Four Guys Who Won’t Be Starting For Us For Long
For this offense to get better it’s not just about who Sabean is going to add but rather who he’s going to subtract……
Eli Whiteside is not a starting MLB catcher. That hit and run last night was actually the best piece of hitting I’ve ever seen him do. The subsequent 3 strike outs reminded me of who he is. He’s got 2 hits since Buster went down (and if they don’t do that hit and run last night, he’d still be stuck on 1…..
Miguel Tejada: Miggy doesn’t even seem to try to drive the ball anymore. Every hit, ever out, seems to be some type of ground ball to/through the infield. Even his hard hit balls don’t seem to get much carry on them. And he seems super tentative on defense, reacting defensively instead of just reacting naturally. It’s hard to watch him play baseball right now.
Pat Burrell: This is the side of Bochy I still don’t get. On his pre-game show he was saying that since he was giving Huff a rest he had to have a clean up guy in the 4 spot and that’s why he wrote Burrell in there. But anyone can see that Burrell is done. What his baseball card says is of no consequence anymore. At BEST he’s going to work a walk, which he did twice last night. Is that what Bochy was looking for from the 4 hole?
Aubry Huff: This is a tough one to write but I think Huff’s 1 on/1 off pattern is in his head. We’re 2 months into the season and he’s still scuffling hard. I know how much money he’s making but Rowand makes more and he finally had to take a seat. At the very least, Bochy has to stop batting him 4th……
Tough game for Vogelsong. He’s now 3rd in the NL in ERA behind Jurrgins and Josh Johnson. His control wasn’t there but he gutted through 5 innings against a tough offensive team in their yard. We had a rare bullpen meltdown, it happens. I wonder when the National media guys are going to latch on to this story? Typical troll writers, they’ve got no problem writing a million stories about Zito’s failures but as soon as an amazing, uplifting story like this replaces Zito’s failures those National writers are nowhere to be seen. This is a great story, someone at SI should be writing about it……….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Vogelsong outstanding for May 2-1, 1.78
Fwiw, looks to me like a toss up between Sanchez of FLA 4-0, 1.66 and Jurrjens 5-1, 1.65 for POTM.
Give Vogelsong another month. If he’s still stellar at the break, some journalist will see something in it for him (or her) and publicize the hell out of him.
The sooner Tejada goes the better. He’s become a clown act stumbling around out there. It’s like he aged 5 yrs since last Oct.
A little reluctant to cut Burrell loose, as they don’t have any power off the bench and we know how streaky he can be. But maybe that’s wishful thinking.
Huff hitting is now vital to their season. It’s astounding they are where they are with so little from him, Tejada, Burrell and Pablo’s injury. Without Posey, not much alt but to leave him in the 4 and pray he comes around. If Pablo comes out blasting, you could move him there.
Flav, I think eventually we will be adding Crawford to your 4 amigos list. Yeah, he is flashing the glove, which is great and he hasn’t looked overmatched, with his 4-for-12 start (including a homer, SB, three walks and no SOs) . . . but I’m not convinced that his small sample size line to date portends good things to come. That being said, I’ve always maintained that making a trade this early in the season, only sends a message of panic to other teams, where they (other GMs) smell blood and are only thinking of getting over on you. In short, we would be at a severe dis-advantage trying to work a trade right now.
Insofar as releasing a player, yeah, I can see that. May happen soon with Tejada and/or Burrell. However, I also think they maintain the status quo as long as the Giants are in 1st place or near 1st place.
One last note – I see NO chance of the Giants dealing for Reyes, even as a rental. The cost will be prohibitive – Mets would probably would want Wheeler and perhaps, another good young player or prospect in our minor league system), as well as a lot of money.
If the Giants do pull the trigger on a trade, I still like Lowie of Boston. However, Lowie’s glove is suspect. In that case, Hardy in Baltimore makes sense to me. Hardy is projected to do pretty well over the remainder of the season (if he’s healthy). He has a 2.2 WAR with a large portion of that coming from his glove. He is owed a reasonable $4.2 million this season. MLB Trade Rumors has him projected to be a Type A Free Agent next year.
