Alright, here it is, finally, my take on the 2010 Giants infield:
Third base:
Let's state the obvious: Pablo Sandoval is awesome. He's more comfortable defensively at 3rd (moving him to 1st would be terrible) and, if he can be slightly more selective in what he swings at this season, he can hit 30-35 HRs. He'll be incredibly fun to watch and an All-Star contender. Backing him up, I believe, will be Ryan Rohlinger. Ryan had some time in the majors last season (only 26 At-bats) and, at 26, needs to prove he can make it as a big leaguer.
Shortstop:
SS is one of the most important positions on the field. Defensively, offensively, the SS should anchor the team. The Giants lack a really great shortstop. Edgar Renteria, coming off a career-low in average and a .970 fielding percentage, needs to be vastly improved if he wants to anchor the infield and, at age 35, this seems unlikely. The good news for the Giants is that they have the versatile Juan Uribe to back up Renteria (or to possibly take over starting, should Edgar struggle like he did this past year). Uribe will be 31 on Opening Day and is coming off his best average since his rookie season and he was 3rd on the team with 16 HRs last year, providing some much-needed power. Uribe should be starting shortstop this year, but expect him to take over down the stretch.
Second base:
Freddy Sanchez will be missed to start the season (when he's healthy, he provides excellent offensive pop). However, expect either Uribe or a youngster to start at 2nd for the start of 2010. This can be good news for Giants fans as Uribe is quite capable (See above) and it's fun to watch young kids get a shot at the big leagues. My money is on Kevin Frandsen to make the starting roster for 2nd base. While Frandsen has failed to impressive in his limited time in the big leagues (1 at-bats in 2008, 50 in 2009), he is a solid infielder who, I believe, will really thrive with some consistency. He's quick, has smooth hands defensively (he can turn a double play like it's poetry), and brings some pop to the plate. Whether he gets the chance to prove himself this season, however, remains to be seen. But he's a local kid and people like him, so let's hope for the best.
First base:
This is the infield position that is the most frustrating (for now). The Giants acquired Aubrey Huff to play first base (pushing DeRosa into unknown territory in left field, and going a little overboard on the infielders), thus pushing Travis Ishikawa onto the bench and possibly ending his career as a starter. Now, Huff does intrigue me offensively, but defensively he is a train wreck. Exhibit A: his first spring training game this season. He hits a HR and then proceeds to make an error later that same game. This is Huff's game in a nutshell. He may provide more power than Ishi (he hit 15 last year, but only 2 after the all-star break), but he also hit in a better ballpark then Ishikawa (who hit 9 HRs last year, 7 of them coming at the difficult AT&T park). Ishikawa also had 210 fewer at-bats and bested Huff in average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage in 2009. Defensively, Ishikawa wins a Gold Glove at 1st if he plays every day, while Huff is a liability. In the latest way to measure a player's value, the Ultimate Zone Rating (The number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs and error runs combined) (http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/uzr-on-fangraphs/), Ishikawa blows Huff away. Huff has a -6.8 rating, which Ishi stays in the positive at +8.1. (to compare, San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez has a rating of +3.8).
Just something to think about, next time Ishikawa is getting bashed.
Catcher:
There's not a lot to say on the position of catcher. Molina is an ok guy to have behind the plate for April-May, when his production will be good. However, after that, he'll start to break down, similar to last year. (He batted .300 in march-april and then struggled to get above .275 the rest of the season, finishing with a .265 average for the year). The biggest hope is that he will gracefully step aside when it's time for Posey to take over as the starting catcher (which will be mid-season, Posey does not need another full year in the minors). Defensively, Posey is ready now and will be a vast improvement on Molina when he takes over (watching Molina trying to throw out a stealing base-runner from July on last year was painful). All in all, nothing we can do about it. Molina will play probably through June, and then it'll be time to usher in the Posey era (thank goodness)!
There you have it, the final pieces of the 2010 San Francisco Giants.
Ishikawa at first base, that's all I'm saying...
Jen
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Take 2
Alright, here we go, the much anticipated run-down of the rest of your 2010 San Francisco Giants.
Outfielders:
We can start with the obvious: Aaron Rowand is going to be in center field. He's signed with a big contract, he will start every day, no matter his stats. It'll be frustrating at times, maybe even painful to watch him bat, but he will bring solid, if not fantastic, defense to his position. Plus, with Schierholtz (hopefully!) in right and DeRosa/Velez/Torres in left, Rowand provides a veteran presence out there.
