Who was that spindly man standing at second base last night? The one that weighs 150lbs soaking wet? The man who went 2-3 with a HR and a 2B? Who was that guy? His name… his name …
/lights dim
/movie guy voice
EEE – YOU – HAY – KNEE – OH
The iron-gloved, goofy-swinging Eugenio Velez had himself a game last night. Velez had a couple of nice hits and even took a walk. But, his fielding still gives me night terrors. He ¡Ole!’d at least one ball in the game and his throws to first base were oddly puny and changeup-like. Despite the mini-good game, Velez looks to still be able to induce heart attacks at will.
It’s almost comforting.
Of course, this is what Velez does. He’ll give you brief glimpses of what he could be in an alternate reality. He’ll taunt you with triples and the occasional diving catch in LF just before he snatches it all back by letting a grounder roll through is feet or clanking an easily caught ball off of his glove. The Giants are still working furiously to fix 2B and Velez’s one good night shouldn’t put a dent in their efforts. Giants second basemen have had a shelf life this season of somewhere between 5 seconds and 2 minutes. So I’m not sure how much longer Velez will be wearing the orange and black as the front office pushes towards a Freddy Sanchez trade.
Fun Fact: Velez’s HR last night was only the 5th HR hit this year by Giants’ second basemen. Depressing, huh?
Second base has been a major problem this year for the G’s, but I was surprised to see that another team in the NL had even less HR’s from their second-sackers. Would you have guessed that the Cubs have only gotten 4 HR’s from their 2B? Or that their combined .593 OPS is even worse than the Giants collective OPS (.604) at 2B? I guess this is what happens when you decide to give Aaron Miles (career wOBA of .300 and that’s even after racking up 800+ AB’s in Coors) large chunks playing time at the position. On the whole this year, Miles is only hitting: .203/.240/.260. He’s not entirely to blame. Mike Fontenot has gotten the majority of PT at second base and he’s put up an uninspiring .292 wOBA this season after posting a near .400 wOBA in 2008.
What I’m trying to say, is that I would trade Eugenio Velez to the Cubs for Ryan Theriot. This seems like a perfectly fair trade and is in no way biased towards the Giants. Nope.
Make it happen, Sabes.
