Pablo Shut Down Again, Noonan Makes Team
The Panda Watch carries onward with more pain in that cranky elbow. He felt pain on a swing that resulted in a ground out to shortstop so he’s been shut down again. Because of the uncertainty of Sandoval, Nick Noonan has made the team. I have many questions about Noonan’s chances of succeeding at the major league level on a consistent basis. He’s been fiddling around in the lower levels of our system for a while now. He’s a slower, weaker version of middle infielder Charlie Culberson and I don’t see too many of us lamenting that loss (traded to Colorado for Scoots). And while he’s probably going to play 3rd base, he’s never really played much 3rd base. He’s a middle infielder.
But if I was forced to choose, I’d rather see what a homegrown guy like Noonan can do over something recycled off the waiver wire. I haven’t checked his splits but will just assume he hits righties better than lefties so maybe a few spot starts early on vs a right handers might be the way to go. Of course, that’s assuming Pablo is gonna be out for a while and I’ve assumed that since the day I heard about this injury. I also said I’m not too keen on Arias playing every day, mostly because I think he’d be more valuable coming off the bench. I have no idea what Noonan would be more valuable doing but he’s got more experience as a starter so….
Not much else going on. Buster got paid. Good for him.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Been mostly watching b-ball last couple nights, but I did catch Noonan’s last AB when he blasted a triple off Balfour into the alley and came around to score insurance run on Pagan’s rbi single. Pagan steals second, scut moves him over….and then torres strikes out looking and Posey is down swinging. Romo closes it out quietly. Hopefully the kid gains some confidence out of that and is able to settle down and just play.
Man, I sure hope we get less of Amy too. I don’t get why SF allows all the self-promotion—follow Amy on twitter, and all her interview shows with a catchy name with the wives, buster, et al. She has an annoying voice and the questions on post game are profoundly inane. Bottom line she adds zero whatsoever to any game.
I thought Noonan looked good last night too. Speaking of looking comfortable. That was the first time I have seen Belt this spring and he looks like a different cat to me. He looks like he feels like he belongs. Good to see him confident.
I don’t get the whole Amy G deal either. I ran into her off camera once. She was quite rude and I am not a star struck type (as if she qualifies). Just said hello in passing and got major ass face and attitude in return. Whatever, maybe she was having a bad day.
You thought Belt looked good striking out 3 times? .
No, that’s not what I wrote. Thanks Twin. Have a nice day.
I know what you said-he looked comfy and confident… If you’re right, I hope he gets over it. You have a swell day too.
I love Amy G., she’s a good luck charm. The more post game interviews she does, the better their home record. Her voice isn’t nearly as annoying as “the ubiquitous, blog commenter’s”.
SOAB?
Bad news for Sandoval. Hopefully this solves itself sooner rather than later. Good for Noonan. Nice to see him seize the moment and be rewarded. Peguero sent down last night. That’s too bad I had hoped he would make the big club but they probably want him to play more than he would. Personally I don’t think the LF platoon is going to go as planned and he could be back sooner rather than later.
I went back and read that Lincecum thread Flavor linked to in the comments last night.mSome good back and forth on icing and scientific method in there. My favorite though was BF telling us “He’s only human. He’s not a machine” or something like that. I don’t care. I still think we can rebuild him. We can make him stronger. Someone get Lee Majors on the line. Stat!
Arias wil be the regular third baseman during anytime that Sandoval might miss. And Noonan has made the team as a utilty infielder-the second utility infieder-he made the team unrelated to Pablo’s possible missed time- if Panda went on the DL they would need to add another infielder.
Saw this comment from Posey at his press conference last night and thought it was great.
“These fans, the Giants community, I don’t see how you could play here and not want to spend your career here.”
It’s a nice deal . But with the front office in full bend over mode, you’d think he could have pushed for at least what Votto got.
To be clear, it was a nice deal for Buster. None of us know how it will work out for the team. My guess is not so well. He pays a tough position on the knees, and he can’t run much as it is.And If he moves to another position, he’s not near as valuable.
That’s doesn’t mean I hate him, Mr. Z. It means I’m giving a realistic assessment, not the homie one.
