What Happened to Huff and Where Will he Play in 2012?
Big college football weekend so this will be quick. I still don’t understand what the hell Bochy and Sabean were talking about regarding Huff at their press conference. They both attributed his down year to not doing enough in his off season conditioning program. They threw in all the requisite press conference bs like “we’re here to win” and “Aubry was humbled by this year” and “he’s gotta pull more weight”. But then on the Giants website they have Huff saying “Huff took full accountability for his year, saying he began the season with mechanical problems before his problems became more mental than anything….”
Huh?
Everyone was praising Sabes/Bochy for that forthcoming press conference but they left more questions unanswered than answered. What EXACTLY did Huff NOT do in his off season workout program? He looked exactly the same in 2010 as he did in 2011 so it wasn’t a weight issue. And I still don’t see how *being out of shape* results in you hitting 464 billion bouncing balls to 2nd base. Plus, Huff himself is on the Giants website saying it was a mechanical/mental thing.
Huff got married in the off season and his wife gave birth to their first child. Was he up all night helping feed the baby and too tired to do anything the next day? Who knows.
He did rake the ball in Spring Training so I don’t understand why his suggested poor conditioning didn’t show itself then. Something that was NEVER brought up was his 1 on/1 off pattern from year to year. Sabean even brought up “the back of his baseball card” without mentioning that. It was actually mentioned at this blog several times last off season and it’s a pretty obvious pattern. I am assuming that Huff knows this too and that’s what he meant when he said “and then it became a mental thing.” If so, we are in for a nice year in 2012. Plus that baby’s sleep pattern might be a little more regular and the dude is finally getting some sleep 🙂
I’d like to see Belt at first base next season with Pill getting some playing time against lefties. Pill might also learn how to play the outfield. Something that never seems to get brought up is that we have very little right handed hitting power in this team. Outside of Posey and Panda (when he can swing right handed) it would be nice to have another right handed hitting bat in the LU or coming off the bench in the later innings. I could absolutely see Pill with that role next season and if the Giants don’t go get a *Willingham* or someone comparable to play left field, it could be *Huffy* out there with Belt at first base…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Hopefully next season will be a better one for Huff.
Well if everyone was concerned with his on-year, off-year pattern, why offer him a two-year contract?
I think he split time in left with Cuddyer and back up Belt at first..
I wonder how the rain out last night is going to affect the Tigers. Hopefully there will be another rain out so that Vertlander can definitely get a second start in this series…
Betting wise, I scored big on Georgia and G-Tech last week, got to ride those ponies again…
You wanna ride a pony today? There’s a couple of fast ones running in the Vosburgh today at Belmont. I so much want to pick Force Freeze, but I’m chickenshit. It’s Trappe Shot’s race to lose. Exacta box?
Shit, ANOTHER head-case?
I’d like to ask Loo what he thinks of the Mets R Tejada. He had a decent offensive year, with .360 OB/not much pop. Can he play SS or not? If the Mets re-sign Reyes, would he be an acceptable option defensively for SF?
Huff being on notice could also have to do with the psychology of Brandon Belt. Way the kid was jacked around and yo-yoed during the season there is little wonder his hitting tended to run in fits and starts. Worst examples happened more than once~ maybe it was one of those R-L matchup things ~ where he had an excellent game and then rode pine the next game and often several. NOT a good way to instill confidence in a young kid with only a year of professional baseball behind him. My read is that with steady action at his preferred position Belt will come around to becoming a minor monster at the plate with a .280 BA, 25-30 dingers and around 180 runs produced.
The stuff piled on Huff is maybe a way of telling him that he will be banished to LF with occasional bouts at 1B when the matchup favors his skill set more than Belt’s.
We avg. < 3 runs/gm at home this yr. Any chance they put some seats out there in triples alley and shorten the yard? That's been a hot topic on KNBR lately.
DMD, I’ve seen that mentioned a lot in the blogosphere lately. I’m not in the bay area so I don’t hear the sports talk but I think it is a bad idea and hope it doesn’t happen. I like the unique element that phone book park has from right to center. Plus the triple is one of the most exciting plays.
I think it’s a long shot myself, and you know how I feel about long shots. But the fact that there’s even a discussion makes ya think twice. It’s a 20/1 shot at best.
