San Francisco Giants Release Gordon Beckham, Roster Battles Get Narrowed Down

The San Francisco Giants have released Gordon Beckham today, according to multiple sources.

Gordon Beckham made an early feature in the potential roster spot battles this spring, but really hasn’t done much since. With how well others ahead of him have done this spring, he didn’t have much of a chance to make the San Francisco Giants roster.

Beckham joined the team at the end of last season to help provide some bench depth when Eduardo Nuñez got hurt. He didn’t do a whole lot, as Connor Gillaspie clearly won his spot ahead of him.

Now it seems as if his time was headed towards the expiration date. The Giants felt that way, and so did he. According to Hank Schulman of the San Francicso Chronicle, he was the one who asked for the release.

That really isn’t that surprising.

Guys like Jae-Gyun Hwang, Aaron Hill, and Kelby Tomlinson are clearly ahead of him for any roster spot competition. Their defense, is simply better, and so is their bats. Hwang has shown signs of his hitting prowess in spring training, and Aaron Hill is a seasoned vet. Kelby Tomlinson is a known quantity for the Giants as well.

Right now, I see the infield shaking out like this:

1. Brandon Belt (1B)
2. Joe Panik (2B)
3. Brandon Crawford (SS)
4. Eduardo Nuñez (3B)
5. Connor Gillaspie (3B)
6. Aaron Hill (2B/SS/3B)

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Overall, the San Francisco Giants are probably going to be set. This was a move that should really shock nobody. The amount of potential additions in the infield that they have is promising. With Aaron Hill, they would have a seasoned veteran on the roster, capable of playing all three infield spots as a backup. While Kelby provides a good bat, good speed, he doesn’t necessarily have the wide ranging positional flexibility that others have.