That Ankle Better be Good to Go
I know this has been discussed but I’ve got nothin’ this morning. Our entire season hinges on the health of Buster Posey’s ankle. It’s just a feeling I have, but I don’t think his ankle is going to be ready to catch regularly at the major league level. And all this *play him at first base v. lefties* is a nice idea but it means Eli or VP Stewart are gonna have to get behind the dish (until I actually see Bochy give Hector a shot I don’t consider him a possibility).
And what if Buster goes “Kendry Morales” on us and it turns out the ankle needs more surgery?
Maybe I’m being paranoid–nightmares of another season of Eli Whiteside will do that. But I jut don’t think this transition back from his horrific ankle injury is going to be as smooth as everyone wants us to believe….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Way to bum me out this morning:( but everything does ride on Posey’s comeback…
Posey is the key to many things. If he is healthy enough to bat but not catch he’ll be at first which means Belt and/or Pill might not make the club. If he starts the season on the DL who catches? If Hector gets a shot and rakes what then? By the way, what to do if Hector rakes is not a bad thing. Not sure how all of this is going to play out but having such a deep Pen and the option of using one of them in a trade, just may have been the best move Sabes made this off season.
GH is right, what a horrible thought. I’d be more worried about sanchez. Font might be a better hitter than he showed last year, but if you have two of theriot burriss and crawford in the LU it’s gonna suck. theriot seems to be one of those guys nobody wants to keep after playing him regularly, not a good sign.
theriot is pretty much on the bottom side of his baseball card at this point. But, he does offer a little insurance if Crawford slips into a 8 for 48 slump……
Theriot’s defense sucks though as a SS. But insurance with his bat,if Crawford struggles.
Yes BF you are paranoid. The ankle will be fine and until there is evidence to the contrary, why speculate? Posey is the catcher until nature says no way!
There’s is not one key to the season, including Posey.
Twin….How are you feeling?
Not real good.
Fuck Scott Cousins!
I realize all these guys aren’t going to make the club, but theriot font burriss is pretty weak. None of these guys are very adept at SS defensively, even if they can hit better than crawford. Gotta hope Sanchez is ready to go and can hit like he did end of 2010/start of 2011. Without him middle IF is really weak.
Honest, I don’t worry about Posey and I’ve never gotten behind the idea of playing him anywhere else. Sure the position is and has always been a demanding physical grind, but he likes it, is very good at it, and the pitching staff loves him. Let him do it for as long as he can continue to do it well, which could be 10 yrs.
gotta wonder about the A’s signing the cubano kid…if they had 6-10 mil they could have re-signed willingham, one of the few guys to actually rake there recently and like it. Then beane could have flipped him for prospects like he always does. I wonder if bud sent signals they better spend some f-ing money to improve the club, with the carrot being maybe his old buddy wolff gets his stadium deal after they work out financial comp for SF (as in covering the last of the debt so the bean counters are happy).
I just read about Freddie S this morning, sad, He is only 2 years older than I. scary. Anyway, baseball, personally until ST starts, you guys can speculate all you want on the SF Giants SS-SB situation, but until I actually see that none of these guys can play MLB I will just read your comments. Maybe each of them will have a Cody Ross like two months during the season, who knows. As far as Posey goes, I forget who, (Fisk)? but he broke his ankle like Posey did when he was 26 and came back to play for 13 seasons behind the dish. Lets not get into the doom and gloom aspect of the Giants season just yet. When I see someone in a store or the mall who is wearing Giants gear I say to them going to the WS this year. yeah I am a homer!!
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Font/Theriot in the middle and while hardly ideal, if they could win 86 games with last year’s crew, they can win with those those guys. Heart of the lineup is the “key”: Pablo, Posey, Huff, Belt.
Don’t know if you saw this, Flav . . .
http://tinyurl.com/7ksasbk
Shout out to Paly High
Posey is the key to the season and winning the division.
If he can catch 100 games or more, everything else on offense falls into place.
