Corner OF is a bit thin at the top for the Giants as Hunter Pence is coming off his second injury limited season and the only other corner OF's on the roster are trying to gain a foothold in the major leagues. In the minors, the depth is bolstered by several players who could wind up either as CF's or at a corner.
MLB:
Hunter Pence, 34 yo- .289/.357/.451, 395 AB. Pence has 2 years left on his contract. Can he avoid the injuries that have plagued him the last 2 seasons?
Mac Williamson, 26 yo- .223/.315/.411, 6 HR, 112 AB. Could win the LF job outright or end up in a platoon with Jarrett Parker or be left out by a FA signing or trade. If you project the dingers to 600 PA's it's somewhere in the high 20's.
Jarrett Parker, 28 yo- .236/.358/.394, 5 HR, 127 AB. See Mac Williamson above. Parker has tremendous raw power, but struggles to use it effectively with a high K rate. Might want to cut back on the caffeine before stepping into the batter's box.
AAA:
Austin Slater, 24 yo- .305/.393/.500, 18 HR, 390 AB(2 teams). Slater is the main reason I think it is safe for the Giants to not acquire a veteran corner OF this offseason. If Mac and Jarrett can't get it done, it's time to give Slater a shot. If that does not work, they can still make a deadline trade. He should hit for a higher BA than either Mac or Jarrett, but may come up short on power.
AA:
Steven Duggar, 23 yo- .302/.388/.448, 10 HR, 507 AB(2 teams). Impressively hit .321 for Richmond after his promotion, but the HR's disappeared in a small sample size. Probably has enough speed to play CF. Definitely has the arm for RF.
Hunter Cole, 24 yo- .271/.319/.420, 13 HR, 469 AB. Strong numbers considering they were all from Richmond. and the EL. Getting more AB's in the AFL.
Tyler Horan, 26 yo- .265/.337/.460, 12 HR, 287 AB. Has been moving up the ladder despite some poor numbers. Seemed to get some traction at the plate late in the season.
HIGH A:
Dylan Davis, 23 yo- .283/.356/.521, 26 HR, 484 AB(2 levels). Big time power and has been steadily lowering his K rate. Big time throwing arm that could play on the mound. Nice sleeper in the system who could eventually turn into a Mike Napoli/Mark Trumbo type hitter.
LOW A:
Jean Angomas, 22 yo- .272/.308/.365, 16 SB, 378 AB(2 levels). Slow mover in the lower levels. Finally seemed to get some traction this year. Can he take it to the next level?
SHORT SEASON:
Heath Quinn, 22 yo- .344/.434/.564, 9 HR, 277 AB(3 levels). Tremendous offensive start to his pro career. Can he hang at higher levels on D?
Gio Brusa, 23 yo- .264/.298/.495, 10 HR, 220 AB. A bit of an enigma. Starred twice in the CCL. Giants reportedly told him he needs to step it up on D.
Gustavo Cabrera, 21 yo- .241/.288/.393, 4 HR, 4 SB, 191 AB. Managed to stay on the field a bit more this season. Obvious athleticism. Will the hand hold him back at higher levels?
Julio Pena, 24 yo- .222/.242/.397, 2 HR, 63 AB. Fringy prospect with some pop in his bat but not a lot else to recommend him.
ROOKIE AZL:
Jacob Heyward, 21 yo- .330/.483/.560, 11 SB, 109 AB(2 teams). Most of his AB's came in Rookie ball where he would be expected to dominate as a draftee from a major college program. Still, it's better to do well at a low level than not well.
Sandro Fabian, 19 yo- .340/.364/.527, 159 AB. One of the few age appropriate Giants prospects to dominate rookie ball in a long time. Nice scouting reports. Detractors point to a lack of projectabilty in the body.
DSL:
Ismael Munguia, 18 yo- .274/.359/.363, .237 AB. Got off to a hot start in the DSL. Cooled off some in the second half. Is it enough to get him to Arizona?
Franklin Labour, 19 yo- .242/.333/.304, 194 AB.
Diego Rincones, 18 yo- .244/.346/.343, 201 AB.
Hot Stove Update: Dodgers Unload Carlos Ruiz
The Dodgers picked up Carlos Ruiz from the Phillies for the stretch run. They have now flipped him for a valuable left-handed arm(and my, the Dodgers do seem to love their left-handed arms, don't they?). Ruiz goes to the Mariners for LHP Vidal Nuno. Ruiz is still a decent catcher option as he hit .264/.365/.348 and threw out 42% of baserunners. He has an option for $4.5 M next season which the Mariners will pick up.
Nuno made 55 appearances with 58.2 IP, 1 start, last year for the Mariners. His ERA was a respectable 3.69 and came with 7.82 K/9 and an excellent 1.69 BB/9. He is arbitration eligible with a MLBTR projected salary of $1.1 M.
