San Francisco Giants “Leaning Towards” Five Outfielders

The San Francisco Giants made a rather uncommon choice last year to only go with four outfielders for the majority of the season, adding an extra pitcher to the bullpen. This year, they’ll likely go back to five.

The San Francisco Giants saw the bullpen issues coming. They went with an extra pitcher, putting 13 total on the roster instead of eleven or twelve like most teams. That meant going with only four outfielders to start 2016. They kept it that way for the majority of the year, as they had three outfielders with the ability to play centerfield. That made it easy to mix and match off-days, and rotate players around between left and center.

Gregor Blanco and Denard Span stayed off the D.L, allowing the rotation to keep going even when Angel Pagan got his yearly DL Stint. Even though Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker were filling in for Hunter Pence and Pagan in left and right field, Blanco was still there to relieve Span of his duties in center field, if necessary.

The Giants don’t have that this year, unless they include Gorkys Hernandez in the roster. If they did so, it wouldn’t be bad. Unless Mac blows Parker out of the water this spring, they’ll have an opening day outfield of Parker, Span, and Pence, from left to right. Even if Williamson beats out Parker for left field, having Gorkys on the roster is virtually guaranteed, since they’ll need to have someone who can fill in admirably on defense in center field. That way, they don’t have to play the DL game and deal with call-ups in the case that Span gets hurt.

So the question then remains, do they go with a fifth outfielder? Bruce Bochy says, that he’s “leaning towards” having five outfielders. Chris Haft of MLB.com also reported that Bochy would be interested in carrying four outfielders, as long as the hypothetical sixth infielder has the ability to play the outfield on occasion. Enter Orlando Calixte and Kelby Tomlinson.

For the Pro-Kelby cult (yes, I’m a founding member), this is his way onto the roster. If he can show he’s the fifth best option in the outfield he’s in. With so many veteran infielders essentially vying for his infield spot, Kelby’s ability to capitalize on the little devil perched on Bochy’s left shoulder whispering in his ear, “If the third reserve infielder can play 20-30 games competently in the outfield then why go with five outfielders?”. Who knows, for Kelby fans, that might be the Angel instead.

The other possibility this opens up is for Orlando Calixte. A 40-Man Roster Member, with a lot of options. He never really did much in the Royals organization, mainly because they didn’t have much of a spot for him in their infield. He can play either middle infield or the outfield, but the Giants see him more of an Adrianza type player, plus glove and an underwhelming bat.

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As Grant Brisbee from McCovey Chronicles said in his rendition of the five outfielders discussion, the intriguing thing here is it’s still a consideration. If the Giants wanted Mac and Parker on the roster, they could do it with five outfielders, especially if none of the non-roster invite outfielders make any sort of claim for a spot (it feels unlikely that they will).

They could roll with Gorkys and the loser of the left field competition (since both can play at either corner of the outfield, and Goryks can play anywhere) and just call it a done deal. Have Gillaspie as the backup third baseman and run with the winner of Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Hill, Kelby, and Calixte (I think that’s all the middle infielders that have a reasonable shot) take the final backup infield spot. It would make sense.

But then you have to go back to the comments of GM Bobby Evans saying “I don’y know if we want both of them on the roster.” That’s a big thing here. If the Giants are envisioning not having the loser of left-field battle on the roster, then at this point, it’s a complete crapshoot as to who the backup position players are going to be.

Our first Spring Training game is only three days away now. Thankfully we can soon stop running in circles with hypotheticals and trying to get into the heads of Bochy and Evans to predict how the roster will shake out. Tangible evidence by virtue of performances will eventually clear up the picture. Until then, we keep going in circles with our debates.

Next: Why You Won't See a Pitcher in the 8th Spot in 2017

Stay tuned as Spring Training Games start on Friday! We’ll have reaction and analysis for you all spring!

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