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In the winter of 2007-08, the Giants took a look at the shortstop options in their system, on the free agent market, and on the trade market and, beholding the destitution they saw before them, decided to re-sign Omar Vizquel for one year and pray that the 41-year-old Gold Glover had one more year left as a palatable major leaguer. He didn’t.

Vizquel’s acrobatics on the field still wowed the Giants faithful and he finished his career in the Black and Orange as one of the more adored Giants in a while, but geez did his bat ever stink. After missing the first month of the season with a knee injury, Vizquel came back and picked up right where he left off in 2007. His final line of .222/.283/.267 confirmed what we all feared after his bat went into the tank in the previous season: he’s done. Not to mention that he was even worse than that final batting line indicates; he had to hit .344 in September just to put up those grotesque numbers. There were no walks, no power, no nothing. Just a lot of outs and a big sinkhole at the shortstop position.

Vizquel’s defense, though, even at his advanced age, was still top of the line. Baseball Prospectus had him at 21 Runs Above Replacement, and if his still stellar defense was instrumental in helping Tim Lincecum to this year’s Cy Young Award (yes, it’s a reach), then I guess his season wasn’t all bad. Plus, fans loved him and his contract was a cheap one-year dealie (thank God that playing time option didn’t kick in), so it’s not something that’s going to hurt the team long-term. With the Giants clearly not going anywhere, giving Vizquel one last hurrah wasn’t the end of the world.

With Vizquel struggling, the Giants were forced to look to their farm system for shortstop help and quickly found that the cupboard was bare. The team finally settled on Emmanuel Burriss, he of the 62 at bats above A-ball. With everyone expecting the second coming of Neifi, Burriss shocked the Lunatic Fringe by actually showing the ability to take a walk and hold his own with the bat. While his minor league numbers weren’t terribly inspiring, upon reaching the Bay, Burriss gave fans some hope that they might actually have a player in their midst, as he finished with a none-too-shabby .357 OBP in 274 plate appearances.

Whether it’s because Giants brass were so impressed, or because of a lack of any decent alternatives (hint: it’s the latter), Burriss has been named as the Giants’ everyday shortstop in 2009. That’s all well and good if the OBP holds up, but the problem with slappy hitters such as Burriss is that once pitchers realize that he can’t hit it over the second baseman’s head on a full swing, they’re going to come after him and the walks will dry up. Then the singles will follow, what with the drawn-in outfield. Burriss has a .337 career slugging percentage in the minors, which turned into .327 with the big club. That’s not going to cut it. The walks are nice but if he can’t muscle up once in a while, I can’t see Burriss being anything more than a quick stopgap option until the Giants get somebody better.

While Burriss was being given his tryout, the Giants were simultaneously taking a look at Ivan Ochoa in their year-long quest to turn dogshit into diamonds at the six-hole. Like Burriss, Ochoa’s minor league numbers left a lot to be desired (hot 2008 AAA stint notwithstanding). Unlike Burriss, Ochoa continued to show zilch once he got to the big leagues. He displayed way more range in the field than Burriss and probably has a career as a defensive middle-infield specialist, but his bat is too anemic to play for any long stretch of time. I’m thinking Ramon Martinez without any semblance of hitting awareness.

Before I go, I have to make mention of everybody’s favorite frightfully overmatched rookie with the suggestive namesake. Nothing represented Brian Sabean’s utter failure to think ahead and find adequate Omar Vizquel insurance quite like Brian Bocock. When Vizquel went down in March, the Giants, seeing the paucity of options at short, inexplicably dipped into A-ball and named Bocock the Opening Day starter. This being a kid with a career .609 OPS and 192 strikeouts in 840 career A-ball plate appearances. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when minor league vets Scott McClain and Justin Leone got wind of that news.

In short, Bocock’s month-plus with the Giants wasn’t pretty. I’ve made this comparison before on another web site, but to get a clear picture of how Bocock fared against major league pitching, watch this and imagine Pyro representing Bocock and the X-Men as NL pitchers. Yep, he just got his ass handed to him. On the bright side, he didn’t swing at everything, walking twelve times in 93 plate appearances. It’s just that what he did swing at he missed by a country mile.

Even with Burriss perking up some fan interest, shortstop was pretty much a lost cause all year. Giant shortstops hit an unbelievably putrid .228/.295/.281 on the season. A Giant shortstop didn’t hit a home run all year until Burriss smacked one in Cincinnati in September. In an era where the good glove/no-hit middle infielder is going the way of the Dodo, this represents a major weakness. The Giants need to make it a priority to upgrade here in the next year or so, whether through the draft or via wise trades. Bocock! Overall grade: D-.

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