The Curious Case of Pablo Sandoval…
It came up here last night but I truly am surprised that Sandoval is catching so much heat from the regular beat writers and team reporters for his failure to get to third base yesterday. I want to be clear, I never ONCE criticized his play in last night’s game. I wish I had paid more attention to the replay, but I don’t remember him getting an especially bad jump. He seemed to have a little trouble getting started but hustled the entire way. And he was only out by a whisker…….
True, Pablo is overweight. Everyone seems to want to talk about this and point to it as the reason for his failures this season. But I would argue that we really aren’t giving enough credence to his personal issues. I don’t know all the details but we know that he took a leave a couple weeks ago to finalize a divorce at home….
Pablo’s poor numbers can’t be attributed to simply his weight. How do I know? Look to the OPS…..
Pablo’s OPS, by month, going back to last year:
4/2009: .790
5/2009: .839
6/2009: 1.203
7/2009: .856
8/2009: 1.010
9/2009: .852
10/2009: 1.471
4/2010: 1.008
5/2010: .617
6/2010: .645
7/2010: .597
8/2010: .750, so far……
What I see from looking at this guy’s OPS from month to month is, obviously, a huge drop starting in May of this year. To me, that indicates one of two things: either he’s got an undisclosed injury or his focus suddenly shifted somewhere else…..
I’m going to assume it’s the latter. Pablo walks around as of he doesn’t have a care in the world, “Mr. Happy-go-lucky”. If I could play amateur psychologist for a moment, I think that’s his way of deflecting his feelings about his personal life. I suspect a psychologist would call that “denial” or “compensation”. And, while it’s not an unusual approach to dealing with the stressors of life, it’s probably not the most healthy. If his focus has been elsewhere, and I think it’s easy to argue that it has, that would be a better explanation for his poor year. His weight? He was fat last year and raked. In fact, he might even be a little smaller this year. The pitchers finally figured him out? Hardly, they pitched him the same way last year once they realized he swung at everything. This year he’s missing the balls he raked last year. To me, that’s focus. And if you’re a major league baseball player, your focus has to be 100% on your trade. So far this year, his has not been……
He’s a 23 year old kid who had a bomb dropped on him in May, of that there can be almost no question. He hasn’t dealt with it very skillfully, certainly not from the emotional side. I hope he’s getting the help that he needs. If his OPS this month is any indication, he’s started to move on a little. It’s heartbreaking to assess a human being’s personal life through his month-to-month OPS. Almost ridiculous, really. But the theory I floated today makes more sense, to me, than the “fat theory” or the “Pitcher’s have figured him out and he hasn’t adjusted” theory……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Could just be a SOPHomore jinx.
I’ve been through a divorce that took the wind out of my sails (and then some). I hope he doesn’t try what I did. Really, drinking a ton of tequila and listening to Gram Parsons every night was/is probably not the best way to get over it.
How about Tom Russell?
and that’s my point Clown. We all deal with emotional stressors in our own way, sometimes unskillfully. In some jobs your focus can be elsewhere and you can still do your job. But not for a major league baseball player……
Great points Flav, especially regarding his personal problems (perhaps) being the reason for his slump this year. Everyone experiences sadness and loss, but most of us go through the 7 stages of grief at different “speeds.” I don’t care who you are, divorce is not fun and very few people are yippy skippy about it. Great quote comes to mind – “Pain is mandatory, but suffering is optional.” Anywho, I hope Pablo has saved his best for the stretch run because we need him.
By the by, good job on deleting that idiot Doug’s comment . . . No idea what he was talking about or alluding to.
Well, the extra weight may be related to the personal problems, too. Right? It can all ball up, if you’ll pardon the phrase. All of that chatter we heard in ST and early in the season about his vision has to factor in, as well. Pablo’s having a tough year. You make very good point highlighting the fact that he’s 23. Jesus, when I was 23 I had no judgment whatsoever, no cares at all. (Hitchhike to Costa Rica with our surfboards? Hey, good idea. Let’s go. . . .) Pablo’s still a kid. Apparently, he’s a great kid. I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise. He has what he needs to get through this rough patch, I think. Lard knows he has enough fans wishin him the best.
Bochy wasn’t especially thrilled on the failed sacrifice when Pablo couldn’t make it to third. “That’s a run.” “That was a pretty good bunt. I don’t know if Pablo didn’t see it, but he got a late jump.”
“Late jump,” I think that was the prevailing feeling amongst most Flappers. He should have made third, he didn’t. He got ragged on it some, justly or not, because of the season he’s having. Comes with the territory.
