Pitchers and Catchers, Come on Down!

Posted in Uncategorized by Flavor on February 14, 2011

As many of you know, I am more prone to viewing the Giants with a critical eye, though an accurate one. It’s the reason I’m usually right around their win total over the last 4 seasons in the blog world pre-season predictions (74, 63, 88, 90)….So today, I’m not going to talk about what needs to happen for us to repeat, that’s too positive and too easy. I’m going to list off 5 things that could ruin us. Any ONE of these, and certainly a combination of the five, will send us to our dvr’s to watch re-runs of the 2010 season probably by early August……

Five Things that CANNOT Happen to the Giants in 2011:

1) Injuries. I’m not talking specific ones (although there is one specific one listed below). I’m just referring to a general, bad luck injury season. You know, like the ones the A’s have every single year.

2) The trifecta of DeRosa, Belt and Sandoval ALL fail. This would force Bochy to have to ultimately play Fontenot full time and/or one of the triple A kids who aren’t ready to carry a full time load.

3) Buster Posey missing a significant amount of time. You “jinx guys” will notice I didn’t use the “I word”. As in *i-n-j-u-r-y*. Whoops, sorry, I said it.. But an everyday El Presidente would ruin us….

4) Brian Wilson falls apart. He’ll probably be fine but he’s had a weird off season and just ask Brad Lidge how fast you go from all star closer to “Tyler Walker” over the course of just one off season. The good news is that we have some decent options if Wilson implodes.

5) “Zito cursed”– from the last thread. I bet the dude who searched that woke up in cold sweats this Winter worrying about what Zito might do to the team in 2011. I’d like to believe that the end of last season was just a guy with a dead arm, not a guy who is completely finished. I guess we’ll see. The Zito Apologists like to say “He never misses a start!”. As Twin once posted, “that’s the bad news”. All those innings (2,198 on a 32 year old arm) might finally have caught up to him and what’s to say that the end of last season wasn’t just a dead arm but actually a guy who is terrified of contact. I’m not sure how damaging Zito can be in 2011. Bochy probably won’t give him a lot of rope. But giving games away every fifth day is hardly the way to go about defending your championship…..

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Kevin said, on February 14, 2011 at 7:20 am

The “I” word, there was a good article in the Sac Bee about how the pitching staff will be closely monitored, a hang nail will land them in an off day or two.

A comment on the last thread, don’t forget the search engine will pull words from the title of your articles. Especially if the title ends up in the address bar. And BF you have had some creative titles!
twinfan said, on February 14, 2011 at 7:42 am

What chance did they have in 2010 with nothing from Pablo- no chance- from anybody…be careful of such lists. There was no list with Torres, Bum, Burrell, Ross, Lopez…expect more surprises but an EZ division win…
PawlieKokonuts said, on February 14, 2011 at 8:12 am

Bring it on, and good to see Michael dutifully reporting with all his gear — and game — on.
stixwiz said, on February 14, 2011 at 8:14 am

Twin: Delighted you’re back ~ and reverting to form. Fully agreed on the NL West prospects. Dim chance for a loss there is that the Rox come with a rookie surprise for their rotation and that their pair of good young starters heighten their pace. Giants are well-managed, generally and on the field. Eli is about the only hole on the team and i have a suspicion that an outfielder who doesn’t quite make the cut over the next few weeks will land a #2 catcher in a swap.
twinfan said, on February 14, 2011 at 8:22 am

Early player notes:
Fontenot is the better choice at second against RHers
Wil be better in 2011: Panda, Lincecum, Cain, Tejada (better than Uribe), Nate
Ross: .270 20-80-.775 OPS
Down from 2010: Huff, Lopez
Most Likely Surprises: Tanner,Culberson
billy said, on February 14, 2011 at 8:32 am

Yup, good to see the twinner back in action just in time for p’s & c’s. Hope you’re feeling alright. Went browsing around the web at some early mlb predictions. The main theme everyone has now figured out? “Pitching, pitching, pitching” So of course all these idiots love the phills but confoundingly many pick the giants as third place finishers in the west. I love it. They’ll never learn….
- zumarust said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:12 am
  
  Hmmmm. I’ve read several of the magazines, read a lot of columns, and have seen a lot of pundits on TV…..just about all of the ones I’ve seen have picked the Giants for firstplace in the West.
  MLB network picked the ’11 Giants as the 3rd best team in ALL of MLB, only behind the Red Sox and Phils.
  - billy said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:28 am
    
    Yes, of course many of them have the g’s about where they should be. I was reading some bleacher report article yesterday that had them on 3rd in the n.l. west. I had to wonder…
- TedSpe said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:31 am
  
  Make up your mind, billy
  - max808 said, on February 14, 2011 at 10:03 am
    
    Bleacher report is written by truant 10th graders.
  - xootsuit said, on February 14, 2011 at 11:40 am
    
    They aren’t truant, Billy. They’re right there in class, tapping on their laptops and looking up every once in a while when the teacher’s voice rises. They know how to pretend they’re taking notes.
Unca Chuck said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:30 am

El Presidente will not be an option if something happens to Buster. They’ll do something about it.

