San Francisco Giants’ Spring Battles Should be Held on Even Playing Field
The San Francisco Giants should let the best man win their competitions in spring, even in the best man has minor league options.
There’s no shortage of competitors for jobs in camp with the San Francisco Giants this Spring Training. There will be battles for the fifth starter spot, as well as backup catcher, but the real big competitions will be in left field and on the bench. The Giants will watch closely as numerous suitors for these spots, which are very limited.
The battle for left field will be the most closely-watched, as guys like Jarrett Parker, Mac Williamson, Michael Morse, and Justin Ruggiano will try their best to earn a job. Contained within that fracas could be another job, as a backup outfielder, depending on how the pitching staff lines up. Gorkys Hernandez likely has his spot locked up, since he’s the best center fielder among the group competing, and if the team goes with a 12-man pitching staff, another outfield job will open up.
The next competition to keep a keen eye on is for backup infielders. There’s no shortage of suitable players for those job, with Conor Gillaspie, Kelby Tomlinson, Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Hill (signed Friday), Gordon Beckham, Jae-gyun Hwang, Orlando Calixte, and Christian Arroyo all trying to curry favor with the brass. General manager Bobby Evans mentioned that Gillaspie has the inside edge to win one of the two available jobs on the bench, given he is the only natural left-handed hitter in that group (the bench figures to be very righty heavy) and the success he had off the bench last season (.293/.327/.490 in his last 68 games in 2016, only 32 of which were starts). That leaves them with potentially one backup spot among infielders.
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For the Giants to get the most out of these competitions, they need to held on a level playing field. Players with options shouldn’t have that held against them. They should be given the same opportunity that their counterparts will be given, in that if they perform the best, they should earn the job. Having minor league options shouldn’t be a detriment to their pursuit, but unfairly using those options could be a detriment to the Giants’ team.
If Tomlinson comes in to Spring and performs as well as he has at the big league level over the best two seasons, he should earn the big league job. It shouldn’t be handed to a player that doesn’t perform as well, like say a Rollins or Hill, based on those player’s reputations. It shouldn’t matter that Rollins was the 2007 National League MVP, or that Hill hit over 25 home runs in three out of four seasons from 2009 to 2012. The job should be earned based on current merits, not past accolades.
The same can be said for the left field job. Williamson has an option remaining, so he can be sent freely to the minor leagues without exposing him to waivers. It seems already that the Giants plan on using that option.
Evans said that he doesn’t know that he wants “both of them [Parker and Williamson] to be on this club”, and that he needs Parker “to step up and make this club”. Executive Vice President Brian Sabean brought up Williamson’s Tommy John surgery from 2014, saying “personally, Williamson may need more time in the minor leagues…he missed quite a bit of the season in San Jose… with the Tommy John, and he’s been running behind with his at-bats”. (Both comments come from interviews with KNBR)
If Williamson outperforms Parker and looks like the clear winner of this left field competition, the job should be his. He shouldn’t be sent down just because he has the options and can be sent down. Doing so would hurt the Giants at the highest level, because they’re sending down the guy that seems to be the best option.
But if Williamson doesn’t outright earn the job, it would probably be in his best interest to be sent down. Getting regular at-bats in Triple-A will allow him to get that lost playing time that Sabean mentioned, rather than him collecting dust on the big league bench. Then the team could let a veteran, maybe Morse, maybe Ruggiano, to come off the bench as the backup outfielder, or get spot starts against the tough lefties. But again, Morse shouldn’t be handed the job if he doesn’t perform this spring because of the memories of 2014. And Ruggiano shouldn’t be handed the job just because he seems to have Madison Bumgarner’s number.
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If those young guys earn the job and things don’t work out quite as planned during the season, then the team should use the options. They shouldn’t be used all willy nilly because of someone else’s reputation. Let the best man win, even if the best man isn’t the most well-known.