Anyway, right now, I think Sabes has a plan and will not do anything rash, unless we collapse before the All Star break.
The sad thing about The Song is, he is probably the only name in a trade proposal that would get another teams attention (other than Wheeler or Belt that is). When Zipo comes back if you make Ryan your long man can you get anything for Mota? Probably not. We’re not going to get much from players we don’t want so I don’t see a trade happening soon.
One really good thing I do like about Crawford is that he can field. If he only hits as well as Tejada has been hitting, then he has a net value right there. Giants would be doing somersaults if he has an OPS in the .700 range and they would be completely satisfied with an OPS in the mid .600 range, considering how well he fields. Patience is the operative word for Giants fans, since he struggled in the Eastern League the past two years. Not having played beyond Double-A, there is going to be a learning period for Crawford while at this level of competition.
blade, under what circumstances did Hardy leave the Twins? balt is now his third team already…porque?
I notice GH’s boy Brignac is at .173. Why would the Sox dump Lowrie, who is hitting .306? And yeah, the reyes talk is out of the question with as well as he is playing right now. Mets will hold out for best deal, reds likely suspects.
what i’m getting at is, I don’t see how SF pries a decent player out of a team for awhile. If the East looks unwinnable for Toronto, I’d love to get Yunel escobar, a guy I couldn’t understand the braves bailed on.
I have to take off Willied, but Lowie had a bad May, so the .306 BA is somewhat deceiving. Couple that with recent shaky fielding, where it has cost them at least a couple of games, he may be available. The Red Sox lineup was hard to crack until this year, when Scutaro scuffled and slumped, thus the reason Lowrie is finally getting a chance.
I’ll get back to ya about Hardy, but I think injuries were the reason, i.e.., un-fullfilled promise not being met.
I think Crawford has shown enough to warrant a stay. Even if he only hits .225, he’ll hopefully gain from the exp.
Hardy had a strong week off the dl, but has since slumped badly. He doesn’t look a whole lot better than Tejada at this point.
I cannot believe the Giants do not have a 3rd baseman in AAA or somewhere that can at least field the ball!!
No need to push the panic button at this time. Schedule eases up for a couple months. Panda is tentatively slated to return towards the latter part of the upcoming 10 day!!! homestand. Taking one of these next two in St. Louis will keep things above water.
Tejada is ready for the fork. He may be kept around till Sandoval returns. If Burrell can live with being mostly a bench player we can live with him. He can’t do that ~ then Sayonara. Give Crawford a decent long shot. He has outhit expectations and comes as predicted on D. Sabean probably will be quietly nosing around for a catcher who can hit, to play at least part of the time. Being the first one to harp on that particular subject, Huff needs to be dropped into maybe the 7-hole till he resurrects himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YlK4DlzNsc&feature=player_embedded#at=21
Craig, mostly agree with your opening. Yes, no panic, but also yes, changes will need to be made. The only real glaring need, IMO, is at catcher. Whiteside and “the other guy” as our catchers? No way. First priority. When Pablo comes back, the left side of the infield sorts itself out, and you ride Crawford as long as he can go at short, which actually could be a very long time, the kid has skills. Obviously he will have some dips, considering how little experience he has, but the team should show some patience with him (at least as much as they’ve shown with Tejada, who is definitely done and should go when Pablo is back). Lowrie, or Hardy? ugh, don’t waste trade bait that you might need for a catcher. Burrell, right, probably gone.
Huff is the puzzler. With a smaller two-year contract, he could be more on the fence. With what he’s signed for, the team will stick with him. I know we all really want him to succeed. It’s not painful to me to watch Tejada, I could care less, he’s gone. It IS painful to watch Huff not do what he did last year. Catcher, and Huff, perhaps Sabean’s biggest challenges…
Crawford’s fine. He isn’t supposed to hit 15 and drive in 80. It’s the lack of anything from 3-4-5 that is killing the team. Huff being the biggest culprit. Panda’s return should help. How quick he gets his stroke back is the challenge. Burrell and Tejada are playing themselves to the cribbage table.
