Voggy’s Replacement Getting Named Soon
Bochy says he’s going to wait until after Sunday’s game to declare a starter for Tuesday as a replacement for Voggy. That makes sense. See if the starters get chewed up this weekend. If the bullpen doesn’t take too much of a hit they could roll with Gaudin and then decide what to do in the days after that start. If the bullpen does get used a lot this weekend, it’s likely we’ll see Kickham make his major league debut on Tuesday. Santiago needing surgery has complicated this possibility of turning to Gaudin as the starter.
Even if Gaudin gets the start on Tuesday I’d be surprised if he got more than one. We need a solution that lasts at least 2 months, maybe longer, and Chad Gaudin is not the solution. But if he starts on Tuesday that gives Sabean more time to evaluate all the options—and really, at this point, if they dip into Fresno they’re deciding on Kickham or Loux. Do they want to go with the young prospect or the boring vet?
We’re talking about the #5 so it’s not as critical as everyone is making it out to be. However, if Timmy doesn’t start pitching better than a #5 and if Zito starts pitching at home the way he’s pitching on the road then we are now looking at three #5’s and you can’t win a division with three gaping holes in your starting rotation…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
All true Flav. Frankly, I don’t think the answer lies within the organization . . . So, I am hoping that a trade will occur. Sure, it’s early – but the pitching staff is not even close to what it was last year. You mentioned Norris and I like Garza. Either one works for me and I know the Cubs are shopping him. I cited a Denver Post column last night, where it has been suggested that the Rockies go after Garza. I hope we don’t lose out to them in the Garza sweepstakes. He would be less effective there obviously, but he would still be a plus for them. With regard to Norris, he will have a dress rehearsal against the Rockies on Monday, Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (3-3, 4.10) vs. Bud Norris (4-4, 3.86). That will be an interesting game.
Today, the Zen Master needs to channel the mauling he gave the Rockies in a shutout early this season at AT&T Park. Last time out against Nicasio in Sherpa Park, we could have sent him back to the minors. However, he now looks to build off his best start of the season, which temporarily quieted talk of a demotion. The World is a bit tilted with the Rockies doing so well thus far this season, but we need to make a statement the next couple of days . . . Especially tomorrow, with the Rockies’ Jon Garland (3-5, 5.19 ERA) against Matt Cain (3-2, 5.12). Fuck, if Garland beats us, then the world really has fallen off its axis. 🙂
Great post. Who would the Giants trade for an impact arm like Garza? We’d get out-bid. The farm doesn’t have a lot to choose from right now. Blackburn has a hit a bump in the road. Crick is injured. Gary Brown treading above the Mendoza in the PCL. It would probably be ill advised to move Panik and Susac. I suppose a quantity over quality deal could be made, but that would probably not fetch the Garza’s or Peavy’s of the world. It would have been much easier to spend the money in the offseason than deal another blow to the farm midseason.
That’s the rub – who goes? I know that you don’t get something for nothing. I’m thinking that the Cubs want prospects or contracts that wont burden them forever, i.e., what got them into this mess in the first place (and is why they want to move Garza). That being said, Twin’s point below about no one running away with the division and Sabean’s past history of not doing early season trades is valid. This is just me wishing for it to happen, as I think Timmy doesn’t get any better, Voggie same deal, and Zito – who knows? I guess if Cain steps up his game to the level of MadBum, we’ll be all right, but the 3,4, 5 spots are still worrisome.
Zito and Timmy are pitching pretty much as they did last year. Cain still really needs to turn his numbers around. And they need someone who can give ’em a 4.5 ERA the rest of the way in Vogey’s spot.
Chico wanted to discuss and ask for my input on a cancer treatment a loved one is to undergo and saw that the comments were closed on my last blog post. I’ve made a new post for that. Of course I’ll help if I can.
http://zekesplace.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/as-per-request/
I’m sure Twin will be able to cite dozens of reasons why it’s not in the cards, but I really do wonder if Sabean is contemplating packaging Belt at some point this year, and the looks at Pill are to evaluate whether he might be at least as productive. Not sure who has an arm who could help, and who is in need of a 1B man. Criticizing Belt publicly seems like a dubious strategy in this case, but wiley Brian may realize that those other GMs pay more attention to stats like OPS+ than he does.
Why would I “cite dozens of reasons why it’s not in the cards”? It’s totally possible, but not likely, IMO. But keep in mind he’s trashed Pill too, I highly doubt they think Pill is anything more than what nearly all knowledgeable observers think him to be- a AAAA player. Well, AAA+.
That wasn’t an implicit criticism, it was an acknowledgment that I don’t pay much attention to the dynamics of MLB trades.
That wasn’t an implicit criticism, just an acknowledgment that I don’t pay much attention to the dynamics of MLB trades.
Have I made myself clear yet?
