Who Will Never Play in the Major Leagues Again?
Yesterday’s RGOTD got me thinking about this one. Jose Barrios got a start in his third day in the big leagues after playing in the minors for nearly 7 years. He was gone 2 weeks later. Last year’s roster had an awful lot of players on it who might never play in the major leagues again. Zumie threw this question out there the other day. Taking a look at the roster from 2011, how many players do you think will never see The Show again? All of these guys played in at least one game last year.
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Retro Time……………..
It’s June 8th, 1982 and Nolan Ryan is pitching for the Astros. Was Nolan Ryan a juicer? Go look at his stats. He was fiddling around in the 190-200 strike out range from ’83 tthrough ’86. Then all of a sudden he goes 270—228 and finally 301(!) in 1989 (at age 42), the same year that MANY A’s juiced themselves silly. That Astros LU looked a little less than imposing, didn’t it? Hayyymaker struck out 1 in nearly 7 full…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I voted 5-9, probably conservative estimate…at least 2 pitchers, bunch of IF, couple more OF, etc. I don’t follow closely what SF minor league guys do–too many of them have put up great numbers and then proved total busts at mlb level, like the bowker gang.
I’d feel a lot better about the possibility of Surkamp in the rotation if we had signed Beltran…Reyes too for that matter. And if we’d kept Torres around to run down balls smashed into the OF.
Pat Burrell for sure. Bad foot done him in!
I picked five – Eli, Hall, Tejada, Pat the Bat and Christian. I was going to include Rowand but I bet he gets one more shot.
I heard Ted Robinson on KNBR recently going with the revisionist theory about Rowand that the ballpark messed him up. I don’t buy it. Rowand was just struggling to make contact by the end of his time with the Giants. His skills were just eroding bigtime.
Some players age gracelessly.
Obviously a special moment to wear a ML uniform even for just one day, something many promising players never achieve. Some of the better stories are those whose brief rise was due more to heart than natural talent. Others hang around too long, their special talents diminished and achievements blurred or forgotten.
Bill Hall?
I had totally forgotten about him. Both middle infield positions became such revolving doors last season. I hope Freddy can have a full season next year. It’s hard to count on that, though. He got seriously injured last season just diving for a ball. How can durability be counted on?
Yeah he will not last.
Love the optimism here in Dec..
He says the shoulder is now a lot stronger than last yr, when he couldn’t even “press 10 lbs. Now he’s doing 60. G’s don’t seem too concerned, not getting a solid backup and letting Keppinger go.
They should be concerned. We all love Freddy. He was a big part of the 2010 championship. But durable he is not.
Anybody could get hurt. But, Franchez is not just anybody. The guy has a history, unfortunately, of getting hurt. Seriously hurt. If he falls wrong on that shoulder again, it’s probably adios muchachos for the season. Then you’re left with Font and Burriss. Huge downgrade immediately. Next season looks like another hope and bailing wire season, including mid-season adjustments. Why they don’t get Paulino for insurance, I have no clue, other than he just costs more. Stewie can catch, but he’s an auto out, and Whiteside has to be just ST fodder. Hector is unproven, but he showed in the few games he caught that he’s more than serviceable, and he appears to be able to hit above .220, which neither of the others can…
As I posted before, Mets were fed up with Paulino’s act. Poor defense, no power, sour attitude. It’s saying a lot if he’s still unsigned. He must be a peach to work with.
As long as Sabean can stop himself from giving Franchez another extension I’m cool with hoping we can squeeze a final year out of him–but I have no faith at all that he’ll stay healthy. He could start by STOPPING all of his ridiculous *fake hustle* plays. Relax, that’s my term, you can use whatever words you want to describe his “diving when he doesn’t have to dive/summer salting over himself”–that shit. All that can’t be good for your shoulders……..
It’s terrible not to have faith…..reality is so cruel.
For the life of me, I have absolutely NO recollection of Jim Wohlford. He was here a couple years, right?
