Let's take advantage of a spring training day off to see if we can sort out the catcher situation.
Whew! O boy! What a mess! Just before camp opened, the Giants threw down a challenge to presumptive first stringer Joey Bart by bringing in Roberto Perez on a minor league deal with a MLB salary guarantee if he makes the team. You know where those usually end up. Yep, with the veteran making the roster and the kid with options going down. So what's happened since?
Joey Bart has done nothing at the plate to lose the position. OPS .906. 4 K's and 2 BB's in 20 PA's, granted a small sample size. He's also picked off a couple of runners and has generally acted the part of the leader and incumbent catcher.
Roberto Perez has drawn raves for that intangible tangible skill of framing pitches, an unfortunate and tiresome statistic we are probably stuck with until we get a true electronic strike zone. Meanwhile he's hitting just .200/.250/.400 in 16 PA's.
The wild card in all of this is Blake Sabol the Rule 5 Draft pick the Giants traded for. He's torn up the Cactus League on offense with an OPS of 1.207 but shown his inexperience behind the plate. You can bet the Giants do not want to send him back to the Pirates without seeing his his success at the plate can translate to the regular season so recently he's gotten some innings in the OF with mixed results. Can they carry him as a utility/third string catcher? Given the Giants love of platoons and Sabol's lefty bat he will likely get plenty of work if he is even adequate defensively behind the dish.
At this point, Austin Wynns looks like strictly deep depth and headed for AAA Sacramento.
I think in football, a coach, like the 49ers', may say to a wide receiver or a running back, if you don't block, you don't play, even if you are good at receiving or running.
ReplyDeleteIn basketball, similarly, a coach may say, if you don't play defense, even if you have 4 rings on your fingers, you don't play. Maybe the coach only say that to rookies or younger players.
What does our team believe in? Is it, if you can hit, and fans see your flashy work, but if you are not competent with the less visibly, less flashy, or more subtle, aspects of the game, like playing defense, you are not a priority? To which philosophy do the Giants braintrust strongly subscribes?
I don't see it as an either/or situation. It's what is the total value a player brings to the team. Since there are very few players who are great on both offense and defense, you have to weigh the relative value of both. You might keep a great offensive player even if his D is not quite what you want or a great defensive player may create a spot for himself even if he is a black hole in the lineup. Most players probably fall somewhere between those extremes.
DeleteYou also have to consider the future value of the player and whether it's worth accepting a learning curve to get there.
DeleteSabol just looks too promising to return. They have to find a way to keep him.
ReplyDeleteI agree....at least until he proves he can't hack it at the MLB regular season level.
DeleteSabol - LH, tall, and athletic - seems like a natural for a look at 1B.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the FO wants to keep him, isn't that a reasonable back-up plan if Wade (or Yaz even) continue to struggle?,
I would think so.
DeleteI see the coaching staff are trying to improve Sabol’s pop times with a different technique, but certainly his position utility (played OF in college) will help.
ReplyDeleteThat said I sure hope they don’t yank Joey around and just let the guy play. Not being seen as Busters immediate replacement this season will hopefully help him