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9/20-9/22 Series Preview: San Francisco Giants

September 20, 2013 by Mike 14 Comments

I have to think more than a few people (and television networks) were expecting this late-season interleague matchup to be more meaningful and interesting than it really is. Both the Yankees and Giants are big disappointments this year. Fun Fact: The Giants will be only the second defending World Series winner to play in the New Yankee Stadium, joining the Phillies in 2009. That isn’t counting the 2010 Yankees, obviously.

What Have They Done Lately?
Despite the down year, the Giants have actually played pretty well of late. They just took two of three from the Mets in Flushing and three of four from the Dodgers before coming East. San Francisco has won five of their last six games and sit in fourth place in the NL West at 71-84 with a -54 run differential. They’ve already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

Offense
For some reason the Giants are generally considered a poor offensive team — it’s a stigma that has stuck over the years — but they’re almost perfectly league average this year at 3.9 runs per game with a team 98 wRC+. That’s not great but it’s average, and average is … well … average. Could be worse, they could be the Yankees (86 wRC+). San Francisco is without 2B Marco Scutaro (111 wRC+) and OF Andres Torres (83 wRC+) due to injury. Scutaro (finger) is expected back at some this season but probably not this weekend. Torres (Achilles) is done for the year.

Manager Bruce Bochy’s lineup revolves around three guys: reigning NL MVP Buster Posey (137 wRC+), 1B Brandon Belt (138 wRC+), and OF Hunter Pence (137 wRC+). Posey has been dealing with a finger injury and comes into the series relatively slumping (99 wRC+ last 14 days) while Pence is currently on an insane contract drive (202 wRC+ last 30 days). 3B Pablo Sandoval (110 wRC+) is having a good but not great year and OF Angel Pagan (114 wRC+ in limited time) has been solid when not injured.

The rest of Bochy’s regular lineup includes SS Brandon Crawford (96 wRC+) and OF Gregor Blanco (97 wRC+). Backup C Hector Sanchez (103 wRC+ in limited time) figures to get some at-bats this weekend thanks to the DH. OF Juan Perez (70 wRC+ in limited time), OF Roger Kieschnick (53 wRC+ in very limited time), 1B/OF Brett Pill (82 wRC+), IF Tony Abreu (80 wRC+ in limited time), and former Yankees prospect/IF Joaquin Arias (77 wRC+) are the regular bench players. The crop of September call-ups includes C Johnny Monell, IF Ehire Adrianza, IF Nick Noonan, and OF Francisco Peguero.

Starting Pitching Matchups

Friday: LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Tim Lincecum
Boy would this have been a fun matchup as recently as 2011. Instead, we have too former Cy Young Award winners who are trying to figure out why they suddenly transformed into back-end starters. Lincecum, 29, has a 4.40 ERA (3.75 FIP) in 30 starts this season, so he’s been considerably better than last year (5.18 ERA and 4.18 FIP) but still much worse than his heyday from 2008-2011 (2.81 ERA and 2.81 FIP). His strikeout rate (8.85 K/9 and 23.1 K%) is excellent and his ground ball rate (45.2%) is very good, but he walks a few too many (3.52 BB/9 and 9.2 BB%) and is really homer prone (0.98 HR/9 and 12.4% HR/FB), especially considering his home park. Lincecum’s two and four-seam fastballs have tapered off in recent years and sit right around 90 mph these days. His best pitch is a low-to-mid-80s changeup with crazy movement down and away from lefties, but he’ll also throw low-80s sliders and mid-70s curveballs. That wide arsenal is why he has a tiny platoon split. Lincecum has never faced the Yankees in his career, and in fact only former NLers Mark Reynolds and Alfonso Soriano have seen him more than a handful of times.

