© Troy Taormina | 2018 Oct 16
On Tuesday, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic said Houston Astros utility player Marwin Gonzalez represented an ideal fit as a free agent target for the Giants this offseason, and that the team has reached out to his agent.
On Wednesday morning, Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow reiterated that stance, telling Murph & Mac that the 29-year old switch-hitter represents the type of player that new VP Farhan Zaidi is enticed by.
“I love him,” Kruk said. “He does all those things with the glove and he can hit and he’s durable. I think he represents the new type of player. I think we’re going to see a lot of those guys that can do different things.”
Gonzalez has shown himself to be incredibly versatile since his call up in 2012 with the Astros. In 2018, Gonzalez played 22 games at first base, 24 at second base, 32 at shortstop, and 71 in left field. He posted a slash line of .247/.324/.409 with 16 home runs last season, after a career year in 2017 when he hit .303/.377/.530 with 23 jacks. According to Baggarly, the price for the Gonzalez has remained “prohibitively high.”
“I think about when the Giants saw the Dodgers the last couple of years, and you see (Austin) Hedges the catcher come out and catch six innings and all of the sudden you see him playing second base. There aren’t many guys like that around. But those are the type of athletes, the type of baseball players we’re going to see in the Giants organization, and Gonzalez is one of those guys. He can play anywhere.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Kruk on Gonzalez, start from 7:25.