The Giants are available in the market for a shortstop. President of baseball operations Buster Posey acknowledged as a lot initially of the offseason. San Francisco has been tied to Willy Adames and Ha-Seong Kim in current weeks.
Whereas Adames may play shortstop on Opening Day, that’s not the case with Kim. He underwent surgical procedure to restore a labrum harm in his throwing shoulder. There’s nonetheless not a ton of readability on when he’s anticipated again in sport motion. Kim’s agent Scott Boras has unsurprisingly taken an optimistic stance on the infielder’s restoration. Boras mentioned eventually month’s GM Conferences that Kim could possibly be prepared early within the season — probably earlier than the top of April. Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has beforehand prompt the rehab may carry into “Might, June, July,” a way more nebulous timeline.
Whichever workforce indicators Kim will want a stopgap shortstop for no less than a number of weeks, probably months. For the Giants, that could possibly be Matt Chapman. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic stories that the star third baseman advised workforce officers he’d be keen to play shortstop early within the 12 months whereas Kim recovers. In keeping with Rosenthal, that’s considered one of varied prospects the workforce is contemplating.
That’d be a artistic answer. It’s not an outlandish one. Chapman is among the sport’s finest defensive third basemen. He’s a five-time Gold Glove winner. Each Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Common have graded him as a robust defender in each season of his profession. Chapman tied Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz for the league lead amongst third basemen in Outs Above Common this 12 months. He’s fifth on the place by that metric throughout the previous three seasons.
Chapman, who has 10 profession innings at shortstop, has loads of arm power. He definitely has the arms for the place. The one query is whether or not he’d have sufficient lateral quickness to be a plus in the midst of the diamond, however he may in all probability no less than play a reliable shortstop for a month or two.
Sliding Chapman to shortstop would open a short-term gap at third base. Tyler Fitzgerald, Marco Luciano, Brett Properly, Casey Schmitt and David Villar are among the many choices for work there. Other than Villar, everybody from that group has some shortstop expertise as effectively. None looks like a long-term reply. Properly was primarily a second baseman within the minors, whereas Schmitt has spent most of his profession at third base. Luciano has come up as a shortstop however was a catastrophe defensively in a restricted MLB look. His long-term future might be within the nook outfield.
Fitzgerald acquired nearly all of the shortstop reps late within the season. He’d in all probability begin there if the Giants got here up empty of their pursuit. Whereas he hit effectively sufficient to earn on a regular basis taking part in time, the Giants appear to favor him elsewhere. Posey prompt final month that Fitzgerald could possibly be a second baseman. He additionally implied they had been hopeful they may keep away from bouncing him across the diamond as a lot subsequent season.
“Tyler Fitzgerald did an excellent job at brief final 12 months. I feel he has worth and in a number of spots on the sphere,” Posey mentioned on the GM Conferences (hyperlink through Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle). “I do suppose it’s laborious to play a number of spots on the similar time in the course of the season. Whether or not he’d be higher suited to play second base long-term is a dialogue we’re having.“
