© Kevin Sousa | 2018 Sep 4
The San Francisco Giants shocked just about everyone on opening day when they started two relatively anonymous corner outfielders in Connor Joe and Michael Reed. Less than a week later, Reed is no longer on the 25-man roster after going hitless in eight plate appearances, and has been replaced by veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar, who was acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays on Tuesday.
Giants beat writer extraordinaire Andrew Baggarly joined Gary & Larry shortly after the deal was announced, and broke down what Pillar brings to San Francisco’s lineup, and what the signing says about their philosophy in 2019.
“My takeaway from this immediately was you saw the way Reed was overmatched,” Baggs began. “You realize well, he’s got to play. Even (Steven) Duggar can’t play every day, and they need an outfielder who can bat right handed, because they’re batting all these lefties against lefties and you’re thinking ‘Are they really going to go with this guy, sink or swim?’ And if that’s the case do they actually care about putting a shine on this season and making some attempt to look like they’re winning, or is this a total rebuild in sheep’s clothing?
“You found the answer today that no, their level of tolerance is not that if they see something that can’t work they’re going to do something different.”
Pillar is well documented as an excellent defensive center fielder, but isn’t known for his efficiency at the plate. Pillar has an incredibly low career walk percentage of 4.2 % and a sub .300 on-base percentage. In that sense, he’s not typically the type of player Giants VP of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi covets.
“I don’t think he’s a guy that is sort of a classic (Farhan) Zaidi acquisition because he’s not a guy that has a ton of control, he’s not a guy that has a lot of upside,” Baggarly said. “I think we know what kind of player he is. A little bit limited offensively in terms of the strikeouts and not a lot of walks, that makes him opposite to what Farhan likes to see. But he’s a guy who can hit right handed, he can put a charge into the ball a little bit, and he’s a really good defender.
“He’s a lot better than what they had, and they gave up Alen Hanson, who they were about to put on waivers anyway and probably would’ve lost on a waiver claim, and Derek Law is a guy who goes to Toronto and has a chance to reinvent himself there. (Juan) De Paula was a guy who they got for (Andrew) McCutchen last year in the Yankees deal, and now they’ve got a 40-man vacancy and who knows maybe that goes to Stephen Vogt sometime before too long, but yeah they basically have coverage now, and they didn’t have coverage 24 hours ago.”
Listen to the full interview below.