The Giants rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 8'th inning to top the Rockies in Scottsdale amidst several roster developments. Key Lines:
Buster Posey(Catcher)- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .282. Buster seems to be about where you would expect him to be at the end of spring training. He has played sparingly enough to not be worn down from the verrry long Cactus League season.
Brandon Belt(1B)- 2 for 4. BA= .362. One of Belt's hits was a bunt single against the shift. Stay hot!
Casey McGehee(3B)- 0 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .291. The 2 BB's doubled his total on the spring. He has 6 K's in 59 PA's.
Justin Maxwell(PH-RF)- 3 for 3, SF. BA= .349. Blanco started the game in RF, but Maxwell pinch-hit for him in his first turn to bat. Bochy wanted Maxwell to get the feel for PH against a LHP. He delivered and went on to get 2 more hits plus the SF. Maxwell was rewarded with a MLB contract for $1 M. I did not know this before, but Maxwell grew up a Giants fan. His dad, like me, goes all the way back to the Giants of the 60's, Mays, McCovey, Marichal. I wonder if the Giants knew that when they signed Maxwell to a minor league deal with a spring training invite? Maxwell now has an opportunity to live a dream like Andres Torres, Gregor Blanco, Juan Uribe and Ryan Vogelsong, other players who have come in on similar deals and made the most of the opportunities. Maxwell credits Hitting Coach Hensley Meulens for helping him find consistency in his hitting mechanics this spring.
Matt Duffy(2B)- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .385. Duffy gets the start at 2B after Joe Panik was a late scratch for what sounds like a mild ankle sprain. Wouldn't you know, The Duffman gets the Game Winning Hit. Duffy was also presented with the Best Newcomer award even though he was on the 25 man active roster last season including the postseason. It has become clear that the Giants, at least Bruce Bochy wants Duffy to make the team. Brian Sabean may be more focused on asset conservation and Duffy has options, unlike Arias or Adrianza. Baggs is reporting that the Giants may be working on a trade to make room for him. The only problem I see with that is other GM's are going to ask for Duffy!
Tim Lincecum(RHP)- 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K. ERA= 6.27. A 3 run dinger to Arenado was the only scoring off Timmy in this one. Bochy officially named Timmy the 5'th starter. Timmy pointed out that this was actually one of his better and more consistent spring trainings of his career.
George Kontos(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.91. A clean inning for Kontos after getting lit up in his last appearance.
Jeremy Affeldt(LHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 6.35. Time to get serious here. Affeldt needs some clean innings going into the season.
Santiago Casilla(RHP)- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(1). ERA= 6.55. Talk about needing a clean inning!
Gary Brown was DFA'd to make room on the 40 man roster for Justin Maxwell. Brown started the spring hot, but then, as he has done so often, hit a wall and just went ice cold for the rest of the spring. The Giants apparently have seen enough. I am not at all sure Brown will be claimed off waivers. Another question is if he does clear waivers, do the Giants even still want him in the organization?
The Cactus League comes to a merciful end after tomorrow's game in which Madison Bumgarner starts against Indians ace Corey Kluber.
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I like the power and athleticism Maxwell brings to our roster.If Duffy makes the team.We'll have some nice bats off the bench.When we bring Susac back up.I think we'll have the best bench in baseball.It would be nice to see Maxwell play well enough to replace Aoki in the starting line up.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that Belt is taking what they are giving him. That's the kind of ball the whole team is going to have to play this year. McGehee has cooled off a bit but good to see him getting on base at least. Would have liked to see some power out of him in the AZ air, doesn't bode well for him when we play at home. Good to see the pen button things up a bit too.
ReplyDeleteI think some team will take a flyer on Brown. His speed and defense is going to attract someone who thinks they can "fix" him. Maybe he does need a change. I hope we get something out of him, even if it is just a low level minor leaguer. I'd hate to totally waste a first round pick. That's the Giants of old, not the way Sabean has done business recently.
Billy Baseball
If Brown was tradeable, he would have already been traded.
DeleteWhatever the precise issue is with Brown, it's clear that he and the Giants do not mesh well. It's time to let him try his skills with another organization. I suspect the Giants will give him a release and a chance to start fresh if no one claims him on waivers; there doesn't seem much point to assigning him to Sacramento.
DeleteOther teams must have their own 'Gary Browns.' We are not that bad.
DeleteI would trade him for one of them.
It's gonna be interesting to see if Susac plays any 3B when he's in Sacramento.
ReplyDeleteMore likely the Giants will want Susac to work on his catching skills.
DeleteBaggarly wrote yesterday that Arias is the Giants only "proven" backup at 3rd, and Duffy's comment was "The batter is really close!"
ReplyDeleteAdrianza and Duffy have played 9, 10 innings, respectively, at 3rd this Spring.
We definitely have a quandry with 1b and C. Certainly, Belt is now showing his ability. If he continues, you'd have to think the Giants will try to sign him longer term. That blocks a Posey to 1b move (which by the way he's been steadfast about not wanting to do). So then, you only have one back up and where do you put the other guy, short of a trade? Just dropping someone at 3b doesn't seem to make sense, especially you've got Duffy hanging out there.
ReplyDeleteSusac at C in AAA for now makes sense to work on the finer points of his game, but I can see Sanchez being trade bait (certainly, once we plug in the kids, Susac may have an advantage on calling games). With two guys who can play Catcher, Posey gets enough of a rest. Guess the real question is whether Duffy can truly play 3b.
As you point out, Posey has no desire to be a regular at 1B. So I don't see the quandary since Belt started to break out in 2013, was really tapping his power in 2014 before the slew of injuries and hit well for average in September and the playoffs (.295) when he came back.
DeleteAs for Susac, sometimes I think there is a remote possibility he may get traded. He's, on many lists, the #1 or #2 prospect and could theoretically bring in a pretty good player. So while I see no need to trade Susac and I think the Giants don't necessarily want to trade him. But on a team with a great catcher and a decent back-up catcher and more catching prospects in the pipeline (Garcia for one)... It's not beyond the realm of possible.
Unlikely. But sometimes I just wonder if the Giants think he'd help the club more by being part of a package that brings in a quality pitcher or OF.
Duffy is manning third today. We'll see if more "proof" is forthcoming.
ReplyDeleteThe question of "where" Duffy should play isn't about San Francisco or Sacramento.
ReplyDeleteIt's at what position should he play for the Giants EVERY DAY!
Another hit, another 2 RBI's today to go from down 1 to up 1.
Is this Rocket Science? He's been the BEST HITTER on the Giants most of the Spring.
Free Duffy! Find a place!
BTW, it's NOT 2nd Base
OK NOT 2B. Do you play Duffy at SS over Crawford? At 3B over McGehee? Good problem to have, but there is no obvious starting position for him at the moment.
DeleteI agree. I hoped you had a better answer.
DeleteDo you think Maxwell will only hit against LHPs? Without Corbin does AZ have a lefty? Or the Padres?
Over his career, in stats so stretched out over seasons that they may mean very little, Maxwell has done about as well against righties as lefties.
ReplyDeleteIf he has really learned to regularize his swing through listening to Hensley Meulens, so that the jump in his BA and the drop in his K-rate are for real, most of his prior stats other than those that indicate his ISO potential don't tell us much, however. In short we have no reason to suppose that he will have a hard time with RHP, so as to imagine him as platooned (the thrust of your question about the makeup of the AZ and SD pitching staffs); but we won't know for a while what to expect from him and from Bochy in making use of him.