tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post7213338263409255514..comments2024-02-23T20:49:09.057-08:00Comments on obsessivegiantscompulsive: Your 2016 Giants: Post-Season Presserobsessivegiantscompulsivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-84227738291712102112016-11-02T11:40:32.261-07:002016-11-02T11:40:32.261-07:00Thanks for the additional info on Brown. I had fo...Thanks for the additional info on Brown. I had forgotten that he was utility guy at UCLA. That extra context is great, I totally see your point. Plus, the Giants love versatility from their backups, this could enable them to utilize his bat, but then keep him in by replacing someone in the infield, and he could catch if necessary.<br /><br />As I noted above, I agree with you that between hitting and defending, better to have a good defender. Nothing against Hector or Susac, though, the Giants wanted their bats and I liked it too, but I prefer getting a good to great glove at C, like when we had Stewart, I really thought he would be our long-term back-up catcher (provided one win as backup catcher, just from defense), plus he had a good contact bat that I thought could develop too, much like I'm outlining above with Brown.<br /><br />Say, do you happen to know what his heritage is? He looks like he's mixed, with some Asian background.obsessivegiantscompulsivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-48449601495894225032016-10-28T05:43:53.185-07:002016-10-28T05:43:53.185-07:00I'm on the happy side with Brown.
So look a...I'm on the happy side with Brown. <br /><br />So look at his career. First was college at UCLA -- he played three years at catcher, first base, second base, third base, and right field. He was a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none kind of prospect because the Bruins could plug him in to shore up weak spots.<br /><br />As a Giant prospect he played 2B at Augusta in 2013. In 2014 he went back to catcher and played at San Jose then Sacramento. Then, 2015, started at Sacramento and was called up by the Giants by mid-season.<br /><br />When you think about how little he's played the position at any significant level, and how short his minor's career was, yet has actually put up a positive defensive metric according to FanGraphs 3.3) that put him ahead of a number of starting catchers and ahead of most back-up catchers...<br /><br />So he's come a very long way in a very short time. And while he's probably a 'limited ceiling' kind of guy, his defense is better (significantly) than Sanchez's or Susac's. And since B/U catchers generally don't hit due to lack of playing timee... I'd rather go for the good defender.MosesZDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12702323080585738748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-67458710383448842592016-10-24T22:27:47.724-07:002016-10-24T22:27:47.724-07:00I've been kind of mixed on Brown. Not that go...I've been kind of mixed on Brown. Not that good a hitter in the majors, haven't really heard of him being that good defensively, not like I did other backup catchers like Whitey, Stewart, Susac. <br /><br />But looking at his numbers gave me hope. He's only 24 YO, and if you look at his minor league stats, despite being on the young side, he had a good contact rate, able to keep his strikeouts down. And he walked at an OK rate. So he could get better offensively as he gets older.<br /><br />Looking at defense, Fangraphs actually has him contributing positively defensively, despite not playing that much (although DRS has him really bad). Plus he improved defensively over 2015.<br /><br />And if you look at his "pitching stats", it looks bad compared to Posey, but a lot of the guys he had to catch where the pitcher didn't do well were our worse starting pitchers: Cain, Peavy, Suarez. Peavy should be gone, and we don't know where Cain and Suarez will be pitching in 2017, exactly what role. However, take away their bad numbers with Brown, and these pitcher would look very good or much better: Cueto, Casilla, Okert, Osich.<br /><br />Ideally we get a really good defensive catcher to be backup, so that when Posey sits, while we lose offensively, the backup makes up for it with defense. Been wanting Molina's oldest brother all these years, but now too old. <br /><br />But as much as we like to talk about Posey's value behind the plate, sometime soon we will need to replace him with someone, so the Giants need to start auditioning between Brown and then Garcia, see who sticks, see who can rise. <br /><br />And a team generally don't live and die with their backup catcher. So I'm OK with Trevor, he seems to have some offensive potential based on what he did in the minors, and how his defense improved a bit from 2015 to 2016. So I'm OK with him for 2017, but it's a year by year thing, and we'll reassess next off season and see how he did, how Garcia did. <br /><br />Thanks!obsessivegiantscompulsivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-77697694704088005562016-10-24T18:15:30.615-07:002016-10-24T18:15:30.615-07:00I agree about Smith--I thought we'd see more o...I agree about Smith--I thought we'd see more of him as the replacement Affeldt. And Jose Aguacil is on my radar, too, I also believe he is being groomed to replace Boch. How do you feel about Trevor Brown in 2017?<br />M.C. O'Connorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12258035192484655635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-81290517034428521592016-10-20T22:36:19.775-07:002016-10-20T22:36:19.775-07:00Forgot to mention Hunter Cole and Austin Slater as...Forgot to mention Hunter Cole and Austin Slater as dark horse candidates for the OF. Cole has been killing it in AFL. And Slater did well in AA and AAA. Duggar also did OK in AA, and plays CF, so if Gorkys should struggle...obsessivegiantscompulsivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.com