It’s your opinion, and you’re welcome to it.
—-
Btw- BF’s link that he posted yesterday showed that the majority of Flappers were supportive of the 2-year deal that Tim got. A couple of people disagreed, but so what? No one on this blog is 100% in predictions.
Thanks, it *is* my opinion. And of course no one is 100% right on predictions. Are you planning on any this year, tommorow is the day? BTW, if you actually read what I said, not your imagined one, I *asked* who backed a long term and said *some* did. Get off of my case.
Not that you care, but you can disagree with people without insulting the people you disagree with.
Maybe you should read the threads more carefully before you decide who’s getting insulted, Z. You’re a classic passive-agressive insulter as when you pull your routine of inferring that I don’t understand the soul of the game because I like keeping track of the numbers and appreciate the advanced stats.
I disagree with your assessment. I never meant to infer that, if that’s what was inferred. I have a lot of respect for your knowledge of the game. I just think that sometimes you insult people without realizing it, I guess. And I just believe that “I disagree” is better than “You’re wrong” in a lot of situations.
Z, I’ve never wanted to get into it with you and if the take is that it’s my fault, fine, I can live with that. I like you, peace, please.
Belt has walked 3 times this spring. If the Giants want him to be productive, they’d better get comfortable watching him take a few strike 3s. My guess is that Belt is not going to make it by hacking at the slop and high fastballs he’ll see in the regular season, especially when he runs into those inevitable slumps where he fouls off the hittable fastballs (like last night). It’s time for the return of the pussy who lacks confidence.
Every year Kruk and Kuip go on and on about how different a kid looks from the year before. Ryan Rohlinger was all comfy and ready… I hope for and expect a nice year from Belt, but James is right, they’re not going to get it by turning him into a hacker. Different strokes and all that- he’s going to be successful by working the count and jumping on mistakes. With that said, of course you want him aggressive when he sees that pitch, regardless of the count.But, gee, he looked comfy last night? He looked like shit last night..
BTW, Vegas odds put the A’s as 3rd in the AL West, as does the consensus from most sites. My 80-82 call is worse than most, but as always, I can defend it. I make more calls than anyone here so I’m going to be wrong often, anybody who makes a lot of calls will also miss a bunch, even Craig.
I’ve made player predictions already and the NL West, I’ll make the others later. Since very few have made many predictions before, I’ll look to foward to them.
Third place sounds about right. There’s no shame in that in the AL West. They should be in the WC race with the Blue Jays, Rays, and Rangers, or Angels. They’ve got some nice young starters, a dominant bullpen, and an MVP candidate in Cespides.
The Jedediah Smith/Jeremiah Johnson/Grizzley Adams look has really taken off in MLB. Reddick is close to Rip Van Winkle territory.
Wilson’s parody anticipated them.
The Giants/Dodgers rivalry thread the other day again reminded me of how little I now care about that stuff. I despised the A’s all through the 70s and 80s, but the only time I wish misfortune on them at the moment is when the Giants are playing them. As for the Dodgers, I resent it more when a crappy SD team beats us.
One of the awesome things is how the Dodger fans have zero leverage over us anymore. They can talk ZERO smack now. If they win the World Series this year, they’ll be back in cock-of-the-walk mode, but for now….they’re just sad.
Winning these 2 has also gotten my great friend and thorn-in-my-ass *The Boney One* off my case about A’s WS’s > Giants WS’s
Belt’s 3 walks this spring might just be his approach to spring. He seems like the “hone your swing” guy. To me, he was too patient last year. And I’m not just talking about his impressive walk rate. I don’t have stats on this, but he seemed to take an awful lot of first pitch strikes. Or maybe it was just the number of strikes he took that stuck with me. I might look it up later today.
The cliche that’s especially relevant is the one about making constant adjustments. If Belt is all hack, all the time, he won’t be successful. He — and the team — need that impressive walk rate, especially if Belt is not going to slug 500. The flip side of “you can’t hit it if you don’t swing” is “you can’t take ball 4 if you’re swinging and missing at it.” Ball 4 is often called strike 3 by the ump.
