It sure seems like the Giants new GM, Farhan Zaidi, is trying to find a right-handed platoon partner for Duggar. I’ve been tremendously excited watching Zaidi tinker with this roster in his first offseason with the Giants but the moves he’s made and his recent history with the Dodgers make me wonder whether he’s at all interested in giving Duggar the everyday role.

Dodger’s Centerfielder Joc Pederson(a much better hitter than Duggar) has been platooned frequently in recent years and hasn’t even reached 500 plate appearances since 2015. Even their breakout star, Max Muncy was sitting against lefties in the playoffs last postseason. Once a lefty has been labeled as a guy that “needs to be platooned” it can be tough to get out of that role, if for no other reason than it’s hard to get better at hitting lefties if you never get to face them.

To be clear, I’m not against platooning. The Dodgers have tremendous depth(thanks to Zaidi) which makes it more beneficial to platoon. They also are competing for the World Series every season which makes it more costly to let a lefty develop against southpaws. Duggar’s above average defense also makes him tougher to put in a platoon role because his defense is independent of the opposing pitcher and none of the Centerfield acquisitions Zaidi has made are of the caliber of Duggar.

Finally, we don’t even have proof yet that Duggar can’t hit lefties. He actually destroyed lefties in his debut last season with an .846 OPS against them. Now, that is only 46 plate appearances and he did strike out 30% of the time. I don’t expect Duggar to have an OPS 200 points higher against lefties than righties in 2019, but holding his own against southpaws this season might be the quickest way for him to secure the everyday role and never look back.