The Giants put together a nice hitting show, but it was not enough to overcome some rough pitching. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence LF- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .250. Pence seems to be getting into one of his grooves. Talk of a DFA has faded away.
Andrew McCutchen RF- 2 for 4, SB(1). BA= .318. Cutch is having a solid sustainable spring.
Brandon Belt 1B- 2 for 3, HR(3). BA= .394. Belt won't hit .394, but it's great to see him having a great spring.
Brandon Crawford SS- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .267. Arizona R&R is over. Time to get ready for the season. Expecting big things from Crawford this year.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 10.64. Not worried about Shark, at least more than I ever am, which is quite a bit. He'll have his mix of good games and terrible ones and likely end up with about 20 QS's.
Tony Watson LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 K. ERA= 6.23. Watson had a rough first half last season.
Cory Gearrin RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. If I had to pick 1 Giants pitcher to close out a game that counts tomorrow, I think I would pick Cory Gearrin. That's how bad it's gotten.
Roberto Gomez RHP- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.68. Gomez has had some good outings after a rough early spring. He has no chance to make the Opening Day roster, but is putting himself in line for call up later in the season.
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Fantasy Focus: Around the League
Lucas Giolito SP, White Sox- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.18. Breakout candidate.
Kevin Gausman SP, Orioles- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 6/2. ERA= 4.82. I've predicted so many breakouts for Gausman and gotten burned. I think I'll stay away, which means this might be his year.
Jack Flaherty SP, Cardinals- 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K's, GO/AO= 5/1. ERA= 4.85. Big time upside. Still inconsistent.
Jonathan Schoop 2B, Orioles- 2 for 2, HR(5). BA= .441. Schoop already broke out, but may have more in the tank.
Mike Foltynewicz SP, Brave- 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5K's. ERA= 0.00. See Kevin Gausman above.
Dallas Keuchal SP, Astros- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.74. Keuchal getting his work in.
Kyle Gibson SP, Twins- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 1.80. Gibson is another inconsistent, frustrating pitcher.
David Price SP, Red Sox- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 0.00. Big question is if Price is fully healthy?
Matt Harvey SP, Mets- 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 5.52. The 8 K's suggest Harvey is poised for a comeback.
Kyle Hendricks SP, Cubs- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.00. Is Hendricks best season still to come?
Scott Schebler OF, Reds- 2 for 3, 2 2B. BA= .500. Schebler hit 30 HR's last year. There may be more in the tank.
Tyler Mahle SP, Reds- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 2.45. Mahle is a back-end of the draft kind of guy. More of a streamer candidate.
Rich Hill SP, Dodgers- 0.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 8.59. Hill has always run hot and cold and health is always an issue with him.
Delino DeShields OF, Rangers- 1 for 3, BB, SB(4). BA= .351. DeShields projects to 40-50 SB's and will give you better all around numbers than Billy Hamilton.
David Dahl OF, Rockies- 1 for 3, HR(5). BA= .200. Rockies stirred up their OF picture by re-signing CarGo. Dahl could start the season in AAA.
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All the beat guys saying Blanco and Holland looking like locks for the team.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why people are so down on Melancon. He was hurt last year, but all reports have been positive in spring.
Hmm....not sure I agree with the "all reports...positive" thing. Melancon admitted his arm wasn't right after his first appearance. He pitched better in his second after giving up a leadoff HR.
DeleteAfter his first appearance, he added that he hoped the arm thing was "part of the process."
DeleteSorry, “all reports about stuff”. His pitches have looked good.
DeleteYeah, I was floored by Melancon's admission that he was feeling things, that he's not 100%. Robb Nen has come out subsequently and said that he didn't "feel normal" until mid-season after his surgery in 1999, but that don't make me feel a lot better about Melancon.
DeleteI forgot to mention Dyson in my comment in yesterday's comment, but for Opening Day, you know Bochy is going to Melancon for the save in that scenario, so faith is lacking there right now for me, because of Melancon's pain/discomfort, but like last season, I expect Bochy to pivot if Melancon is not performing, and with Dyson, Watson, Strickland, and hopefully Smith (though Osich is looking mahvalous right now), I think things will be sorted out relatively quickly.
Melancon has pitched 2 innings. And while he gave up the one run, his cutter is working well. And his cutter is how he makes his living.
