SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Giants manager Bruce Bochy sat down with Omar Vizquel on Tuesday and told the 11-time Gold Glove shortstop he will play less in the season’s second half.
The Giants are going for a youth movement and that means the 41-year-old Vizquel apparently will spend more time watching the likes of rookies Emmanuel Burriss and Ivan Ochoa at his spot in the middle of the infield.
“I’d like to get more playing time for these kids,” Bochy said Tuesday before his struggling club opened a series against the Washington Nationals. “He wants to help these kids. It’s a very workable situation. In a week or so, Burriss will get more playing time. Omar, he brought it up, saying: ‘I work with these guys. I’m fine with that. He understood what his role would be. He’s had a great career.”
Bochy has said this before, but this time sounded more serious about actually doing it.
Vizquel was more than a month behind this year after undergoing surgery on his left knee during spring training that put him on the disabled list to start the season, and he has struggled offensively while still playing stellar defense. He was in the starting lineup Tuesday and batting eighth, hitting just .166.
Earlier this season, he broke Venezuelan countryman Luis Aparicio’s major league record for games played at shortstop. Tuesday was Vizquel’s 2,619th game at the position. There still could be a team that is interested in acquiring Vizquel before the trading deadline.
“Sure, that’s a possibility if someone calls,” Bochy said. “He knows that. That would be in Omar’s hands, too.”
Last November, Vizquel signed a $5.3 million, one-year contract, a deal that includes a club option that could make it worth $10.2 million over two seasons. This is his fourth season with San Francisco after he spent the previous 11 with the Cleveland Indians.
The Giants consider the speedy Burriss a shortstop of the future and also like the offense Eugenio Velez provides, so Velez will get regular work at second base on the heels of Sunday’s trade that sent Ray Durham to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Burriss entered Tuesday’s game having hit .333 with seven runs, three doubles and three RBIs over his past 25 games while also stealing two bases, drawing four walks and getting hit by two pitches.
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