The Giants are in pretty good shape at first base at the MLB level with a strict platoon of Lamonte Wade Jr and Wilmer Flores with J. D. Davis sliding across the diamond in a pinch. LMWJ and Wilmer were the two best hitters on the roster and racked up a combined fWAR of 4.6 while starting 149 games at 1B between them. It should be noted that first base was not the original position for any of the current Giants 1B and the Giants have not made drafting/signing the next Willie McCovey or Will Clark or even Brandon Belt a priority down on the farm.
MLB:
Lamonte Wade Jr: .256/.373/.417, 17 HR, 519 PA, fWAR= 2.1. Age- 29. Arbitration eligible. No Options. Easy decision for the Giants to offer arbitration and playback the LMWJ/Wilmer platoon in 2024.
Wilmer Flores: .284/.355/.509, 23 HR, 454 PA, fWAR= 2.5. Age= 32. Under Contract(Year 3 of 3 yr/$16.5 M with player/team option for $8.5 M in 2025). Wilmer accumulated some of his value at DH, 3B and 2B but his primary responsibility was filling the weak side of the 1B platoon.
J. D. Davis: .248/.325/.413, 18 HR, 546 PA, fWAR= 2.2. 3B was Davis primary position where he was a positive defender and close to average offensively. He started 9 games and played in 15 at 1B.
AAA:
Armando Alvarez: .313/.383/.581, 18 HR, 8 SB, 298 PA. 29 yo. Minor league FA? He's listed on River Cats roster and was not listed as electing free agency. Strictly an organizational player and deep insurance policy. Can also play some 3B.
Yoshi Tsutsugo: AA: .311/.436/.578, 4 HR, 55 PA. 31 yo. FZ can't quit the extreme 3 true outcomes guys. Signed as a minor league FA after release from Rangers AAA team. Churn on!
AA:
Logan Wyatt: A+: .259/.371/.430, 8 HR, 229 PA. 257/.339/442, 9 HR, 236 PA. 25 yo. Rule 5 eligible. Pretty much the only guy drafted as a 1B in the organization. Another 3 true outcomes guy from the 2019 draft who looked like a bust up until this season. Power finally showed up and he finally stayed healthy.
Sean Roby: 3 Levels: .239/.306/.474, 14 HR, 234 PA. 25 yo. Rule 5 eligible. Seems like he has been around forever. Light-tower power but struggles to make contact. 3B seems to be primary position.
Brady Whalen: .259/.303/.434, 5 HR, 156 PA. 25 yo. Rule 5 Eligible. Ditto Wyatt and Roby above.
A+:
Andrew Kachel: A: .289/.376/.437, 6 HR, 7 SB, 332 PA. A+: .250/.317/.361, 3 SB, 41 PA. 22 yo, Drafted 2022 Round 16. Rule 5 eligible Dec. 2025. Listed as 2B but played more 1B. A numbers look great except A ball a conservative placement for a college draftee.
Luis Toribio: A+: .232/.333/.432, 17 HR, 412 PA. 23 yo. Rule 5 eligible. Another guy with power but has trouble tapping into it due to swing and miss in his game. May be running out of time.
A:
Javier Francisco: ACL: .280/.442/.542, 7 HR, 189 PA. A: .241/.303/.345, 33 PA. 20 yo, Rule 5 eligible Dec 2024. Played multiple positions but largest number of PA's at 1B. Breakout watch.
I might be old school but 1B isn’t where I would try to find value in a platoon. Love LMJ and Flores had a great season but neither are top 20 First Basemen or middle of the lineup forces and would better serve in other roles.
ReplyDeleteWith nothing in the farm to get excited about and no FA’s other than Bellinger (not worth the 180-200M he will get) there are other alternatives but they will cost dearly. Both Pete Alonso and Goldy are obtainable for the right price and both would be huge upgrades that would help the middle of this lineup look a lot better. If FZ can pull off a trade for one of them without giving up Harrison or Luciano I think he has to pull the trigger.
There are several FA pitchers that we could sign after that to round out the rotation but no other middle of the order impact bats like those 2 guys anywhere else. For this team to compete next year they will need a strong rotation that they can round out in Free Agency but without a cornerstone bat in the middle of the lineup we will be seeing more of the same from this offense.
