Tiger Geist

Slowly catching up on the bay area baseball team news, and found some interesting blogs from the San Francisco Chronicle writer Henry Shulman.  Here, his tone seems to indicate he (and I imagine the team) are not too happy with a certain ex-Tiger shortstop:

Juan Uribe had a very nice day at short. He hit two doubles, drove in three runs and played well defensively. In fact, his solid play at short only underscored how lackluster Edgar Renteria has looked at the position.

Uribe is fighting for a job. Renteria is trying to prepare for the season. Does that make a difference? We’ll see how Renteria looks when the season begins and, as he promised, he picks up his game.

Yeah… that huge contract maybe wasn’t such a good idea.  The Giants are looking to play Pablo Sandoval at third right now, who is listed at 5′ 11″, 245 pounds.  Maybe conservatively listed (from what I saw of him at a game last September).  Though Sandoval seems to be playing the position well in spring, thats one U-G-L-Y left side of the infield for the small ball league.

In the same posting, Shulman talks about ex-Tiger outfielder Andres Torres‘ fight to make the team:

Andres Torres, the 31-year-old minor-league journeyman, is making an excellent case to be on the team. He went 2-for-5 today and raised his average to .426. He also runs like a cheetah and plays a good center field.

Seems to me he’s competing with Eugenio Velez for one spot. Of course, Velez has not been a slouch here either. He’s hitting .339 and had a two-run triple today.

Asked if they are competing for one spot, Bochy thought long and hard and said, “They’re similar players. They’re speed guys and good outfielders. Is it possible to have them both on the club? We’ll have to answer that soon.”

UPDATE:

Posted this before I got to read about the A’s… looks like they picked up Ex-Tiger third baseman (later turned back to catcher) Eric Munson yesterday to a minor league deal.  I never did understand why Detroit tried to make him an infielder.