6-9, dudes! - McCovey Chronicles

Let's do the math.
6-9 = .400 ball.

• .400 ball = 65-97 final record
• 65-97 record = zero improvement over last year. 
• Zero Improvement over last year = UNACCEPTABLE!!

from McCovey Chronicles:
Chroncast #76: 6-9, dudes! - McCovey Chronicles:

Yes, the Belt Wars get some play in this week’s episode, which is admittedly not the most topical discussion to have, but still feels pretty relevant to the first 3 weeks of the regular season. But rather than watch pitches go by, we take a swing at other topics including: did the Giants make a mistake sticking with Beede over Suarez? Is Mac Williamson simply too good to be on the Giants? Is the definitive Josh Osich the one we’re seeing now? We also tackle your Twitter questions.

'via Blog this'

• OK, Longoria and McCutcheon aren't going anywhere. 
• OK, Pence goes down to AAA, Williamson goes to AAAA or LF, whatever. 
• Whoever authorized keeping Beede over Suarez needs their head examined. 
• Whoever still sees something in Osich also needs their head examined. 

Belt is the least of the Giants many problems right now, although he has Joey Votto-itis minus the production. Swing the bat once in a while, you're not Ted Williams and the Moneyball - OBA love fest is over, replaced by exit velo and launch angle.

You get neither with the bat on your shoulders.

Oh, and fire Hensley Meulens, please.

Tyler Beede v. Andrew Suarez Tale of the Tape

Andrew Suarez pitched well last night against the Diamondbacks, save for having to pitch to Goldschmidt (certified Giant killer). 

Both Suarez and Beede suffered from too many walks, however both pitched well through the base traffic and put up decent results. In the future, cutting down the walks will allow both to go deeper into games. 

Since one start is by definition a small sample size on which to judge, I looked back on both guys prior history to see if the SSA was part of a larger trend  and what came out was that comparable stats at each level were remarkably similar. 

Suarez gives up slightly more hits, but less walks, at virtually every level. Both guys can get a strikeout when they need to. The ERA was very close at AA and NCAA level, Suarez separated a bit at AAA. Less WHIP-y as well. It seemed like Suarez is also better equipped to get a grounder when he needs one. I don't have the FB/GB splits handy, just using the eyeball test. 

from thebaseballcube.com (Player comparison tool):

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/apps/compare.asp?Q=165296,165113&Y1=1871&Y2=&Group=true&Stats=Pitching

We'll see how it plays out at the MLB level, but based on early returns, I still like Suarez better as a prospect. Both appear to have good futures as major league starters.

Giants seek Andrew McCutchen, outfield help | San Francisco Giants

This is the best fit for the Giants, short and long term, IMO. I liked him over Giancarlo.



Now, as far as the price goes: Shaw = NO, Ramos = HELL NO!! and Beede is what he is, which is Stratton. We already have Stratton, so Beede is a YES!! 


The Giants would regret trading Ramos or Shaw for a long time.  


You only get one of the top three, that "at least" garbage can walk out the door. Move on to Bruce.  


One from column A and one from column B for 'Cutch.



Giants seek Andrew McCutchen, outfield help | San Francisco Giants:

Meanwhile, the Giants are reluctant to part with top prospects for McCutchen, after giving up highly regarded infielder Christian Arroyo in last month's trade with the Rays for Evan Longoria.

Outfielder/first baseman Chris Shaw, right-hander Tyler Beede and outfielder Heliot Ramos are the Giants' top three prospects, per MLB Pipeline. One source said the Pirates are asking for at least one of those three in any McCutchen trade with San Francisco.

'via Blog this'

Kuiper: Giants top prospect Arroyo 'going to be really good' | CSN Bay Area

Arroyo is just relentlessly following the Joe Panik developmental path and at the same time breaking the Gigantes recent string of bad luck with high round, high school hitters as draft picks.

