by
Greek Giant

Don’t ask me why but this week various Giants publications and writers have written pieces predicting the 2023 Opening Day Roster. It makes zero sense to me because we have not even arrived at Spring Training yet.

The Infield

There are interesting questions for the Giants on the 25-man roster in particular, especially in the infield that sees an excess of right-handed hitting players like Wilmer Flores, J. D. Davis, Thairo Estrada, David Villar, Marco Luciano, and the possible addition of Casey Schmitt, the golden-gloved third baseman who, some experts say, may actually see playing time at shortstop this year in the Big Leagues.

This means with a player like Villar having options, the Giants may be forced to keep him in Sacramento to start the year, a thought that disappoints me, unless they make a trade and deal one Davis or Flores, which is the course of action I would take.

The Outfield

There are has been some talk of Thairo Estrada actually being moved to the outfield to keep his bat in the line up when switches and pinch-hitting moves are made in the middle and late in games. This is a move I disapprove of for the obvious reason that you just can’t make an infielder an outfielder all of a sudden. Raise your hand if you remember the Mauricio Dubon experiment.

With that said the Giants have an abundance of lefty-hitting outfielders in Wade Jr., Yaz, Conforto, Pederson and Gonzalez, all of whom except the latter, are on the 25-man roster. With the addition of Slater from the right side the Giants may need one more right-handed bat to roam left or right field once substitutions are made in the way that we know Giants Manager Gabe Kapler will make them (remember, this is the guy who pinch-hit for Brandon Belt or Joc Pederson in the early innings!).

The Current 40-Man Roster

Let’s take a look at roster possibilities based on the current 40-man roster, courtesy of MLB.com:

Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander 54 L/L 6′ 2″ 195 07/10/1989
Tristan Beck
Tristan Beck R/R 6′ 4″ 165 06/24/1996
John Brebbia
John Brebbia 59 L/R 6′ 1″ 200 05/30/1990
Alex Cobb
Alex Cobb 38 R/R 6′ 3″ 205 10/07/1987
Jose Cruz
Jose Cruz R/R 6′ 1″ 178 05/18/2000
Anthony DeSclafani
Anthony DeSclafani 26 R/R 6′ 2″ 195 04/18/1990
Camilo Doval
Camilo Doval 75 R/R 6′ 2″ 185 07/04/1997
Sean Hjelle
Sean Hjelle 64 R/R 6′ 11″ 228 05/07/1997
Luke Jackson
Luke Jackson 77 R/R 6′ 2″ 210 08/24/1991
Jakob Junis
Jakob Junis 34 R/R 6′ 3″ 220 09/16/1992
Sam Long
Sam Long 73 L/L 6′ 1″ 185 07/08/1995
Sean Manaea
Sean Manaea 52 R/L 6′ 5″ 245 02/01/1992
Randy Rodriguez
Randy Rodriguez 90 R/R 6′ 0″ 166 09/05/1999
Tyler Rogers
Tyler Rogers 71 R/R 6′ 3″ 181 12/17/1990
Taylor Rogers
Taylor Rogers L/L 6′ 3″ 190 12/17/1990
Ross Stripling
Ross Stripling 48 R/R 6′ 1″ 215 11/23/1989
Thomas Szapucki
Thomas Szapucki 61 R/L 6′ 2″ 210 06/12/1996
Cole Waites
Cole Waites 56 R/R 6′ 3″ 180 06/10/1998
Logan Webb
Logan Webb 62 R/R 6′ 1″ 220 11/18/1996
Keaton Winn
Keaton Winn R/R 6′ 4″ 238 02/20/1998
Alex Wood
Alex Wood 57 R/L 6′ 4″ 215 01/12/1991
Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
Joey Bart
Joey Bart 21 R/R 6′ 2″ 238 12/15/1996
Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
Brandon Crawford
Brandon Crawford 35 L/R 6′ 1″ 223 01/21/1987
J.D. Davis
J.D. Davis 7 R/R 6′ 3″ 218 04/27/1993
Isan Díaz
Isan Díaz 1 L/R 5′ 11″ 201 05/27/1996
Thairo Estrada
Thairo Estrada 39 R/R 5′ 10″ 185 02/22/1996
Wilmer Flores
Wilmer Flores 41 R/R 6′ 2″ 213 08/06/1991
Marco Luciano
Marco Luciano R/R 6′ 2″ 178 09/10/2001
David Villar
David Villar 32 R/R 6′ 1″ 215 01/27/1997
Brett Wisely
Brett Wisely L/R 5′ 10″ 180 05/08/1999
Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
Michael Conforto
Michael Conforto 8 L/R 6′ 1″ 215 03/01/1993
Luis González
Luis González 51 L/L 6′ 1″ 185 09/10/1995
Mitch Haniger
Mitch Haniger 17 R/R 6′ 2″ 214 12/23/1990
Luis Matos
Luis Matos R/R 5′ 11″ 160 01/28/2002
Joc Pederson
Joc Pederson 23 L/L 6′ 1″ 220 04/21/1992
Heliot Ramos
Heliot Ramos 12 R/R 6′ 1″ 188 09/07/1999
Blake Sabol
Blake Sabol L/R 6′ 4″ 225 01/07/1998
Austin Slater
Austin Slater 13 R/R 6′ 1″ 204 12/13/1992
LaMonte Wade Jr.
LaMonte Wade Jr. 31 L/L 6′ 1″ 205 01/01/1994
Mike Yastrzemski
Mike Yastrzemski 5 L/L 5′ 10″ 178 08/23/1990

A Trade in the Works?

The Giants have some moves to make but by and large their 25-man roster is not going to be dramatically different from what we can all predict…

Unless they make a trade! Since the Giants appear to have a surplus of Major League-ready starting pitchers (see my post earlier last week) and a surplus of right-handed hitting infielders, it may be a good time to package two or three of those players for some hot prospects. It’s what I would do and heaven knows, Mr. Zaidi, if you (or your assistants) are reading this, please, for the love of Willie and Buster, let’s get a solid left fielder who can start more than one Opening Day!

Now, I’m not predicting the 25-man roster because a lot can happen between next week, the start of Spring Training, and Opening Day in the Big Apple. We could see injuries. We could see the Giants making a trade. We could see a prospect flourish and force his way on the team or we could see a prospect flounder. It all depends and I think the Giants might be 5 wins away from a postseason spot as currently constructed, depending on injury.

If one or more of the following players: Marco Luciano, Casey Schmitt, David Villar and Kyle Harrison thrive then it might be enough to put the Giants into October baseball, which frankly, is the most we can currently dream of considering the behemoths we call the Padres and the Bums. Throw in a potentially improved Diamondbacks squad and the National League West could be one of the strongest, leanest, meanest and baddest divisions in all of baseball.