Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Spring Training Game Wrap 3/10/2015: Padres 10 Giants 4

Let's see.  Yusmeiro Petit is a pitcher who sometimes gives up a lot of HR's pitching in a HR friendly environment to a HR hitting team.  I think we could have suspected the outcome of this one.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik(2B)- 1 for 3, HR(1).  BA= .077.  This was Panik's first hit of the spring after going 0 for 10 with 1 BB and 1 K.

Casey McGehee(3B)- 2 for 3.  BA= .417.  Still living up to his Marlins nickname.

Travis Ishikawa(1B)- 1 for 2, BB.  BA= .500.  Travis continues to state his case for a roster spot.

Gregor Blanco(CF)- 1 for 2, 2B.  BA= .364.  Blanco continues to outplay Aoki in an extremely small sample size.  Pssst!  Blanco is a better player!

Justin Maxwell(LF)- 1 for 2, 2 BB, SB(2).  BA= .083.  Maxwell gets a BA.

Ehire Adrianza(SS)- 1 for 3, 3B.  BA= .214.

Yusmeiro Petit(RHP)- 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 9.00.  See opening paragraph.

Kyle Crick(RHP)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Biggest news of the day for the Giants!  Second solid appearance by Cricky of the spring in two tries.

Tim Hudson makes his spring debut after rehabbing ankle surgery against the BrewCrew tomorrow.  Brandon Crawford will play SS after rehabbing a sore shoulder.

Around the League:  The Nationals might be a bit thin in the OF to start the season after Denard Span underwent core muscle surgery.  Official line is 4-6 weeks, but this seems like something that might take a lot longer to fully heal than that.  Didn't Justin Verlander have this surgery last offseason?  He wasn't quite the same last year.  Rookie Michael Taylor and veteran Nate McLouth slated to fill in for Span and Jayson Werth with Tony Gwynn, Jr getting an opportunity to make the team.  Nate?

RHP Marcus Stroman of Toronto, who many fantasy baseball sources considered a major undervalued fantasy baseball commodity, tore the ACL in his knee and will be out for the entire 2015 season.  Tough blow!

22 comments:

  1. OK, I know that Spring Training numbers don't matter. But couldn't we please stop getting blown out? It's bad for my digestion...
    Seriously, I'm just hoping all our key players stay healthy. Seeing too many injuries around the league.

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  2. Panik-Not Worried about any of the starters
    Mcgehee-As talented as Sandoval was.It's nice not to have to worry if our 3B is going to come into camp ready to play.
    Ishikawa-The only question I have about Travis is.Where does he play.Last year people forget as good as his bat was in the post season.His glove in the OF was terrible.Not his fault.Last resort move by Bochy.
    Blanco-Always been underrated by some Giants fans.Definitely better than Aoki.
    Maxwell-I heard he made a good defensive play out there in CF today.And a SB.He should settle in these next couple of weeks.
    Adrianza-Just not impressed with his game
    Petit-He'll be fine
    Crick-The more he pitches.The more he'll settle in.
    Hudson-Before injury.He was sharp last year.

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    1. Ishikawa had a 1.000 fielding percentage. His issue seems, at least to me, to be range. Perez has a HUGE range, like when he robbed the Royals of that double in Game 7. Ishikawa... Yeah, not so big and that ball probably would have dropped in for a double.

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  3. Kyle Crick throwing strikes. Did Tidrow have some chats with him in the offseason? I do think he's been too beat up. He has a top 5 in the minor leagues fastball. If he can harness it, the sky is the limit.

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  4. Brown-4 for 14-5 runs-2 SB-0 CS-1 SO.If he keeps this up.He'll be on the opening day roster.Putting the ball in play,and not running into outs.Is the key to unlocking his potential.And,becoming an everyday player.

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    1. I don't think that's a given. Lil Juan P is also having a good spring and he has MLB experience, which the Giants are well known to value highly. Then there is Maxwell who also has MLB experience and some power potential. There are 5 bench positions available on the roster: 1 has to be a catcher then usually 2 IF and 2 OF. Before Pence got hurt, the most likely 5 reserves were Blanco, Ishikawa, Susac/Sanchez, Arias and Adrianza. With Pence out, it makes room for 1 more OF. Brown is battling both Juan P and Maxwell for that 1 position. Right now, I would not bet on Brown over either of the other two no matter what kind of spring he continues to have.

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    2. It's definitely a battle for that last OF spot.The only thing preventing Brown from being promoted was his K's and CS.If he cleans that up.Being that Ishikawa can't play OF.And,Perez can't hit.He should leap over those two.Do you think with the Pence injury they would carry Brown,and Maxwell.

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    3. David,

      What you are doing here is looking at it through your eyes and then projecting that onto the Giants and assuming that is how they look at it too. You are also focusing on what some players can't do rather than on what they can. In the Giants eyes, Ishikawa CAN play the OF well enough because of the other things he can do. They want his left-handed bat off the bench. Even if Ishikawa never played in the field for one inning all season, he would probably get close to 150 PA's as a PH. As for Perez, he actually CAN hit and HAS hit better than Gary Brown through most of the minor leagues coming up. He plays great D and came through in the postseason. Above that, he has MLB experience that Brown does not have.