Saturday: RHP Ivan Nova vs. RHP Ryan Vogelsong
The 36-year-old Vogelsong missed almost three months earlier this season when he needed surgery to repair a fracture in his pitching hand after being hit by a pitch — at least the NL has all that strategy amirite? — and overall this has been his worst big league season since resurfacing two years ago. He’s pitched to a 5.73 ERA (4.91 FIP) in 17 starts after putting up a 3.05 ERA (3.68 FIP) from 2011-2012. Vogelsong spent 2006-2010 bouncing around Japan and minors after flaming out with the Pirates in the early-2000s. His peripherals are mediocre across the board this year: 6.12 K/9 (15.0 K%), 3.21 BB/9 (7.9 BB%), 1.36 HR/9 (14.3% HR/FB), and 41.7% grounders. Vogelsong is a true five-pitch pitcher with two fastballs (upper-80s two and four-seamers), two breaking balls (mid-80s slider and mid-70s curveball), and one offspeed pitch (low-80s changeup). Right-handers have destroyed him this season (.410 wOBA) and lefties haven’t had a hard time either (.329 wOBA), but that split is the reverse of the last two years. Lefties usually gave him a harder time than righties. Vogelsong made two relief appearances against the Yankees back in 2005 and they mean nothing right now.

Sunday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. RHP Yusmeiro Petit
The Yankees probably aren’t going to make the playoffs, but at least we’ll get to see a Pettitte vs. Petit pitching matchup. John Sterling will have a field day. The 29-year-old Petit has a 3.08 ERA (2.10 FIP) in five starts and one relief appearance for San Francisco this year, and two weeks ago he got to within one out of a perfect game. Former Yankee Eric Chavez broke it up with a single with two outs in the ninth. Petit, who the Mets traded to the Marlins for Carlos Delgado back in the day, lives in the mid-to-upper-80s with his cutter and four-seam fastball. A low-80s slider headlines his array of offspeed offerings, which also includes a low-80s changeup and a mid-70s curveball. Like Lincecum and (for all intents and purposes) Vogelsong, Petit has never faced the Yankees in his career.

Bullpen Status
The Mets and Dodgers did the Yankees a solid these last few days and really worked Bochy’s bullpen hard. Closer RHP Sergio Romo (2.91 FIP) has pitched three of the last five and four of the last seven days. Setup men RHP ~~Jairo Garcia~~ Santiago Casilla (3.68 FIP) and LHP Javier Lopez (2.21 FIP) have both pitched each of the last three days. Casilla has pitched four of the last five and six of the last eight (!) days as well. Even if those guys do pitch this weekend, they’ll probably be out of gas.

With those three having been worked hard, RHP Jean Machi (2.51 FIP) and former Yankee RHP George Kontos (3.98 FIP) figure to pick up the late-inning slack. LHP Jeremy Affeldt (4.44 FIP) is done for the year with a groin problem, so Bochy’s only other veteran lefty aside from Lopez is LHP Jose Mijares (3.13 FIP). RHP Guillermo Moscoso (4.94 FIP) is the regular long man. The Giants are carrying a 13-man bullpen that includes September call-ups RHP Jake Dunning, RHP Heath Hembree, LHP Mike Kickham, and RHP Sandy Rosario. LHP Barry Zito (5.02 FIP) is technically in the bullpen, but he hasn’t pitched since September 2nd and has made just one appearance since August 26th. He’s just kinda there as the team waits for his contract to expire after the season.

The Yankees bullpen is in decent shape coming into the series, and rumor has it Boone Logan (elbow) will be available for the opener tonight. That is still subject to change, however. Check out our Bullpen Workload page for exact reliever usage details, then check out McCovey Chronicles for the latest and greatest on the Giants. It’s one of the very best and most entertaining team blogs you’ll find.

King: Giants and Braves interested in Joba Chamberlain

July 2, 2013 by Mike 128 Comments

Via George King: The Braves and Giants have interest in Joba Chamberlain as the trade deadline approaches. Both clubs are looking for bullpen help and both had scouts on hand to watch his recent outings — the Braves over the weekend in Baltimore, the Giants last night against the Twins. Both appearances were scoreless.

