Results tagged ‘ Brett Pill ’
Thursday’s four #SFGiants roster moves
After a 12-8 drubbing last night, the Giants decided it was time for some moves!
Shakeup today. Ramirez DFA’d, Pill optioned. RHP Dunning, H Sanchez coming up from Fresno #sfgiants.
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) June 13, 2013
Possible goodbye to Ramon Ramirez, see ya Brett Pill, welcome back Hector Sanchez, and hello Jake Dunning!
Not only was Pill not playing, but with H.Sanchez back, Posey is an option to start at 1B again.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) June 13, 2013
Odd that after all this time Pill is going back down, didn’t play to the narrative we hoped we’d never see. In 19 games, Hector put up a .320/.370/.460 slash line in the hitter’s league that is the Pacific Coast League.
Newbies land at 6:30
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) June 13, 2013
That would be a little less than an hour before game time.
Dunning is a converted SS from Indiana U. He’s got a 1.75 ERA at Fresno and was on the 40-man. His first call-up.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) June 13, 2013
No doubt his 20.3 K% and 6.5 BB% in Fresno will be a point of discussion when he finally takes the mound for the Giants.
Tonight’s #SFGiants lineup: Blanco CF, Crawford SS, Posey C, Pence RF, Belt 1B, Torres LF, Arias 3B, Noonan 2B, Cain RHP
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) June 13, 2013
You’ve probably heard today’s the anniversary of Matt Cain‘s perfect game. Where was I? At a graduation for most of the game, came home (drove safely, of course), then ran to my residence where my wife had the game on, and there was much happiness.
Pillz and Pegs: Brett Pill back with the big club as Giants head to Toronto
A little over an hour ago we got the news, and I’m sure that Brett Pill couldn’t be happier:
Following yesterday’s game the #SFGiants optioned Francisco Peguero to triple-A and have recalled Brett Pill.
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) May 13, 2013
Pill gets the call up, and Francisco Peguero gets sent down, which makes everybody wonder less about who might be the DH as the Giants head to an American League park for a two-game series. This season, Pill was 6th in wOBA in the Pacific Coast League with the Fresno Grizzlies at .445 with a tied for league leading 9 HR.
For those that are getting super excited about those stats, I do want you to stay calm as other wOBA leaders for the PCL include Scott Van Slyke, Brian Bogusevic, and Kila Ka’aihue. This is not to say Pill will be a huge fail for the Giants, but that your expectations of his performance shouldn’t be as league leading as they were in AAA.
Brett Pill has a .929 SLG%
Brett Pill has done pretty well in Fresno, so it should come as no surprise that he’s doing well in Spring Training (albeit a small sample size), where much minor league talent is showcased. It’s also Spring Training. If you are using Spring Training stats as your basis for why someone should be on a major league roster, and maybe overtake should-be-starting 1B Brandon Belt, well, get ready from those looks you give the crazy people.
If I may, I’m going to show you some stats from previous Spring Trainings. 2012:
I don’t know who Hague is, Boesch had a 77 OPS+, Duncan played in 81 G, Raburn just gets the three letter “LOL” from Tigers fans. Don’t worry, I see you looking at Jesus Guzman‘s name. I know what you’re thinking. Stop that.
2011:
A backup catcher, someone whose team couldn’t wait to ship him off to Seattle, a journeyman, a guy whose career is pretty much over (and wouldn’t have a good year) were amongst the leaders in Spring Training HR.
2010:
Giants fans should see one name on this list and say to themselves, “OK, convinced.” Also, I don’t want to keep doing this because they’re Spring Training stats, filled with pitchers and defenders that may not ever see a Major League stadium as a player. This same lesson applies for pitchers.