As of now, though, they have to play through these injuries/slumps and try to keep afloat. Nothing is going to happen for the next 4 weeks, unless there’s a major meltdown. Which is hard to do with these starters . . .
BLEEP!
From last night’s thread: Belt was not brought up to play regularly, “Bochy” (try to that right Eric) was clear about that. They wanted a LH bat and Travis was nursing a sore shoulder. Belt was slumping in Fresno so they are being careful with him this time. I’m not going to help you guys again on this…
Yeah, future HOFer Brignac isn’t looking so hot, is he?..
For those bitching about use of Romo/Lopez, remember that all of you expected Affeldt to blow it earlier.Don’t lie..
Crawford is the SS. Somebody wanted a defintion of “collapse”- “Brian Bocock”
Who goes for Ford? How things change: Burrell or Belt, IMO…
They have no choice-Huff has to hit
Third basemen in the system?
Gillaspie, Fresno .293 BA 3 HR .821 OPS- considered a prospect, doubt they want to bring him up as a temp
Dominguez, San Jose-not close
I’ve always been leery of bringing guys into ATT from the warm weather hitters parks. I recall when SF got Moises Alou from the cubs after he hit 30 some bombs…you knew he wasn’t going to do that here, and the poor guy never hit that many rest of his career here. Same for richie who put up good numbers in cimcy in a bandbox yard for a crummy team…a year later he’s done.
AL East guys get to hit in boston, toronto, balt and ny, all good parks to hit in. Same with NL central, warm weather hot and humid, with some definite band boxes in houston and cincy, plus wrigley and mil.
Then they come to SF and try to yank stuff (like in philly and arlington), and freeze their asses off during summer. It requires a big adjustment to be successful…then the pitchers will adjust back, etc. ATT can be a fair park to hit in, but you have to pick your spots. I think most giants are more comfortable on the road. Hope they can pick it up last two here.
At least the run of bad luck did not go totally ballistic last night as Belt’s injury looks to be day to day, with the x-rays being negative. Perhaps even before the A.S. break, i see him as a regular, whether at 1B where he’s as T.F. described him “J.T. Snow lite”, or in L.F. Fact that he had been in a slump in Fresno does not mean that he would not necessarily be stuck in that swamp at the M.L. level. Thing is, he needs to be in the starting L.U. for say, five days running to have a decent chance of getting it together.
But Bochy loves veterans. If he could get his head around a non-cleanup hitter batting fourth and drop Huff in the order for awhile, i would still expect good results. Maybe Crawford’s good A.B.’s can continue for long enough for Bochy to run out of excuses not to develop him as the regular SS.
Anyone got the dope on when Ford can be expected back? Not so much concerned about the 15-day as i am about his ankle. He is such a valuable weapon that i’d rather that stays on the DL till its fully healed than see him attempt a return before his moneymakers are at 100%.
Huff ain’t going to no 7, Stix. Who’s 4-5-6? Yeah, I thought so…I’m leery of Belt’s prognosis. Can’t throw but he’ll only be out a day or two?
Huff’s best position is not 1B, BTW, it’s LF. Let’s get the best defense anyway- Panda/Crawford/Fruckie/Ishikawa
Huff/Torres/Ross
That’s five GG caliber.
Whiteside until they find better..there’s a good looking kid at the High School here..
Wouldn’t mind at all seeing Ishi back. You think his shoulder was the only thing keeping him down there, this time around?
I also like Ishikawa, at least I like watching him play. He makes playing first base look so flippin’ easy.
Now you want Ishi to be the everyday first sacker? You better check your pill box. I think your nurse switched your blues with the reds.
Take your fucking Ledger, pal.
It’s true they have no choice, Huff has to hit. I’ve just started wondering, what if he doesn’t?… like, up to and even continuing after the break… Releasing Burrell and benching Huff would obviously affect that chemistry thing from last year, but if their replacements are performing and the team is winning, that’s been this team’s recipe for success, just winning as a team, in any strange fashion.
“Bochy to run out of excuses not to develop him as the regular SS.”
He’s playing regularly. You people need to stop making shit up.
