Random Thoughts
Congratulations to Tony LaRussa on a fine career. I suspect that if you thought Pujols was coming back to St Louis next year, instead of going to the Cubs, you wouldn’t be retiring…….
The Indians traded for Derek Lowe. I actually don’t think this was that horrible of a move despite Lowe’s declining win/ERA numbers. He’s a sinker baller who relies on the guys behind him to get to the ball (range) and field it cleanly. The Indians have decent corner defense but suspect defense up the middle with Cabrera and Kipnis so that could be a problem for Lowe. But with sinkerballers (and Lowe’s ground ball rate really hasn’t changed much over the last couple of years) luck and defensive positioning factor in big time. The Indians gave up nothing for him. It was a good gamble by them…….
Brandon Crawford is hitting .333 in the AFL after 11 games. That stat right there outta send Sabes to the ATM to had over another extension to another one of our pitchers. Can’t sign or extend enough of those guys, can he? Meanwhile, our outfield currently sits as one of the most impotent in the league, maybe in all of baseball history in terms of collective home runs produced………
CC Sabathia signed a deal to stay with the Yankees. I love CC, he’s a great pitcher and appears to be a great family man who is extremely active in his community. BUt that dude needs to drop some weight and keep it off. He’s 31, he’s gotten away with being fat up till now. But as he heads into his mid 30’s he’s going to struggle with success, especially later in the season. And “later in the season” is really all the Yankees care about.
I would LOVE to see Yu Darvish pitching for the Yankees—extreme entertainment. I hope they win the rights to negotiate with him….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
So one year anniversary of winning the WS. They are playing Game 5 at 10:00 PM tonight on Comcast Bayarea/KNBR680
Can’t wait for next year.
I think LaRuss was gone either way, and probably contemplated it before they made their big run. His team bailed him out, esp in the Series. I don’t see Pujols going anywhere either–the Cubs have a bunch of bad contracts and under performing guys. To sign him they’d have to lose Ramirez and Pena, which doesn’t leave anyone to hit behind Pujols, who’d walk 200 times. STL won it all without Wainwright–they ante up for another shot.
ATL finally dumped Lowe, who is Zito-lite. Terrible contract, monstrous ERA. That is sure a curious team, who make a lot of moves that often don’t really work out. Alex Gonzalez and Nate McLouth were both failures, and the mgr is a doofus who will have to live with the epic heimlich manuever of 2011 that allowed Cards in.. See what happens with Heyward, who was benched for a long spell and can’t have been too happy about it.
SF is hardly the only team with off season want list.
WillieD– I’m pretty sure Pena was just on a 1-year deal last year. He gone. And the Cubs have a shitload of $$$, they don’t worry about budgets.
Pena was just a one year, correct. And Ramirez is going for free agency- he declined his part of the mutual option.
Yes, you and Flav are right, neither come back automatically. But if they both leave, no one would pitch to Pujols…he wouldn’t have near the level of Berkman/Holliday protecting him.
If I were the Cubs, I would go after Fielder, who is 4 yrs younger.
That would depend on what they could get him for. He’s not nearly the player that Pujols is and he’s obviously not as fit.
yeah, agree. But he’s entering his peak yrs.
Funny, our outfielders had a pathetic total lof 46 HRs between them, and a pathetic cumulative OPS of 2131. That’s 10 more HRs than the Indians OFers total and an OPS higher than the Injuns 2010. That’s ALL players who played the OF. It seems to me that rather than paying a guy who was arguably the worst starting picher in baseball in the second half ( 4-10, 6.20) , the Tribe might have been better off spending some money on an outfield that was even worse than than the pathetic SF Giants. They will pay him 5 of the 10 million owed him, BTW. Actually, these arguments can be made throughout baseball if one makes the supposition that money paid one guy automatically prevents another from being paid. That’s poppycock, of course, but since that’s the premise, no better example than the perennially pathetic Indians.
That Indian name is obsolete. There’s too many “real” Indians now.
Stanford did the right thing.
Injuns? I just did it in case Hawk was lurking. That yella bellied injun lover…
Hey where’s Chuck? I’m ready for a good BLEEP!
Bend over, Nippy. You’ll get bleeped.
BLEEP!
Interesting that Beltran fired Boras and hired Lozano. I imagine that won’t effect how the Giants will be used as pawns in his negotiations with other teams. But still interesting…..
Sources saying LaRussa made up his mind in August.
Xoot puts it less delicately than I have ( see his comments oin my LaRussa page) , but I believe Phone Gate was what finally decided it for him. I do believe that he was simply confused- he got the relievers he called for. That episode ended whatever second thoughts he may have had about retiring.
Not ARF! NO WAY!
