SB Nation User Blog: GiantFan

Top 100 Prospects

GiantFan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:32:37 -0000

Top 100 Prospects

Kevin Goldstein from Baseball prospectus has issued his top 100 prosects. Bumgarner was 3rd, Posey was 9th, Villalona was 47th & Alderson was 60th.

Initial thoughts are that it's great that Bumgarner & Posey are rated so highly. Villalona & Alderson seem very low though, and whilst they may not be as highly rated as our top two i find it strange that there's so much difference between the two sets.

Rotation slots

GiantFan — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:42:48 -0000

Often pitchers get categorized into what type of starter pitchers are, whether they're an ace, a fifth starter, or third starter at best! It's one way to try classify pitchers, but often it seems to be used lazily (as are terms like fourth outfielders) and often gets biased by what type of team you're looking at (for example, Giants starters are negatively biased due to our strong pitching).

I noticed, and haven't seen mentioned, an article about this on Lookout landing, attempting to define the boundaries of this categories, using tRA+. If you're unfamilar with tRA+ then there's an introduction here.

With respect to the Giants it implies the following categories for our starting rotation:

Lincecum this year has a tRA+ of 152, which is obviously superb. Unsurprisingly that classifies him as a well above average #1 starter. Last year he had a tRA+ of 139 which would still have placed him as an above average #1 starter.

Cain this year has a tRA+ of 111, which is ok, but classifies him as about an average #2 starter. The interesting thing about Cain though, is though that the previous 2 seasons, he's had a tRA+ of 132 & 133, which puts him as a slightly above average #1 starter. Why his tRA+ is so low this year, i'm not sure, but looking at his numbers it looks to be down to the fact that his LD rate is higher this year (20.7 compared to 16.1/16.2) and his GB rate is lower (32.6 compared to 38.6/39.0)

Sanchez this year has a tRA+ of 113, which is decent, & classifies him as about an average #2 starter. Obviously that's a lot better than his ERA suggests, and Sanchez tends to have underperformed his peripherals quite a lot this year.

Zito has had a tRA+ of 92, down slightly from 96, and that puts him as an above average fourth starter.

Correia has had a tRA+ of 83, which is around the #4/#5 starter barrier. Last year his tRA+ was 140 which is pretty impressive, although obviously he was a reliever for a lot of the year, and it's very inconsistant with his previous performances.

Giants team up with CT again

GiantFan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:07:32 -0000

Tthe Giants have renewed their affiliation with the Conneticut Defenders for another two years, so it looks like Alderson & company will be there next year. It's a shame, as i'd have prefered them go to Carolina instead but they're going to stay put. I don't whether the rumours of them moving away from CT are true or whether we chose to stay or were unable to get another affiliation. What are people's thoughts?

Giants sign deal to use 3-D technology

GiantFan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:09:12 -0000

Giants sign deal to use 3-D technology

Apparently we've been the first team to sign up to use the 3-D motion capture system, designed to monitor players mechanics. Can't say i know anything about it, but it sounds interesting.

First FanPost about Joe Crede (and 397th Diary)

GiantFan — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:59:12 -0000

Noticed another article about us & Joe Crede (Sorry for inflicting upon you!). It doesn't give any new information about whether the trade will happen or not, but does give info on what both teams may be looking for in the deal & how far apart we seem.

San Francisco, the most likely suitor for Crede, and the Sox have disparate evaluations that carry ramifications for both sides.

A talent evaluator familiar with both teams said the Sox were miffed the Giants' offers for Crede included since-released pitcher Scott Williamson; pitcher Randy Messenger, who was optioned to Triple-A Fresno last week; and veteran outfielder Dave Roberts.

The source said the Giants believe Sox general manager Ken Williams' asking price -- one of the Giants' top prospects and a serviceable young reliever -- was too steep for a 29-year-old infielder coming off season-ending back surgery.

Story from Chicago Tribune

At least we seem to be offering around value for Crede (In other words, garbage) rather than something useful. If the White Sox are really expecting a top prospect & servicable reliever then that's ridiculous & you'd have to think even Sabean isn't that stupid! Knowing him he'll cave & offer up something useful, but hopefully we stick with our offers of garbage or just stop wasting our time.

Risk aversion

GiantFan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:11:11 -0000

If we make minimal moves this offseason it won't be the end of the world, and certainly better than making the numerous bad moves that have been mentioned, but there's on thing that i've found irritating about this offseason & that's managements continual policy of risk aversion.

I don't mean trading Lincecum type risks, that's just being foolhardy, but why does this organisation continually value the ordinary & safe option over the higher potential & more risky option?

It permeates everything they do, in front office selection, in managerial choices, in treatment of young players, in free agency, in trades.

We'd rather resign the incumbent Sabean than look elsewhere. We'd rather sign a safe option like Bochy than an unproven like Acta or Black. We'd rather a mediocre veteran like Aurilia than a young player like Frandsen. We'd rather resign Feliz than take a risk on Iwamura transfering to the US. We'd rather buy high on someone coming off a good year like Rowand than buy low on someone coming off a bad year like Andruw Jones or Sexson. We'd rather the known qualities of Hillenbrand & Chulk over the unproven Accardo.