I called it an *impressive walk rate* because I value double digit walk rates. Sometimes you can be *too patient* and that’s what I was referring to with Belt. But I am going to look up those numbers later and see if I’m remembering it wrong.
Contrary to TF’s opinion, I think Buster’s deal is one of the best moves the Giants have ever made, right next to drafting him in the first place. The G’s lock up the heart & soul of their club for 9 years and you have beefs with it? Please.
well if there are concerns, it’s about the last half of it. And there should be genuine concern about the deal if you look at it that way. He’s one more horrific injury away from an ankle that you can’t repair. And while he stands out as a catcher, not so much at an infield position. But we should have the DH by then so he can do that.
Didn’t see your post. I’ve posted before about the toll his position takes on the knees, even catchers who ran well early in their careers are impaired later. And he’s flat not worth that kind of money if he’s not a catcher, and performing at top level. Obviously that’s my opinion, OK guys ?
I’m not so “Polly” as to think it will be worth it in the latter part of the deal. As I said before the deal, I would have gone 4 years with him, to finish the arb years.You’re not understanding my objection, obviously. If I thought he would be productive for 9 years, I’d love it. Maybe a few of you have a problem with acknowledging that the view that deals of that that size (in years) are not universally believed to be wise- for any player. I’m not the Lone Ranger.
I agree with you about the length. But as I’ve come to understand, there is so much money that the team is making off Buster now, they aren’t as worried about the back end of that deal. I have to believe that GM’s are stupid. They can’t possibly believe that paying Pujols and Votto 25 mil a year into the 40’s is going to be a good pay off for them.
BF, If you look at Belt’s zone numbers, you’ll see that he actually swings at an above average % of pitches. He is also well above avg in swinging at strikes. You’ll also see that he is really crummy at making contact on pitches that are not strikes.
Pressuring him to be less patient seems like the wrong thing to do.
Yeah, I will always be in the camp that says these contracts are ridiculous. That being said, I am glad Buster got his. Shit, it aint my money, so I could give a rat’s ass. That’s why I never got my panties bunched up when Zito signed for the gazillion dollars. In the real world, you get fired for proposing a contract or letting a contract like that. In MLB, you get hired again and again and again. There is no “pass due date” for idiot GMs (and I am not saying that Sabean did that Zito deal . . . we’ll probably never know the answer to that question).
What else? I am also in favor of canning Amy G. ASAP. However, to be fair – Amy could probably handle a play by play job. However, the suits will never let her got close to a play by play booth mic. Why do I think she can handle the job? Simple. She played sports. I think she lettered almost a dozen times in High School for softball, basketball, and volleyball. She isn’t an air head, but only does air head fluff pieces. That aint on her – it’s on the suits that control the sports broadcasting industry.
New post on my blog. Hope you guys are well . . . 🙂
Didn’t realize it took Scutaro till he was 28 to get a starting gig. Didn’t even get a taste of the bigs till he was 26. Then hit .213 in 75 ab’s at age 27! Who would have thought he’d be where he is today. Maybe he can give the kid Noonan some encouragement.
Or some PEDS!
ba-doom
Chi, I’m holding that open for you. If you can’t get to it, I can reopen it when you can. BTW, I purchased a bulk license of malwarebytes.pro. What I have in the folder is a legal version. Unlike the free version, it provides active protection. It’s the best anti-malware program there is. Anyone who doesn’t find my offer to be an insult is welcome to download it.
Here’s the new link:
http://sdrv.ms/YKPLzx
My earliest college basketball memory is the Alcindor-Hayes showdown in the Astrodome. Wish I had seen the Texas Western victory over Kentucky in ’66. Anyone remember it well? Willie?
No, man I don’t remember that one (tho I think Pat Riley does). UCLA was an f-ing machine in those days. Couple of my buddies liked Houston, but Kareem and co. thrashed them in the rematch. USC had Gus Williams in those days, one of my fav guards of all times, but couldn’t beat Bruins.
HS team I played on ran a version of 2-2-1 zone press. I loved running and coaching it, and it still works today.
