Carney, meet the Giants. Giants, this is Carney.
The Giants have hired Carney Lansford as the new hitting instructor, effectively replacing Joe Lefebvre. Lansford was the 1981 batting champ in the AL when he hit (.336/.389/.439). He also had a cool mustache. And he hit more career home runs than Lefebvre (151 vs 31). He’s got to be a better coach, right? In 2006 Lansford was the AAA hitting coach for the Rockies minor league affiliate. I’m not huge on coaches but Lansford does have the credentials as a good hitter, hopefully he’s a good coach as well. If he puts a mustache mandate into motion I’ll like him even more. Imagine Omar Vizquel with a mustache? That’s a Giants team I’d pay to watch.
From the SFGiants.com article on the Lansford signing, some of the quotes aren’t exactly my cup-o-tea.
Example:
“He’s been on my radar for a while,” Bochy said. “I think he’s going to bring an energy to us and a presence to our club and help our hitters play the type of ball we want to play. That’s unselfish ball.”
By “unselfish ball,” Bochy meant moving runners along, taking a pitch or swinging and missing at one to help a teammate steal a base and bunting when necessary. Lansford made a habit of this, particularly while batting behind stolen-base king Rickey Henderson when both played for the A’s.
Unselfish ball is the same as can’t-hit-for-squat-ball. Early indications from the offseason are that the Giants are going to be doing a whole lot of bunting, hitting and running, and playing out all the other ideals of small ball. I don’t mind that sort of strategy but only when it’s kept to a minimum. Studies have shown that managers tend to do more harm than good when they employ such strategies because they overuse them. The fact that the Giants are willfully going to dive head first into an Ozzie Guillen-style of play for 2008 really concerns me. How many times do I need to see a failed hit and run or Rajai Davis getting thrown out because Bochy is trying to make something happen? I’m guessing about 4-5 times and then I’ll get sick of it.
From the same article:
“We’re not looking to become a Punch-and-Judy team,” Sabean said. “Nor is Carney going to be a Punch-and-Judy hitting coach.”
Good, but being a Punch-and-Judy team assumes that we have any punch at all. Randy Winn is our punch. And maybe Bengie Molina. That’s more of a “light hand-slap” than it is punch. Lansford’s biggest goal should be teaching patience to the hitters. It would be nice if Bengie Molina could walk more than 15 times a year.
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The very-fast Eugenio Velez recently got some love from Baseball America. The source of the article is an unnamed NL scout who seems to like what he’s seen in Velez. Talking about his speed (sub 4.0 times to first base) and his defense, which confused me the most because Velez’s D has been criticized often. He was moved off of second base into the OF earlier but he’s getting more playing time at second now. The scout praises his hands, throwing arm, and range. Maybe he caught Velez on a good day? Because I didn’t get the impression that he was a defensive player during his short time with the Giants this year. Or, maybe, Velez has improved defensively? Either way, it’s nice to see some praise for Velez. I’m still not very high on him but he’s having a pretty good AFL showing so far (.303/.329/.461) with a league leading 14 stolen bases in 15 attempts. I would really love to see him get on base more, he’s only walked 3 times in 76 at-bats, to take advantage of his tremendous speed.
Speaking of the AFL, Nate Schierholtz is having a good showing, too. He just recently hit 2 HR’s in one game and has been making a lot of contact as usual. He’s hitting (.351/.373/.632) in 57 AB’s. But like Velez, Schierholtz isn’t walking much, he’s only walked once so far in the season. Nate has always been good about getting the bat on the ball but I think he’s going to have to walk more to really have success in the majors. Major league pitchers are going to be more likely to take advantage of a free-swinger than minor league pitchers. On a recent AFL video on SFGiants.com, Nate was interviewed and he stated that he’s trying to work on his plate approach in the AFL. At least he understands that he needs to be more selective and patient, now just for the results to roll in. I think Pedro Feliz still believes that he can swing at every pitch.
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The 2007 NL Elias player rankings are out. Depending on how well the player has performed, they are rated either an A or B type player. A-type players, if offered arbitration, that sign with another team earn their original team 2 draft picks. One in the first round and a supplemental pick. The same goes for B-type players, but they only earn their original team a supplemental pick.
Here’s how the following free agent Giants ranked:
Barry Bonds – A
Pedro Feliz – B
Omar Vizquel – B
Ryan Klesko and Russ Ortiz did not receive a ranking, thus any team that signs them will not have to compensate the Giants via draft picks. It’s extremely doubtful that the Giants will offer Bonds arbitration because there is a chance he would accept and make a nice chunk of money in the process. Feliz is a interesting question to ponder. It’s been reported that he is looking for a multi-year deal, should the Giants offer him arbitration and hope that he rejects it? In such a scenario, they would earn a supplemental draft pick from wherever Feliz would sign. Vizquel will probably be offered a 1-year deal with a vesting option for ’09. I think the Giants will bring him back, even though he was one of the worst hitting players in the entire majors last year.
I don’t mind bringing back Omar so much, because it’ll probably (hopefully) be a 1-year commitment. But Feliz want’s a multi-year deal and I just won’t be able to stomach that. Like Grant posted today, carrying over 2 huge offensive black holes from last years team to the ’08 team is and would be a mistake.
