Locked On Giants – Daily Podcast On The San Francisco Giants

On today's Locked On Giants Podcast, host Ben Kaspick talks about the San Francisco Giants adding former Reds top prospect Jose Siri to their 60-man player pool. Outfielder Billy Hamilton was expected to make the Giants' Opening Day roster as someone who could impact the game in the outfield and on the basepaths, but he has yet to report to Summer Camp and the season is just over a week away. Hamilton's status remains somewhat of a mystery, as the Giants have given no official updates. Enter Jose Siri, who possesses several of the same skillsets as Hamilton's, like blistering speed and base stealing ability. Unlike Hamilton, Siri is considered to have high upside and plus raw power offensively. Siri was already on the Giants' 40-man roster, so his addition to the 60-player pool makes sense. His chances of making the Opening Day roster is probably a lot higher than people think at this point.

Ben also discusses why projection systems may be inaccurate for a team like the Giants in 2020. Under normal circumstances, projections are among the best tools we have for predicting player performance. But they typically have a few weak spots. Among them: breakout performances and swing changes. And the Giants just so happen to have numerous players who fall into both categories. Mike Yastrzemski is not projected to have a good season, but Giants fans saw what he was capable of last year. Projection systems typically take a long time to "buy in" to the type of late-career breakout Yastrzemski exhibited last year. In addition, some Giants have made tangible changes to their swings this year, thanks to the new development oriented coaching staff. For example, Brandon Crawford's stance and swing look dramatically different this year. Swing changes often lead to dramatically different outcomes for players (see Hunter Pence last season with the Texas Rangers), but there's no way for projections systems to see it coming, and they tend not to "believe" those results even once they happen.

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With Buster Posey opting out of the 2020 season and Joey Bart not quite ready for the majors, the Giants find themselves in catcher limbo. The current competition at the position—between Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly, and Chadwick Tromp—is both strange and fascinating. Ben Kaspick breaks down the status of that competition, with quotes from Giants manager Gabe Kapler. Among the three, only Brantly has significant MLB experience, and it's limited experience at that. Heineman is an intriguing switch-hitting catcher who can handle velocity. The left-handed Brantly handles right-handed pitching fairly well, and controls the strike zone on both sides of the ball. Tromp is the wild card among the three, performing well in Summer Camp after lighting it up in the minor leagues following some swing changes, but he may not be ready to face big league pitching.

Also discussed on today's show is that the Giants seem to be making a mistake by not broadcasting these Summer Camp games. In camp are many of the Giants' top prospects, including Joey Bart and Marco Luciano. Watching the team's top prospects take ABs at Oracle Park from normal camera angles would get fans excited about the future of the team. Those clips could also be posted on social media and YouTube. The Giants could use the footage in commercials. Why are they not doing this already, when several other teams are broadcasting their intrasquad games?

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, Ben Kaspick discusses Buster Posey's announcement on Friday that he's opting out of the 2020 season. Posey and his wife finalized the adoption yesterday of two premature twins who need to be in the NICU for an extended period of time. Posey has said that the twins are doing great. For Posey, it was an easy decision for his family, but a tough one from a baseball standpoint. His absence is a huge loss for the San Francisco Giants, both from a leadership standpoint and a baseball one. Behind him on the depth chart, the Giants have Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly, Chadwick Tromp, and Joey Bart. Bart offers by far the most intrigue, but he barely reached Double-A last year and almost certainly isn't quite ready to handle big league pitching. Russell Martin is still a free agent, and he makes a lot of sense for the Giants if Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris decide to look outside the organization to fill Posey's shoes in 2020.

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On today's episode of the Locked On Giants podcast, Ben Kaspick covers all the latest happening with the San Francisco Giants. Their workouts on Tuesday were cancelled due to delays with Covid-19 tests that were administered on Saturday. Thankfully, they received their test results in time to hold Wednesday workouts, and all tests came back negative, another huge plus. Marco Luciano hit a mammoth home run in a sim game that the Giants posted on social media, reminding fans of his huge 40-home run potential. Luciano is just one of several top Giants prospects in camp. Ben also discusses injuries to Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence, continued Yasiel Puig rumors, Tyler Anderson as a breakout candidate, Jeff Samardzija and Madison Bumgarner as bust candidates, and the release of the 2021 schedule.