If he can’t catch much, and has to play first to play at all, the dominos fall. Crapitude at catcher (barring a Hector surprise), first base is thrown into craziness with Huff, Pill, Belt, etc., meaning the OF is also thrown into disarray. Bochy will make infinite lineup changes. If he can’t play much at all and has to go onto the DL, or more rehab, etc,, the offensive glue in the middle they’re counting on is gone. Giants wouldn’t implode given the pitiching, but they wouldn’t win the division…
Shuffling the lineup is a guarantee, Snarkk. There’s not much they can do about it. Bochy has always been the ‘hot hand’ guy. With the team as it is, this’ll be the strategy going forward. I mean unless Huff goes off, and Schierholtz can hit consistently, and Crawford suddenly get it, there will be a rotation at 1st and SS and the OF.
Posey? Well, we’ll see . . .
Shuffling is guaranteed with Bochy. But, if Posey can’t catch on a consistent basis, the lineups are going to hit a new level of twist and turn, even for Bochy. I don’t trust the SF medical info they release one bit. So, as far as I’m concerned, Posey and Franchez and Wilson are all questionable for the season at this point…
Anyone remember the game where Freddie Solomon handled a few plays at QB? I think it was early in the Walsh era. Can’t remember if they had a rash of injuries or were getting killed or what. It was garbage time when they were still bad and Freddie was running the option or something like that. I don’t think it was preseason. I’m gonna investigate now.
It was before Walsh. Thomas was the interim coach. I think it was last last game of a (something like) 2-12 season
BTW, it’s not like I’m a Niner expert or anything. I read about it earlier today but the paper got tossed
it was in the chron today. last game of the year against detroit.
Damm Dog Days of Winter!!!
Get some players to Report already!!!!
Hey, Twin, sorry to hear of the Job series of misfortunes of biblical proportion. Prayers continue for you and your loved ones. Hope you enjoyed my correspondence I had Magnus FWD to you (though, come to think of it, I must have your email). I’ll put that author’s take in my book. He loves baseball — and is a fabulous writer.
I will get to more, Paul. As you might imagine, it’s a sad day. It’s hard for me to get a handle on it. But your words are always soothing. So many of you have the “gift”..I am envious..
Dawg, it was the last game of the 1978 season vs Detroit. DeBerg wasn injured, and Bull got hurt in the 1st half, so Solomon mopped up the 2nd half of the last game of that season. When Fred O’Connell was fired and some other clown (Dave McSomething) took over, they finished the season 2-14.
Solomon went like 5-10 or something.
(didn’t see all the earlier replies . . .)
Buster is certainly one of the keys- it’s totally subjective whether he’s *the* key. A very possible OF of Melky, Pagan, and Huff (LF) the one we would hope for, with Belt at first; is hardly “craziness” and “disarray”- it’s the ideal.
Anyway, I’m not getting into it over Posey again- if he begins to approach his rookie season and stays healthy, they’ll be delighted and he will be one of the keys…
It probably comes off overtly more dramatic about Posey from everyone because of how his sophmore season ended.
Anyway, sorry you’re not feeling well twin. Hope it turns around soon
When I said Posey was the key to many things, I didn’t mean the key to the season. I was alluding more to the shake ups through out the line-up that could happen if he isn’t healthy. I’m probably way in the minority here but (for me anyway), Having a slap hitter like Sanchez back will be just as important as the heavy hitters. And, having Panda as the wild card just puts us in a huge plus category (IMO). Health is always a large determination on how a team does but this team, this team as it is today, can beat anyone. Any fucking one.
Let it Roll Flappers.
Fuck Yeah Bozo!!! And I want some killler producton from a healthy Belt this year and seize that 1B job.And get Pill lots of Ab’s as well off the bench and occasional start.
And Fuck You Bozo!!!!! (grin)…….Speaking of Belt, gonna slam a few back right now.
Cheers kat, I’m working a few Myers and OJ as we speak.
