Back to fun stuff: The Merc’s Andrew Baggarly moonlights for Baseball America on Giants-related stuff (and cleverly disguises himself as “Andy Baggarly”). BA has posted his organizational report. Ladies and gentlemen: The future.
For those who prefer to stay on my site — bless your pointy little heads —here’s a summary.
Top ten prospects:
1. Angel Villalona, INF
2. Tim Alderson, RHP
3. Madison Bumgarner, LHP
4. Nate Schierholtz, OF
5. Henry Sosa, RHP
6. Nick Noonan, INF
7. Eugenio Velez, INF/OF
8. Wendell Fairley, OF
9. John Bowker, OF
10. Emmanuel Burriss, SS
Five years from now, Alderson and Bumgarner are projected to be in the starting rotation, along with Zito, Cain and Lincecum. That’s something to look forward to.
The bottom line is that the Giants’ pitching should be the envy of most organizations. That’s half the battle.
Baggarly also runs through the scouting changes for the Giants. No word if they’ve made big upgrades, but there’s certainly fresh blood.
If we consider the above list the best indicator of upcoming talent, the Aaron Rowand signing isn’t blocking anyone. Schierholtz and Bowker are corner outfielders; Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis, who accumulated too many big-league at-bats to be considered prospects, are nice role players.
Besides, Bowker isn’t ready for the bigs, not without at least a trial run at Fresno next year, and Schierholtz has plenty of holes in his game. I’ve argued before that he could use more time at AAA to work on his plate discipline.
If Bowker and Schierholtz prove ready, Randy Winn and Dave Roberts will be gone by the end of 2009, if not sooner. Rowand isn’t ideal, but if he gives the Giants three or four years of top defensive play in CF with 15–20 homers a year and a .350–ish on-base percentage, well, then they’ve probably overpaid but not by much. The more I think about his contract, the more I’m OK with it.