      So, Ishikawa has one of what is usually 2 reserve OF positions virtually nailed down. You can take that to the bank! Brown is battling Lil Juan P and Maxwell for the remaining temporary reserve OF spot that will disappear as soon as Pence comes back. As for who is leading in that competition, I would rank them Juan P, Maxwell and then Brown. The only way Brown has a chance is if he remains hot throughout the entire spring while Juan P goes cold and Maxwell remains cold.

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    4. I agree with Doc that JP is ahead of Brown. I'm not sure that Brown is behind Maxwell. I think there it is the balance of what Maxwell has done in the pros and "lightning in a bottle" v. Brown's performance and first round draft pick. I could see the Giants maybe favoring one of their own in that analysis, and while Maxwell may have more power, Brown brings speed to the equation which could be useful in late innings (is he better fielder than Aoki)? Will be interesting to see that one play out.

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    5. Ishikawa looks like he has a bench spot.Unless he stops hitting the next 3 weeks.I think Brown can be a right handed version of Blanco.With a little more power.Blanco 1st year he started on the bench.After seeing him play one game.I said why is this guy not playing more.Every night he does something to help us win.Maybe i'm trippin.But,I think Brown can be the same kind of player.

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    6. I do not disagree that Brown can be that player and maybe a lot more. That is not the same thing as thinking he is going to land a roster spot this year, which I believe is possible, but a longshot.

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  5. I think Machi's stock took a hit today. Adrianza is looking good in the field and at the plate and I like Juan too on the opening roster. I do see some DL maneuvering developing for the pitching to help sort that out too. Going to be interesting to see how it all plays our come crunch time.

    Billy Baseball

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    1. Machi has enough seniority that 1 bad spring outing will not hurt his chances of making the team. Now, if he starts getting lit up on a regular basis, then yes, could become a problem.

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  6. So, we've been in Spring training for 3 weeks now and I'm getting my usual mood swings as players are putting up bizarre-looking stat lines and things are not running as smoothly as I'd like... Things like Parker with his Divide by Zero ERA (*.**) or Blackley with his 135.00 ERA are absurd enough to laugh at. But there's the nagging worries about Lincecum (control), Arianza (hitting), Duvall (defense) and the pitching in general as we've got, for various reasons, four question marks in Cain, Hudson, Peavy and Lincecum/Vogelsong.

    At least I'm old enough to not freak out over them. Even if there is part of me that just hates Spring Training Small Sample stat bubbles and wants to worry in the worst way.

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    1. Still way too early to be fretting about any of this stuff. Here's what's important here: Timmy's stuff and command appear to be better than in several years. Cain appears to be fully healthy, possibly for the first time in years. Pagan is apparently healthy and playing. Crick appears to have matured and found some command. Mac Williamson is healthy and playing in the field. Arroyo looks like he can rake. Mejia looks like he could be a stud LHP after all.

      The big downer, of course, is the Pence injury, but fortunately, the type of injury is one that should not be a problem at all once he comes off the DL.

      I am somewhat concerned about the bullpen. RP's usually peak early in spring training. It needs to be rounding into shape over then next couple of weeks.

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    2. Doc, can Arroyo play 3b? I'm just wondering where you see him getting time in the minors. I guess there isn't a huge issue to pick a position because if he can really rake, I'd think we find a place for him even if it means that maybe we don't have Crawford or Panik (and that decision is probably 3 years down the road). But seems like we have more middle infielders than we do corners.

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    3. I don't disagree. And I do see all those positives. Including other young players -- Duffy, Brown, Delfino -- (plus Blanco and Perez) hitting well. It's just the way I am... Probably all those years of disappointment from 1966 (when I started rooting for the people on my baseball cards (if they were Giants)) through 2009...

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    4. PLB,

      I am not sure Arroyo has the arm to play 3B. I think he should stay at SS as long as possible, and yes, no other decision has to be made for at least 2 years, probably 3.

      MZD,

      Don't get me wrong here. I do not think this season is going to be a cakewalk by any stretch. As I have said many times over the past 5 seasons, repeating a championship is crazy hard. There is a reason why not many teams have ever done it. The factors include both physical and emotional fatigue, aging of the core, and the gauntlet of the current postseason format and just the limitations of how long all the breaks can go your way which they must for any championship run.

      This is a team that everything has to go right for if they are going to be successful. I like the overall team defense but we all know the pitching is shaky and there is a distinct lack of power. The Giants need the guys with power potential, Pence, Posey and Belt to be healthy and productive and for everybody else to grind out AB's

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  7. Beginning to look like we'll miss Morse more than Sandoval.

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    1. I disagree. Sandoval will be missed, although if McGehee continues to rap out the hits, it may not be as much of a downgrade as I am thinking. On the other hand, Morse had no place to play. His D in LF was so bad, he was nothing more than a net replacement player there. He can't DH in the NL and the only way he was going to play 1B was if Belt got injured.

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    2. For what's it's worth, I only meant that Sandoval's replacement has been a pleasant surprise and Morse's has been a disappointment (on a limited sample).
      It was tongue in cheek, gallows humor, perhaps self-pitying, looking for some water in the desert.
      Bright spots do exist and McGehee is one of them. Sandoval is 1-8.

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    3. Cool. OK, I agree that McGehee just keeps rapping out the hits which is what he became known for in Miami. He may be better than any of us think!

      Sorry for misunderstanding.

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