The Giants hit 4 dingers to outslug the Cubs in the Cactus League finale. Key Lines:
Denard Span CF- 2 for 3, HR(2), SB(2). BA= .294. Span has been swinging a hot bat and has looked much healthier than at anytime last year. In addition to the SB, he raced home from 2B in a WP, and that never would have happened last year.
Gorkys Hernandez CF- 1 for 2. BA= .216. Hernandez is the best defensive OF the Giants have. Maybe his late hitting surge will be enough for him to keep his 4'th OF role?
Chris Marrero 1B- 1 for 2, HR(7). BA= .276. The power is sweet, but I have a hard time seeing how Marrero fits on the roster as he's pretty much stuck to playing 1B and the Giants have plenty of backup options for 1B. On a typical 5 man positional bench, you must have a guy who can play catcher, a guy who can play SS and a guy who can play CF. That leaves just 2 openings for guys who can't play those positions, so the numbers really start to work against a guy like Marrero.
Justin Ruggiano RF- 1 for 2, HR(2). BA= .256. Ruggiano is another guy making a case for himself late in the spring. I think he actually has a better shot at a roster spot than Marrero because he is an adequate CF and a plus defender in LF and RF. His RH bat also complements LF Jarrett Parker.
Matt Cain RHP- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 7.82. This was a better start than the final line would indicate. Leading 5-2 after 5 IP, Cain gave up a double to Jason Heyward and a single to Javier Baez. Josh Osich the relieved and gave up 3 hits and a walk. He allowed Cain's run to score and then gave up 3 more of his own. Look for Cain to open the season as the 5'th starter and for Ty Blach and Steven Okert to be the two lefties in the bullpen.
Steven Okert LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.96. I think this was the first run Okert gave up all Cactus League and on the final day!
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The Giants get the day off tomorrow before starting the Bay Bridge Series on Thursday evening in AT&T Park with Johnny Cueto starting against Sean Manaea.
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Doc, do you happen to know if Marrero's home runs were hit off of major or minor league guys? If I'm not mistaken, the one today was off a guy (Pierce Johnson) with no MLB stats.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the bench is shaking out as Pavs says Gillespie & Hill look to be on the opening day roster and the Giants had the 'what are you plans for the future talk' with Rollins like they did with Beckham and David Hernandez. I'm guessing Thomlinson will be sent down due to having options and we'll have Hundley, Gorkys Hernandez and Williamson/Parker to fill out the bench.
ReplyDeleteCain is a Giant, so I want him to succeed. But if he starts the season in the rotation, I have a bad feeling that he will be Bochy's fools gold. He will pitch poorly, but show just enough each game to convince Bochy that he is about to turn the corner. Cain then will probably be in the rotation way longer than he should. The bad thing about Cain is he really isn't that bad till he loses his touch and his pitches stay up so every batter suddenly becomes a all-star against him. By then Bochy can't pull him fast enough before the damage is done.
ReplyDeleteI have the same worry.
DeleteDitto precisely.
DeleteFar more wise move would be to put Cain in the pen, and when he starts mowing down hitters like 2010 Cain, THEN you say Hey!, He's good again, we're moving him back to the rotation.
Otherwise, we've all seen this script and it's gotten OLD!
Cain has been slowly moving toward pitching better. If he can stay healthy, a big if, I think he can have a solid season. He's pitched well enough here at the end of spring training to warrant at least a couple of regular season starts to see if he can put it together.
DeleteFools gold might still be an above average 5th starter.
DeleteWith Hill making the team and Cain probably locking up the 5th starter spot FOR NOW, does the following make sense?..
ReplyDeleteYou need a Back-up CF so it's HERNANDEZ vs RUGGIANO
The other question is, do you carry somebody that can play SS (Tomlinson) or go with NUNEZ as your back-up at SS and pick another OF/bench bat instead? That would mean--
MARRERO vs RUGGIANO vs TOMLINSON
As for the pitching, it's looking like a 12 man staff...Right??
Eventhough he has outpitched Cain, BLACH has to make it as a reliever where he can be the long man and/or the 2nd LHRP on late innings Because OSICH has stunk up the joint..
I'm betting the 6 LOCKS in the Bullpen are: Melancon, Strick, Law, Kontos, Okert and Blach..
Final bullpen spot battle: GUERIN vs RAMIEREZ vs OSICH (two make it if they go with 13 pitchers)
SteveVA
Kuiper was on High Heat and stated that it didn't look like the Giants had a viable in house replacement for Smith, so unless the Giants have a righty that pitches great against lefties than the Giants may have to make a trade for a left handed relief pitcher. I for one hope he is wrong. I hope Osich gets it together and/or the Giants find a left handed hidden gem on the waiver wire. A trade this early would probably cost the Giants more prospects than usual.
DeleteI like the Paco Rodriguez idea. For one thing, he's an ex-Dodger and the Dodgers have a lot of LH hitters.
Delete@ the doctor. Paco Rodriguez looks awesome. He seemed to have a good spring and was well liked by fellow players and fans. It seems the only reason the Braves released him was because his competition, O'Flaherty and Chapman had outstanding springs.
DeleteMakes sense about a trade or FA like Paco for the 2nd lefty spot....But...I'm not sure the Giants want to overpay YET and might go with BLACH as a swiss army man in the bullpen..maybe not..
DeleteWho is the next best LHRP the Giants have in line on the farm?
SteveVA
Here's a link regarding Chris Marrero's 8 Spring Training home runs. http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2017/3/29/15107408/chris-marrero-sf-giants-bench?utm_campaign=mccoveychronicles&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't seem that Cain getting his ears beat off in his first couple starts -- if that were to happen -- that the season is over for the Giants!
ReplyDeleteIt's the SF way to show some class!