Parker's bat parking?

[Rog]

Remember how Jarrett Parker's fine BB/K ratio (6 to 5 at the time) portended his hot streak?  I think I forgot to post it, but after yesterday's game, that had dropped off to 7 to 10, including his two strikeouts yesterday, and I wondered if it portended trouble.  Today he went 0 for 4 -- all strikeouts.  Suddenly Jarrett has 9 more strikeouts to just one more walk, and his vice grasp on the left field position doesn't seem quite as strong.  IIRC Boly also mentioned Jarrett's swing was getting longer.

Don't get me wrong.  At .286/.400/.595/.995, Jarrett is still having a STRONG spring.  But he's beginning to look human again.

Even Barbara heard talk of Brandon Belt's having a  bad spring.  At .324/.381/.622/1.003, probably not.  Jae Hwang has slowed a bit too, but he's still at .303/.294/.606/.900, he's still strong.  In Jae's case, no walks against six strikeouts is concerning.

The new star making a roster bid is Chris Marrero.  After a hot day today, he's now at  a spectacular .302/.348/.698/1.046.  Is he overtaking Michael Morse?  Marrero's 3 walks against 11 strikeouts is worrisome, but he certainly hasn't folded.  Morse too has hit well at .258/.343/.516/.859, and his 4 to 9 BB/K ratio is more in balance.  Marrero has the youth; Morse has the personality.

Kelby Tomlinson's .303 is looking much better than Hill, Beckham or Rollins.  The last needs a huge hot streak to keep his slim chances alive.

Even with just a dozen pitchers, the roster cutting looks vicious.  And center field still looks thin.  Well, the whole outfield really.

Looking quickly at the Dodgers, their outfield looks to be in nearly as much difficulty as the Giants'.  Joc Pederson can't hit southpaws; Yasiel Puis is, well, Yasiel Puig; and the rest of the outfield is filled with question marks.  The rotation is having significant health problems, threatening their success.

Of course, with Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager, the Dodgers could wind up with a Cy Young  Award and an MVP, but the cast surrounding them is questionable.  Like Pederson, catcher Grandal doesn't hit southpaws.  Justin Turner is strong on both sides of the ball at third, and trade acquisition Logan Forsythe is solid at second,  but I think Adrian Gonzalez will have a hard time reversing his decline.

The Dodgers spent their big money on retaining their free agents, and with the "spare change" left over, they made nice low-risk signings with Franklin Gutierrez, Sergio Romo and Chase Utley.  They hit only .217 against southpaws last season, but they added lefty-killers Forsythe and Gutierrez, and a big improvement against southpaws by Seager wouldn't be a surprise.

They're clearly showing some cracks.  And while the rotation's difficulties are based almost entirely on poor health, the Dodgers haven't been healthy of late, using no fewer than 84 players last season.  That's well over three players for each 25-man roster spot.

And we thought the Giants had health problems!  (Which they did.)

The loss of Smith for a significant length of time would be damaging, and the Giants' outfield simply can't stand injuries, but as of this moment, I don't see the Dodgers as looking better than the Giants, even as the Southlanders are favored to win the NL West.

[sfgdood]

GOD I hope we don't get daily flip flop posts like this all season

[Rog]

Randy, if you don't want posts like this, post something of value yourself. I have apologized to you, and you more than deserved it, but the other side is that you continue to make short, essentially destructive posts like the one above. Often you seem to use them to deflect away from something you don't understand or talk about.

The point I was making is that Parker may (not certainly) be an example of how BB/K ratio can be predictive. His 7/14 ratio is still OK for a power hitter, but his trend has heavily reversed. Even before he began hitting productively, Jarrett showed good plate control. Now it appears he may be losing it.

How does it look to us, and what do we think it means? Have Jarrett's gains faded away?

If he continues to hit at the level he has hit this spring, that would be more than fine. But he seems to be headed the wrong direction, beginning with his two-strikeout day.

Boly noticed it in Jarrett's swing, and the stats confirm it. We've both commented on it. What are your thoughts, Randy? Others?

[sfgdood]

And my point is numbers can be bad one day and good the next. Why must we persist with the "he's great/he sucks" posts every day when we can just wait and see how the season plays out?

[Rog]

Here you go again, Randy. No one here said that Parker was great -- unless we count his mother.

Just once I'd like to see you post something of substance instead of "this is stupid" or "the season is over" or "why are the Giants too cheap to re-sign Pablo?"

By the way, Pablo is having a good spring, hitting .349 with a 1.015 OPS. I would think he's pretty much won the starting third base job to open the season. Since he came to camp in good shape, I think we all had high hopes for him. Who knows, maybe he's even learned how to hit southpaws again! Hopefully he'll hit as well this season as Brandon Belt for the first time in several seasons.

When Bleacher Report ranked the top 30 third baseman, they had two A's (Ryon Healy and Trevor Plouffe) in the top 30 and didn't include Pablo or any other Red Sox third baseman. Instead, Pablo was listed among the honorable mentions, which included Christian Arroyo and Conor Gillaspie, among others.

You supported the guy who isn't ranked in the top 30 in major league third baeemen, but you're picking on the #7 first baseman? Where's the logic in that?

Oh, and you're criticizing one of the Giants' bench players who is ranked in the honorable mentions with Pablo. You're criticizing Conor as a BENCH player? Because he isn't Ted Williams?

Pablo was once an excellent player. Somehow you missed the memo that by the end of the 2014 season he no longer was. I think every one of the rest of us got the memo. Boagie, why didn't you send it to Randy?

Seems most of the rest of us got the memo on Brandon Belt -- and Conor Gillaspie -- as well.