Left field could be a bit of a debacle. DeRosa lacks any significant experience there and "may wind up being one of the biggest fantasy disappointments of '10" (http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=136660). Offensively, his career numbers mirror Rich Aurilia, but DeRosa's have less power. Richie was a great Giant, it would've been futile to re-sign him this year at the age of 38. For the sake of the Sabean, let's hope that DeRosa, at 35, is not a futile a signing. Velez and Torres should be given ample time during Spring Training to prove their worth for making the opening day roster. Both have speed (which the Giants sorely lack without them), but both also need to make improvements for 2010. Velez added more pop to his swing, hitting more HRs in 2009 in fewer at-bats, but his average fell as the season wore on. He needs more consistency. He could also stand to work on his defense in left. Velez improved defensively as the season wore on, so there's hope for him. Plus, he's only 27. Torres had a better fielding percentage, better average, and 1 more HR than Velez in 2009, but his age could work against him (32, with no full major league seasons under his belt).
As the season wears on, we'll hopefully get to see some of the amazing young outfielders the Giants have invited to Spring Training and will be lurking in the minors. Darren Ford intrigues me, as does Francisco Peguero, both of whom had great seasons in the minors last year. If John Bowker can learn to lay off the slider (or, even better, learn to hit it), he'll make big contributions this year. Also, be on the look-out for Roger Kieschnic, who batted .296 last year in single-a, with 23 HRs and 110 RBIs.
Lastly, right field should be a no-brainer for the Giants. This starting position should belong to Nate Schierholtz (it probably should've been his for a good part of last year, but that's beside the point). He is the best outfield that the Giants have. He has power potential (5 HRs in 116 at-bats last year is decieving), he's got the speed (anyone remember that inside-the-park HR?), and he has a cannon of an arm (10 outfield assists, 5 more than Rowand, who was second on the team). He is the whole package and the position player that is the most intriguing to me so far.
Alright, off to work. I'll get to infielders tomorrow. Thanks again for reading this!
Jen
Outfielders:
We can start with the obvious: Aaron Rowand is going to be in center field. He's signed with a big contract, he will start every day, no matter his stats. It'll be frustrating at times, maybe even painful to watch him bat, but he will bring solid, if not fantastic, defense to his position. Plus, with Schierholtz (hopefully!) in right and DeRosa/Velez/Torres in left, Rowand provides a veteran presence out there.
Left field could be a bit of a debacle. DeRosa lacks any significant experience there and "may wind up being one of the biggest fantasy disappointments of '10" (http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=136660). Offensively, his career numbers mirror Rich Aurilia, but DeRosa's have less power. Richie was a great Giant, it would've been futile to re-sign him this year at the age of 38. For the sake of the Sabean, let's hope that DeRosa, at 35, is not a futile a signing. Velez and Torres should be given ample time during Spring Training to prove their worth for making the opening day roster. Both have speed (which the Giants sorely lack without them), but both also need to make improvements for 2010. Velez added more pop to his swing, hitting more HRs in 2009 in fewer at-bats, but his average fell as the season wore on. He needs more consistency. He could also stand to work on his defense in left. Velez improved defensively as the season wore on, so there's hope for him. Plus, he's only 27. Torres had a better fielding percentage, better average, and 1 more HR than Velez in 2009, but his age could work against him (32, with no full major league seasons under his belt).
As the season wears on, we'll hopefully get to see some of the amazing young outfielders the Giants have invited to Spring Training and will be lurking in the minors. Darren Ford intrigues me, as does Francisco Peguero, both of whom had great seasons in the minors last year. If John Bowker can learn to lay off the slider (or, even better, learn to hit it), he'll make big contributions this year. Also, be on the look-out for Roger Kieschnic, who batted .296 last year in single-a, with 23 HRs and 110 RBIs.
Lastly, right field should be a no-brainer for the Giants. This starting position should belong to Nate Schierholtz (it probably should've been his for a good part of last year, but that's beside the point). He is the best outfield that the Giants have. He has power potential (5 HRs in 116 at-bats last year is decieving), he's got the speed (anyone remember that inside-the-park HR?), and he has a cannon of an arm (10 outfield assists, 5 more than Rowand, who was second on the team). He is the whole package and the position player that is the most intriguing to me so far.
Alright, off to work. I'll get to infielders tomorrow. Thanks again for reading this!