Arroyo may be replacing Tyler Beede, who himself just recently replaced Kyle Crick as the consensus, most highly rated Giants minor league prospect. Crick, unfortunatly looks to be falling out of the top ten due to his deplorable K/BB rate.

from CSN Bay Area:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/kuiper-giants-top-prospect-arroyo-going-be-really-good?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=san-francisco-giants

Kuiper: Giants top prospect Arroyo 'going to be really good'

The hype surrounding Giants 2013 first-round pick Christian Arroyo is growing by the day.
In early December, Baseball America rated the 20-year-old as the Giants' No. 1 prospect in their system entering the 2016 season.
On Tuesday, the Giants invited the shortstop to big league camp, and on Friday, MLB.com ranked him as the No. 82 prospect in the minor leagues, the only Giant to make the list.
Arroyo has plenty of fans, and one of them is Giants' play-by-play announcer Duane Kuiper.
Appearing on the Murph & Mac show on KNBR 680 on Thursday, Kuiper was asked about the Giants' non-roster invites and brought up the Tampa-native Arroyo.
"I've seen a little bit of him last year, but by all reports after the Arizona Fall League, he's going to be really good. So, it'll be interesting to see where the Giants try to place him position-wise, given the infield positioning is so young. So maybe they'll stick him in the outfield, take some flyballs. Because if you can hit, you're going to find a place to play," Kuiper said.
During the aforementioned 2015 Arizona Fall League, the annual gathering of the top prospects in baseball, Arroyo hit .308/.360/.448 with three doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI in 19 games.
That performance came after he hit .304/.344/.459 with 28 doubles, nine home runs and 42 RBI in 90 games for High-A San Jose in 2015.
As Kuiper alluded to, Arroyo may have to learn a new position due to Gold Glover and Silver Slugger Brandon Crawford's presence at shortstop on the big league club.
During the Winter Meetings in December, Giants vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean addressed a potential position change for Arroyo.
"We're all marveling at how fast the bat is coming," he said. "Now, will he be a shortstop? I don't think so. Is he going to be a second baseman or third baseman? We have to flush that out. But this guy is a legitimate bat."

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Arroyo, Beede Headline Top Prospect List | Inside the San Jose Giants

The amazing part is not so much how rapidly Arroyo's stock has risen but how former Golden Boy Kyle Crick has descended. Right off the Baseball America's Top Ten list. Not saying the assessment is anything but accurate for either prospect, I'm just saying.

Next move might be to but Arroyo some OF mitts. A little crowded in the Gigante IF.

from mlblogs.com
http://sjgiants.mlblogs.com/2015/12/04/arroyo-beede-headline-top-prospect-list/

Arroyo, Beede Headline Top Prospect List

By Joe Ritzo

Christian Arroyo has been named the #1 prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization by Baseball America

2015 San Jose Giants standouts Christian Arroyo and Tyler Beede were rated the #1 and #2 prospects respectively in the San Francisco organization today by Baseball America. Seven of the ten players on BA's top 10 list are former San Jose Giants.

Baseball America's Top 10 San Francisco Giants prospects:
1. Christian Arroyo, SS
2. Tyler Beede, RHP
3. Phil Bickford, RHP
4. Lucius Fox, SS
5. Chris Shaw, 1B
6. Sam Coonrod, RHP
7. Aramis Garcia, C
8. Clayton Blackburn, RHP
9. Jarrett Parker, OF
10. Adalberto Mejia, LHP

Arroyo is coming off an outstanding 2015 season in the California League. As San Jose's everyday shortstop this year, Arroyo finished seventh in the league with a .304 batting average. Over 90 games, Arroyo produced 28 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 42 RBI's. A consistent presence out of the #2 spot in the batting order, Arroyo hit .300 in the first half before batting at a .307 clip after the All-Star break. For his efforts, Arroyo was named to the postseason California League All-Star team while also garnering the San Jose Giants team MVP award.

The 20-year old former first round pick then followed up his fantastic campaign in San Jose with a stellar effort in the Arizona Fall League. Facing some of the top pitching prospects in baseball, Arroyo hit .308 with three home runs over 19 AFL games.

