Minor Moves and Notes: San Francisco Giants
Reliever Jeremy Affeldt has been activated from the disabled list, and the left-handed reliever will give the San Francisco Giants deep bullpen another quality arm. He sprained his right knee in late April, and he hopes to bounce back from back-to-back 0.2 WAR seasons in 2010 and 2011. He was worth 0.7 WAR in the two seasons prior to 2010, and he should bounce back, as he is a quality reliever who can strike out eight batters per nine innings. In fact, Affeldt has been worth 0.2 WAR in 11 innings this year.
Star catcher Buster Posey will not be in the lineup for today’s game, as it is a scheduled day off for the young backstop. He has four home runs this season, and Hector Sanchez will be playing in his place.
Another left-handed pitcher on the Giants received some news, and that pitcher is reliever Travis Blackley. He was demoted to AAA Fresno after his second cameo in the Majors. Blackley was disappointing through four appearances this season with a 9.00 ERA. He was thoroughly unimpressive thus far, and he will need to prove himself again in the minors. If he pitches well at AAA, then hopefully he can get another shot. Five innings is certainly a small sample size, but he had to make way for a better left-hander in Jeremy Affeldt.
Shortstop Charlie Culberson was recalled from Fresno and could make his Major League debut soon. The infielder was a 2007 pick and has five homers, 24 steaks, and a .496 slugging percentage through nearly 150 plate appearances in AAA this year. He is best off as a second baseman and developed power, to the point where he was one of the team’s top ten prospects before falling out of favor.
He is likely a career utility player with some pop, and the problem with him is that he is not a patient hitter in the least and whiffs far too much. Culberson is intriguing, and it looks like he is bouncing back from a poor 2011 campaign.
The San Francisco Giants also optioned third baseman Conor Gillaspie to AAA Fresno after disappointing this year in 20 MLB PAs. He was terrific in just over 100 PAs in AAA before getting called up due to an injury to Pablo Sandoval, but he proceeded to have a .150/.150/.200 triple slash for a -12 wRC+ and kill his ZiPS projected WAR from 1.2 to 0.7.
Gillaspie lost his starting job at the hot corner to Joaquin Arias, and he could have- and should have- been the starting 3B in Sandoval’s absence. Instead, he will head back to the minors where he has had a wRC+ of at least 100 in each of the past five seasons.
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