Guest Post From WillieD
Cutting and Pasting, me like…….thanks WillieD, you’ve brought up some thoughtful questions here…….If you want to take a shot at a guest post, email me with it to bigflavor77@gmail.com. By the way, the BB’s are baaaack! There’s a link to their page in Room B.
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“Contract issues are awaiting Sabean and ownership mostly concern the pitching staff. Sabean has made public comments he intends to focus most of his energy and, more importantly, money in that direction. So how would you play this, given the understanding that payroll does have definite limits?
First, Cain is the most immediate subject…long term or short? What do you hope to settle on?
Second, Lincecum has already said he is more comfortable with shorter term deals…what do you offer him for say two years?
Voggy had a break out season, and got very public praise from Bochy. Given the uncertainty of the back end of rotation (we’ll get to that shortly), what kind of offer do you make? One year with club option, or longer?
Given the money involved btw J sanchez, Zito and Surkamp or another prospect, what is the best solution for #5 starter? Note:
“He sleeps with the fish” not a part of the discussion.
“He sleeps with the fish” not a part of the discussion.
How many of the pen guys that are arb eligible do you tender? Is there anyone on the list you can afford to lose, like Affeldt? Who out of all the them can you least afford to let go, either by not entering into negotiations, or by signing and then trading?
Anyway, I think it’s obvious how much money is spent here is going to in large part determine what’s left over to spend elsewhere. As I said in an earlier thread, if Sabes is not going to spend much to help the offense, he better have the best pitching money can buy.”
And from Chris Jaffe at the Hardball Times, it’s the 10 year anniversary of this date in Giants history. 10 years??????
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I sure hope they get Cain locked in soon. He was the cornerstone in building the recent 3 year run and an understated leader in the club house. Lincecum is smart to go 2 years at a time. If he stays healthy he’ll end up with more money that way. Trying to extend him long term you may as well open the vaults. 2 cy youngs, world series, league leading SO arm. Who is even comparable? The two most recent “franchise” arms are Sabathia and Lee. Lincecum is younger than both. Sanchez in the 5. I don’t see Sabean doing any different at this point. The BP is a toss up. Sabean’s strength is finding undervalued arms so maybe Affeldt walks and he tries to find cost savings here.
Nothing for the hated one. Maybe he can try the solo flex or total gym this off season.
reason I put this stuff out here is because I really don’t know what to do, other than keeping JS in the #5 (and yes, Blade, I really don’t have any qualitative analysis to explain his 2011 downturn). We’ve always had talk about trading one of the two aces for a bat…they’ve hit the stage in their career where they are going to be very expensive to keep, but deals involving past aces seem to indicate it’s impossible to get equal value if you trade them. Could we live without one (moving bum and vogs up a notch)if it meant a middle order stick?
As to the pen, I think it is tremendous advantage for SF over almost all other teams. I’m on James’s side in the “closer as overrated” argument. I think Sf has great group of RHPs out there, including Mota, and ideally I want to keep them all. The LHPs are different, and I really am not sure where Runzler is best suited. How many of all of them in the pen are best off facing one guy, or going a whole inning regardless of the batter? Plus, I haven’t followed minor league guys at all, so I am completely unaware of anyone who might be able to step in.
So I just put this out there to see what the rest of you guys think is the best way to go. It’s interesting to read blogs from those fans whose teams either didn’t make it (like red sox) or who lose out in the playoffs. Tampa, which won 1 more game (and 1 playoff) than Sawx, seems to be the team headed more in right direction, despite the discrepancy in payroll.
I’m on board with sending most of the dough Cain and Lincecum’s way, including going to arbitration with Dirrrrty again. To me, that’s a no brainer. Give him 5 million and hope he re-captures 2010. If he doesn’t it’s just 5 mil down the tube and then we just go find a regular #5 that everyone else has. Think “Welly”. But I am fine with Sabes gambling 5 million in order to have an edge on everyone else with a stud #5……
Kruk spoke on this on his morning radio show today: the Giants don’t need to sign Pujols or any other hitter to a monster contract. They need to sign the “Posey’s and the Franchez'”– guys that hit the ball to all fields. They should NEVER sign a pull hitter, those guys die quick deaths at ATT.
The only reason I think they should take a shot at Reyes is that he would break the NL triples record hitting at ATT. He would CONSTANTLY be standing on 3rd base. That alone would turn this offense around…..
Agree with the signing of hitters that use the whole field. They also need more speed. These are two thing that will play to SFs home field and translate on the road. Sandoval, Posey, Belt and Ross if he comes back can provide the pop.
The Giants always seem slow. They run the bases like lumberjacks with big boots. Sure a non hitter like Ford is a luxury and welcome but the everyday players frequently look out of shape and slow footed when running the bases or running in OF.