5-9 on the list.
Alan Knicely?
Kiko Garcia?
Luis Pujols? Any relation?
And the ageless Jose Cruz . . .
Wohlford’s batting 2nd today- the dude sure moves around the LU. For someone with no power and no speed, I’m not sure top 4 is the place for J-Wohl.
Chuck’s memory is on the fritz…..news at Eleven!
I was hoping the hot topic this off-season was gonna be J-Roll–instead it’s J-Wohl.
I’m having a hard time getting over the Beltran deal. Any word coming out whether or not the Giants offered him the same deal as the Cards??
One of Wohlford’s baseball cards on the Giants was a fairly tight headshot of him making kind of a weird face. My friend’s younger brother was literally freaked out by the card. We would tape it up on his headboard while he was sleeping and do similar shit like that to mess with him.
Add one final consonant to the backname of that Houston 3Baseman and leadoff hitter and we have a new nickname for that Giant who got a good two year contract based on his 2010 performance, but was not worth the $ last season.
Beltran? I never did warm up to that guy. Glad he is gone, along with his 2 year, 26 million dollar contract. IMHO St. Louis is going to regret signing him, i.e., any NL team would have been taking a big risk . . . His knees belong in the AL.
By the by, I understand the Giants not going beyond $130 million annual payroll. Sheesh, just 3 years ago, most of us were hoping for high 90 million. Our pitching staff doesn’t grow on trees. Same thing with money. Be grateful . . . Giants easily take the Division with this roster.
Well….I don’t know about “easily.” (grin)
Book it Zumie . . . If they don’t, remind me next year (hehehe).
This division is so fucked up and suspect, that I really do think it will be easy. Other than Cahill, the Dbacks stood pat; Dodgers aren’t your father’s Dodgers; San Diego’s “Dollar Store” line up will barely compete; and, the Rockies still have a “Saturday Day Night Live” pitching staff . . . yuk, yuk, yuk.
Yes….wise words….”Be grateful . . .”
I think it’s kind of refreshing to be bashing guys who played 3 decades ago ..
So if Rowand wants to know how long it will be before fans get over it, he’s getting his answer..
Ron shandler’s 2012 baseball forecaster just arrived at my home. I will be deep into this for the next several hours. Tomorrow’s update will include some of the more telling underlying stats for our 2012 giants– that is, if I can get all this Christmas shit done…
Flav, sorry for revealing the last chapter . . . Giants win the WS in 2012. 😉
Is this update going to tell us that they didn’t hit well in 2011? I’ll look forward to it, that hasn’t been covered much before…Spoiler alert: Huff and Torres had poor years..
it’s about predicting the following year you dumb ass. That’s why it’s called a *forecaster*…….
You can’t have “underlying” stats for the future. You can have predictions for “underlying” stats. I’ll stick with BP and Bill James…both of whom you routinely discount because YOU didn’t cite them…
But I did presume you were just going to regurgitate Snarkk’s year long spiel so I was wrong, I didn’t even pay attention to the year. My apologies for presuming this would more bullshit about 2011, it will be carefully selected bullshit about 2012. Again, my apologies.
Panik has been working out at secondbase, according to a Schulman article today. Could be a Crawford/Panik DP combination down the road.
And, yes, Henry’s ill-advised use of the word “untracked” did not go unnoticed by me.
I noted when Panik was signed that many scouts projected him as a second baseman.
Merry Christmas flappers… Best wishes.
you too, dude. I’ve got no idea who this guy is and his tune is a little underwhelming as is his face in every single scene of this vid. But what the hell, it’s the holiday season and I, too, wish all you Flappers a solid year to come……..
It’s Christmas eve afternoon in Saigon, the world is still alive on December 24th. Just want to wish all Flappers a festive and warm Christmas weekend, even if you don’t get that new cleanup hitter for next season in your stocking on Sunday morning….