I've always coveted Andrew McCutchen. Now he is on the Giants! He's an outstanding player and even in the so-called "decline phase" of his career he's better than most. Same goes for Evan Longoria, although the Giants are committed to him for five seasons (through 2022 and an option for '23) which I'm still getting used to. Cutch is here for one year and then is a free agent. Figure the Giants to give him a qualifying offer this fall and if he goes that fattens up the draft picks. So a win right now--an improved club. And a win later--QO draft compensation.
I'm not sure how the Giants will use the veteran centerfielder. As it stands the team is better with him in CF than is was last season with Denard Span and Gorkys Hernandez. Ideally Cutch would move to RF and Hunter Pence would move to LF. Jarrett Parker backs up both corners and we get a defensive specialist for center. Is Hernandez still part of that plan? Is Steven Duggar ready for the majors (probably not, he's only had a month in AAA)? Regardless, the coaches will figure that stuff out in Spring Training. Right now the Giants have a new right-handed power bat to plug into the 3-4-5 part of the lineup and that's a huge boost. In fact, I'm starting to like this lineup. Considering how anemic the offense was last season that's something. Obviously healthy lefties like Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, and Brandon Crawford will go a long way to improving things. But Buster Posey finally gets some "protection" from two other accomplished career hitters (Longo and Cutch) and that has to help.
The Giants have not acted on the bullpen and in fact they had to let go of a promising young piece in Kyle Crick. But I think they believe the return of Will Smith and a full season of their shiny bauble from last season (closer Mark Melancon) will make a big impact on roles and outcomes. Sam Dyson was a nice pickup and complements guys like Hunter Strickland and Cory Gearrin very well. With Law/Okert/Osich/Blach/Moronta you've got some depth to build from. I'm not concerned with the pitching side as long as MadBum and JohnnyC are healthy and available all season long. And I do believe Longo and Cutch improve the team's fielding (the Giants infield looks really strong) and that of course will help the pitchers.
I did not expect another big move after Longo so getting Cutch is a nice surprise. I'm starting to feel a lot better about 2018.
--M.C.
10 comments:
Panda as a switch-hitting power bat off the bench who can play the corner infield spots? Is that his new role with Longoria now the starter at 3B?
Despite declining defensive skills, I think that we are better w/ McCutchen than without him. And, he's a likable guy, who will instantly endear himself to Giants fans. I'd like to see them splash a little bit of money for Jarrod Dyson or Austin Jackson to play CF. They're done trading prospects (so, hopefully, that means no Billy Hamilton), & they don't have a lot of money (so, in all likelihood, no Lorenzo Cain).
If the stars align (like 80% of those guys have good years), your Bullpen list is pretty good. I am having a harder time figuring out who is going to start games for us, other than Bumgarner, Cueto, & Samardzija.
With Cain retired & Moore traded, we have Blach (not sure how good he'll be this Season) & who (Stratton?). Beede is probably not ready yet. We need to find a new Vogelsong on someone's scrap heap. Is there someone available who I am not remembering?
Crawford had a similar short/small minor league resume when they brought him up. Projection systems currently has Duggar around .305 OBP and .341 SLG for an OPS of .646, which is not that bad for a rookie, not that bad if we make him our #8 hitter (NL #8 hitter in 2017 hit .248/.324/.391/.715).
Plus, he's been adjusting his batting mechanics, sounds like he was a slasher/chopper before, which is often taught to fast players, under the idea of getting them on base (Torres and Burris hit like that), and they are converting him to more like major leaguers, which Torres eventually learned too, over a couple of seasons, which suggests that Duggar might still have room for improvement as he incorporates his training. If you'll recall, it took Belt a few years in the majors to nail down everything.
Gorkys was bad in fielding per Baseball-Reference.com, and our young guys have run out of options, I believe, so I'm thinking Pence in LF, Duggar in CF (scouting reports are that he's superior fielder in CF, with speed and arm), McCutchen in RF, with Parker and Williamson on the bench, with maybe Slater fighting Williamson for last spot, but I would prefer he starts regularly in AAA, so that he's ready to fight for starting LF or RF for the 2019 season, as both McCutchen and Pence's contracts will be up. Though I would not be surprised if the Giants re-sign McCutchen to a long-term deal after the season (I would prefer getting younger, but if he plays as well as he's capable, you know they are going to sign him).
THe thinking I've seen is that Bochy wants to move Posey to 3rd in the lineup, and that would leave 4-5 for McCutchen and Belt (and Longoria, if he reverts back to his 2016/career performance level) to battle over.
I'm excited about the lineup. It might be the best we have had since Bonds was with the team. We have 3 (Posey, Belt, McCutchen), maybe 4 (if Longoria reverts to 2016/career goodness), good hitters, which Bochy will mix and match depending on who is hitting at the time, plus okay enough hitters in Panik, Pence, and Crawford, assuming Brandon recovers from his off-year (Pence was actually Pence-like in the second half of the season, July-Sept, as I'm attributing his poor first half to his injuries which he probably played with and which hurt his production. With Parker and Williamson around, I'm hoping that the Giants just automatically DL him if he suffers any time of semi-serious injury, like hamstring issues, just shut him down fast and heal fully before returning.
Yes, that appears to be the Panda's new role, from what I've read and heard. He's an excellent backup on the corners of the infield if he's back in shape, plus could be our DH should we reach that far.
McCutchen has actually not been that great defensive in CF, but was great in SSS 13 games in RF last season. I think he's RF, Pence LF, and I'm betting/hoping Duggar in CF, as most scouting reports I've seen says that he should be plus defensively in CF eventually, and all we need is average there right now just to have a huge improvement over 2017.
They appear to not even have enough money for Dyson, unless he comes really cheap. I've seen estimates of $2-4M, maybe $5M left in the payroll. Signing him should take the rest if not push them over. A penalty is probably not bad for them if they are slightly over. I would love to get him, as he is superlative defensively in the OF, including CF, and good hitter against RHP. It would probably mean we lose one of Parker or Williamson, as I believe they are both out of options, with 3 MLB seasons under their belts. I would be OK with that though, if the Giants are going for it, Dyson would be a great pickup (he's been average 2+ WAR for a number of seasons now, even though he don't play full seasons) for the money (projected money is less than 1 WAR per season).
Didn't realize all this until now. So maybe then Duggar could start in AAA and continue to learn to hit, and could then take over CF either mid-season or in 2019. THat would also allow the Giants to keep both Parker and Williamson, where they can quasi-platoon with Dyson, who can't hit LHP worth a lick.
Stratton is the new Vogelsong. Look at his 2017 stats. They are burnished with elite levels of spin rates, the darling stat of Astro Sabers, which they used to sign Morton. And a couple of his pitches were elite in getting hitters out and lower damage when hit. I wrote about this on my blog if you are interested in more details, but I'm confident he can be at least average in 2018, if not better, like Vogelsong was.
Though apparently the Giants are kicking tires with retread SP, so I'm sure someone will be signed to battle with Blach for the #5. Giants front office had already said that Stratton was our #4, and that Blach is the incumbent for #5, giving me the impression that's pretty set in stone.
McCutchen has been told officially that he will play RF, not CF, with Pence moving to LF. The plan may be to find out in ST whether Duggar is ready and also to see whether the asking price will come down on Dyson, say, who seems to me way the best choice for CF in 2018. I rather hope we don’t have to trade Sam Dyson to get salary room for Jarrod.
Panda as a switch-hitting power bat off the bench?
No thank you.
Much prefer someone with at least one useful baseball skill.
And a future.
We got Engelb Vielma again! Yes!!!!
All-Name Team first-rounder!
I wish the Giants could have done better than Austin Jackson in CF. Big area to cover, aging corner OFs to compensate for—they needed someone, it seems to me, who could field well. A few years ago, Jackson could, but in the last couple of seasons, he hasn’t even been average. His BA in 2017 was BABIP- inflated. I hope that Duggar develops fast into the kind of centerfielder that the team thinks he can be.
Very hard to trust reported defensive metrics.
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