That Settles That (Update: Things Going Crazy)

Published by on March 31, 2009 | 5 Responses

Hot off the BaggsPress:

Kevin Frandsen was called into Bruce Bochy’s office this morning and left in street clothes. The Giants just gave the official word: he has been optioned and will begin the season at Triple-A Fresno. All signs pointed to this yesterday.

Jesus Guzman confirmed he has been reassigned to minor league camp. He’ll go to Fresno but wasn’t told what position he’ll be playing. That’s TBD by Brian Sabean.

Brandon Medders and Justin Miller also received bad news this morning. Miller confirmed that both have been reassigned. Will check back when there’s something official.

There’s some chatter regarding if Frandsen has any options left. I’m not sure, anyone out there know? The Giants are prepared to head into the 2009 season with Burriss as the starting second baseman. I expect Bochy will make a statement sometime today. I’m also surprised to see Miller and Medders get reassigned. I expected Miller to make the team and maybe Medders, too. Luis Perdomo’s chances are probably pretty good right now.

I’ll update with more details as they are released. I’m wondering how Fransden’s career will shape out now? He’ll be 27-years-old and still in AAA.

—

Update: Things just get getting more interesting. Again, from Baggs.

We just chatted with Bruce Bochy and through his comments, along with some divining, we basically have the Giants’ 25-man roster. Here it is:

Starting pitchers (5): Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez

Relievers (7): Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry, Alex Hinshaw, Merkin Valdez, Luis Perdomo, long man to be determined (Keiichi Yabu, Ramon Ortiz are the top in-house options).

Catchers (1): Bengie Molina.

Infielders (6): 1B Travis Ishikawa, 2B Emmanuel Burriss, SS Edgar Renteria, 3B/C Pablo Sandoval, INF Rich Aurilia, INF Juan Uribe.

Outfielders (6): CF Aaron Rowand, RF Randy Winn, LF Fred Lewis, Nate Schierholtz, Andres Torres, Eugenio Velez.

That’s a bunch of OF’s (6!) and UTIL players (2!) to have on one roster. Both Torres and Velez making the team is kinda weird since they are basically the same-ish player. Torres might be better defensively but he is a minor league journeyman. And, maybe the most shocking thing of all, is that the Giants aren’t going to carry a back-up catcher right now. Instead, they’ll give Pablo Sandoval a crash course in the final weak of Spring Training and let him back-up Bengie. If it’s one thing the Giants can’t seem to make up their mind about, it’s whether or not they like Sandoval at catcher. Lot’s of back-and-forth on that one.

I’m not sure I get having two utility players in Uribe and Aurilia — they are both pretty much the same thing. I’m going to anticipate a ton of double-switching this year. The rest of the blog post on Extra Baggs is really solid and it’s answers some other roster questions. Go check it out.

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MrLomez
MrLomez

Yes. Definitely a good move. Burris = da man. Frandsen = doubles hitting candy-ass. There's my hard-hitting analysis for you.

obsessivegiantscompu
obsessivegiantscompu

Frandsen, according to what I read on another ExtraBagg or Mercury article, has another option. I expected him to be out, so I have to assume that he spent last season officially on the MLB roster/pay, accumulating official time for his pension while on the DL, and thus never had an option used last season. Poor guy, one year after threatening to take Durham's starting spot, he can't beat out Burriss. Too bad, I was really rooting for him to win the battle, but Burriss won out. His injury couldn't have come at a worse time, he had a window of opportunity last year when Durham got traded, but he was out on the DL. I don't see how this is back and forth for Sandoval. Just because they use him as backup at catcher doesn't mean that they are confused about what he is. If they were confused, he would have been catching the whole spring as well as 3B. The way I see it, there's a lot of off days (plus occasional rainouts) so Molina won't need a lot of games off the first month or two. If Sandoval has been catching the last two seasons, I would hope he can catch occasionally without forgetting everything. Kind of like how Feliz was the emergency catcher, except that Sandoval has actually played the position before. I'm thinking it was Torres that got the Giants to drop Holm. And this makes sense since Molina should not be taking many days off early in the season. And Velez is really a 2B, he is not an OF, yet at least, so it's really 5 OF and 7 IF. With Schierholtz hopefully sucking up most of the available OF starting spots, Velez is probably a glorified PR/PH for the most part, with minimal field time. I mean, Torres is probably the first choice for defensive replacement. But I agree about Velez and Torres, they seem redundant other than Velez can sorta play 2B and Torres sounds like a great defensive CF. Both will basically be PR/PH, speed off the bench guys. About Uribe and Aurilia, they are insurance in case Ishikawa and Sandoval need platoon buddies. Most carp on Ishikawa for the need for platooning, but most don't know that Sandoval has an even wider split between L/R, so in the worse case scenario, we need RH corner IF against LHP, that's Aurilia at 1B and Uribe at 3B. Thus both are on the roster as insurance in case either or both young CI needs platoon buddies. By the trade deadline, it should be clearer whether they need platoon buddies or not, at which point, someone could get traded (probably Uribe). Wow, Perdomo made it and Miller and Medders didn't. I'm guessing the Giants tried to trade to get Perdomo but St. Louis refused, forcing them to keep Perdomo. He's probably on probation for April for more evaluation. Surprised Hinshaw made it, but he could be gone once Romo is ready. Valdez has no more options, so they might be keeping him around until his body breaks down again, I don't recall him doing anything great in spring. I would be surprised if Yabu don't get the long-man job.

Chris
Chris

Personally, I was slightly leaning towards Frandsen but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't start the season in the MLB. I like the idea of getting him regular at-bats in Fresno for the time being. Watching Burriss this year will be one of the more interesting Giants' plotlines in my opinion. He's going to be one of the more powerless hitters in the entire majors. RE: There will be only 1 catcher Yes, very weird and confusing. I really don't think it will last. It can't. Molina is old-ish and over the past two years he's played more in his career than ever. I would bump one of Torres and Velez for Holm at this point. Though, I do sorta like that the Giants seem semi-interested in Pablo catching. That would comfort me if the Giants weren't so damn bipolar with position stuff like this.

delorean
delorean

Meh Frandsen. Never liked that kid. Re. everything else, including C situation, good God in heaven, who's driving this bus?!?!?

MarkOC
MarkOC

I'm speechless. No Frandsen? Velez AND Torres? I think we will feel the pinch with Sandoval, he is expected to hit a lot and now we will be bouncing him from 3B to C. (This might be a good thing as the pressure to promote Posey will increase. Maybe we can move Molina before he breaks down.)