Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Kevin Frandsen recalled

Travis Ishikawa was placed on Bereavement leave today, allow the Giants to recall hot hitting Kevin Frandsen. Frandsen has hit over .500, 19-35, with 5 doubles, 2 homeruns, and 6 RBI's since returning to Fresno.

In that 2 weeks span, Kevin Frandsen has had a fire lit under his ass. By all indications, he seems to be playing with a chip on his shoulder. As Andrew Baggerly reported a few days ago, “The Giants don’t see me as an everyday player, but I see myself differently,” Frandsen was quoted as saying. “At a certain point, you realize a lot more teams need help, no matter how much my heart is set on this team.”

Not the sound of a happy Giant, but non-the-less he's back up. This could be good for Kevin, or this could spell the end for him here. Not directly, but if Frandsen is right this may be one of his last chances in town...

If the Giants truly don't see Frandsen as an everyday player, they might be looking to showcase him for a midseason trade right now.

On the other hand, Frandsen can use this opportunity to steal a position away from others on the team. He seems focused. He's driven. He's hitting the shit out of the ball...and no one on the Giants other than Aaron Rowand (the least likely Giant to lose his job) can say that. Frandsen can play 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, RF, LF... He's not going to unseat Pablo Sandoval, but he could play the other corner spot. Ishikawa, Juan Uribe, & Richie Aurilia beware, this could be the time he takes over a job...

In the same breath, it's hard to see Emmanuel Burriss lose his position due to his phenomenal defense as well as he's getting on base except for his recent 4 game skid...still, Fransden can fill in so many places...

One way or the other, this could be similar to the Pat Misch scenario a few weeks ago, wheras the Giants are looking for help but if it doesn't work, they may be looking to move on from the player...

I hope I'm wrong. As much as I'm a fan of Frandsen's game, even if he never becomes an every day player, there is nothing wrong with a guy who can play everywhere on the bench. Marco Scutaro has made a career out of it. Frandsen is certainly more qualified at this point in his career than either Richie Aurilia or Juan Uribe is

7 comments:

Frank McNair said...

I am so happy that he was called back up. I am probably as big a fan of his as ANYBODY on the Giants. Cain and him are my two favorites, and it is hard to know he is wasting away in Fresno.

Kevin is a guy that I want on my team, and Kevin is a guy that I want to be a Giant.

He deserves to have a spot on the roster just as much as Rich or Jose, plus I know he really cares about the team.

I will never forget how happy Frandsen was a couple years ago when he hit a homerun off of Gagne in spring training. Even though he wasn't on the Dodgers at the time, he said something to the effect of : He will always be a Dodger to me, and I am a Dodger hate.

He instantly won a spot in my heart.

Even when he was up last time, he was still hitting line drives everywhere they just didn't fall for hits. It is one of my greatest pains this year that Frandsen hasn't been on my team.

Frank McNair said...

I have to correct my quote of Kevin.

Here is an excerpt.

Frandsen grew up a Giants fan and said yes when asked if he was happy to homer off Gagne. “I’m a Dodger-hater,” Frandsen said, “and he’s still out there in blue, long hair and a goatee.”

Jim Ellis said...

Frank, it's nice to hear from such passionate fans like you.

While I am not as diehard of a Frandsen fan as you are, I do like him and think he has a place in this organization. Any player, or person that dislikes the Dodgers is a person I like. Besides that, Frandsen currently should have a place on this roster.

The problem he faces right now is a GM that likes veterans yet is trying to go through a youth movement, except he never went all in on one...and a manager that prefers vets anyday & everyday.

If Sabean can ever get past the "veteran of the bench" thing, Frandsen will be more valuable to this team than either Uribe or Aurilia...

It's hard to see Aurilia in this position, as the guy most likely to be let go to improve

Frank McNair said...

Sabean's whole youth movement idea has bothered me to no end over the last few years. For that last 3-4 years, we have continually heard they were going to start going with the young guys. Yet, what have we got from it? We had Todd Linden who they let play for about 6 weeks a few years ago, and a few others scattered in here and there.

In reality, Sabean has never wanted a youth movement. He has wanted young guys like Pablo Sandoval to come up and instantly start hitting .350. I think a lot of the diehard fans know that with youth, sometimes it can take up to a year or two to develop these players, and not just 6-8 weeks.

I would prefer young guys on my team, who play as good, or maybe even not quite as good as a vet, because there is more upside to letting them play and let them develop.

As I recall, at the end of 2007, when they actually let Frandsen play almost every day, his average was about .300 for that stretch. I just want him to have that same shot this year. Plus, I don't see much value in Rich anymore, and I think there is more value in Kevin than there is in Uribe.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

Frank McNair said...

I wish I could edit my comments....

I did a little bit of checking and discovered the stats I was referring to about when the actually let Frandsen play at the end of 07'.

From Aug 16 - Sep 30, Kevin hit .368, slg .568, and had an OBP of .426.

I don't think it was a fluke that he did that well when he played everyday, and just want to see him get that shot again.

Thanks Jim.

Jim Ellis said...

Frank,

Once again, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Sabean has always been a veterens guy. He likes to build his team around vets who have an established track record. This worked well around Barry Bonds for a few years, but failed miserably as he got older.

Sabean also likes to use his young talent to showcase for trades for Vets, instead of instilling the future of the organization in them. He also likes a coach who is a veterns first approach, something Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou, & Bruce Bochy all subscribe to.

In a twisted way, we the fans have been lucky over the years that things are not worse. If Sabean either A) had a better clue on talent evaluation earlier in his GM career or B) had been smart enough to hire and/or listen to better scouting development personel, we would be suffering from more than just 1 Nathan/Liriano type trade.

What scares the HELL out of me now is sabean finally has a top 10 minor league system including top 20 overall individual talent that have the potential to be organizational cornerstones for more than a decade. On top of this, he is obviously not "all in" on the proper youth movement & on the verge of a wildcard berth a year earlier than expected...and maybe just a bat away...

A typical Sabean type move I can see right now that would devistating to this youth push, yet plays into his win in '09 with vets mentality is a trade for Matt Holiday...

Holiday on paper is a real good fit here...and potentially could be convinced to stay...

Don't be surprised if a Holiday for Alderson/Lewis/Sosa goes down... With Wheeler,Sabean may see expendable pitchers, even for half a season...

This scares the hell out of me...and should everyone. The only thing I can do is scream loudly, inform as many people as I can to do the same, and send as barrage of messages to the team mail box as I already do

Spread the word Frank, i'm with you

Anonymous said...

I don't know enough about all the stats to quote why I want Kevin Frandsen on the team, but what I can say is you can see in his eyes that he wants to be a giant with all his heart. He looks like he belongs on that field. He appears driven has heck to do whatever it takes to win. His Major League slump can't go on forever. If the Giants give him his chance, he will shine.