Dodgers-Giants position-by-position comparison: Second Base

The baseball season’s coming up and Mike Krukow thinks Yasiel Puig is dumb for not pegging the Giants as their biggest rival. In San Luis Obispo, I’d say they are, though the two teams have not met in the playoffs since the Wild Card round started.

I thought it would be fun to, over the next few weeks, go position by position and compare what personnel the two teams have in preparation for the 2015 season. Today’s position: First base.

Second base showcases the Dodgers’ best off-season aquisition against an up-and-comer for the Giants.

Position by Position: Catcher

Position by Position: First Base

Howie Kendrick et. al

The Dodgers made a flurry of deals that sent fans and media-types into a frenzy in December. First, they traded All-Star Dee Gordon to Miami for a group of players that included pitcher Andrew Heaney. They then flipped Heaney for Howie Kendrick who, by virtually all measures, is better than Gordon, albeit older.

So, the Dodgers improved at second base AND pocketed the assets of INF Enrique Hernandez, RP Chris Hatcher, and C/IF Austin Barnes. The question to be addressed for the purpose of this post is the value of Kendrick.

Surrounded by Mike Trout, Jared Weaver, and Josh Hamilton for the past few seasons, Kendrick has quietly been one of the most consistent second basemen in baseball. The 31 year-old was good for over five wins last season and is projected to be second-most valuable hitter — only to Yasiel Puig — in the Dodgers’ lineup.

He isn’t likely to have a season quite like last year, but his solid defense and complete all-around game should make him a solid contributor that, as much as anyone, the Dodgers are counting on.

Backup second-basemen on the Dodgers are not in short supply either. Alex Guerrero, the heralded Cuban middle infielder was paid highly, but was ranked only 19th by Dustin Nosler in his recent Dodgers prospect rankings. He can hit — probably — but where he fits-in defensively is a game lots of people have been playing lately. He isn’t a player that the current management brought-in and it’ll be interesting to see how and whether his career progresses.

Darwin Barney is another backup option at second. He should be a decent backup infielder.

The option for backup at second base that I think is the most interesting is probably Enrique Hernandez. Hernandez is only 23 and with Barney on the roster, he might have a hard time making the opening day roster.

That said, he hit .319 in the minors last year and seems like he could be competent. Not only did the Dodgers get Kendrick via a piece of the Dee Gordon trade, they also got a potential back-up directly for the Marlins. Not bad.

Joe Panik and friends

Joe Panik has played all of 73 Major League games and 269 at-bats. He is kind of, by definition, unproven.

Also, Panik was the starting second baseman on a World Series winner in 2014. That counts for a lot I think. While he hit just .233 in 17 postseason games, Giants fans remain bullish on Panik. There aren’t any more experienced or better players in line to play for the Giants at second base.

The guys who are on the 40-man roster and will presumably back-up Panik are less interesting than him.

The verdict

This one is pretty easy. Panik gives Giants fans the excitement of the unknown, but Kendrick’s track record is really great and the Dodgers have more experience and more options at the position.

Second base: Dodgers

Trackbacks

1. Dodgers vs. Giants position by position comparison: Third Base - Fansmanship says:

   03/02/2015 at 10:02 am

   […] Position by Position: Second Base […]