ROY
What’s that line in Ashkon’s song? “Hands down rookie of the year!”…And he is. Will he win it? Honestly, who cares. Because if he doesn’t, the award is worthless anyway. If he does, he absolutely deserves it. I still don’t know how Jaime Garcia’s name keeps creeping up into the ROY discussion. This is a pitcher (he plays every fifth day as opposed to Heyward and Posey who play everyday) who was basically just a 5-6 inning guy. He had that one dominant game against us but that was it. AND they shut him down in the middle of September when Posey and Heyward were still fighting their asses off to make the playoffs. I’d almost rather see Garcia win than Heyward just to further ruin an award that should otherwise be based on merit rather than bias and/or ignorance of the voters……..
So forgot the official award that will go out later today. Who do YOU GUYS think is the NL ROY?!?!?!?!?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
If Buster wins, the echo of Willie Mac’s rookie season will rumble through town, giving the award extra meaning. It’s been a long time since the Giants had a team that could go deep into the WS. In baseball, history sometimes repeats itself as triumph. Buster’s triumph is nearly identical to the team’s. (Remember that weak reporter who asked Buster after the game against SD: “Did this final series prepare you for the post-season, Buster?” Buster replied: “The entire month of September prepared us.” Us.) And, of course, giving Buster what he’s due for a powerful debut would close out the SF celebrations quite nicely. So I hope the writers did the right thing.
I almost went with Askon, but his previous work makes him ineligible for ROY…
I went with Ashkon since it is a meaningless award!!
And hell, does anyone really think Buster cares?? Lets see getting a WS ring or ROY award?? mmmm. Which one would Heyward rather have??
I had posted that I thought Heyward would win because he did play the whole year. The point was as much that a full season is more likely to expose a guy to an extended slump, validating the grind of a 162 game schedule. Rethinking that, I have to go with Posey anyway. I gave him the heat for the starters poor August- the kid gets the credit for September…guiding the staff down the stretch and into the PS wins it for this voter…
The personal achievement awards are always more important to the guys when team achievement wasn’t there. Tim would trade both the CYs in a heartbeat, for two more rings.
No contest, if you take this thing entirely on merit points. No argument that the catcher position is the most taxing and demanding spot on the field. When the dude also has a long string of quality of at-bats and a rifle arm to put the coda to his plate-blocking and game-calling prowess; you are looking at a multidimensional excellence which could only be approached by a hitter with a 1.000+ OPS and some defensive magic thrown in for good measure; or you might match up a pitcher with 20 wins and a sub 3.00 ERA.
Simply for the integrity of the game, Posey wins. Unless there is a major injury or some other untold negative happenstance, Buster’s role in the Giants World Championship is but the first stage in what could develop into a HOF career, featuring rings for more than one finger.
I think Barry Bonds would agree, twinnie. How many of his numerous awards would he trade in for just one ring?
I REALLY have to try to get some work done today. Maybe if an award was in the offing, I could get my ass motivated. ” Layabout of the Year”…
Well, you’re at *least* the Flap’s “Philanthropist of the Year”
it looks like the announcement will come after 10:30.
How could Buster not be ROY when he should even get votes for MVP…
I lke Posey as much as anyone but MVP votes? That’s a bit of a stretch. Huff, Wilson, maybe a couple votes, but even them…I don’t know. This year was an amalgamation of the whole franchise
isn’t the results show on now on the mlb channel? anyone at home that’s watching? it’s blocked here at work.
still no announcement.
Posey wins! espn
Buster WON.
Buster got 20 first-place votes out of 32. Heyward only received nine. It wasn’t as close as anticipated.
Posey and Heyward were each named on 31 of 32 ballots. 20-9-2 for Posey, 9-20-2 for Heyward. Jaime Garcia was third (1-1-16).
That was from Baggs.
Buster and Heyward each were left off of one ballot. That voter needs to be identified then drawn and quartered.
I was just thinking that Dennis…the same writer left both of them off? wonder the motivation of that…
At Whitey’s urging, Vera’s baking Posey an apple pie as we speak
excellent news. Congrats to Posey.
Yyeeeaaaa!
I know some of you don’t agree, but how does a guy who comes in for 1 inning, not pitch everyday and wins ROY. I don’t know who else was in the running in the AL, but I would be pissed to see that!!
If he’d pitched one more inning, Giants might not be World Champs…
LOL, well it is a good thing they didn’t tell who the ROY were till after the WS, my comment might have jinks us, or your comment might have jinks us.
Hell Yes..Congrats to Buster Posey “ROY” well deserved!!Orange and Black!!!!
Nefalti Perez wins AL ROY,though i would have went with Austin Jackson.
Turns out, ashkon was quite the pronosticator….
Ashkon should sing the anthem opening day. And his own song should play on the sound system after Renell introduces our “World Champion San Francisco Giants!” Ashkon has been terrific.