I run like a lumberjack with no boots
I presume that Flavor meant LH pull hitters- RH pull hitters do well here- you need to check their splits on where they hit the ball, of course…
frankly, I think we’ll have to happy with a back up catcher and Coco Crisp as the “major” acquisitions his winter, although a pretty fair FA SS might be Detroit’s Ramon Santiago. Wouldn’t cost a bunch, he can hit a little, and he’s a plus defender. 2 years at 4 per until Adrianza or Panik is ready..
Panik and Crawford are both playing in the AFL, wich opened yesterday. Gary Brown is also there. They’re with the Scottsdale Scorpions, yesterday’s opener was rained out.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/afl/index.jsp
Speed and slash hitting. Yes. Yes. Yes. That’s how PhoneBill park is configured. Keep the Aces and pay them well. Perhaps Cain would be amenable to a three year offer. He has earned it. At least one of the lefty tandem of Affeldt and Lopez must be retained. I’d prefer both stay. Runzler may be key to acquiring an adequate SS or backup catcher. It might need to be Runzler+.
Though i follow the Giants minor league stepladder not quite as closely as T.F., i’m not very well acquainted with the pipelines of other teams. Point is, there have to be players, whether currently rostered in The Show, or still on minor league rosters, who may be quite lacking in major power numbers and thus are not considered prime prospects; but who get on base a lot and have great wheels. There is where Sabean and his scouting and development people should currently concentrate. Imagine, if Gary Brown gets the call sometime after the Break next season, and he gets to join up with another slash and run hitter. With some zippy wheels at the top of the L.U. Panda, Posey and Belt can have plenty of ducks on the pond. Add those factors to again dominant pitching and ‘voila’! 90++ wins virtually guaranteed.
Angel Villalona dropped his lawsuit against the Giants.
http://tinyurl.com/3uyz2mr
He’s gonna go where? The Flying Squirrels? Think he gets a sshot at camp?
I don’t see why not. . .
Posey, Burrell, Uribe were all productive power hitters at ATT in 2010, and none of them hit it out to RF here. No RH hitters do. Of course you want guys who will go the other way, that’s just standard good hitting, but the HRS fron RH hitters art going to be pulled.
I think you’re right Twin about Crisp and that is about it. I would rather see Reyes as the only move then retain Ross and Torres. That would solve the lead off and D up the middle but I don’t think Reyes is leaving the east coast.
One more note on Tony Pluck- now that he had a pretty good year with Milwaukee, it’s a little easier to suggest a trade in hindsight. In real time, however, Sabean would have been contemplating a trade for a guy who had zero HRs and 24 RBI in over 500 AB in 2010. His OBP was .319, OPS .633. He stole 34 bases and was caught 17 times. And he’s insane..
Insane, probably. But, his 2011 numbers were nothing like his 2010 numbers. He seemed to try the *team thing* this year. And to his credit, he fit in real well…..
That’s the point, they didn’t have 2011 numbers, they had 2010. Sabean would have been the insane one, to trade for him “just in case”.. If they knew Torres, Huff, Miggy, etc. would have shitty 2011 numbers, he could have done a lot of things differently.
“(and yes, Blade, I really don’t have any qualitative analysis to explain his 2011 downturn)”
WillieD . . . I know what you meant, but you probably wanted to use the word “quantitative” versus qualitative in your comment above. Qualitative aspects are abstract; they either do not require measurement or cannot be measured because the reality they represent can only be approximated. Knowledge of these aspects is gained through observation combined with interpretative understanding of the underlying thing or phenomenon. Conversely, “quantitative” is based on measurable data gathered from a wide range of sources, often followed by objective analysis (qualitative is subjective). A general description includes facts, figures and scientific observation that can be statistically analyzed and then can be reduced to something that can be enumerated.
Anywho, I know what you were trying to say.
does this post qualify?
Know what I’m saying?
🙂
Is Furcal also a FA this year? Not saying I like him but I could see Sabean taking a shot there too
Giant neg to Furcal. He’s got a chonic bad back, he’s never going to be a full time player again……
Didn’t Furcal have like 5 errors in the last 6 games, something like that. He’s still got some occasional pop but he doesn’t even run anymore. No no no. I still think it couild end up being Kepp at short. I’ll be watching the AFL closely, though…
Hey did you guys know that Mariano Rivera has something about his finger that puts extra movement on his cutter? Yeah. Its a little know fact. I only mention it because I am stuck at lunch watching as OTL is running yet another yankee pole smoking piece. I grudgingly repsect Rivera, Posada and Jeter because they’ve been real pros throughout their careers but I don’t know how you east coast flappers deal with it. It is a true testament to your team loyalty that you continue to support the Giants in the face of the constant psy-ops level bombardement. Now Selig wants to add another wild card? Sweet jesus why? So we can be subjected to more yankee tea bagging as their core hits the downside of their careers? I’m pulling for an NL club, any club to win it again just so that sorry as softball league gets shown up again. I just haven’t been able to watch this post season. The only good news I have gotten in the last ten days was the foot of snow in the sierras and predictions of la nina winter. At least I can look forward to carving up the powder this winter as the soft afterglow of basking slowly fades.
If early in his career, Posada had been injured the way Posey was, it’s likely MLB would have put some rules in place.
