The Giants are available in the market for a shortstop. President of baseball operations Buster Posey acknowledged as a lot firstly of the offseason. San Francisco has been tied to Willy Adames and Ha-Seong Kim in latest 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 ultimately month’s GM Conferences that Kim might be prepared early within the season — doubtlessly earlier than the top of April. Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has beforehand steered the rehab may carry into “Might, June, July,” a way more nebulous timeline.
Whichever staff indicators Kim will want a stopgap shortstop for at the least a number of weeks, doubtlessly months. For the Giants, that might be Matt Chapman. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic experiences that the star third baseman informed staff officers he’d be keen to play shortstop early within the yr whereas Kim recovers. In keeping with Rosenthal, that’s one in every of varied potentialities the staff is contemplating.
That’d be a artistic answer. It’s not an outlandish one. Chapman is among the sport’s greatest 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 yr. 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 fingers for the place. The one query is whether or not he’d have sufficient lateral quickness to be a plus in the course of the diamond, however he may in all probability at the least 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 obtained 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 enjoying time, the Giants appear to desire him elsewhere. Posey steered final month that Fitzgerald might be a second baseman. He additionally implied they have been hopeful they may keep away from bouncing him across the diamond as a lot subsequent season.
“Tyler Fitzgerald did an awesome job at quick final yr. I feel he has worth and in a number of spots on the sector,” Posey mentioned on the GM Conferences (hyperlink through Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle). “I do assume it’s exhausting to play a number of spots on the identical 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.“