This is probably a good trade for both sides as Ruiz gives the Mariners some protection in case Mike Zunino's bat turns to swiss cheese again. The Dodgers get a small amount of salary relief and a valuable pitcher who can relieve or start. Austin Barnes is on tap to step into the backup catcher role for the Dodgers.
Nuno made 55 appearances with 58.2 IP, 1 start, last year for the Mariners. His ERA was a respectable 3.69 and came with 7.82 K/9 and an excellent 1.69 BB/9. He is arbitration eligible with a MLBTR projected salary of $1.1 M.
This is probably a good trade for both sides as Ruiz gives the Mariners some protection in case Mike Zunino's bat turns to swiss cheese again. The Dodgers get a small amount of salary relief and a valuable pitcher who can relieve or start. Austin Barnes is on tap to step into the backup catcher role for the Dodgers.
Fantasy Focus: 2016 SP Rankings
The commissioner of my league announced that he is going to a 6X6 format next season and will replace the Wins category with QS and K/9. I am going to assume that ERA and WHIP correlate fairly well with QS, although there may be exceptions. For instance, a pitcher who throws 8 QS but gets blown out in 2 disaster starts may have an inflated ERA relative to his QS's. What QS's will do is give credit to the pitcher who has a good start, but fails to get a W because of low run support or a Blown Save. QS may be less of a crapshoot than W's, but using Dominant Starts or some sort of Game Score metric would probably do a better job or rewarding very good starts and penalizing bad ones. Here is a list of all 2016 SP's with 100+ IP in order of K/9 with their ERA. If you can find a correlation between K/9 and ERA, you have a better eye for pattern recognition that I.
1. Jose Fernandez(RIP), Marlins- 12.49, 2.86.
2. Yu Darvish, Rangers- 11.84, 3.41.
3. Robbie Ray, D'Backs- 11.25, 4.90.
4. Max Scherzer, Nationals- 11.19, 2.96.
5. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals- 11.15, 3.60.
6. Noah Syndergaard, Mets- 10.64, 2.61.
7. Michael Pineda, Yankees- 10.61, 4.82.
8. Danny Salazar, Indians- 10.55, 3.87.
9. Rich Hill, Dodgers- 10.52, 2.12.
10. Vince Velazquez, Phillies- 10.44, 4.12.
11. Chris Archer, Rays- 10.42, 4.02.
12. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers- 10.39, 1.69.
13. Justin Verlander, Tigers- 10.04, 3.04.
14. Madison Bumgarner, Giants- 9.97, 2.74.
15. Jonathan Gray, Rockies- 9.91, 4.61.
16. Aaron Nola, Phillies- 9.81, 4.78.
17. Drew Pomeranz, Red Sox- 9.78, 3.35.
18. Corey Kluber, Indians- 9.50, 3.14.
19. Danny Duffy, Royals- 9.30, 3.56.
20. Chris Sale, White Sox- 9.25, 3.34.
21. Carlos Carrasco, Indians- 9.23, 3.32.
22. Francisco Liriano, Blue Jays- 9.22, 4.64.
23. Kenta Maeda, Dodgers- 9.17, 3.48.
24. Carlos Rodon, White Sox- 9.16, 4.04.
25. Archie Bradley, D'Backs- 9.08, 5.02.
26. Cole Hamels, Rangers- 8.97, 3.32.
27. David Price, Red Sox- 8.92, 3.99.
28. Scott Kazmir, Dodgers- 8.85, 4.56.
29. Steven Matz, Mets- 8.77, 3.40.
30. Jon Lester, Cubs- 8.75, 2.44.
31. Kevin Gausman, Orioles- 8.72, 3.61.
32. James Paxton, Mariners- 8.70, 3.79.
33. Jake deGrom, Mets- 8.70, 3.04.
34. Gio Gonzalez, Nationals- 8.68, 4.51.
35. Jake Arrieta, Cubs- 8.67, 3.10.
36. Colin McHugh, Astros- 8.63, 4.34.
37. John Lackey, Cubs- 8.60, 3.35.
38. Drew Smyly, Rays- 8.51, 4.88.
39. Ian Kennedy, Royals- 8.46, 3.68.
40. Marco Estrada, Blue Jays- 8.44, 3.48.
41. Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox- 8.41, 4.71.