If there was something ridiculous like that mole hill in Houston out in center I would be all for changing it but i like the way it plays in SF. When you think that the CF needs to be one of your athletic players why would you install a disaster waiting to happen like that?
They’re not going o sign Cuddyer to play LF against LH pitchers…
And Belt was not jacked around- he was never brought up to start regularly ( except when he made the team out of camp, and that was made clear. One of the most persistent and ridiculous myths is that a rookie has to play every single day or he’s going to atrophy. They WANT him to be the first baseman- unsaid about Huff probably moving to LF is just how awful Brandon was there…he’ll have another chance to be the first baseman,it’s up to him to take advantage..
Pill? I really don’t remember him getting a hit off of anything except that “get it in fastball”. Maybe a couple, but that’s about it. We’ll see but I doubt that the organization, and all the scouting sites, and experts are wrong about him. I hope they are, as he would provide a nice RH bat, as Flavor notes. I can see him making the team in a role like Ishikawa had in 2010, and if he did as well, we’d all be pleased.
If anything, this looks to be an interesting off season. There’s a lot of guys that are on thin ice. A lot of guys that may not be coming back.
The thing is, and I’m not saying this is going to happen, but maybe the exec committee tells Sabes that they are sick and tired of going the vet route. No FAs. They tell Sabes play the kids. Crawford, Pill, Belt, H Sanchez, Schierholtz, and Surkamp and let the chips fall where they may. Huff gets his 40 games to keep his job. Zito gets the heave-ho. Ross, Burrell, Torres, Cabrera, Keppie, Fontie all go bye-bye.
The FA results have been hot and cold these past few years. Maybe they say to Sabes, we’re counting on your drafts this time around.
Sabean? Good luck. We’re all counting on you.
Wrong video, nix that one. Count on this one…
These goddamn videos are distracting me and taking away my handicapping time.
I’ll know who to blame when my horse comes up short today.
Hint: he wears a red #11.
Yeah, one year after winning their first WS in over 50 years, the “board” is going to play down the law to Sabean…sure. They weren’t sick of how Sabes did it in 2007, 2008.. but now they are? Right, skippy.
Mike, you have as much clue as the rest of us as to what they are planning this offseason. Which is zippo, zippy.
They could very well go the path of the goddamn Yorks and cheap out to the extreme.
Actually, dippy, one of the main reasons Neuk is gone is that he hadn’t extended Sabean and Bochy- nobody’s going to be laying down the law to Sabean OR Bochy, pal. Sabean will act with 100% backing this winter no matter what he does. His plan began in 2006 and has now produced 88, 92, and 86 wins,and the promise of perennial contention..
any rooks and young guys who make the squad wil be there because Bochy selected them, there will be no edict..
This euphemistically vague “not doing enough in the off season” is a long-term malady, distinguishable by its duration from the also purportedly mysterious “foodpoisoning/stomach flu” affliction, which runs its course in less than a week. I’ll bet there’s nothing mysterious about either disease, to the team’s baseball operations people. Remember Bruce Jenkins reporting even before the season started that the Giants had determined lack of off-season conditioning would ruin Zito’s season? And Pablo came down with the same syndrome in 2010 (after a good ST and a red hot April). I think the team knows a huge amount about the players’ health and strength. If you were paying guys millions of dollars to be in good shape, wouldn’t you devise ways to monitor their status?
I hope Xoot is staying in shape. P90X discs will help.
When I asked for votes on whether we would have won the division had Posey and Fruckie not been hurt, all who responded were enthusiastic in stating that the Giants definitely would have. Now many of the same people talk as if a huge overhaul is needed. Respectfully: bullshit.They’ve acknowledged the need for a strong back up for Buster. Beyond that, maybe Crisp ( ho-hum) , and you’d be looking at the changes, maybe a new guy or two in the pen, and Dirty back in the rotation. If the injury load were normal next year, it would be a 90+ win team again.
That sounds good!
I’m going to keep the playoff pick thread up until the WS has ended..I’ll change the other thread regularly.
