Comments on: Second Look At Sandoval

By: trampslikeus

trampslikeus — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:59:25 +0000

one more thing, isn’t “long suffering Giants fan” redundant? is there any other kind? I’m 52 years old, born in 1956, and they haven’t won it all during my entire lifetime. Living in SoCal, my Dodger fan friends make sure I don’t ever forget this. Over and over and…..

By: trampslikeus

trampslikeus — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:55:48 +0000

Look….I love this guy and am confident he will be a major part of a huge Giants resurgence in 2010 or, at the latest, 2011. I only have one request; can they please get him two more games at catcher so he’ll qualify there in 5-game leagues? Is he still the backup catcher, or have they stopped that since his injury?

By: Mark R

Mark R — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:45:49 +0000

I think if you asked coaches and scouts, they would tell you that trying to get Sandoval to develop more patience would likely do more harm than good. It’s the complete opposite of how he’s succeeded to this point. It’s just extremely difficult to make contact with major league pitching on a regular basis, let alone make solid enough contact to be a productive hitter. Sandoval has found an approach that works. He has honed his skills over years and years and proven himself to be a special hitter. You can’t mess with him unless and until his production slips.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:49:15 +0000

You really think that developing a better eye might come at the expense of some other aspect of his abilities?

An aggressive approach doesn’t work for Yuniesky Betancourt because he sucks. Just because Sandoval is really talented and is playing at a high level doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement in his game.

By: B

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:44:04 +0000

Dunno if you’re a Giants fan or not Walter (I am, myself), but a lot of Giants fans have gotten it into their minds that Posey can more or less play any position on the diamond because he went to college originally as a shortstop and then had that one stunt where he played all 9 positions in a single game. From what I’ve read, he doesn’t really profile well anywhere but C – and reputable baseball people like BA/Keith Law make no mention of moving Posey off C but rather moving Sandoval. My own guess is he could probably play 1B or 3B since they don’t require the same range as the other positions, but just some lateral quickness and fielding skills (also needed by a good C), but so far all the reports on his defense at C indicate he’s learning rapidly and has all the skills of an excellent defensive C. Basically the whole point of this paragraph is his defensive ability at C + Pablo’s defensive ability at 3B makes the best defensive combo for the two.

That said, you do bring up some good points. As much as we [Giants fans] like to tell ourselves Posey is the next Mauer, he still is only in A-ball. A lot depends on what we do with Posey next year. If we promote him all the way up to the big league club (we’ll likely be moving him to AA or AAA soon this season), our best combo would be Sandoval at 3B, Posey at C with the option of Sandoval moving back to C if Posey isn’t working out like we hoped. If Posey doesn’t start the year in the bigs, I definitely think Pablo should play C, especially since finding a fill in corner infielder until Posey comes up should be easier than filling C. It also raises his trade value if he shows he can handle everyday C, which as you said, could potentially give the Giants a lot of options with two good trading chips at C.

By: Walter Guest

Walter Guest — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:20:49 +0000

Posey went to Florida St. as a shortstop and played there as a freshman. He volunteered to catch after his freahman year when the school was weak in that position.

Sandoval has far more experience catching and has proved to be above average at the position in the majors. As a first baseman he is below league average. At third he might be a bit above average. At catcher he is Hall of Fame caliber. (These estimates include his offence of course.) The right position for him should be obvious.

Posey is an unproven commodity in single A right now. You’re going to hold the catching position open for a kid in A ball?

On the other hand, if Posey is that good then the Giants have a big time trading chip at a preium position. No team can afford to keep two top calibre catchers.

By: Mark R

Mark R — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:04:01 +0000

Sure, if Vlad swung at fewer pitches out of the zone AND he was able to keep doing the other things that he does so well, he would be better off. There’s no reason to think that both are possible, though. You have to take an if-it-ain’t-broke… approach to things like this. These guys have hit like they do their whole lives and have managed to stay productive. It’s who they are as hitters. Hyper-aggressiveness doesn’t work for Yuniesky Betancourt, but it’s hard to find fault with two players who have lifetime wOBAs of .362 and .398.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:19:43 +0000

I dunno. I mean Vlad is a great player and all, but I think he too would benefit if he forced pitchers to throw the ball in the strike zone more. I mean it seems pretty clear that you can square a ball up better if it is the zone. Plus, Sandoval is absurd in this regard. I saw him strike out on a pitch that hit him. It wasn’t even a nasty breaking pitch or a get out of the way swing. He was swinging to hit a fastball that was like 14″ off the inner plate.

It did occur to me, if you decide to swing before the pitch is thrown, you don’t have to wait to make a judgment about whether the ball is going to be in the zone or not and perhaps that extra split second can give you some edge. So, maybe Sandoval has that going for him.

By: B

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:52:00 +0000

“The Giants have a Hall of Fame catcher if they’re smart enough to put him there and if he doesn’t eat himself out of baseball. Posey? Switch him to 3rd. They both would be better fits at those positions.”

Given the assumption that Sandoval will be at one of those positions and Posey at the other, the offensive aspects of the positions don’t matter. As for the defensive aspects – Posey is projected to be a very good to gold glove caliber defensive catcher. 3B? Nobody even bothers to project him there, it’s not his position. With Sandoval playing it rather averagely (which is much better than expected), and not projected to be a great defensive catcher, keeping Sandoval at 3B and Posey at C would seem to be the better fit.

By: scott

scott — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:43:39 +0000

Sandoval’s AB in the 3rd against Doug Davis; foul, swinging strike, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, ball, foul, ball, ball, ball. God what a hilarious guy.