Huff Decision: Who Leaves the 25 Man Roster?

With Huff able to leave the DL today, the Giants now have to make a decision on when to bring him back to the team.  Most of the public talk so far centers on Huff returning today, but not that long ago, they were sure he was going to be going on a rehab assignment in order to get his bat back into shape since he's been out for 2 weeks (though I would note that while he has not been in game situations, he has been spotted taking batting practice with the team during his time on the DL).  What had interested me was:  who gets voted off the 25-man roster to make space for Huff?

Giants Thoughts

The guy who would normally be the obvious one to send back is Joaquin Arias, but he has hit well enough that the Giants might want to keep him around.  He is currently hitting .286/.310/.393/.703 plus some sparkling SS, which probably makes him the preferred RH starter at SS among Emmanuel Burriss, Ryan Theriot, and himself, in terms of defensive ability, when Bochy feels like resting Crawford for any reason against LHP.  And while that batting line is not that great, it is much better than either Burriss and Theriot so far.

Emmanuel Burriss continues to frustrate the Giants, showing good batting discipline, only 6 K's in 54 AB and with 4 BB, but his batting average is only .259 and his ISO is zero, nada, zilch, as in no extra base hits at all. Leading to his lousy .570 OPS so far, though with a subpar .292 BABIP, which is low given his speed, and yet probably about right because his career BABIP is .285, and his career LD% is a low 14.9% (20% is league average, if I recall right), and his GB% is very high 61.3%, which results in a low FB% of 23.9% (and even lower in 2012 at 19.6%).  Still, he's useful as a utility guy who can play almost every position on the field except for pitching.  

Meanwhile, Theriot has been hot and cold, but mostly cold too, at .208/.235/.229/.464 overall.  He was brought in to be a good RH bat off the bench, but so far he's not hitting either RHP or LHP particularly well, in fact, both are pretty close to each other (.499 OPS v. RHP; .488 OPS v. LHP).  He has not done a lot to have a strong hold on his roster spot either.

Another option might be Conor Gillaspie, who was called up when Sandoval was put on the DL for his hamate bone fracture and subsequent surgery.  While not a lot of ABs, he's only hitting .188/.188/.250/.438, though only 2 K's in 16 AB, but no walks and not that much power.  He also made a crucial error in yesterday's game that costed Cain the win.  One thing I have not seen mentioned is that Huff has played 3B in the majors before, albeit, perhaps on the same low defensive level as Bob Brenly (who once made, if I recall right, 3 errors in a game once, or was it 4?).  In addition, Arias could play 3B, though the scuttlebutt was that he did not show much defensively there in late spring, and thus lost any consideration for making the 25-man at that point.  And there is Theriot and Burriss as well, though I don't recall any mention of their prowess there.

Clearly Hector Sanchez is safe.  He has hit well enough to get good notice, and his handling of Zito (as his apparently personal catcher) has already earned him starts with Bumgarner recently as well, to give Posey time at 1B or resting.

Brett Pill is another possibility.  Not that he has actually done anything to deserve a send down, he has hit well and with power (.300/.382/.500/.882, ISO 200 in 30 AB with only 4 K's) and, more importantly, hasn't looked lost defensively.  But he has the unfortunately luck to be the only guy with an option left to use, and the Giants might use it, per some of the media.  But Bochy's comments on Huff returning noted that Huff would be starting in LF mostly while Belt/Pill would handle 1B, which would be hard to do if Pill is sent down, plus could send the wrong message.

Side tangent:  many #FreeBelters seem to take umbrage that Belt does not get to start against LHP, noting that he did well in the minors against LHP.  First off, he has barely had more than a year of minor league stats, and all saber observations I've seen would note that no hitter faces enough LHP pitching in a year to make a definitive statement about his ability to hit against them.  Still, even if that was true, that puts him in the same situation that Schierholtz has faced in the majors, namely that he has sucked so far against RHP, making his usefulness lessened since the majority of pitchers throw right-handed. 

Second of all, there is no indication that Brett Pill isn't a good prospect to do well in the majors.  He has hit well in the limited play he has received so far in the majors, something Belt cannot say.  He did very well in AAA in 2011.  The odds are greatly against him, but the experts have been wrong before.  My favorite example of this is Brandon Webb's ascent to ace of the D-backs rotation, as a non-heralded prospect (not one mention of him in his team's pre-season prospect report), while the much more highly touted Baby D-backs all failed to do any thing in the majors.  So why not give him opportunities against LHP in a platoon with Belt, who has not been really consistent with his hitting.  As Sabean noted in a recent interview with Scott Ostler, the Giants believe in Belt, they want him to be THAT guy for us in the lineup, but so far he has not earned more opportunities.  While he's learning, lets see what Pill can do too.