Arroyo was rated the #10 prospect in the system by Baseball America after the 2014 season. He's the first position player to be named the #1 prospect in the organization by BA since Gary Brown after the 2012 season. Buster Posey (2010) and Brandon Belt (2011) have also garnered the #1 prospect distinction as position players this decade.

Giants reportedly making 'strong push' for Cole Hamels - McCovey Chronicles

I think this "Strong push" is merely an attempt to push up the eventual prospect cost to the Dodgers, if he ends up there. Any deal with the Giants would surely include Kyle Crick or Tyler Beede, which I could live with, but also Andrew Susac, which I could not.

from McCovey Chronicles:
Giants reportedly making 'strong push' for Cole Hamels - McCovey Chronicles:

There are complications, true. The first is the Giants can offer quantity over quality, but the Phillies might prefer the quality. Also, of note is that the Giants aren't on Hamels's list of pre-approved trade destinations, which means he might want them to pick up his $20 million option for 2019 in exchange for agreeing to the deal. Even though one of the Giants' selling points is their ability to take that Jon Lester money and shovel it to Hamels without the Phillies kicking in that much, an extra year at $20 million might make them think twice. At least the Dodgers are in a bidding war now. Stupid Dodgers.

'via Blog this'

David Price is a better option and a better fit, at less cost. Mike Leake is a better option and a better fit long-term ,at less cost AND perhaps an Aroldis Chapman chaser.

Give me

• Price
• Leake and / or Chapman 
• Hamels 

in that order. On my desk by Friday, sirs!!!

----

from the Twitter-sphere (or whatever you call it)

bayareasportsguy.com 

The Dodgers are better-suited to pay for a starter like Cole Hamels or David Price, because they have a couple prospects in Julio Urias and Corey Seager who are rated higher than Finnegan. However, Morosi thinks the Giants have some pitchers in the minors that teams might like.

The Dodgers are said to be highly reluctant to move left-hander Julio Urias, but Double-A right-hander Jose De Leon should be ready to join a major-league rotation by next year.

The Giants, meanwhile, have a number of pitching prospects who could be major-league-ready by next year: Tyler Beede, Joe Biagini and Kelvin Marte at Double-A and Keury Mella at high Class A.

Tossing aside the very real possibility that the Tigers won't sell on Price or Yoenis Cespedes (they're only four games behind Minnesota in the Wild Card race), it's hard to believe the Giants have enough to land a superstar like Price.

• Biagini and Marte are pitching quite well for Richmond (in a pitcher-friendly league), but the former is 25 and the latter is 27.
• 
  
• At 21, Mella is a year younger than Beede and he's pitching well in San Jose, but it seems unlikely he'd be a candidate to make a big league rotation next year.
• 
  
• Beede doesn't seem like a guy the Giants would want to trade, and he lasted just 1/3 of an inning today (one hit, three walks, one HBP) while allowing five earned runs, as he came within one pitch of the team-instituted 30-pitch limit. One has to wonder how many scouts were in the stands today in Erie, PA.

If a scout or team really likes Beede, a start like today's (where it appears that he didn't have his normal command) wouldn't have too much impact. But the Giants consider Beede a future starter, perhaps as soon as next season. They also don't want to saddle themselves with another big contract for a pitcher unless he's the perfect guy, so this is almost certainly true:

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Midseason Prospect Update: Giants - BaseballAmerica.com

Just when I thought it was safe to start beating the drums for Tyler Beede to replace Kyle Crick as the #1 prospect on the Giants board, Beede has a crappy outing where he lasts less than one inning. Given that Beede is being asked to transition from a power pitching bat-misser to an efficient, pitch to soft, ground-ball contact type an outing where it just all goes bad here and there should not be a great surprise.