42. Adam Conley, Marlins- 8.37, 3.55.
43. Johnny Cueto, Giants- 8.11, 2.79.
44. Mike Foltynewicz, Braves- 8.10, 4.31.
45. AJ Griffin, Rangers- 8.09, 5.07.
46. Kyle Hendricks, Cubs- 8.09, 2.15.
47. Matt Moore, Giants- 8.08, 4.08.
48. Anibel Sanchez, Tigers- 8.05, 6.04.
49. Matt Shoemaker, Angels- 8.64, 3.88.
50. Carlos Martinez, Cardinals- 8.02, 3.04.
Like I said, if you can see a pattern here, you are much better at pattern recognition than I. So, what drafting strategy will I employ in my league's new 6X6 format? I believe that WHIP correlates better with ERA than K/9. I also believe WHIP is more stable over time than ERA. So, if I continue to load up my bench with SP's who have a low WHIP and rotate them into the starting rotation with daily lineup resets, I can rack up QS's and K's while still winning a majority of WHIP's and ERA's. In a 6X6 League, you can better afford to punt one category, so fill RP slots with relievers with high K/9 regardless of Saves. The other strategy would be to punt W's and K's, spend all your allotted pitching dollars on a few ace SP's and then load up on relievers which would give you K/9, ERA, WHIP and Saves.
1. Jose Fernandez(RIP), Marlins- 12.49, 2.86.
2. Yu Darvish, Rangers- 11.84, 3.41.
3. Robbie Ray, D'Backs- 11.25, 4.90.
4. Max Scherzer, Nationals- 11.19, 2.96.
5. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals- 11.15, 3.60.
6. Noah Syndergaard, Mets- 10.64, 2.61.
7. Michael Pineda, Yankees- 10.61, 4.82.
8. Danny Salazar, Indians- 10.55, 3.87.
9. Rich Hill, Dodgers- 10.52, 2.12.
10. Vince Velazquez, Phillies- 10.44, 4.12.
11. Chris Archer, Rays- 10.42, 4.02.
12. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers- 10.39, 1.69.
13. Justin Verlander, Tigers- 10.04, 3.04.
14. Madison Bumgarner, Giants- 9.97, 2.74.
15. Jonathan Gray, Rockies- 9.91, 4.61.
16. Aaron Nola, Phillies- 9.81, 4.78.
17. Drew Pomeranz, Red Sox- 9.78, 3.35.
18. Corey Kluber, Indians- 9.50, 3.14.
19. Danny Duffy, Royals- 9.30, 3.56.
20. Chris Sale, White Sox- 9.25, 3.34.
21. Carlos Carrasco, Indians- 9.23, 3.32.
22. Francisco Liriano, Blue Jays- 9.22, 4.64.
23. Kenta Maeda, Dodgers- 9.17, 3.48.
24. Carlos Rodon, White Sox- 9.16, 4.04.
25. Archie Bradley, D'Backs- 9.08, 5.02.
26. Cole Hamels, Rangers- 8.97, 3.32.
27. David Price, Red Sox- 8.92, 3.99.
28. Scott Kazmir, Dodgers- 8.85, 4.56.
29. Steven Matz, Mets- 8.77, 3.40.
30. Jon Lester, Cubs- 8.75, 2.44.
31. Kevin Gausman, Orioles- 8.72, 3.61.
32. James Paxton, Mariners- 8.70, 3.79.
33. Jake deGrom, Mets- 8.70, 3.04.
34. Gio Gonzalez, Nationals- 8.68, 4.51.
35. Jake Arrieta, Cubs- 8.67, 3.10.
36. Colin McHugh, Astros- 8.63, 4.34.
37. John Lackey, Cubs- 8.60, 3.35.
38. Drew Smyly, Rays- 8.51, 4.88.
39. Ian Kennedy, Royals- 8.46, 3.68.
40. Marco Estrada, Blue Jays- 8.44, 3.48.
41. Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox- 8.41, 4.71.
42. Adam Conley, Marlins- 8.37, 3.55.
43. Johnny Cueto, Giants- 8.11, 2.79.
44. Mike Foltynewicz, Braves- 8.10, 4.31.
45. AJ Griffin, Rangers- 8.09, 5.07.
46. Kyle Hendricks, Cubs- 8.09, 2.15.
47. Matt Moore, Giants- 8.08, 4.08.
48. Anibel Sanchez, Tigers- 8.05, 6.04.
49. Matt Shoemaker, Angels- 8.64, 3.88.
50. Carlos Martinez, Cardinals- 8.02, 3.04.
Like I said, if you can see a pattern here, you are much better at pattern recognition than I. So, what drafting strategy will I employ in my league's new 6X6 format? I believe that WHIP correlates better with ERA than K/9. I also believe WHIP is more stable over time than ERA. So, if I continue to load up my bench with SP's who have a low WHIP and rotate them into the starting rotation with daily lineup resets, I can rack up QS's and K's while still winning a majority of WHIP's and ERA's. In a 6X6 League, you can better afford to punt one category, so fill RP slots with relievers with high K/9 regardless of Saves. The other strategy would be to punt W's and K's, spend all your allotted pitching dollars on a few ace SP's and then load up on relievers which would give you K/9, ERA, WHIP and Saves.