Shit, get Paulino back form Fla. The incidental Giant.
Kevin said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:34 am

Welcome back TF
swickman said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:50 am

Michael, glad to see you posting here again.
twinfan said, on February 14, 2011 at 9:51 am

Agree with Chuckerino -no way they’ll go with Eli..
Mystery guy is Henry Sosa-they don’t seem to know what to do with him and he seems to have temper issues. He and Tanner are the closest in the system ikely to be acceptable 5s..
Going home tomorrow, hired an IHHS woman to help for awhile..
- TedSpe said, on February 14, 2011 at 10:37 am
  
  Is she good looking?
snarkk said, on February 14, 2011 at 10:20 am

Good that ST starts soon for the position players. Pat the Bat may be worn out if the offseason lasts much longer. And, The Machine shown here may be getting a little tired, too. The blond is reportedly Zito’s latest squeeze, Ari, but Ihavenoidea. http://tinyurl.com/4o7zndv
zumarust said, on February 14, 2011 at 10:46 am

Ha! The MLB network is showing a press conference with the 5 Phillies starting pitchers, like they’re the Beatles coming to America or something. Let the hype continue. How often does something in sports live up to this kind of hype?
- TedSpe said, on February 14, 2011 at 10:49 am
  
  Press: “So, gentlemen, how do you find America?”
  Lennon: “Make a left at Greenland.”
  That’s Giants’ material, not Phillies’!!!
  - twinfan said, on February 14, 2011 at 11:54 am
    
    Reminds me, someone asked me for directions to Phoenix,,,,go to LA,hang a louie…
    No, not good looking…
- Flavor said, on February 14, 2011 at 11:10 am
  
  It’s not really working out in Miami the way they thought it would
  - delmardennis said, on February 14, 2011 at 12:31 pm
    
    They’re getting better returns than the timeshare I bought in Cairo.
delmardennis said, on February 14, 2011 at 12:35 pm

For those who enjoy uni numbers…Belt will wear #9, The Machine switched to 5.
Also, Ishi will now sport 35 as Miggy took his old #10. I wonder in sportin’ 35 automatically makes your wife hot.
Brink back Raquel.
Unca Chuck said, on February 14, 2011 at 2:48 pm

Zito is Zito. Last year should have been his best one here. It almost was until he just panicked under the pressure of having to pitch neamingful games down the stretch.

His WHIP has gotten BETTER over the past 3 seasons. He’s always right around the 200 IP mark. Yes, that is the bad news. But look at the start last year. He’s a nibbler. If his fastball is around 85, he’s toast as EVERYONE (except AZ) waits for the BP FB. He won’t ever throw it after a while. He’d rather walk, nibble, pray for a DP, walk.

I think Zito would completely lose his mind if he got traded to the Yanks. He’d melt into a pile of goo on the plane ride over there. One bad outing and surfer-boy would be raked over the coals until he was a crispy little briquette. After that? Useless.
Unca Chuck said, on February 14, 2011 at 2:49 pm

neaminfgul?

Dyslexics untie!
xootsuit said, on February 14, 2011 at 2:56 pm

So the Elmer Dressens deal fell through. No 40 year old pitcher for the Giants this year, I guess. On the other hand, they snagged 35 year old Brian Lawrence. He hasn’t pitched regularly in the majors since 2005, so he should be well rested.

As things stand today, obviously, the Giants are superior to the team that came out of ST last year. But, I agree, various injury problems could change that status real quick. Dreaming about Belt or DeRosa or even Zito picking up the team isn’t too far fetched. Pablo, in my view, is a lock on 3B and will be far improved over his second half of 2010. But if 2 of the 4 starters falter, if Wilson does too — it’ll be interesting to see how the owners and Sabean respond. It’ll all probably depend on the way the season plays out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the team invest money to stay in the hunt. And I won’t be surprised to see them IN the hunt.
Unca Chuck said, on February 14, 2011 at 4:27 pm

Xoot, I think they’ll get off to a faster start than the last few years. SD hit the ground on fire last year and I don’t see that happening again. The Giants have a lot less anxiety regarding their team to start this season, so that should settle things down some. The other teams have bigger issues than last year, so they should grab the early lead.

In theory anyway . . .

I’m still a little shocked that Mike blogged the words ‘Agree with Chuckerino’ . . .

You really OK there, Mike?

insert gay-ass smiley thing . . .
- xootsuit said, on February 14, 2011 at 5:23 pm
  
  Good prediction, on that fast start. They’ll have a lot of games in April vs. LA, AZ and Col. A fast start would put them comfortably in first place.
  
  You know, last year the Giants lost 7 of 8 vs. San Diego by the end of May. That’s amazing.
  
  This year, they only have 2 games total vs. San Diego between opening day and July (then they have two 4 game series vs. SD, one just before and one just after the AS break).
  
  Of course, SD won’t be nearly as good this year. Still, strange scheduling detail.