Why Release Anyone?

by Aaronstampler on Mar 29, 2011 5:25 PM PDT

Hey there, first time long time, but enough about my sex life. (Hey-O)

I have a genuine baseball question, and if you excuse my naivete, perhaps you fellas can answer it...

It stands to me that right now the Giants have about 27 or 28 MLB-caliber players on their roster, depending on what you think of Belt. He and Runzler still have minor league options, whereas guys like Mota, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, everyone else on the roster don't.

My question is, can't the disabled list be a way to find a loophole in the system and a rotating system of keeping everyone we want?

For example, we'll probably start the year with Wilson and Ross on the DL, which will ostensibly open up roster spots for two guys who otherwise wouldn't have made the team like Ishi and Mota. But what's to stop two different guys, such as say Rowand and Mota, from going on the 15-day DL with a sprained ankle and a sore elbow, say? And then 15 days after that it'll be Schierholtz with a sore shin and Ramirez with a gimpy shoulder, and so on and so forth.

These DL trips could coincide with players who are slumping or they could be for legitimate injuries, which happen all the time anyway. It's extremely rare to have your top 25 guys healthy all at once.

Couldn't the DL be a way to circumvent the 25-man roster rule by hook or by crook? You'd think the guys on the team, with the chemistry they have and the shared experience of being on a world series winner, would prefer to stay on one way or the other instead of asking for their release and facing an uncertain future somewhere else.

What do you all think? Unrealistic? Unethical? Impractical? All three?

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Yes, the disabled list can be used that way, and the Giants have been suspected of inventing of exaggerating injuries in the past to that end (the allegation can up for Lewis last season, and Aurilia at the end of his career, IIRC). But it doesn’t really solve the problem. It’s not something the team is going to get away with forever, both because the league will eventually call them on it, and because the players involved have to agree to do it (which they won’t do for long if they think they can get a job on another team). All they’d end up doing is pushing back the decision 15 days, at which point Wilson and Ross would return to compound the issue.

VAE PVTO DEVS FIO

by Bhaakon on Mar 29, 2011 5:54 PM PDT reply actions

my favorite example was Mota’s horrific IT Band Syndrome. Exceedingly painful, I’m told.

Some say that some cannot say because the Stig can make some not say what they want to say and all i want to say is i don't know what the hell i'm trying to say.

by tyrannoman on Mar 31, 2011 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions

Ross on the DL gives Rowand the Gamer a chance to show somethinganythingpleasegodsometradevalue. The same for Schierholtz and Ishi (both of whom are easier to move and possibly for some return value). So the little delay in decision crunch time could be a little useful for the FO (maybe a AAAA shortstop?). But I don’t think DL-shuffling adds much long term. On the other hand if someone were to be more severely injured and go onto the DL longer term, it is nice to have some depth in the field and in the bullpen. But thank goodness that doesn’t seem to be the case thus far.

Please don't cut Ishikawa! 2009 Tops All-Star Rookie and World Champ 2010!

by kennv on Mar 29, 2011 7:32 PM PDT reply actions

No one wants Rowand

Not unless the Giants eat all (or nearly all) of that contract. And if you’re gonna pay the guy, you’re likely to keep him around. (The Giants still haven’t figured out the whole “sunk cost fallacy” idea.)

Nate and Ishi aren’t likely to garner much, as other teams know they’re out of options and the Giants have no leverage there.

Billy Hayes: His job is better than yours.
"ZIPS Is Indeed Supose To Science." --GRM

by delorean on Mar 30, 2011 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions

Rowand doesn’t like moving off CF, don’t think he’d approve of an unnecessary DL stint. Simlarly with Mota.
If it was only between fringe guys like it might work, but I think Ish and Nate are a tad above that level, along with the older vets.

Imagine you could have a do-over with Fred Lewis, without the bad routes and melancholy. I grant you "Chris Lofton":http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=lofton001chr

by DesertFox on Mar 29, 2011 7:54 PM PDT reply actions

Mota did last year, though.

Some say that some cannot say because the Stig can make some not say what they want to say and all i want to say is i don't know what the hell i'm trying to say.

by tyrannoman on Mar 31, 2011 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions

Is your name based on the character from “Primal Fear?” If that’s your real name, that’s awesome.

Triples Alley: Analysis of the San Francisco Giants, Baseball, and Sabermetrics.

by JT Jordan on Mar 30, 2011 2:27 PM PDT reply actions

Wewease Wodewick!

Fine! I will wewease no one!

"The two worst things in football are: 1) They think that a 30-year old professional athlete has to be locked up in a hotel room, with a curfew, the night before a qame; and 2) They're right."
- Cowboy safety Cliff Harris

by achiappanza on Mar 30, 2011 2:45 PM PDT reply actions