About Nate, Jeff Francoeur has been doing very nicely without walking very much either. It is not the standard formula for success, but it has worked for Nate at every step up the minors. He has now done it at the AAA level. Now we have to hope that he can do it at the major league level.
The good news is that in limited, and yet a good amount of ABs (112 AB), he hit .304/.316/.402/.718. He does this at every level, he starts out hitting but without his trademark power, but then suddenly he figures things out and he’s hitting bombs everywhere. And the AFL is, I think, a level above AAA, because many of the best prospect, particularly ones teams think are ready to take the leap next season, play there.
I am hoping that he gets the starting nod in RF in 2008. Let Rajai be the platoon buddy of Roberts in LF, and if we have Randy Winn in CF, let Fred Lewis be the 5th OF, but keep the trade fires burning to trade Winn for a good prospect or two, particularly to any team suddenly in great need for a CF or RF due to a season ending injury, but also see if we can entice any team to shell out two prospects for us during the off-season.
Do not offer Feliz arbitration. No team is giving him a multi-year contract, he is delusional, unless he accepts the same $5M he stole, er, got from us last season but over two years (he just said he wanted a multi-year contract, he didn’t mention the salary had to go up :^). If we give him arb, he’ll jump on it and suddenly we’ll be paying him $6-10M for him, there are a bunch of idiots hired to be arbitrators, I’m an analyst and have an econ degree and an MBA, and I cannot understand some of the decisions made by the arbitrators in the past.
I do agree longer term the Giants would be better off parting ways with one of two this off season . I would say offer both arbitration though. If they take it the Giants are getting a one year deals. Place holder question solved without trying up roster slots for ‘09 and forward. ( Give Sabean a Scooby snack for that because it goes against his recent approach.) If they turn it down the Giants are getting extra draft picks. I look at this as the other end of the same “dilemma” Sabean expressed with signing Tucker a few years ago. If you don’t try and get the draft picks it is basically repeating the same error all over again. Trying to “save” a few million at the expense of putting talent in the system.
What the Giants plan to do with Molinia is interesting. His game dropped markedly as he played more so would be Sabean actively looking at the free agent catchers to have has a platoon mate? If a solid second catcher was acquired/ developed this would open up a lot more trading options. Any thoughts to who you would approve of? I can see the arguments for a traditional defense heavy core up the middle or more a Barrett type signing?
OGC,
I don’t mind the Francoeur comp to Nate. Obviously, Francoeur can be considered the stronger played because he’s already got 2.5 seasons in the majors at the same age as Schierholtz. Frenchy saw some plate discipline improvement this year, he walked 42 times and posted his highest OBP in the majors at .338, so there is hope for Nate. I was encouraged to see him talk about his plate discipline on the AFL Giants video, at least he knows.
I hope he’s a starter next year, too. I think he’s earned the chance to start and with the team in transition there isn’t any good reason he shouldn’t be starting.
My reasoning with Feliz is that I think he would turn down a 1-year arb deal because even though he’s a bad player, I’m sure a team would offer him 2-3 years on the free agent market. Heck, I’m sure the Phillies would love to sign him if they can’t get A-Rod or Lowell. Feliz and his agent have to know this as well, there are teams with 3B needs.
If he accepts, use him as a utility player and then move him at the deadline. Hopefully, if the Giants do take it to arbitration they can make a strong case for why he doesn’t deserve a raise but as you mentioned, it’s anyones guess what will happen during arbitration.
Dave,
I agree, I don’t think it’s terrible to offer Feliz and Vizquel arb. I’d rather see Vizquel come back but if the Giants decide to sign Feliz to multi-year deal I couldn’t hack that, get it, hack!?
As for a catcher, I think the Giants will probably pick from either G-Rod or Alfonzo, neither are great but both should be suitable backups. Much like the rest of the FA market, the catching depth is shallow.
Courtesy of Cots Contracts, here’s free agent catchers:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2000/04/2007-free-agents.html
Sandy Alomar Jr. NYM
Paul Bako BAL
Rod Barajas * PHI
Michael Barrett SD
Gary Bennett * STL
Raul Casanova TB
Alberto Castillo BAL
Ramon Castro NYM
Mike DiFelice NYM
Sal Fasano TOR
Wiki Gonzalez WAS
Jason Kendall CHC
Jason LaRue KC
Mike Lieberthal * LAD
Paul Lo Duca NYM
Damian Miller MIL
Doug Mirabelli BOS
Chad Moeller LAD
Jose Molina NYY
Josh Paul TB
Mike Piazza OAK
Jorge Posada * NYY
Kelly Stinnett STL
Yorvit Torrealba COL
Javier Valentin * CIN
Not a lot to pick from. Barret is interesting, but he had a down year and his big drop in power isn’t something you like to see from a all-hit no-field type player. His value has always been in his bat. Playing in Petco didn’t do him any favors either, he hit just .213/.238/.275 at his new park. I might be interested in him at the price of a 1-year cheap deal but other than that I would avoid him. He’ll be 31 next year and he’s getting to the age where a lot of catchers fall apart.