The Giants brought their hitting shoes against Noah Syndergaard and Alex Wood was sharp in a runaway win over the Dodgers in Glendale, AZ. Key Lines:
Lamonte Wade Jr 1B- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .258. LMWJ must have read what we said about him yesterday and decided do something about it. Reached base 5 times as the leadoff hitter. I hope he proves me wrong and keep this going.
Thairo Estrada SS- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .355. Once again, I think Estrada is on the brink of reaching a new level due to a convergence of physical maturity and experience.
J. D. Davis 3B- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .361. David Villar started at 2B and went 0 for 4. Could Villar get optioned out with Davis starting at 3B?
Bryce Johnson CF- 2 for 5. BA= .367. With YtY playing LF and going 0 for 5 and striking out 3 times to lower his spring BA to .048, is is possible that Johnson is winning the starting CF job?
Austin Wynns C- 1 for 2, HR(3). BA= .188. All three of Wynns' spring training hits have been HR's.
Will Wilson PR/SS- 1 for 2, 2B. BA= .300. Wilson continues to have a solid spring and may be moving up the middle infield depth charts.
Alex Wood LHP- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.72. Dominant start for Alex Wood against his old team. All 6 of the Giants veteran SP's have performed well this spring creating a good problem for Kap in choosing his starting 5. Who goes to the bullpen? Ross Stripling?
Sean Hjelle RHP- 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 4/0. ERA= 1.80. Hjelle has pitched well enough to win a rotation spot. Would the Giants carry 3 bulk-innings guys in the bullpen?
Camilo Doval RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 2/0. ERA= 2.25. Doval is ready to start the season after his work in the WBC. He just needs to get his work in and not get hurt.
Noah Syndergaard RHP(Dodgers)- 4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.61. Thor's velocity has been down enough this spring to get people talking but he's had good results until today.
Ross Stripling RHP takes the ball tomorrow against Jonathan Gray RHP and the Rangers in Scottsdale.
Now that's a score, even if it's meaningless, I like to see. Still worried about the team's 2023 chances, though.
ReplyDeleteAt third base Davis is a poor defender but has a better bat than Villar (who won't remind anyone of Longoria or a trim Panda) and I'd rather see Schmit but... Crawford had a magic 2021, 2022 was more of what I expected and I expect 2023 will likely be worse. We have no MLB-level SS replacement unless we trade for one or we put Schmitt there and he shows he can handle the position. First base is shaping up to be a platoon fest of incomplete players unless Pederson or Sabol (who has to force his way onto the roster) takes the role. And while the catching position looks to be interesting with Bart hitting the ball in ST, I'm still going to be skeptical until I see it for an entire season. The only 'settled' position is 2B and while Estrada hasn't been a real difference maker at 2B, he's at least competent and not a huge question mark. That's 3/5ths (or 4/5ths if you're not sold on Bart) of the infield with question marks.
The OF has its issues. While upgraded on paper with two quality players in Conforto and Hanniger they are both breakable. Further, we don't have a CF to replace Yaz who has been regressing for two seasons now. The best 4th OFer we have is Slater, who, when healthy, isn't the worst 4th OFer though, like Wade, he's limited to more of a platoon role than bona fide long-term fill-in a role that might be best taken by Yaz if we had a replacement.
The reality is that the roster is really unsettled and many of the players have issues (injury, age, competence) that cast long shadows over the season's prospects. I ope for the best, I always do, but it's hard to be optimistic.
After adding Conforto and Hanniger to the OF, Pérez (and LHB Sabol) behind Bart, Davis for a full year, Pederson out of the OF to DH, Villar for the year (assuming he'll better than he's been this Spring), and a (hopefully) less injured Crawford – can the 2023 Giants offensively be worse than the 2022 version?
DeleteEven with losing Rodón, isn't SP deeper with 6 or 7 bonafide starters and a rejuvenated DeSclafani?
Another Rogers in the 'pen and an "older" more confident Doval closing?
2023 would have to have even worse health – which is certainly possible – then the brittle team that got juggled to .500 last year.
Hope springs eternal but the 2023 Giants are better than the 2022 team.
YtY has dropped to the DFA territory. I wonder what is going on.
ReplyDelete