Following the Giants’ signing of veteran catcher Nick Hundley to a one-year deal earlier today, San Francisco GM Bobby Evans suggested that Buster Posey’s playing time behind the plate won’t decrease with Hundley on board (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Evans called 120 games behind the plate a “fair target” for Posey, whose time at first base in 2017 figures to be fairly minimal, as was the case in 2016 when he appeared there on 15 occasions. “The more we can keep Buster behind the plate and healthy, the stronger our team is,” said Evans. “The ideal is to keep him back there as much as possible.” Though he’ll turn 30 in March and has long carried a heavy workload, Posey remains one of the most productive offensive catchers and best defensive catchers in all of Major League Baseball. Of Hundley, Evans spoke highly of the experience that the 33-year-old veteran will bring to the Giants in 2017.
A bit more on the Giants…
- Evans also said this afternoon that the Giants’ hope in left field is that either Mac Williamson or Jarrett Parker will separate himself from those in competition for the spot and win the job this spring, as Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes. “In a perfect world, one guy would win the job,” said the GM. “You’re not necessarily looking for a platoon. Then out of our non-roster invitees, someone would emerge as a fifth outfielder who could be a bat off the bench.” As Baggarly notes, the Giants’ list of non-roster invitees includes former Giants left fielder Mike Morse and veteran Justin Ruggiano — either of whom would satisfy the team’s desire for some right-handed pop off the bench. Evans’ comments are especially interesting given the fact that the 28-year-old Parker is out of minor league options. If Williamson has the clearly superior Spring Training and wins the job, Parker would have to be exposed to waivers before the Giants could send him back to the minors. Williamson, on the other hand, has two minor league options remaining. (You can see the option count for each player, and others, on the Giants’ depth chart at Roster Resource).
- KBO star Jae-gyun Hwang met with the Korean media to discuss his minor league agreement with the Giants earlier today, and Jee-ho Yoo of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency was on hand to get the 29-year-old’s thoughts. Hwang told reporters that he’s been studying English for more than a year now in order to make the transition process between cultures a bit smoother, and he said he’s also made some mechanical tweaks to his swing to better prepare himself for the harder fastballs he’ll be seeing in American ball. He also added that he decided to eliminate bat flips following his home runs in 2016 (and Hwang had a penchant for unleashing some epic flips) to avoid controversy with opposing clubs. While the Giants haven’t made a formal announcement of the move yet, Evans acknowledged (via Baggarly in the above-linked column) that Hwang’s market “was one that he could have taken a number of different deals.” Evans added that the Giants feel fortunate that Hwang accepted their offer and cited the infielder’s improved strikeout and walk rates as factors that intrigued Giants scouts. Hwang hit .335/.394/.570 with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the KBO last year.
Kinda rooting for Williamson over Parker. We’ve got plenty of left handed bats and to have some right handed pop would be nice as long as he can get those strikeout numbers down. I wonder if they would consider Nunez sometimes in LF if Hwang pans out.
Agreed, he is also better with the glove. They have done a nice job improving their bench over the last few days.
What if none of the in-house options have a good spring? What if they all struggle? What do the Giants do then? Neither Willliamson or Parker has ever been an every day player in the majors. If they both struggle, the Giants will find them in a spot. This is why I’m surprised the Giants didn’t sign an outfielder this off-season to at least compete for the job. I thought they’d bring in a bounce back candidate type of outfielder at a low cost. I also thought they’d bring in another outfielder because of the health issues Pence & Span have had in the past few years
Melky Cabrera + $5mil for either Shaw or Quinn and a lotto ticket pitching prospect.
lol no, he burned his bridge with the Giants. The fans don’t like him and the organization doesn’t either, hence keeping him off the 2012 postseason roster even though he was eligible.
Wasn’t aware. of any of that. Thanks for the knowledge.
Not all fans dislike him. Lots of Giants fans wanted him to stay before they dumped him. Personally I think he’s a weasel. It’s not just that he cheated, he left like a theif in the night without even addressing his teammates. That being said, I’m a charter seat holder, I speak to lots of fans. Plenty of them still liked the Melkman
No problemo dude (Y)
Umm, no.
Angel Pagan?
Given where we are in the offseason, he (and similar notable declining veterans) may get stuck with a spring training invites if his market doesn’t rapidly materialize. There may be some insurance policies available via deals like that.
with williamson it is health more than adjustment, you could really see that when he did get a little consistent time both his bat and glove had no problems at all – but then he went on the DL for a while – I really root for him too though – I think parker could be good but he really needs to tame all of the movement in the box and loosen his grip on the bat, the mechanics are what mess him up more than his eye.
