When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

03.06.2008
Short Stopped, Part 2

Just when you thought Kevin Frandsen was the opening day shortstop, Bruce Bochy says mmmm….nope. Frandsen has had a case of the uglies in his brief time there this spring, and now the Giants say someone else will fill the gap left by Omar Vizquel.Neifiscream

This might be mucho ado about nada, as Vizquel could be back after the first week of the season. Still, adding a non-roster minor-leaguer such as Ivan Ochoa or Manny Burriss might make for 40–man roster headaches. As of now, there are 39 players on it, so a non-roster guy could join without anyone being cut. And despite my wishes, I’ll bet one or two of the relievers discussed in today’s earlier post will not survive opening day cuts, dropping the list to 38 or 37.

Still, it would be nice to have that wiggle room to add real players via trade or other means, not waste it for one or two weeks of a guy who will head right back to the farm when Vizquel returns.

Even worse, if the Giants don’t bring up a youngster as a stopgap, we might be forced to endure a couple weeks of Neifi Perez.



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[March 6, 2008 7:59 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Tom Clifton said

Don't discount Brian Bocock. He has great hands and just needs to lose the "light hitting" tag. The dinger in game 5 of the Cal league championships suggests that he can do it.

Sure it's a small sample but...

[March 6, 2008 8:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to Tom Clifton

About the smallest sample you can find, in fact. Peruse his career minor-league stats here.

[March 7, 2008 3:59 PM]  |  link  |  reply
rocketdog replied to ELM

Holey moley...yeah, I think that qualifies as "light hitting." If a guy's offense is at Vizquelian levels in single-A ball, I think it goes without saying that he's not ready for the big leagues, regardless of how well of a fielder he is.

[March 6, 2008 10:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

Thank God Perez (I think) still has some suspension time left on his positive stimulant drug test he flunked last season.