23 Oct 2017 01:19:52
This one's for you, Chi Sox.

Giants off-season plans:

Acquire Billy Hamilton for Chris Shaw, Hunter Strickland, Steven Duggar

Hamilton's speed and fielding are elite, which is why he gets a top 100 guy, and a controllable closer, and a wild card prospect. But that OBP isn't doing him any favors. This could be light, but Shaw's power would be monstrous in Cincinnati. And the two teams have made a couple of fairly big trades in the past few years.

Sign Mike Moustakas 5 yr, $80MM

Re-sign Nick Hundley, 1 yr, $2MM

Sign Cameron Maybin, 1 yr, $8 MM

Lineup
CF- Hamilton
1B- Belt
C- Posey
3B- Moustakas
SS- Crawford
RF- Pence
LF- Span
2B- Panik

Bench
C- Hundley
2B- Tomlinson
3B- Sandoval
LF- Maybin
CF- Hernandez

Rotation:
Bumgarner
Cueto
Samardzija
Moore
Stratton (Beede could take this spot mid-year if Stratton fails)

Bullpen
CL- Melancon
SU- Dyson
SU- Smith
RP- Gearing
RP- Law
RP- Crick
RP- Blach.

1.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 02:32:45
So OBP is bad, but let's put him at the top of a lineup trying to contend? Also in a bullpen that was pretty disappointing in 2017, why do they trade one of their most reliable RH arms?

2.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 04:53:05
Also, Shaw is a 1B by pretty much all accounts. His metrics are bad in LF. I heard the Reds have 1B occupied by a decent player.

3.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 05:26:46
You’re right. They never traded for a 3B with zero experience in the OF and turn him into an OF. That’s what they did with Duvall. Cincinnati isn’t very concerned with defense at the corners.

And if it makes you feel better, it can be Arroyo, or Bryan Reynolds. It really doesn’t matter. Strickland is likely gone in a trade. Bochy is not a fan of him or his attitude and he’s only getting more expensive. They’d probably just replace him via FA.

And Bochy would use Hamilton at the top of the order. I’ve watched him use speedy players at the top all the way back when he managed the Padres. Hamilton bats at the top in Cincy. He would in SF too, with Bochy’s mindset.

4.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 15:29:47
The difference, of course, being that Duvall is a pretty good OF considering his size and mobility (-1.4 Def) . Shaw has been really bad in the OF when put there.

But if you are in the Reds FO and are certain that they don't care about OF defense, then hey, you one-upped me there.

Strickland is getting expensive, but what do you think a hard-throwing RH reliever with around a 2.00 ERA is going to net in the open market? Don't know a ton about Strickland and Bochy's relationship and if Bochy's dissent for him is strong enough to warrant a trade.

Last time I checked, Speed means absolutely zero when you can't get on base, in terms of your offensive game. No manager of a contending team is dumb enough to put a sub-.300 OBP guy in the leadoff spot. Span gets on base a ton more and is still an above avg. runner.

Wait, are you making a blind prediction that Hamilton gets on base more this year? Not allowed.

5.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 20:23:27
Where did I predict he gets on base more? I simply said Bochy would use him at the top of the order. As he’s done since he’s ever been a manager: speed at the top.

And if that’s your gripe and you want to live in fantasy land, switch him and Span. Giants are more interested in defensive OF, and they might feel they can help him raise his OBP (I have no idea if it’s possible) .

6.) 23 Oct 2017
23 Oct 2017 22:04:22
No, Bochy doesn't "just put speed at the top. " He puts guys that get on base at the top. Like pretty much every manager.

I can break it down year by year for you if you want, but he hasn't ever consistently leadoff a guy with an OBP less than .330. Roberts, Winn, Pagan, Aoki, Span. All of those guys had at least above average speed, but the point being that they got on base!

To insinuate that Bochy would put Hamilton at the top of the order simply bc he is The Flash is just plain idiotic. No one does that.

7.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 00:26:53
I've literally listened to Bruce Bochy in interviews cite that he likes certain guys at the top of the lineup because they have speed. Multiple times. He said it during Fan Fest when they introduced Denard Span. He's said it in interviews, again, multiple times. He likes speedy players and would likely slot Hamilton in the lead-off spot.

And again, if it makes you feel better, move him to 7th, move Span to #1. It shows exactly how insecure you are that you insist on nit-picking where I slot Billy Hamilton into the lineup.

Move him to the #4 hitter. I really don't care. He's an elite defender and very likely a guy the Giants will try hard to trade for. They want OF defense, and trading for one of the best (probably) available defenders would be a brilliant move for the Giants. It doesn't matter where they hit him, but I'd guess, based on a lifetime of watching Bruce Bochy manage, they'll hit him leadoff.

