Conner Joe LF/1B- 1 for 4. BA= .255. So Joe is what, 1 for 7 since the Giants acquired him? Another friendly reminder that an entire spring training performance is a terrible way to make these decisions much less 2 days worth.
Mac Williamson RF- 1 for 4, 3 K's. BA= .232. I wonder if Mac is feeling the pressure of all the roster churning? Things were not looking good after 3 K's in 3 AB's until he lined a single to CF in the 8'th. Did that single save his job?
Aramis Garcia 1B/C- 1 for 4. BA= .235. Aramis has to be a happy guy right now with a roster spot all but assured, at least until Stephen Vogt is ready to go.
Pablo Sandoval 3B- 2 for 2, 2B. BA= .262. Pabs says "I'm not going anywhere!"
Henry Ramos CF- 0 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .200. Ramos is the only players officially still on the spring roster besides Steven Duggar who has actually played CF.
Joe Panik 2B- 1 for 2. BA= .463. California Dreaming! Panik is primed for a breakout season!
Alen Hanson SS/2B/LF- 1 for 3, HR(2). BA= .180. Hanson has had a couple of big hits of late, but overall has not done much this spring. He demonstrates his versatility here.
Derek Holland LHP- 4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K, GO/AO= 6/0. ERA= 5.06. Tune-up start for Holland. Next start should be in San Diego.
Nick Vincent RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, GO/AO= 4-1. ERA= 2.25. Vincent celebrates apparently winning a roster spot by pitching 2 scoreless frames.
Melvin Adon RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, Save(1). ERA= 4.15. Adon is on the Closer Track now.
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Up Next: The Giants break camp in Scottsdale and head home to begin the Bay Bridge Series against the A's with Dereck Rodriguez taking the mound tomorrow afternoon in Oakland.
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Roster Rumblings: The Giants moves continued at an almost frantic pace. First, OF Matt Joyce, who was only in camp for 3 days, was dealt to the Braves for cash considerations. Then, C Rene Rivera was surprisingly given his release which virtually guaranteed C Aramis Garcia would make the Opening Day roster as the backup catcher. Then the trades started. Farhan sent RHP Tyler Herb to the Orioles for OF Mike Yastrzemski. Both players are likely have AAA as their ceiling. Farhan wasn't done. Next, he acquired OF Michael Reed from the Twins for OF John Andreoli. Again, these are similar players but maybe Reed hits for a bit more power? Reed is apparently a 40 man roster player so LHP Steven Okert was DFA'd to make room. It looks like Reed has bounced up and down long enough that he is likely out of options. Seems like a good bet another team will claim Okert who has some upside as a lefty reliever.
What this all means for the final roster, I give up! We'll just sit back and marvel at how it unfolds!
Schulman tweeted that the reason Bochy hasn't named a closer or rotation is that the Giants probably have potential deals involving both, Lol! I thought it couldn't get crazier close to opening day. Stay tuned next 4 days promise to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteMichael Reed and I share the same birthday - I guess I have a new favorite player! Allen Watson who the team traded for JT Snow also has the same BD.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to see if he hangs around for longer than 24 hours before you get too attached.
DeleteLOL - a strange Spring for sure. I'd sure like to ask management about Austin Slater - can play OF or First, good arm in the OF, hit all all minor league levels and had respectable numbers in the parts of two seasons with the big club, plus a RH bat. Not enough power? What is lacking?
DeleteSlater just doesn't get the ball in the air. His lowest GB/FB even in the minors is 1.5. That isn't going to cut it, especially with Farhan making the decisions.
DeleteOoops! I guess Aramis Garcia can't celebrate too soon. CJ Hinojosa traded to the Brewers, possibly for C Erik Kratz.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why you would release Rene Rivera then turn around and trade for Erik Kratz. Does Kratz have options?
DeleteHmmm....that would be a no. Kratz has been around a looong time.
DeleteI get the feeling that Farhan is getting the cold shoulder from other GM’s when he inquires about bigger trades. The mess he has inherited might be the biggest factor but I wouldn't doubt it if other GM’s are intentionally making it harder on Farhan because he is a new guy in a big role with very little leverage.
ReplyDeleteI have been frustrated like most with all of these piddly moves that seem highly unlikely to make any real difference. Maybe the reason Farhan has only made small moves is because other teams are waiting and hoping they get a bargain basement garage sale like Miami decided to do last offseason.
Miami gave away on a silver platter Stanton, Gordon, Ozuna, and of course Yelich for peanuts. Farhan at the very least has not torn down the team for low level prospects and a gauranteed last place finish. Instead he is trying to build a competitor with minimal resources and waiting for the tide to turn and teams to get desperate for pieces the Giants have.
Whichever direction this team goes after the first month or two should give us fans a better idea of what the future holds. If all these moves somehow work out and the Giants are in it by the all-star break I think we will all be pleasantly surprised and Farhan will be ready to bolster the roster at that point. If things don’t work out I would expect Farhan will be forced to accept lesser trades and commit to a more traditional rebuild. The in between being competitive and rebuilding is what drives me nuts. I want to see a clear direction like most fans and instead we are going to have to be patient and wait and see.
The big difference between the Marlins and the Giants is ownership's ability and willingness to carry a large payroll.
DeleteFarhan isn't a new guy on the block. He was LA's GM for 4 years and was the A's director of baseball operations and lastly the assistant general manager.
