The Giants picked up Jose Guillen, a couple of days after landing Mike Fontenot. Both moves strengthen the team as they head into the stretch run. Guillen adds some pop, and Fontenot will allow Bochy to rest/sit/bury Freddie Sanchez. Kudos to Sabean, who makes a couple of smart-looking moves.
Back to Freddie Sanchez, who has been everything I expected, a solid defensive player with almost no offense whatsoever. As close to a pure singles hitter there is in baseball –outside of Ichiro– if Sanchez isn’t getting a couple of hits per game, he’s worthless. Having him demolish the top of the order every game is testament to Bochy’s inability to get with the times, as well as his preference to play veterans at all costs. At this point, Fontenot’s (.730 OPS in limited duty) represents an upgrade over Sanchez, who’s posting an anemic .651 OPS.
I’d love to see a lineup that looks something like this;
Torres CF .375 OBP
Sandoval 3B .328 OBP (.393 over his last seven games)
Posey C .383 OBP
Huff 1B .394 OBP
Uribe SS .321 OBP
Guillen RF .330 OBP
Burrell LF .388 OBP
Sanchez 2B .324
You could swap Sandoval and Uribe if you’d like, but I think a switch to the top of the order might be just the kind of thing that re-aligns Sandoval’s approach.
You’d be starting the game out right-handed, switch, right-handed, left-handed, right-handed, which is nice. There’s a decent amount of power all the way into the seventh slot, and Sanchez’s famous bat-control would be put to the test batting in front of the pitcher, which is exactly where he should be. Using David Pinto’s Lineup Analysis tool, that lineup should produce 5.1 runs per game. That ought to be enough to push the team to the postseason.
It’s gonna be playoff intensity tonight. First-place showdown. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a while.
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Maybe not a bad move, but a pointless one. Guillen (.314 OBP .429 SLG) doesn’t improve the offense in any noticeable way. Essentially, he forces Huff to 1B and Ishikawa (.343 OBP .442 SLG) to the bench.
There is some platoon potential if you check out their 3 year splits on ESPN – but I wouldn’t hold my breath while waiting for Bochy to figure that out.
From a Sabean perspective, it’s practically a no-lose proposition. If Guillen catches fire for a couple months, everyone will be all handshakes and high-fives with Sabean. If Guillen tanks he’ll split progressively more at bats the remainder of the season with Ishikawa and Rowand and nobody will really notice.
Neyer has no clue what is going on the clubhouse. The Giants have 2 kinds of games, solid pitching in which we squeak out a win by manufacturing some runs, or the lineup goes completely quiet and we get dominated. Its a miracle they won that game yesterday, but all predicated on the slugging of Panda and Burrell. They needed offense, Neyer is a dope, by his rationale we should have Rowand out there because he can defend. Everyone cried over Huff saying he couldn’t moveN the guy has shown us that’s not the case, maybe Guillen can do the same, there is no negatives short of him stabbing Cain or Lincecum in the clubhouse because he’s crazy
and another take from neyer
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/4756/giants-add-to-their-stable-of-dhs
I don’t get it.
Jose Guillen — and I hope you’re sitting down for this shocking news — isn’t real good. Since joining the Royals in 2008, he’s got a .256/.308/.420 line. Yeah, maybe moving to the National League will help. It sure helped Pat Burrell. But I’m not sure how many times you can go to that well. And I grieve for the Giants’ pitchers, who will now have two DH types stumbling around in the outfield almost every time out.
i dont get it either
Once again, don’t worry yourself with some dopey writer who has never ever played baseball, these ar professional athletes, they can play corner OF. Again, name me another Giants OF who produced like Guillen has this year and I won’t comment any more, the guy had a 20 game hit streak this year. Plus how does moving to NL help? Wtf?? Hitting stats are inflated in AL, not other way around. Neyer and all ESPN writers are dopes…
do you have even the slightest fucking clue????
team batting stats are inflated because of the dh….not individual stats
overall, the pitching is superior in the al
guillen had hit a wall when he was dfa
now maybe he just stopped trying, because he was part of the royals
which bothers me to no end….mostly because the guy is gonna be an fa at seasons end…and at 34, you want to show teams you still have at least 3 good more years
well, he wont be in the lineup tonite….so we wait till tomorrow to watch the fun in right
There’s no question you were one of the guys on here ridiculing the signing of Huff and Burrell, don’t aks me if I have the slightest fk’n clue, I’m not the one taking some loser from ESPN’s word as gospel. The bottom line is when the team does nothing guys like you bitch, and when they make a move you bitch.
BTW, your statement about superior pitching in the AL is bullshit, don’t insult me by saying I have no cluie, I’ve read your posts you have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about most of the time except to bitch.
so sabean was lucky with huff and burrell
diff is, neither was ever considered a clubhouse cancer
this guy was tossed off a winning halos squad….when he was playing well
and it is a given that the al has better pitching….just ask burrell
if lightning strikes 3 times…i will be shocked
While I don’t see Guillen turning out like Burrell, he is an OK addition. I am guessing he gets starts against left-handers (Huff to 1st, TI to the bench) but will mostly be a right-handed power bat from the bench. Used in this way he might help the Giants.
My worries are that he does not hit well but Bochy insists on putting him out in RF everyday where his defence leaves a lot to be desired, or that his reputation for being a bad clubhouse presence intefers with the good vibe in the Giants dugout at the moment.
here is neyer’s take
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/4765/giants-install-guillen-in-right-field
uh…since having the shoulder injury and being forced to play through the pain, nate hasnt had more than 2 starts in a row…and i cant remember the last time he had a start
putting guillen and burrell into the same of means that this team is gonna need tons of offense…cuz you are gonna see singles and outs that turn into automatic doubles, cuz neither of those guys can reach the ball
btw, when was the last time the giants cut a vet that was picked up in a stretch run trade
garko sat on the bench for 3 months
Nate will stop being the odd man out when Nate produces something, anything on offense. The Giants can’t lose here, if Guillen hits, bonus, if he becomes a problem, cut him. Once again we’re talking about a team that has one guy w 20 HOUR, the pitching is not good enough that we didn’t need another bat
oh and read this
guillen’s platoon splits are almost identical throughout his career (.270 vs. .271). And he was hitting .217 with one home run in 83 at-bats against left-handers this season (including .188 vs. lefty starters). He also was in a 4-for-48 slide when the Royals DFA’d him.
why in the world do you want him to start?
guillen is a head case, who has been a clubhouse cancer even on winning teams
what happened to “we wont trade for a rental”
the guy is 34 years old….he is most definitely a rental
im not thrilled at seeing ti and his defense, and new prowess with a bat being sent back to the bench
also not too thrilled that that nate is again the odd man out
For the first time in a while we agree as I like both adds too and most of your suggested lineup as well. I would however hit Burrell ahead of both Uribe and Guillen as “Pat the Bat” is having the better year and has had the better career.
John, I am also coming around to your way of thinking with regards to defensive stats .All I believe we can really learn form defensive stats is if a players is good, average or bad defensively. I no longer believer they give us anything approaching an accurate measurement of the impact of there defense in terms of runs saved or given up compared to average.