Bart of Darkness

 

A lot happened between Spring Training and now in terms of the depth of the Giants.

Most of camp, Gabe Kapler and associates were clear that they'd be going with a Casali-first catching schematic, putting the more experience backstop first over budding catching prospect Joey Bart, now held down for a second year. With Donovan Solano elsewhere, 2nd base was looking like it'd go back to Mauricio Dubon, who was having it going into 2019. And it wasn't even looking like there'd be any need to have Heliot Ramos up in the bigs yet with Pederson, Yaz, Duggar, Slater, Ruf, the injured LaMonte Wade Jr., and Dubon as outfield options. 

And now look what we've got.

Joey Bart has the catching position, and he's doing extremely well so far, with some useful hits and RBIs right off the bat. He had a very helpful homer on Opening Day that gave people a lot of confidence that he could fill the Posey void pretty amicably. I'm not quite sure that he's going to be quite the multi-purpose player that Posey was yet, but he's showing great signs, and has progressed far enough to relegate Curt Casali back to a backup. 

Meanwhile, Thairo Estrada is the starting second baseman. Yes...former Yankee bench guy Thairo Estrada. In the tradition of someone on no one's radar [like Donovan Solano] being thrust into the mix in the infield, here comes Estrada. He's also been doing well so far, has a homer, and is getting on well between Belt and Crawford. It's still puzzling that he's been shoved in their in favor of Dubon, but...maybe Kapler is losing faith in Dubon in general. Which is fine. And then you have Heliot Ramos up in the majors, already hitting, already chasing Pederson for a left field spot. 

So...for a team that had so much depth last year...they have even more now. And they might be more powerful now than they were even last year.

Look at this rotation. Logan Webb still feels like an ace. Carlos Rodon had 12 Ks. Wood and Disco are still efficient innings-eaters and strikeout artists. I'm not sure what Alex Cobb has this year yet, but I'm optimistic. In addition to that, Brandon Belt's going crazy at the plate already, and the team is already off to a decent enough start. In a division where the Padres have momentum and the Dodgers have contractual power, the Giants are wielding so much depth and so many options that they can't be counted out. 

If Joey Bart is any bit the player people have been saying he'd be, the rest of the NL West is in trouble.

Coming Tomorrow- From a rookie also-ran to the Opening Day starter. That's just how the Rays do it, I guess.