Is it possible that Pill has a breakout star-powered season? Sure, I guess. But based off of all the scouting reports done by people who’ve seen the kid, I’ll take their opinions over minor league stats and Spring Training stats 999,999 times out of 1,000,000. It’d also be a really bad idea to make a prediction based off of 14 AB. That’s like saying you’re going to get an “A” in a class because you got a 100% on a quiz that was open-note, open-conversation, and open-internet when you know the teacher is only trying to ease you into the term.
Not that I’ve seen anybody go gaga over Pill this spring, but just in case. Open this article every time you think Brett Pill should be the starting 1B.
GIF Post for Toosdee
Yesterday I did a post using some animated shorts looping over and over and over and over and over and hopefully you loved it loved it loved it. This post is more than just an encore, it’s the continuing of a beginning of me making GIFs until I find something else to do, like write words. I could write about the Giants and Dodgers tying at 8 today, but nah. And now, to the shorts!
Domonic Brown hits a baseball a long way
How long?
How about above the batter’s eye in CF.
Tommy Joseph joins the dinger party, pulling one
to a hut out in the LF fan area
Ichiro Suzuki is still Ichiroing
Brett Pill ties it up with a HR thru a sideways angle
Bill Hall with the “oh yea, I got it” stare down + walk
hits wall in LF
That last pair of GIFs is probably my favorite for today’s action. Would’ve had more from today’s Giants-Dodgers match if I’d known the live feed was up earlier in the day. Oh wells!
Series Preview: #SFGiants (64-54) vs. #Padres (52-68)
Chase Headley’s still a Padre, and he and the rest of the San Diego welcome another set of California fans and their beloved Giants
It’s easy to forget sometimes that there are other teams in the NL West besides the Dodgers, Giants, and Diamondbacks, but just because they’re at the bottom doesn’t mean they can’t derail your postseason plans. The Padres had an 8-2 stretch from Aug 3-13 before losing 3 to the Braves in Atlanta, so it’s not like they’re just lying down waiting for you to beat them. We all know the Giants will be missing their #3 hitter that’s played in 113 G this season, but with the Giants playing the Padres and the Dodgers traveling to Atlanta to play a good Braves team, there has to be a feeling that the Giants and Dodgers could still be within a game of one another when they meet up on Monday.
Friday, August 17th: RHP Matt Cain vs. RHP Ross Ohlendorf
One sentence summary: Four straight starts have seen Matt Cain watch at least seven hits get put on his record while Ohlendorf has seen 6 ER boost his ERA in two of his last three starts.
Saturday, August 18th: LHP Barry Zito vs. LHP Eric Stults
One sentence summary: Barry Zito hasn’t faced the Padres in 2012 and hasn’t had a streak of 0 HR games since May (0 HR in last start); Stults has been solid in his last two outings since being tabbed a SP again going 13 IP, 10 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and 8 K.
Sunday, August 19th: RHP Ryan Vogelsong vs. LHP Clayton Richard
One sentence summary: The big story last start was how Ryan Vogelsong stopped being new Ryan Vogelsong while Clayton Richard hopes to improve from his last start against the Giants when he got lit up at AT&T nearly a month ago.
Offense in the Pet Box
Buster Posey is having a great 2nd half to which you have been made aware on every night Buster Posey is in the batter’s box (.403 wOBA, 19 HR overall). Brandon Belt has been hot recently (.362 OBP, .339 wOBA overall). *By the way, a friendly reminder that if you are a Giants fan and actively root against Brandon Belt or Brett Pill, you need to re-evaluate yourself as a fan of the team.* Brandon Crawford with his PH-2-R bomb and getting on base hasn’t been too bad himself (.276 wOBA, 71 wRC+ overall). However, in the smallest of sample sizes at 13 PA in the last 7, Joaquin Arias has also been productive (.431 wOBA L7, .279 wOBA overall). If Angel Pagan (.247 wOBA L7) is going to be at the top, Hunter Pence in the thick of things in the lineup (.252 wOBA L7) and want to give the boys a chance to get over the Melky hangover, they’re going to need to turn up the production.
