Overlooked in the vast Slough of Despond around the Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija injury news were some significant developments on the roster front. Here are the key developments:
1. Jarrett Parker has been informed that he will not make the Opening Day Roster. A formal announcement will not be made until the waiver process is completed(I guess they are trying to sneak him through).
2. The Giants plan to carry 13 pitchers leaving just 4 reserve position players.
3. Brandon Belt will be the reserve LF.
4. Andres Blanco was released.
OK, so how does this all sort out?
1. Nick Hundley and Pablo Sandoval are locks for reserve roles at Catcher and Corner IF respectively.
2. Kelby Tomlinson and Josh Rutledge are in competition for the Middle Infield reserve role.
3. That leaves just one reserve OF spot for Gregor Blanco, Gorkys Hernandez and Steven Duggar to compete over. It seems like Blanco is the obvious pick barring further injuries.
4. Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson, Hunter Strickland and Cory Gearrin are locks for the bullpen, although I half expect to see an DL announcement regarding Melancon and/or some other reliever any minute now. I think you can add Julian Fernandez and Josh Osich into the Lock category. That is 7 relievers. With Bumgarner and Samardzija on the shelf, Derek Holland at least temporarily moves into the starting rotation to join Johnny Cueto, Chris Stratton and Ty Blach. The Giants might be able to get by with a 4 man rotation for the first 3 series, but after that will need a 5'th SP, which also leaves an 8'th reliever opening.
Here is a list of pitchers currently on the 40 man roster but not listed under #4: Roberto Gomez RHP, Tyler Beede RHP, Tyler Herb RHP, DJ Snelton LHP, Steven Okert LHP, Reyes Maronta RHP, Derek Law RHP, Pierce Johnson RHP, Chase Johnson RHP. The 5'th SP could come from Gomez, Beede or Herb while the 8'th reliever job could go to one of the other 6. Pierce Johnson has SP experience in the minor leagues as does Snelton, although Snelton found much more success as a reliever last year.
SP options on the FA market are extremely limited with Scott Feldman, Jake Peavy and John Lackey(gulp) being the top options. Wade LeBlanc, who was just released by the Yankees, was snapped up by the Mariners in less than a day. There may be other options opening up as final roster cutdowns ripple across MLB.
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Seems like we could see a lot of Belt in LF. If Duggar doesn't make it, Bochy might rather see Hundley or Panda taking those at bats over Blanco. I could even see Belt in LF and sliding Pence over to RF rest McCutchen.
ReplyDeleteit's either waiver claim or going four-man if they end up up having to sign a feldman while he is in extended spring training
ReplyDeleteI could still see Duggar making the team over Blanco depending on how close the the luxury threshold they actually are and if they are currently seeking to add another starter. If they can somehow move his contract, they could try to move Dyson to free up room to pursue a starter.
ReplyDeleteI agree about Duggar.
DeleteWill Clark said he is a gold glove centerfielder already.
He also said he was watched..Duggar for 2 years and.; said he can flat out hit!
With the state of our pitching ; defence will be paramount.
Richard in Winnipeg
Duggar's defense would really help the depleted pitching staff.
DeleteBartolo Colon was just released by the Rangers...Doesn't sound like he was particularly impressive but he may be a cheap, ready to go option.
Colon's ST numbers aren't bad: 18 IP, 19 H, 10 Ks, 2 BBs. 3.00 ERA. 4 HRs though.
DeleteDereck Rodriguez started the other day and went 3 solid innings. He was a starting pitcher throughout his minor league career (61 starts in 81 appearances), logging a 3.56 ERA. Just a thought there.
ReplyDeleteif we sign someone i prefer Lackey the guy knows how to win. Dont like him personally, but he will win us some games
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was CHris Heston...Bu have no idea if the Giants have kept him as a starter or a reliver in minor leage camo..
ReplyDeleteHow bout RA Dickey as a FA option if thats the way they go? Doesnt take KBers long to get ready! OTOH, you dont want Posey learning to catch a Kber... Has HUndley ever caught one? Derek Rodriguez sounds liek a possibility and was brough up by one of the beat writers..
As for the posityion players..PARKER just never looks comfortable at the plate after all this time..I'm glad they ddidnt keep him just becasue he was out of options...With Duggar, Shaw and Williamson, you have three young guys that are better.or will be soon
SteveVA
Dickey won't work cheap, and I don't think he wants to be out on the coast. (Too far from home.)
DeleteParker is super twitchy during his ABs. Reminds me of Nomar. He should clear waivers, though probably a change of scenery would do him well.
DeleteI brought Heston up a thread or two ago. I still haven't been able to find out anything about him. All I know is he signed a minor league contract early this year.
DeleteVArious beat-writers report that Bumgarner had surgery this AM, it went well, and they put three pins in his hand. The up-to-date prognosis on Samardzija is three-to-four weeks.
ReplyDeleteReading between the lines in Schulmann's piece from yesterday, Holland was the likely 5th starter, not Blach. Schulmann also says this about the bullpen:
"Eight of those jobs seem set with right-handers Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Hunter Strickland, Cory Gearrin and Rule 5 youngster Julian Fernandez. The two lefties, assuming Blach as the fourth starter, would be Tony Watson and Josh Osich."
