2023 Spring Training

[Mays-Fan]

those teams had a manager…

This team has a yogi.

This team has a rabbi. And a Reformed one at that.

 

[LHG]

I may call you here. While Posey was an excellent hitter for a catcher, his highest HRs for a year was only 24 (he only exceeded 20 HRs twice), and he only had one 100 RBI season. He was not a monster hitter. A very good situational hitter, yes.

Bum was also not a super-dominant pitcher until we hit the playoffs, then he was a monster. His highest Cy Young rank was 4th, which he did twice.

So, yes, we had some very good players in our dynasty years. But I would argue that our success was more because of balance, and a lack of weaknesses, and we weren't carried by superstars to make the playoffs. And don't forget FYWW.

Those teams had a good starting rotation and a dominant bullpen. This team's rotation has potential but a lot more injury question marks and the bullpen is decent but not dominant. There is potential, though, with this team. It will be interesting to see how many players stay healthy and how many play up to their potential. I see this team, at best, competing for the 1st Wild Card spot and, at worst, playing slightly below .500.

 

[calsnowskier]

I may call you here. While Posey was an excellent hitter for a catcher, his highest HRs for a year was only 24 (he only exceeded 20 HRs twice), and he only had one 100 RBI season. He was not a monster hitter. A very good situational hitter, yes.

Bum was also not a super-dominant pitcher until we hit the playoffs, then he was a monster. His highest Cy Young rank was 4th, which he did twice.

So, yes, we had some very good players in our dynasty years. But I would argue that our success was more because of balance, and a lack of weaknesses, and we weren't carried by superstars to make the playoffs. And don't forget FYWW.

Timmeh
Durty
Vogey
Bum
Cainer

Lopez
Romo
Casilla
Wilson
Affeldt

Crawford
Belt
Posey
Pence
Torres/Blanco/Pagan

Bochy

And ridiculous LUCK in the post season. You dont design your team based on that model. You won’t find a lot of success if that is your template.

 

[tzill]

those teams had a manager…

This team has a yogi.

Those teams had Buster...a first ballot HOF catcher.

 

[tzill]

This team has a rabbi. And a Reformed one at that.

That's kind of an odd statement, gotta say...

 

[Mays-Fan]

Timmeh
Durty
Vogey
Bum
Cainer

Lopez
Romo
Casilla
Wilson
Affeldt

Crawford
Belt
Posey
Pence
Torres/Blanco/Pagan

Bochy

And ridiculous LUCK in the post season. You dont design your team based on that model. You won’t find a lot of success if that is your template.

The fact that you listed 2/3 of the team kinda proves my point, no?

 

[Mays-Fan]

That's kind of an odd statement, gotta say...

 

[LHG]

This article is a good example of lazy writing, primarily with the infield write ups. She looks at the roster, sees which hand is the batter's primary, and assumes they'll hit better against the opposite handed pitcher. However, from what I remember about my research on the infield, both Davis and Flores have fairly even splits against each side. They could easily serve as "left handers" on the roster. And then there is the issue of Wade. Will the Giants really hand him the starting job outright at 1st base? They tried strong to not let him, even in his one good year, hit against the same handed pitchers. That suggests he will, at best, start out in a platoon. And I have to think a bad spring training could mean a trade, a dfa and/or an outright release.

Giants announce 2023 Opening Day roster

NEW YORK -- A last-minute acquisition created some unexpected ripple effects for the Giants’ Opening Day roster, which was officially announced prior to the club’s matchup against the Yankees on Thursday afternoon. The Giants sent cash considerations to the Royals to land outfielder Matt Beaty...

www.mlb.com

 

[LHG]

Could it be possible to see a catching corps of Wynns/Perez or Perez/Sabol to start the season?

Gabe Kapler says Giants’ catcher spot wide open, with Joey Bart, Roberto Pérez and Co.

Manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday at the San Francisco Giants’ FanFest at Oracle Park...

www.sfchronicle.com

And I still don't buy "we didn't have any other option" to running Pederson out to the field most days last year.

Giants prioritized better defense, but it's ‘kind of an unknown’ for 2023

The San Francisco Giants targeted improved defense this winter, but there are few signs it’s much better. Brandon Crawford calls it 'kind of an unknown.'

www.sfchronicle.com

 

[calsnowskier]

Resigning Flores and Pedo are the actions of a team looking to improve their defense.

 

[LHG]

With spring training about to start this Thursday, I thought I'd give some numbers on reporting players:
Number of pitchers in camp: 38
Catchers: 6
Infielders: 19
Outfielders: 13
Total players (both 40 and NRIs): 76

The average age of the player in camp is 27.4 years old.
The age with the most players is 26 (11) - Tristan Beck, Mauricio Llovera, LJ Newsome, Drew Strotman, Thomas Szapucki, Daniel Tillo, Logan Webb, Joey Bart, Isan Diaz, Ford Proctor and David Villar.
Only 22 of the 76 players will be age 30 or older.
The oldest player is Brandon Crawford (36) and the youngest players are Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano and Luis Matos (21).

