Bruce Bochy And Creating The Giants’ Defensive Woes

Twenty-nine games, thirty-three errors – that’s the running tally the San Francisco Giants have currently amassed. It’s four more errors then the second place San Diego Padres, TWENTY-FOUR more then the league leading Yankees who currently have nine.

Looking at the numbers, you’d assume the Giants’ roster was filled with defensive misfits, but in all actuality, the Giants’ roster is filled with pretty adequate defensive talent. The problem within lies with the captain of the ship who continually forces players to play out of position with dreams of grander, where rainbows and runs meet with gum drops and lollipops.

Take last night’s lineup for example:

C – Hector Sanchez (a poor defender put into the lineup for his “bat”)

1B – Buster Posey (a good to great defensive catcher playing out of position)

2B – Ryan Theriot (okay defender with awful range)

3B – Conor Gillaspie (a poor defender)

SS – Joaquin Arias (a good defender)

LF – Brett Pill (out of position, poor defender)

CF – Angel Pagan (okay defender, poor routes/range)

RF – Melky Cabrera (average defender, statistically)

Meanwhile, players like Nate Schierholtz and Brandon Belt, both of whom should be considered the best defensive options at their respective positions on the team sit for “matchup” reasons.

Something as simple as moving Posey back to catcher, where he belongs, along with adding Nate and Belt back into the lineup turns a very suspect defensive lineup into a much more sure handed unit. Yes, they still have problems, like Gumby-arms over at third base, but for anybody who watched Brett Pill fumble around in left field last night, or Posey bobble balls at first or Sanchez struggle behind the dish, it’s clear how to easily improve the eye wrenching defense.

This team isn’t that poor defensively – no, they’re not going to be winning any gold gloves, but they currently look like the cast from Bad News Bears. Continually playing sub-par defenders or players out of their traditional positions makes the Giants lack fundamentals. It would be one thing if Bochy had good reason to sacrifice defense for offense, say like an All-Star bat who struggled on the defensive side, but he’s playing bench players in hopes to get more offense.

I’d love to see what type of record the Giants would put up if Bochy would just let these guys play their traditional positions for fifteen or twenty games – “matchups” be damned.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be in his plans – despite his comments last night saying he’ll need to reconsider the matchup lineups.

In short, put your best, CORRECTLY positioned lineup on the field and then fix the problems you see. Sure seems easy…so why does he make it so difficult?