He says the 8th & 9th bullpen spots will likely be taken from the farm and not a trade or FA. With Parker being DFA'd, there will be a space to elevate someone, like Blanco, onto the 40-man roster without dropping any prospects.
Not surprised about Parker. He's seems to have topped-out as a AAAA player. Too bad. He's got great power and excellent range. But if you're not putting the ball in play and moving runners forward... You're not long for the MLB.
Parker was DFAed for Holland's spot. The last/4th OF spot will come from Gorkys' 40-man spot, either he retains it or is DFAed and the new OF takes it. I would like to see Duggar starting, even more now with Bumgarner out, but Blanco looks like he's getting that last spot. The thing to remember here is that Duggar will need a 40-man spot when he is brought up to the majors.
DeleteI still like Parker, and think that he could be one of those who blossom around 30-ish, and bash 20-30 homers for someone, like those guys the A's seem to come up with over time.
Basically, it seems that the Giants have to add someone off the current 40-man for the last two bullpen spots, because any other player would require them to DFA someone off the 40-man, and they seem to want to keep everyone.
That points to using Beede, Gomez, or Herb as the 5th starter, since they had recent starts, though Pierce Johnson did start games in 2016. However, I think it will also depend on how well the is doing when the 5th starter is needed. If they do as well as hoped, they might be okay using one of these guys, but if they are struggling, they might want to add someone with experience who is not on our 40-man, like Heston in our minor leagues, and be forced to DFA someone.
albert suarez was just waived, so he could be a viable stopgap option for the rotation
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, he should be returned to us as he was a Rule 5 draft off our roster this off-season, so yes, he could be in the mix, just like Chris Heston, though if he didn't make the D-backs roster, he might not be ready/good enough for us either.
DeleteKazmir released by Braves. GIants could do with him like they did with Sandoval and let Atlanta pay the rest of his $16 million salary.
ReplyDeleteAre there bad vibes coming out of ATL after Kazmir's release or what? He walks off the mound claiming arm fatigue. That obviously did not set will with Snit and AA who immedately released him. Then Kaz goes on a riff about "airing it out" in a throwing session because he supposedly did not know he was going to start that game implying a lack of communication from management.
DeleteKazmir just seems done to me, but then again, so did Pablo last year when the Giants picked him up.
Another similar pitcher Ricky Nolasco released by the Royals. Evans while not ruling out anything sounded like they want to see internal options step up in the meantime.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this will be a wakeup call for the Giants to address their pitching shortages in their minor league system as you've stated in the upcoming draft. It seems like they haven't had a "high ceiling" starting pitching prospect knocking on the door in quite awhile. I thought Tyler Beede was supposed to be that guy, but jury still out.
LG
Drafting only position players worked for the Cubs, but the Giants run of championships was built on drafting and developing their own pitchers.
DeleteIf they are looking for quick pitching help out of the draft, the Giants might consider RHP Casey Mize(although the Tigers like to draft college pitchers too), RHP Logan Gilbert, LHP Shane McClanahan or LHP Ryan Rolison at #2 then look for HS pitching in rounds 2 and 3.
DeleteThe thing is, they have spent picks on pitching - Beede, Bickford, Stratton - roughly every other year since Barr took over the draft, and when you are picking that far back in the first round, the odds are not good for finding a good player, it would not be out of the ordinary if the three did not turn out to be good.
DeleteHowever, I would say that Stratton is looking like he can be good, he has an elite curveball, for both spin rate as well as results (wOBA and xwOBA), and Beede looks like he can be good too, at least a middle rotation guy, so the Giants aren't doing that badly in the draft, with regards to starting pitching, it is more that they have picked up a lot of position players as well (before Barr, Sabean had selected pitching with his first rounders almost exclusively, last one being, I think, Torcato; yeah, that long ago).
Thinking about this reminded me that even though I'm seeing a lot of articles noting the dangers of selecting a pitcher with a top pick like #2, most of the Giants "high ceiling" pitchers have come from top picks, like Lincecum and Bumgarner. And they were actually lucky on the Giants part, not a large number do well even at the #10 pick.
DeleteSo my hope is that there is a pitcher, much like Lincecum, in the college ranks, who excel this season and be worthy enough of a #2 pick. My hope is that the Giants could do something like the Astros did, where they found someone they really like but who is looking like a, say, #10 draft pick, and we get them to agree before the draft to sign for something in-between, like the Astros did with Correa, and that gives the Giants some spending money to pick up guys later, like they did with Jalen Miller, Mac Marshall, Logan Webb, John Riley, Hinojosa, particularly with their 30+ rounders, who are prep guys who fell because of bonus demands. I can see some argue against that because of the lack of success so far with the names I supplied, but that's how we get to see guys with more talent in our farm system, and see what our coaches can do to develop them, even $5M bonus babies are not sure things, many fizzle out, because baseball development is just that hard.
As for the OF, if you go with 4....Blanco/Hernanadez basically almost becomes a starter becasue you are going to have to rest All three of Pence, Jackson and Cutch..With this pitching staff, for defensive purposes, you have to keep Belt in LF to a minimum
ReplyDelete