Icing on the World Series Trophy!
From Baggs: Fun stat: Only 2 previous times 2 ROYs met in World Series that year were 1981 (Valenzuela and Righetti) and 1951 (Mays and McDougald).
I’m sure you all remember McDougald. He was the young guy who had a farm.
This is funny.
Baseball-reference.com has Ike Davis coming in 7th in 2010 RoY voting. But when you click on his name…wrong Ike Davis
Pretty good list to be on:
Buster Posey was the 6th NL catcher honored joining, Johnny Bench,Earl Williams,Benito Santiago,Mike Piazza,and Geovanny Soto.Catchers who won the award in the AL were Thurman Munson,Carlton Fisk and Sandy Alomar Jr.
Congrats Buster! First Giants ROY in 35 years.
Only 6 Giants have won ROY why not back to back like Cepeda and Mac!
1951-Willie Mays (HOF)
1958- Orlando Cepeda (HOF)
1959-Willie McCovey (HOF)
1973-Gary Matthews
1975-John Montefusco
2010-Buster Posey
2011-Brandon Belt?
The last three seasons:
Cross the following off my Giants fanhood bucket list:
Cy Young
Strikeout King
No Hitter
World Series Title
Rookie of the Year
————————–
Still waiting
Perfect Game
MVP
4 HR Game
Back to Back Titles
20 Game Winner or 2 or 3?
Anything else?
Sure. Throw in triple crown winner. Why not?
Mays had 4 HRs in Milwaukee.
Yeah that would really be something if Belt can make it big too. The Giants need these young guys to keep on coming.
I am telling you this is much more satisfying than signing a big bat or trading for one!! Continue to develope your farm players!!
“Spring is Bustering out all over!” Is that how the song goes? Or “Fall is…” Anyway, strike up the band; dispel the bland.
I think I’ll celebrate with a nap!
Oddly enough, it was a writer who covers the bleeping Dodgers (Japanese News service) who left Posey off his ballot.
Some writers are adamant about the rookie having to play a full year. Even twin mentioned it could very well hurt Posey’s chances. It’s more surprising how *soundly* Posey won it then that he won it at all.
that writer probably spent the second half of the season with his hands over his eyes, weeping
Nah, it’s that ‘west coast bias’ we hear so much about. 🙂
I don’t think the full yr is a valid excuse. He did play everyday in the minors. And if you hit just as many hr’s and drive in just as many runs in a lot fewer games, it ought to work in your favor.
How much bias could there have been? 20 of 32 first place votes…
but there IS an argument for the guys who played the full season. Not saying Heyward or Gaby should have won but they had a case.
“He did play everyday in the minors.” Pul-eeeeeease…
Just a little play on the perceived ‘east coast’ bias theory.
I think if Posey hit’s .350 but didn’t have the power numbers, one could argue the full yr. But given what he did in fewer games, full yr should not factor into it the argument.
A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer left off Heyward and picking Posey followed by Tabata and Walker of the Pirates. Saw both those kids on the Bucs. I like Neil Walker; picked him for my fantasy team (ahem, I came in 11th), but Rookie of the Year? Na-anh.
Emend: “picked.” I’m really slipping lately.
Today’s word was “de rigueur.” Sneak that one in before the top of the hour and win yourself a kewpie doll.
life-sized kewpie doll?
There were 3 deserving rooks, some years there are none…
Finally arrived in SF bay area (via New Mexico and Arizona road stops) and have had only sporadic access to the internet. Nice to be at my parent’s home in Sunnyvale.
Congrats to Buster! Of course I am biased, but he was a “slam dunk” in my book for ROY.
By the by, when you get a chance read Crasnick’s comprehensive profile of Sabean, which came out today on ESPN . . .
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove10/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=5805953
All sorts of interesting informational “nuggets” that I wasn’t aware of (perhaps you were), including:
– Sabean does not expect to be a major player in the free-agent market, and he makes it clear the Giants won’t be used as a “stalking horse” for agents looking to drive up the price.
– The team has also given a stern directive to infielder Pablo Sandoval to get in better shape if he wants to be a factor in 2011. “He has to make a lifestyle change if he wants to keep his career going,” Sabean said. “All the red flags are there, and he knows what he needs to do. He’s been given some tough love, and we hope he gets the message. If not, the guy could end up in Triple-A to figure it out.”
– Sabean has inspired so many vitriolic blogs, they’re running out of domain names. Even now, you can troll online and find die-hards who refuse to relent.
– The Giants are also more progressive and Sabermetrically inclined than their reputation suggests. No move is made at either the major or minor league levels without statistical analysts Jeremy Shelley and Yeshayah Goldfarb crunching the numbers first.
