Byrd Brained
Marlon Byrd. He’s 37 years old. His batting average is among his career lows, and lowest since 2006. He’s got a .286 on-base percentage this season.
But he can hit homers.
Really, that’s what he’s here for. He’s here to provide a little power in place of all the injuries. And when Pence comes back (which I do hope will be relatively fast, but I fear won’t be), Byrd will be that bench piece the Giants have been missing all season, a guy who can come off the bench and put fear in pitchers’ eyes.
Well, other than Bumgarner.
And Byrd usually isn’t this low-average, high power guy. He’s got a career batting average of .275 and a career on-base percentage of .330, both acceptable for power guys.
The Giants definitely need him. I just hope not for too long.
Oh, and the Giants are his ninth team, and 7th since 2012. He’s used to the travel.
The price? Stephen Johnson, a right-handed reliever who was in Richmond. Johnson was a 6th round pick in 2012, and has had a solid, but nondescript, career as a Giant minor leaguer. Other than a combined 4.64 ERA in his first half-season, Johnson has been consistently in the mid-3’s ERA-wise, and had a career-best 3.41 ERA with Richmond. He’s had three years of 10+ K’s per nine innings, though he’s had some wildness (4.5 BB/9 this year is his best rate). He is a guy with high velocity, recording regular fastballs in the 95-98 range in college, though I couldn’t find more recent reports.
The truth is, he quietly has been a high upside guy in the bullpen, and he’s not a nobody prospect either. He wasn’t going to show up on any Top 10 prospect lists, but he’s a guy who has the potential of being at the end of a bullpen, maybe even as a closer if he can take control of his pitches. But…the Giants have quite a few of those prospects, so they dealt from depth, and hey, they got another animal-minded player.
DEATH TO THE ODD YEAR CURSE!