Back to the roster decision, that leaves Gregor Blanco and Nate Schierholtz, neither of which is going anywhere.  Both have hit well enough to keep their spot on the roster, but just not well enough to get a starting spot.  Nate briefly earned it with his hot hitting, then just as quickly, turned cold (after that great Mets DH display of hitting he did), as he is wont to do, typically due to injury, though this time I don't recall anything happening.

Lastly, unlikely, but a relief pitcher could get sent down, at least for a little while, to put off the position player decision.  But that is doubtful, as there is only one day off over the next 

So who goes?  There is nobody really obvious right now to me.  If it were me, I would not send down Pill.  He's been doing well and is one of the few (only?) power bat off the bench.  Burriss seems the most obvious to go, but his speed and versatility is probably something the Giants greatly value, plus he still has good batting discipline in avoiding strikeouts and taking some walks.  That leaves Theriot as the one who would get released when Huff returns.

And that makes some sense, as it was Arias who was brought up when Huff was sent down, but the Giants also admitted that they were shorthanded in MI without two backups there as well, which then means that they keep Burriss, Arias, Theriot for now, and put Pill down to the minors, and call it a numbers game.

Shankbone commented that he thinks Schierholtz is the one who goes, in trade.  That is certainly a possibility, and we have seen Nate's name pop up in trade rumors when there is a roster crunch situation.  Like him, I would have mixed feelings about that as well, as I really like Nate and think he can be a good starter for us, if he could just find some consistency, instead of being a Jeckyll and Hyde.  

Push comes to shove, gun to my head, I don't think that happens.  The Giants have liked his skill set previously and continue to give him chance after chance to start and make the position his.  Perhaps this is their last straw, but without inside connections, don't know if this is true or not.  

Burriss is the One Who Goes?

I think Burriss is the one who has outlasted their patience.  He's still doing everything that they have tried working with him on, to improve his contact, and so far his numbers are horrible this season.  There is value to his speed and versatility, and that is probably what they will try to sell if they should release him, but I think Arias has made Burriss expendable.  

Remember, Arias was one of the last cuts, so the Giants like what he did and he has done OK so far in the majors for us.  Unlike Burriss.  I think I mentioned this in pre-season, that I think that Burriss is getting his last chance to show what he got to the Giants, and if there are no improvements, they will move on and release/trade him.  And so far, no real improvements, other than defense.  I think I noted that the Nationals could be interested in him for his speed and versatility, but also because  he's a local DC prospect who made the majors, which would be good publicity for them and him for a while.

Theriot also does not seem to be a candidate.   He was brought in clearly to be a good veteran RH bat off the bench, a need that still exists.  His career hitting vs. LHP is very good, and his only bad full season against LHP was 2010, giving encouragement that this current slump is just something that will work out in time.  

In addition, both Charlie Culberson and Nick Noonan has done well recently in AAA, and I have to think that either would be able to do what Burriss has done, except for the speed, and both have had experience playing both MI spots as well.  Plus Blanco seems the one to be the speed guy off the bench, he was wild on the basepaths during spring and Burriss, despite playing so much so far, has not stolen many bases, just 2, same as Schierholtz.

Gillaspie Goes

Ultimately, I think it is Conor Gillaspie who goes.  I think the Giants still want to give Burriss one more chance to show what he can do.  I think they will rotate in Arias, Burriss, and Theriot to start at 3B for them, plus maybe even give Pill a start there.  And remember, getting sent down is a 10 day deal, so the Giants could still pull back Gillaspie if this rotation don't work out well, as Pablo will be out for at least another 2 weeks even with that 10 days.  

It might be different if Gillaspie had started out hot, but he's hitting worse then Burriss and Theriot so far.  Still, I think the Giants think well of his bat and while his defense is probably something left to be desired still, guys who know how to use their bats are a bit of a premium on the Giants, so I think he will get his chances eventually, just not right now.

Plus, there is the Freddy Sanchez decision that probably eventually will crop up sometime in the next month, and who would go in that case?  Can't hold onto all those MI's.  They will need to decide on what to do about Burriss, if he is a keeper (which means Theriot or Arias goes) or if they have to move on. 

But even now, I'm not sure what will happen.  Any thoughts?