Chamberlain, 27, has a 5.75 ERA and 5.07 FIP in 20.1 innings this year. He missed about a month with an oblique strain and has been just dreadful since returning, pitching to a 7.36 ERA and 6.14 FIP in 11 innings. Joba’s only redeeming qualities at this point are that he still throws hard (94.8 mph, hardest since 2008) and can miss bats (9.74 K/9, 22.9 K%, and 9.9% swing-and-misses). If the Yankees are lucky, his “name value” with fetch some kind of return. Otherwise half-a-season of an inconsistent, injury prone middle reliever usually nets you close to nothing.

Is there a trade match between the Yankees and Giants?

June 13, 2013 by Mike 76 Comments

The state of the Giants rotation in one photo. (Jason O. Watson/Getty)

The Giants and Yankees have an awful lot in common, and it extends beyond being two of the three teams to win a World Series in the last four years. San Francisco’s coaching staff is a who’s who of former Yankees — Dave Righetti (pitching coach), Bam Bam Meulens (hitting coach), Roberto Kelly (first base coach), Joe Lefebvre (assistant hitting coach) — and GM Brian Sabean spent eight years in New York’s front office on the scouting and player development side. Under him the team drafted/signed and developed Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and others.

This year, the Yankees and Giants share the fact that they’re contenders with holes. They have a solid roster core that has been weakened by injuries, specifically to their traditional strengths — offense for the Yankees and pitching for the Giants. Earlier this week, Danny Knobler reported San Francisco is already looking hard hard for starting pitching help in advance of the trade deadline. Madison Bumgarner is the team’s only Opening Day rotation guy with a sub-4.00 ERA (3.58) while both Tim Lincecum (4.70), Barry Zito (4.79), and Matt Cain (5.09) are all much closer to 5.00 than 4.00. Ryan Vogelsong (7.19 ERA) was a disaster before hitting the DL with a broken hand.

Baseball America ranked San Francisco’s system as the third worst in baseball coming into the year, and their most big league ready pitching prospect (lefty Mike Kickham) got clobbered in his lone spot start last month (four runs in 2.1 innings). Lefty Eric Surkamp, their top pitching prospect a year ago, is out following Tommy John surgery. Exactly one of their regular Triple-A starters has a sub-4.50 ERA and none have a sub-4.00 ERA. The Giants have no help coming from the farm system whatsoever, which is why long man Chad Gaudin (!) moved into the rotation earlier this month.

The Yankees, on the other hand, have perhaps more rotation depth right now than they’ve had at any point in the last ten years. Behind the veteran front three they have Phil Hughes, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Ivan Nova, and the rehabbing Michael Pineda. None are stars but all five are capable big league starters, assuming Pineda’s rehab continues to progress well and Nuno’s groin problem is indeed as minor as reported. The Yankees could move one in a trade to shore up the offense and still have depth to spare, and that’s not even counting an emergency starter type like Adam Warren or Brett Marshall.

Brian Cashman & Co. have some arms to offer the Giants, so now the question is what do the Giants have to offer the Yankees? The answer is not much, realistically. The Bombers need a corner outfield bat, a shortstop, and a catcher. San Francisco has one legitimate corner outfield bat in Hunter Pence, but they aren’t moving their second best hitter for pitching help, especially not with Angel Pagan on the DL. Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey aren’t going anywhere, plus the Giants are already down two regular infielders in Marco Scutaro (finger) and Pablo Sandoval (foot). Their collection of backup catcher stink like most backup catchers. Nothing to see there either.

Because the Yankees a) are trying to contend, and b) live and die with their pitching, I doubt they’d look to move a spare starter for prospects. That would defeat the purpose. Plus, as Baseball America’s preseason ranking indicates, the Giants don’t exactly have many prospects to offer. Fans love to conjure up quantity over quality trades, meaning my three meh prospects for your above-average big league, which is exactly what Giants fans would do when look at New York’s pitchers. I don’t want the Yankees taking a multi-player package of bit pieces for one of their young arms with years of team control remaining. Remember, they don’t have to move a pitcher, it’s just an option.