If Pablo wants to feel batter about a failed marriage, he should look at Tiger Woods.
He truly sucks now.
The tequila part I get, but divorce therapy through the Flying Burrito Brothers?
Now I’ve heard everything.
And, the Byrds, Fallen Angels and his solo projects. I was a fucking mess Unca.
“Lard knows he has enough fans wishin him the best.”
I assume that is a typo?
Really? I thought it was funny
Well, it was derivative. KPIG. Pure pork goodnes. Praise the Lard.
Anyway, good summary BF. I agree, it’s not just one thing. None of us know what the hell is going on. I’m sure he’s the kind of guy who would never let on. He’s too talented to not come around, unless the personal side of things gets the best of him.
Families can cause a lot of stress, at 23 it can be very difficult. Hopefully he has a lot of support. Might not do very well for the rest of the season. But I don’t think he should be benched at this point, I think that may do more harm than good.
And let this be a lesson to Bumgarner.
I don’t know what’s going on but I agree with Flav that it’s not that opposing pitchers have figured him out. There’s nothing *to* figure out. Sandoval’s proven he can hit any kind of pitch. Throw at his ankle, his head, his belly, away from all these things, doesn’t matter. He can hit it. He’s just…not right now
Flav: Really liked your analysis, both for the depth and the clarity. Yes, it does seem clear that his problems are not primarily physical, though the vision thing could be a contributing factor. Too bad for the team that its happening in the first year of the team having a clear shot. Pablo being Panda this year and the Giants would have a five game lead. Guaranteed.
Knowing little to nothing about the segment of Venezuelan culture from which Sandoval comes, i can only speculate about those psychological factors which may have been bringing him down. I am sure that such things can readily affect the more physical aspects of his game. Yes, intensity and focus are easily deflected by internal conflicts of any kind. Hoping he doesn’t run into some hot little gold-digger who messes him up like Marguerite (sp?) eventually did to #24. At the ripe old age of twenty-three Pablo has plenty to give to the Giants for the next few years. And yes, it could be totally wonderful if the recent moderate improvements in his OPS are harbingers of Panda’s return to grace.
Second seasons are tough on players. It’s hardly unique. Heck McCovey in his day was sent back down after his brilliant first year. Chilli Davis had a problem after a stellar rookie season. Matt Williams was up and down until he got established. I bet you guys can think of other players that have had problems after a great first season.
To expand for the final time on the bunt play, I didn’t think he got a poor jump based on the replay but if Bochy says it was late, he knows what he’s talking about. But there are two parts to the play. To say “the bunt was good enough” is bullshit. It was good enough if Panda either got a perfect jump or was a faster runner. Fact is, Timmy’s job is to bunt it to the third baseman. If he did that, Pablo is safe without the “perfect” jump. So there were two failures to execute perfectly, not one. Pablo is safe if either one is executed, it’s not all on one player. It often isn’t.
twin, I sent you a confidential email and would appreciate your thoughts on it.
Twin–just picked up a monitor last night and I’m working on assembling the system. Any chance you can call me at some point?
One thing I do know. If the Panda gets back on track, we don’t need another bat.
The completely overlooked factor is that if Panda does get this “10” jump, McCann would have had the pitcher go to first. So there are runners second and third, two outs. No guarantee they even pitch to Torres with the RuntMeister and his .659 OPS on deck. They could very well have ended up with nothing… or 6, who knows.
I replied to your note, Flavor.
Posey is still riding high despite his poor night but just as some can get overly freaked with slumps, there are those who get unrealistic with hot streaks. Hell, the fuckwads on Chron Live were saying Buster was going to hit over .350 the rest of the way. VERY unlikely, the team would be thrilled if he ended up at .300. I’d be shocked if he didn’t have a few weeks at .250 or so. You can’t make a living almost exclusively the other way and he’s also just too slow to be a .350 hitter. There *IS* some coming back to Earth on the way, even for All-American boys. Others will step up.
He hits it where its pitched. He doesn’t try to pull outside pitches. GOOD for him. If they come in, he’ll pull it.
Why do you continuously knock the best positon player to come up since Clark? Why?
Pablo looked better at the plate last night,but he seems to be doing a better job spinning on the ball and staying back with his weight and his hands from the left side.From the right side it’s still a mess.His weight is most likely making adjustments much more difficult because the turn om the ball is much more focused on the hip,which a big gut can play in the way of.More so then anything else he needs to shed pounds! Somebody get the Biggest Loser on the hook,because Operation Panda was a total failure and unfortunately as the season progresses the weight is going to play a bigger factor because the season is a grind and the dog days are upon us.Even the the guys in great shape, this can be a tough time of year,but for the Jenny Craig type they can start breaking down.