Cheers Flappers! I appreciated the posts yesterday congratulating the current college grads and Chuck mentioning that Little San Dawg graduates from SFSU today. I’m fired up for the ceremony, but I do have my tiny radio and ear buds tucked in my official Giants warm up jacket so I can listen to the game during the downtime today when Larry Baer is not sprinkling knowledge on the grads. Family dinner in Marin last night and what should be a fun party downtown later today. I will be at the game tomorrow, so that will be a great capper to the weekend. I was glad to see this am that Cain is going tomorrow instead of Starter X.
SanD, I’m also going tomorrow and was equally pleased to hear about Cain. I have out of town guests with me, otherwise it might have been a good time for that drink. Every time I’m in SD, there’s always too much family stuff to deal with.
No worries James! I’m in the same boat tomorrow with a big group. We’ll make it happen one of these days.
Weird season so far, Giants playing some of their worst ball vs. the not very good teams and beating the better ones. SPs are gonna be Achilles heel; by next year back end could look completely different. I’d say one FA and at least one kid take those spots. Interesting to see what they do to fill Casilla’s late game RHP spot.
Pagan so far has been the guy struggling the most in LU–OB is dead last among regulars, unacceptable for a leadoff guy. With strength of guys behind him, he gets on he becomes the spark that can lead to big innings. He finished strong last year so I’m hoping he picks it up soon..
Donnie TT imo is trying to motivate Ethier and the rest of his underperforming team, not a bad tactic esp when you consider he played in NYC for so long. If you aren’t overpaid suckitude, then show it to the org and fans, on the field. Imagine the heat his team would be facing on a daily basis if they were still back there.
Speaking of which I’m reading Robt. Creamer’s “Baseball in ’41–a celebration of the ‘best baseball season ever’ in the year America went to war.” Durocher and Dodgers were upstaging more successful NYC rivals.
I know it’s not a popular opinion here, but the reasons for the Dodgers poor performance can be discerned fairly easily. They lost their shortstop, their CFer may be damaged goods, and they’ve sustained major injuries to their starting pitchers. The part of the team that has collectively underperformed is the bullpen.
Anything is possible, buit major trades at this time of year are rare because the sellers want multiple offers to choose from. And despite an assertion otherwise, Sabean has not made early trades in 2010 and 2012, he’s made them at or within days of the deadline.Moilna for Chris Ray is the only exception I’ve seen, hardly an earth mover.
Anyway, it’s just far more likely that that they see how the internal effiorts work out then re-assess. Nobody is going to run away in the meantime.
Hi Michael. Good assessment (wow, it’s nice to be able to type ‘ass’ here!).
How much thought have you given Kickham? I think Flav is spot on, but I don’t think they have anything to lose by giving the kid a look. If he throws ground balls and the park contains the flyballs, he can’t do any worse than anybody in the current/former 3-5.
Dr. Biggus Flavorious pretty much rehashed what I’ve previously posted about the #5 situation. I think they’d be messing with Gaudin’s fragile hold on competence by starting him but I can see it happening. Even if Kickham had a poor outing, if he’s rotation material that won’t be a setback. I thought they’d look to Loux first but Mike has pitched his way in and Loux was, like Gaudin, a stop gap at best. Then he got rocked Wednesday. In summary- i thnk Kickham is the best choice.
Yeah, agree all around, changes need to be made, out of necessity (injuries) and because of some performance issues as well. And they will be… some minor ones now, and then maybe some bigger ones a couple of months from now at the trading deadline, which is where Sabean usually does his magic, as Michael said. The two championship teams fielded very different teams in September from who took the field in May. Same this year, I’m guessin’, and management has learned how to do this very well. That’s a comfort.
And yeah, James, I was wondering the same thing about shopping Belt. Many here have saved one piece of criticism of management for the Belt situation, and I know you (and I) were among the strongest Belt advocates last year during the yo-yo period. I trust management, but to the rest of us, it sure seems like they’re fucking up a situation that shouldn’t be fucked with. Pill at first? Really? The first throw in the dirt that he can’t pick like Belt can would reveal that mistake. Anyway, hope you and SanDawg enjoy the game and bring home a winner..
Funny, it seems like the part of Pill’s game that’s solid is his defense. Beyond his AAA numbers this year, Pill just inspires some unexplainable sense of confidence in observers that has no basis in his performance or the hard reality that 28 year old players don’t usually all of a sudden blossom in the majors.
I don’t think they’re wrong to see if Pill can pop a few off the bench. Even 3 or 4 pinch dingers can win 3 or 4 games. If he’s just here for that, some double switches and the *occasional* start against a LHer, he can be a decent adddition. If they’re thinking of him as a fuill time option, they are…. 1.2.3, wait for it.,……. IDIOTIC AND SHORT-SIGHTED…
I had three gaping holes once . . .
once!