Anywho, I hope all of you are well and still basking in the warm glow of the Giant’s incredible season and World Series victory. I know I am 🙂
B A S K I N G.
Blade, what happened to Chi Power?
Speaking of basking in the warm glow, today I discovered an unexpected benefit to being a fan of a WS winner:
Was reading an ESPN blog about Buster’s RoY award. I realize that Heyward could easily have won, and a good regular season stats case can be made for him over Posey. But large number of douches were commenting: bitter Braves fans, envious Dodger trolls, Yankee fans gloating that Posey and MadBum are theirs in a few years when they hit free agency,…the douchetastic list just goes on and on.
The great thing about being a Giants fan right now is you can shut them all up with one thing: the Giants are the WS champs. It is really fun telling all those guys to take a number, get in line, and suck it.
You got that right.
Max, he is well, but quite busy with work, so hasn’t had much time to visit here and say hi to the flappers.
Dennis, although Heyward had a better OBP, Posey’s running of the pitching staff, higher BA and mostly matching offensive stats with fewer ABs was de rigueur in most of the writers’ final choice for RoY
Leave it to Ted. Although an answer to my request was neither mandatory and by no means obligatory. He comes through yet again. You, sir, have won yourself a prize. Pick out something nice for yourself.
“Anything in this general area right in here. Anything below the stereo and
on this side of the bicentennial glasses. Anything between the ashtrays
and the thimble. Anything in this three inches right in here, in this area.
That includes the Chiclets, but not the erasers.”
Well, this basking has taken a creative toll on me. What with all this basking, I have not chronicled my baseball hajj, my pilgrimage to World Series-drenched San Francisco. At all. Anywhere! Until now. First installment below. (For me, this accounting by words is important; probably more memory-inducing than photographic images.)
http://thelaughorist.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-returned-my-heart-and-soul-to-san.html
Thanks Pawlie (left a comment there).
awright! thanks!
and I just replied
From Jimmy Kimmel, on what it meant to San Francisco to see the Giants win a World Series:
“To celebrate, Giants fans had a riot back home in San Francisco. They overturned Priuses. They were throwing bottles of biodynamically farmed zinfandel, building huge clean-burning bonfires out of old ‘Design Within Reach’ catalogs. It was a mess. There hasn’t been a riot like this in San Francisco since HBO announced ‘Sex and the City’ was going off the air.”
Good for you, Pawlie.
Those images really take me back to living in SF from 75-89, with a good long stint n North Beach. Never thought I would leave, but a month before the earthquake, I moved to Marin.
A good thing too, because my apt in SF collapsed.
just like the team did BUT THAT IS ALL HISTORY. WE ARE WORLD CHAMPEEEEEENS!
Complete Idiots Guide Book For Giving Raises and Promotions . . .
Lesson 98 – Never give an $88 million dollar contract extension, with $40 million guaranteed until you are absolutely certain that the employee’s cardiovascular conditioning is above par, he knows the offense, and his biorhythms will be optimum for the upcoming Monday Night Football game (e.g., last I checked – the score was 34 – 0, Eagles winning).
Blade,
That’s a great piece by Jerry Crasnick. I just read it. Thanks for the tip. I really like the picture of Brian Sabean that emerges — not just the picture, but the man. Truly. Also, does this strike anyone else as a bombshell? It says they’re going to work on transitioning Dan Runzler to a starter?! What are the ripple effects of THAT remark??
Pawlie, if true, it would seem to impact Zito the most.
Cranking it up and maybe another to watch: Conor Gillaspie, leads all the farm guy swith 5 HR in 70 AB in the AFL.
Whatever happens with Runzler, if it’s positive, is gravy. Turn him into a starter, keep him as a lefty specialist, transform him into a fucking grave yard watchman. I don’t give a shit. We are THE WORLD MOTHERFUCKING CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD (and beyond)……..
yes, we are indeed the WMCOTW!
and beyond. 🙂
that’s the thing about this “winning the World Series” thing that i keep feeding off of: Nothing from here forward matters. We are on top of the mountain looking down on every single person on the planet. I’m as carefree as the the hummingbird I saw outside my house this morning at 5:30am (that I noticed because you don’t normally see humming birds “hummin’ it out” that early in the morning. Life is fucking perfect right now and I know it is because there’s a lot of other things in my life right now that are fucked up and yet…….it’s all good…
Paterson may be prompting this talk of Runzler starting. But I see he’s still just relieving in Wnter Ball… I disagree that it would impact the Zitster: Dirty could go…
Twin, I’ve said that a few times and agree about Sanchez. Hard to gauge the thinking with him. I think he will continue to improve but is pretty close topped out and his value is probably at it’s highest for a return. I would like to see him stay but who knows.
