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

05.05.2008
Clank. Doink. Clunk.

VelezThe Eugenio Velez Experience rolls on, and it ain’t pretty. His two gaffes yesterday (the first was officially Castillo’s error, on a low throw that Velez should have caught) cost the Giants the game, and his O isn’t making up for his shoddy D. He’s not walking; he’s not having good at-bats. I’m not sharpening my pitchfork, but it’s fair to ask if Velez — and the Giants — would be better served if he started every day as the Fresno second baseman. He needs reps in the field, and he needs to learn to get on base by any means necessary.

He could learn on the big stage, but we’ll have to suffer through more games like yesterday’s.

Speaking of learning curves, the Giants have six straight games, including yesterday’s, against lefty starters. Pittsburgh has three lined up, then Philadelphia’s Hamels again followed by Jamie Moyer. Fred Lewis sat against Hamels yesterday, but Bochy told the press Lewis will play during the all-lefty run. He’s only had 6 ABs this year against lefties, and this is the perfect opportunity for a long string. Pittsburgh’s three aren’t blue-chippers, so he should play all three games. It’s the rarity of exposure to a lefty — the breaking pitch tailing away, the fastball and sinker cutting in — that makes it difficult for left-handed batters to succeed against them.

If their rarity alone is enough to make them harder to hit, why don’t LHPs get RHBs out all the time, too? Good question. Think of a batter’s field of vision as he faces the pitcher. For a RHB, a lefty’s curve or slider starts high and away, easier to see and gauge earlier than a breaking pitch out of a RHP’s hand, which starts high and in, i.e., visible over the batter’s shoulder.

The field of vision, plus the movement of the breaking ball away, gives RHPs an advantage against RHBs, too, but the familiarity — the sheer amount of right-handed stuff that RHBs face over their careers — mitigates the difference somewhat.  

Other tidbits:

* Chase Utley’s home run off Cain was a masterpiece of hitting. Great pitch, a curveball down and away, and Utley put his short sweet swing on it and sent it out to the deepest part of the yard, left-center field. Wind or no wind, it was studly. And it makes Lincecum’s work the next day against Utley, the league’s hottest hitter, that much more impressive: 1st inning, man on second and one out, strikeout looking; 3rd inning, first and second with no out, fly to center; 5th inning, first and third with no out, pop to second.

* Keep an eye on Saturday’s pitching matchups. It’s when the Giants next need a fifth starter, unless Jonathan Sanchez goes on three days rest. (This page lists Sanchez as the starter, but it’s not going to happen.)

* Erick Threets is rehabbing in Fresno. He’s already thrown a couple innings. How long can he rehab before the Giants have to make a decision? It’s going to be tough, as there’s no room for him right now. Hennessey apparently has an option and could trade places with Threets, but his ability to throw multiple innings, no matter how gruesome’s he been so far, is an asset while the rotation gets sorted out.

Today’s question: Can you abide by Velez’s defense, even in a rebuilding year? If you were the GM, how much of his current performance — crummy D, a sub-.300 OBP, sketchy baserunning — do you tolerate before sending him down? Another month? Til the All-Star Break? A full year?







[May 5, 2008 5:43 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

You've missed the multiple times he's come to the plate, with 0 or 1 out, runners on and the assignment to 'move runners over' (i.e., ground ball to Rt side or fly ball deep enough to advance/score runners. And on multiple occasions he bounces out to the left side on the first pitch - always a pitchers (ground ball) pitch.
I say you play him another month or so and look for improvement. the problem is the 'to do' list is so long and varied: 1) learn to catch, 2) learn to throw, 3) learn when/how to be called off of pop ups, 4) learn to work the count, 5) learn situational hitting, 6) learn to bunt effectively. A case can be made for learning these on the job. It is possible he misjudged yesterdays ground ball as it was only his 3d game at Citizen's park - maybe the yard plays a little faster than it looks.
On the other hand, if there isn't a pronounced improvement over the next 4,5 weeks, being sent down with a specific assignmewnt list may be a good idea. 3, 4 errors, metal or physical a game oes not earn you MLB playing time.

[May 5, 2008 5:55 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

I think as long as Durham isn't hitting at least .800, we have to give Velez playing time, with how much a function of the difference in OPS between him and Durham. With an OPS near 600 though, Velez isn't making the case to give him more time. But by the end of May or so, if he's still scuffling at .600 with little improvement, then I could see him going down when Vizquel comes back.