If we continue this policy we're going to struggle as we have recently, because there are others who won't & will gain the rewards. This is unusually negative for me, but i just thought i'd make the point.

To use a terrible & pointless analogy in Soccer, it's like always settling for the safety of a draw over going for a win. The problem is, if you take a risk, win & lose some, you'll end up with more points than just drawing them all, because it's not a linear progression

Giants discuss Hideki Matsui

GiantFan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:58:37 -0000

According to this article:

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Baseball/2007/12/06/4710138-sun.html

Seems like a strange match to me, but i'm not sure how much truth there is to it. Also, there's more on the Lincecum/Rios situation, but nothing really new.

Corner Infielders for 2008

GiantFan — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:08:32 -0000

As the catchers for next season aren't that divisive i'm adding a discussion for corner infielders as well. Who do people believe should be the starting 1B & 3B for us next year?

Under Contract: Ortmeier, Aurilia
Expiring Contracts: Klesko, Feliz

By other 1B or 3B, it's sensible to be realistic & think of realistic free agent or trade targets, because we'd all love better corner infielders if possible!

Personally, it depends on what our outfield options are, i'm not overly high on Ortmeier but i'd like to see him get playing time to prove how good he is. If he's not going to get any in the outfield (which he's probably not going to get alot) then i'd like to see him at 1B.

It'd be nice if we could obtain a good young 3B (or 1B) via trade (perhaps for Lowry) but if not there isn't much available in free agency. Neither Aurilia or Feliz would excite me, but either could be ok as reasonable short term stopgaps.

Poll

Who would you like to see as our corner infielders next season?

Aurilia & Other 3B (or 1B)

1 votes

Klesko & Aurilia

0 votes

Other 1B & Other 3B

30 votes

Ortmeier & Feliz

29 votes

Ortmeier & Other 3B

50 votes

Klesko & Feliz

1 votes

Klesko & Other 3B

0 votes

Aurilia & Feliz

0 votes

Other 1B & Feliz

6 votes

Ortmeier & Aurilia

6 votes

123 votes | Poll has closed

Catchers for 2008

GiantFan — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:42:11 -0000

As the season winds down to a disappointing end, obviously thoughts turn to next year. In a way this is a good time of the year as hopes for next year are high, with all the different possibilities, before the practicalities of next seasons roster end up being a let down.

These points have already been discussed in other posts, but i thought it'd be interesting to see what the consensus is, by conducting a poll or two a day to determine next seasons roster & to get peoples thoughts.

Poll

Who would you like to see as our two catchers next season?

Other via Trade

6 votes

Alfonso

7 votes

Rodriguez

6 votes

Knoedler

13 votes

Other via Free Agency

0 votes

Molina

43 votes

75 votes | Poll has closed

Diary of Positives

GiantFan — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:06:45 -0000

The season has been a pretty disappointing one & there's been lots of negatives, but i thought, i'd focus on some the positives that have come out of this season

The season has been a pretty disappointing one & there's been lots of negatives, but i thought, i'd focus on some the positives that have come out of this season (in no particular order):

Lincecum - It's difficult to believe that he'd not played any higher than A ball before the start of the season, but he's come in & done a great job so far.
Lowry - Coming off a bad year, it was always going to be interesting to see how he bounced back, and it's been great to see him come back with a good year, boding well for both the future & any possible trade value
Bullpen - Coming into the year, there wasn't much hope for the bullpen, but whilst it's still not one of the best, it's more positive for the future, especially given the youth of our bullpen. Messenger has been a decent addition, Hennessey has done well as a setup-man/closer, Misch has done alright since coming up & Wilson has done very well.
Morris trade - Morris was coming off a terrible year & his contract was looking terrible. We managed to get both his contract off the books & a useful player (or two) for him, which we wouldn't have believed possible at the start of the year.
Benitez trade - Benitez was coming into the season with question marks over both health & ability. Whilst we had to absorb most of his contract, we managed to get a good player in return.
Play of young position players - Coming into the season there was still the question of when we were going to produce a decent young position player. Whilst none of our young players have set the league alight, Davis, Lewis, Schierholtz, Ortmeier & Frandsen have seen playing time & shown promise that perhaps we may have a future.
Draft - With 6 picks in the first & supplemental rounds, the draft was always a promising avenue this year. There may be some disagreement over some of the picks, but it's nice to have an infusion of young talent to the minor league system.

Other honorable mentions:

Cain for continuing to pitch well & show good composure in a tough year.
The Sweeney trade for getting something of use out of a trade of Mark Sweeney.

Poll

Which has been your most positive moment?

Lincecum

99 votes

Young position players

5 votes

Lowry

4 votes

Draft

4 votes

Bullpen

1 votes

Cain

9 votes

Morris Trade

3 votes

Sweeney Trade

0 votes

Benitez Trade

5 votes

130 votes | Poll has closed