A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

That goes without saying, doesn’t it? Well, I said it anyway. Blade sent me the extended  KNBR audio a while back and wordpress is just making it too difficult to replay here so I have taken the liberty of transcribing the final 5 minutes or so of the call from K/K. As we close out 2010 there’s nothing I’d rather do than relive this one last time:

Kuip: And that’s it! For the first time in 52 years the giants are world champions! And they come pouring out of the dugout circling brian wilson, the bullpen flying in from left field. Dancing. Hugging. And you can’t help but think that this group is celebrating for the Sey Hey Kid, for will the thrill, Celebrating for #25. And celebrating for all you giants fans where ever you are. Giants fans, this party is just getting started. Aubry Huff hugging anyone that is around him. What a season. Start off in March and end on November 1st and we win a world series for the first time in SF. And WIlson with that cutter that got nelson cruz to swing and miss and that’s when the celebration begins.

Kruk: If ever there was a city or a fanbase that deserves this team it’s northern california.

Kuip: that’s right. the giants will be coming home world champions and they’ll be getting home at some point in the wee hours of the morning because the party is gonna take a while here in Arlington for the players, the coaches all still in between the mound and 2nd base and still hugging. they’re hugging strangers. I’ve settled on Mike Murphy and instead of just being in the crowd he’s handing out tee shirts and that’s just the way he wants it.

Kruk: being a good clubby, Mike Murphy has been here since 1958 and there has been a lot of redness in his eyes as he’s been down this march from Oct through Nov 1st clincher and I agree, he is giants baseball.

Kuip: well it was a script we saw all year. the solid start and then you bring in the bullpen. And in a lot of ways I’m sure Bochy wanted to see Wilson on the mound to end this game.

Kruk: well he earned it, best closer in the NL this year. And how about this: the giants retired the last 8 batters and there was no torture! a 3 up three down 8th a 3 up three down 9th. 12 rangers struck out tonight, 10 by lincecum, 2 by wilson.And wilson ended the game, ended the year with a strike out of nelson cruz. And the giants, the san francisco giants…..

Kuip: they got one. Between the mound and 2nd base and for some of these players you don’t know where they’ll be next year. Edgar Renteria, maybe the series MVP….

Kruk: I know where they’ll be. they’re gonna be etched in the memory of every single giants fan forever.

Kuip: well that indeed is true. All the great teams and players that have passed through here, all the hall of famers, that never got a shot to experience what the group is experiencing right now….

Krup: I ran into Juan Marichal in the clubhouse this morning, he looked dapper as ever in his blue suit and tie, and he looked right at me and goes “it ends tonight.” And I said “there’s a lot of people that feel the same way”.

and he goes, “it’ll be a celebration like we’ve never seen in san francisco.” And I think that every giants player that ever played in that city knew that if they ever could win one, ever could be a world champion, that the reception, the parade, is gonna be like nobody’s ever seen.

Kuip: well, now in the middle is gm brian sabean and he is absolutely ecstatic, this is gonna be a tearful night for Brian Sabean……….

Deader than dead. My blog highlight of the day is searching for interesting numbers for the “Days till Pitchers and Catchers Report”. Kill me now. Gimmie a Pablo Workout Update. Anything!

I guess we should be happy that the Giants simply don’t have too many needs to fill. We don’t stop to appreciate how fortunate we are to have the pitching staff that we have. While we have “5 Strong”, other teams are scurrying around trying to find 3, 4 and 5 guys for their staff. Brandon Webb? He hasn’t freaking pitched since April 2009 and he’s got teams lining up to sign him. Same with Jeff Francis who had like a 5 something ERA last year.

We’re all good. But goddamn I miss baseball right now……

Let the “Tomsula Era” begin……

Checked out the Chron’s Top 10 Bay Area Sports Stories of the year– Paly High doesn’t make the list. I know they did another “list” for the high schools but that’s just idiotic. When a small high school that’s never won the State Championship before rises up and WINS IT ALL you don’t stick that story with the rest of “the other high schools”–you stick it right up there next to the Giants winning the World Series…..

At this time of year everyone wants to do lists about things. I think it’s dumb, they’re never interesting in the slightest. The other day the Chron did a list for Most Memorable Bay Area Sports Figures (or something like that). Who couldn’t have guessed that list? I would rather see a list of all the “B-Room” guys. Those are the guys I remember. That’s basically what I was doing with last year’s “Retro Giant of the Day” section.

