Kinda sucks.
—
You would figure that tossing Zito-Sanchez-Lincecum at the Padres for a 3-game series would net you at least one win. Instead, the Giants got steam-rolled by the Peavy-Young train and Shawn Hill (no, not that Shaun Hill) looked pretty decent, too. Barry Zito needed 39-pitches to escape a horrifying 1st inning. Jonathan Sanchez was filthy until he wasn’t when Henry Blanco — the one with 54 HR’s in 2,392 career PA’s — hit a home run in the 3rd inning that slowly unraveled things. As for the reigning NL Cy Young Award Winner, Tim Lincecum, his 2nd start was a lot like the first. A lack of command and some suspect outfield defense was all the Padres needed to finish the sweep. I’ll give the Padres some credit, I don’t think they’ll be as bad as some have predicted. If Jody Gerut is real and some of the younger hitters like Chase Headley hit, they could surprise.
And for the love of god Bruce Bochy, please don’t start Eugenio Velez in CF any more. Matchups? We don’t need no stinkin’ matchups. And, what’s the point of carrying defensive super-whiz, Andres Torres, if you’re not going to use him for his defense? In theory, Velez should work in CF. He’s fast and looks rangy. Seems like OK tools for a CF. But in theory, wearing a suit made of bees sounds acceptable.
—
The Giants have signed former top prospect, 3B Dallas McPherson, to a minor league deal:
McPherson, 28, led the entire Minor Leagues last year with 42 home runs for Albuquerque, then the Florida Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate. He also hit .275 with 98 RBIs. But Emilio Bonifacio beat out McPherson, who’s out of Minor League options, for the Marlins’ third-base job this spring. Florida released McPherson on March 31, casting him into free agency.
The 42 home runs is pretty tantalizing until you consider that he played half of his games in Albuqerque — maybe the best park to hit for any hitter in the minor leagues. McPherson owns a career major league ISO of .212. So, he does have legitimate power. But, the problem is contact. He also owns a career K% of 34% at the major league level in 399 plate appearances. In AAA last season it was at 37.5%. That’s a K% that would rival Jack Cust and unlike Cust, McPherson hasn’t shown the ability to walk in the same way. He owns a career MLB BB% of 6.8 to Cust’s 19.2.
Unlike Jack Cust, some of the defensive numbers indicate that McPherson might be acceptable on defense. In 821 innings at third base in the majors he owns a UZR of +5.3 runs or +10.2 runs extrapolated to 150 games. 800+ innings is better than nothing, but still as a sample it’s pretty small and we shouldn’t draw too much from them.
Not a a bad signing, but don’t let his power numbers fool you. He’s a useful player to stash in Fresno. The funny thing is that last year when the Giants really had a vacancy at third base they tried to sign McPherson but he went with the Marlins. If he had signed with the Giants there’s a good chance he would have gotten 400 at-bats with the team last season. I think he picked the wrong year to sign with the Giants.