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The Giants' schedule was released on Monday, and it's brutal. They play 10 of their first 20 games against the Dodgers and Astros on the road. Fourteen of their first 20 games are on the road. Although the Giants (and every team) plays each division opponent 10 times, those 10 games are not necessarily balanced. For example, of the 10 games the Giants play against the Dodgers, seven are on the road.

Host Ben Kaspick also talks about how, based on PECOTA and other projection models, the Giants have the fourth-toughest schedule in MLB and the second-toughest in the NL. If the Giants want to be surprise contenders this year, they're going to have to survive a brutal first month, there's just no getting around it.

Also of note, Buster Posey expressed doubts about playing this season, as several other players around the league have opted out or tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. On Monday the Giants announced that two more "individuals" in their organization have tested positive. Outfield prospect Hunter Bishop and right-handed pitching prospect Luis Madero have tested positive as well.

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On today's episode of Locked On Giants, host Ben Kaspick answers questions from fans on Twitter. How do the Giants compare to their NL West opponents? Are the Giants better than the Rockies and Padres? Ben also answers questions about how Giants pitchers will share the load in a 60-game season, how the back end of the bullpen will take shape. Also: Who's primed for a breakout season? Jaylin Davis' name sure comes up a lot with the front office. Will Buster Posey play most of the games at catcher? How will the Giants trim their roster from 30 to 26? Will veterans get cut or will players with options get sent down? All of that and more on today's Locked On Giants podcast.

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Spring Training 2.0 is about to get underway. Players and coaches have descended upon their home parks, getting tested for Covid-19 over the past couple of days. Once those test results come in, players who test negative will be cleared to begin official workouts on Friday. The San Francisco Giants have done their best to make Oracle Park safe for players and staff to prepare for the upcoming 60-game season, which is set to begin on July 23. The Giants will use the concourses and the players' parking lot, in addition to the field itself, to prepare for the year. With gobs of pitching and infield depth, the Giants are better prepared than many think to do surprisingly well in a 60-game season. Host Ben Kaspick explains why depth and platoonability are key attributes for the modern team, and how the Giants will use it to their advantage.

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The Giants released their 60-man player pool on Monday, and there were a few surprises. A handful of 40-man players were left off, indicating that those players could be at risk of being DFA'd to make room for the non-roster invitees who seem to be in good position to make an Opening Day roster. Pablo Sandoval, Billy Hamiltion, Trevor Cahill, and Yolmer Sánchez were all released then re-signed to minor league deals over the weekend. It was reported that all four were assured they would make the team. In order to add those players to the 40-man roster, San Francisco will have to remove others. On today's show, host Ben Kaspick speculates about which players might be at risk of being DFA'd. He also discusses Hunter Bishop, the Giants' 2019 first-round draft pick, testing positive for COVID-19 and consequently being left off the 60-man player pool for now.

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Farhan Zaidi had strong words for Scottsdale city council member Guy Phillips, who mocked George Floyd at an anti-mask rally. Among other things, Zaidi said "F--k that guy. You can quote me on that." These are strong words coming from someone with as much authority as Zaidi, who represents a team that has a huge financial and cultural influence in Scottsdale. Beyond Zaidi's comments, there are several new and relevant rules to digest for the upcoming 2020 season. Roster transactions were unfrozen on Friday morning, and teams must submit their 60-man player pools by this Sunday. Only players on the player pools are eligible to play in the majors this season, and they're also the only players who can be traded this year. This could dramatically influence the types of trades Zaidi ties to make this season, and he also is considering the ethics of roster transactions in a pandemic. In addition to ethical reasons, Zaidi foresees much less roster movement this year in part because he believes this year's team has much greater depth than last year's.

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A 60-game MLB season has been announced, with Spring Training 2.0 set to begin on July 1 and the season slated to start July 23 and 24. This comes as the United States has failed to gain control of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the United States and the world. Yesterday the US reported over 36,000 new cases, a new single-day record high for any country. Cases are surging in numerous states that are set to host baseball teams, and several players and staff have tested positive in recent days and weeks. How much risk is baseball willing to tolerate? How safe are older coaches and managers? Assuming baseball gets played—which may not be a fair assumption—the Giants have greater playoff odds with 60 games as opposed to 162. Whether the sport ultimately plays a season or not, rosters will be unfrozen tomorrow morning, and the Giants are reportedly serious players to sign Yasiel Puig. Are Giants fans ready to experience Puig the Giant facing Bumgarner the D-Back?

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