Meet the New Giants!

This year's Giants 25 man active roster at the start of the season has 5 players who are completely new to the organization:  Tim Hudson, Michael Morse, David Huff, JC Gutierrez and Brandon Hicks.  I thought it would be fun to take closer look at who these guys are and where they came from.

Tim Hudson, RHP

Tim Hudson is new to the Giants organization, but is well known to Bay Area baseball fans from his days as an Oakland Athletic.  He pitched for Oakland from his MLB debut in 1999 through 2004 and was part of the terrific trio of SP's for the A's that included Barry Zito and Mark Mulder.  He won 20 games for the A's in 2000 and compiled a W-L record of 92-39 during his A's tenure.  He was traded to Atlanta for the 2005 season and pitched 9 seasons with Atlanta including parts of the 2008 and 2009 seasons due to TJ surgery.  Late in 2013, he suffered an ankle fracture in a collision while covering 1B which appears to be fully healed.  He is a groundball pitcher with a career GO/AO= approximatel 1.5.  He is one of just 2 active pitchers to accumulate more than 200 career wins with a 205-111 record.  Part of what enabled him to get all those W's is an ability to conserve his pitch counts and get deep into games.  He signed a 2 year FA contract this offseason and takes over the rotation spot vacated by Barry Zito who had his option declined by the Giants at the conclusion of the 2013 season.

Michael Morse, OF/1B.

Michael Morse has had an enigmatic career up to this point, and that is probably putting it mildly.  He is an amazing physical specimen who has shown flashes of superstar potential when fully healthy, while his value has been sapped by poor defensive play and frequent injuries.  He is coming off another poor season caused by yet another injury, hoping for a bounceback season.  He was drafted in the 3'rd round of the 2000 draft by the White Sox out of high school as a SS.  Despite his 6'5" 195 lb frame, he continued to develop as a SS and eventually landed in the Mariners organization making his MLB debut at SS in 2004.  He hit a respectable .278/.349/.370 but committed 12 errors in 72 games.  Over the next several years, he bounced around the Mariners organization playing sparingly at the MLB level as a utilityman.  He was traded to the Washington Nationals in 2009.  By this time he had grown into a 6'5", 245 lb monster and the Nationals put him in LF and 1B.  He opened a lot of eyes in 2010 by slashing .289/.352/.519 with 15 HR in 266 AB.  A breakout in 2011 was widely predicted and he made good with a .303/.360/.550, 31 HR campaign.  He continued to hit well when healthy, but missed a lot of PT in 2012 and 2013.  The two big questions with Morse are 1.  Can he stay healthy?   2.  Can he play LF well enough to not be a net liability on the field?  If the answer to both questions is yes, he could give the Giants offense a huge boost in 2014.

David Huff, LHP

David Huff was a member of the 2006 Pac 10 pitching class that included Tim Lincecum, Greg Reynolds, Brandon Morrow and Ian Kennedy.  Huff pitched for UCLA and more than held his own in   those legendary Friday night pitching wars.  I saw him pitch on TV that year.  He had a low 90's FB with excellent command, but his out pitch was a very good changeup.  He was drafted in the supplemental first round, #39 overall but Cleveland.  Huff has never had eye popping stuff and has had trouble gaining traction on his professional career.  Since his MLB debut in 2009, he has compiled a record of 21-27 with a 5.31 ERA  with time spent in the minors every one of those seasons.  Last year, he recorded a decent 4.76 ERA in a very tough pitching environment with the Yankees, but was dropped from their roster in the offseason.  The Giants were looking for long relief/spot starter options and gave him a spring training invitation.  He has pitched extremely well this spring showing a 92 MPH FB with some zip to it along with the very good changeup and curveball.  The Giants wore out their bullpen several times over last year overusing guys for 1 inning at a time.  I have long advocated for carrying more pitchers in the bullpen who can go multiple innings, so I get to see my theory tested this year as Huff joins Yusmeiro Petit who can also go long relief and spot start.

JC Gutierrez, RHP

JC Gutierrez is a 6'3" 200 lb reliever who joins the Giants Venezuelan contingent of players.   Giants fans may remember JC as a former closer for the division rival D'Backs.  He came up through the Houston Astros organization but made his MLB mark with the D'Backs winning and eventually losing the closer role from 2009-2011.  He recorded a total of 24 saves in that span but also had an ERA over 5 in 2010 and 2011.  He spent 2012 in the minors with the KC Royals organization and pitched with the Royals and Angels at the MLB level last year with similar numbers to his D'Backs days.  JC's stuff looks good on TV featuring a mid-90's FB.  My impression is that the FB is not dominant enough to be a stand-alone pitch and he does not have much in the way of secondary stuff.  He pitched well in the spring, but it remains to be seen if he can consistently get outs at the MLB level.  He makes the 25 man roster because Jeremy Affeldt is on the DL and will be on the bubble when Affeldt comes back, probably within a couple of weeks.

Brandon Hicks, IF

Hicks was drafted Texas A&M in 2007 by the Atlanta Braves.  He hit well with double digit HR power in the minors and got a couple of cups of coffee with the Braves before being cut loose.  His longest MLB stint was with the Oakland A's where he hit 3 dingers in 22 games in 2012.  He spent last year in the minors.  The main thing holding him back seems to be a K rate of around 30% which is too high for a guy with middling power.  You just can't get a viable BA with that kind of K rate!  Hicks came to camp with the Giants this season as a longshot to make the 25 man roster.  He had a sensational spring and squeaked in when Marco Scutaro could not answer the opening bell.  How he does and how long he'll stay at the MLB level remains to be seen.  I could see him doing a Mike Ivie and hitting a walk off, pinch hit HR against the Dodgers or something like that.  I think he actually did that with the A's in 2012!

Let's all give a big welcoming cheer to the New Giants!