Gillaspie Promoted To Giants

Simply baffled. The guy doesn't even know what it is to be a professional baseball player yet, and you're going to throw him into the MLB? What good can come out of this?

My guess is that it probably was promised during negotiations, though not part of the contract - basically a side deal. It'd be surprising if he spends much time in the majors next year, though the team does consider him to be an "advanced bat" coming out of college and what he did in Cape Code last year.

Tim and everybody else,

What does this mean for Clay? He had to be outrighted to triple-A, meaning Gillaspie took his spot on the 40-man roster. To get him back to the big-show, they will have to purchase his contract again. Is this any indicator of his future with the Giants?

I don't think there's anything wrong with this. He came out of this draft as one of the more advanced bats in the draft. Don't use his small sample size of pro ball to date as an argument against bringing him up. Clay Timpner has no future with this team anyway. He's not replacing anyone of importance. Maybe the Giants think he has a legit chance to be their 3b next year.

A couple weeks up at the show will do nothing for his development long term. I have no clue what the Giants are thinking.

"nothing for his development long term?" From everything I've heard, there is a big adjustment getting used to the major league life style. Earl Weaver thought it was a big enough adjustment that he recommends that starting pitchers be brought up as a reliever their first season and be allowed to adjust and get to pitch in ideal situations to boost their confidence and to learn. This would help him get over that sooner than later.

One point supporting this view is that the Giants did not promise that he would even get to play during his time up.

Plus, I don't see where him getting any jacks has much bearing on him coming up. He's known to have very little power. If hitting homers is a prerequisite for him getting a call up, he probably won't get a call up for a long time. Duane Kuiper might never have got the call up.

He's suppose to be an advanced hitter. Maybe they like what they saw even if he didn't hit for much, which is always plagued by small samples.

I can't seem to find the stats anywhere, but I'm pretty sure he had a bad first week in the minors, and then picked it up really quickly for the next few weeks. While it doesn't really justify calling him up to the majors, his hitting well recently at least helps in understanding a move like this. I'm not thrilled that he's on the 40 man roster so soon, but perhaps just being able to get a look at his swing and plate approach will help the Giants figure out exactly what they have in Gillaspie?

If they still think he could be up by 2010, it might prevent the Giants from going after a longterm 1B/3B this offseason, hoping that Sandoval and Gillaspie can fill the positions in the next couple of years at a fraction of the price.

For those saying this starts the clock, let's look at that more closely, and feel free to correct whatever mistakes I make.

As a player with less than 5 years MLB experience, he can be optioned to the minors for 4 seasons without having to clear waivers. That means 1 option has been eaten up, and Gillaspie could be controlled until the end of the 2011 season.

If the Giants don't know about Conor by that time, I'd say he's a bust. And like Sabean said, he's at the right place at the right time, playing a position the Giants need. Let's hope he really is better with a wooden bat than a metal, like Conor says.