SB Nation User Blog: NorCalGiant

Prospecting John Bowker(notes), SF, 1/O – The Giants have hit the second-fewest home runs in the l...

NorCalGiant — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:41:11 -0000

Prospecting
John Bowker(notes), SF, 1/O – The Giants have hit the second-fewest home runs in the league. Its first base position has produced a .785 OPS, ranking No. 22 in the league. Its left field spot has generated a .675 OPS, good for No. 26 in the league. Its right field has generated a .728 OPS (No. 24 in the league). You see where I’m going with this … At Triple-A Fresno, Bowker, who played at least five games for the Giants in ’08 at each of the positions mentioned, is one of only two players still in the PCL with an OPS above 1.000 (1.033). He’s also one of three players with 10-plus home runs and steals (13/10). Oh, and he’s fourth in the league in walks (41) … and he’s hit five home runs in his past seven games. A former third-round pick in ’04, Bowker will turn 26 on July 8. Last season, he fared as well as you could expect in his 111-game rookie campaign with the Giants – .255 BA, .708 OPS, 10 HR. All of this is to say, I’m really not sure what the Giants are waiting for. His current production and age scream for another shot.

I have to believe in the Carney....

NorCalGiant — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:17:18 -0000

"You have to have that mix of veterans and young guys," said hitting coach Carney Lansford, who has watched the Giants gather 10 hits or more in nine consecutive games. "They kind of feed off each other."

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080914&content_id=3472877&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf

Overall I think this guy knows what he's doing. I haven't before seen the Giants hit consistently like this. I mean the Giants have really hit this year, although rookie mistakes (bad baserunning *Ishikawa*) and failure to get that one crucial hit has stopped them from scoring more often, I have to believe that Carney Lansford has done his job this year, for sure. I'd vote him best coach on the team, hands down.

I like Flannery because he makes me laugh with the way he waves runners in, but I dont know about how good of a coach he is....still wayy too many baserunning mistakes. Wotus has been steady with his work on the IF defense, I guess I might be taking his work a bit for granted.

Discussion topics: Who is your favorite coach? Do you think that Carney deserves our kudos?

Winn Value...

NorCalGiant — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:40:43 -0000

Winn Value...

Interesting to see someone prove that Winn has more value than Manny....perhaps we underestimate him?

Pablito..

NorCalGiant — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:09:12 -0000

Looks very good for this young man...I was looking into putting him on my 12 team mixed 25 man keeper league team and translated all his AA stats into a 163 game MLE (hey, it's possible...).

654 AB

.287/.312/.452

22HR, 36 2B, 3 3B, 84 R, 107 RBI

21/81 BB/K, 13% K

Those are pretty solid #'s, almost certainly ROY consideration type #'s. Just another great addition to look forward to with our SF Giants.

Understatement of the Year

NorCalGiant — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:51:10 -0000

Understatement of the Year

"We definitely need more production than what we're getting," Bochy said.

• Vanderbilt third baseman Alvarez (No. 2 overall, Pirates) and Florida State catcher Posey (No. 5, ...

NorCalGiant — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:41:44 -0000

• Vanderbilt third baseman Alvarez (No. 2 overall, Pirates) and Florida State catcher Posey (No. 5, Giants) will get the most lucrative deals in this year's draft, landing major league contracts worth more than No. 1 overall pick Tim Beckham's deal with the Rays.

From Baseball America

Lincecum...

NorCalGiant — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:00:27 -0000

We all know he IS "The Franchise"....but it is almost ridiculous now. The Giants as a team have 48 wins. 12 of these now belong directly (not even mentioning the indirect no-decision wins) to noone else but Mister Timothy "Franchise" Lincecum. I mean how much value can you put on AT LEAST 25% of the winning percentage of the whole team? Sure Matty and Durty have pitched well at times and been "Cained", and Timmeh has gotten pretty good support the whole year, but how much more reason do you have to have to sign this kid long term THIS OFFSEASON!?!? Talk about freakin no-brainers. Ok, rant off, as you were.

Upgrade the 2 hole?

NorCalGiant — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:26:40 -0000

Was looking at some fantasy info, and found this:

• As the trio of Randy Winn, Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand go, so goes the Giants offense. The three have combined to hit .321 in 655 at bats, while the rest of the team has hit a combined .237 in 1,554 at bats. The typical run-scoring scenario for the Giants: No. 3 hitter Winn gets on base (batting .324/.384/.524 in 145 AB with the bases empty), and either cleanup hitter Molina (.361/.387/.528 in 108 AB with runners on) or No. 5 hitter Rowand (.356/.427/.455 in 101 AB with runners on) drives him in. Something the Giants really need to work on is putting a legitimate hitter between Fred Lewis (.286/.365/.481 in 46 games at leadoff) and their 3-4-5 hitters. To that end they've tried Eugenio Velez (.205/.225/.359 in 19 G batting second) and Jose Castillo (.274/.312/.411 in 16 G batting second) with little success."

http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/mlb/news?slug=mb-splitsville061008

Which made me think that the FO may be buyers at the deadline looking for someone in the 2 hole in the lineup to get on base in front of these guys. Also made me think that they aren't going to trade Winn or Molina at the deadline, unless the potential suitors were bowled over by their production.

As we all pretty much agree on, the FO wont get rid of Bengie, because they can't lose his production, and they dont have anyone to replace him at C, much less the leadership he provides to the young staff.

As far as Winn goes, though, he's not one to bowl you over or beat you over the head with his stats, I mean you'd actually have to do in depth looks to find that this guy is really having a semi-productive year, just on a mediocre-bad team. His defense goes unnoticed, his offense is steady, but not overwhelming on any level, and it'd be hard to get equal replacement level for him value-wise, even though we have Nate ready to take his place.

*sigh*

I think that, you have the team that will be on the field for the rest of the year, save injuries, callups, or minor acquisitions (see above). We just may even be buyers at the deadline yet.

So who on the current team or what minor acquisition would you like to see to fill the 2 hole?...(keep in mind that he has to fill a defensive spot as well.)