To Flapperians Everywhere:
Happy All-baseball Saints Scintillating Series Baskingville Ad Infinitum in Aeterne Anniversary!
And I mean every word of that, whether lost in translation or aswarm with elation.
fwiw, MLBtraderumors projected arb #’s.
Tim Lincecum $19.2
Jonathan Sanchez $5.2
Pablo Sandoval $3.2
Jeff Keppinger $2.7
Andres Torres $2.5
Ryan Vogelsong $2.5
Ramon Ramirez $2.3
Santiago Casilla $1.9
Sergio Romo $1.3
Mike Fontenot $1.3
Nate Schierholtz $1.2
Eli Whiteside $0.7
Emmanuel Burriss $0.6
Have the G’s said anything about their plans for Torres?
Those numbers are IF they are tendered. Torres, Fontenot, Whiteside, and Burriss are all considered non-tender candidates. As far as Andres, I’d guess they’ll offer him a make good contract, he certainly has value off the bench, at least.
Given LaRussa’s infinite denials on McGwire, I don’t tend to believe much of what he says. He likes misdirection, always to advantage himself. He does seem to look tired, even with the dye job. It sounds better, I suppose, if he says he announced to the brain trust in August that he was done, rather than just deciding now after winning it all, to go out on top. I’ll give him credit, the run they had from August onward was special. I thought that beating the Phils was not that big of a deal, but beating the Brewers with their home field advantage was strong…
Snarkk is impressed despite the dye job!
Yu Darvish — sounds like a guy making a Reuben back of the deli counter somewhere in Brighton Beach…
Don’t forget his brothers, the whirling Darvishes . . .
Poor CC. He had just 4 years left at $23M per. Now, he’s got security — 5 years guaranteed at $24.4M per. Timmeh’s agent sends congrats…
Yankees show the way!
Reading — and very much enjoying — Andrew Baggarly’s “A Band of Misfits,” a Father’s Day gift from my son. Perfect time to be reading it.
I know the ending. It’s pretty good….
Hey,Flappers
Long time no contact on my part.Hope all is well with everyone.
I remember you! Welcome!
Hi Kat. Been wondering where you went. Hope you’re back.
My favorite doomer 😉
Really, welcome back…
I too hope Yu Darvish pitches for the Evil Empire ~ and fails to go more than 5 innings in all of his starts.
HOW many days until pitchers and catchers report? At least this year we have something to fill the time with the niners and the cardinal (go figure!).
It sure felt like fall today.
Nov 1 is the start of 4 lame weather months in the bay area. But I wouldn’t mind seeing a good solid rain storm. It’s been a while…
having spent 7 of the last 15 years in new jersey, i can only say: i’m in shorts and they’re shoveling snow. and it’s NO accident!
A blizzard just started here . . . 4 more days and I am in the Caribbean SCUBA diving (Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Marten, and Grand Turks). Snow will be the last thing on my mind.
Plan your dive, dive your plan.
If Sabes were Padi certified, we wouldn’t have so many hit/miss mid-season corrections…
Here, at the heart of the continent, i harvested the last of my cherry tomatoes (they had been covered during early, relatively minor frosts); planted tulips, daffodils, shallots, onions and garlic; continued redevelopment of a small garden; added more topsoil to my totally rebuilt south garden; did more excavation on the pond and did some minor secondary landscaping. Tonight, i cooked up my best ever borscht with beets, cabbage and onions from the gardens, adding some favorite flavorings and topped it with a heavy dollop of sour cream. Over-ate. Tired now. Nighty-night.
Night……zzzzzzzz…….
Brian Murphy of KNBR just tweeted this:
As we bask in 1-year anniversary of happiest day of any #SFGiants fan’s life, here’s an artistic, 9-minute remembrance: http://tinyurl.com/2demb5a
The first minute or two, for me, was almost unbearable, but then again, in the end, some poignant and touching stuff. I never tire of it.
Watched it. Very nicely done.
Timmeh on somebody’s shoulders, waiving the finger #1. For me, the iconic shot of celebration. Never forget it. People have been phoning in all night to KNBR with remembrances. Lots of crying. Cool.
I’ve got the bourbon ready. I’m listening to the game re-broadcast tonight at 10 pm, KNBR.
the whole, lifting up onto someone’s shoulders is something almost from another age. It was nice to see last year. we’ve replaced it with the gatorade bath. feh.
Pawlie, thanx for the posting that. Very nicely done and a great tribute on the 1-year anniversary, although, yeah, we could’ve done without the first 1:48 or so.
mac, i can’t really blame the first 1:48. it was just reporting the facts. Frankly, I was more annoyed by getting swept be the frigging A’s. Beat the dodgers? no. Beat the reds? no. oh, but let’s just sweep the giants. assholes.