Tyler Colvin might take at-bats from Gregor Blanco

Remember in January, when I wrote this?

It's possible that Tyler Colvin will get a ton of at-bats, though I'm not sure the Giants need to chase after those dingers with the acquisition of slugger Brandon Hicks, who should take over at second.

Oh, that's right. I never wrote that. Because it was totally absurd. But here we are. Never forget that baseball is twitchy and drug-addled, and it knows when you leave your house during the day.

If you missed it, not only is Michael Morse going to be the first baseman with Brandon Belt out, but the job in left isn't necessarily going to Gregor Blanco. From From Baggs:

The Giants purchased the contract of left fielder Tyler Colvin from Triple-A Fresno prior to Saturday’s game at Dodger Stadium. Colvin will get a look in left field, where he and Gregor Blanco will fall into a competition for playing time.

...

Colvin, a left-handed hitter, had a .298/.343/.479 line against right-handed pitchers. So maybe you’ll see Colvin start against right-handers, with Morse in left field against lefties and Sanchez in the lineup either at first or catcher.

If you're a regular reader, you'll know I'm comfortable with these truisms:

1. Gregor Blanco is a good left fielder
2. If I had to evaluate a hitter using Mitch Williams's opinion or 50 at-bats, I would choose Mitch Williams's opinion

That is, 50 at-bats are usually more useless than almost anything you can think of. So when you add up 1. and 2., you might expect a diatribe against Bruce Bochy possibly starting Tyler Colvin in left.

Except ...

/wipes powdered dinger from corner of mouth

I have a taste for dingers. A real, real hankerin'. And Gregor Blanco's value is tethered to his defense, which is the kind of sexy that shows up only once or twice a game, if at all, and it doesn't always correspond with instant run prevention. Dingers mean runs. Like, right then. I had a lot of fun watching Marco Scutaro plernk singles into the opposite field over the last two years, but this new guy -- this, this Brandon guy -- just sends the ball right over the fence. And I'm hooked.

Colvin can hit dingers. Blanco hit three homers in 511 plate appearances, which tied him with Omar Vizquel's career low with the Giants. He did not pack the dingers. Colvin might. Heck, look at the headline from the post announcing the Colvin news: "Giants sign Tyler Colvin in mad quest for dingers." We knew this was a possibility. 

Dingers.

Except, man cannot live on dingers alone. There's a reason Blanco was one of the most valuable Giants from 2012 through last year. He plays a good outfield, he runs well, and he gets on base a little bit. All of those are valuable to a team. All of those help baseball teams win, even when compared with dingers, sometimes.  As such, I cannot fully endorse the plan to give Tyler Colvin more time at Blanco's expense. 

That written, though, it's close. It's really, really close. Close enough to change my mind by next week. Here's what Blanco was when the Giants signed him: an interesting player with a couple of worthwhile skills who never got much of a chance. That's exactly what Colvin is. So I'm curious. It's not like Blanco is losing his time to Dan Ortmeier, or someone else who came from a non-prospect background without a lot of tools. And Colvin has applied his talents in real-world situations:

Keep chasing those even years, Tyler. Just like ...

...

Just like the San Francisco Giants. 

This is destiny. 

If Colvin scuffles over the next six weeks, he's not going to have a long leash. You might not know what you're going to get from Blanco with the bat, but the other skills don't really slump. If Colvin doesn't do anything with the bat within the first couple weeks, Bochy's not going to keep forcing that square peg into the round hole and hope that dingers shoot out. 

I'd play Blanco more. I also would have drafted Beau Mills. And I'm not against watching more Tyler Colvin. He has some interesting skills, and hopefully, he'll show them off. Because it's been too danged long since a minor-league free agent helped the Giants more than he should. Possibly the longest several hours in franchise history.