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

05.06.2008
Omar is Coming. Everyone Look Busy.

No, not that Omar, though you could say Vizquel’s rehab is coming down to the wire. He’s played a couple games in triple-A, and the Giants probably won’t keep him down much longer barring setbacks.

When he returns, it won’t shake up the lineup too much. He’ll either bat second or eighth. The past couple weeks Bruce Bochy has mostly settled on a Fred Lewis-Eugenio Velez combo at the top of the order, but with Velez’s struggles as noted yesterday, we might see Omar batting second and Velez dropping to eighth.

The short-term question: Will Vizquel make the Giants better? On offense, it won’t be hard. S.F. shortstops are hitting a combined .176 / .275 / .196, thanks mostly to Brian Bocock. (The bright spot: he and Burriss have combined for 8 steals in 10 attempts.) If Omar only matches his feeble output from 2007 (.246 / .305 / .316), it will still be a healthy leap.

Let’s predict Omar is better than last year but not as good as his career averages, split the difference and assign him a .322 OBP and .336 SLG. Sub those numbers for the current SS numbers, and the Giants lineup (according to this fun Web-based time-suck) scores about a quarter-run more per game. That’s one extra run every four games. Given the team’s tendencies toward close shaves, that one run could make a difference now and again.

On defense, Vizquel last year was still above average, according to BP’s “rate2” metric, with a 106. (100 is average.) But the same measurement gives Bocock an outstanding 121 for his brief work this year. 

Defensive stats are suspicious things, so let’s try another metric. The Hardball Times calculates how many balls a player reaches in his fielding zone. Last year Vizquel got to 88.6%; Bocock this year has reached 87.7%. If you think Bocock’s range is plenty good, then Vizquel last year was even better.

Arm strength is another matter, as is the state of Vizquel’s range after knee surgery, but I think it’s fair to say that unless Omar really hits the wall, his overall game will be an improvement over Bocock. But over Burriss? We just haven’t seen enough of him to say. I suspect the Giants will keep Manny as the back-up.

And what of Omar’s intangibles? Aside from teaching the rookies how to dress, being on the field every day with Eugenio Velez might speed up Velez’s on-the-job training. We can only hope.

All in all, it’ll be good to have him back. Bitch all you want about old farts on the roster, but the Giants won’t lose any energy or enthusiasm with Vizquel in the lineup. Give us one more shot of Omar Fu before you go, my friend, that’s all we ask.







[May 6, 2008 3:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Anthony said

a little off topic, but it is mostly about Zito:

http://tinyurl.com/3pykn8

[May 7, 2008 1:03 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to Anthony

That's a classic. Eric Byrnes combs his hair with a rock. BTW, the reporter on that piece, Mychael Urban, is now a half-way decent sports-talk guy on KNBR on the weekends. I can actually tolerate him, unlike most call-in show hosts.

[May 6, 2008 4:18 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Newman said

Ok, Malo, I have been following your blog a for a bit, but the Wire/Omar reference just made you a WHOLE LOT cooler....

[May 6, 2008 6:01 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Damn! Even cooler than already?