First, the basics: Brock Bond, lord and master of OBP, is a 27-year-old career minor leaguer. He’s a non-roster invitee that’s currently in Giants camp this spring. He plays second base, hits from both sides of the plate and, like all players, has hopes of making this year’s squad, fighting for the last spot on the bench. In a post… Read more →
Hello, dear reader. Did you know that spring training stats are kind of silly? Did you know that they really don’t mean much? You probably knew that stuff, but did you also know that these same stats are the most pliable numerical substance known to man? Examples: Brandon Belt is hitting .400 this spring: He’s probably going to hit .400 this season, win… Read more →
Weirdness after the jump.
Last guy on the bench is one of the few battles — along with last reliever in the bullpen and 5th outfielder — that will be decided this spring. Ryan Theriot, who for some reason is trying to find starting work, is unlikely to return to the Giants. (My GIF collection is sad.) The Giants have brought in several players… Read more →
Today the Giants traded third baseman Conor Gillaspie to the White Sox for pitching prospect Jeff Soptic. Giants traded Conor Gillaspie to White Sox for minor league pitcher Jeff Soptic. — Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) February 22, 2013 I always looked at Gillaspie’s career numbers in the minors with a sense of intrigue. He clearly wasn’t a great hitter, but he… Read more →
I’m conflicted about spring training. On one hand, baseball is back and that’s just fantastic. On the other, reading about Gregor Blanco hitting ropes during batting practice might just be the lowest form of baseball news out there. On the evolutionary scale, in which an important news item is a fully evolved life form, reports on Gregor Blanco’s hitting —… Read more →
Finally, we’ve come to the conclusion of our 2013 prospect list. It’s clear that while the Giants’ system is a middle-to-back system in the big scheme of baseball, this top five contains a lot of interesting prospects. The Giants are definitely rich in pitching arms at the moment; this final segment contains three pitchers making the cut. Let’s take a… Read more →
Hank Schulman: Romo earned $1.575 million last year. He submitted an arbitration request of $4.5 million for this year, while the team offered $2.675. That’s a fairly big divide in these sorts of cases. I’d guess his salary for this year will be somewhere at the midpoint, maybe $3.5 million, with a $5 million-plus salary in 2014. I imagine he’ll… Read more →
You can read our first segment, #15-11, right here. In today’s post, we dig a little deeper into the system and examine spots #10 through #6. Subtitle: Pitchers and pitchers and pitchers and I hope you like pitchers. Let’s jump right in: — 10. Martin Agosta, RP, 22 years old in 2013 Chris Quick: Agosta, picked up by the Giants… Read more →
Earlier this morning, David Schoenfield, ESPN’s Sweetspot blog overlord, handed out grades on the Giants’ offseason. Dave looked at two areas — position players and pitchers — graded both, and then assigned a final overall grade. You can read the full post here, but the takeaway is this: Overall Grade – B+ If Lincecum bounces back from his subpar 2012,… Read more →