The progress seems good moving forward, in contrast to Crick, whose wildness seems to wearing on the Giants brass as he was recently moved to the bullpen to either iron things out mechanically once and for all or try his hans at short relief, where his power will still play up.

from Baseball America (subscription required for full article):
http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/midseason-prospect-update-san-francisco-giants/

---

The Giants promoted several key front office personnel after the World Series, rewarding longtime GM Brian Sabean with a bump to executive vice president and promoted his assistant, Bobby Evans, to GM. Jeremy Shelley has added assistant GM duties to his role as pro scouting director. Even with the surprise Heston addition, the Giants have age and injury concerns in the rotation, but have the pitching pipeline primed by gurus Dick Tidrow and Bert Bradley that is ready to deliver again in the form of 2014 first-rounder Tyler Beede, a polished righthander who could make his debut this season.

---

MIDSEASON TOP 10

1. Tyler Beede, rhp

The Giants have worked with the former Vanderbilt ace to streamline his delivery and keep him more online to the plate. There has been a marked improvement in his command. In college, he walked 4.66 batters per nine. With the Giants, he's trimmed that back to 2.47 walks per nine. It's attributed to a mental adjustment as much as mechanical, as well as emphasizing a two-seam fastball. Beede has polished the changeup and has learned the importance of pitch selection, but the two-time first-round pick still needs to improve his breaking ball.

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Squirrels' Beede shines in Double-A debut | MiLB

Looks like Young Beede, or whatever his rap moniker is, wants to push young Kyle Crick for the role of top prospect in the Giants system. Help is on the way for an aging pitching staff. 

from mlb.com
http://m.milb.com/news/article/20150605128855062/

Squirrels' Beede shines in Double-A debut

Giants prospect allows two hits, extends shutout streak to 20 innings

By Alex Kraft / MiLB.com

Friday, Jun. 5 11:43 PM

The Vanderbilt product, drafted 14th overall by the Giants a year ago, extended his streak of scoreless outings to three games and 20 innings, a run in which he's issued five walks while recording 18 strikeouts.

"I think it's a combination of things," Beede said. "It's being able to trust the process with my mechanics and stay focused on each pitch.

"My biggest goal has been not to give in but embrace imperfection. To embrace the situation, get back in the count and allow that ground ball to turn into double plays and quick innings. Big credit to my coaching staff and defense as well."

Although the 6-foot-4 hurler was pleased with his Eastern League debut, he also sees it as something to build on.

"I try to build on every outing, good or bad," Beede said. "I try to take positives from each and take something from each outing to work on in bullpens. The biggest thing for me is 'How can I get better tomorrow?'"

Mac Williamson -- San Francisco's No. 12 prospect -- collected three hits, including a two-run homer, and four RBIs for Richmond. Shortstop Rando Moreno went 5-for-6 with a pair of RBIs.

Alex Kraft is a contributor to MiLB.com.

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WINTER MEETINGS NOTES: Giants chase Shields; Panda's move was no surprise - Giants Extra

Some good news for the Giants out of the Winter Meetings, hopefully they hold on to Blach and fellow prospect Clayton Blackburn. They could help solidify the back end of the starting rotation beginning as early as 2015. Kyle Crick still worries me a bit with his wildness, I don't seem to recall the same issue with Zack Wheeler at the same point in his development. If Crick comes around, he has top of the rotation stuff. No other Giants pitching prospect brings a higher ceiling to the table than Kyle Crick.

from Giants Extra:
WINTER MEETINGS NOTES: Giants chase Shields; Panda's move was no surprise; #ThreeBelt; Giants add two minor leaguers - Giants Extra:

"— On a brighter note, here’s another thing I heard all week: The Giants think Ty Blach is very underrated on prospect lists. The 24-year-old left-hander has had two good seasons since getting drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 draft, posting a 3.02 ERA over 47 appearances. Blach has pulled away from some of the other pitching prospects in that vaunted 2013 San Jose Giants class, and there are people in the front office who believe he can contribute to the back end of the rotation at some point next season."