The way I see it, 23 of the 26 roster spots are locked in (all starting pitchers, 7 relief pitchers, starting lineup and 2 bench spots). There are probably 14 players with realistic chances to compete for the last 3 spots (Ramos, Dabovich, Waites, Wisely, Sabol, Llovera, Szapucki, Diaz, Villar, Long, Gonzalez, Wynns, Piscotty and Perez). The average age of these 37 players is 29.2 years old.

I would guess that Szapucki, Villar and Perez are the early favorites for the last 3 spots. If that is the case, our projected Opening Day roster will have an average age of 30.4 years old.

 

[LHG]

Resigning Flores and Pedo are the actions of a team looking to improve their defense.

I can discount Pederson if he is truly a full time DH and rarely plays on the grass. Flores is a head scratcher.

 

[tzill]

The Giants could potentially use the 60-day IL on Luke Jackson as soon as pitcher and catchers report on Wednesday. This would open up a 40-man roster spot whether it be a waiver claim or a MLB signing.

 

[LHG]

The Giants could potentially use the 60-day IL on Luke Jackson as soon as pitcher and catchers report on Wednesday. This would open up a 40-man roster spot whether it be a waiver claim or a MLB signing.

Knowing FZ, there will probably be a waiver claim but I haven't looked to see if anyone is currently on the waiver wires.

Do you foresee a MLB signing? Not many players are left. Maybe a couple of relief pitchers but would those be needed at this time?

 

[Mays-Fan]

I can discount Pederson if he is truly a full time DH and rarely plays on the grass. Flores is a head scratcher.

I'm not disagreeing with you in principle, but in addition to them being #1 and #2 for us last year in RBI (71 and 70), they both hit well with runners in scoring position:

 

[calsnowskier]

I am not anti-Flores in general. He has a great attitude, and seems to be very well liked in the clubhouse. And his defense isn’t THAT bad, it just is below average, and he only plays the infield corners (outside some very rare exceptions). But given his defensive limitations, I don’t really know why he was resigned. Good guy. Good player. Not a great fit for this team.

BASICALLY the same for Pedo, except I absolutely loathe his attitude. I talk up my “hatred” for him for comedic effect and to amplify my point (similar to my takes on Belt), but I still feel stronger about my dislike for the fact he is on the roster than I do for Flores. Flores has a great attitude and isn’t a game-changing liability in the field. Pedo just doesn’t give a shit, and that I can’t forgive.

 

[Mays-Fan]

I am not anti-Flores in general. He has a great attitude, and seems to be very well liked in the clubhouse. And his defense isn’t THAT bad, it just is below average, and he only plays the infield corners (outside some very rare exceptions). But given his defensive limitations, I don’t really know why he was resigned. Good guy. Good player. Not a great fit for this team.

BASICALLY the same for Pedo, except I absolutely loathe his attitude. I talk up my “hatred” for him for comedic effect and to amplify my point (similar to my takes on Belt), but I still feel stronger about my dislike for the fact he is on the roster than I do for Flores. Flores has a great attitude and isn’t a game-changing liability in the field. Pedo just doesn’t give a shit, and that I can’t forgive.

I wasn't happy either about re-signing Pedo, but I suspect they did it early on in an attempt to lure Judge, to make Judge think he had a hitter to hit behind him.

Without Pedo, before the free agents, the proven, reliable hitting talent fell off pretty fast here at the time.

 

[tzill]

Knowing FZ, there will probably be a waiver claim but I haven't looked to see if anyone is currently on the waiver wires.

Do you foresee a MLB signing? Not many players are left. Maybe a couple of relief pitchers but would those be needed at this time?

I don't see an MLB move, but with FZ you never know.

 

[LHG]

I don't see an MLB move, but with FZ you never know.

At this point, the only free agents I can see getting a major league deal are Brad Hand, Matt Moore, Will Smith, Archie Bradley, Gary Sanchez, Donovan Solano, Elvis Andrus, Jose Iglesias and Jurickson Profar.

Who knows, maybe FZ decides to grab one of these position players. Profar doesn't fit because he plays the outfield. That looks pretty set.

But maybe he really is ready to move on from Bart and signs Sanchez.

Or he goes for one of Solano, Andrus or Iglesias to back up Crawford and/or Estrada.

Of course, Iglesias hasn't played anything but shortstop in 2022 and only played in 18 games at 2nd base in 2021. Before then, he played 37 games at 3rd and 4 games at 2nd in 2013.
Andrus hasn't played anywhere but shortstop in his big league career. I would assume he'll wait until someone needs a starting shortstop.
Solano played more at the corners for the Reds last year (26 games at 1st and 16 games at 3rd) and DH (26 games) than he did at 2nd base (7 games). He hasn't played more than 2 games at shortstop in a season since 2019.

 

[tzill]

Michael Conforto (2019) and Mitch Haniger (2021) have had 30-homer seasons recently. Per Baseball Savant, their home ballparks (T-Mobile Park and Citi Field) have ranked as more offensively-depressed fields than even Oracle Park.

Will that translate to even more homers for the Giants in 2023? You would think so. Haniger, in particular, seems to have a swing designed for Oracle Park. BS estimated that 43 of his batted balls would have left Oracle Park in 2021.

IMO Conforto could struggle a little more as it seems like his power is geared more toward right-center/center.