FanPost

Spring game thread #20: Oakland Athletics at San Francisco Giants

Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

Oakland Athletics Vs San Francisco Giants 3/21/16

Records:

As: 8-7 Wins

Giants: 8-11

So far this spring the As have looked a lot better then the Giants with a few of their recent additions scuffling so far. To emphasize that Jeff Samardzija has given up three homeruns in 13 innings, while also allowing 21 hits.

Team Hitting Stats:

Oakland As:

4th best average with .291

10th in home runs with 24

Tied for 5th in Rbis with 109

Tied for 21st in Stolen Bases with 9

Tied for 5th in runs with 116

7th in OBP with .356

5th in SLG with .485

4th in OPS with .842

10th in hits with 188

Tied for 8th in 2B with 41

Tied for 13th in 3B with 6

Tied for 11th in walks with 64

Tied for 20th in SOs with 126

SF Giants:

Tied for 7th in AVG with .283

Tied for 14th in HRs with 20

8th Rbis with 104

Tied for 11th in SB with 13

8th in Runs with 113

Tied for 10th in OBP with .351

10th in SLG with .457

9th in OPS .808

8th in Hits with 190

Tied for 13th in 2B with 37

Tied for 1st in 3B with 10

Tied for 15th in BB with 61

Tied for 13th in SO with 141

Compare / Contrast: The As offense has been better so far, but not by much. They are having incredibly similar springs. The As have been hitting for more power and a higher average. But in almost every stat the Giants are right behind us.

Team pitching stats:

Oakland Athletics:

27 in ERA with a 5.79

13th in SO with 144

Tied for 10th in SV with 4

Tied for 24th in WHIP with 1.57

Tied for 13th in BAA with .269

19th in IP with 157

6th in ER with 101

5th in Runs with 114

Tied for 1st in BB with 80

San Fransisco Giants

24th in ERA with 5.70

Tied for 14th in SO with 142

Tied for 20th in SV with 3

Tied for 26th in WHIP with 1.58

27th in BAA with .304

10th in innings with 167.1

5th in ER with 106

8th in R with 110

Tied for 12th in BB with 59

Compare / Contrast: The As pitching and the Giants pitching have both been awful this spring. Honestly I didn't realize how bad our pitching was until i did this, but the funny thing is the Giants are worse at this as well. In some regards they are, the thing they are better at, that matters is they have been giving up less runs.

Overall: We have been the better team so far this spring but not by much. In almost every category were close in it, to scoring runs and to preventing them.

Pitchers: Bassitt VS Samardzija

The trade that brought us Samardzija featured a pitcher that many of us are high on. Chris Bassitt against Jeff Samardzija, while we definitely won that trade it still isn't smart to count out the Shark.

Jeff is a power pitcher in every sense of the word. He throws hard, with every pitch. His slowest pitch is his Splitter which he averages 86 MPH on with. His Splitter when its good is his strikeout pitch, and it's absolutely filthy. He throws a fastball that has sinking action and sits in the mid to high 90s. He averages 95 with it but can touch 97 as well. He throws a cutter that sits at 93 MPH, and he gets a ton of swings and misses on it. His slider sits at 87 and tends to be a fly ball pitch. When Jeff is good he's getting a ton of strikeouts and making batters miss. But when he is bad he's incredibly hittable, and tends to give up the longball.

Chris Bassitt is a strikeout to flyball pitcher. His fastball sits at 93-96 but averages at 95. He tends to get a lot of flyballs on his fastball. His sinker he throws around the same velocity, it tends to not have that much sinking action and usually ends up a flyball pitch. His slider is another flyball pitch and has short glove side cut to it. His curveball is his swing and miss pitch, it has sweeping glove side movement. He has a changeup but he rarely throws it, it averages 84 MPH. It has natural sink to it and also results in more flyballs. When Bassitt is good he's getting flyballs and making batters miss with his curveball.

Now Bassitt is better then Jeff, hear me out on this. Jeff might have just have gotten a fat contract but a lot of it was buying his potential, that he has a young arm. Bassitt is just entering his prime years while Jeff is leaving his. Bassitt has a ton of upside, while Jeff does to people seem to forget just how bad he was last year. Anyway as of this moment it looks like Bassitt is the better pitcher.

Position battle: As vs Giants.

Catcher: Buster Posey Vs Vogt / Phegley

1st: Yonder Alonso / Cahna Vs Brandon Belt

2nd: Joe Panik Vs Jed Lowrie / Coghlan

SS: Marcus Semien Vs Brandon Crawford

3rd: Danny Valencia Vs Matt Duffy

Left: Khris Davis Vs Angel Pagan

Center: Billy Burns Vs Span

Right: Josh Reddick Vs Hunter Pence

Now who wins each? Lets start with catcher.

Catcher: Josh Phegley 1.6 War, Vogt 3.5 War vs Buster Posey 6.1 War from last season.

Winner: Posey

Reasoning: Even though our 2 catchers make the best catching duo in the american league, and the league itself Posey is still better. He was a whole win better then our catchers last season, even with the upside of our catchers Posey is still better. He's the better defender, and offensive player. Guy is a stud, the best catcher in the league.

1st Base: Yonder Alonso 1.8 War, Mark Cahna 1.1 War Vs Brandon Belts 3.9 War.

Winner: Yonder Alonso and Cahna.

Reasoning: In my opinion Belt is a undervalued first basemen and i would love for him to be on the team. But Yonder is just as good of a fielder as Belt is, if not slightly better. While Mark Cahna has a chance to be better offensively. If you took into account only last seasons numbers Belt would win, but i think our first base situation is better.

2nd Base: Joe Panik 3.3 War Vs Jed Lowrie 1.0 War and Chris Coghlan 1.9 War.

