San Francisco Giants Made the Right Move by Signing Denard Span
The San Francisco Giants made the decision to upgrade their outfield by signing Denard Span, and they made the right move with the signing.
Those pesky San Francisco Giants. Thursday was just another slow, boring day in the doldrums of the MLB offseason, with the flames of the hot stove barely still ablaze. That is until 2:40 Pacific Time, when Jon Heyman tweeted out a simple, 10 word news story: “Giants are nearing a deal with denard span, sources say” [sic].
After the customary check to ensure it was the real Jon Heyman, rather than a fake account who gets their jollies by trolling innocent, unsuspecting baseball fans desperate for offseason news, Giants’ beat writers joined the action. Less than half an hour after the initial news was broken, it was announced that the two parties were in agreement on a three-year deal, pending a physical of course.
Now the Giants are seemingly set at every position, as the common perception around the team is that Denard Span will become the team’s every center fielder, shifting Angel Pagan to left field, a less physically demanding position. But with players like Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton, and Chris Davis still available as free agents, why would the Giants sign Span instead of upgrading their power output?
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By signing Span, the Giants made the right decision. Rather than sign a hitter known for big power and heavy hitting, the team went with a player who fits more with their philosophy and in their ballpark. While they’re still lacking a big, constant power threat in the middle of their lineup, the current lineup is better with Span heading it.
The Giants haven’t had a power hitter in the middle of their lineup since Barry Bonds, and the team has been quite successful with their high contact, gap-to-gap hitters. In 2015, they were 27-49 (.355 winning percentage) in games in which they didn’t hit a home run. Presented alone, that number doesn’t look very promising, but when shown with the fact that no team had a winning record, and the average team had a .333 winning percentage in such games, it looks a little better. The Giants’ winning percentage was ninth-highest in baseball. So while it’s true to say “the Giants don’t win when they don’t hit home runs”, it would be true to say the same thing about every team.
In the offseason, the Giants have lost players who accounted for 19 home runs last season. Span will only make up a fraction of those, but it’s a good bet that Hunter Pence will make up more than the rest.
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Rather than hitting for a lot of power, Span helps his team win in a variety of other ways. He can hit for extra bases, as he averaged 35 doubles a season between 2012 and 2014, and has hit at least 10 triples in three different season, including leading the league in 2009 and 2013. He can steal bases, having thieved at least 20 bags in four different seasons. He can get on base, with a career .352 on-base percentage. He also doesn’t strike out, with a career 11.4 percent strikeout rate. Span (9.4%), along with Buster Posey (8.3%) and Joe Panik (9.7%) will give the Giants three hitters in the top-four of their lineup who struck out in less than 10 percent of their plate appearances last season.
In a quixotic world, Span takes over center field, Pagan moves to left field happily and eagerly, and both stay healthy and productive over the entire season. Span coming in and playing center field allows Pagan to take on a less taxing position, as he won’t need to cover as much ground or be the one in control in left field. As a result, he is able to stay on the field, and more importantly, be more productive. But this isn’t a perfect world and injuries do happen. Hopefully, they just happen less.
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The Giants took a chance signing Span instead of someone who could fill a power void. After three surgeries in less than a year, it would be understandable for people to be apprehensive about this signing. The Giants know what they’re doing, however. They wouldn’t have signed Span if they didn’t believe he’d be healthy, and an asset to their squad. Maybe we should just trust them.