Growing up my favorite Warriors were World B Free and Purvis Short. One of my favorite Niners was Wendell Tyler. Not sure why, he fumbled a lot. Anyway, those are the lists that I would pay attention to. Not “Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Barry Bonds, Rick Barry, etc……”

It was fun driving around yesterday as I finished off some late shopping with Game 4 re-broadcast on KNBR. Baseball on Christmas Eve–love it. It made me seriously consider just listening to the radio the next time we are in a World Series. K/K put the Fox guys to shame, for obvious reasons. The radio is about 12 seconds ahead of TV right? I guess you listen to it in one room and if something crazy happpens you run into the tv room that is exactly 12 seconds away from the “radio room”. Hmmmmm. Gonna noodle this plan out a little more…..

Merry Christmas to you guys. I hope you are where you want to be and who you want to be with. If you aren’t just go with the obvious fallback and bask in this never ending supernova of a World Championship. I think the WS Trophy is coming through Palo Alto in the middle of February but I will definitely tighten that date up and put it on the schedule. I hope they let us take a picture with it. Pay for the picture? What the Hell, I’d pay for that, though it should be free….

Well, Katie just entered the room and our Christmas morning has begun. Have a good one, you guys…….

Here’s the link from mlbtraderumors.com

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/offseason-spending-details-by-team.html

1.2 BILLION in salary commitments this off season. And then you read the list and say to yourself “for THAT?”

The Dodgers have spent 90 million this Winter. Whoa. 90 Mil. THey must have REALLY improved themselves. And their list goes: Lilly, Uribe, Kuroda, Guerrier, Garland, Barajas and Padilla. Uhhhhnderwhelming.

I know that some teams have improved themselves (Boston, Philly) but I will say it again: I am SO happy that Sabean stayed out of the buying this Winter if that is all you get for 1.2 billion……

This bizarre stagger towards the playoffs is far more interesting than anything I can come up with baseball-related. Singletary hasn’t announced who his QB is this week. I sincerely hope it’s Alex Smith since I think he gives the team the best chance to win. I know he’s horrendous on the road, but he has an infinitely better chemistry with VD than T-Smith does. And with Crabtree doing absolutely nothing and a backfield made up of 2 back ups we simply HAVE to have at least one go-to guy this game. Plus, A-Smith actually, you know, knows all the plays in the playbook……….

If we do make the playoffs we get hosed in the draft– After New Orleans executes us we would pick #21 with the 20 non-playoff teams ahead of us. That means if Green Bay wins out to go 10-6 (but misses the playoffs) they draft in front of us. Hilarious……

These fluctuate throughout the Winter but most of the big deals are done. The Phillies are -180 to win the NL Pennant (ie, bet $180 to win $100). We are 7-1 to win the pennant (same as Cardinals). We’re 15-1 to win the World Series again.

Here are the NL West Odds to win the Pennant:

D-backs: 50-1

Padres: 50-1

Dodgers: 15-1

Rockies: 15-1

Giants: 7-1

Favorites to win the WS:

the only teams under 10-1 are the Red Sox (5-1), Phillies (+180) and the Yankees at 6-1 (that number is a joke).

Michael is generously putting up another kick-ass computer contest for the Winter. Our site hits are definitely down but he should still be able to get 20.

THE CONTEST:

Where do these players land?

La Roache

Renteria

Orlando Cabrera (I think he’s off the table since he signed with Pads yesterday)

Beltre

Vlad

Contest closes on December 26th. Email your picks to twinfan1@hotmail.com

Stop fiddling around, you and I both know that this contest will be the most exciting thing you do all Winter. Speaking of….. “Hello Winter Solstice. Here’s to you making  a quick transition to Opening Day”….

I know this happened days ago so I’m a little late to the good bye party, but I am super bummed that we let Velez get away. I can’t remember if it was 2008 or 2009 (maybe it was both) but that dude probably led the team in my “Player of the Game” picks. For a guy who only played in 98 and 84 games in those seasons that’s pretty incredible.

Then last year we sign De Rosa, Velez loses his shot. Then he gets hit in the head and is basically done for the year. And now, not only is he gone but he’s playing for the freaking Dodgers. Have any of you checked out who their left fielder is next year?

There is a very real possibility that it will be Eugenio Velez (unless you believe Jay Gibbons is going to beat him in Spring Training…..

I dunno, I think Sabean dropped the ball on this one. Maybe we won’t miss him, maybe he’ll just get stuck at the level of production he’s at and spend most of his time engaged in maddening fits of idiocy. But I’m telling you, all those POTG awards were legit.

Good bye Count Chocula. I have a terrible feeling that you are going to spend the next 5 years or so tormenting us…….