But seriously, it does prove what a high level these MLB players perform at when from one season t’other a guy can go from great to e-gads working that fine line of success.
Was that before the operation, Edd? 🙂
Chico, you can also Email me about that
michael.scott2@mchsi.com
Martie Lurie at 10:01 on KNBR gave a shout out to Paul Kocak and his book “World Serious” as a fun book and recommended it…
Ha! That’s fantastic, wish I was listening. And I will take a small amount of credit for this happening. 🙂
I’ll text Pawlie later today.
He just mentioned it again at 10:56, said he’s getting tweets on it and another book he mentioned, and whose author he spoke with this morning. Pawlie needs to hook up on an interview by phone or at the Public House on a Sat or Sun ATT pre-game show…
I texted him but haven’t heard back. He could be out of town this weekend, he’s usually pretty hard to reach when he leaves town.
1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Marco Scutaro (R) 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Gregor Blanco (L) LF
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Barry Zito (L) P
Bobby Evans now on KNBR being interviewed…
Not exactly the strongest vote of confidence I’ve heard of late, Stan Kasten on Donnie’s status:
“I do expect us to turn it around, and because of that, I expect Donnie to be here for a long time. There’s another side of that, if things don’t go well.”
Evans said Casilla may be out a month, without surgery. They’re trying to avoid it. If he has surgery, and will fairly certainly need it in the offseason, it’s 4 months.
just to have a cyst removed? Maybe I don’t have all the medical info. My friend had a cyst removed from the back of her knee and she was running again in 2 weeks.
A little sleuthing on my part shows a knee cyst rarely arises by itself, it’s a marker of some other knee problem. Could be there’s something else going on in the knee, and they’re not telling us…
If we can put it on the administration, Issa will get to the bottom of it…
Issa’s at the bottom of everything. The guy has a checkered past, putting it mildly…
A checkered past indeed. . It’s amazing that a guy like that runs the house oversight committee..
Snarkk, thanks for reporting that good news; Magnus, thanks for the text. Maybe I should call in? Is that gauche? Is he still on?
By the way, Eddd’s POTD is “Giants Cheerleading via Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, and Basho.”
You see the blown call featured on the Giants pregame today? 1B ump in a TX/SEA game called a runner out, but the 1B man whose foot was on the bag didn’t catch the throw–the pitcher, who had run over to cover if necessary, did, and his feet were far from the bag. In Ironweed, Wm. Kennedy, there’s a great baseball scene wherein a pitcher and catcher show up an ump beautifully; the guy never worked again. These days, with digital cameras, the debacles happen every week. Anyway, umps are taught to listen for the ball hitting the mitt at 1B, so maybe that’s why the poor fuck in the TX/SEA game blew it.
Good play by Pagan getting to the ball so quickly . . . Fowler would have normally had a triple on that double.
Umm . . . So Cain is on the bump tomorrow, huh? 🙂
Bochy should have run out and slapped Scooter upside the head before he could try that dumb shit again…
Well that inning sucked.
Rockies announcers are saying that was perfectly located. Fuck if it was . . . IMO Brandon got jobbed.
It might have been at the knees but it was definitely outside, IMO. But Scutaro’s bunt totally fucked the inning.
Strike three to Belt was at least very close. He should’ve been looking opp field like Pagan and Pablo. Instead, he was looking for a walk with RISP. That’s pretty common, for him.
Belt does have 9 walks and 9 hits with RISP. Also 2 HR 18 RBI in 32 AB with RISP.
I looked at Belt’s numbers for 2 outs RISP before I posted. Horrible. Compare Buster’s, for perspective.
Cuddyer is killing us. Prior to this game, he had a .133 BA against Zito. Pfffft!
BTW this game is the free game on mlb.com
This inning is good as any to get something going with Posey, Pence, and Belt coming up. One can hope . . .
Good call.
Weird play involving Fowler there.
OK, let’s show them what’s what.
We score!!!
Epic! 🙂
Coming back.
back to back doubles and the Rox skipper HOOKS their starting pitcher not even 90 pitches in.
Hell yeah! Thank you California sunshine and wind.
good to see Andres playing for the team again
Just keep it going Vungo . . . Yeah, we’ll take the walk. Coooooooome on up Brandon!
I don’t see a lot of numero zero jerseys in the MLB, very popular in beer league.
Marco got fooled on that slider.
Regardless of whether the Giants win, this is the REAL Rockies team and it will get worse as the season goes on. Their pitching staff has little or no experience, and less talent than most in MLB. It’s a joke.
3 runs on 3 hits. Hilarious.
let’s BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE, Pablo.
exciting with an ugly ending.
sounds like my marriage.
Bogus call. From the one look, I thought it looked like Pablo barely swung.
WTG Giants, good inning.