C’mon Twin, you know as well as the rest of us that Bochy loves his veterans and has to be totally blown away by a rookie to play him regularly. My point is that so far Crawford hasn’t given him any excuses offensively and is not likely to do so defensively. But Brandon is likely to tail off at some point with the stick. Will Bochy stick by him then? It may be hell on wheels to position three eighth place hitters plus a pitcher, but to my mind Crawford’s glove is worth up to a week of flailing at the plate. Will Bochy have that kinda patience with a rook?
If the alternative is Tejada at SS, then the answer is YES, Bochy will play Crawford.
It’s almost a chicken and egg debate, Twin. Middle of the LU is not producing and Huff has defined that middle all season. So if he can’t cut it at cleanup, we can excuse him, Tejada, Crawford, Whitey and the pitcher from that role. That still leaves us with four possibilities.
As i have stated time and again, once he’s well on the road to recovery i have no problem whatsoforever with Aubrey at #4. I just do not see him getting it together with that particular burden on his shoulders. Might as well flip a coin amongst the four who haven’t deleted themselves for one reason or another.
Sure it makes Bochy uncomfortable not having someone at cleanup who at least somewhat defines that role. Right now Thongalong ain’t cutting it. I know Brucie ain’t gonna flip that switch ~ waaay too conservative for something like that ~ but that’s my take.
I’ve actually lowered my stress level a bit from all of the quote-unquote tortuous wins and just enjoy the baseball more by completely eliminating any thought or criticism of Bochy. He’s the man. The players need to perform.
As poorly as he’s hit, Huff has driven in runs, big ones. Sad as it may be, he leads the team in RBIs. Best thing for Belt now is to go back to Fresno and show he can hit there consistently. He’s looking the same as earlier: looking to take pitches, not hit pitches. The LU I listed above is the best they can do when Panda is back.Here’s the batting order:
Torres
Fruckie
Panda
Huff
Ross
Ishikawa
Crawford
Whitey/Stewart
Torres
Fruckie
Reyes
Panda
Ross
Huff
Belt
NO Whitey
Seems like the Ledger is kicking in.
Krukow would disagree with you. He spent 2 mins on his show this morning discussing how different Belt looks at the plate (in a good way).
Well, he’s wrong. He’s said the same about Rohlinger.
I’d guess that Bochy has played more rookies more regularly than any manager in SF history. He does seem to know the good ‘uns from the bad. Who has left here and shown he should play? Right- no fucking one. If Bochy doesn’t play them, they shouldn’t play..
“Sure it makes Bochy uncomfortable not having someone at cleanup who at least somewhat defines that role.”
The name ‘Bengie Molina” ring a bell?
Bengie is ready to roll.
I think I’m kidding.
Har de har. (grin)
I hope they don’t rush Panda back before he’s really ready. When he is back, don’t expect miracles to the offense. He’s one guy in a limp lineup. Unless a few others around him start to hit, he can easily be pitched around, and as we know, he won’t take many walks. As for Burrell, there’s a reason he only got $1M. DFAing him will not take much financial thought. As for Tejada, there’s a bigger budget item there. But, Crawford should be at SS until he hits in El Presidente territory, or gives Bochy a wedgie. His defensive upgrade from Tejada and Font is huge…
As much as it pains me to be so wrong about Tejada, Crawford is a net upgrade if he hit .180.
NO Whitey is not even hitting a buck-eighty. “But he calls a good game, though.”
How’s about Todd Greene?
Nevermind. I need to refresh before I post . . .
I think Giants fans in general need to ease up on the Brandon Belt kool-aid. The big leagues are tough. Just ask Jason Heyward. And we are now in a pitcher-dominant era. It’s a struggle now even for a lot of seasoned veterans. Hello, Dan Uggla.
Agree, I think that all the rookies they bring up need to be given some slack by the fans. Look what the Giants pitching staff has done to some of the best hitters in the league. Philly in the playoffs and Texas in the WS. So to say that Brandon Crawford will evenually not be able to hit big league pitching is a stretch. Even when opposing teams have been able to score, they have not been scoring a lot of runs. I tried to find the scores of all the Giants games this year, but could not. How many games have the Giants been blown out of 1 or 2 maybe?? I would rather watch young player learn to hit in the bigs and make good plays in the field, than watch old players flounder at the plate and not make the routine play much less the spectacular.