BF is right, Posey is the key, and the players know it. Some of them have said essentially that in the offseason. You can’t significantly improve one of the worst offenses in modern MLB history just with huge “ifs” in Melky and Pagan, and then hope about Franchez and Huff and maybe Belt, let alone Pill. If Buster isn’t within an area code of his old self, the lineup gets soft in a hurry, and scoring will be way more difficult…
If those huge “ifs” like Melky and Pagan don’t perform it won’t shit mean what Buster does. What Craig was right about was the other day when he listed several keys. But fuck it, if it makes someone happy that Buster is more key than any other key, go for it.
Hard to measure his value to the pitchers. Cain said something the other day that suggested it’s not to be underestimated. They feel more confident with him back there?? Let’s face it, without him or Pablo, they are SCREWED.
If Buster stays healthy, hits even like last year ( solid), they will be happy as hell. They don’t him need to rescue the the offense.
You can make a helluva better case that the the season rests on Vogelsong and Zitboy. They perform decently or the big three will have to win 2 of 3..(or there abouts)
Actually, I would put Panda in the same category as Posey in terms of *most critical* (at least for the hitters). Their replacements are just to bad to turn to. It’s not even close at any other position. Posey gets the edge in terms of most important because the p-staff jizzes to pitching to him.
If Panda goes down, I’m not sure who plays third. Gillespe? Theriot? If Posey goes down or can’t catch regularly, we get Whiteside. Any line up that goes Crawford/Whiteside/Pitcher is doomed. You can’t give away a third of your outs…….
…or I can outdoom any doomer and say that if Cain and Lincecum aren’t in top form, we’re screwed. We take them as given. Given! AND listen to Sabes. He is preparing for the eventuality that Willie may not be ready to close. How’s that for cheeriness pills?
He spent a lot of dough on the two lefties. That was insurance against a Wilson meltdown…
Bleacher Report did a “5 things you didn’t know about Joe Maddon,” whom I admire and think is terrific. He is one of the few MLB managers never to have played an MLB game.
Pawlie…Totally agree with you about Joe Maddon.I feel he is one of the top rated Managers around.What he does with a smaller payroll team,up against the Yanks and RedSoxs in that division every year speaks volumes as far as im concerned.
Plus what the hell I like the Spencer Tracy look he has with those thick black glasses and silver white hair.
Buster and Pablo make an enviable 1-2 punch in the middle of the LU.Belt’s issue,I think is “emotional maturity”.He’s got the skills,now he just has to learn the “mental” game.Having to compete with the old guy and (ultimately) replace him will be a good thing for his growth.
Remember how we used to whine that the Giants couldn’t develop hitters and postion players?
Well, the question was not what happens if he goes down. What if he’s healthy but hits .250, drives in 60? That could certainly happen as he comes back from a serious injury. Reasonable observers wouldn’t be surprised and it would certainly not cost them the playoffs..depending on how the other keys fare..
As I said the other day, a season as above, and then full return to form in 2013 is probably more likely than not, and wouldn’t disappoint reasonable folks. It would be better to count on the big numbers from elsewhere and everything from Buster as gravy..
The only big numbers they can count on are from pitchers.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Most count on big numbers from Panda, I take it you don’t.
Agree Twin….Hell we haven’t had a full season out of Buster yet.People seem to forget that at times.He still has learning to do like all young hitters developing over their careers.
Who thought blogging could tire you out ? Gnight.
Depends on your definition of big…
Unless this is a fat joke, bigger than anyboby else’s..
Absolutely.
Hope tomorrow’s a better day…
The robot turns into a bug?
How great is ketchup?
Ha! I actually hate ketchup. Seriously. I can’t stand the stuff.
The A’s just agreed to pay a guy $36M that has never seen MLB pitching, or AA or AAA pitching for that matter. He may have seen Fidel smoking a Montecristo, possibly. Well, it it works, it’s a great move. If the guy is a bust, they still spent less than 2 years of Zito…
Link to Baggarly’s new blog. Has a good Giants story to start off, too.
http://tinyurl.com/7a3yh4z