Breaking news broken by Andy Baggarly: The Giants call up Travis Ishikawa, Pablo Sandoval, and Ryan Rohlinger and send down John Bowker and Stephen Holm plus DFA's Jose Castillo.
The trio has been on fire in the minors, particularly after getting promoted to the next level. Ishikawa was batting .312, Sandoval owned a .339 average and Rohlinger was at .296, according to sfgiants.com.
Meanwhile, Bowker has been ice cold for a long while, Holm has never recaptured his early season shininess, and Castillo hasn't been good for a long while.
No, Thank You!
But thank you to Castillo for filling a hole in our roster for as long as he did. He kept the spot warm, essentially, until Rohlinger could figure some things out in the minors. And who knows, both Boston and Tampa are both missing 3B, perhaps they would be willing to throw us a prospect so that Castillo can stop-gap for them (though I had been hoping either of them would send us a decent prospect in exchange for Aurilia)
And Holm got to experience the big leagues for most of the season, something he most probably wouldn't have gotten to do if Alfonzo didn't have his problems then got suspended again for PEDs. I don't think he'll be making the majors again, barring injuries.
And thank you to Bowker for giving us Giants some early season hope in this transitional rebuilding year. He was actually not doing that well early on, despite all those homers against the Cards, but moved things up a giant notch in June, but just couldn't adjust back in July and August when other teams started figuring him out. Some think the Giants blew it by bringing him up too early, but given that he hit .325/.373/.584/.958 in June, with 4 HR in 77 AB, I think he was ready to come up, he just wasn't able to adjust back lately. I assume this is not the last we see of him, he will certainly come back up in September and will be in the mix at 1B and OF in 2009.
New Trio
Ishikawa, 24, first hit .291/.382/.462/.844 in AA with 8 HR in 234 AB (30 AB/HR) then was promoted to AAA and hit .310/.370/.737/1.107 with 16 HR in 171 (11 AB/HR). He takes over for Bowker in hitting against RHP at 1B and hopefully will see time against LHP as well.
Rohlinger, 24, first hit .285/.368/.419/.787 in hit happy Advanced A San Jose with 7 HR in 277 AB (40 AB/HR) then actually brought things up a notch at AA, where power goes to die normally, and hit even better, .296/.358/.497/.855 with 6 HR in 159 AB (27 AB/HR).
Sandoval, newly 22, first hit a scorching .359/.412/.597/1.009 in San Jose with 12 HR in 273 AB (23 AB/HR) then almost kept it going in AA by hitting .337/.364/.549/.913 with 8 HR in 175 AB (22 AB/HR).
So our young crew has been heating things up in the minors for much of the season, though I must temper any newbies thoughts that this all mean they will dominate up here, it is much different down in the minors than up here, there are actually pitchers up here who know how to pitch, unlike the minors, and they will expose you fast once they figure you out, much like Bowker, or Niekro before him, or any prospect ever. Here are their MLE's:
Ishikawa: .267/.319/.595/.904, with 12 HR in 176 AB (15 AB/HR) based on AAA
Rohlinger: .248/.297/.399/.696, with 4 HR in 164 AB (41 AB/HR) based on AA
Sandoval: .287/.309/.447/.756, with 6 HR in 177 AB (30 AB/HR) based on AA
So don't expect too much out of any of them right yet, though obviously Ishikawa would be the better bet based on his hot streak and MLEs. Still, it is a huge jump from even AAA to the majors, so you never know. Rohlinger got the start today and the other two should see action soon enough.
Hello Martin. You will be extremely pleased to know that Baggarly is reporitng that Posey, Crasford, and Kieshnick have all signed, Posey for $7.5 mil
ReplyDeleteYes, extremely pleased! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAccording to Baggarly - http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2008/08/13/more-good-draft-news-crawford-signs-posey-just-awaits-a-physical/ :
* Posey gets in neighborhood of $7.5M, which when I think of it, is more where it should have been, not the $5-6M that I thought he would get, because slots were up 20% this year over last, and 20% added to $6M is $7.2M
* Kieschnick got $525,000 or $40K over slot
* Crawford got $375,000 or $92K over slot.
I hope these signings stop the Naysayers mistaken assertions that the Giants are cheap and wouldn't go over slot. As I had documented from previous drafts, the Giants have been generous before, like giving Lincecum $200K over slot, and I think about the same for Bumgarner too.
Of course, giving Posey over $7M is way over slot even if he were the first pick, but given his achievements this year both in hitting and winning awards, can be justified. It's certainly closer to the $6M Weiters got than the $12M he was rumored to be asking for.
Forgot to add, Posey got a major league contract, which means he'll be on our 40 man roster and starts his options next season, so he'll be up to the majors within the next 3 seasons (only 3 options), whether he's ready or not.
ReplyDeleteI assume he'll be ready though.
Nothing like getting a high draft pick to boost up your farms system's position player ranks!
ReplyDeleteWe are set at catcher now with Posey, both defensively and, hopefully, offensively, Gillaspie should cover 3B or maybe 2B, Kieschnick a corner OF, and Crawford, SS or maybe 2B, don't recall the comments on his long-term position. I'll have to research that for my blog post on this tomorrow, though the way I'm going, I can just cut all this out and paste it into a post. :^)
It's really great news to hear that Posey, Kieschnick, and Crawford have all signed. Although I think $7.2 mil is a little high. I guess we'll have to see how much Sandoval, Hosmer, and Matusz get in order to see if the Giants overpayed. Giants have a minor jam at catcher now with Sandoval and Posey. Interesting to see who will be the everyday catcher in 2-3 years. It's satisfying to know that the Giants farm system is stocked now with the additions from this year's draft, and Dominican outfielder Rafael Ramirez.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Crawford had really great seasons his freshman and sophomore years at UCLA, but has fallen off in 2008. Here's the info on the Giants first 4 picks that was published on draft day (Click on "complete Giants Draft results" in the box in the middle of the article).
ReplyDeletehttp://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2008/drafttracker.jsp?p=0&s=30&sc=pick_number&so=ascending&st=number&ft=TM&fv=sf
Sorry for the numerous comments and for the incomplete link. Anyways, you can get to Crawford's scouting report by going to the Giants news archive on sfgiants.com and going to the article titled "Giants land lefties as Draft closes out" published on 6/7/2008. Then click on the link "complete Giants Draft results" in the middle of the article.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link Wayne. Also, if you click on the player's label, it will pull up my posts on the picks and what was being said in the media about them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the Giants majorly overpaid. He was a legit #1 with no question on him other than the $12M price tag floated just before the draft. So he was going to get something in the $4-5M range anyway. Then Tim Beckham got $6.15M as the first pick, so that became another signpost. It might be slightly high, but you throw in his Golden Spike and premium position and excellence in his hitting and defense...
So I wouldn't worry about what Boras' clients get, we got Posey and didn't pay a huge out of whack price, that's all that matters to me.
Crawford did more than just fall off, he plummeted, he was considered a top 10 college player in the pre-season, which would put him drafted somewhere in the 10-20 draft picks overall. Hopefully his poor season and draft position will drive him and he regains his composure and show the talent that got him his high ranking in the first place. I think it helps that he's from the Bay Area and that will help motivate him.