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When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby | |
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When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby | |
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Giants 40-Man Roster
(w/2010 Salary, if known) PITCHERS
Affeldt (4.5 M)Bumgarner Cain (4.5 M) Hinshaw Joaquin S. Johnson Lincecum (9 M) J. Martinez Medders (.85 M) Pucetas Romo Runzler J. Sanchez (2.1 M) H. Sosa B. Wilson (4.4 M) Zito (18.5 M) CATCHERS
Molina (4.5 M)
PoseyWhiteside INFIELDERS
BurrissDeRosa (6 M) Downs Frandsen Gillaspie Huff (3 M) Ishikawa Pill Renteria (10 M) Rohlinger F. Sanchez (6 M) Sandoval Uribe (3.25 M) Velez OUTFIELDERS
BowkerFord Lewis Peguero Rowand (13.6 M) Schierholtz Torres OTHER
Bonds ($5 M deferred from '05 + interest)Gigantes
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I found it interesting that with such a desperate need for bats the Giants returned to old habits and drafted a pitcher in the first round .
That seems to suggest Sanchez will be on the trading block, no? Long-term there's not much space available for him anymore.
>That seems to suggest Sanchez will be on the trading block, no?
No. Wheeler is several years away from the big leagues. There's no direct correlation between drafting a high school pitcher and trading a big-league pitcher to make room.
And I strongly disagree with criticism -- which I take your initial comment to be -- of the Giants' "returning to old habits" and drafting a pitcher first. By all accounts the top talent in this draft was pitching. The only guy in the top ten that everyone said might help a team in the near future was Ackley, and he was gone by the time the Giants picked. Drafting according to need without regard to talent is considered a terrible draft strategy.
>The only guy in the top ten that everyone said might help a team in the near future was Ackley
Oops, that's supposed to be "The only HITTER in the top ten...."
No need to couch it ELM, this is clearly criticism: "desperate need"; "old habits".
I guess he would prefer the Giants select a hitter who they think don't have a good chance of making the majors instead of taking a pitcher who reminds them of Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Tim Alderson. Only lousy teams draft according to need when you have a top pick in the draft. As Sabean noted, this is a place in the draft where you need to get a good player, and they believe they have with Wheeler.
I think it speaks volume that the next position player drafted after the Giants pick was all the way back at 13th, another 7 picks later. And Grant Green was not really considered - for any team - for a top 10 pick, because he was not that good this season, he dropped in many estimations.
Why would we want the Giants to pick up a player with such question marks when they see a pitcher who is similar to Cain, Bumgarner, and Alderson?
I actually don't think Frandsen's move on the bases was very questionable. There was one out and he was hitting in the 7-hole and tried to stretch a single into a double. He needed to get to 2B in order to have any realistic chance of being driven in. Reward was greater than the risk and it took an absolutely perfect throw to get him, and even then it was a very close call.
I agree with aGiantman. Given our lack of power, I'd like to see lots more aggression on the bases. It makes no sense moving station to station on this team.
Panda's bomb was EPIC.
As I noted in a study, the Giants for the past few years have been scoring more runs for the #3 and #4 starters (and #5 to a lesser degree) than they were for #1 and #2 starters. Cain had been the #2 in prior years but this year is #3, plus he is pitching a lot more consistently than he has in prior years, leading to his great ERA thus far.
About Frandsen, there is no use to bring him up unless you are going to play him the majority of the time, since theoretically he should be sent back down once Ishikawa returns (and according to reports he will, the Giants have not given up on him yet). However, Frandsen is not necessarily the guy they send down either. Which begs the question: then who else could go?
It could mean that Burriss gets sent back to AAA, since he still has an option for this season (plus another for next season). It could also mean that Aurilia might be DFAed, though that would be surprising since he started hitting recently.
I would guess more the former than the latter. After starting hitting in early May, Burriss has been stone cold for almost a month, despite playing mostly on the road against bad teams recently. Since May 15, he has hit .225/.247/.268/.514 and only stole one base despite being on 1B 13 times during that stretch.
And he's been striking out at a good rate, for the most part, and his BABIP been around .300, so his .254 is pretty much all she wrote, apparently. He has been having problems make consistent contact: for a week or so, he would be totally on and hitting well, then he would be lost for weeks on end.
I think Burriss will be sent down if Frandsen can do a little hitting in Arizona, as a little hitting would still be more than Burriss has done, for the most part, this season. With no power to speak of, Burriss has to 1) hit for a high average, 2) bump up his walks, and 3) steal a lot of bases without getting caught. He's not doing any of those three right now. And he's gotten about 200 AB to show what he can do. I think the Giants will say that it's Frandsen's turn now, and, basically, put up or shut up.
I totally agree with your assessment. Frandsen should be up and Burriss should be down and this was the correct decision all along. One small point though, it is not Burriss' fault he hasn't been stealing bases. He is in the 8 hole and the Giants bunt him over practically every time he gets on, so he hasn't had many opportunities lately.
Frandsen is a utility player at best. Better than Aurilia, but not better than Uribe.
I bet you Burriss stays at 2B. He's just a better player who is in the learning process.
The Giants may, however, keep Frandsen over Ishikawa, who is strictly a one-position player whose only manged 6 extra base hits.
DProfessor,
The stats sure are not on your side. Burriss OPS is .601 (worst in the MLB) and Frandsen's projected OPS based on minor league equivalents is .722 which is about what he actually produced when he played 109 games for the Giants in 2007 (his last large sample size in the MLB). Burriss may ultimately have more upside than Frandsen but he can obtain this upside in the minors and meanwhile the Giants could be making use of a more immediately productive player in Frandsen. This would enhance his trade value and who knows he might beat expectations and be a league average 2B. League median OPS for 2B is about .785, so Frandsen is way closer to average than Burriss.
Time will tell. But I have a hunch Burriss is our 2B. If you watch all the games as I do, you know he's good but learning how to hit. Defensively, he's fantastic.
Frandsen's a good player to have on the bench, however. He plays all of his positions well.