The roster has been released: Alex Pavlovic tweet
ogc thoughts
The big news is that Luis Matos did not make the roster, and thus will be DFAed. As I have noted in posts, Posey is pretty bold about letting go of players (Estrada, Hjelle, Luciano, and now Matos), and not showing much patience for results.
Which, to be clear, is a good thing, generally, you don’t just hold onto hope (as with Matos, hope he can turn his contact skills into good batting lines), at the expense of the 26-man roster. This shows that he is also aiming to win this season, and not just develop and hope, as his other choices suggested to some. And as I noted, the additions (Houser, Mahle, Bader and Arraez), while not break the bank acquisitions, as many of us hoped, they are at least some improvements over what we had before. And Devers is the reason for any jump, having his big bat for a whole season, and not just two months, he’s a huge improvement over what we had at 1B in 2025. (Though, because they are slow playing him because he had an injury in spring, he is starting at DH, with Schmitt playing 1B)
In his place, Jared Oliva, a journeyman who hasn’t played in the majors in five seasons, made the roster as the 5th outfielder, along with Jerar Encarnacion, who is the 4th outfielder. He has incredible speed, stealing 57 bases out of 63 last season in AAA and 14 of 15 in spring training, so I’m surprised that no team gave him a chance on a roster after MLB changes made to encourage base stealing as a strategy. The Giants have been talking about getting this type of speed onto the roster, and now they have him.
His bat must therefore not have been all that good, so we will see how good Vitello and Mense can be in helping him improve. And it isn’t: Per ZiPS, he is projected at only .222/.287/.357/.644, which is only okay in CF, and +7 defense, which is pretty high, for 1.0 WAR over 358 PA, which is roughly what an average player produces. But at 30 YO, what more can he do to improve? But I have seen players who turns things around 29-31 YO, like Andres Torres, so we will see.
Position Players and SP
Most were already set before spring training began. Catchers are Bailey and the rule 5 pick, Daniel Susac. The Giants gave up assets to acquire him, not just cash, so it would have been a mild upset if he didn’t win the role of backup catcher. He did not disappoint, he hit and played well, from the accounts I saw.
The infield was set as well: Chapman, Adames, Arraez, Devers, plus Schmitt and Koss. Fitzgerald technically was under consideration but he would have needed a Bondsian hitting tear to win an IF bench role. Arreaz can be the catalyst for the offense, as he’s being used at leadoff, and he had his best career season when he played mostly 2B, where he is most comfortable (he was basically a super utility player before).
The outfield is Ramos, Bader, Lee, Encarnacion, and Oliva. Ramos is announced as the starting LF, breaking the streak of 19 different starting LF for the Giants, which is tied for the most ever at any position, not just LF. Bader should help both Ramos and Lee have better defensive stats, and his bat appears promising as well. Oliva seemed obvious, as last season Posey went with Schmitt (hitting more than fielding) and Koss (fielding more than hitting), and he is know for speed plus can play CF as well as the corners. Encarnacion is known for his hitting.
The starting pitching was as expected (luckily no injury): Webb, Ray, Mahle, Houser, Roupp. There was talk about carrying one less pitcher because of the many off days early in the season, in order to carry an additional hitter (likely Matos), but Posey apparently didn’t want to play this game of hoping to slide a player through waivers. The Giants might still skip a rotation spot for a few turns, so that Roupp, whose high IP is the 109.2 from last season, can be fresher later in the season, by skipping a few starts early on, like 5th starters used to do. Webb gets the starting nod, for fifth consecutive, most since Marichal.
Bullpen
The bullpen was the biggest question mark, as there were so many options. These pitchers were announced as the bullpen: Borucki, Brubaker, Butto, Gage, Kilian, Miller, Walker, Winn.
The Giants decided to carry 3 LHP (Borucki, Gage, Miller), maybe because they are facing teams with a lot of LHH. They just recently picked up Borucki off the waiver wire, and he looks decent. Miller appears to be healthy and ready to take on more responsibilities.
Both Kilian and Winn had pitches up to 99 MPH, beating out Santos, who fell behind when he left the team to attend to a personal matter. It was a mild shock that Bivens did not get a spot, but given the uncertainty about who is setting up, the Giants needed to see how Kilian and Winn, and others, like Brubaker and Butto, could handle set up roles.
I was also mildly shocked that Michael Fulmer didn’t win a role. His ERA was high-ish, but his peripherals were good, especially his high strikeout rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment