The schedule page on the Giants website says today is the first "full-squad" workout. And that the first Spring game will be on Saturday (against the Rangers).
What am I hoping for? That the Giants Youth Movement will take a step forward. Right now we have C Patrick Bailey (25) anchoring the defense. Up the middle is 2B Tyler Fitzgerald (27) and CF Jung Hoo Lee (26). LF Heliot Ramos (25) will flank Lee, with Luis Matos (23), Marco Luciano (23), Grant McCray (24), and Wade Meckler (24) in the wings.
The biggest prospect in the system is lefty slugging 1B Bryce Eldridge who is still only 20 years of age. Perhaps we'll see him later in the season if he lights it up at AAA. The same goes for the other big prospect, lefty pitcher Carson Whisenhunt (24). He is a likely late-season call-up, too. Both are non-roster invites to this year's camp. I hope they turn some heads this spring! By the way Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs released his Top 100 Prospects list. Eldridge came in at #26 and Whisenhunt at #95.
On the pitching side there are certainly a lot of youngsters. Logan Webb is still only 28 and in his prime but he's a seasoned veteran at this point. A big step forward from lefty starter Kyle Harrison (23) will be huge for the club. The same goes for young righty starter Hayden Birdsong (23). Big expectations are out there for another young lefty, reliever Erik Miller (27), currently the only southpaw in the 'pen. Ryan Walker is 29, but only a third-year player, and Camilo Doval is still only 27. Sean Hjelle (27), Tristan Beck (28), Keaton Winn (27), and Randy Rodriguez (25) round out the choices.
That's a lot of upside!
The Giants didn't do much in the off-season. Getting Willy Adames was a no-brainer. They really needed a real shortstop. He will make a great tandem with 3B Matt Chapman. (Team defense was a serious problem last year.) And Justin Verlander will probably deliver a solid season. Buster Posey will be fielding Farhan Zaidi's team, for the most part. We aren't going to know what kind of PoBO Posey will be for a while as he has yet to construct a roster.
The Giants have wallowed in mediocrity since their fabulous 2021 NL West title. Yaz, Wilmer, Webb, Doval, Tyler Rogers, and Wade, Jr. are the only ones left from that team. It's time for some winning ways. Let's hope the Youth Movement pays off in 2025!
--M.C.
4 comments:
By several defensive metrics reported, the defense was actually better in 2024 than it was in 2023. Several metrics had Thairo Estrado as being below par at second, but to my eye test that was just flat out wrong. He was steady, had good hands, and had better than average range. On the negative side, already I am hearing that Murphy is already having issues which could put him on the injured list. Unless he can be healthy and have a great year, he will be one of the biggest busts in Giants history. That is big considering he was just hired to be a back-up, but he did not come cheap. I am also excited on the prospect of having a couple of our young pitchers bust out into stardom, or at least semi-stardom. I still worry about Eric Miller and the league catching up to him. If I can tell what pitch he is going to throw, I cannot see how MLB teams are not figuring this out, and the giants better fix this before it is too late. At the moment he is our lefty in the pen. I do get that last year was a bit odd, as Taylor Rogers had reverse splits, and it raised some alarms, especially at his price tag. But relief pitching is somewhat odd. Many relievers are quite different from year to year, while a few of them seem steady and predictable. I would rather have Taylor at his price tag, than Murphy at his. I, like many other fans have my early season optimism. Over the years I have seen the giants exceed expectations several time, meet expectations most of the time, and fall below expectations a few times. The later, usually because of injuries. I liked the idea of the times the giants could compete for a division title. Now I am of the mindset of hoping for a wildcard. Dodgers are so stacked that they can afford multiple injuries and still win over 100 games.
The division is stacked. The Dodgers are of course ridiculously deep. The "weakened" Padres have a lot of talent. Arizona is clearly good. The Giants have stiff competition! That's what makes me worried. Not that the Giants won't be good, just that it won't be good enough.
But enough of that. No more worrying about what other teams are doing. I just need to concentrate on what the GIANTS are doing!
Murphy was (is) a bust, sure, but $8.25M for 2 years is not a big risk. I don't worry about busts. Bad stuff happens. If you don't make moves to beef up your roster you'll never get anywhere. You have to have competition for roster spots to find the talent in your organization. And sometimes you have to move on from (potentially) sunk costs and forget them.
At least I hope the Front Office has backup plans for injuries and other such things! I hope they're not just drunkenly careering from one panicky signing attempt to another.
Buster has a big task ahead of him. He has to win with FZ's roster and then he has to start drafting and signing the next wave of youth. The Giants had a magic draft run from Matt Cain (2002) to Tim Lincecum (2006) to Madison Bumgarner (2007) to Buster Posey (2008). That's a tough act to follow.
By the way Justin Verlander was the #2 pick of the 2004 draft!
Landen Roupp (26) is someone I forgot to mention! He apparently is in the mix for a rotation job and will start the first spring game. He's adding a cutter to his repertoire.
You also didn't mention Jordan Hicks, who has apparently worked a lot on conditioning. Barring injury, our starting rotation looks like Webb, Verlander, Ray, Hicks, and probably Harrison. Birdsong, Roupp, Winn, and maybe Wisenhunt, and Beck are all healthy and champing at the bit. That's a lot of potential, and sets the Giants up well for the future and present should the starting arms prove unsound at some point in the season. As you say, you can't have too many pitchers, but you can have too many to fit in the rotation and that is the place the Giants are likely to find themselves very soon. An enviable spot to be in, for sure.
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