Ted Lilly
Lilly was awful yet again on Saturday, allowing five runs over 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies. Lilly is now 0-2 in three starts, having allowed 14 runs in 12 2/3 innings with an 8:4 K:BB and an alarming 19 hits. From what I’ve seen of Lilly so far this year, it’s not so much that anything is wrong with his stuff, but more a case of some bad luck, bad defense, and a few too many bad pitches at critical times. Lilly had a 3.48 ERA and 28:5 K:BB in September last year in what for him was a career year (15-8, 3.83 and a career-high 174 strikeouts). Bottom line: don’t panic quite yet, but we’d like to see the Cubs’ lefties (Rich Hill included) turn things around here soon.
Jeff Francoeur
Time to give one of my favorite players, Jeff Francoeur, a little love. You’ve probably heard this before, but Francoeur reminds me an awful lot of ex-Brave and borderline Hall-of-famer, Dale Murphy. Both are tall right-fielders (though Murphy of course came up as a catcher), with Murphy listed an inch taller than Francoeur’s 6’4”. Both strike out a lot and have a lot of power. The big difference is that Murphy quickly became an on-base machine in his career while Francoeur is still developing in that area. It’s very encouraging that Francoeur increased his walk rate from 3% to 6% last year, but has walked just once in 47 at-bats so far this year. It’s an area he needs to focus on if he wants to take that next step. That all said, you have to like the two home runs and seven RBI he dropped on the Nationals on Sunday. The three hits (he also singled in five at-bats) brought Francoeur’s AVG up to .298 with a .313 OBP. Francoeur reportedly packed on 17 pounds of muscle over the offseason, so expect the drop in home runs last year (29 to 19) to reverse course, but hopefully his newfound muscle won’t translate into an ugly EYE.
Matt Kemp
So much for the news on Opening Day that Juan Pierre would be benched in favor of Andre Ethier. Ethier has actually started every game with Andruw Jones missing just one due to his horrific slump, but it’s been Kemp who has taken a huge hit in playing time. Pierre was in the starting lineup for the third straight game on Saturday, (two at the expense of Kemp), though Kemp did replace Pierre in Saturday’s blowout after three at-bats. Pierre is now 6-for-25 (four singles and a double) with one walk while Kemp is hitting .259 with a triple and no walks in 26 at-bats. As long as Pierre is on the roster, this is going to be a problem for Kemp, as Joe Torre has always liked what veterans bring to the table. Kemp is going to need a couple huge games in a row when he does play in order to steal playing time back from Pierre. It has to be hard for a 23 year-old kid to find any sort of consistency when he has no idea each day what his role will be. Late edit: Kemp just crushed an outside fastball for an opposite field home run off San Diego’s Glendon Rusch. Maybe that will help…or not.
James Loney
A lot of Dodgers had great games against he Padres on Saturday, including Loney who raised his AVG to .400 with a 3-for-3 outing that included two walks. Loney’s hits included a double to deep center, and most impressively, a pair of opposite field singles against left-handers. It’s a year late, but this is Loney’s first year in which he didn’t have to battle for a starting job on Opening Day. Barring a free agent defection, he’s set to continue a pretty impressive legacy of Dodgers first baseman and the way he’s going, he may ultimately be right up there with the Steve Garveys of the world. Oh by the way, Loney has played in 11 games this year and has hits in all eleven. He’s also walked six times and struck out just four and has three doubles and a pair of home runs. He’s right up there with Adrian Gonzalez and that’s a high compliment seeing as how Gonzalez had a 30-100 season last year. Loney may be even better, as Gonzalez is prone to strikeouts and in their primes, Loney is likely to outhit Gonzalez in terms of average. Future power potential is the big question for Loney, but after watching him hit nine in September last year, I’m thinking 25-30 is reachable annually.
Fred Lewis
Dave Roberts underwent knee surgery Saturday, a procedure that is likely to sideline him until after the All-Star break. This is actually a good thing for the Giants (though not for Roberts), as it will give them a chance to look at a number of young players instead of the aging Roberts in left field. We’d guess that the Giants would go with a Fred Lewis / Rajai Davis platoon (with Davis getting the short end there versus lefties), but the opportunity will be there for one or the other to sieze more time. Eugenio Velez, John Bowyker, and even Nate Schierholz could also factor into the mix, but Lewis is probably the guy to own for now. Lewis was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a walk on Saturday and his now 9-for-29 with a fine 5:4 K:BB on the young season. Lewis never developed the power the club thought he would, and at age 27, his days as a potential regular may be done, but he’s still a guy with NL-only value thanks to three 30+ stolen base seasons in the minors. He’ll strike out too much, but also draw his share of walks (0.62 career minor league EYE) and can pop a long ball now and then as well.
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