Winner: Wash

Reasoning: Joe Panik is better then each of them but not together. Chris Coghlan and Lowire aren't the defenders that Panik is, but they could be better hitters. Its hard because Panik is going to hit for the higher average but Lowrie and Coghlan could hit for 30+ homeruns combined. So as a group I'll put it as a wash.

SS: Brandon Crawford 5.6 vs Marcus Semien 2.7 War.

Winner: Crawford slightly.

Reasoning: Crawford was the best shortstop last year, he finally added a bat to a defensive minded SS. Putting up a career on both ends of the ball taking home both a Goldglove and a Silverslugger award. While i doubt he will put up a 5.6 war again it doesn't mean he's less of a stud. Marcus has more upside then Crawford and I wouldn't be shocked for him to better this year either.

3rd: Matt Duffy 4.9 War Vs Danny Valencia 1.6 War.

Winner: Valencia

Reasoning: Duffy and Valencia both have a huge amount of question marks surrounding them both. If Duffy was really as good as he was last season or if he was lucky? If Valencia can manage to hit right handers again like he did last year? But i gave it to Valencia because no matter what his power is going to translate. He's probably going to slug in the mid to high 400s, with 20+ home runs this year so i give it to Valencia.

Left Field: Khris Davis .8 War Vs Pagan -1.9 War

Winner: Davis

Reasoning: Pagan is garbage, he's a terrible defender and doesn't have the bat to make up for it. Davis will probably hit 30+ homeruns this year while playing decent defense. Pagan will be terrible and will most likely loose his starting spot to Blanco. So its a easy win for Davis.

Centerfield: Billy Burns 2.8 War Vs Span .8 War

Winner: Burns

Reasoning: Billy Burns is young, and is getting better while Span is old, and injury prone. Billy Burns and Span are very similar players in a lot of ways. Both are contact hitters who can run into Homeruns, but Burns is better. He's faster, and was one of the premier stealers last year. Don't be shocked if Burns steals 40+ bases this year.

Right Field: Josh Reddick 3.5 War Vs Hunter Pence 1.0 War

Winner: Wash

Reasoning: When healthy Hunter Pence is a stud and he even though only played 52 games last year. Reddick keeps improving every year i just wouldn't count out Pence. Reddick is the better defender while Pence is better with the bat. This is probably the most even one between the two.

So who wins overall? Each win is worth a point so it would be out of 8 points.

Giants score 2/8 on the possible battles.

The As score 4/8 on the positions.

So the As win by 2 points. Just barely winning but still winning. Most of it i took into accounting upside into it, and not just War. Part of the reason for that was because either they didn't have a full season last year or didn't get much playing time. If you took just what they did last season the Giants would have murdered us. Taking every infield position and we would have just ended up with our outfield.

Lineups:

Today’s #SFGiants lineup vs. OAK:

Span CF

Panik 2B

Posey 1B

Pence RF

Pagan LF

Brown C

Gillaspie 3B

Adrianza SS

Samardzija P

1st: To start the game Jeff Samardzija sat down the first three batters he faced in the inning.

1st: To follow that up Bassitt also had a threw up three down inning.

2nd: Immediately the next inning Khris Davis hit a ground rule double to start the inning. Alonso immediately grounded out after that to get Davis to third. Phegley grounded out to Samardzija to get the run in. He struck out Smolinski to end the inning after that.

2nd: The next inning Bassit struck out the first two batters he faced. Then he gave up a single to Olivo, then he walked Conor Gillaspie. Ehire hit a single to score Olivo and then Cahna had a error to get the runners to third and 2nd. He struck out Jeff Samardzija to end the inning.

3rd: Chapmen grounded out to start the inning then Sogard got a base hit. Thanks to Jeffs two wild pitches he got to third base. Billy Burns gets out on a sac fly, to score the run. Mark Cahna grounded out in the next out.

3rd: Bassitt set down the next three batters on two flyballs then a groundout.

4th: Jeff Samardzija had a three up three down inning in the 4th.

4th: Hunter Pence hit a homerun to start the inning, and Pagan hit a single afterwards. Olivo struck out in the next atbat. Conor Gillaspie hit a single then Ehire hit a pop up, and then Jeff grounded out.

5th: Phegley grounded out to start it, and Smolinski hit a single. Matt Chapmen hit a homerun to continue his great spring training. Sogard and Burns grounded out afterwards.

5th: Span hit a single to begin the inning, then Panik got on a flyball. Buster Posey hit into double play to end the inning.

6th: Mark Cahna led the inning with a single, then Coghlan hit his first homerun of spring. Jeff set down the next three batters after that.

6th: Hunter Pence flies out, and then Pagan once again got a base hit. Olivo hit a double to score pagan from first. F-Rod came in after that, Josh Phegley got a error which got Olivo to third. Conor Gillaspie hit him in, and then Ehire grounded out, and Parker popped up.

7th: Sergio set down the next three batters.

7th: Fernando set down the next three batters, to end the inning.

8th: Lopez comes in to start the inning and gets Sportman to pop up. He then struck out McBride, and walked Coghlan. Ryon Healy grounded out to end the inning.

8th: Schuster came into the game and struck out Williamson to start the inning. He then struck out Kottaras, and Pena flew out to Brugman.

9th: Osich came into the game, and Brugman got a base hit. Carson hit him over to second base with a base hit. Marincov flew out in the next atbat. Chapmen hit into a force out at second base. Then Sogard ended the inning to to Grant Green.

9th: Daniel Coulombe got Conor out on a fly out, and then he walked Ehire. He got the next two batters out to end the game. Coulombe gets the save, his first of the spring.

Final score: 6-4 As win.