Wichita St. looks good…at least they won’t be a part of the all time annoying coaches group that looks like will get to the final 4—boeheim, coach K, pitino are all insufferable.
Nate Archibald went to T-W after it became UTEP…funny to hear the kings might be moving. I remember watching Nate when he and Sam Lacey played for them as KC-Omaha.
If I remember right, Alcindor had some sort of eye injury for the first game and had to wear an eyepatch all week in practice.
The Marq guy with the glass eye stirred things up around here. (“Impossible! How can he fucking shoot?”)
I like Amy G but it’s just gotten to be way too much. Once or twice a game for something relevant would be fine.
Agreed. I plan to put her on ignore, kinda like what I do with the plethora of “informative and truthful posts.”
Cute.
.
Sultan’s comment was totally fair in light of Willie’s snark. Although Willie’s coaching posts are better than most of that ilk. ( Sultan didn’t enjoy them ).
Why anyone would have a problem with Amy and her soft interviews is unbelievable. So kids eating ice cream, ball dudes, Amy, those really bother some people? I think those foks are definitely in need of “informative and truthful posts.”A plethora of ’em.
Here’s a start:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19956
Division Races:
NL West: Giants, Dodgers, DBacks, Pads, Rockies
NL Central:Reds, Cards, Brewers,Bucs, Cubs
NL East: Braves, Nats, Phils, Mets, Marlins
WCs-Nats, Dodgers
AL West: Angels, Rangers, A’s, Mariners, Astros
AL Central: Tigers, Royals, Indians,White Sox,Twins
AL East: Jays, Rays, Yanks, Red Sox, Orioles
WCs- Rangers, Rays
Baggs just tweeted the 25 — Pablo, Hector and Quiroz are all on it.
The World Champs are amazingly intact…
Quiroz ML stats look a lot like Andres Torres’ before he became a Giant.
You’ll all enjoy Keith Olbermann’s NL West preview ( courtesy of Pav )
http://tinyurl.com/d2lhv6t
Cool stuff. Thanks.
Is tomorrow the prediction day? I’ll start a little early. Here’s my predictions:
The Giants win the NL West, win the NL, and play the Angels in the World Series in a rematch of 2002. The media goes all ga-ga over the AL team’s hitters like it always does, and the Giants win the World Series in 5 games.
Pagan- .280, 8, 72
Scutaro- .270, 5, 65
Sandoval- .305, 15, 75 (because of playing in less than 140 games)
Posey- .315, 24, 105 (a contender for MVP, but might lose out to somebody else)
Pence- .276, 21, 98
Belt- .284, 16, 82
Crawford- .255, 8, 66
Blanco/Torres- .240, 5, 60
Cain: 18-6, 3.12
Bumgarner: 17-9, 3.35
Lincecum: 14-11, 4.21
Zito: 14-8, 3.75
Vogelsong: 16-8, 3.42
Romo: 36 saves
That’s plausible, except for Romo. I think he’ll have a great year, but save about 20 games. He won’t be the day in day out closer all year long.
I agree that if Posey loses out on the MVP it will be to somebody else. (GRIN)
Good point. (grin)
On the MLB network, the popular MVP pick is Joey Votto, and his bandbox ballpark-inflated numbers.
Joey has great numbers on the road in his career, Z.
http://tinyurl.com/bqe79yj
Interesting. I hadn’t seen that.
Not sure I fully understand what’s going on with Pablo and his elbow. After a couple of at-bats on Friday, he feels “discomfort” from swinging. They give him the day off on Saturday and say he “feels much better” (while not actually playing). Then Bochy suggests they might not start him in the opener but use him off the bench so he doesn’t “aggravate” the elbow. Kind of sounds like playing = aggravating. How long can that go on? I’ll trust that they believe this thing will kind of heal itself, but it doesn’t sound like it at this point.
And Sanchez is still healing, so they’re going with 3 catchers, and only 1 reserve outfielder, although Belt could be used in leftfield, of course.
Well, it’s not a question of healing as much as determining whether the chip(s), if he has them, are small enough, don’t restrict his range of motion, and don’t cause undue pain. ( That’s my understanding ) I think mentioned Cole Hamels pitched with bone chips in 2011, they were the size of tic-tacs, he had a great year, and they removed them after the season.