Pawlie, to answer your question earlier, I don’t know if I’d call in again. Lurie gave you a passing, but good recommendation, with a brief description of what the book is about. Maybe 30 seconds in all. Positive. If you’re at all going to be out here this year, I’d just email him and say thanks, I heard you plugged my book, etc. Maybe you have already started that dialog? Of course, I have no idea the criteria he uses as to which authors he interviews, as he mentions more books than the authors he interviews. From the sound of it, I do think he read your book, or at least some of it…
That’s where my thinking lies. i thanked him on Twitter, FB, and personal email. He was gracious, and I am grateful. Thanks for alerting us/me to it.
Looks like we have our answer about whether Gaudin takes the Voggy start — looks like a Fresno call up unless there is a trade in the works. Why NOT the Kickham kid? Could he be much worse than most of the starters so far? I’ll take any starter that doesn’t give up a run in the first run through the opposition’s order. What a concept…
Oh yeah!
Tie game. Yes sir, coming back.
No idea what Arenado was doing so far off the line. Fucked up positioning in my opinion.
Bad call Blue.
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE WAS SAFE BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That wasn’t even close. We got robbed by that dumb fuck.
Exhibit #7023 why we need replay review…
Make em pay Arias, make em pay.
Last night Angel Hernandez made another obviously blown call that directly prevented the ChiSox from winning the game in bottom of the 9th in Chicago with the Marlins. Luckily, the ChiSox went on to win anyway. The ChiSox runner is safe with the ball still 2 feet away from the first baseman’s glove. Blown calls at first IMO are the most blown call in MLB, and the easiest to review and decide in replay. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_05_24_miamlb_chamlb_1&mode=video&content_id=27405123&tcid=vpp_copy_27405123
Denver leading SU 6-2 in lacrosse Final Four. It’s a big thing in these here parts. ESPN2 is showing it.
HEY HEY, HO HO, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SYRACUSE!
no rivalry with you and me on this? no friendly “bet”? it’s now 6-3 — some game
Too bad Cornell lost, could’ve been all upstate NY final.
Yer kiddin’, right? I detest all Colorado teams, with the possible exception of the Avalanche (except, when the Sharks are playing them). All SF baby!
You’re a true EXILE fan, like me. Mac, I guess the Cornell star’s farewell (Pannell??) was emotional.
did y’all know Jim Brown was a top SU lax player?
Yes. I thought he was rated the best ever, true? I don’t know Lacrosse from crochet.
I don’t know enough either, but he was a formidable athlete. My sophomore HS daughter just finished season (varsity) this week. Girls’ game is watered down compared to boys; even she feels that way. Boys’ game immed. followed hers. The contrast was stark: faster, rougher. Den 7 SU 4. End of 3rd qrtr.
I would imagine that there are many memorials and tributes to his athletic exploits at the school, true?
See Blade’s 3:49.
lol
6-4
I see Bochy got ejected. Pretty rare. I automatically conclude Bruce was right. He does not argue flippantly.
The SAME ump blew another big call. Unbelievable. Or, actually, sadly it is believable.
Do you think the umps laugh about blown calls over dinner? You know, one of them makes a bit of a joke and the ump that made the bad call shrugs, and they all laugh it off.
It’s tough enough with us beating ourselves lately, I don’t think we need the additional help.
Yeah, I can imagine that conversation taking place all the time at the Holiday Inn “All You Can Eat” Buffet, with all of them snickering between the belches and farts.
Boneheaded baserunning gaffe by Scooter but another awful call.
It’s frustratingly stupid not to get those calls over-turned by instant replay. Or at least one of them over-turned. The NFL “got” it that fans wanted it, and the NFL made it happen. Give the fans what they want. The fans PAY for the whole sport.
Sheesh. This is ol’ time #torture with Colorado. Reminds me of 2009. 2010.
Dodged a big bullet that inning. Now, let’s nail their coffin shut.
and then piss on it
really nice to have jeremy back in form
pence to lead off
belt to walk off
Go gigantes!
OK, extras here we go. I’m hoping the game is being played under protest.
but does a protest ever overturn a final result? not that I am aware of.
The George Brett Pine Tar game is the only one I can remember. So, once a generation or two.
I never saw a player so mad as was George Brett then. Just looked that game up on Wiki. I forgot it involved affidavits, notarized statements, protests within protests, court rulings, all kinds of crazy shit.
Like a deflating balloon, I can hear the gasps from the phone park. Sigh.
Well, unfortunately we’ve seen that once in a great while- the hanging frisbee gets crushed.
OK, we need some drama — the good kind. Puhleeeeeeez.
ANGELIC drama. Heavenly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG. THAT’S WHY I LOVE ANGEL PAGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PA-GONE inside the park!
Karmic justice is served.
Wow. What an ending.
If the game was protested, it doesn’t matter now.
One for the ages. 🙂
I’ve said it before…..
BASEBALL IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That home ump must’ve praying it wasn’t a close play.