I look at the Padres and I feel kind of bad for how many people I’m seeing on their DL list. Guys that can do damage against opposing teams like Yasmani Grandal who’s on rehab, Huston Street, who can still put down batters, and other starting pitchers that have been shelved. As for the guys who are playing, Logan Forsythe (.524 wOBA L7, .323 wOBA overall) has been doing well at the top of the order lately, what we thought was an obvious trade chip in Chase Headley (.406 wOBA L7, .360 wOBA overall) has 4 HR in his last 7 (and 19 for the season), and more importantly is still with the Padres. Those two guys are really the only ones putting up big numbers within the past week, but remember this team has Carlos Quentin (12 HR), who has hits in 4 of the 5 games he’s played against the Giants, including his unforgettable 2-HR game. Their catchers Nick Hundley and John Baker have been ice cold and rather unproductive for the Padres in Grandal’s absence, with neither having a positive wRC+.
Series Prediction
I’m going to go predictable here only because it just seems too obvious to me. This means my predictions should be wrong.
Friday: Giants win (Cain > Ohlendorf; Giants hitters rejoice)
Saturday: Padres win (Stults > Zito; Padres hitters rejoice)
Sunday: Giants win (Vogey shows it was just a blip)
All the while only gaining one full game on the Dodgers. Should be a decent weekend.
#FreeBelt vs. #FreePill: May 22nd Update
They’ve divided a fanbase. This article will give you the offensive numbers on them thus far in 2012.
It really shouldn’t be close. For those that are fans of reading, you expect that Belt should be a far cry away from anything Brett Pill is producing out on the field. Unfortunately for the people that spend the majority of their free time looking up numbers, blogging, and maybe even scouting, we are seeing a whole lotta snark from the Brett Pill Support Group/Brandon Belt Sucks Group.
So, what do the numbers look like? In 99 Brandon Belt PA and 66 Brett Pill PA:
I only put batting average in there for the Pill crowd. I really didn’t want to, but it gave me a good reason to include BABIP and it actually can maybe prove a point about Belt: if the homie can put the ball in play instead of striking out a quarter of the time, that batting average goes up, and the Brett Pill crowd shuts up and reluctantly gets on the bandwagon.
The HR numbers though make me wonder: where has Belt’s power gone? Is he tired? Is he injured? Is he just due for an explosion of production? Whatever it is, you just hope he finds it soon, otherwise Aubrey Huff might have to start games on a consistent basis. That is certainly the number Brett Pill fans laugh at Brandon Belt for. The one Brandon Belt fans laugh at Brett Pill supporters for is the 27.8% infield fly ball rate. It’s also tied for 5th for highest % for hitters with more than 60 PA.
The numbers in my opinion have Belt with a slight edge, but nothing that screams BELT WINS. K.O. PERFECT. We can only hope, but remember good fans: they’re on the same team, so rooting for one to fail doesn’t really make any sense.
Fin.
Can Huff 2010 in 2012? #SFGiants
Aubrey Huff, not present day
My other post title for this was “How odd is Aubrey Huff?” because you probably know by now, whether you call it a dead cat bounce, the roller coaster, upsies-downsies, the odd-even syndrome, you know Aubrey Huff has problems with playing in years that end in an odd number. Why? Iono. Gotta be between the ears though that causes him to do all the nothing he was doing after the 2010 World Series though. I believe they call it “resting on your laurels.” Most people by now grudgingly agree that yea, ok, you helped us to the first WS title we’ve ever seen in SF, you can get your pass… but no more! Dude’s getting paid $10MM in 2012, AKA “money I will never ever make.” As we look at the Giants preparing we look at what needs to happen and no doubt about it, Huff is a big key.