FWIW, I like Drosselmeyer in the JGC. He’s the not the best or most talented, but knows his roll. Reminds me of Bochy. Smart and cagey. And least us not forget, the dumb horse did win the Belmont. [horse take of hat and scratches his head in dismay]
But STAY THIRSTY is running as well… that’s why God made an exacta…
I finished 2nd and 3rd. Story of my life. My life story will never make print. It’s DVD material that goes straight to video. You’ll find that tape in the .99 cent bin right along with TF’s and Chuck’s thoughts on sports.
DVDs still available. Shit, they’ll even pay the S&H to take it off your hands.
It sucks to lose.
Better shovel out the horsebleep.
I know Flav is a Stanford fan. Shit, you’re probably going to the game tonight. I’m looking forward to watching the Tree open up a can of whoop ass on those shitty Bruins. Rick Neuheisel has been skating on thin ice for far too long…let’s embarrass that NCAA (he always seems to win the goddamn March Madness pool) pathetic excuse for a head coach.
Stanford? Kick the Bruins’ ass all the way back into the woods. We’re fav. by 21. Double that number on the scoreboard and FUCLA.
Not going to the game. Gonna hit a tailgate for a bit and then across the street to a friend’s par-tay. Cardinal Country everywhere you look around here these days…….
Well the good news is that without the MLB servers having to serve up a full schedule of games I can watch full screen HiDef playoff baseball without skips, jumps and jitter.
Now, if I just knew what management was going to do in the off-season I’d be set.
go Cardinals! which girls game is going tonight?
Shit. I’ve been watching the ponies all morning and afternoon, I just now saw the final of the Snakes and Brewers.
Any of you guys see that game? I’d appreciate a brief summary. Thanks.
Brew Crew won.
You’re welcome.
Too brief?
Da Prince in action
Ed, I got the Phils/Cards on the big screen now…looks like they found their hittin’ shoes…
As I speak, Victorino drives in another run..
Just put the Phils and Yanks in the WS and dispense with the formalities.
Without the Giants in the playoffs my interest is on the wane. Yeah I’ll watch but not with any particular interest. Phillies and Detroit if I had a gun to my head.
I think you guys know where I stand when our Giants are out of the equation…
How bout dem Yankees!
St. Louis was up 3-0, scored 6 runs; and still lost.
OH, My!
From the desk of the Burns sistahs:
Mr. Sabean,
We’re sick and tired of you signing these over the hill vets. At least Pat was cute, but Cabrera? Tejada? Huff starts panting before we even get the thong off. We want ’em young, we want ’em in shape. And we want ’em cheap…
“cheap”
Can’t wait to see Denny’s reaction to tomorrow’s niner game. Question for you Denny: if the Niners had even one legit receiver this gAme (minus the double teamed Vernon) how many qb’s would you trust throwing for us tomorrow?
“That’s a fargin’ trick question! “
Crabtree so far has some nice catches…..
Good thing Max Scherzer has got a couple more runs behind him in the sixth, as his 82 pitches through 5 do not bode well for long continuation of what has become the pitching performance of his career to date.
No one but Giants fans care, but Ron Darling was wrong last night when he said “If the catcher is blocking the plate, the rules say a runner can run into the catcher.” The fact is, there ARE no rules regarding any of it. The runner can willy nilly decide whether he wants to blow up the catcher or not. There needs to be rules about this sort of thing, but there aren’t.
I can’t cite the codicil or verse, but my understanding is that you cannot bowl over the catcher until he has the ball — but never enforced. I found it more interesting that Ron Darling’s whole discussion revolved around Buster Posey: the announcers were talking about a Buster Posey Effect, wondering if runners are proceeding more gingerly in plays like that.
Nope. don’t think so.
Not if you watch the Cardinals crashing into the Phillies’ Ruiz tonight.
quality day of baseball talk at the blog today. Looks like I need to put up a thread to get you guys going (though I appreciate the attempts from both Stix and Zumie). If you’re a Niner fan take the rest of the day to celebrate this great win in Philly.
Thank you.
Link to the right if you want to comment on the 49er win.
The_Old_Chisholm_Trail.ogg‎
[audio src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/The_Old_Chisholm_Trail.ogg" /]
Slim Clark
*blush* I actually own that album. Everyone needs a good yodel now an again.
Yeah Ed . . . I figured that this place had turned into a graveyard and a yodel would provide a good echo in this room.
🙂
Pretty heavy scoring in the playoffs so far. Giants must not be playing.
Works both ways.