I’ve been rather busy of late, so I’ll catch up…

• The Giants announced 25 non-roster invitees for Spring Training; the list includes Gary Brown, Joe Panik, and Tommy Joseph, among others. As expected, Matt Yourkin and Andrew Kown are on the list.
• The Giants reached an agreement on a one-year $1.575M deal with Sergio Romo, meaning they avoid arbitration. This means Tim Lincecum is now the last remaining arbitration-eligible. In case you missed it, friend of the blog Wendy Thurm had an excellent post on his arbitration case.
• 1B Wes Hodges has re-signed on a minor-league deal with the Giants, according to BA’s minor-league free agent database.

Last year, it looked like the Colorado Rockies would be strong contenders for the division title. Instead, they finished in fourth (73-89), 21 games out of first place. Fun fact: the team used thirteen different starters last season, and seven guys made 10+ starts for the them. (For comparison’s sake, the Giants used eight starters, only five of whom made 10+ starts). Anyway, as Spring Training nears, I thought it would be interesting to check in on the other NL West teams, beginning with the Rockies. Andrew Fisher (@PoseidonsFist) of Purple Row was kind of enough to answer several questions about their offseason, outlook, Nolan Arenado, and Michael Cuddyer, among other things. Enjoy!

Continue reading “Rockies Season Preview Q&A: 2012” »

So I have started working on my Giants top prospect list, and while doing so I have had a hard time ranking two third base prospects, Conor Gillaspie and Chris Dominguez. On my rough list I have Gillaspie at 13 and Dominguez at 15, but I am wondering if I have one or both too high, and which one should be ranked as the better prospect.

Some background on these prospects: Conor Gillaspie was a supplemental 1st round draft pick out of Wichita State and he was seen as a guy with a polished hit tool, a good plate approach and more gap power than HR power. He earned comps to ex-Giant Bill Mueller, but with likely worse defense.

Dominguez, on the other hand was a 3rd round pick in 2009 out of Louisville. He has massive raw power and a cannon for an arm at 3B, but was so raw that he spent the 2010 year at Low A Augusta despite being 23 years old and coming out of college as a redshirt junior.

Gillaspie has methodically played a full year at A+, AA, and AAA, save for a few cups of coffee in the majors, while Dominguez spent all of 2010 at Augusta and split last year between A+ and AA.

Their batting lines to date in the minors are:

Gillaspie: .288/.361/.414

Dominguez: .268/.314/.446

Now honestly, I don’t see either as a full time regular in the major leagues, which is why I am asking the question in the title. Because, while I do think that Gillaspie would be the better player if they were both given a 600 PA’s, Dominguez’s tools profile better in a potential bench role. Gillaspie has a solid well rounded game-and he has improved every year, so perhaps I am underselling him.

But I could see Dominguez being a guy who comes off the bench and sells out for the power. Kind of like a Juan Uribe without the positional adjustment or jazz hands. With Gillaspie I don’t see teams looking for a bench guy who is more of a singles hitter with gap power and lacking great speed/defense.

But maybe I am over-thinking it and since I think Gillaspie would be the better player that should be enough. I don’t know-as of right now I’ll probably leave them where they are but I could be swayed to change my opinion on one or both of them.