for a guy like Pence. It would have never been finished unless someone picked up the phone. Unless the player's last name is Trout or Stanton I wouldn't necessarily just assume it cannot be done.
DeleteTeams that want to contend generally hold onto their best players. Zobrist is obviously one of the best players in b-ball for the past half dozen years. The price was sky high. As in Crick, Susac and Panik. Or Matt Duffy. It will not change as the Rays gear up again.
DeleteUnder the category of what-have-you-done-for-me lately, Blanco has hit more dingers than Morse since the All Star game. The stats may favor Morse over the entire year, but Blanco has been the better player since midseason. Blanco, since the All Star game has the 10th best OBP in MLB with at least 20 games played. I'm for the little guys!
ReplyDeleteTBox
If you accept WAR as a comprehensive stat, Blanco has been better than Morse over the entirety of the season.
Delete