Thursday, May 14, 2020
State of the Giants: Current Roster
For the purposes of this discussion we will assume 26 man rosters with no DH as would have been the case had the season not been postponed recognizing that rosters for a shortened season may be different including a universal DH.
Likely Starting 8:
C. Buster Posey
1B. Brandon Belt
2B. Wilmer Flores
3B. Evan Longoria
SS. Brandon Crawford
LF. Alex Dickerson/Hunter Pence
CF. Mauricio Dubon
RF. Mike Yastrzemski
Bench: Rob Brantly C, Donovan Solano IF, Pablo Sandoval IF, Austin Slater OF
Starting Rotation: Johhny Cueto RHP, Jeff Samardzija RHP, Kevin Gausman RHP, Drew Smyly LHP, Logan Webb RHP.
Bullpen: Tony Watson(LHP), Trevor Gott(RHP), Tyler Rogers(RHP), Jarlin Garcia(LHP), Dany Jimenez(RHP), Jandel Gustave(RHP), Andrew Suarez(LHP), Tyler Anderson(LHP).
60 Day IL: Tyler Beede(RHP), Aramis Garcia(C).
Several listed players are "on the bubble" and could be supplanted by someone on the extended 40-man roster or a non-roster invitee.
Summary: Giants fans have to hope this is what rock bottom looks like. The "core" is a ghost ship running out the string. There are maybe three potential future building blocks: Dubon, YtY and Logan Webb. The rest are just passing through in the foamy waters of The Churn. It appears a big part of FZ's strategy was to acquire players he could flip for prospects at the trade deadline. His track record on those types of deals is quite good so far. Possible expanded rosters and universal DH probably won't turn this sow's ear into a silk purse, but could work in the Giants longterm favor by buying time to evaluate more players caught up in The Churn. Could the Giants have a surprisingly good season? Yes, but it would take several major bounce backs and breakouts to pull it off.
Grade D.
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Your "D" grade may be charitable!
ReplyDeleteLooking at the Giants from the retrospective Baseball Reference 2019 "Top 12 Players" isn't very good for 2020 without multiple rebounds − probably need a full 6-pack!
The cobbled together starting rotation looks maybe a little better than the offensive team but the relief corps could bring gasoline to put out fires.
Although a pretty bad team on paper, it could gel in a short season but 80 games may prove to be a drearily long time.
With no minor leagues to season guys that are close or might otherwise shine and get callups, prospects, veterans, and hopefuls like Bart, Duggar, Green, Shaw, are hurt while the faithful pray for some blasts from the past.
Maybe the good news is, with no fans in the stands, there won't be booing! And for Kaplan, he's probably glad he has a contract long enough to see new guys.
OTOH, strange things can happen and the playoffs will be expanded to 7 teams. Can SF escape the bottom 8? Doc only gave 4 NL teams a "B" or better in his Hot Stove Review and only LA made the playoffs last year so, look on the Brightside for Resurgence from the Graybeards.
Stay tuned.