But look --
Player A: .223/.287/.323, .276 wOBA
Player B: .270/.314/.430, .323 wOBA
Those are respective ZiPS rest-of-season projections for Darren Ford (A) and Nate Schierholtz (B). It's pretty obvious who the better player is.
Let's not overrate the importance of speed. It's easy to see the impact of speed in this game -- a microcosm of the season, but Nate, too, is an above-average baserunner (though not a very good base-stealer); Nate, like Ford, is a great fielder -- and I think he could even be above-average in CF; and Nate, unlike Ford, can hit. Over the course of a season, the Giants get a lot more out of that roster spot from Nate than they do from Ford.
So when Torres returns, there should be no question about it. Nate deserves a spot on this roster -- in fact, I think he could very easily be an average MLB player given regular playing time. Ford, on the other hand, is a sub-replacement player. Basically a variation of 2003 Andres Torres (who hit .220/.263/.298 over 185 PAs).
--
Anyway, enough of that. This game...
- The Giants got a taste of Charlie Morton, who's been having an interesting year. It'll be interesting to see how he progresses. Coming into this game, he had a K/BB ratio of 0.80, ridiculously mediocre. But he also had a GB rate of 67.1%; perhaps his K/BB will regress, and he'll maintain a high GB rate -- and could actually be a really good starter throughout the year. We'll see. Anyway, he sort of continued the trend today (73.3% groundball rate, 6 K, 3 BB).
- Pretty solid start from Matt Cain, who did a nice job rebounding from his previous disaster of a start.
- Four scoreless innings from the bullpen (1 K, 2 BB, 1 H).
- Three different Giants drew walks! Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, and Buster Posey.
- Player of the game: Darren Ford (duh).
- By the way, Aaron Rowand is at 0.5 fWAR on the season. He accrued 0.5 fWAR in all of 2010.
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