Yesterday’s Press Conference, A Few Must Do’s and A Great Pic to End The Season
Kind of a weirdo news conference from Bochy and Sabean yesterday. Things that stuck out:
1) He nixed the idea of Hector Sanchez being ready and yet they never really took a look at him. Bochy talked about him not being able to do the *little things* and I’m down with that, I trust his assessment on catchers. But when did he assess him? In practice?
2) Both Sabean and Bochy alluded to Huff not coming to camp in shape. I’m sorry, but this didn’t get explained enough. I can dig the Panda thing, he came in fat and got fatter and finally couldn’t play baseball anymore at the end of the 2010 season. But Huff looks exactly the same as he did in 2010 as he did this year. Was this just 100% a cardiovascular issue? What would that have to do with him hitting 46 million ground balls to second base? And if he wasn’t doing something in the offseason to prepare why wasn’t he doing it during the season? I guess what I’m asking is, what did Aubry Huff NOT do last Winter to set himself up for this horrible season? There weren’t enough questions asked about this *not being in shape* thing….
3) Sabean used Pill as an example for why Belt wasn’t ready. I used the same example last week to explain why Pill *looked* like the better prospect right now. But Pill isn’t a prospect and that’s an example from Sabean that concerns me. He is on record as saying Pill isn’t a prospect, he’s a filler guy who they brought up to reward him for his two big RBI year’s in the minors. And now he’s using Pill as a reference to Belt, their top position player in the minors? That makes no sense. He went on to say that he thinks the Giants are going too fast with these guys through the system. Sorry, but putting on the breaks on all the prospects is dumb. You bring guys up who are ready, they aren’t all on the same calendar. Belt got a chance and so did Crawford. They weren’t ready. Apparently, Hector wasn’t either though I don’t know how the Hell they figured that out with Whitey and Stewey getting most of the at bats in September. That doesn’t mean that ALL the prospects need to be brought along slowly………
4) I don’t pay a lick of attention to press conferences, everyone lies. But it’s interesting to try to read through the BS and try to sort out the semi-truths from the all-out lies. I’m not optimistic about the off season. I think Sabean is going to fall back on Posey and Franchez to fix this and that’s a huge mistake considering Freddy is a glass tiger and Posey is coming off a horrific ankle injury. Sadly, he might not have any money from the *rainy day guys* to sign anyone anyway. That could turn out to be a saving grace. The Free Agent market, outside of a few of the guys we’ve discussed, really sucks.
I have a feeling that this off season is going to have me doing a slow burn…….
A few moves (or non-moves) I’d like to see this year:
1) Don’t trade Dirrrrrty. At his lowest value and with us in huge need of a #5, it would be a mistake to trade him. Hope for the best with him. Surkamp will always be there if need be, laying in the weeds……
2) I think we have a better chance of signing Santa Claus than Beltran. Therefore we need to either fix the lead off spot or put another bat behind/in front of Posey. One of those things HAS to get down. I’d sign Josh Willingham to play LF and bat in the middle of our LU or sign Coco Crisp to play CF. I am far more interested in Willy than Crispy. I’d take the Crisp from 2010 with Oakland, much less enamored with the Crisp from 2011. But he is the only CF leadoff guy I can see on the FA market–his health is my biggest concern about him.
3) Find a back up catcher. A guy like Doumit, if the Pirates don’t pick up his option, would be fine. No more Stew-Whitey jibber jabber….
4) If they don’t sign Crisp find a way to sign Rollins. I don’t really see how a deal like this gets down, it’s more hope than anything else. He’d be much more expensive than Crisp and more years but would be much better at the top of the LU and if the Giants find a way to give JR a 3-4 year deal than maybe they start looking at the shortstops in their system as trade bait instead of *future star* guys. You can never have enough trade bait….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
BTW, WTF is Loo? Super Saturday at Belmont tomorrow, and he’s nowhere to be found.
2/1 says he’s shacked up with a couple of Mike D’Antoni front row whores.
They can pick up a FA 5 pitcher on the cheap.
So, to make this clear, Sanchez was:
a) Injured
b) Squeezed by the umps
c) Rattled because he GETS squeezed by the umps
d) Didn’t trust his catchers’ defense
e) Didn’t trust his catchers’ pitch calls
f) Rattled by all the takes
It’s a wonder he won any games this year.
Am I being an asshole? Sure. I just don’t get the excuse machine being cranked up for the guy. He’s proven time and again that he can be out-of this world. He’s also shown more often than not he can be lost in space. I’ve never called him a fucking headcase, Mike. You got that bug up yer ass from somewhere else. My take has always been if they are gong to trade pitching, he’s the guy. More now than ever. You’re worried about a 5th starter? Shit, there are a ton of guys the Giants can get for cheap on the FA market. If they can get someone in return, all the better. I still think McCutchen has made it clear that he doesn’t want to stay in Pittsburgh. Work on a deal.
“Am I being an BLEEP?” “Sure.” Your honesty is commendable. Few would be so frank.
Yes, you are being an asshole, but more importantly, you have completely exaggerated how “bad” he was this year. Fact is, you discount ANY possible reason for the huge drop off from April/May to June. Your theory? None, he just fell off the face of the earth for no reason whatsoever. Fact: ANYTIME a pitcher has the kind of fall off he did in June, the team looks at all possible reasons- and there almost always is one- mechanics, injury, BOTH, maybe personal problems- they look at every fucking thing I’ve brought up- just as they with Tim last August. So just STFU with your “excuse” bullshit- they look for explanations.
The neighbors are probably hearing loud noises from the Chuck abode! Call the cops!
Obviously, if you can’t hit a guy ( and Dirty has been one of the most unhittable pitchers in the bigs based BA against).- a pretty fucking reasonable strategy is to take pitches. And no one has ever denied that Jonathon can let close calls that go against him, get to him, visibly. Hence, he also became of the most squeezed guys in the league..
Anyway, just because a serviceable 5 can be picked up does not address the fact that they are woefully thin in their system for pitching prospects. If they trade Dirty- they have the new 5, Zito, Surkamp- then nobody.
Just FYI- when Buster went down he had a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts covering 64 innings , walking 34 striking out 71. Post Buster, until he went on the DL, he had 5 starts covering 25.2 IP, walked 25, K’ed 21. 4.91 ERA. Make of those numbers what you will, but it’s a drastic difference.
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Ah worrying about the 5th starting pitcher…….how about thinking about the back-up catcher? That’s what they do on the BEAT.
Chuck is a no nonsense guy, he’d be good filling in for one of those “tough love” guys.. or that drill sargeant turned psychiatrist-
” So you lost yer legs, pussy? Suck it up and crawl, punk”
Seriously, all reasons are excuses to Chuckles.
Whatever, Mike. Pick up yer guitar and start singing Kumbaya. I’ll join ya later.
I don’t see Drrrty coming back into form. I think they should trade him while they can.
No amount of pissing, moaning, excuserating, or otherwise from you will change my mind.
No one else had an appreciable drop-off going from Jesus to Whitey. And if they did, it was a blip. Not the huge drop-off of Sanchez.
Make of the numbers what I will? Well, it certainly doesn’t point to injury. It points to Sanchez freaking out/losing his mojo/busting a nut in some way shape or form.
What happens if Sanchez starts next year scuffling, walking guys, and generally being inconsistent? Does he get the year to straighten his shit out? Huff’s on the choke chain. Why not Drrrty? Even IF the pitching’s thin, what happens if Sanchez doesn’t get going? Yeah, I knopw. Bubbles and Surkamp, and then it’s dumpster diving.
Hey there’s some good stuff in them dumpsters!