Robbie Ray had a successful first spring start but a young lineup struggled and several pitchers got knocked around in a loss to the Giants former cross-bay rivals. Key Lines:
Jerar Encarnacion 1B- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .500. Encarnacion entered spring training on Bob Melvin's radar and has done nothing to diminish that impression.
Logan Porter C- 1 for 2, 2B. BA= .200. Porter is competing for the backup catcher role in the wake of Tom Murphy's back injury. Sam Huff C went 0 for 2 with 2 K's as the starting catcher today.
Christian Koss PH/SS- 2 for 2, 2B, HR(1). Koss is a guy who can play multiple IF positions. He's tended to struggle at the plate. Is he a sleeper to win a reserve IF spot on the roster? Sergio Alcantara started the game at SS and went 1 for 2. Osleivis Basabe started the game at 2B and went 1 for 3.
Bryce Eldridge DH- 0 for 3, BB, 3 K's. BA= .286. A dose of reality for Young Bryce.
Robbie Ray LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. A healthy and effective Robbie Ray for a full season would be a huge upgrade to the rotation from last season.
Tristan Beck RHP- 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Tough first spring appearance for Beck. He'll get more chances to win a long relief/spot starter role.
Joey Lucchesi LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 2/0 GO/AO. Melvin says he is looking for a lefty reliever who can go multiple innings. Lucchesi has a MLB contract conditional on him making the team which seems to signal he has the inside track for that role.
Jordan Hicks RHP gets the start tomorrow against the Cubs in Scottsdale which means the more of the projected starters will take the field behind him.
Funny thing about Beck. He came to the team back in '19, from the Braves, in the Melancon deal. Been a long time.
ReplyDeleteThere is a logjam for middle infield utility players, but I am pulling for Christian Koss. His name doesn't come up much, but I am find myself wondering whether he may yet play a role on the big club in 2025. He's my Dark Horse nominee.
ReplyDeleteI met Koss’s dad at a Reno Aces game last year. He was a good dude and we talked for half an hour or so about his son and the process of going through the minors, getting traded, and just not knowing what to expect in terms of when and if Christian would ever get a call up and real shot.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand he was living a dream being able to go to most of his games and watch his son live his dream but on the other it seemed like he felt helpless for his son and had a ton of uncertainty for his future. All of us would probably love to have our sons doing what Christian is doing now and to even be as close as he is but we have no idea how stressful it can be on a father.
Christian is another example of the depth we have in our system and how difficult it is going to be to figure out who of these kids get the chances and who doesn’t. This was FZ’s dream to have all these lottery tickets but there is only so much playing time to go around unless you tank! How will we ever know if Koss or most of these guys including Luciano, Schmidt, and Matos will make it of they arent given enough PT? Only way to do that is to cut bait on guys like Yaz, Wade, and Wilmer so that those spots can be given to younger players who may or may not end up developing into stars. Our chances of making playoffs are so low as is why waste a year of development to keep these guys around??
I have never met Christian Koss or his dad but a close family member of mine is friends with a close family member of his. So we are rooting for him at our house.
DeleteI don't agree that the Giants chances of making the playoff is so remote. Yes, a few things have to go right but they are things that should go right: Healthy seasons from Jung Hoo Lee, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander, 1 or 3 "kids" stepping up.
DeleteI do hope Buster and Melvin have a plan to sort out which of the "kids" are keepers other than throwing a bunch of small samples at the wall and seeing what sticks.
DeleteThere is a nasty hit piece on Adames, Posey, and the Giants by Dylan Sanders, SI.com practically guaranteeing that this signing is a bust.
ReplyDelete(https://www.si.com/mlb/giants/author/dylan-sanders)
It starts with "The San Francisco Giants made a splash signing this offseason that some think could be headed toward being a bust."
He (and his $182 million contract) is referred to as "... certainly not someone that the Giants would want to spend close to $200 million on..."
