San Francisco Giants Depth Chart Speculation

Ishikawa really had no success against lefties last year while Phelps has always raked against them, the perfect platoon. How terrible is his defense at catcher? Is it passable enough for he and Pablo to split time as the backup catcher and drop Holm? I hope so, that would make things a lot easier and I’d really like to see him with Ishi at first.

DFA Roberts. His contract is a sunk cost, it’s only for one year, and his being on the roster makes the team worse.

Now if Sabean could be convinced….

it would be on Roberts. maybe they could split salary with willing party.

why can’t Sandoval be #2 catcher and play third and first.. he’s young and could lose a pound or two or three? Keep Holm on the Fresno shuttle for when Roberts goes injured.

sign Aurilia. the guy has character and can play.

This team sucks. I am profoundly disappointed that we are wasting Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain’s primes. They’ll win between 72-78 games. Sandoval-Renteria is the worst defensive left-side in baseball. Zito is the worst contract in baseball; he single-handedly cost us Sabathia who would have been a perfect fit. Roberts, Rowand and Renteria are among the ten worst contracts in baseball. Nate Schierholtz should play RF and Randy Winn should play CF; Aaron Rowand should use his warrior spirit as the 4th OF. 2009, the 5th straight losing season. Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito, 30 million a year to prevent us from winning! I’m excited!

and I am actually fine with this. I want Ishikawa playing everyday against righties and sometimes against lefties too. Richie is almost as good as Phelps to play against the tougher lefties and has the added advantage of being able to play 3B when needed.

Besides Aurilia I am thinking along with you that Randy Johnson will be the only other 40 Man Roster add we make. I am expecting Ochoa to pass thru waivers and be assigned to Fresno when the first of Richie or Randy is signed. I am expecting Boacock to pass thru waivers and be assigned ot Fresno when the second of Aurilia and Johnson is signed.

Where I disagree is with your assumption that Roberts is guaranteed a spot. I fully expect Dave to be traded before spring training ends with the Giants eating most of his contract and if not I expect him to be released at the end of spring training like Kline was last year.

Here is my expected 13 man position player roster to begin the season with:

Lineup: Winn-RF, Renteria-SS, Lewis-LF, Molina-C, Sandoval-3B, Rowand-CF, Ishikawa-1B, Frandsen-2B

Bench: Holm-C, Aurilia-CI, Burriss-MI, Schierholtz-OF, Velez-OF/2B

I am using Bochy’s lineup but swaping Lewis and Sandoval. I just can’t believe that Bochy will fail to realize how stupid it would be to waste Lewis’ speed hitting behind both Sandoval and Molina.

The Giants position roster is loaded with problems.

The Giants say they will probably keep three catchers, but why? Barring injury, Bengie Molina is likely to continue playing a high number of games and in addition to being able to play whichever corner in which he is needed, Pablo Sandoval would appear to be the Giants backup catcher of the present and future.

No one is proven at first base on an everyday basis, although a platoon of Travis Ishikawa and the likely-to-be-re-signed Rich Aurilia is semi-acceptable.

At second base, Emmanuel Burriss likely won’t hit and Eugenio Velez likely won’t field, leaving the position to the mediocre-at-each Kevin Frandsen.

Frandsen’s fielding at shortstop in spring training of 2008 was so bad that even before his Achilles injury, the Giants had decided to go with Brian (Big Bat) Bocock even though Bocock clearly wasn’t ready. And that’s too bad, given that it likely won’t benefit Burriss to sit on the bench merely to back up the middle infield positions and his likely needing more minor league seasoning.

Sandoval was moved from third base because of fielding problems, but apparently the Giants feel he is ready to return. Aurilia should provide adequate backup, and Frandsen could play there in a pinch in which hitting wasn’t the object.

The outfield is overly crowded with too few stars and too many non-stars. Nate Schierholtz appears to be ready but is blocked by the over-achieving Fred Lewis, the underachieving Aaron Rowand and free-agent-to-be Randy Winn. John Bowker might be a hitter, but I’m not sure if he’ll ever get the chance to find out.

The Giants’ hitting is almost adequate against right-handers, but repugnant against southpaws. They are pinning their offensive hopes on the development of Sandoval and Ishikawa at the corners. and a rebound from Edgar Renteria. Sandoval is a great hitter — for a catcher. Ishikawa is a very good fielder — at a positon that requires more hitting than any other on the field. Renteria appears to be a good bounce-back candidate, but his power seems to be shrinking even faster than his range afield.

Without heavy contributions from Burriss and Velez, the Giants don’t even have exceptional speed. The starting pitching looks good, and the bullpen appears improved. The fielding is sketchy, and the hitting is so-so at best. The power hitting lacks only one thing. Guess what that is?

The Giants should be slightly improved, but still rather mediocre. If they get lucky, and the division stumbles as badly as it appears it might, mediocre might even be good enough to win the NL Worst.

But without one big move and preferably two, it would appear the Giants have plenty of time before needing to choose which company will print their playoff tickets. Next decade, though, they should be able to qualify for a high-quantity discount in that regard.

We will have to see how Schierholtz and Bowker do as power hitters this year. I like Lewis’s swing, he will give you a little pop. Hopefully Rowand is heathly this year. I like Ishikawa’s defense and if he could give a little pop. Sandoval lacks range at 3rd, but should be ok. I don’t know what happened to Renteria in Boston and Detroit, otherwise he is really good. Velez is a good hitter, if his defense was better. A lineup full of question marks. We need good pitching and defense with this lineup. It could be a weak division, 80 wins may win the division.

Dusty has always shown a soft spot for ex-Giants and other old pros at the end of their career. I’m thinking Tom Goodwin, Troy O’Leary, Eric Karros, John Mabry, Marquis Grissom (who got a Cubs spring training invite in 06), etc. Dusty doesn’t read the memo that says a player is done. He has to see it with his eyes, old-skool style. And he would undoubtedly want to bat Roberts first for the SB potential, never mind OBP.

The Giants need to is find players who want to play for them and who are happy they just play the game..