NEW CONTEST UPDATED QUESTION**********

Instead of Pablo’s weight, here’s the new contest question:
Where do these guys land?
LaRoche
Renteria
Orlando Cabrera
Beltre
Vlad
Get your picks in NOW. I wil not give this monster away for just a few entrants
twinfan1@hotmail.com
I will give one player leeway. In other words, if a player signs before the deadline ( 12-25 1 P.M), that’s a freebie. If you have questions get your picks in FIRST.

Maybe it was a day to think about it or maybe it was reading the STUPID shit posted at The Splash and listening to Idiot Tolbert on KNBR, but I’m totally over Renteria being “disrespected” or whatever that was. The guy can play/say/do whatever and wherever he wants to next year. He won us a World Series. Pay him 20 million to sit at home with his kids in 2011. What do I care? It’s not my money and I’m still B-A-S-K-I-N-G.

Speaking of basking….

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/17/SP1E1GSDAA.DTL

I still live in the town I grew up in. Not sure if that makes this more or less special. But….Congratulations to the STATE CHAMPIONS: Paly High.

Edgar Renteria feels disrespected by the Giants offer to him? Read about it here:

http://tinyurl.com/28nfog3

Unless he can refute this with a “misquote” or something, I have 2 words for Edgar Renteria: Stay home….

Ok, that didn’t happen. But not being at the exact center of the Giants media world, I have to pump up the headlines now and again….Slow Giants news day. Rowand is still with the team. Please make a note of it…..

I will now take time to give a major shout out to my high school team, Paly High, who is playing in tomorrow night’s CIF D-1 Bowl Championship against Centennial-Corona. I expect us to get our asses handed to ourselves but it won’t diminish what has been a magical year for the Vikings….

Now, back to waiting on Renteria……

And I would love an update on Mark De Rosa at some point…..

……as well as a Panda lbs #…

With all the dough getting tossed around this off season I thought I’d check to see where the Giants stand. We are actually in great shape–at least in terms of controlling our own destiny. Here’s a look at what we owe now through 2014:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t4r9nky1EouVJsFXQlv3FKQ&output=html

There’s nothing on here to sink us (the way Zito has over the last several years). If the Giants want to dump on Timmy AND Cain, they can do that. And with nothing in the system (starting pitching wise) they will have to keep at least one of them at an absurd long term risk. But they’re home grown, I can dig that……

5 years, 12o million? That’s still more than I thought he’d get a month ago:

They hardly inspire a peep around these parts. But it’s very interesting to watch this unfold for them. NO ONE wants to come play for them. That’s hardly a surprise but with the pitching staff they’ve assembled, it’s a little awkward to watch go down. Hideki Matsui? Maybe 5 years ago….

And they don’t seem any closer to resolving their stadium issues. This surprises me. Bud Selig and Lew Wolf were freaking college frat bro’s. I wasn’t in a fraternity, they only had two at Lewis & Clark when I went there and they were both lame. Anyway, maybe I don’t understand the bond and the fellowship that 2 good frat bro’s share with one another. But I have to assume that before Wolf bought the team he sat down with frat bro Selig and said “We will get the stadium deal done, right?” and that Selig gave him a reassuring “brother handshake” or whatever and Wolf went ahead and bought the team…..

But what the hell do I know about fraternities?

How do I know this? I got a hilarious text from a buddy of mine who is there and who rode an elevator with him last night at 2am at the Mandarin Oriental. He said he was completely wasted with a semi-good looking blond chick who looked about 24. Zito was eating a can of mint malted milk balls that he got from the hotel mini-bar and he informed my friend that he highly recommended them….

Yeah, I know it’s gossip and all, but it’s December 12th and I got nothin’ else worth posting…..

That’s what they call a day of no horse racing. Dark Day. Today feels like a dark day. No college football. No Giants news. The only thing to look forward to is how many yards Alex Freaking Smith throws for tomorrow. Buzzkill. I snapped this photo of the Cardinal practice field when I was on a run this morning. It’s kinda hard to read: “You are getting better or you are getting worse; you never stay the same”— I thought of Sabean….

Sure, why not? To me, this off season is all about creating options if Sandoval is too fat to play everyday. Sign Renteria as a back up to Tejada. If Pablo doesn’t cut it, slide MT over to third and let Renteria play SS. Assuming DeRosa’s wrist is good, he could be an option at third, too, and leave Renteria as a fill in.

Did Renteria’s World Series performance punch his ticket to Cooperstown? It’s a legitimate question. He’d have a better chance of going there if he went out in the blaze that was last season’s glory (and destiny). But if he wants to come back and play a utility role and help out as a leader on the team, I’m all for it…..