DeleteMay well be he's waiting them out -- he's got some stud pitchers he can deal.
BUT, not so keen on trading Hinojosa for an old backup C Erik Katz although he is positive D. Personnaly, C J was one of my favorites but he was may have been blocked with the Giants..
My theory is Farhan was not the guy calling the shots in LA and is in way over his head. Hope I'm wrong about that.
DeleteA straight up trade of Rene Rivera for Erik Kratz is a downgrade from Rivera. That's essentially what Farhan just did except he threw in a prospect(albeit a very low level one).
DeleteWouldn't Sabean have known that? I hope so, and, respectfully, hope you are wrong! ;<)
DeleteGPT twitter:
DeleteKratz was a much better def catcher last yr compared to Rivera. Rivera was average (56th/117), whereas Kratz was excellent. Kratz doesn't have as big of sample the past few yrs, but RR has declined to a bit above avg. I would assume the evaluation is Kratz is a step or two above.
Doc, always respect your opinion but hope you're wrong about Zaidi. That's why he needs to surround himself with good baseball people in the front office. He did hire his director of pro scouting Zack Miniason from the Brewers org, so I'm sure he had input on the Kratz trade. Didn't he hire Jp Riccardi as advisor? He's been a GM before with a couple of teams.
DeleteI guess if you put stock in framing stats from 490 innings or about 1/3 of 1 season, then yeah, Kratz is a better framer, but for their careers, they are both very good.
DeleteSeems to me Brian Sabean mentally checked out about 3 years ago. Not sure he was paying attention to what was going on the Dodger's organization.
DeleteKatz is interesting. Good clubhouse guy. Didn't reach the big leagues until 30 yo, but his glove kept him around 9 years. CS% is down but higher than league average.
ReplyDeleteBig guy, pathetic hitter, but has 30 dingers. 2 years control, $1.5MM, not cheap.
So it won't be Aramis until Vogt is ready..
Just an idea, but Fangraphs recently added catcher framing to its WAR calculation...
ReplyDelete2018 Rene Rivera FRM = 0.6 in 209 innings
2018 Erik Kratz FRM = 5.8 in 491 innings
Could Farhan's motive to be strengthening the defense/pitching?
Here is the Fangraphs article: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/war-update-catcher-framing/
-Roger
Fangraphs is getting a lot of heat for being premature with incorporating framing into fWAR. Even if you think it's the greatest stat in the world, it tends to have significant variability from year to year. If you put stock in 490 innings of framing stats, then OK, Kratz is a better framer, but over their careers, both Rivera and Kratz are very good.
DeleteMaybe Slater and a reliever could get a decent starting corner outfielder? Zaidi seems to be in over his head in terms of not working with a complete staff. Trying to upgrade U.S. player development, international scouting, major league scouting AND making front-office moves without a full team seems pretty daunting. It could be argued that doing so much so soon into his tenure is pretty much something a true grinder of a GM could pull off. It's way too early to judge his tenure. As this offseason free-agent market again has proved, rival GMs are obviously being tight with their money and holding high expectations for every transaction. From an analytics standpoint, the Giants have a pretty weak hand to deal from at this point. Given ownership's desire not to completely rebuild, Zaidi's hands are tied on two fronts.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't buy the notion that Zaidi's hands are tied and ownership has handed him an impossible situation. Why did he take the job if that's the case?
DeleteI agree i think someone like Zaidi would want the challenge of bringing the Giants back to prominence. While the Giants situation won't be fixed overnight, too many contracts with no trade clauses, it's not an impossible situation to fix but It will take patience. I'll give Zaidi a pass his 1st year, but no excuses after that.
DeleteWith a lead, Katz's D may allow late inning substitution. Depending on opponent pitching (L/R), Posey might come out or move to 1st?
ReplyDeleteHealth permitting, I woud like to keep Posey in the game as long as possible..And if we have a lead, I think I would rather keep Belt in at 1b where he can save some games...
DeleteMaybe Farhan is smarter than everybody with all these moves, let's hope so..But, is trading assets for somebody like Kratz when you had Riverra that much of an improvement and good asset management? I dont know....Ditto with the Connor Joe Situation...Maybe Farhan also just wants to rid himself of some of the former regime's so-so prospects..I domn't know..
Either way, all these moves flurry of minor moves just seem like switching chairs on the deck of the Titanic...I think the only way he really impacts flurry the current team is byt dealing a top 5 starter and one of Smith /Watson for a real OF....Maybe that is coming soon..or it will just have to wait till later in the season if an when the team falls by the wayside
SteveVA
Everything on Twitter says Kratz is total upgrade -- one of the best. Can't hit a lick but when he connects he'll hit a Big Fly.
ReplyDeleteA game changer? No, but is more than good enough when Buster needs to stretch his legs.
Liked Hundley but he was a liability behind the plate. He was as far below dWAR (B-Ref) as Kratz is above: -0.5 - +0.5! Hundley has more O, but both are replacement level.
Kratz won't pull a Grandal in the WS!
See 2 other responses above.
DeleteRivera was released as an agreement with management. I believe that he even asked for his release.
ReplyDeleteUh, yeah. Because the Giants weren't willing to commit to him as even the backup catcher, which is OK. But when Erik Kratz is the guy you move on to, what's the point?
Delete