I haven’t seen comment on it but it appeared to me that Napoli had the plate blocked before he got the ball. That’s supposed to be illegal
Wasn’t Reid Brignac a former “must have”? In fact, I think it was similar to the Morgan deal- in case Uribe and Renteria both got hurt, we’d have Reid at the ready. I’m not singling out anybody on that. Face it-we’d all suck as GMs. For every pretty good idea, there’s 6 Mike Jacobs’…Brignacs…whathisname- the guy with the bad back who hit a shitload of minor league HRS, I was hot for him… I bet we could field a line up of guys we wanted who are out of baseball.
Cantu?
Totally unrelated to this thread but has anyone here used PECOTA as a way to help sort out draft order for fantasy baseball? I used Bloomberg Sports last year and I thought it was pretty good for projecting hitters and downright terrible for pitchers. I’m thinking about making the switch to PECOTA next year but I thought I’d ask you guys here about your experiences.
I use Ron Shandler’s numbers. He’s sold his company and quit the game because he can’t compete anymore. But that’s just because he’s a huge, stubborn pussy. His numbers are rock solid (except his speed numbers are way off, disregard them).
Anyway, you can order his book in a couple of months, it’s like $20. Anyway, check him out…….
Very cool. Thanks for the tip, flava.
Shane Victorino just did his best Timmy Lupus impersonation. He threw the ball backwards from the outfield. That’s a tough one to pull off. That’s even harder than doing Christopher Walken.
…or Peter Lupus for that matter
How about the squirrel running through the batter’s box? THAT’S entertainment, folks!
I thought his form was very Torres-like. Or some might say “Vungo-esque”…
I was waiting for Marvin the Martian to chase him to the dugout.
Unca_Charlie Manuel said on the postgame he wished he had a gun. He woulda fixed that little poor squirrel’s wagon. I’m sure he’ll get some backlash for that comment. I’d let it slide. Charlie’s nothing but a dumb country bumpkin. He was just thinking back about how his family put food on the table.
Twin, I (and many others) just received an email from you that looks suspiciously like spam/phishing attack, i.e., subject heading is “4” and a link after this unusual sentence, “It will turn you into a cool and reserved man again.”
Obviously, you didn’t send it, but you need to know that someone has “hijacked” your hotmail email account.
Hope they lose tomorrow. ARF should win out.
he knows, he sent something out yesterday saying to ignore/delete it.
No Flav, this is a second one . . . I just received it 25 minutes ago, i.e., he may not be aware of this one.
noted.
Back to back jacks by the D’Backs One a granny.
AZ coming back . . .
Swickman, if you missed it above:
I use Ron Shandler’s numbers. He’s sold his company and quit the game because he can’t compete anymore. But that’s just because he’s a huge, stubborn pussy. His numbers are rock solid (except his speed numbers are way off, disregard them).
Anyway, you can order his book in a couple of months, it’s like $20. Anyway, check him out…….
Squirrel is pretty good eating. My Mom made it every once in awhie. I have no idea where she obtained it and have never asked.
I’ve closed my Hotmail account.
michael.scott2@mchsi.com you can use
OR:
mscott050@gmail
those hackers don’t know shit, they said you wanted to meet me at this cool place. 🙂
That’s how you knew it wasn’t from me. Coolest place I get to to is the farm center..
Even though it supposedly worked, I don’t go for pinch hitting for Saunders in the THIRD. We’ll see what the pen gives up.
Lonely sows and bitches are dying to meet you.
Everyone in Palo alto is boo hooin’ the Jobs passing. I admit I am saddened by his death while so many idiots continue to walk the earth….
He was one of the most significant men of this century and last. He went through a lot, I understand that he passed away peacefully. RIP.
He changed a lot of industries. What are now common devices and mediums of our daily existence wouldn’t be the same without him. Way more than “a computer guy”.
Wonder if, somehow, they’ll work “So you wanna sell sugar water the rest of your life?” into his eulogy.
How about a hard hitting Chuck as a guest host! Throw in a few bleeps, it just might be a very provocative endeavor!
I would be honored if Chuck wanted to guest blog a giants thread. I’d love to do the same at his place but he changes the thread like 12 times a day. Not worth it 🙂
Hey, I can’t meet yer once a day pace . . . funny thing is, my wife tells me the same thing.
I remember seeing him discuss Apple products as a bicycle for the mind. Jobs was a brilliant organizer and visionary thinker. RIP
Steve Jobs took obssessive, detail-focused gay fastidiousnes to a whole new level. He personally selected the bricks for the wall around Pixar in Emeryville, ensuring that the pattern of color was just – – right. He browbeat engineers of all types to make computers and phones sleek, simple and elegant. He brow beat the software engineers similarly. Interesting legacy, for a businessman. The revival of Apple was impressive. One of the most important people of the last two centuries? Ridiculous.
Bill Shockley . . .
He pretty much started the whole transistor/chip revolution . . .
And no one knows who he is. . . .