Boy, the season as it was, was not going to be the greatest, but there were a few things I was greatly looking forward to: Cain getting better, Lincecum getting best, and Frandsen breaking out and becoming a starter. OK, maybe not a starter, but getting a lot of ABs a la Feliz when he broke out, getting consistent ABs all over the diamond. Lewis I'll believe when I see it, I have hopes for Ortmeier but know that years of poor performance in the minors says nix on that thought, Schierholtz don't have a spot, and I don't think Davis is the real deal.
But, Bam!, suddenly Frandsen's Achilles' heal burst, along with his season, and possibly his career - opportunities like this don't fall out of the tree that often, just ask Lance Niekro. This type of injury generally requires surgery and 5-6 months of recovery. He'll be lucky to make it back before the September call-ups.
Now, with Frandsen apparently out for the season, that causes a lot of things to happen. First is that Jose Castillo is pretty much guaranteed a spot, basically the spot that Frandsen was going to get, whereas before he was just backup in case anything goes wrong, like, for example, this injury. He might also get to start a lot, like Frandsen was suppose to do, depending on how his competition does. Second, and more importantly, Eugenio Velez, who is now Castillo's main competition, is now most probably not only making the team, but probably will get a lot of starts that Frandsen was going to get.
I believe the Giants were serious about giving young guys playing time, and now that Frandsen is out, that means Velez, who was already making the Giants think about giving him starting time with his great spring, will most probably see starting time at 2B, 3B, OF, probably even SS, much like Feliz did in the season he first played in a lot of games. Heck, though he hasn't hit well as a RHH, he is a natural righty, so he might even get some of the platoon game in LF with Roberts, instead of Davis, who has been pretty invisible this spring, it seems, I can't even think of what he has done, whereas Velez has been in the media constantly.
And that kind of leads into my third thought, which is that this might work out in giving Ortmeier starting time at 1B to start the season. Durham says everything is fine, that he is starting opening day, but this is not the first time he has cried "wolf". At least once every season he has been with us, there has been a 10-15 game period where he can't play, but he says he is almost ready to play, he just doesn't want to risk anything. So I expect him to waste a spot on the bench by having his cranky body unable to start, forcing the Giants to play Aurilia at 3B, Velez at 2B, and thus Ortmeier at 1B.
Heck, I hope the Giants just DL Durham to start the season - tear the bandage off the scab - and start Velez at 2B, Aurilia at 3B, and give Ortmeier 1B for a while. In any case, Castillo would be the utility guy plus get an occassional start at 2B and 3B. And Ortmeier has been turning around his hitting the past few games after it was made known that he's not guaranteed anything. Made it seem like he had been pressing and getting that ultimatum got him over the hump and just do it, instead of worrying each AB and not doing well.
I was not sold on Velez before, but he's doing more and more to impress me. Fred Lewis too. Hopefully, now that my Frandsen hopes were dashed, we can see Ortmeier, Velez, and Lewis get a lot of ABs and show what they can do.
C - Bengie Molina
ReplyDelete1B - Rich Aurilia
2B - Ray Durham
SS - Omar Vizquel (yea he's back)
3B - Jose Castillo
LF - Dave Roberts
CF - Aaron Rowand
RF - Randy Winn
opening day lineup....
you still think they wanna go young?
You know, when my son was born, I saw my late father-in-law's face, but as he grew he looked exactly like I did when I was a child, and now that he's older, he is becoming his own person with his own face.
ReplyDeleteThings are rarely as they will be when they start, things evolve, they change, imperceptibly sometimes, but eventually they show what they really are.
You ask if they want to get young. Well, you could be stupid about it and just trade every vet for "a bag of balls" or you can try to play your cards right and hopefully trade those vets for some young prospects, like Kelvin Pichardo, who we got in the Tucker trade.
It's not like the vets are holding back a Albert Pujols or A-Rod, who just mashed in the minors and just need a chance. All our prospects have their flaws (except for Lincecum, of course :^), and our joy will be getting to see if they can overcome those flaws and develop, or fall to the wayside.
I think the better sign is that the Giants dropped Steve Kline and kept Threets and Valdez, plus dropped Alfonzo and kept Holm.
Why give Ortmeier the start when he didn't do well to start spring training then started hitting OK? Make him earn his starts, why just give it to him if he doesn't produce? That is what spring training is for, for some players on the cusp, do or die. Make him hungry. He didn't play well enough overall to earn opening day start, but it doesn't mean he won't still get a lot of the starts in April still. So start Aurilia.
Same for 3B and Velez. Richie at 1B means 3B is open. As exciting as Velez is, he is still totally raw as a defender. People complained about Frandsen manning 3B and he at least played there regularly in college, Velez never did play there regularly that I can recall. Castillo at least has played there and for opening day, you really want to win that game, start the season off right, and do you want to risk losing that game with balls bouncing off Velez's glove? Perhaps you do, but I can understand why the Giants chose not to.
Next, you are playing around with different dates, Vizquel is making the home opener, not the season opener, Bocock is getting the start there I assume. At least Vizquel can hit over .600 OPS in the majors, Bocock could barely even do that at Advanced A ball, let alone the majors. Do you really want to argue that Bocock is the better solution? Assuming, that is, you want to win the game?
The outfield is clearly going to be vets except against lefties. But there's no guarantee that they will stay on the team all season. Things change, people can get traded. It's a fluid situation, a work in progress as Sabean likes to put it.
And look, the pitching staff got that much younger with the DFA of Kline and the placement of Threets on the roster. In fact, the entire pitching staff is very under 30 except for Zito.
Slowly but, for now, surely, as I've been making the point for a while.
And to spell it out clearly, the opening day lineup will not be the regular lineup, Bochy will mix and match the young guys into the lineup and see who can start hitting and take a starting position. It, as the ancient Chinese proverb goes, will be interesting times.
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