FanPost

Yasmani Grandal has a little Bryce Harper in Him; Gyorko at 1st?

I do not mean this in a negative way at all. The boyish exuberance about the game and kind of happy ignorance to just go and rake. He looks like he's always having fun and nothing is too big for him. He's got even got the mohawk and likes to tell baseball stories. He seems like a gamer like maybe a Peavy at his best. With the hope this does not jinx him, he has become my favorite Padre, now that Venable is going back to being Venable again instead of capitalizing on his physical gifts. I think the Padres need this personality; they struggle when they take themselves a little too seriously, overthink things, and wallow: Chase is kind of the poster boy for that mentality.

I think Padres are winning the Reds trade today and the gap looks to grow by year with the continued development of Alonzo, Grandal and Boxberger. Volquez has as good if not better stuff than Latos and is the Padres' ace, kind of by default but obviously has #1 type stuff if not control. I think Grandal might be the real prize especially given the unexpected struggles of Hundley. Byrnes may go down in the annuals for this one.

That being said, looking at Rizzo hitting #6 today and raising to .330, am I the only one a little disappointed with Yonder? Yes, I know that Rizzo's swing would supposedly be swallowed at Petco and I was on hand to witness his .141 but wasn't it a little quick to flip him just because Byrnes didn't want a "QB controversy?" Yonder seems like a poor man's Sean Casey: .258/.359/.693 - the "Doubles" machine is more like a singles machine. His slugging percentage is behind not only Amarista, Denofia, Kotsay and Forsythe but also Joe Wieland. He plays pretty good D but I think is less athletic and more of a base clogger than Rizzo. I don't think moving from Great America to Petco explains a drop of .545 to .359 or a .466 minors slugging %. I kind of think that Rizzo might have in Jed Hoyer's theory "Petco" power where he hits some so long and hard they don't get caught up in the heavy air. I am not totally sold on Cashner just because he throws triple-digits with his injury history and I felt he was given 8th inning too soon and showed a lack of understanding of how to use his very straight velocity (high gas or inside.)

Can we at least have the conversation that Gyorko comes up and plays some 1st base instead of third or second? His minors slugging percentage is higher than Alonzo's, he is right handed, hits to all fields and with Yaz and Chase switch hitting along with Cab and Amarista, the lineup would already have a lot of left handed balance. I know it is way early but I think a Forsythe/Amarista 2nd base profiles better for their position than Alonzo's at first.



This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball staff or SB Nation.