This will probably work out pretty well for Boston and if it doesn’t they don’t care, they can absord 146 million dollar losses (unlike the Nats).

But I just don’t get the buzz about Carl Crawford. He’s a nice player, he’s definitely fast–but so is Rajai Davis. He’s never hit 20 HR’s in a season and his career OPS is .781. Is THIS what a 146 Million Dollar Man looks like these days?

I’m sure he’ll have a huge year for Boston and I can’t wait for the NY/Bos games this year. But giving a 7 year deal to a guy who’s entire game is based on speed, and who will be 30 during the first year of his deal….eh, like I said, it’s just not for me….

Winter Meetings continue to roll on at a “zzzzzzzzzz” pace for Giants fans……

Jeff Passan wrote another worthless piece today and all the reasons you give CLiff Lee 7 years. With Passan being an idiot, I won’t bother posting his article. If you must see it, you can find it at Yahoo Sports….

There is no rational argument for giving a pitcher about to turn 32 a 7 year deal. None. I don’t care about the soundness of his arm, his arm action, his medical history, etc. It’s just dumb. Of course, giving him 6 years is equally dumb so if you’re going to go 6 you might as well go 7, I guess.

The best part about this *players market* that has surprisingly sprung this season, is that we are going to come out of it completely unscathed. There’s no “Sabean Special” out there waiting to doom us. It’s the thing I have admired most about Brian over the last few years. He has learned that handing out 5+ year deals to aging vets isn’t exactly the way to go when you’re trying to build a contender. In fact, it’s the “Lazy Man’s” way to GM a baseball team. Anyone can look at the back of a baseball card and hand over 100 million dollars for it, especially if it’s not your own money. Brian Cashman has the easiest job in all of sports.

I’m happy as a pig 69ing his lady to sit back and watch all this financial foolishness unfold this year. Zito and Rowand are starting to look like bargains……

I think most of us understand that Sabes won’t be pulling the trigger on any trades this week. That’s actually fine with me, he’s not very good at them—unless you want to go back 14 years or whatever. There might have been 2 or three since then, too…….

Trade proposals, generated by fans,  are one of the easiest ways to get me to go ballistic. The common fan has half the trade proposal down pat: he is goddamn crystal clear on who he wants to ACQUIRE. He wants Hanley. He wants Reyes. He wants Mauer—guys he’s seen featured on ESPN sound bites. Now comes  the hard part–who does he give up? Hmmmmm. Er…..Ummmmm. A sticking point. “I don’t want to give up anyone good,” Common Fan #1 thinks to himself. See, this is when the trade proposal fantasies usually start to break down. Quickly, Common Fan #1 defaults to listing off about 5 AAAA guys on the roster as the chum used to secure this *blockbuster deal*.  For our purposes, that would be listing off as many Bowker Gang guys as possible—whether they’re still in the organization or not…….

Tip #1: Just because you think the player is valuable doesn’t mean anyone else does. You may remember John Bowker hitting 2 home runs in his first week at the Bigs but no one else does. And even if they do, they don’t give a shit about this. They care about his body of work since. Not pretty.

Tip #2: you’ve got to give up something to get something. There has to be REAL value in your part of the offer. The trick to a good trade is to finding MORE value in what you acquire than what your trading partner thought they had. But NO ONE is interested in securing any of our *Bowker Gang* guys for anything that we or the rest of the world would perceive as valuable—no matter how many of them you try to throw in—-4. 5. 6. Lots of Bowker Gang guys doesn’t sweeten the deal at all. If the Reno Aces team plane goes down killing everyone inside, you might get Kevin Towers to look at a package for all our Bowker Gang players—just don’t expect Justin Upton to be the guy we get in return……

Tip #3: Look at something other than the back of a player’s baseball card. Anyone can see what a player has done. Projecting what they might do in the future, based off underlying Sabermetric figures, is how to go about securing a sound trade haul. There’s obvious risk involved with this but this is the best way to go about hitting the big score on a trade—whether you just get lucky or whether you saw something in a player that no one else did, that’s the way to go about tipping a trade in your favor……

7 years/126 million for…. Jayson…… Werth—that is just…..there are no words…….This is why The Nats are always going to suck. There isn’t enough black *paint* in the world that Bryce Harper could smear all over his face to make this contract make any sense at all (much like that last sentence). I don’t even know where to start with this….

