Glad to see

[klaiggeb]

I, for one, was glad to see that we re signed Adrianza and Gearrin.

When he's not over worked, as he was early in the year, Gearrin is pretty dependable for a middle innings guy.

And we could do MUCH worse and spend MORE money on a guy who could do Adrianza's job.

I like Law, and Strickland, and Okert and Osich and Smith in the pen.

We just need SOMEONE who can slam the door shut.

And lately I'm finding myself siding with Mark and others; I'd like that guy to be Jansen.

boly

[Rog]

Gearrin and Adrianza are both inexpensive insurance. I'm not a huge fan of Gearrin, but if we take out his final two appearances before his injury and his three appearances right after returning, his ERA would have been 2.60. For $1.1 million or so, that's not a bad gamble.

[rxmeister]

I mentioned before that he's one of only two pitchers in the major leagues who throws a sinker in excess of 92mph, so his stuff is more than solid. Glad he'll be back. Adrianza, on the other hand, they could have let go. Before he was Crawford insurance, but now they have Nunez.

[klaiggeb]

Mark the Giants don't see Nunez that way. I know I don't.

Nunez was simply not a good SS.

He wasn't too many errors.

I've played all the positions in the infield on an extensive basis, and coached them all as well. SS is NOT the same. It just isn't.



At 3B you have little time to think, just react, and thus, Nunez was outstanding because he's so quick.

The way the ball comes off the bat...it's hard to explain. You have too much time to think, believe it or not, and THAT, as I said all last season, was Nunez problem at SS.

I think they want him at one position, not moving around.

boly

[rxmeister]

I'm talking about insurance in case Crawford gets hurt, so he wouldn't be moving around. And Nunez has value because he can play everywhere and be your starting third baseman. You can't just have a player on your roster who becomes fairly expensive since he's now arb eligible when his only role is backup SS. Nunez CAN play the position well enough if Crawford is hurt or needs rest. The only problem would be if Craw suffered a season ending injury and would you really want Adrianza to be your everyday SS if that happens? This is why he's worthless.

[Rog]

The good news with Adrianza is they Giants are committing very little to him. What they're basically saying by offering him a split contract is, "We're quite possibly going to designate you for assignment. If someone picks you up, great. If not, we're willing to pay you half your major league salary to be insurance for us in Sacramento, just an hour and a half (without traffic) away from AT&T Park.

And that's how they should view Ehire. I think it's at least 50/50 that they could cut him and not have him picked up. At $300 K in the minors, he's nice insurance. If Crawford got hurt, at the very least Ehire could step in until the Giants could trade for a bona fide replacement. In the meantime, they could take advantage of his above-average fielding and simply pinch hit for him in key situations.

I'm with Mark in that the Giants shouldn't be much concerned about Ehire. He's probably not in the top 30 assets in the organization, and he may well not be in the top 40. But I agree with Boly that he provides enough insurance to simply non-tender him. By essentially telling Ehire that they like him as insurance but will quite likely send him down to Sacramento, I think the Giants are handling his situation just fine.

It appears to me that they're being honest with him and trying to build an inexpensive, realistic situation moving forward. It's kind of like, you're not good enough to play the lead, but we'd like you to understudy, quite possibly in the minors, where at least you can stay sharp by playing every day. If someone thinks you're more valuable than we do and we lose you when we try to send you to the minors, we wish the best for you.

In other words, we will in no way let the fact that you're a marginal player affect the fine letter of recommendation we will write to your next employer. And if he still doesn't bite, we'll find you a nice position with us at half salary.

We like you, Ehire, and we're trying to help you be realistic. We haven't give up on you, but we may have to approach our relationship differently than we've been able to in the past. You might choose to look at it this way, Ehire. We've picked up an All-Star who essentially plays the same positions you play. We value your contributions, and you and we also need to be realistic.

[Rog]

Ehire isn't useless; he's simply a luxury the Giants may have to stash in Sacramento. They need to make room for players such as Mark Melancon.

[klaiggeb]

I don't disagree, Mark.

I thought you were alluding to the thought of having Nunez play as a utility guy.

But my thoughts are that Giant fans are putting WAY too much emphasis on Gillaspe's late season play.

He's NEVER been that guy for a season. Not even close.

He's been inconsistent at the plate, and not very good with the glove on defense in his career.

boly

[rxmeister]

Gillaspie's improved defense surprised me greatly last year, but he could always hit, Boly. Have to disagree with you there.

[klaiggeb]

No question he could always swing the bat, Mark... but here's the thing: He DIDN'T hit well enough for:

1-The White Sox to keep him in the lineup

2-The White Sox to KEEP him, period.

Thus my "inconsistent" statement.

His defense surprised me, too. But he has hard hands.


I was one of the FEW on this board who WANTED him to make the team out of Spring Training.

I liked, and still DO like, his bat off the bench.

But his history is; the more he plays, the less effective he is.

Thus, for ME... 300 ab's is the maximum I'd want for him... and those just to stay sharp, and give other player a break.

Bottom line: I WANT him back, but in a limited role.

boly

[Rog]

But my thoughts are that Giant fans are putting WAY too much emphasis on Gillaspe's late season play.

He's NEVER been that guy for a season. Not even close.


Rog -- Conor has never been more than a platoon player. That said, he did OK for the Giants last season in a reduced role.




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[Rog]

Gillaspie's improved defense surprised me greatly last year, but he could always hit, Boly. Have to disagree with you there.


Rog -- Conor has hit right-handers decently in his career (.266/.739), but he's been lost against southpaws (.203/.523), except that he seems to be able to hit 100+ fastballs from certain lefty pitchers. As for his fielding, as seems to be the case with many infielders who work with Ron Wotus, it improved considerably last season. Conor still has some throwing problems, but he didn't make a single fielding error last season.

Neither Conor nor Eduardo Nunez had been a good-fielding third baseman before joining (or in Conor's case, rejoining) the Giants, but both became good under Wotus's tutelage.





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[Rog]

But his history is; the more he plays, the less effective he is.


Rog -- That's true -- in a way. The more Conor has played, the better he has been. His top season came in 2014, the only season in which he reached 500 plate appearances. He hit an OK .282/.752. But it appears that he played more because he was hitting more, as opposed to hitting better because he was playing more. Conor hit a very robust .326/.861 in the first half before almost disappearing in the second half with a .228/.614 mark.

The biggest difference for Conor is whether his at bats come against lefties (very bad) or righties (decent). Conor hit well last season primarily because nearly 90% of his at bats came against right-handers.



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