Have to say it again, Frandsen is missing out on a huge opportunity, my heart really goes out to him on this. With no one else really doing it at 2B, Kevin could have took it if he hit like he did at the end of last season.

Perhaps that is another reason why Burriss is up here, he's been playing 2B a lot too, so if he shows anything in his trial up here, he might stick after (if) Vizquel comes back and get into the rotation at 2B.

Just goes to show the people who think it is easy to go young that there is a reason why minor league stats are a strong indicator of how they might do in the majors. Velez has never even hit well in the minors, let alone majors. Same goes for all our other prospects, other than Schierholtz. Most experts think he is going to be a utility player. Exciting player, but a utility player, nonetheless.

Yeah, I've been wondering about Threets too. The two logicals are Hennessey (didn't know he still has an option) and Yabu, but with Zito in the bullpen, wouldn't he be the logical guy to go for multiple innings? Thus Yabu (dabu do) might go down again. Plus, Valdez did it once for 2 innings, so there is that as well, though it looks like set-up is his role now.

[May 5, 2008 6:09 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Paul R. said

I'd say that Velez should be sent to Fresno ASAP, except what else do the Giants have at 2B if Durham is hurt?

I love Velez's potential to be a catalyst with his speed, but he's clearly not ready to hit major league pitching. As of now, he's a bad player, and what do the Giants have to gain from keeping him around as a bad player? To kill his confidence?

Part of the rebuilding process involves not stunting a player's growth, and I think the team is best served at this point playing Velez every day at Fresno to work on his D and his plate discipline. I think he'll be a good ballplayer, but right now he isn't helping anyone's cause.

Then again, if Velez and Durham are putting up identical batting lines with equally poor defense, then by all means, play Velez.

[May 5, 2008 8:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman said

Are you sure about Hennessey still having an option remaining? Seems to me has has already been optioned three years (2004 contract purchased on August 6th and optioned on August 18th; 2005 3 times on March 21st, May 2nd, and June 2nd; and 2005 on March 27th then recalled on April 16th). So what would make Brad eligable for a forth year of options?

[May 6, 2008 1:13 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to giantsrainman

I'm not sure, I was going on memory of hearing it somewhere else. So I could be wrong.

[May 5, 2008 8:52 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Oooo! Reebay said

I say leave him up the whole year, because he's one of the most entertaining Giants to watch, errors and all. He's really cool looking, is incredibly fast, and you never know what to expect. As bad as the Giants are going to be this year, we need all the entertainment we can get.

[May 5, 2008 9:06 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman said

I found the answer to my question and you are correct. 2004 was not a obtion year from Brad Hennessey because he spent less the 20 days (10 to be percise) in the minors (August 18th to the 27th after his contract was purchased.

"If a player’s optional assignment(s) to the minors total less than 20 days in one season, an option is not used."

According to: http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2003/01/transactions-glossary.html

In fact Brad has two option years remaining because March 27th to April 15th in 2006 was also less the 20 days (19 to be percise).

[May 6, 2008 11:33 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Mr Lomez said

During March I was beating the Velez drum as hard as the next guy, but yikes, this guy is a mess in the field. I think we need to start calling him E-genio Velez.

But I'm not convinced there's an obvious solution here. As others have mentioned, it's not as if Durham's glove is a marked improvement, and even once Omar returns the Giants are gonna need 4 middle-infielders on the roster.

I suggest, at least for the time being, keep on keeping on and let the kid try and work out some of these kinks. Age and experience wise Velez is ready to be a major-leaguer right now, so if he can't contribute this season then he'll likely never fit into any long-term plans anyway.

Any realistic Giants fan knew that these very things Velez is going through would be the curse of the 2008 season. It's not like we didn't see this coming. But I'll admit, it's a lot easier to accept this stuff in the abstract than it is to actually see it on the field, costing the Giants ballgames.

[May 6, 2008 1:03 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

Frightening Thought of the Day: Velez used to play SS.

[May 7, 2008 9:59 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Lyle said

I was looking forward to seeing Velez in SF this year, but I must say I'm disappointed so far. As mentioned on another site, he seems to lack baseball instincts...and that's not something he's likely to pick up (1) at this age and (2) at this level.

I think he should go to Fresno and play 2B there every day. Let Burriss stay and share 2B with Durham (and also be the backup at SS for Vizquel) while Bocock and Velez go down to AAA.