And his elbow had minty fresh breath…
See- they were bone chips AND a minty after dinner treat ( apologies to SNL)
Upon perusing the schedule I am looking for a strong 17-10 April.
Yeah, once they get past the first week, the rest of the April schedule is pretty favorable.
I don’t mind Amy G. A lot of teams do the “roving woman reporter in the ballpark” thing now. It’s not as bad as, let’s say, Ray Fosse.
If they had any guts they’d replace Amy with a flaming gay man. It would be 5,000 times more entertaining…
Now you’re thinking outside of the box. And by “box,” I mean an actual box. (grin)
How about going with the poor look-alike cab driver who got his gig ruined when Timmy cut his hair?
Did I read this right? The A’s stadium is now called the O.co Coliseum.
[posted by Blade yesterday from Turkey}:
“I have little time for reading unintelligent Giant news from Bleacher Report, SF Gate, SJ Mercury, Comcast (ok, I exaggerate a bit) – so I come here to get my Giants fix. You guys knock it out of the park daily!”
And another one sees the difficulty of following Giants Baseball when not in the USofA. And the value of a good ‘one flap down’ read.
I rest my case
Wow, late Sunday night here, 9am San Fran time, where is everybody? The day before opening day….. Taking a rest before the long season and inevitably just as long roller coaster ride of emotions begin. Enjoy it, gentlemen (?) (the ? is in honor of Ted, of course).
Must be busy compiling those important predictions.
Flav, I have no way of setting my line up for the season opener tomorrow. If you get this message in time, I authorize you to set my lineup in the flap league. I can’t even sign in – my fucking tablet wont load the dialog box for me to do that. I had to go for a walk because I was about ready to throw my tablet against the wall. It was working perfectly the day before yesterday, so no idea what’s up with it.
Basically, I have 3 things going on: I dropped one of my draft players (he is being sent to the minors) ; sent David Wright to the DL; and, picked up the SS that plays for Detroit (my brain has locked and I can’t recall the fuckers name). Could you check to see if my moves went through and could you check on Wright’s status – I think he played today in a spring training game and he might be ready to go in the season opener – if so, start him, since I either DLed him as indicated above and/or benched him. I also DLed someone else I think.
Anywho, just make sure I have breathing bodies in all the starting and utility slots and I should be fine. Thanks.
Blade, David Freese is on the DL (David Wright is on your bench) and you have Jhonny Peralta on the bench. So it looks like that move worked.
Thanks John. OK, it’s coming back to me. I probably need to get Wright back in his starting position, since he played today. No idea if my pitching staff is set up for tomorrow either.
I’ve been waiting for that darn prediction thread. I think Z and Chi have their’s in, as I do I. I want to repost on the prediction thread so it’s there to make it easy for all to see how wrongo I was, again.
Happy Easter. A neighbor brought us a ham- I’ve given the definition of “eternity” before:
“Two people, one ham”..
Some game-notes from MLB.com.
I had totally forgotten that the Giants literally eliminated the Dodgers from getting to the playoffs last season.
MLB.com:
• Cain was 1-0 with a 2.73 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers last season, not facing Kershaw head to head. For his career, Cain is 4-8 with a 3.41 ERA in 23 games against L.A.
• Kershaw, getting up for his team’s big rival, has been dominant against the Giants. He was 2-3 last year in five games, through no fault of his own. His ERA was 1.62 and he held Giants hitters to a .197 batting average. In 17 career outings against San Francisco, Kershaw is 8-4 with a remarkable 1.37 ERA in 118 innings. His 0.88 WHIP vs. the Giants is his best against any club he’s faced more than twice.
• By taking one of the games at Dodger Stadium in the season’s finale series — knocking the Dodgers out of Wild Card contention — enabled the Giants to seize the season series 10-8.
I spent a half hour drafting my predictions, then my WIFI went out. GOD DAMMIT! FUCK IT.