Ultimately, the Yankees match up well with the Giants for a trade but the Giants don’t match up well with the Yankees. San Francisco doesn’t have a corner outfielder bat to offer, ditto a catcher or shortstop. The Bombers could take some lesser prospects in return for Nova or Hughes — I can’t imagine they’ll trade Hughes for anything less that the equivalent of the first round pick they’ll get when he leaves as a free agent, however — but that doesn’t make a ton of sense right now. They’d be weakening the big league team for a moderate improvement in the farm system, which is the exact opposite of what they should be doing. Unless the Giants are willing to talk Crawford or Pence (won’t happen), there’s no real trade fit for these two teams.

Yankees claim Danny Otero from Giants

March 26, 2013 by Mike 21 Comments

The Yankees have claimed right-handed reliever Danny Otero off waivers from the Giants, the team announced. Left-hander Cesar Cabral was placed on the 60-day DL to create 40-man roster space.

Otero, 28, made San Francisco’s Opening Day roster last year and owns 5.84 ERA (2.77 FIP) in 12.1 career big league innings, all with the Giants last year. He struck out eight of 57 batters faced while unintentionally walking just one. Over the last two years, he owns a 3.03 ERA (~3.15 FIP) with a 19.7% strikeout rate and a 3.6% walk rate in 98 Triple-A innings. Otero is a rather generic upper-80s/low-90s sinker/slider reliever with minor league options remaining, so just another arm for the stable basically.

Yankees claim Eli Whiteside off waivers from Giants

November 5, 2012 by Mike 21 Comments

The Yankees have claimed catcher Eli Whiteside off waivers from the Giants, the team announced. Since they finished with the best record in the AL and have last waiver priority on an NL player, I suspect they’ll slide him through waivers again to get him off the 40-man roster.

Whiteside, 33, is a terrible hitter (65 wRC+ in 537 plate appearances) and really is no better than someone who gets called up in case of injury or as a third catcher in September. If he sticks with the organization heading into next year, he’ll likely serve as Austin Romine’s backup and mentor in Triple-A.

Giants win the 2012 World Series

October 29, 2012 by Mike 89 Comments

The 2012 season is officially over. The Giants swept the Tigers — the same Tigers who swept the Yankees in the ALCS — in four games to win their second World Series title in the last three years. Pablo Sandoval won MVP honors thanks in large part to his three-homer effort in Game One.

If you’re looking for some Yankees connections here, you’ve got plenty. George Kontos was a September callup last year before being traded for Chris Stewart. Xavier Nady spent a year and a half in pinstripes, and Joaquin Arias was a former top Yankees prospect who went to the Rangers in the Alex Rodriguez trade. Melky Cabrera wasn’t on the active World Series roster due to his PED suspension, but he certainly helped the Giants this summer after several years in New York. Giants GM Brian Sabean also spent a number of years in the Yankees front office immediately prior to heading west. Dave Righetti, Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens, Roberto Kelly, Joe Lefebvre, and J.T. Snow are all on the coaching staff. Former Yankee Phil Coke took the loss in extra innings. Congrats to San Fran, they were magnificent in the series.

Giants tentatively scheduled to visit Yankee Stadium in 2013

August 15, 2012 by Mike 34 Comments

Via Hank Schulman, the Giants are tentatively scheduled to visit Yankee Stadium during interleague play next season. It would only be San Francisco’s second trip to the Bronx in the last 50 years — the Bombers took two of three in 2002, but that series was all about Barry Bonds hitting a ball ~~to the moon~~ damn near the top of the upper deck in the Old Stadium. The Yankees lost two of three to the Giants out in California in 2007.

Last month we heard that the Yankees are tentatively scheduled to open next season at home with three games against the Red Sox, and that they were likely to face the NL West during interleague. This Giants stuff reinforces that and it’ll be neat given the club’s New York roots, but with all due respect to the 2010 World Champs, I’m still hoping we get to see Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw do their thing in Yankee Stadium next year.