If you make it to the end of his tortured piece, Sanders says, "Only time will tell how it would turn out, but it would be unfair to assume that the Adames contract will be regretful before he even takes the field in a San Francisco uniform."
Perhaps it should have started that way...
I looked up that article by Dylan Sanders at SI. Pretty weak. It's one of those someone out there wrote it so it must be true. Dude! Do your own research and draw your own conclusions. As we all know too well, any big free agent contract can go south. It is true that a lot of Adames value comes from his home runs which will be harder to come by in Oracle Park but this will be his age 29 season so he will be just 35 years old in the last season of the deal. I expect some of those seasons will be better than others and he might be slowing down considerably over the final 1 or 2 seasons, but on average I expect him to stabilize the position and be a positive contributor to the team. It's a position Buster absolutely had to upgrade and Adames was by far the best option for doing so.
DeleteAdamea definitely is not a star player and not as good as people think. But the contract could absolutely work out for the Giants. Contracts are crazy now a days and there’s a lot of middle relieves that make close to what he gets on a yearly basis. Adames we just need him to be healthy, play good enough defense and be solid with the bat, and the contract will be worth it. We gave him a signing bonus so it’s only about $22 -$23 million a year for him. But obviously there definitely is potential for things to go south for him because he doesn’t hit for good average and the power seems overrated because the slugging isn’t as impressive as the home runs since he accumulated a ton of at bats every year
DeleteI guess it depends on what your definition of a "star player" is. Adames is a very good player although not on the same level as, say, Mookie Betts or Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge. He fills a gaping hole for the Giants and should stabilize the SS position for several years.
DeleteAdames seems intent to provide value even off of the field. He could have gone home to the Dominican for the offseason but stayed at Papago since early January to work with Chapman and train with other players. He went to the Felipe Alou Academy in the Dominican last month to welcome Jerar and the class of 15 international prospect signings. This is someone who will provide clubhouse leadership and accountability as well as be popular with the fans in the community. No doubt the Giants brought him in to provide leadership to their young Latin players like Ramos, Matos, and Luciano but also to young players like Bailey and Fitzgerald.
DeleteI have a feeling that the front office realizes that they are not going to outdo the Dodgers in signing players from Japan but instead, with Adames, they are doubling down with with wooing the international prospects in the Dominican and Venezuela. The Giants were pioneers of international free agents in the 50s and 60s by signing players like Cepeda, Marichal, the Alous, Cardenal, Mota, and Fuentes and I think that is the strategy that Buster and his front office are taking for the long game at this point. This is where all the work started by Bobby Evans and continued by Farhan will pay off. Hopefully, Arias and Reckley will find some traction soon.
With regard to the Dylan Sanders article, most all big name free agent signings are risky because teams are paying top dollar for the back half of players' careers.
DeleteIf we follow the same line of thinking that Sanders is pushing, the Dodgers offseason is riskier because it’s more money and more players. It is not that simple.
DeleteHere's a (possibly) interesting question:
ReplyDeleteWho had the best first 2 major league years for the Giants, Webb (age 22-23) or Harrison (age 21-22)?
Baseball-Reference (via Stathead) has a tool that allows this comparison, and the answer is overwhelming:
Young Harrison was much better than nearly as young Webb.
Sadly, the past does not always portend the future.
Hope that whoever helped get Webb over the hump is still there!
https://stathead.com/baseball/versus-finder.cgi?request=1&seasons_type=perchoice&player_id1=webb--000log&p1yrfrom=2019&p1yrto=2020&player_id2=harris003kyl&p2yrfrom=2023&p2yrto=2024
Webb had Tommy John surgery while he was still a prospect which set his development back a bit. My impression is he broke out when he perfected his changeup. I thought Harrison did about as well as I expected in his first MLB season. I am still quite bullish on his future.
DeleteHe certainly became a different pitcher after age 21, a new pitch or a new arm?
Delete