Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE — If it sounds familiar, well, it happened last year, too.
But the Giants had an abbreviated, three-week camp to excuse their early-season struggles on defense, when ordinary plays became adventures. This year they are having a full spring training, now 17 games into their Cactus League schedule and 15 days away from the regular-season opener.
And after those 17 games, they lead the league in errors, with 19, after committing two more Wednesday.
The Giants’ defense is “just not good enough, frankly,” Gabe Kapler said after the 11-8 win over the Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. “We have to do a better job on defense, both to record outs and to protect our pitchers. We just haven’t been good.”
Spring stats mean very little, especially because so many are racked up by prospects or fringe players. Marco Luciano “leads” the team with three errors. Additionally, Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria, who both have played Gold Glove-quality defense in their careers, have yet to play a game defensively because of mono and plantar fasciitis, respectively.
Tuesday’s loss was particularly ugly, when second baseman Donovan Solano threw widely of Tommy La Stella at first — a player generously listed at 5-foot-11 and not a prototypical first baseman. Wilmer Flores, who played third, was late throwing to second on a force play.
Essentially, the Giants had three second basemen playing in their infield, which is a casualty of the diversification the Giants strive for on defense.
Wednesday showed the weakness of potential Giants shortstop options, when Will Wilson, a far-away prospect, made first baseman Darin Ruf chase a poor throw, and Arismendy Alcantara (playing second) threw another away. Alcantara is a depth option at shortstop because behind Brandon Crawford is solely Mauricio Dubon — their starting center fielder.
The Giants’ offense is projecting well, and their pitching can be a strength if health works out. The defense is an obvious weakness.
“There is some urgency at this point,” Kapler said on March 17, with the April 1 opener looming. “We’re getting closer to Opening Day, and we want our defense to be as tight as possible. This is not to come off as critical, but we can do better.”
The Giants are flooded with lefty relievers, with Jarlin Garcia (who threw a scoreless innings Wednesday), Jose Alvarez and Jake McGee shoo-ins for the Opening Day roster, and Sam Selman and Wandy Peralta among plenty in the hunt for bullpen jobs.
“The majority of our starters are right-handed,” starter Kevin Gausman said, correctly; only Alex Wood, if healthy, would be a southpaw in the rotation. “I think bringing in a lefty after righty has always been tough on hitters. So especially some guys that can kind of sink the ball coming in after some guys that are up in the zone — I think it definitely plays pretty well together.”
Speaking of Wood, Kapler said he is “a little bit sore” from the ablation procedure Tuesday for nerves in his lower back. He’ll start a throwing program soon, but it will be dependent upon Wood’s pain tolerance. The procedure can be painful for about two weeks afterward, but the hope is patients are then fine.
The Giants have not ruled out Wood to be ready in the opening week of the season, but it’s unlikely.
Alex Dickerson went 3-for-5 with a 438-foot bomb to straight-away center, upping his spring slashline to .300/.391/.500. He seems ready for the season to start.
Also having a nice day was Jason Vosler, who continued a hot spring by going 2-for-4 with a double, walk and three smoked balls, one being a lineout to the pitcher.
“We’ve discovered that Jason plays a nice third base, can obviously move across the diamond and play first as well, a little left field and can certainly handle himself in the middle of the diamond,” Kapler said of the utility man, who could be debuting in the majors because of the injuries to Longoria and Belt. “Super versatile player, heads-up base runner, excellent teammate.”
Wilson also had an encouraging day at the plate, hitting 109.3-mph and 103.4-mph lineouts and singling once. His defense at shortstop was less encouraging.
Utility man Jason Krizan, still around in major league camp and trying to mount a case to debut in the majors as a 31-year-old sometime this year, went 3-for-3 with a homer to right, his first of the spring. He is another from the Farhan Zaidi mold — a nice ratio of 436 walks to 436 strikeouts in his minor league career — and has a .400 OBP in the Cactus League.