The Giants played a see-saw game with the White Sox today building a 2 run lead only to fall behind 3-2 and then pulling it out with 2 runs in the 9'th. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .238. Blanco doing his thing, getting on base.
Michael Morse- 1 for 2, 2B. BA= .235.
Buster Posey- 2 for 3. BA= .450.
Nick Noonan- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .263.
Tim Lincecum- 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.93. One of the runs was an inherited runner that Runzler allowed in. Timmy said he was starting to elevate his pitches in the 5'th. Oh, and the pornstache needs to go!
Dan Runzler- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.00. Good to seen no walks, but allowing the inherited runner to score was not so good.
Yusmeiro Petit- 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. ERA= 9.00. The unearned run was a result of Petit's own error. Otherwise a better looking line here.
Santiago Casilla and Mason Tobin- 1 scoreless IP each.
Cutdown Day: Gary Brown, Jose De Paula, Adam Duvall, Mike Kickham optioned to Fresno. Kendry Flores, Hunter Strickland optioned to San Jose. Jason Berken, Mitch Lively, Chris Dominguez, Andrew Susac reassigned to minor league camp.
I thought De Paula and Berken might stick around a bit longer. Susac gets a start tomorrow as a reward for his impressive work, then will head to minor league camp after the game.
Around the League: With Kris Medlen out, the Braves were forced to sacrifice a draft pick to sign Ervin Santana to a 1 year deal for $14 M, essentially a QO except with a different team than originally offered it. The Braves might be wishing they had not given Huddy the brush off.
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Doesn't seem like Hembree is getting much action. How many days between appearances is normal for a reliever at this stage of ST?
ReplyDeleteI agree. Does not bode well for Hembree's chances of making the squad. Here I thought he was a slam dunk!
DeleteNoonan spent some time in the cage with Bonds yesterday morning, and has come up with two clutch doubles in as many days. Today's was in the 9th, I think it drove in Sanchez to tie the game.
ReplyDeleteI haven't taken the time yet to figure out who's still left in camp, bullpen-wise. Aside from the locks, there's Petit, Huff, Escobar, Hembree, Machi, Kontos, Dunning, Loe, Cordier, Law, Gutierrez, Reifer(?)... That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Am I missing anyone? I definitely think De Paula can hang with that group, but I guess they'd seen enough. I'd still put my money on Machi and Hembree, but I really don't know about the long-man spot.
I think Machi is a lock. Petit probably is too, although Escobar is definitely in the mix. Last spot I'll handicap as Kontos, Dunning, Cordier, Law in that order. I think Cordier's stock is way up and wouldn't be shocked to see him get the last spot.
DeleteYou really think Hembree is out of the mix?
DeleteI'm not sure how he can be in the mix if he isn't getting regular work, but no, I'm not sure of anything!
DeleteCordier, Kontos and Dunning have all made 4 appearances, while Hembree has made 3... for a total of only 2 IP. You'd have to think he'll get an inning in today. It seems that all of his outings have come in save situations, which doesn't necessarily mean much when the original lineups are out of the game... interesting situation, I'll say that. But Hembree looked pretty good in the one inning I watched him pitch last week.
DeleteAdd Mason Tobin to the list of the Reassigned.
ReplyDeleteRickie Weeks felt a pop in his hamstring area then announced that it was just scar tissue breaking free and it's a good thing and now he's free to work out more vigorously. Last time I heard about scar tissue breaking being a good thing was in Sudden Sam McDowell's first spring with the Giants. We know how THAT turned out!
ReplyDeleteWe'll see who throws tomorrow. It' definitely seems like an open competition now. Hembree is going to have to win this thing versus a guy that won a WS ring with the Giants in 2012, a guy throwing upper 90's, and a "confederate soldier". Easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteAnd Law too! His trajectory has been nothing but up for a while now. If hitters can't hit him, why not start his big league clock?
DeleteBoy even the early camp cuts are tough.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants are going to have a real challenge to separate the pitching wheat from the chaff in the next four years. Given the crowded rotations and pens at every level and service time clocks ticking, the 40-man is going to be a bi-ach to squeeze players in. This is going to be one tough cookie. But then it's better eating cookies than the crumbs most teams have to work with.
Good points, and definitely a good problem to have! If the Giants are in contention this year, I really don't see them holding on to all of these guys. And this could be a completely different story from last year, where only a couple of guys were on the "coveted" lists of other organizations. At this point, I'd think a couple of these pitching prospects could snag a nice hitter at the trade deadline if need be. I have a feeling the talent will sort itself out, but I would think Crick and Susac are about the only guys that are on the "don't ask" list this year.
DeleteI think what makes this interesting (and fun) is on one hand you have the "we're close" issue as Cove notes but at the same time we've got some real decisions to make in the next couple of years. Unlike when we had Wheeler traded, and you had 3 lock down starters and a fourth good one with Vogey (and no where else to plant Wheeler with Zito), I don't think you can say there isn't an immediate need for starters. Cain and Bumgarner are the long term guys, but Timmy, Hudson and Vogey all have short term horizons. And let's face it, there are questions with all three of them (will he mature, how long can he go and will he come back, respectively). At a minimum, I think you have to project two starters in the next two years, so I think it is more than Crick on tha list (I'd probably put Escobar on that list for the moment, until proven he won't get his control under control). Similar issues can seen in the RP (frankly, all of our RPs are starting to get long in the tooth, so guys like Law, Dunning and Hembree really have to be on our radar, not to mention needing someone--Kickham or Osich (sp?)-- to step it up on the lefty side). Unless Panda is resigned, that opens up an issue next year, we need one of our plethora of middle infielders to please, please, please hit AND field to replace Scutaro, and we don't know (although I a believer) that Belt will be "it". Frankly, other than Cain, Bumgarner, Pagan, Pence and Posey, there are LOTS of longer term issues.
DeleteI get we have a ton, and presumably value can be traded for other value. Luckily, even with age, we have more pitching than we can really use and that is the most tradable commodity. However, I'd probably go a lot deeper in our pen, across several levels of the minors. At a minimum, I'd probably have three lists--untoucable (Escobar, maybe a few others), will take a lot, and then value but can trade. I leave to the experts to debate where everyone goes.
PiLamBear
BA is catching up to the Giants... and something we've been hammering in these parts for about 2-3 years.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/teams-ongoing-quest-to-gain-platoon-advantage-takes-a-left-turn/
It's kind of interesting that the Fangraphs boys all seem to think platooning hitters it great, but don't see value in lefty specialists.
DeleteWhich brings me to an interesting memory. When I was a kid and listened to a lot of games on the radio, the Giants were playing a twin bill against some team that liked to platoon. The Giants curiously started a lefty specialist in game 2, but once the lineups were set, he threw one pitch and Herman Franks came out and pulled him for a RH spot starter. The opposing manager then had a choice to leave his strongly RH leaning lineup in the game to face the RH pitcher or take them out for their LH platoon mates but also lose his bench in the process. I don't remember how it all turned out, but the machinations in the first inning left a lasting impression.