DENVER – Shortstop is a pretty simple position for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to figure out. If Brandon Crawford is healthy, he’ll be in there.
Crawford is back in there Friday, starting for just the second time in 10 games after testing his swollen left calf in pregame drills.
Left field is a bit trickier. Here is how Bochy broke down his outfield: “Pagan pretty much in center field, Byrd in right field, and we’ll rotate guys.”
It’s Juan Perez on Friday with a lefty, Jorge De La Rosa, on the mound for Colorado. It’ll be Nori Aoki on Saturday, although Bochy acknowledged defense is more of a consideration with the spacious outfield here in Denver. Gregor Blanco and Alejandro De Aza will be part of the rotation as well. Hunter Pence (strained oblique) isn’t close enough to be a consideration at this point.
There are three issues here. One is the concept of Angel Pagan as the everyday center fielder. Anyone who watched him play for four months on bad knees would concede that this does not seem like a good idea at all, especially with Gregor Blanco outperforming him on both ends. But Pagan has another year on his contract, and it is clear that he’s moving better since coming off the DL on Tuesday. The Giants want to see where he’s at, both in the short and longer term.
Byrd in right field every day? Pretty easy explanation. The Giants have hit one home run over the last six days and it came off Ryan Vogelsong’s bat. Over the last 17 games, here are their home run champions: Byrd (three), Kelby Tomlinson, Nori Aoki, Madison Bumgarner and Vogelsong.
The Giants are 22-41 when they do not hit a home run. They are 47-24 when they do. And even though the Rockies are 55-78, the Giants just have not matched up well with their power threats this season. (Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado rank 1-2 in the NL with 35 and 34 homers, respectively.)
Now, as Grant Brisbee pointed out in a post on McCovey Chronicles, Byrd needs 104 plate appearances – 3.71 per game, if he starts all 28 remaining games – to vest an $8 million option for next season. I cannot imagine the Giants want that to happen. But Bochy appears committed to play Byrd every day until Pence gets back.
Pence’s return, then, is vitally important beyond trying to keep the Giants in the NL West race. If Pence's return is what forces Byrd to the bench, there wouldn't be much grounds for a potential union grievance on Byrd's behalf. Pence was the starter. Pence is the starter.
Third issue: Aoki’s role on the team appears to be more marginalized now. He also has option language if he reaches 550 plate appearances, which will not happen. (He has just 355.) In his case, a $5.5 million club option would have become mutual, which would have given Aoki the right to become a free agent.
Aoki’s season was chopped up by a concussion and a fractured fibula. But when healthy, he was a terrific fit atop the lineup. I have to believe the Giants would keep Aoki at $5.5 million for next season.
“Nori was having a great year,” Bochy said. “He probably makes the All-Star team if he doesn’t break his fibula. The concussion probably slowed him down. Overall, he’s had a good year and was on pace for a great year. I feel for Nori because he’s been beat up. He’s been tough through all this.”
In a perfect world, Aoki plays left field and leads off, and the Giants have a Perez type for late-inning defense. Maybe that’s what we’ll see next season.
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Even with three catchers on the roster, expect Buster Posey to be behind the plate for the most part. Andrew Susac’s wrist is bothering him – he had that issue in the spring, remember – and plus Bochy does not want to open up first base for Posey by putting Brandon Belt in a spacious left field here.
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Matt Cain is scheduled to make a relief appearance for Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday and throw 35 pitches. He's expected to be activated after that, likely contributing as a reliever down the stretch.
Second baseman Joe Panik also is scheduled to play the second of three games for Sacramento before his planned activation Monday in Arizona. If you didn't already see the highlight play he made Friday night ... well, you'll want to check it out.
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Justin Morneau is back in the lineup for the Rockies after missing time with concussion symptoms, which have been a major issue for him in recent years.
CF Blackmon, SS Reyes, RF CarGo, 3B Arenado, 1B Morneau, 2B LeMahieu, LF Paulsen, C Hundley, P De La Rosa.
CF Pagan, 3B Duffy, 1B Belt, C Posey, RF Byrd, SS Crawford, 2B Tomlinson, LF Perez, P Heston.
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