Yea. I’ll say. In fact, while we’re at it, you wanna take a look at his stats from all those odd years he’s played in the bigs? Of course you do. Let’s not pretend you have something else to do:
For those looking at the letter combinations going “WTF?” “ISO” stands for “Isolated Power” which is measured by Slugging percentage minus batting average. Let’s just say an ISO over .200 is pretty good to keep it simple. If you’ve had the uh… pleasure? of reading my stuff before I’ve talked about wOBA and wRC+ before. Both good individual measures for evaluating a player. 100 though for wRC+ is considered league average, so keep that in mind if this is the first time you’re seeing it. The 6 year average is for those 6 odd number years you see there and the 5 year average takes out the year 2011 since he played a lesser number of games then. 2003 was a pretty good year for him, wasn’t it? Tampa sure must’ve loved that when they were horrible. Now let’s compare those numbers to something like his even numbered years:
The year that was taken out for the 5 year average was the year 2000. In those 5 years though, take a look at the magic Huff has been up to in his even years: every year 20+ HR, K% below 14%, ISOs above .200 just about in every year save for that .197, pretty good batting averages, OBPs, wOBA and wRC+ in every year but 2006 where you could say he was a little better than average. The only thing the odd years have over the even years is the number of G and PA he averages, which is interesting but in the end you look at the numbers they put up for a guy like Huff who’s making 8 figures.
Huff says he’s doing the pilates thing that made him what he was in 2010. The dude is -gulp- 35 and he may need to do a little more than pilates to get him back to 2010 form. But he makes it sound like it’s hit him: I gotta be in shape to compete. Pablo’s realized that, Timmy’s realized that, Matt Cain realized it a while ago and Melky figured it out the same time Pablo did. Huff’s figured it out at age 35. Should we expect the world of Huff? No, that wouldn’t be fair. Should we expect a line of over 500 PAs, 20 HRs, 9-10% BB%, an ISO at .180+ and a wRC+ at 110 or higher? Yea, I think that’s absolutely fair and kinda believe in my “I like to believe people” brain that he can do that. I’m not gonna bet anything on it, but that’s what I expect from him.
So to answer the question, “Can Huff 2010 in 2012?” I say the realistic answer is “No,” although he shouldn’t be too far away, but I invite and beg him to prove me wrong.
What I learned from Wednesday’s #SFGLive
Who's been sending pictures of his abs to Bruce Bochy?
So on Wednesday night there was an “Inside the Clubhouse” complete with a live and active applause track. If you’ve been following the Giants closely throughout the offseason, you didn’t hear anything breaking about what’s going to happen this offseason. You really just learned more about the character of some of the individual characters, which is better than nothing. It’s better than being forced to listen to news about some other inferior sport.
Brian Sabean talked to the audience about everything we already know: pitching is the priority. Bullpen ever so important. Injuries plagued us in 2011. Nothing new, really. He did say if they see a bargain in January they’ll keep an open mind. I think that pertains more to pitching (like a long relief, #5 guy) than a bat. I’m sure they’ll sign a cheap bat if they could though. Rehab stuff nothing new, Freddy on schedule and Buster ahead of schedule. Looking good and of course we’re all hoping for the best. RIGHT, AUDIENCE? (this happened about 10 times over the course of the conference)
Larry Baer told us he hates the term “cap” in “salary cap” since it sounds like the number won’t move. He left room for the salary of the club to be bumped up ever so slightly year-by-year but didn’t talk about any new revenue streams like I dreamed of hearing about. He talked about the importance of keeping the celebrities of the Giants in San Francisco and specifically mentioning Timmy, Matty, Panda, Posey, MadBum and BRIAN WILSON. I think I started crying. If you know me, you know I hate paying too much for closers. We’ll see what happens though — he did say he’ll leave the baseball stuff to the baseball operations guys like Sabes and co.
We could be STACKED for years!
Dave Righetti can’t really tell us too much about what’s to happen with the team because that’s not his nor is it Bochy’s department. He did tell a nice story about how Juan Marichal shook Buster Posey’s hand before Game 5 and knew they were going to win. I learned that Rags likes to talk to the catchers about gameplan more than he does the pitchers.
