Through the first 16 games of the 2017 season, the San Francisco Giants are struggling. Though they haven’t exactly been lights out on the mound (ranked 16th in ERA), their biggest struggles have been at the plate, and their 6-10 record can be largely attributed to a team wide batting average of .233.
Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming joined Murph and Mac on Friday and argued that the Giants have gotten essentially nothing out of three positions since the first road trip of the season.
“They are getting zero, and I mean zero, out of three different spots offensively for a couple weeks now. Let me just break some news to everybody,” Flemming said. “The Giants will not be going to the playoffs if they get zero from three different spots in the lineup. You cannot win with that, and third base, left field, center field have given them almost nothing for a long while now, and that’s troubling, concerning, and that has to change.
“That does mean there’s a huge need, and left field is the most obvious of those but Nunez has got to hit and produce and Span has got to hit and produce. Those guys — since the Giants got back from their first road trip — have hardly been on base at all. That’s not sustainable, and that’s not just (bringing up Christian) Arroyo if that keeps up. It’s going to force them into some major decisions, but that is a little farther down the road. The track record for those other two guys you say he look, it’s been a bad two weeks, they can bounce back. Let’s start to see it sometime soon. Left field is a different story, and they have to find a solution.”
Left fielders Chris Marrero and Jarrett Parker have averages of .133 and .143, Denard Span is hitting .205 and Eduardo Nunez despite hitting a decent .286, has a below average OPS of .638, and a .118 average through his last seven games.
If this keeps up, Flemming argues, it’s time for the Giants to bring up top prospect Arroyo, who is hitting .442 in Triple-A Sacramento.
“I think it’s getting close to time. Like if the whole idea is make the kid force the issue, well that seems to be what he’s doing. If you hit .450 for the first couple weeks of the year and are leading the league in everything and every at-bat is a good at-bat, that counts as forcing the issue and I think he’s doing it. I think the hold up, for the moment at least, is he’s an infielder, so the idea that we’re just gonna throw him out in left field…Could he do it? Yeah, I guess he could do it. But if you look at him like you look at Buster, Crawford, Panik and Belt and the other cornerstones of this team — okay this is a guy who for many years is going to be wearing this uniform and he’s gonna be one of our key players — you don’t frivolously just start throwing him out there.”
Listen to the full interview below.