Dog, I’ll call you late this afternoon.
Flav, thanks for the “doug” whack
It had looked like everything was going well at Camp Panda, then ( if I recall correctly), he got permission to go home to Momma for a few days. Big fucking mistake. With my Mom, it’s Cottage Cheese Dumplings with bacon bits and sour cream… mothers WANT you fat, we all know that.
In fact in some cultures, it’s a symbol of success
For Panda it’s his mom’s lasagna. My son got to ask him on Inside the Clubhouse just before the season started.
I am on vacation so did not see the game. But didn’t Lincecum bunt with two strikes? Hard for Panda to get a great jump if you think Tim may miss the bunt.
Didn’t panda also double? I am still predicting he hits two out this series…
My concern with his swing is that from the right side he seems to be having a hard time picking up the fast ball. Even ones in the low 90s he was late on catching up to those when he was crushing them last year.
Guillen’s name does not seem to go away…
Well, Panda’s not Samoan. He’s Venezuelan.
There aren’t a lot of sumo wrestlers coming out of Venezuela . . .
GH brings up a very valid point about there being two strikes. Everybody really be lovin’ it if he gets picked off for a buntem missem DP…
With La Bumbas fading fast, Manny anyone?
It is to laugh
Other bad boy note:
“Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) that ‘no contender’ should go after Guillen since only Milton Bradley is considered to have a worse ‘personality/clubhouse rep.'”
Well, since Bradley’s been put on the DL, maybe *Seattle* should go after Guillen. At least it would be a slight step up
I’m not “in on” Manny, just threw that one out there to see who might be.
I agree with BF’s analysis… having been through 2 divorces, everything starts getting better once the final paperwork is signed.
Did anyone expect Manny to earn — even to try to earn — the money he claimed when he exercised his player option last winter? Maybe McCourt didn’t really notice, at the time. The note from Manny’s agent was probably delivered along with a dozen divorce court pleadings.
Xoot, I got a kick out of seeing a Tom Russell reference. I’m a big Tom Russell fan. I saw him perform at the “old” Freight and Salvage several times.
I’ve only been to the new Freight and Salvage once so far. Nice facility. Lacks a little of the “rustic charm” of the old place, but it does seat more people, which is cool. And the chairs in the new place are more comfortable.
I lived three blocks away from the original F&S when it was on San Pablo. Very convenient. I’ve never seen Russell live, however. A friend sent me CDs containing several of his live shows clandestinely recorded. (Well, I think he called them “board” recordings, so maybe not clandestinely recorded, just clandestinely distributed.) Great stuff.
In regards to BF’s post yesterday about the Braves….I’ve seen a lot of their games this year. They’re a lot like the Padres. On paper, it shouldn’t be happening, but on the field somehow the job gets done.
Jim Bowden XM FOX:
Giants,Royals discussing Guillen deal,SF wants KC to pay most of Guillen’s salary so that if it doesn’t work out they have the flexibility to release him.
If that’s the case i would do it.Nothing to lose.The Giants have enough guys to police their clubhouse,,Huff…Uribe… Renteria…etc. if Guillen gets out of line.
Is Guillen a better hitter then Nate? Yes Rowand? Yes Burrell?Questionable I’ll say no
Does he help more then Velez? Of course he would.Velez is not going to play again.He’s Joe Martinez part 2. Look if you get him you drop down to a 12 man staff and you have a decent hitter on the bench and to play occasionally.More of the usual Bochy mix and match,I get tired of,but it’s what he does.Adding more power off the bench is not a bad thing. Especially over a 13 th pitcher and a short bench.
I don’t know. There’s just something ominous about flat out DFAing a guy with his, not great but, above average numbers. It does not bode well. Plus the free agent thing coming up. And besides…he’s a booger butt.
THAT’S RIGHT! I SAID IT! BOOGER BUTT!
if Heyman is right about Burrell being a king kong sized asshole, adding Guillen to the mix doesn’t sound wise. The Oakland Raider approach to team building only works 25% of the time, I think.
Twin—I’ll be home from 3:30 on.