Jen
Monday, March 1, 2010
Getting Started
Hey y'all,
First of all, thanks for reading this! I've had a few people tell me that I should start a blog to empty my head of all my thoughts on the San Francisco Giants. So, here I am. For the most part, I'll be talking about Giants baseball in this thing, but occasionally I'll throw in some other pearls of wisdom. I know you're looking forward to that.
Since baseball season hasn't started yet (and Spring Training games don't even start until Wednesday) I figured today I'd do a little preview of the season. Now, please remember that everything here is merely my opinion (although I happened to think it's right), so don't get upset if you disagree.
1. Pitching:
Let's start with the most obvious strength of this team, the pitching. Obviously, between 2-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, all-star Matt Cain, no-hitter Jonathon Sanchez, and Barry Zito, plus whoever gets the 5th starting spot (my money's on Bumgarner, winner of many, many minor league awards), this could be the best starting rotation in Major League baseball this season. I might be biased, but even as I was typing that last sentence, this was reaffirmed in my own head. They're young (average age is 25.8) and they have alot of room to get better and grow, both together as a staff and as individuals.
The bullpen is also going to be great, though not as great as the starting rotation. Jeremy Affeldt anchored the bullpen last season with an amazing era of 1.73. Not only is Affeldt a great pitcher, he's a great leader for the younger guys in the 'pen and a good clubhouse guy. Brandon Medders, Sergio Romo, and Justin Miller all helped carry the team with era's under 4.00, and of course, closer Brian Wilson was 4th in the majors with 38 saves and a 2.74 era. Not a bad start. Add in guys like Alex Hinshaw (who struggled a bit last season, but I expect will recover nicely this year), Joe Martinez (who impressively came back mid-season after being beamed with a line drive off the head in April), and Dan Runzler (who had a ridiculous 1.04 era last season) and I'd say that Giants pitching, start to close, is going to be crazy good in 2010.
Ok, because 1) this is already longer than I thought, 2) i'm hungry and have pizza waiting for me, 3) the bachelor is on in only 2 more hours and i must get ready, and 4) i'm thankful you've gotten this far and i want to reward you by not dragging this on...i'm going to leave outfielders and infielders/catchers for another day (probably tomorrow).
Again, bless you for baring with me through my first-ever blog post.
Stay tuned for more Giants brilliance.
Jen
First of all, thanks for reading this! I've had a few people tell me that I should start a blog to empty my head of all my thoughts on the San Francisco Giants. So, here I am. For the most part, I'll be talking about Giants baseball in this thing, but occasionally I'll throw in some other pearls of wisdom. I know you're looking forward to that.
Since baseball season hasn't started yet (and Spring Training games don't even start until Wednesday) I figured today I'd do a little preview of the season. Now, please remember that everything here is merely my opinion (although I happened to think it's right), so don't get upset if you disagree.
1. Pitching:
Let's start with the most obvious strength of this team, the pitching. Obviously, between 2-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, all-star Matt Cain, no-hitter Jonathon Sanchez, and Barry Zito, plus whoever gets the 5th starting spot (my money's on Bumgarner, winner of many, many minor league awards), this could be the best starting rotation in Major League baseball this season. I might be biased, but even as I was typing that last sentence, this was reaffirmed in my own head. They're young (average age is 25.8) and they have alot of room to get better and grow, both together as a staff and as individuals.
The bullpen is also going to be great, though not as great as the starting rotation. Jeremy Affeldt anchored the bullpen last season with an amazing era of 1.73. Not only is Affeldt a great pitcher, he's a great leader for the younger guys in the 'pen and a good clubhouse guy. Brandon Medders, Sergio Romo, and Justin Miller all helped carry the team with era's under 4.00, and of course, closer Brian Wilson was 4th in the majors with 38 saves and a 2.74 era. Not a bad start. Add in guys like Alex Hinshaw (who struggled a bit last season, but I expect will recover nicely this year), Joe Martinez (who impressively came back mid-season after being beamed with a line drive off the head in April), and Dan Runzler (who had a ridiculous 1.04 era last season) and I'd say that Giants pitching, start to close, is going to be crazy good in 2010.
Ok, because 1) this is already longer than I thought, 2) i'm hungry and have pizza waiting for me, 3) the bachelor is on in only 2 more hours and i must get ready, and 4) i'm thankful you've gotten this far and i want to reward you by not dragging this on...i'm going to leave outfielders and infielders/catchers for another day (probably tomorrow).
Again, bless you for baring with me through my first-ever blog post.
Stay tuned for more Giants brilliance.
Jen
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