'via Blog this'

As far as chances to be a major league contributor, I still like Blach the best although he fell a little bit off last years performance mainly due to his hitting too many bats. He is a pitch to contact guy, but the thinking is that guys are getting too much hard contact which will only get greater as he advances. Blackburn has no such worries attached to him that I have seen. He seems to be able to grind through lineups and get outs efficiently. LHP prospect Adalberto Mejia throws up a red flag with his PED suspension.

P.S. - Although I am partial to LHP's, I like Blackburn / Blach in that order. And before I get crushed by others, I have not seen enough of Tyler Beede outside of Vanderbilt to rank him yet, but he is 1-1A with Crick in terms of ceiling, with a little more consistency it seems in terms of performance. His age helps in that regard. Blackburn, Blach and Beede, the Killer B's of Giants pitching prospects. 

from Bleacher Report:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2267984-giants-prospect-adalberto-mejia-suspended-latest-details-reaction-and-analysis

As Pavlovic mentions, Mejia is regarded as one of San Francisco's best prospects. He was ranked as the Giants' No. 4 prospect coming into the 2014 season by Baseball America and MLB.com, and spent all year playing for Double-A Richmond. 

Just 21 years old, Mejia was signed by the Giants as an international free agent in 2011. In the scouting report for him coming into 2014 onMLB.com, the left-hander was described as having the total package of what scouts look for in a young southpaw:

He had no problem handling high Class A hitters at age 19, as the only thing that slowed him down was a strained lat muscle that sidelined him for seven weeks.

Mejia has everything scouts look for in a pitcher -- stuff, size and command -- and as a bonus, he's left-handed. Mejia throws a low-90s two-seam fastball with minimal effort, getting the ball to cut or sink and locating it where he wants.

Losing Mejia for 50 games certainly delays his path to the big leagues next season. He still had work to do, as evidenced by a 4.67 ERA and 119 hits allowed in 108 innings, via MiLB.com, but the ceiling is bright for this young pitcher. This is just a bad speed bump on the road to what will hopefully be a long and prosperous career for a talented hurler. 

So in order, I guess my Giants pitching prospect list would be:

• Clayton Blackburn
• Derek Law
• Kendry Flores
• Keury Mella
• Ty Blach
• Adalberto Mejia
• Steven Okert
• Joan Gregorio
• Kyle Crick
• Chris Stratton
• Martin Agosta

The bottom three could really turn this list around in a hurry. Especially if Crick and Stratton start pitching in a more consistently dominant fashion.  Agosta may start falling from lists in this coming year. A major disappointment given where he was drafted. Flores and Mella are still a couple of years away from contributing.

from mlb.com
http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/100152666/clayton-blackburn-among-giants-prospects-in-arizona-fall-league

For someone who has breezed through pro ball, Giants right-hander Clayton Blackburn has a lengthy to-do list in the Arizona Fall League. He's trying to add two new pitches while replacing innings lost to a rib-cage injury during the season.

"I got hurt a little bit this year and missed about a month, so making up some innings, but also I'm trying to learn more of a true slider," said Blackburn, ranked as the Giants' No. 7 prospect. "I already have a big curveball, so I need a little bit of a true slider. And I'm going from a changeup to a splitter. So working on those, just perfecting my craft and getting better overall."

 In four pro seasons, Blackburn has gone 23-17 with a 2.98 ERA and a 405/76 K/BB ratio in 395 2/3 innings, thanks more to advanced pitchability than overpowering stuff. Though he has a burly 6-foot-2, 260-pound frame, he also has the athleticism to repeat his delivery. Blackburn throws with such little effort that his fastball appears quicker than its 89-93 mph velocity, he has the ability to manipulate the shape of his curveball, and he owns a sinking changeup to keep left-handers in check.

Blackburn went to big league camp with the Giants this spring and saw Hunter Strickland, his roommate at Double-A Richmond this year, become a key part of San Francisco's bullpen during the postseason. As the organization's most advanced starting-pitching prospect, he could make his Major League debut as a 22-year-old next season.