The Giants start playing games against real opponents, even if they don't count toward another championship. This is an away game against the Oakland A's in HoHoKam Stadium(the Cubs aren't playing there anymore? What is the world coming to?) At any rate, here is the lineup for the first exhibition game of 2015:
Nori Aoki, CF
Joe Panik, 2B
Casey McGehee, 3B
Justin Maxwell, LF
Brandon Belt, 1B
Andrew Susac, C
Adam Duvall, DH
Juan Perez, RF
Joaquin Arias, SS
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound for 1-2 IP with Tim Lincecum expected to also pitch.
Discuss. Game Wraps start up again tonight!
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At last, but I will begin breathing when Pagan is playing.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly Pagan will play tomorrow.
DeleteAlways great to have baseball back (wish they would broadcast more spring games... don't think they realize how many people would tune in!). Even greater when our club is defending the title. Justin Maxwell is going to see plenty of time this spring. He's my darkhorse candidate to unseat Ishikawa for that final spot.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to game wraps again!
I could see them keeping both Ishikawa and Maxwell and trading either Arias or Adrianza.
DeleteI really would not like to see them trade Adrianza. I don't dislike Arias as much as most, but I could certainly live without him. I'd like to see what Adrianza can do with a healthy season though.
DeleteI don't really want to see them trade Ehire, but if he got them a good L fielder, so be it. Anybody who wants Arias can have him. The coaches in SF have done all they can with him.
DeleteI really hope they don't trade Ehire Adrianza. Arias has been good in his appearances in the past but it's probably time to allow a new generation of utility IF's take center stage. If they can trade him for a LH relief prospect, go for it!!
DeleteI still think there is an outside shot they move Crawford. IF Adrianza flashes in spring training like he did last year and the Giants either get an offer they can't refuse for Crawford ( a few teams could use him like the Mets) or IF they suffer a serious injury at another position they would need to upgrade, I can see Crawford being dealt as he has more value than the other two. If he isn't, I'd part with Arias and roll the dice with the youngsters in that role and save a little payroll.
ReplyDeleteAfter Brian Sabean went on record predicting a breakout season for Crawford, no, I don't think he would trade him.
DeleteEvery year, folks - Including myself!! I'll admit it.. - get out in front and begin predicting that Brandon Crawford could get traded for the right piece. Honestly, at this point there's about zilch chance that's happening any time soon. For whatever reason, there aren't many teams out there trying to pry B Craw away from the Giants, even though he's always flirting with becoming a Troy Tulowitzki-light type player.
DeleteBut now that we're sitting around with 3WS flags, in which Crawford has been a CRITICAL element in each of them, I really don't see it happening until he gets much closer to free agency if ever.
It really does seem that Adrianza, if he can regain the bat he showed at AAA and right before the injury last year, would be a fantastic future piece for the G's, and that a defensive wizz with offensive upside such as Crawford would have BIG value on the market if he can put together that elusive prove-it season.
Question is this: what's more valuable? A strong-defensive SS with a .750 ops bat, or an elite-level, Vizquel-look-alike SS with likely a .720 ceiling bat. Let's remember also that Adrianza would start the clock all over again, whereas Crawford is likely to get a good contract when he hits FA.
Speaking of which - If Crawford hit FA today, what do you think he'd pull in in both years and AAV?
Crawford was not on the team in 2010 so he was not a critical piece of the 3 WS victories. You are correct in saying we won't get traded. We can only hope that if Adrianza gets his offense on track that the Giants trade him for something worthwhile, which seems unlikely since all the opposition has to do is point to his lack of offense in the past. That or maybe they will finally decided that he is good candidate to play 3rd.
DeleteIf I were making the call on this, I'd favor Maxwell as he (Maxwell) has 34 HR in 808 MLB ABs. (A little bit of Algebra says that's projecting to roughly 25HR in 600AB.) That would give the Giants two (if Susac doesn't get sent back down) RH power options off the bench and allow a little more line-up/bench flexibility for Bochy. It'd also let him sub for Pence without a lot of projected RH power drop-off if that were needed. Also, Maxwell is not a 'horrible' fielder with a career DRS of 0 (fluctuating between +8 and -8) but I wouldn't call him a defensive specialist.
ReplyDeletePlus the Giants have Posey to back-up first base in a pinch.
As for Adrianza and Arias, if I were GM, I'd trade/cut Arias unless he has options left then I'd send him down to Sacramento because I think Adrianza offers better defensive play as a utility infielder. Plus I think Adrianza might (and that's a very conditional 'might') have some upside in the batting department, while I think Arias is fairly represented by his career average.
Anyway, that's about it for my thoughts on the two potential battles.
Maybe we get on e of his lucky years, with .250-.260 avg and his typical power numbers.
DeleteNot sure how Maxwell fits on the roster. Assuming we go 13 position players, after the starters we have:
DeleteBack up catcher (Susac)
At least one utilitiy guy (Arias/EA)
A fourth OF (Blanco).
Those all seem certain. If you then add Travis and a second IF, which seems likely given the former's contract and the fact we have for a while carried two IFs, he has no spot. Now I guess we could go with 5 OFs, but that puts you at risk on the IF. And I guess we cut Travis but we just gave him a $1mm contract (unless it is non guaranteed). Personally, I'd rather have Maxwell than Travis, but you have that whole saved our bacon in the playoffs thing going on and I don't see that happening.
Maxwell would clearly have to replace either Travis Ishikawa or one of Arias/Adrianza. Not sure that would be a good tradeoff even with Maxwell's power potential. His K rate is just so high with the accompanying bust potential.
DeleteI know Bumgarner got rocked (don't care) and I read that Timmy threw at least two wild pitches that ended up allowing a run from some tweets. Anything else of interest from the game?
ReplyDeleteDuvall got 2 hits, including a dinger
ReplyDeleteNothing is sacred.
ReplyDeleteHoHoCubs moved last year.