If you're looking for rumors, you're probably in a bad mood.
That doesn't seem like the kind of transaction that merits a "suitor" label. It's more like a drunken hookup. I like Theriot, the personality and GIF machine, so don't get me wrong. It's the player who's kind of a drag, but when you consider that it's pretty unlikely for a utility infielder to make a win's worth of difference over a season either way ... whatever. He's kind of like the goat that kept Seabiscuit company. Whatever keeps the rest of the clubhouse happy.
In San Francisco, Theriot would likely compete with Brandon Crawford for playing time at shortstop.
Uh ... I'll just assumed a cat jumped on the keyboard of the fella who wrote that and move on. (Just to ease your nerves: Theriot in 2012 had 744 innings in the field and zero at shortstop.)
But the real moves of note come from the bottom of Alex Pavlovic's latest column.
OF Javier Herrera, RHP Ryan Sadowski, RHP Jon Meloan, SS Wilson Valdez, LF Cole Gillespie, RHP Sandy Rosario, RHP Scott Proctor and RHP Mason Tobin.
We talked about Rosario, Proctor, and Tobin already. I think Ryan Sadowski gets mentioned once a week around here in a remember-that-guy way, and you know who else was like that five years ago? Ryan Vogelsong. So you see how this is going to end up.
Herrera used to be a top prospect, ranking #68 in baseball before the 2005 season and #74 before 2006. Tools. He's a right-handed outfielder, and he hit .319/.397/.523 last year! In the independent Frontier League. He played against the Washington Wild Things, the Traverse City Beach Bums, and the Normal Corn Belters, and I legitimately scoured the leagues for a familiar name. Nothing. Well, except for this guy.
As a rightie with a little power and speed ... sure, why not? He's from Venezuela, too. I'm not sure why I automatically think that's a good thing. Imagine getting hired to a new job, and the supervisor says, "You'll love it here! There are a bunch of Americans!" And when you get to the break room, it's Fred Phelps, Fred Durst, and Roger Clemens. Just because a fella's from the same country ...
Meloan seems like he has a little upside, with a career strikeouts-per-nine of 10.5. Command is his issue, and he's 28, it's not as if he's likely to figure it out, but good relievers have come from stranger backgrounds. And that part up there about looking for a familiar name in the Frontier League? That's because you can usually find familiar names in the independent leagues. Meloan was teammates with Ryan Garko and Armando Benitez last year with the Long Island Ducks. (Garko hit .450.) (Benitez also hit 450.) (ON THE SCALES.)(Sorry.)
But the one who interests me -- and the one who wins the "No, this could be the Gregor Blanco of this year, I really mean it" award -- is Cole Gillespie. His stats:
Year | Age | Tm | Lev | AB | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | 22 | Helena | Rk | 186 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 18 | 4 | 40 | 34 | .344 | .464 | .548 | 1.012 |
2007 | 23 | Brevard County | A+ | 438 | 25 | 3 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 72 | 95 | .267 | .378 | .420 | .798 |
2008 | 24 | Huntsville | AA | 462 | 38 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 1 | 75 | 102 | .281 | .386 | .472 | .858 |
2009 | 25 | 3 Teams | AAA-A+ | 417 | 20 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 5 | 65 | 98 | .273 | .372 | .472 | .844 |
2010 | 26 | Reno | AAA | 264 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 44 | 49 | .288 | .394 | .477 | .872 |
2011 | 27 | Reno | AAA | 484 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 24 | 5 | 81 | 91 | .300 | .405 | .479 | .885 |
2012 | 28 | Reno | AAA | 441 | 35 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 59 | 80 | .308 | .390 | .494 | .885 |
7 Seasons | 2692 | 163 | 46 | 80 | 112 | 36 | 436 | 549 | .290 | .393 | .474 | .867 |
A little power, a little patience, a little speed ... seems like a fifth outfielder who hasn't won the fifth-outfielder lottery that others have stumbled into. Keep in mind that Reno plays like Coors Field on the moon, so don't get too excited. But he looks like a player worth having in the minors, if not at the end of the bench in the majors.
There you go, the minor moves. The Giants could have Conor Gillaspie and Cole Gillespie on the same bench. Save your dizzy jokes for when it actually happens, but can you imagine Duane Kuiper calling a Gillaspie double that scores Gillespie from first? He'd probably quit.