NLDS Roster Update

The roster has been set and announced. You can see the roster and Andrew Baggarly's analysis here.

No Jose Guillen, which is a bit of a surprise. Apparently his neck may be bothering him more than we thought. And no Barry Zito. I think you know our position on that decision by now. Mota, Rowand, Ishikawa, and Renteria are all in.

Discuss in the comments section if you'd like.

SF 9, MIL 2: Jose Guillen Is Relevant

When the Giants acquired Cody Ross, I declared Jose Guillen redundant, irrelevant, and useless, and said that he should be relegated to a pinch hitting role. Guillen hasn't completely caught fire since then, but he's had some good games and big hits, none bigger than his 1st inning, 2 out grand slam against Milwaukee today. The Giants never looked back, scoring 5 more runs, including 2 on a Guillen single later in the game.

Guillen is a better option for the Giants not just because he's hitting lately, but because Cody Ross is failing to do so. In a very small 47 PAs, Ross' Giants slashline is .195/.277/.220/.496. Means nothing, really, because of small sample size, but still, may Andres Torres return as fast as possible. Ross' slashline may have looked a little better after today if a leadoff home run hadn't been brought back by Ryan Braun. Braun made an amazing play, and he let everyone know that he thought so too. What a hateable player he is.

Barry Zito did a good job of shutting the Brewers down after the Giants scored 4 runs in the 1st inning. He hasn't always been successful doing that, sometimes giving up a little momentum after the offense scores. Braun homered in the 6th to make the score 6-2, but Zito was able to finish the inning, and Bochy wisely got him out of their before any weirdness happened.

A big part of the Giants offense today was the patience they showed, in stark contrast to the past 2 games. They drew 7 walks as a team. Buster Posey had 3 himself, and Pat Burrell 2, both helping set up Jose Guillen's RBI situations. With the win today, the Giants moved back into 1st place in the West. The Padres just aren't the same team anymore that they were for 5 months, and Colorado gave up a 6-1 lead to the Dodgers, losing in the 10th inning. But I don't expect either team to completely go away. The Giants' postseason chances are gonna all come down to the final series against each of those teams. On Friday, the Giants travel to Denver for a weekend series. If they play well, it could mean a playoff spot. If not, it could be another "This is not good, folks" moment.

Giants Awarded With Ross After Waiver Block

Uh, Jose, we're gonna need to go ahead and move you
into an exclusively pinch hitting role. We have some new
people coming in, and we need all the space we can get, mmmkay?

Cody Ross has made Jose Guillen redundant. The Giants most likely didn't intend to get Ross, only to block him from the division leading Padres, but if they did intend to get him all along, it makes you wonder why they also got Jose Guillen a few weeks back. Now that Ross is on the team, logic states that he should be getting outfield playing time. What does this mean for Guillen and his spirited attitude? Hopefully nothing. He better get used to being a right handed pinch hitter.

Cody Ross is Guillen, plus actual value. Offensively, they are nearly identical. Medium power (17-25 HRs) and they both don't get on base nearly enough. But we'll take what we can get. Unlike Jose Guillen, Cody Ross actually has platoon value. He rakes lefties, slugging just below .600, with a .945 OPS. He has hit 43 career HRs against lefties, 40 against righties, despite having only about 30% of his at bats against lefthanders. Unlike Jose Guillen, you can be confident with Cody Ross in the outfield. His defense isn't great, but it's good enough, and he can play anywhere. Jose Guillen, on the other hand, is a DH guarding Triples Alley. A quick look at their WAR numbers (fangraphs.com) since Ross' first full season tells it all:

2008 Guillen: -0.1 Ross: 3.7
2009 Guillen: -1.9 Ross: 1.9
2010 Guillen: 0.9 Ross: 1.9

Seems pretty clear to me which guy should be getting the majority of at bats between these two. The whole point of getting Jose Guillen was his "power potential". Any power potential Guillen has, Ross has also. I understand that Guillen is hitting well for the Giants right now, but he's only got 30 at bats (also only 30 plate appearances, hasn't taken a walk yet). I don't think we are going to see another Pat Burrell situation. Why? Because he's never been as good a hitter as Burrell anytime in his career. He'll be a pretty good option as a pinch hitter late in games. Certainly better than Schierholtz or Rowand. Meanwhile, Cody Ross needs to start against lefties, pronto. We just happen to be facing a lefthander tonight. And avid 8thInningWeirdness reader Bruce Bochy has Ross starting in right!

Jose Guillen is a Giant...I Think

Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes has reported via Twitter that a trade for Jose Guillen is close to being finished, and that if it were finished in time, he would play in Friday's game against San Diego. There is no news on who he has possibly been traded for, but this post will be updated when that is known. It is also very possible that the Giants will get Guillen without giving up anything at all.

If this is true, now we have to consider 2 things: was it a good move by Brian Sabean, and how will Jose Guillen fit in. The first can't be totally analyzed until we know what Brian Sabean gave up, but for now we will assume it was either a very unspectacular minor leaguer, or nothing at all. In that case, Jose Guillen does improve the team. He is a better hitter than Nate Schierholtz, and probably Travis Ishikawa. When he isn't playing, he is probably the best pinch hitting option on the bench. It's easy, in fact, to see him as another Aaron Rowand. Not a great hitter by any means, but at least a moderate power threat. And like Rowand, his defense isn't great, although he supposedly has a cannon of an arm. Unlike Rowand, he doesn't cost $60 million. He probably costs nothing, so in that case he's perfectly fine to have on the team. Looks like when he starts he would play right field, with Huff moving to 1st base to replace Ishikawa.
Here are some of Guillen's numbers:

Career: .270/.322/.441/.762
2010: .255/.314/.429/.743

Clearly not great numbers, especially when you consider his average at best defense. But the Giants are hoping he can hit for some of the power he has in previous years, such as in '03, '04, '05, and '07, when he hit 31, 27, 24, and 23 Hr's respectively. It's a hope, but so were Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell, and they have been fantastic. This season, Guillen has 16 Hr's, but that's accompanied by his 2nd lowest OBP of his career.

So Guillen is not the bat the Giants really could have used, but he's useful given our current options. His main downside is in fact his attitude. He is considered by some to be almost as volatile as Milton Bradley. That's a concern, because the Giants clubhouse does not need any disruption. However, you have to think that a player coming over from the Royals to a contending team in August isn't going to immediately stir the pot. You'd think...