Spring Training Update: FZ and Kap Speak; Injury Updates

 Pitchers and Catchers don't report until today but Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler met with reporters to set the stage and had some interesting, if unsettling, pronouncements.  

When the Giants showed no sign of interest in premier catching free agent Willson Contreras many observers, including me, assumed this meant they were all in on Joey Bart as their starting catcher with any competition coming for the back up role.  The late signing of Roberto Perez to a minor league deal raised an eyebrow or two but the fact it was a minor league deal made it seem like he would be competing for a backup job.  Gabe Kapler blew that notion up by not only declaring the catching competition to be wide open but dished out some tough love to Joey Bart by saying he has "less runway" and "he's more just competing".  He went on to saying "I don't think the body of his career has earned a surefire inside track at the number one catching job."  OK Gabe, why don't you tell us how you really feel?  Bart has an option which might lead a reasonable person to conclude he will most likely start the season in Sacramento.  

FZ and Kap also stated that they view Blake Sabol strictly as a catcher.  He bats LH and has to stick with the active roster or be offered back to the Pirates.  Perez is a two-time Gold Glove catcher who once hit more than 20 HR's in a season.  His major problem in recent years has been health.  Put all this together and I place my bets on Perez and Sabol as the catchers who the Giants break camp with.

FZ pumped the brakes on any idea that top prospects Kyle Harrison LHP and Casey Schmitt 3B might make the team out of spring training and indicated that spring training performance would not change the dynamic pointing to "false positive" performances in the past by prospects who had great springs but proved to be not ready for regular season competition.  As a corollary, FZ and Kap stated that David Villar enters spring training as the starting 3B and it's his job to lose.

Injury Updates:

Marco Luciano SS has a stress reaction in his back and may not appear in any spring training games.  I looked up stress reactions in baseball players and there are actually a few scholarly articles on the subject.  According to a 2020 article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, it is extremely common, especially in teenage players.  It has a good prognosis and the vast majority of players who suffer the injury return to full physical capacity.  Full recovery time is generally 6-9 months.  Still, the fact that Luciano has reportedly experienced symptoms off and on since early last season is a bit disconcerting and you have to be concerned about missed development time.

It's also a bit disconcerting that Michael Conforto LF is still ramping up his throwing program post-shoulder surgery and will start spring training by DH'ing.  Wait!  So the Giants bet $36 M on a guy who was still not throwing after shoulder surgery and with the idea that he would upgrade LF defense and move Joc Pederson LF/DH to an exclusively DH platoon?  Nice!  For what it's worth, Conforto is reportedly up to 168 feet in his long-toss program and we have 6 weeks to go before Opening Day.

Cole Waites RHP has a strained muscle in his side.