You know, I had the same thought and was going to include in the post until I looked up the first base leaderboard in Fangraphs. There are only two 1B in all of MLB that fit what would be a significant upgrade over the Giants platoon, Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson. Cody Bellinger had a 4.1 fWAR but mostly played OF which is where the Giants would play him if they signed him. He is also coming off a big bounceback season. Paul Goldschmidt was at 3.7 which is not as good as the platoon. Pete Alonso's 46 HR sure do look look shiny but they come with a BA of 217 and an OBP of .318. Again, the platoon is better and it's not really close. The Giants should be looking to upgrade other positions.
DeleteOh yeah, Pete Alonso's fWAR was 2.8.
DeleteAfter being injured the entire year FZ may be looking at Rhys Hoskins as a value sign on either a bounce back one year or overpay for a multi year. That would lock up 1B and allow Flores and LMJ to play other positions and roles. Jorge Soler would be an interesting acquisition as well and if they somehow pulled off Yamamoto that could change the look of this team dramatically. Maybe they don’t need to trade any prospects at all if they signed those 3 players.
ReplyDeleteLineup:
Estrada 2B
LWJ DH
Hoskins 1B
Soler LF
Conforto/Haniger RF
Davis 3B
Luciano SS
Yaz/Matos CF
Bailey C
Rotation:
Webb
Yamamoto
Harrison
Cobb
Winn/Beck/Hjelle/Opener
Bench:
Sabol
Flores
Schmidt/Fitzgerald
Bullpen is the least of our worries so didn’t feel the need to list it. On paper that actually looks like a team that could compete next season and beyond. It would hinge on upside bats and a rookie pitcher from Japan but I would actually get excited if that were our team going into spring 2024
Hoskins is an interesting idea. He might be interested in 1 year prove it deal, maybe with the hated player option. Soler has had like 3 good seasons sprinkled among many bad ones. Very risky signing.
DeleteCouldn't have been a better ending to the dodgers season
DeleteIf 1B is to be a power position, the 1B combo of Flores and Wade looks better than it really is, because combined they have 973 PAs having started and played many games at other positions and often playing at the same time. Their combined HRs is very good but their HRs as 1Bmen isn't.
ReplyDeleteTeam power has to come from somewhere, or, as with the Giants, it doesn't, with the corner IFers and OFers not being power positions for them.
They really need to add at least 2 players with POP!
I don't disagree in a vacuum but it's not like there are a lot of that kind of 1B out there. I think said in a response to a comment above that Rhys Hoskins is an interesting player. He also has local ties and might actually want to play for the Giants.
DeleteWithout alternatives coming along, the Wade/Flores isn't bad, but it isn't good either.
DeleteOff topic: 3 of the top 4 162-game season teams don't make it to the LCS.
ReplyDeleteIs there something wrong?
3 teams with just 90 wins and a 4th at 84-78 are vying for the WS.
Is the bye a losing proposition, just one team made it and very well won't see the Fall Classic.
Why have a long, very long, season and then lose the best teams?
Nothing is wrong. The playoffs are a SSS crapshoot. Simple as that.
DeleteThe goal is to make the postseason. The idea you can significantly improve your postseason chances by spending big on superstars simply false.
DeleteI believe they have a different way of rewarding the best teams in Japan by giving them a 1-0 lead in the first series instead of a bye. Doesn’t sound like the best solution at first but give it a minute and you may change your mind. The bye IS killing the best teams chances and this would be a reasonable solution
DeleteThe Astros don't seem to have trouble with the bye.
DeleteI don't think the bye is why the Dodgers lost. They ran out of pitching.
DeletePart 2.
DeleteSSS - Small Sample Size. Post season.
SSS may be more entertaining (any team in in could win it all = more viewers). Is it fair though, for teams that worked hard to achieve something over 162 games? Is it not like someone working hard all the way through high school (GPA, community service, extra curricular activities, etc) but the chance at an elite oollege is 100% dependent on an entrance examination (like in many Asian countries), with GPA, community service, extra curricular activities ignored?
1. Professional Sports are a subset of the entertainment industry. 2. Every sport I know if is ultimately determined by a SSS(historically MLB champion has always been determined by no more than a 7-game series).
DeleteSome how, don't the Best teams over 162 games deserve something other than days off?
DeleteMaybe they need shorter regular seasons and longer playoff series: upsets happen in 7 games series, but fewer than 3 and 5
Let's just re-hire the size 8.5 hat manager and do the SSS crapshoot again... Those were fun years....
ReplyDeleteYes, they were!
Delete