This is not a rebuilding team. Crawford gets slack because of Tejada’s suckitude. Belt has to hit NOW.
Rollins with a nice drag-bunt hit. That play looks so easy when it’s done right. Just gotta get it past the pitcher.
When I think of sweet drag bunts, I think of Lyman Bostock. I remember when Lyman was on the cover of the Sporting News (I loved me some TSN when I was a kid) after signing with the Angels. He had sunglasses on with
$ signs painted on both lenses. He had a big smile on his face and the caption read “Perfect Vision.” I tore it out and had it up on my wall.
Wasn’t too long after that he was shot to death.
TSN kicked ass back in the 70’s and 80’s.
I was at the Coliseum when Bostock, then a Twin, took on the LF fence and the fence won. Broke about everything you can break in such an encounter. Cheekbone, collar bone, on down…Yeah, he held on to the ball.
I remember seeing Tommie Agee do something similar into the cyclone fence at the Stick.
Nationals beat the Phillies 2-1, Oswalt gets the loss.
What are acceptable numbers for Crawford are not acceptable for Belt. As a corner OFer or first baseman, the AVERAGE production is about 20-80 .800 OPS.
The average SS production is about 10-60 .700 OPS.If they got those numbers , paramedics would be called to Bochy’s office.
Torres CF, Tejada 3B, Sanchez 2B, Huff 1B, Schierholtz RF, Ross LF, Crawford SS, Whiteside C, Lincecum P
Fairly decent defensive bunch behind Timmy. Outfield is quite good. Bit weak at 3B, but rest of IF should do fine. Same with N. Whitey. Let’s see if Huff can clean up today. Will Huff n Puff magically transmogrify into Huff the Magic Dragon? We’ll know in a few hours.
I see the Giants came out with their IT GETS BETTER blurb. Since sports and homosexuality have historically been a bit polarizing, I’m curious.
How they come about who was to be in it. The obvious stupid joke is “Well, the gay guys” so let’s just get that out of the way. But seriously, I wonder how they did it. Pulled names from out of a hat, like some of Bochy’s lineups?(rimshot)Eeny meeny miney mo? Did Bowtie and Baer just say “Okay, you, you, you, you and you”. And did anyone absolutely refuse to participate?
That was either a very interesting meeting or a dull one. I’m guessing they were all volunteers. That’s the only thing that kind of explains Bam Bam in there. Just curious.
Maybe the guys who get taunted by opposing teams the most decided to participate. I hope they email a video link to Roger McDowell. I’m sure it’ll bring a tear to his eye.
Did I miss something?
Yeah. McDowell would be real touched
I guess you did, chuck. The Giants put out a PSA to encourage the teenage LGBT community to hang in there and don’t let the bullying get to you. It featured Cain, Torres, Romo, Zito and Bam Meuhler (I’m sure I spelled that wrong)
Thanks for translating, xoot
Apparently, none of these guys are on the God squad . . .
Was it Mark Grant that refused to participate in the AIDS awareness day?
Mark Dewey.
It’s a video designed to help faggots, chuck.
That should have been down here
None of you guys are in touch with your femine side I take it???
Back to Baseball
When Stubhub list the Seat Row as 00 is that front row or top of stadium??
Ahhh. Funny that the “It gets better” video leads off with Zito.
Will it ever get better for you, Barry?
Bam Bam speaks Japanese.
Ted, I’m assuming Bam Bam is in there because he speaks Japanese . . .
Oh. Well, that makes sense. I haven’t actually seen it yet, only read about it.
Quit bullying Zito!!
Femine side?
I sleep with Mickey and Zeke…
Ah yes, left off a few letters.
Femine or vermin?
Pablo having a good BP. Hit one out left-handed. That’s very good news. Now let me get to tonight’s lineup…
Are you kidding me? Two of our first four batters rank in the bottom 6th in the NL in OPS. And Tejada’s OBP is .240. How the fuck is that even possible? I thought they gave ya .250 for strappin’ on the uni.
