Chris Heston had some trouble containing the D'Backs lineup while the Giant offense mostly snoozed agains Kyle Drabek and the D'Backs pitchers. Key Lines:
Matt Duffy 3B- 2 for 4, 2B, SF. BA= .308. Duffy's bat has come alive late in the spring.
Angel Pagan LF- 2 for 3. BA= .395. Pagan seems healthy hand happy and ready to step into the 9'th spot in the batting order for a wrap around leadoff team with Denard Span. I'm actually not sure what the rationale for batting the pitcher #8 is, but I've always said that once you get past the first inning, the batting order doesn't matter anyway as who leads off and who bats with runners on base becomes an exercise in randomness.
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .395. I know Belt has had big springs in the past, but he's coming off a pretty good season and is now older and wiser. I think this could be his big breakout year. Enough that I drafted him for my fantasy baseball team, the Savvy Vets.
Chris Heston RHP- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 5/1. ERA= 6.38. The K's and the GB rate look good. The rest of the line, not so much. Arizona is not a friendly place for Heston's style of pitching.
Cory Gearrin RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.61. Gearrin had a couple of rough outings that made me wonder if he would make the team. He did make the team and showed here how he can really contribute out of the bullpen.
Jake Dunning RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Dunning is getting a long look at the end of camp. He won't be on the Opening Day roster, but he's clearly auditioning for an early callup if needed.
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Matt Cain pitched a 6 inning controlled game in minor league camp which went well by all accounts. He reportedly sat in the 89-90 MPH with an easy delivery. Cain said he thought there was another MPH or two in the tank. He'll make his final spring start in the final game of the Bay Bridge Series.
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The Giants play their final Cactus League game today against he KC Royals with Clayton Blackburn gets the start with Madison Bumgarner doing the minor league game thing in what I guess is his final work prior to starting the season opener in Milwaukee.
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Remember Joe Biagini? He's pitched well in the Toronto Blue Jays camp with a 3.38 ERA in 8 IP. He gets the start in their game today with final roster spots announced after the game. If the Blue Jays don't keep him on their 25 man active roster all season, they have to offer him back to the Giants for a small price.
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I would not mind getting Big Joe back. I really liked the way he blossomed last year. But I'm thinking he's gone for good.
ReplyDeleteI read the velocity discussion on Cain this morning. I thought it might be a bit premature to think he's lost a MPH or two all things considered... But even if he did, it's not like he was a velocity-reliant pitcher in the past.
Go Aggies!!! The Gigantes need another UCD product on the staff!
DeleteDtF!!!
NWGiantsFan
Interesting article at Fan Graphs: http://tinyurl.com/gwl3qqh I don't think you're going to agree with all of it. :)
ReplyDeleteI commented on this article in one of my earlier posts. I thought he had a lot of good things to say about the farm system in general. I have a different order than he does, but as I have said many times, don't get too hung up on the order. I thought he provided a lot of detailed information on several Giants prospects that was well worth reading.
DeleteWhen I saw the bit about not agreeing, I thought the tinyurl was not to the thoughtful comments IMO of Farnsworth but the more recent discussion of our prospects in Fangraphs by Chris Mitchell (28 March). Mitchell applies the most current, polished, and calibrated version of his KATOH system to the Giants' prospects. He thinks the Giants farm ranks 26th and that practically all our prospects, other than Blackburn and Arroyo, are below mediocre. Since his commentary is a bit more favorable than the WAR he projects for the prospects, I may be exaggerating his upside for them when I say "mediocre." One can gauge how seriously to take Mitchell and his system by comparing the KATOH projections for 4-year WAR to actual 4-year WAR performance of fifteen or twenty major leaguers, all in Mitchell's article. KATOH has proved grotesquely wrong, so much so that one marvels at the strange serendipity of the few accurate projections for players who had more than a cup of coffee, or maybe two demitasses, in MLB.
DeleteConcerning the use of the pitcher batting 8th, I am generally against the idea. I do see the merit of doing so with the right personnel. The argument I have heard for Pagan batting 9th is it will allow for him to steal bases at will. Batting 8th in front of the pitcher with less than two outs, the pitcher will bunt to move the runner. When there are two outs stealing would risk ending the inning, making the pitcher lead off the next inning and even if he makes it safely you would still have two outs with the pitcher at the plate. So I do see some login in it and this is only if Pagan is healthy enough to steal bases.
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