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Thoughts on Black Tuesday

Did you see that?  8/16/2011.  Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com called it Black Tuesday for the Giants.  If the Giants were to use color-by-numbers to fill in their schedule, 8/16/2011 would be the color of damned.

To start the day, Carlos Beltran and Sergio Romo were placed on the DL.  Ok, that wasn’t much of a surprise after Beltran had a wrist issue for about a week and Romo had an elbow issue for and was unavailable for a couple days.  Then the body blows started to come.  Jeff Keppinger had a wrist issue after his collision with Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman the night before; Nate Schierholtz had a bum right foot after fouling a ball off of it in the eighth inning the night before; Aaron Rowand strained his left side doing something… the night before!  All of those players were unavailable for the game on 8/16.  Add onto those injuries the fact that Pablo Sandoval was playing first base because he hurt himself and was pulled from the previous night’s game after fouling a ball off of his right foot, and the Giants were, um, thin on the bench.  To say the least.  Starting the game, the Giants’ bench consisted of the backup catcher for the night, Eli Whiteside, and Mark DeRosa.  Mark DeRosa of floppy wrist tendon fame.  You know you’re in dire straights when your backup infielder for the night has appeared in a combined 48 games in the past two seasons.  48 games!  The guy could hurt his wrist giving his teammates a high five.  It was the oddest lineup card of the year.  And then, in the third inning, starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez hurt his ankle attempting to field a bunt.

As a tally, that was six players on the 25-man roster that were hurt or unavailable for the game on 8/16.  Wow.  For a team that has has its fair share of injuries this season, 8/16 was brutal.

All these injuries beg the question: now what?

Well, to start the Giants called up Waldis Joaquin and Dan Runzler.  Runzler takes Romo’s spot, but is also a starter/long reliever who has had his pitch count extended in Fresno.  He started the season with the Giants while Brian Wilson was on the DL, so his name should sound familiar.  Joaquin is a reliever who has appeared in 30 games this year for the Fresno (Fresno?  FresYES!) Grizzlies.  Hes got a 3.16 ERA, and has allowed 42 hits and 18 walks in 42.2 innings pitched to go along with 25 strikeuts and a .255 batting average against.  Not exactly numbers that bowl one over.

But there have to be more moves.  The Giants can’t win games with only 22 players available to play.  The lineup cards have come out for 8/17, and Keppinger and Rowand aren’t there.  The Giants beat writers on the Twitter machine (@extrabaggs, @johnsheahey, @hankschulman) are reporting that if Keppinger’s wrist is broken, the doctors say it could be career-ending.  Rowand’s side is strained, and his playing style, at least running the bases and in the field, is of the all-out variety (the guy broke his face twice, for goodness sake).  If he were to make a diving catch, head-first slide, or throw the ball too hard, he could make his side strain worse.  The “luxury” of having J. Sanchez’s injury is that he’s a starting pitcher, and the team can delay the DL decision a day or two.  But the point remains the same: the Giants are severely limiting themselves strategically if they start the game automatically down two or three players.

Keppinger needs to go on the DL in order to free up a bench or a lineup spot.  Taking his place should be Brandon Crawford.  Crawford is already on the 40-man roster, so if Keppinger goes on the DL the only roster move to make is to recall him.  The Giants should play Crawford everyday at short, and slide Orlando Cabrera over to second base.  This would be a huge defensive upgrade, as Crawford is the best defensive shortstop in the Giants’ system right now.  He’s that good defensively.

If Rowand isn’t healthy in the next day or two, he’s got to go on the DL.  As much of a gamer as Rowand is, and as much as he might fight the DL, the Giants need able bodies.  With Ross, Schierholtz, and Belt in the OF mix already, and the moves of Torres and Rowand to the DL, there s a tremendous lack of defensive speed in the outfield.  This should open up the opportunity for Darren Ford to be recalled.  He would be a late-inning defensive replacement, and provide elite speed and centerfield range.

The ideal starting lineup, for me, would be:

  1. Ross, CF
  2. Cabrera, 2B
  3. Sandoval, 3B
  4. Schierholtz, RF
  5. Huff, 1B
  6. Belt, LF
  7. Crawford, SS
  8. Whiteside/Stewart, C
  9. Pitcher’s Spot.

The bench would be Tejada, Fontenot, DeRosa, Ford and the catcher who doesn’t start.
The starting rotation would be Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Vogelsong, and Runzler.

The Giants need help, and the pieces are already there.  They need to hasten the decisions on the DL moves, and get some usable bodies on the bench and in the field if they want to try and keep pace with the Diamondback in this pennant race.

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