ReplyDeleteAlso, FWIW, Melancon has had this compartmentalization issue since 2012. It wasn't until last year did it get as bad as it got and required surgery. So, I'm reasonably optimistic he'll be fine and dial it all back in.
I was reasonably optimistic until I read that when the doctors MRIed his arm, the tissue was grey, as in dead or dying, which sounds pretty serious to me, but I'm no doctor. This, along with the pain/discomfort that he's mentioning, I'm worried about him until he gets, like, 2-3 months of successful closing under his belt.
DeleteDon't jinx it for Belt! :^) Yes, nice to see him healthy and hitting, that story of his depression was scary.
ReplyDeleteI expect big things (i.e. a return to his prior good norms) this season as well from Crawford.
Yeah, Shark is one weird dude, but then again, he's a football player playing baseball, so what else could we expect? I would prefer him not experimenting, and just show us great results, like he does in 10-12 games stretches before it turns bad again. Hopefully this is all worth it and he is killer the third time through, I do forget that he hasn't been a starter for that long a time, and thus he's probably still learning to be a pitcher and not a thrower. But third year in contract, time to throw down and put it all together for a full season regularly.
Speaking of Gomez, he was one guy I am thinking gets DFAed in order to bring on d'Arnaud, Holland and Fernandez onto the 25-man roster. Maybe I'm getting turned around about all this, but if these three need to be added to the 40-man, who gets cut from the 25-man roster (in this scenario, I'm assuming Blanco is taking Gorkys'spot, and either Parker makes the team or Duggar pushes him out and takes his spot; and I assume Parker would be picked up by a rebuilding team if DFAed)?
I went through the 40-man, and there are no position players who look DFA-able, so that left pitchers. All look really interesting, from what I knew (and that's not a lot), so I settled on Gomez and Herb as the most likely ones to go should we need spots, plus, I'm wondering if Smith could go on the 60-day DL to start the season to open up a third spot, as I don't know who else we could DFA without hurting that much.
Would love to get your perspective on the 40-man, since you like Gomez in your comment up above, so now I'm torn. I'm thinking that the Giants will have to trade guys off for lower level prospects, to get some value back instead of DFA. I have no other ideas on how to add to the 40 right now.
I don't see why you think a career journeyman in d'Arnaud would bump someone off the 40, even if he is having a great Spring. Fernandez so far will have 1 great appearance & then a bad 1. Holland might be a guy they keep as Dyson looks shaky as of late. Giants rarely get rid of guys like Parker when Duggar has plenty of years of options to ride the AAA shuttle. Parker can hit MLB pitching, Duggar hasn't proved a thing @ the plate yet.
DeleteI was mostly channeling what the media was feeding me, and I was wrong, he just got reassigned. And I did say "if", I wasn't sure.
DeleteThey pretty easily shifted Ishikawa off the roster when Belt was ready, so I think it's totally possible that the Giants pick Duggar over Parker if they think he's ready and/or necessary. But in Ishi's case, he was injured and when they finally waivered him, it was a month into the season, not right at the end of spring, when teams are less likely to pick up guys for the 40.
But I agree with you, I don't see the Giants DFAing Parker in order to start Duggar. I like Parker and think he can still be of value. However, the press says that it's still possible, and I'm trying to handle all scenarios.
Oh, got a question for everyone: does anyone know who the malcontents were in the clubhouse last season? Two went to reporters and complained, and reportedly one was unhappy about Melancon coming in as the Big Boss and changing things up. From what I've read in comments, one was Kontos, which would explain why they let him go so easily in the waiver wire pickup, but who is the other, and if not Kontos, does anyone know who the two were? Presumably both are gone now (Span? Moore? Arroyo?).
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know, Span has always been an exemplary teammate, and I wouldn't think a new(ish) teammate such as Moore, or a rookie such as Arroyo would stir up trouble. My guess is that it was a veteran from the bullpen. Given his history and personality, I would surmise Strickland.
ReplyDeleteI knew someone was going to say that... Thing is, we don't know except that the friction came from the bullpen because Melancon changed up all the stretching routines and kept showing up late for team stretching. Baseball players don't like their routines changed. Especially by the new kid on the block who then can't show up on time...
DeleteBaggarly, in the article on *The Athletic* on which ogc draws, says that the bullpen members who complained aren’t now with the team. That lets out Strickland. As usual, Naggarly’s take here is worth reading, as to Melancon, dissension, changes Melancon promoted, the closer’s traditional role as leader, etc.
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