Monday, April 16, 2012

A Little Thing Called Pressure...

By Corey R. Cunningham
San Francisco 1B/OF Brandon Belt has put a little pressure on the Giants management and Manager Bruce Bochey. Bruce has told the media, Belt would have a long leash this year, compared to last year; however, it does not seem to be the case through 2 weeks of the season. The Giants have played 9 games thus far through the young season, and Belt has only appeared in 5 of these games, (long leash)?

Belt did go 1 for 3 Sunday at Colorado, with a run scored and a SB, however, his batting average is still under.100 and has only 2 H on the season and has 5 K on the season. Belt has been playing sparingly at 1B for Aubrey Huff and LF for Melky Cabrera and Huff. As of now he is a platoon player, I would still keep him stashed on your bench, and I would hold onto him if you can. Do not give up on Belt just yet, at least not until he gets the ticket back to AAA.

The Chicago Cubs may have a problem, a good problem. Like the Reds had in Cincy with Votto and Alonso, the Cubs have LaHair and Rizzo. The problem you ask, Rizzo is crushing the ball at AAA Iowa, and perhaps he may have found his swing. Rizzo currently as of Saturday has 5 HR, 13 RBI, 7 R, 1 SB through 10 games. He has a .385 BA, .795 SLG, and 1.210 OPS.

The Cubs might want to think about what to do about this good problem. LaHair has 2 HR, 5 RBI, and 2 R. The only problem LaHair has that might cause the Cubs to switch out Rizzo for LaHair is LaHair has 10 K, through 23 ABs, compared to Rizzo who has 8 K, through 39 AB. Not exactly sure when the Cubs would consider bringing up Rizzo, but he is HOT and knocking the ball around in Iowa. There is no OF spot for LaHair to play or a DH spot, so this problem could linger for a while. If you drafted Rizzo, good for you, if you did not and he is available, grab him up right now.

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