Four Areas to Shore Up?

[Rog]

Chronicle baseball writer John Shea said the probability of one or more Giants trades this month is very good.  He said they are looking for four areas to shore up, and I was wondering what the fourth was.  I think it finally came to me.

The obvious ones are the outfield, second base and the bullpen.  I guess depth, including a right-handed bat of the bench, is the other one.  I think the combination of Joe Panik and Marco Scutaro can easily handle the keystone.  And Scutaro can provide a right-handed bat off the bench (although not a right-handed hitting outfielder).

So it appears the outfield and bullpen should be the priorities.  Recent struggles by Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez and now J.C. Gutierrez illustrate the latter.  Having Tyler Colvin and the struggling Gregor Blanco in last night's lineup shows the former.  Having Joaquin Arias in the lineup denotes the depth issue, although at least Joaquin hit the ball.

Throw in an outfielder and a reliever or two along with the arrival or returns of Panik, Belt, Scutaro and Pagan, and the Giants will have changed a quarter of their roster from the group that a month ago had the best record in the majors.

Have the Giants curbed their fall, or were Saturday and Sunday aberrations?  This A's series will certainly give us some clues.  We didn't like last night's clue at all, but the A's are a very tough team -- the best in baseball right now.  It's amazing what Billy Beane has done without much to work with.

The A's and the Rays appear to be the two teams who can do the most with the least.

[rxmeister]

The Giants have a dilemma when it comes to trading, because all their weaknesses are due to injury. Do you replace second base when Scutaro and Panik might be able to handle it? Do you replace CF, even though Pagan might be back soon? The problem is actually depth. They need a strong bench and this is all they need to upgrade. The lineup is a joke after Morse bats.

[islandboagie]

I think the 4th area should be the hitting coach. We need a new set of eyes critiquing these guys. From the reports I read, Bonds worked a lot with Crawford and Belt during spring training and they were both hot when the season started. Since then Belt and Crawford's power dropped off. Belt looks to be hitting well again, but obviously he wasn't working with Muelens during his rehab. If we look back at our success in 2010 and 2012 a lot of the offensive side had to do with new faces and veterans who weren't under the watch of Muelens for long.

In 2010 Burrell and Posey carried the offense during the second half. Then in the post season Cody Ross came up big. After that Cody was a dissapointment and Burrell's career flickered out. They basically slumped and never came out of it.

The newly acquired Marco Scutaro was a huge spark late in 2012 and into the post season. It would have been hard to live up to that success in 2013, he wasn't bad, but he was certainly less than we expected.

We've seen numerous good hitters go into longer than usual slumps. It seems like they have to somehow crawl out of their horrible slump by themselves.

Time for someone else, we've seen too many slumps, too many poor at-bats, too many strikeouts.

We're trusting our offense to a guy with a .641 career OPS, while we have one of the best hitters in history waiting in the wings. Give me Barry.

[klaiggeb]

I can't think of 4 areas, but I can think of 3 BIG, BIG, BIG ONES!

1-Our bullpen. For almost 30 games now, it's been way below average, with only Casilla and Affeldt holding up their end of the bargain.
2-Centerfield. I don't see Pagan back in the line up before August. I covered why in another post, but back injuries... disc injuries...not thanks.

I just know that we cannot win with Blanco out there everyday. We cannot.

And Colvin is showing just why he's moved around so much in so few years. He's regressed to AAA level, which, if I could make a deal, I'd send him along with Hicks.

3-Bench-Who's down there to worry about? Ummmm. No one. Arias may have gotten 2 hits last night, but he is NOT the guy he was in 2012 and 2013. Not even close.

Perez is officially in the Black Hole catagory, along with Hicks.


I agree with Mark. Panik and Scutaro should be able to hold down 2B, although last night Panik looked pathetic, getting worked over by a guy not that long out of AAA.


Bottom line; Sabean, get off your fanny and do something!

boly

[Rog]

Boagie -- I think the 4th area should be the hitting coach. We need a new set of eyes critiquing these guys.

Rog -- The Giants actually have two hitting coaches, plus the guys get tips from Roberto Kelly and Will Clark. Not to mention the opportunity to talk with Willie Mays and Barry Bonds in spring training.

The Giants have taken guys like Gregor Blanco, Joaquin Arias, Angel Pagan, Melky Cabrera and Michael Morse and had them produce better than they ever had.

As for Burrell, the Giants picked him up after he had been released from the Rays despite a big contract. He figuratively arose from the dead. As for Ross, he was a platoon player who had some of his greatest moments as a Giant.

When the Giants picked up Scutaro, he was hitting about .230 for the Rockies outside Coors Field. With the Giants he batted .362 in 2012 and .297 last season. This even though he had about a .270 career average before joining the Giants.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree on this one. Look at what guys who came from outside did before and after. And how players who have left the Giants have fared after leaving. About the only guy who has gone on to much success is Conor Gillaspie, and much of that is because he's playing mostly as a platoon player.

To your credit, by the way, you rued the day the Giants let Conor go, and thus far they certainly could have used him.

Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/2362/areas-shore#ixzz36xeTbqg4