I predict we will all live long lives . . . So far so good. 🙂
New post on my blog. I visit the Hagia Sophia . . . finally. Ha.
Excellent stuff.
Except for that WIFI. (grin)
Yikes. Horrific leg injury in the Louisville/Duke game. One of the Louisville guys.
Hey guys– sorry, I was unexpectedly out of pocket and away from cell and internet since yesterday around noon. And no, I didn’t get a DUI. 🙂
No biggie, just something that had to get taken care of.
I’ll trying to do the prediction thread tomorrow, I can’t do it tonight.
Blade— I inserted Wright for Moose at 3rd. Left Seager in the Utility. You sent Freese to the DL so that’s all good but Oritz and Garza are clogging up roster slots since they’re on the DL too. Tough to be away from home this long, eh? Everything is probably more difficult to deal with.
Send me any changes you want me to make while you’re gone, it’s takes no time at all.
Well, in case the prediction thread doesn’t get done, here’s mine, in one place.
Division Races:
NL West: Giants, Dodgers, DBacks, Pads, Rockies
NL Central:Reds, Cards, Brewers,Bucs, Cubs
NL East: Braves, Nats, Phils, Mets, Marlins
WCs-Nats, Dodgers
AL West: Angels, Rangers, A’s, Mariners, Astros
AL Central: Tigers, Royals, Indians,White Sox,Twins
AL East: Jays, Rays, Yanks, Red Sox, Orioles
WCs- Rangers, Rays
Cain 16-8 2.95 1.15
MadBum 16-11 3.20 1.05
Timmy 13-10 3.60 1.30
Vogelsong 12-11 3.45 1.25
Zito 11-10 4.20 1.35
Romo 3-3 24-30 Saves 1.10
Posey .310 23-95 .900
Belt .270 22-85 .820
Scutaro .265 7-50 .720
Crawford .255 8-55 .710
Sandoval .305 30- 100 .890
Blanco .250 4-35 .675
Torres .265 8-40 .770
Pagan .280 10-60 .780
Pence .275 23-80 .800
solid. Thanks. I’ll try to get to a thread tomorrow. If you were up for it, feel free to do it
Gve me the stats and categories you want and I’ll put up the thread.
everything listed in your 4:41pm is fine. Ok, I’m out. And by out, I mean going to sleep. 5pm. Long 24 hours. And before you ask, there isn’t anything wrong, just something I had to deal with.
Right now, about the earliest I can get off from work tomorrow is 3pm or so. And that’s if I ditch all the paperwork till the next day (which is always 10 times worse the following day). Opening Day should always be a freaking night game. Unless I’m attending it, and then that would be absurd. Opening Day is Opening *Day* not Opening *night*. Unless I’m working and then it’s just stupid to play opening day in the daytime. 🙂
A couple of TERRIBLE ump calls already in the first game of the MLB season. The umps need instant replay, and very much so.
New post…Prediction thread is up!
ok, I was working on mine; i can copy and move to new thread.
I have no confidence in my prediction skills. None. But here goes. (Plus, later on I’ll look at these and say, I did that?! Hunh?)
Races:
NL West: Giants, DBacks, Dodgers, Pads, Rockies
NL Central: Cards, Reds, Bucs, Brewers, Cubs
NL East: Braves, Phils, Nats, Marlins, Mets
WCs-Reds, Dbacks
AL West: Angels, A’s, Mariners, Rangers, Astros
AL Central: Tigers, Indians, Royals, White Sox,Twins
AL East: Rays, Jays, Rays, Orioles, Red Sox, Yanks
WCs- Indians, Rays
Cain 18-7 3.29 1.10
MadBum 15-12 3.79 1.27
Timmy 13-13 4.02 1.29
Vogelsong 14-11 3.33 1.11
Zito 13-10 3.99 1.28
Romo 4-5 26-32 Saves 1.16
Posey .307 26-90 .888
Belt .297 29-91 .891
Scutaro .268 5-53 .789
Crawford .278 12-70 .797
Sandoval .299 24-87 .802
Blanco .249 5-42 .702
Torres .257 11-56 .786
Pagan .282 13-68 .784
Pence .260 22-82 .777