Anyone else see that the fish aren’t even seeking top level prospects for Uggla? Seems like he’s making quite the fuss regarding duration of the deal and maybe the fish are tired of it. Maybe his homey Ross is chirping in his ear about SF. Speaking of Ross. Anyone here anything on that front?
no one should be untouchable. Pitching is such a fucking scarcity that I would think other GM’s would be knocking down Sabean’s door to make an offer for Dirrrrty. If you need it, you pay for it. Let’s see what happens…….
Uggla is not going to happen. We have a fairly expensive 2nd baseman who played great down the stretch. Uggla is going to cost a shit load.
Dirrrrty’s value is tough to gauge. I think it’s super high. His PS failure actually helped his value. Anyone who didn’t follow him before certainly checked up on his underlying numbers once they saw him in the PS. And those underlying numbers for 2010 were dominant. He’s the best trade piece we have who Sabean might actually trade…….
MLB TR had a post about the fish not necessarily seeking a bounty in return. Play him at 3rd? I agree that it likely isn’t happening though.
Sanchez is the big money chip though. Plus his salary is affordable. Make someone take Rowand with him and/ or just get some serious players in return.
Congrats to Buster! The writers done good.
Hanley enters the picture if Dirty is on the block. Not straight up of course, but we have some young guys who want to play and don’t cost $ yet…
Uggla just isn’t a third baseman, I don’t even think he’s ever played there in the bigs. I like Uggla but I’d rather snoop around elsewhere. Howsabout we re-visit the Prince Fielder ack. He’s in fantasy land if he think he’s getting 200 mil. 5 years/70 mil if he’s lucky………
Enjoyed your blog post, Pawlie. The joy of walking. SF is such a great walking city. Also one of my favorite walks I ever took was across the city of Seattle. The West coast is full of great walking cities.
thankee
I lived at the top of Pot Hill for several years. To go to the store, just buy a house closer to the bottom.
are you familiar w/ St. Gregory of Nyssa Church, across from Anchor brewery? visited there last summer; met Sara Miles
I could care less about Uggla. Would rather have strong D up the middle that Franchez provides.
Fielder is crazy with that $200M number. Even 5 years is questionable for him.
He’s too fat for 5 years, I agree. But that’s what he’ll get. On second thought, he’s too big of a risk. Fuck the fat ass guys, we don’t need to take a risk on them……….
Any FA that is looking around the league should be jazzing themselves over the possibility of coming to SF. The club will make a fair offer if there is legit interest on the players part. Sabean just has gotten tired of being used as the stalking horse or whatever he calls it.
I’d dump Fruckie in a millisecond. Let’s go Roly! Prince 1B, Uggla 2B, Uribe SS, Panda 3B…1200 pounds, that’s all I ask…
Thanks for the link to the Crasnick article, Blade. Sounds like Sabean is revved up for ’11 already! Good to hear!
Do you think anyone will tell Vick to call off the dogs?
pretty funny, especially while the espn announcers seem to be pleading for a pardon
It’s not a bad thing when guys like Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder are losing.
I think everyone believes in forgiveness and redemption (especially us folks from the bay area) . . . Consequently, I’m glad to see that Michael Vick is turning around his life and becoming a better person. The added bonus is that he seems to be the best QB in the NFL (which has nothing to do with “turning around his life as a person.”).
I don’t forgive that motherless son of a fuck one iota. I hate him with a passion and hope he rots in hell.
End of rebuttal.
Sorry, I’m not sold on his redemption or that he should ever have it. Nor his “betterment”. That level of cruelty cannot be remedied, IMO…
Hey, college basketball junkies- the crazy ESPN 24-hour tip off marathon is starting. It cracks me up what some schools will do to get to play on ESPN. Heck why not? Stony Brook University will be playing Monmouth at 3:00 AM Pacific time. How else would Stony Brook get on ESPN?
Joe Nathan went to Stony Brook U. Maybe he’s at the game tonight.
I’m impressed!
ROY: ” No Contest. No Argument”. Called it at 9:10 a.m. Easy when you factor in the major considerations. Giants are on top of the baseball world. Sabean and Bochy deserve theirs as well. Giants ARE in the catbird seat right now. Old adage is that pitching is the name of the game. Another one is being strong up the middle. It starts with Buster. Crescendos with the staff. Sabean continues to play his cards right and we are talking Dynasty, like in the days the Giants were built around Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinty.
Superficial baseball fans point to the Yankees and their host of World Championship teams. But talk the Bronx gang and you are talking money ball. Its like America’s Congresscritters: Best politicians money can buy. Talk Giants and you are looking at the most Hall of Famers for any team and the most games won by any franchise. Again, Sabean stays on a roll and the 2010’s are the decade of SF championships. The foundation is in place and it is solid. We have reentered the era of the pitcher and when it comes to mound magic nobody can top Timmy the Freak; Matt the Horse; Drrty Sanchez and the Mad Undertaker. Throw in the Bearded One and game over.