clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Contingency? No, Money Down

Sure, the Giants are a collectively old team. Yes, they are more injury-prone than any team in baseball. However, they, uh, are, uh....

Couldn't think of a way to end that sentence.

It is never brought up what is on the Cal-OSHA poster hanging in the dugout, which describes how to handle emergency situations in the workplace. That's because the poster describes where the urgent care facilities are, and then segues into a disheartening biography of Jason Ellison. The contingency plans for every position, with starters in bold:

C Matheny, Yorvit, Justin Knoedler

1B Snow, Pedro Feliz, Lance Niekro

2B Durham, Deivi Cruz, Duane Kuiper

SS Vizquel, Deivi Cruz, Jaime Athas

3B Alfonzo, Feliz, Niekro, Mike Cervenak

LF Bonds, Stop, Drop, Roll

CF Grissom, Tucker, Ellison, Fred Lewis

RF Alou, Tucker, Todd Linden, wait, Jaime Athas? Really?

The potential for calamity is great if two players are injured concurrently. Should a middle infielder go down, and Deivi Cruz go with him, that's a mess. If Deivi Cruz hits like Deivi Cruz always has, that's also a mess, but not too relevant to this particular discussion.

If any of the non-deities go down, the backup isn't insanely worse than who he's replacing. Grissom down? Tucker in. Snow down? Feliz in. Not optimal, sure, but not a nightmare. If two players catch their neckties in the same escalator, the nightmares start.

Tucker and Grissom down? Ellison in. Snow and Feliz down? Lance Niekro in. The world wasn't set on fire by the '04 Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League, and it's doubtful they would be of much help in the National League.

If Durham and Deivi were to go down, or Vizquel and Deivi, the contingency plan really wouldn't be Jaime Athas. There would be a terrible, sub-Neifi player floating around, just waiting for a hard-luck team to claim him. And there is a small chance we could see Michael Tucker at second base this year. All of the above blather can be reduced to that sentence.

There is the depth chart, or something like it, for the 2005 Giants. That puddle welling up around your ankles isn't overflowing confidence.