8.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 01:15:17
"To insinuate that Bochy would put Hamilton at the top of the order simply bc he is The Flash is just plain idiotic. No one does that. "

Bryan Price did it for a whole season. The Royals did it with Whit Merrifield, who batted .274 in 500+ as a leadoff guy. The White Sox had a OBP of .300 from their lead-off guys. The forward-thinking Brewers were only at .320 from that spot. The Blue Jays used Bautista and Pillar in the leadoff spot for 85% of the season and got a .305 OBP (if you're using Bautista, it's clear they weren't considering speed at the top) . I'm not justifying the use, nor am I disagreeing: teams SHOULD look for high OBP guys at the #1 spot.

But insinuating Bruce Bochy doesn't do it just because it's not a wise strategy is false. Bochy's most critical flaw is his old-school management tactics. He's leaned toward his speedy guys his entire management career. It just so happens his speedsters also got on base.

If he had Hamilton, he'd love nothing more than to use him in front of Posey and Belt. No point in getting Hamilton to 2nd or 3rd on steals if he's going to do it in front of the #8 and 9 slots.

The other option I could see him doing is one he's done before: use Hamilton as the #9 hitter, thus creating a second lead-off. This way he's not wasting speed to watch the pitcher strike out with his guy at 2nd.

If you watch Bochy long enough, you know exactly what he'll do. I'm telling you, he'll use Hamilton at the top of the lineup.

9.) 25 Oct 2017
25 Oct 2017 00:36:05
arroyo is the 3b of the future

giants ain't giving his spot away

i could see bring back nunez or something.

10.) 25 Oct 2017
25 Oct 2017 03:37:45
You know what's idiotic: telling a guy who's been watching the Giants consistently for over a decade and a half that you know more about how their manager operates than he does.

Genuine question: how many Giants games do you watch a year? I watch over 100 games a year. While that doesn't automatically make me an "expert", I believe it helps me when it comes to understanding what decisions a manager is likely to make. I can pretty well gather who they'll start, what spot in the lineup they'll bat, and who comes out of the bullpen. Bochy is predictable when you watch him a ton.

So please, unless you actually understand how Bochy manages and what decisions he is prone to make, just stop. You clearly don't know what you're talking about and continue to make a fool of yourself.

11.) 25 Oct 2017
25 Oct 2017 05:14:42
But the thing is, Bochy hasn't just put fast guys at the top. He always has really good OBP guys there, like any manager that isn't trying to develop a future lineup, but win games in the present. Maybe you were watching the Giants that play in Japan? You don't have to watch the games to look at the box scores.

If they got Hamilton, he would bat 7th or 8th on opening day, Span would lead off like he successfully did in 2017, and it would remain that way until either A. Hamilton gets on base a lot more or B. Span can no longer get on base at his career pace. C'mon man, this is simple, very simple baseball stuff.

12.) 25 Oct 2017
25 Oct 2017 06:04:15
What on earth are you talking about? He's batted almost exclusively fast guys at the top of his lineups. Leaders during his tenure as a Giants manager: Pagan, Span, Torres, Blanco, Rowand, Fred Lewis, Nori Aoki, Randy Winn, Velez. All but one of them had what would be considered "Excellent" speed rating per Fangraphs (Rowand) . Not all of them had high OBP (Rowand, Torres, Span, and Velez all had .330 OBP, which is average, or worse in the leadoff spot) .

And again, this is coming from a guy who's watched Bochy manage well over 1000 games for the Giants. I've heard hundreds of interviews. This is what Bochy does: he uses speed at the top of his lineups. But please, tell me more how you know more about the Giants than someone who's watched over 1000 games in the past decade (this doesn't include pre-Bruce Bochy Giants) .

It was kind of adorable to watch you make a fool of yourself, now it's just annoying. You literally have zero clue what you're talking about. You're out of your depth, and you need to go do something. Try learning about milk pasteurization or something (chances are, you think you're an expert at it already) .

13.) 25 Oct 2017
25 Oct 2017 18:20:30
Yeah you can have the Bochy argument. Starting to think he's like your uncle or something since you know exactly how he thinks.

As a Giants fan, good luck to you if Billy Hamilton is your leadoff hitter in 2018. Nothing like Posey consistently coming up with 2 out, nobody on I guess. Hamilton will look really fast sprinting out his ground outs, though. Really entertaining! It's not like the Giants didn't just lose 100 games anyway.

14.) 27 Oct 2017
27 Oct 2017 08:04:19
“Sprinting out those ground outs”

Or Hamilton could work on his swing and launch angle and hit 30 HR next year? According to you, what’s stopping him?

15.) 03 Nov 2017
03 Nov 2017 00:12:16
His size, the type of player he is, lack of even marginal power, etc. He would be adding 25 HRs, not 10.