With a Grain of Salt: Reacting to Spring Training, Part 2

Greetings from Scottsdale! Thomas and I are out here for Spring Training, and we’ve had a very interesting time so far. We’ve seen two games, one loss and one tie, and done our best not to melt in the desert sun.

Some highlights:

– We talked to Willie McCovey. He’s very impressed by the new outfielders, but especially Melky Cabrera. We saw him call Melky over and introduce himself and shake his hand. Melky went 0-3, but I’ll give McCovey’s judgement the benefit of the doubt. Also, we talked to Willie McCovey.

"Hi Melky, my name is Willie McCovey."

– Today’s game was pretty slow offensively, if you can believe it, with good pitching. Matt Cain gave up two runs and gave up some solid contact, but threw 48 strikes on 71 pitches. At this point it’s more about getting his pitches across the plate than avoiding bats. After that, Mitch “who?” Lively, Brian Wilson, Javier Lopez, Clay Hensley, Brian Burres, Dan Otero and Jean Machi combined for 6.1 shutout innings.

– I wish I had predicted more loudly two weeks ago that Gregor Blanco would make the team, because it seems more and more likely now. He walked in the first inning, then motored from first to third on a Melky groundout, then scored. Dude’s fast, takes initiative, and can fill several roles. When asked about Blanco as a fourth outfielder, Bochy said “Great starter too.” He made no promises, but likes what Blanco can bring to the club with his speed and defense.

– For some reason, our video camera recorded Bochy sideways, so sorry about that.

– Buster Posey is tired of answering questions about his health.

– Matt Cain is tired of answering questions about his contract.

– We watched Freddy Sanchez take grounders. He was able to make the throw to first, but it seemed a little below top speed. Bochy said he may take infield practice tomorrow or the next day, but they’re taking it really slow with him.

– Cubs fans really seem to care about Spring Training. They showed up in force at Giants stadium on Tuesday, and even threw back a home run that Anthony Rizzo hit, despite the fact that Rizzo is on the Cubs. Moral of this story: Cubs fans are both passionate, and can’t tell the difference between black and blue.

– Randy Winn

#Winning

Episode 69: Extra Pavs

Episode 69: Extra Pavs is out!

In the sixty-ninth episode, Thomas and Danny travel to Scottsdale, the strange sun-baked land of Spring Training baseball and sit down with San Jose Mercury News Giants beat reporter Alex Pavlovic.

Click on the image below to find it on iTunes:

You can also find it on the RSS feed, or by clicking on the play button below. We look forward to your feedback, either by commenting here on the blog, emailing us at giantspod@gmail.com, or our Twitter feed.

Go Giants!

Joe Panik Isn’t the Shortstop of the Future; This Isn’t Terrible

Troy Tulowitzkis don’t grow on trees. Jose Reyeseses can’t be made from a Promethean mold. JJ Hardys don’t get released by two teams and then blossom into elit- sorry Brewers and Twins fans, got a bit off track there. Point is, there aren’t a lot of quality big league shortstops in the known universe. Few can combine an above average bat with crisp glove skills and enough speed to go deep into the hole and up the middle. The Giants are a team that has especially had trouble at the position, choosing to sign veterans like Juan Uribe, Miguel Tejada, and Orlando Cabrera to make sure Panda has someone to talk to. Since the latter two vets failed to give even mediocre production at the position, the Giants have been forced to look to their homegrown talent to fill the void.

The Giants’ current shortstop, 25-year-old Brandon Crawford, has the aformentioned slick glove but lacks the offensive tools to be considered a long-term solution in San Francisco. Fortunately, the Giants used their first round draft pick in 2011 on a shortstop from St. John’s University named Joe Panik. However, the scouting consensus is that Panik and his plus hitting and limited defense would be better served at second base, creating an even deeper hole for the Giants to climb out of at the shortstop position. But hold on right there. Why? Why would Panik be better served at second in the big leagues, and where does this line of thinking come from? The answer is essentially defense, but it’s complicated.

Continue reading →