Peter O'Brien hit a 3 run HR in the 8'th inning to bring the D'Backs into a 7-7 tie with the Giants and that's how it ended after a total of 10 innings in the nightcap of a split-squad day. Key Lines:
Denard Span CF- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(2). BA= .243. Just stay healthy Denard!
Hunter Pence RF- 3 for 4, 2 HR(5). BA= .478. Just stay health, Hunter!
Kelby Tomlinson 2B- 2 for 5, 3B. BA= .231. Tomlinson is not throwing in the towel in the battle for the MI bench spot. Any chance the Giants keep both him and Adrianza? That would probably mean letting both Gillaspie and Green go.
Angel Pagan LF- 1 for 3, BB, SB(1). BA= .440. I imagine the Giants would be quite thrilled to get this line out of Pagan batting in the 9-hole every game.
Ty Blach LHP- 4 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K, GO/AO= 9/2. ERA= 6.23. A bit of bad BABIP luck here?
Chris Stratton RHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K, GO/AO= 5/1. ERA= 1.80. Stratton dominated for 3 innings then allowed 2 baserunners to start the 8'th inning. They came home on O'Brien's dinger off Mike Broadway. Someone commented in another post that the Giants secret weapon may be the pitching prospects who are ready to step up to MLB level if needed. That may well be true. Everybody talks about the Dodgers pitching depth and their pitching prospects who might not be quite ready. Well, the Giants have Heston, Blackburn, Stratton and Blach all lined up as #6, 7, 8 and 9 starters with Mejia looking like he could be almost ready too! Beede probably needs a bit more seasoning, but don't count him out in the second half of the season. Good stuff!
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Matt Cain takes the mound today against the D'Backs.
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The difference between our starting prospects and the Dodgers is ceiling.
ReplyDeleteUrias and De Leon look like ceilings as #1 & #2 while Crick, Heston, Blackburn, Stratton & Blach all look like #4 ceilings. Beede may become a #3, but a lot of "ifs" go with that. (Bickford and Crick are on a bullpen track right now.)
Giants pretty much have to agree, as they dropped $200 million+ on Cueto and Samardzija fill the higher slots in the rotation.
Tons will happen to every one of those prospects, good and bad. Giants have a lot of brands in the fire and we're hoping one or two really pop.
But as of right now, the buzz for the Dodgers prospects is justified.
1. Neither Urias nor DeLeon are ready yet.
Delete2. Both Urias and DeLeon are pretty seriously overrated, but that's just my own opinion.
I don't see where the Giants 'have to agree' with your position.
DeleteFirst, there's going to be 1 spot open (Peavy) next year. And then, potentially, two spots open in 2017 (Cueto & Cain).
Second, you're really pushing down on the Giants prospects while over-rating the Dodgers. Beede was good enough that he was mocked as high a the #6 selection in some baseball mock drafts and many of the draft-raters think he's got Ace stuff. And when you look at his arsenal, he's got Ace potential if he can harness it. I just don't see why you're slotting him #4, maybe #3.
Bickford made 10 starts in Rookie league. I don't know how 10-games played with 10-starts (the most of any Giant Rookie League prospect) as a starter makes him a bullpen candidate. And, yes, I'm aware they deliberately limited his innings. But there's simply no data to indicate he's in the relief path at this time.
The rest, yes, they look like guys who will be middle-to-end of rotation guys based on their measurables. But that's not always accurate and if it were, Bumgarner who sat at 92 MPH last year (91.4 career) would be a 'back-of-rotation' guy based on his measurables. And yet he's an Ace.
OTOH, I'm well away of media myth creation. Right now the Dodgers and Cubs, to name two, are benefitting from it. Just like other clubs have in the past. And other clubs will in the future.
You are right on Bickford, way too early to call pen. But there are those who believe that he is better suited for the pen. I really hope he is a starter, of course. And I'm sure he continues to start this year.
ReplyDeleteBeede, yes good stuff. It didn't translate super well last year, especially in the Eastern. Limited sample size (130 innings), of course. And he's working on things that I'm sure are affecting his stats. Still, nothing in his 2015 numbers even say future #3 right now.
Cueto and Samardzija, were signed for a number of reasons. Partly of course, is that the time is NOW in the Buster/Madbum/Craw/Pence/Panik golden years. But, I also feel that management did not feel assured that we have a future ace in the system right now.
I don't think you have to dis the Giants pitching prospects to justify the Cueto and Shark signings. The fact is they had exactly 1 reliable SP at the end of last season, Bumgarner. It is not reasonable for any organization to think they are going to shore up a 1 man rotation strictly from within the organization no matter how good your prospects are.
DeleteThis IS the time to win with BUM, Posey, BELT, Pence, Crawford, Panik, Duffy, 3 Amigos, Heston, Strickland, with maybe some help from the system, Giants wanted Grienke to make it happen. When that failed, SF shored up their greatest NOW needs with what was the best available SP's. And CF.
ReplyDeleteThey rolled the dice, they bet a lot of the house, they went waay out on the porch.
If the new guys perform, they got a great shot. If they don't, it won't matter until re-enforcements internally are ready.
This is for 2016-2017: it was necessary.