Bruce Bochy same thing and a lot of talk about the close games and his receding hairline. What else can he really talk about? He did talk about the Taiwan All Star Trip and how fun that was with Pablo in LF for an inning. He talked about Aubrey Huff sending Boch shirtless pictures of himself to prove he’s working hard over this offseason. He didn’t lay down speculation that Pill and Belt could be competing for a spot though, much to the discontent of people that want to see Belt in the starting lineup everyday. Boch brought up the importance of getting through to the team that they can get back to the top and knowing that the 162 game season can be a long season.
Lots to be excited for, lots to be nervous about. The lineup’s pretty much set and so is the staff. It’s all about arbitration and dolling out cash now. Until the next set of crazy news, enjoy the closing shot of the Inside the Clubhouse episode.
The Offense in 2012: A September 30th Perspective
He may not solve everything, but he'll solve some things.
Yesterday we took a look at the pitching portion of the roster which I estimated to be around $90MM and the Bay Area News Group have posted their arbitration estimates for the whole team here and the numbers aren’t that far off from the estimates I shot forth. Now we take a look at the hitters that are set to come back (or are under payroll), arbitration eligible, and free agents. I’m sure you’re aware of the free agents on the item.
Under Contract in 2012
Aaron Rowand ($13.6MM, released in 2011 due to attitude and sucking. 2012 is his last year.)
Aubrey Huff ($10MM, has option for 2013)
Freddy Sanchez ($6MM)
Buster Posey ($575K in 2011, under control until 2016)
Brandon Belt ($414K in 2011)
Chris Stewart
Brett Pill
Brandon Crawford
Look at how luxury I am!
Arbitration Eligible (Salary in 2011, Years of Arbitration Left)
Jeff Keppinger ($2.3MM, 1)
Andres Torres ($2.2MM, 2)
Mike Fontenot ($1.05MM, 2)
Pablo Sandoval ($500K, 3)
Nate Schierholtz ($432.5K, 3)
Eli Whiteside ($425K, 3)
You love how I hit in general, but not in clutch situations. You should see my defense!
Free Agents (Salary in 2011)
Carlos Beltran ($20.07MM)
Cody Ross ($6.3MM)
Mark DeRosa ($6MM)
Orlando Cabrera ($1MM)
Pat Burrell ($1MM)
Miguel Tejada ($6.5MM)
At least here someone wants me to be involved!
The big question on that arbitration eligible and free agent list is “who will be brought back?” Well, consider that we already have $31.5MM committed to the first category listed and that already puts the Giants at about $120MM of payroll. “Holy F***,” you say. I agree. So which arbitration eligible hitters are tendered? I’m going to guess 4 — Kepp, Panda, Nate, Fonty. However, I expect the Giants to trade Keppinger for something after tendered like a giveaway night that actually gives every fan a bobblehead so they don’t have to spend all day in line for an item that costs the price of admission. For the 3 that stay, I expect it to be somewhere around $5MM for all of them put together. Now that’s $36.5MM for our hitters. So now what? The payroll’s approximately $125MM and you want another hitter? God, you’re selfish. Oh, you want a leadoff hitter? What, have you been good this year or something? Oh, you gave your top prospect away? That was nice of you.
I’m not even going to guess who they Giants might go after. Some have said Coco Crisp. Just what we need, another mascot. Johnny Damon? Hasn’t played CF consistently in years. Andruw Jones? Fits the profile, I suppose. An Aaron Rowand-lite! Josh Willingham? Same as Damon. Jason Kubel? Might as well sign Beltran. Juan Pierre? That would be interesting, to say the least.
So I guess the question will be: How much will Sabes and Co. overpay for Coco and will they have the funds to bring Beltran back to platoon Nate/Belt? The possibilities are limited, and they are definitely frustrating to think through.
You'll hear about me all off-season!