1) I like Werth, he’s a nice player, he’s got some pop and speed, his beard and hair are to die for, he’s got all that. But this guy might be my 12th-14th favorite outfielder in MLB. At best. Forgetting their contracts, I would prefer Shin-Soo Choo. I am dead serious. I also think Choo will have a better career when all is said and done.

2) Werth is going to be 32 near the beginning of next season, his first year of this ridiculous contract, and he’s never had 100 RBI’s in a season…..

3) He has put together 3 decent seasons in a bandbox—the same band box that Rowand parlayed into his 60 million dollar deal………

4) the BEST part about Werth is his speed and power which, basically, isn’t overwhelming either way–he’s like a 30/20 guy, at best. And he’s declining.  Next year he’s like a 25/10 guy— Where does he go from year 1? Year 4? I can’t even type “Year 7″….

5) If Bryce H is for real, he’s not going year-to-year with the Nats. What do they plan on paying Harper in 2015 or 2016 when Old Man Werth is busy collecting 20 mil for a team playing to a half empty stadium every game?

6) The Nats are now dead broke, they have no money to pay anyone and their team has 1 stud SP (who is recovering from TJ surgery) and 2 current stud position players—-Zimmerman and Werth (once Harper gets there he’d be #3, but by that time Werth will be assuming his best “Rowand Pose”). How in the Hell does this signing build a winning team? Who is going to pitch for this team? Who is going to play positions for this team? I hope my man Storen is going to turn into a dominant closer cause all good teams need one. Right?

7) Does Werth LOOK like a guy who is going to lead a team to a World Series? No. He looks like a guy who’s about to lead 5 buddies into a sweet strip joint. And now all the lap dances are on  him. Score……for his buddies.

Carl Crawford is jizzin’ all over himself right now…….

I haven’t spent too much time checking out this rumor. It’s probably nothing. But with the Winter Meetings coming up it’s at least worth considering. If it’s real, I pull this trigger in a nano-second (and we would need to pay all of Rowand’s 2012 salary. Ibanez makes 11.5 mil in the last year of his deal in 2010). Ibanez also has a no-trade clause so he’d have to be cool with it but I can’t imagine he wouldn’t want a change of scenery. And what a perfect change of scenery it would be for Aaron. Head back to the town who loved you, where you had your best years. Plus, with Werth leaving they could actually use Rowand, or at least see what he’s got left. Ibanez would give us the left handed pop we don’t have now off the bench.  It would be a great, no risk trade that would give everyone a fresh start……

So now Pat the Bat is saying he came back for the hometown discount.  Actually, this now makes perfect sense—1 mil, no incentives? Who needs an agent for that. If it’s true that he didn’t contact any other teams to gauge interest my hat is off to him for this unusual good-vibe move.

Speaking of Pat, does anyone really think he’s “The Machine” as the media continues to report? Look at the arms on this guy, they look half the size of the guns The Bat carries around. Also, ballplayers in August have pretty good “farmer tans” going on, the Machine has nothing, in fact he’s dead pale across his body. I can’t imagine a ladies man like The Bat is rollin’ like that in August……

Nice to see San Diego building off their near division win last year. They promptly jettison their best player away. If I’m a San Diego season ticket holder, I quit…….

I hate to bring even the slightest flavor of negativity into this *Vast Winter of Bask*, but if you believe that we caught “lightning in a bottle” last year, and you also subscribe to the theory that lightning is hard to catch (at least in a bottle) then shouldn’t we all be a wee bit concerned that Sabean is basically putting the exact same team together from 2010? Huff, Burrell, now Fontenot…I mean come on, we are all sitting here in unison nodding our heads up and down in gleeful approval with World Series drool dripping down our chins and we’re really not stopping to think about “what if”. What if last year was just a random year the way it was for the White Sox in ’05 or the Cardinals in ’06. Does anyone remember the ‘Sox even PLAYING in ’05? How about their opponent, the Houston Astros?

I guess my point is, I hope Sabean has an open ear at the Winter Meetings coming up this week. The point is to always try to get better, not stay the same. And if he tries that bottle/lightning trick again, it might not work out so swimmingly……..

If you had told me last Winter that Sabean had signed Tejada, Huff and Burrell to nearly 30 million dollars worth of salary I would climb the highest peak and scream for the villagers to drag Sabean’s bobblehead through the streets of San Francisco. And yet this Winter, I’m totally cool with it. A World Series will mellow a guy……

That clip Zumie posted last night was great. According to Kuip, Flemming had this wicked cold the day of Game 5. He had been saving his voice all day to give himself the best chance of nailing a call like that; announcers live for calls like that. Alas, the break in his voice at the end ruined it ever so slightly. Still a great call…….