FP and Barbieri were going at it on the Panda thing the other day. Razor thought personal issues may well be the cause of his struggles and FP wasn’t really buying it. To my thinking, neither guy made a real good argument, but Razor did a hell of a job of shredding FP’s theory to pieces. It almost came across to me like he enjoyed belittling FP on the air. Barbieri also went on to talk about his own experience when a woman he was involved with wanted to have an abortion and how much that weighed on him. It was kind of weird that he went there on a sports show, but he was explaining how much that wore on him at work.
Dog, Ralph sat behind me on a flight from SFO to Atlanta some years back. A guy across the aisle from him asked how he got into broadcasting. I had to hear that irritating voice for hours. Not the worse plane ride, but up there.
FP has your typical 6th grader’s mentality where it comes to life. As do most ofther ball players. At least the ones born here . . .
The shocking thing there is that Ralph got a girl pregnant.
Who in God’s name gets NEAR that wombat?
BOOGER BUTT!!!! Classic TED!!
Booger Butt: When you blow your nose on toilet paper first and then you wipe your butt with it, and the boogers get stuck in your butt, and when you fart a snot bubble comes out.
Person 1- Is it wrong to wipe your butt with the same piece of toilet paper you blew your nose with?
Person 2-Nah,man that just makes you a Booger Butt.
It’s probably not just one thing that’s plagued Pablo this season, but a confluence of factors. I agree with Flav that the personal issue is probably the biggest one, but we’ve seen him go back and forth between glasses and contact lenses, we’ve seen his weight yo-yo a bit and, even with the ability to hit just about any pitch location, pitchers have certainly made some ajustments now that they have a book on him.
My big problem with the weight issue is that the team made such a public spectacle of it with the camp panda bullshit. If they wanted to him to shed a few pounds, they could have set up an offseason program for him privately. By making it a public affair, fans had expectations of seeing results. That’s a lot of pressure if it doesn’t work, which it didn’t. What did the team have to gain by making it public? Nothing. If it had been done privately and he lost 30 pounds, the media and fans would have been surprised and impressed. Instead, they were disappointed. IMO, the Giants set him up for failure.
I agree with the weight issue. It should have been a private affair…
The media made it public…the team didn’t sell tickets to it.
The “Operation Panda” story broke on the team’s website.
http://sfgiants.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/11/operation_panda.html
The Giants might not have sold tickets, but they definitely promoted the story. Hell, they even made t-shirts for Pablo and others to wear for the website photo shoot. Then they made it a major topic on the inside the clubhouse show. The media ran with it after that, but it was the team that made the issue public.
Thanks for the link….Read it. Says it was Pablo’s idea…
Concerns re Guillen being unreliable and toxic are valid, but the money end of this speculation reinforces what this front office has been about for years.
Guillen as a pure rental costs SF about $4M or less. Risk of him going radioactive in two months – winning team, playing for next year’s meal, not a big cog – seems manageable and will be offset by the $$$ gain of the playoff chase and the spot we’re in now (i.e., not in March). By contrast, Larry and Brian annually flush away large $MM and eat dead money . . . then cry poverty and use it as an excuse for inaction.
Brian gets extensions for pissing away far more than $4M. Adding Guillen now should be judged on his probable contributions, not money. If he’s not going to add much, that’s fine. Pass. No one at 24 Mays Plaza should try to chisel over this money.
A moron on Timmy’s Hair.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/contribute/sn/forums?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3A141e3b65-322f-48bc-a9fb-52a6b15ede2bForum%3A6c051758-091e-4aa2-b257-f93acce3ec4eDiscussion%3Ab623e226-7dc8-4bde-8b58-475c06bfbc9b&plckCategoryCurrentPage=0
The moron says: “you need to look and act like a ballplayer.” I agree. Tim needs to look like a pitcher, get a wind up that really demonstrates how much concentration and effort he’s putting into each pitch. Then he needs to act like a ballplayer, go 6 innings per or more per game, win a few, keep his WHIP well under 1.5. If he would look and act like that, he would deserve a helluva lot of respect.
Well, Timmy does look an awful lot like I’d imagine Soph looks. Add a kimono and it’s HER?IT?HIM? Whatever!
Add 100 lbs.
And a mustache
Shitty ass Atlanta summer weather….
Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff RF, Posey C, Uribe SS, Panda 3B, Burrell LF, Ishikawa 1B, Zito P
Instead of bip doing that stupid torres/panda comparison he should have compared Pablo 2009 with panda 2010. To me, the swing looks the same but I’d like to have one of the giants color guys break it down for me
And I like that line up. Hope they get the game in, I’ve got a sweet piece of meat and all the Zinfandel one man could drink. No baseball would suck….I pick my daughter up in sun valley next week, she’s been gone for a month— only got a couple more games to “myself” left…
“I’ve got a sweet piece of meat”
Uhm…that calls for a certain amout of elaboration
Waiting for the MRI on Wednsday, picked up ESPN the Magazine, 2010 Baseball Preview. Here’s the NL West pick:
LA
AZ
Colo
SF
SD
Gotta love those “experts”
Maybe they did it in a mirror
Or standing on their heads
Freds steak baby. Very expensive but disgustingly good. Lots of Joel gott Zins since I get a deal on them. Bbq’d brussel sprouts just to keep the colon healthy 🙂
Thanks Flav. Maybe tomorrow’s thread can detail how healthy the sprouts actually made your colon.
That’s like when Steve Tyler and Joe Perry used to dine on vegetarian falafals to offset the heroin
Or standing on their heads . . .
Hey Chuck, ya think they did it standing on their heads?
Echo echo ehco
“Now batting-ing-ing-ing, Manny-y-y-y-y Mota-ta-ta-ta . . . ‘
“Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbón… Manny Mota… Mota… Mota…”
If yer gonna quote “Airplane,” get the shit right, Chuck.
Hey, Chuck. You ever seen a grown man naked?
Do you ever watch…gladiator movies?
You’re gonna laugh, but I actually do have the “Spartacus” box set. I’m a sucker for Tony Curtis.
Here’s a fun fact ya may not know: The actor who played Dionysius (modern day Dennis) was actually named Dennis. Nick Dennis as a matter of fact. So yeah, I do like movies about gladiators. You got a problem with that?
Well, full disclosure, I have SPARTACUS as well in my extensive film library. But I don’t have the box set. Which leads me to ask you, dennis…
“Do you prefer oysters or snails?”
Can’t I just enjoy my bath?
Weird . . . shit disappears then reappears . . .
That’s my life.
Ain’t that the truth . . .
Shot. I was hoping I missed another 1st inning to see the score 3-0 . . .
Rain delay?
Yep and it doesn’t sound like it’ll be starting for a while. Good for me because I forgot to set the DVR.
Ok fuck this. Gonna crack the vino, get a little keno, and grill this baby up….
I want some whiiiiiiiine
Whine is served daily at The Splash.
Shit, even after the rain stops and they deem the field ready to play. There’s going to be a Tom Glavine ceremony first. Gonna be awhile…
6:20 first pitch. Hopefully
Partly cloudy,rain, winds blowing from left to right field at 5-10 MPH Game time temperature around 90. Gotta love the South! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve gone a little bit back and forth on this, so really it’s simple. If there were ever co-MVPs for a team, it’s right here with Torres/Huff.
Helluva a run literally generated by Torres. Base runners are now 22/23 off of Hanson. Keep running.
Instead of retiring glavine’s number maybe they should retire the names of the umps who called his pitches 5 inches outside strikes…at least let them give his speech…
Total ball that struck out glaus… Can u even begin to fathom the pussy zito and glaus saw at USC/ucla????
Ankiel is a caught steroid abuser. What you’ve seen since is something about the same that Nate would do….
Fuck Ankiel ,he’s a chump.He should just give up being a major league hitter.Bet he tries going back to a scrub pitcher again.
I wonder how that “robby thompson = Freddy sanchez” prediction is going for kruk….
Freddy has 13 extra base hits in 268 at bats and a .659 OPS.
Omar Vizquel has 8 extra base hits in 191 AB and a .716 OPS. As many like to declare: “Nuff said”
Yeah, still don’t know WTF he was thinking. Franchez: OBP .322 SLG .332. B-R-U-T-A-L
K/k are hilarious. They ignore all of franchez’ failings at the plate but they’ve got no prob beating off to and detailing a simple routine grounder to second that he handles….
And yeah, I know: Omar .716 OPS Panda .709. Ouch.
Jesus Christ give this motherfucker some runs! It’s like his contact has haunted him, cursed him since he signed it…..
Well there’s always Fred Lewis as well…. 788 OPS Rowand .699. Bottom line though most AL hitters always have higher OPS then NL hitters.It’s always a more offensive league.
Fucking Gonzalez. Hit his other goddamn foot next AB.
Christ. the 1st hanger Gonzalez missed. The 2nd hanger, he didn’t.
How many shot you gonna give him?
Kinda like how the pitched to Uggla.
Man you could almost see that coming.Giants strand scoring chances .Zito gives one up.