Could Belt hack it in LF? Posey could play 1B with Hundley doing the bulk of the catching. (I know this isn’t ideal, but it could be a decent backup plan.)
Why would you want to do that? All the options for LF are going to hit better than Hundley. Parker, or Williamson, or whomever, plus Belt, and Posey are going to give you more with the bat than Hundley, Posey, and Belt. But what’s worse are the defensive downgrades. Hundley is not the defensive catcher that Posey is, Posey is not the defensive first baseman that Belt is, and Belt is not the defensive player in LF that any of the options are. You’re suggesting playing 2 guys, both of whom play excellent defense, out of position, for a downgrade in hitting. I don’t get it.
Why assume that both will struggle? That would be the only reason to acquire someone to play LF without finding out if either can be the answer. If neither is, there’s time to fix it. Low production from LF is not going to be the difference between being in contention, or totally out of if, come July.
Is there not enough room on their 25 potential 25 man roster to carry both?
There probably is, but I think Evans/Bochy are hoping that Hwang pans out so they can have him on the big league roster
Think it’s probably Parker who is getting the role, if they expose him to the waivers he is gone, he is better than some of the OFs on other bad teams.
And if Parker fails and Williamson excels, Parker is 4th OF.
Worse case scenarios both of them are 4th and 5th.
Bad scenario they Platoon.
In the event Hwang gets the 3B gig, then Nunez is Super Utility and sees bulk of the time at LF, unless Crawford and/or Panik are injured.
well I think there is also the fact that pence needs to be healthy, if he isn’t mac will step into that role.
Who backs up Span? Parker?
I think so
Bochy loves his 8-man bullpens so that only leaves four bench slots. Backup catcher, utility infielder and two backup outfielders?
Think he is hoping for this 26th Man to show up….
That might change given two of Suarez, Blach, and Cain will be in the bullpen.
They need a backup Center Fielder so that means they probably need Gorky’s Hernandez to be on the roster.
it just seems odd that a team that’s as “in” as sf would rely on this for their of.
I’m guessing that you’re simply assuming that neither Parker nor Williamson will ever be MLB average hitters. That’s a big assumption. But the Giants have invested draft picks and years developing both guys through the minors. They’ve kept Williamson despite his being out with the TJ surgery. The Giants absolutely need to find out if either can hack it in the majors. Now is the perfect time. If neither one can, then there will be plenty of time to address the issue before the trade deadline. If the Giants are totally out of it by July it won’t be solely because of a non-productive LFer.
The Giants can always trade for a LF during the season, but we also have a few OF’ers that are not too far away from earning looks in the majors.
They’ll be fiiiiiiine…
They don’t have a very good farm system so anyone you’re trading for is likely a pretty meh option as well
Before the bull pen imploded SFG were the best team in baseball. So they blew 32 saves from a record of 26-42 from being 57-33, I am going to guess (it might be a wild guess with Melancon on board) that SFG won’t blow the same amount.
So there wasn’t much wrong with them at 57-33. We have lost Pagan (not a huge loss) and some arms who blew those 32 saves.
Others have improved – yes.
But it’s not a bad spot to be at
Things tend to stabilize, that’s why you play a full season. They won 87, pythag had them at 90 base runs at 89, so they played pretty close to expected.
They are projected for 88 wins, which sounds about right. They have a good chance of getting a WC, which is why is kinda surprises me that they are leaving that hole open on what is very likely a playoff team.
True agree with you regarding 162 game season, however looking at what went wrong, they addressed the needs.
Yes farm needs improvement, that’s why they didn’t dip in the QO free agent market.
Yes they need a better LF, but that was not the major problem in 2016
But like you said it may become a problem in 2017
They could probably afford to trade for Braun. Beede looks to be a top 100 prospect again after a good year last year. I’m not sure if it’s a money issue with Braun though that they don’t want to get hit with the luxury tax.
From the sound of it, it seems like the brewers are looking for more than a back end top 100 for braun. I could be wrong there though, obviously.
It might take another middling prospect, but Braun’s contract reduces his value, especially for a team like the Brewers. I agree that Beede on his own is probably not enough, but would get the conversation started.
I was think with regards to Braun, however I think the front office is also looking in terms of previous PED suspensions.
But in my opinion past is the Past! They may trade for Braun but in my opinion that would only be at the trade deadline, instead of the offseason.
We want bat flips!!!!
I don’t see Hwang’s power translated to MLB, let alone AT&T Park, so his chances for bat flips will be few and far in between, anyway. He could still be a useful player with his ability to play multiple positions, improving plate discipline, and some speed.