Denard Span and Jae-Gyun Hwang led the offense with a pair of 2-run dingers as the Giants overcame a poor start by Matt Cain. Key Lines:
Denard Span CF- 1 for 2, HR(1). BA= .189. Span is hitting .333 over his last 6 games and has hit for the cycle with 3 singles, a double, triple and HR in that span. Eyewitness reports have him looking spry in the OF too.
Aaron Hill 3B- 1 for 3, 2B(4). BA= .243. Hill and Chris Marrero may be fighting for the same roster spot depending on how the injury situation plays out.
Jae-Gyun Hwang 3B- 1 for 1, HR(4). BA= .324. With Nunez flying back to SF to get a cortisone shot in his shoulder, Hwang could be the Opening Day starter at 3B. You could make a case that he won that job competitively anyway.
Matt Cain RHP- 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 8.10. Most of the damage came in the first inning, although one of our commenters reports that Cain was giving up rockets the whole time and was saved from more runs by some excellent defensive plays by Span and Aaron Hill.
Steven Okert LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 0.00. With only one game left, it looks like Okert has wrapped up a scoreless Cactus League.
Roberto Gomez, David Hernandez and Albert Suarez pitched 1 scoreless inning each.
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Matt Moore faces Felix Hernandez in the Giants final night game of the Cactus League schedule.
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As mentioned above, Eduardo Nunez flew to SF to get a cortisone shot in his shoulder and will be shut down for 3 days. Gotta think he might start the season on the DL which opens the door for Jae-Gyun Hwang, who has had a strong spring, to start at 3B on Opening Day. Aaron Hill and Conor Gillaspie remain in the mix at 3B also. Injuries have whittled down the bench options. One scenario I scribbled down was Hundley, Tomlinson, Gillaspie, Hill and Marrero with Hwang starting at 3B. That leaves CF uncovered unless the Giants think Jarrett Parker could play it.
I they think Nunez will be back quickly, they might send Hwang to Sacramento and start Aaron Hill or Gillaspie at 3B and keep Ruggy or Gorkys as another reserve OF. Or, Marrero and Hill could be competing for the same roster spot.
I get the feeling the Giants really want to keep Aaron Hill.
Tomlinson has options and Hwang has said he will accept assignment to Sacramento. Would he still accept it after the spring he has had?
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What is going on with Parker. He has not been so hot this past week, but especially since Williamson got hurt. Looks like he can't hit breaking balls again. I think even if Williamson didn't get hurt and still went to AAA at the start of the season he would still most likely have taken the starting job away from Parker at some point in the season. Physically looks the part, but doesn't seem to have the discipline or recognition skills at the plate to succeed consistently. I hope I'm wrong and this is just a little slump, but 9 strikeouts in his last 14 at bats is really bad.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, hopefully it's just a slump and he can rectify his patience & selectivity. Results in the season say he can develop the potential, but quite upsetting to see 4 for 4 Ks Tuesday..
DeleteBear in mind that Nolan Arrenado just was like 0-9 with 6 strikeouts over the three games going into the WBC final, and he hadn't done anything before I turned it off in the 5th. Point is: even the best hitters can look bad for 12 ABs, or even 30. Parker is streaky, no doubt, but the question is how can he perform over an extended period and with his double tonight he his putting up a good Parker line this ST: AVG over 270, OBP over 370 and isoSLG over 250.
DeleteThe offense depends more on Pence, Posey and Belt. Then the hitters like Panik and Span should set up the big guys and grind ABs. Nunez is speedy, and Parker has pop. They're roleplayers that can fit into a good lineup, but Parker won't be likely to carry the team all season like Posey could. But he could hit some memorable homers, draw a big walk, or steal that odd base.
I think I'd rather see Mac, or even a Mac/Parker platoon. But Parker can be an exciting player.
Good point, Kennv. The best way to deal with a player like Parker is to put him in the 7 hole in the lineup, close your eyes and not look at his stat line for at least 2 months. Then if it is ugly, you see if you have a better option to replace him with, but chances are he's going to give you a pretty good OBP and IsoP with a lot of K's and lot of ups and downs between Opening Day and your target date.
DeleteI've always been a believer in Parker's ability to produce. He's consistently put up an ~.800OPS at every level. He strikes me as a player that will have growing pains, but will settle in as a solid regular.
DeleteBeckham is going to be released from what I just read.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about Cain giving up rockets has been talked about in many places, not just in your post. People are hoping he'll turn into Ryan Vogelsong. I'm not even going to try to summarize that, but it was in The Merc and MCC.
Nunez is getting two cortisone shots because he actually has two shoulder issues.
Will Smith is looking into an alternative to possible TJ surgery: "While a UCL sprain used to mean an automatic Tommy John surgery, doctors at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic have been at the forefront of a procedure that involves taking bone marrow from the hip and injecting stem cells directly into the ligament. Angels pitcher Garrett Richards avoided Tommy John surgery when he was shut down in May of last season, and reportedly is throwing 98 mph this spring."
Crawford put in some great work in the WBC: "Crawford, by the way, entered the game carrying a .429/.478/.667 line in the WBC. He was set to face lefty J.C. Romero (remember him?). And on a full count, Crawford delivered." He also played lock-down defense at SS.
We've got three games to go, including tonights. So it's certainly going to be an interesting week as the last of it shakes out.
Reports on smith is a tear and everyone, including Boch, is saying TJ. That trade isn't looking so hot. His best asset was team control and a year is gone.
DeleteNot sure what your point is, Bryce. Pitching is inherently risky. In purely financial terms, that risk was minimized with Smith because of the team control. So he has TJ and misses all of 2017. They still get him for 2018 and 2019 without significant financial risk.
DeleteFor 6 plus years of a top 50 prospect and Susac. Pitching is inherently risky which is what makes trading for a reliever questionable imho.
DeleteLet's see… Susac had been passed on the catching depth chart by Trevor Brown, and I'm not sure who this Top 50 prospect is you are referring to. I just went through BA's Top 100 and I don't see any names I recognize from that trade.
DeleteWith all the issues were having with the outfield, I wonder if maybe we should sign Angel Pagan as a back up for center field/left field ?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone else had those thoughts. His days in CF are way over, but he was relatively good as a defender in LF. Not special, but there were a lot of players worse than him over there.
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