In a teeny tiny bit of a shocker, the San Francisco Giants have optioned top prospect Bryce Eldridge to Triple-A Sacramento, according to Maria Guardado via social media. Joining him are IF/OF Tyler Fitzgerald and OF Grant McCray, bringing a lot of the roster decision questions towards a swift answer. It looks like the team is prepared to feature a heavy right-handed lineup and depth chart to kickoff the season.
Through April, they’re up against the following potential starting left-handed pitchers:
Max Fried (Yankees), David Petersen and/or Sean Manaea (Mets), Cristopher Sanchez and/or Jesus Luzardo (Phillies), Trevor Rogers (Orioles), Andrew Abbott and/or Nick Lodolo (Reds), Foster Griffin (Nationals), and Braxton Garrett (Marlins).
I say “teeny tiny” because, although Eldridge leads the team in plate appearances (49) for this Cactus League season and is slugging a solid .450, he does lead the team in strikeouts (19) by a healthy margin and he’s hitting just .225, and he was just 3-for-his-last-18 with 1 extra base hit before the option. For a team that’s oversteering back towards batting average being the primary factor in valuing a hitter, that’s too ugly to ignore. In spite of Jerar Encarnacion’s .283 on base percentage and 0 walks, he’s hitting .289 and slugging .467. Luis Matos is at .268 (*and* a .348 OBP) with a .463 slug and just 3 strikeouts (against 1 walk).
If both Encarnacion and Matos do what they’ve done for most of their major league careers (get injured and be overwhelmed by major league pitching, respectively), then you can imagine how poorly this is likely to go — on the other hand, they’ve certainly earned the roster spot while the prospect with options has done exactly what an intriguing prospect has done: played well enough to stay in consideration, but not enough to bump a player with a bit more of a track record. But still, this transaction is on the shocker (again, “teeny tiny”), as a lot of prognosticators and fans figured that Eldridge’s talent was such that he could finish his development at the major league level and is one of the organization’s biggest power threats even with the swing and miss.
The Giants could still add him back to the roster within the first two weeks of the season to qualify for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, so that’s something to keep an eye on. A reminder about what the PPI is:
MLB clubs can earn a Draft pick after the first round if a PPI-eligible player accrues one year of service as a rookie and then factors into a major award. That means he either has to win his league’s Rookie of the Year award or place in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting prior to qualifying for arbitration.
For those who’ve been following the team very closely during the spring, this is not really a surprise, though, nor is (my once beloved) Tyler Fitzgerald (.189 with 14 K and 0 BB in 37 AB!) winding up back in Triple-A for what certainly seems like the tail end of his time with the Giants (barring a miracle). It’s the Grant McCray of it all. Here’s a left-handed outfielder with speed who can glove the heck out of all three outfield positions. He’s also drawn 8 walks against just 6 strikeouts in 38 PA and is 3-for-5 in stolen base attempts. Surely, the team could’ve used a player like that as the 12th or 13th player on the depth chart? Instead, it looks like Will Brennan will take that spot thanks to an 11-for-33 spring, giving him a triple slash of .333/.405/.829. Brennan is a career .267/.307/.373, but you can see how a 90 wRC+ guy is a safer bet than the likely lower than 90 wRC+ for Grant McCray.
This sixth round of camp cuts drops the group to 42. Still a lot of players to clear out before the team heads back to the Bay for the Wednesday night opener (for which tickets are still available!).