Flav already told that joke about a month ago
Tejada is .275 pts below his career OPS of .795. He currently sits at .520.
He takes an O fer tonight and he’ll be in my area code.
Okay, that’s new
OK, I want some June predictions. 16H 12A on the schedule that includes 3 with the Rox, 4 with the Reds, 3 in Arizona and 7 with the AL. How many wins for this month of June that includes Flag Day (that’s flag with an ‘l’), Father’s Day, the beginning of summer and Take Your Dog to Work Day?
I’ll go with an even 14-14. See, I am not a pessimist.
I approve of the “It Gets Better Campaign” for two reasons.
1. Bullying and descrimination against anyone is wrong and shouldn’t be tolerated.
2. At least the club is getting some return on salary from Zito this year.
Schulman wrote something today that I don’t understand. He said the support Sanchez, Sandoval and Posey are getting in the AllStar voting is impressive because the Giants have only played 21 home games.
What’s the significance of that?
Less home games = less chance for the fans to vote at the stadium. But with all the on line voting nowadays, I don’t know if the significance is as great as it once was.
Oh. Thanks. Geez, I haven’t voted for an All Star since I was around 12. I have no memory it had to be done at the stadium at one point
76 more starts.
Eli is now 2-11 throwing out runners. Good thing he calls a durn good game..
and he’s quite the hitter with 2 hits since Buster went down……
Kroon to stay at Fresno. Was some talk about him going back to Japan. Grizz also released Terry Evans. I believe he had a couple of cups of coffee with the Halos. Never could hit.
Huff the magic drag . . . . on and on . . .
Dirt, good post . . . Any discrimination, including denigrating language/bullying toward ANY group or individual is reprehensible.
except Justin Bieber
No salami this time
Or Zito . . .
Timmy’s a little squirrelly tonight. Speaking of vermin . . .
SEVENTY-SIX more starts.
Thank Christ he calls a good game, however.
Ted, your earlier post on the last page . . . I disagree Ted (even though I know you were probably joking). Anyone. I popped off last year regarding Choo (Cleveland Indians) . . . Didn’t know who he was and I got him on my FL team – I used a derogatory Asian term and I was WRONG and was RIGHTLY called on it. Forgot which Flapper said something, but he was right.
OK, go Giants!
Nice the way Ross is heating up. Maybe he likes the heat and humidity in Archville. Crawford keeps me smiling. That kid wants to succeed NOW at the ML level. Inspirational start to his career.
Torres is one of those guys who will rake the same pitch he looked the fool on..
Huff Daddy!
Oh yeah!!
As Kruk would say, he juuuuust missed the one in the first..
A rare appearance by Huff the Magic Dragon. Yeah! Little Jackie Paper must be rolling up another one. He had to been jonesing a bit, what with Aubrey’s recent struggles. And Timmy gets a lead. 90 pitches through 6. Not too bad.
It would be nice to see Tim go 8 and give it to Wilson.
you can scratch that idea. Son of a motherless fuck. Who the hell was that guy?
Timmy hang ’em, you bang ’em.
That’s not happenin’ now.
There’s gotta be a Gomez to blame that on.
They score 4 runs for his ass, and he’s supposed to win. This shit’s all on him.
Jesus, he’s lost it. Do NOT let him face Albert.
I’d like to blame Whitey but we all know he calls a good game.
Tejada’s the only reg w/o a hit, must be his fault. Goddammit Timmy.
Might be a blessing in disguise that they didn’t call strike 2 on Albert.
Casilla’s fearless. Never gives in…
Wow, that’s an awful big McDonalds out there in St. Loo…
Probably had Tim distracted.
Whitey got it goin’ on.
I think it was Flemming who earlier said Timmy didn’t really have it. Then he gave up the PH home-run to Craig. But, including this start, he’s gone 22 1/3 innings without giving up a walk–since his battering by Rocks on May 16.
Maye he needs to give up some walks.
NATE!!!!!!!!!!
Helluvan AB there . . .
Nate in the clutch!
YAHTZEE!!!!!