Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Spring Training Game Wrap 3/22/2016: White Sox 8 Giants 7

This was game 1 of a day-night pair of split-squad games in which the ChiSox won a see-saw hit-fest.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik DH- 2 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .300.  Panik looking healthy and ready to start the season.

Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 2, HR(2), SF, HBP.  BA= .385.  Belt is looking more and more like he could be entering a breakout season. Staying healthy will be the key.

Miguel Olivo C- 2 for 2, HR(1), SF.  BA= .800.  Talk about taking advantage of opportunities!  Has Olivo inserted himself into the backup catcher conversation?

Ehire Adrianza 2B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .311.  Adrianza his hitting with more authority and winning the backup MI competition.

Jake Peavy RHP- 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 8.31.  Again, the peripherals look much better than the ERA here.  8 K's tells me his stuff was good and Peavy seems healthy enough.  I think the Peav will have a solid season.

Cory Gearrin RHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 4.05.  Is Gearrin's hope for a bullpen job starting to fade?

Hunter Strickland and Santiago Casilla pitched scoreless innings.

6 comments:

  1. Neither Gearrin nor Broadway looked ML ready yesterday, facing better competition.

    What's the bullpen depth chart, now?

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    1. There is most likely 7 bullpen spots. At least 5 of those are set in stone: Casilla, Romo, Lopez, Strickland, Osich. Heston is the long man unless one of the 5 starters is on the DL on Opening Day. I'll say the 7'th guy is Kontos, which leaves Gearrin and Broadway outside looking in unless there is an unexpected opening due to injury.

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  2. I'm actually thinking about down the road.. Which kids are next in line for promotion to the pen. Or, is that strictly to be determined through the year as they sort themselves out? I feel like most of the good power arms that have been mentioned as next-in-line were actually in San Jose last year. Is Law still a hot commodity?

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    1. Hopefully Gearrin and Broadway stay with the Giants and go to Sacramento. Then there is Ray Black, Derek Law and Joan Gregorio. Jake Dunning pitched an inning in a game this week and looked very sharp. We'll see of Okert comes around. The bullpen doesn't seem quite so deep after losing Cody Hall and Ian Gardeck.

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    2. I'll add that I won't be at all surprised if we see Sam Coonrod pitching in the Giants bullpen before the season is over.

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  3. Also, I figured I'd just mention here that Cain's line today should be taken with a grain of salt. Here's what I saw while following on Gameday, for the few minutes I did:

    The at bat in the 3rd inning, leading to a triple, went: Change up, CH, CH, Curveball (for a triple)
    Next batter: Change up (for a double)
    Homer in the following inning:
    1st batter: Change up (hit by pitch)
    2nd batter: Change up, slider, slider (single on soft ground ball to 3B)
    3rd batter: 2-seam FB, slider, curveball, slider, slider (pop up, out)
    4th batter: Change up, slider (homerun)

    Point being, it's pretty dang clear cut here that Cain was out there for one reason, and one reason only: To work on the offspeed stuff and to get his innings in. He had no intention of pitching as though the game counted, and dude used his fastball almost not at all.

    It does look like he went back to the fastball a bit after that, working from 89 to 92 mph with the 4-seam.
    I might be concerned about Cain's overall ability to stay healthy and effective, but I'm not basing ANY of my concern off of this game right here. It's Spring, and they're getting their work in.

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