Bee Crazy?
Here’s a pic from a fan who snapped this during Brian Wilson’s weird confrontation with Larry Baer after the game last night.
Wilson was apparently airing several pent up grievances including wanting his 2012 World Series ring and demanding that the Giants stop using his images in stadium video. What a whiny little be-atch this guy is……
The Giants have reported tried to contact Wilson several times to give him his ring and were ignored every time. And if this d-bag thinks he owns the rights to the freaking videos of him that get used on the stadium screen then he’s got more hubris than I ever thought he had. I had wished Wilson well but after this girlish tantrum I say “good riddence.”
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I wasn’t sure why BW was over there, having what looked like a pretty animated discussion with his ol’ buddy Larry. I thought maybe Mr. Wilson wanted an in-game trade so he could get the Save and a nice sendoff ovation from the fans. But no, it was just “Give me my damn ring”.
Wilson was also pissed about Baer recommending Anna as his realtor . . . Brian said, “She still hasn’t sold my bay area house and despite what you said, she doesn’t put out.”
LMAO…
As if this was gonna solve anything? Self centered idiot. This is the kind of stuff agents handle, my guys talk to your guys yada yada and sort it out–only a confirmed f-wad would do something like this out in public for all to see.
I have another problem with Wilson. He has admitted he blew himself out in 2010 and shouldn’t have been pitching in 2011. If he had a little more sense he wouldn’t have deceived mgmt. into thinking he was healthy and could pitch effectively enough in 2011, since neither was actually true. He was hurt and he sucked, something for a supposedly intelligent guy he was reluctant to admit. He could have had surgery and begun rehab quite a lot sooner than he did, and might actually have been able to do something to earn a ring in 2012 besides act like an idiot in front of the camera in post season dugout.
Lincecum still has a pretty high ERA (4.37) for the season, and even his last month of work (before last night) it had been 3.90. Dropping $14 mil plus for that kind of production/years is certainly a lot for FO to think about. Esp when you look across at LA dugout and realize they had 3 guys this year under 3,00 in starting rotation. If Tim leaves SF has to replace him with a guy who can throw 200 innings at way better than 4.37 ERA.
I still don’t think there are a lot of good options he’d take seriously, outside of Detroit, Tribe, Angels, maybe Pirates.
I don’t get it Brian. You said give you a ring and I sent a text, what’s the problem?
Great arm but ………..
ECCENTRIC!
What bit of respect I had for Wilson has been absolutely lost. I will always appreciate what he did in helping our boys win their first WS Title in San Francisco, but his schtick is getting very tired. Go on and Get GONE…and don’t let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out.
I didn’t know of this bizarre incident. i was, uh, ‘quadro-tasking’, when i saw wilson approach baer. this was about the time that timmy was on the field and i thought wilson might have been wanting to make a special greeting to tim, or something like that. man, was that not the case… i have always liked him ,even appreciated his sometimes over the top antics, but this one leaves me baffled and questioning his sanity. maybe there’s another layer to this, but for now i think that someone should convince him to seek help.
What did Weezy want? A pre-game parade? Seriously? What a fucking tool. You can take Weezy out of LA but you can’t take the LA out of Weezy.
I guess he isn’t coming back next year . . .
Take that to the bank.
I guess at the end of day, Wilson really is Twitter Boy, a public persona before a ballplayer. Too bad, I shared TF’s appreciation of his rough wit.
Pointless and stupid behavior by Wilson. By doing that, he alienated a lot of Giants fans, because it came across as “showing up” the Giants, after the Giants had just had a real nice and memorable series against the Dodgers.
Fine, if that’s the way he wants it.
But if the Dodgers flame out in the playoffs, the Dodger fans won’t have any particular affection for him, either.
Due to some computer issues, I won’t be online for a few days, and won’t be able to end the season with you folks. You’re awesome people, and even though the season had its disappointments, there were still a lot of real cool things that happened. Flapalooza, Timmy’s no-hitter, MadBum’s nice season, Pagan’s walk-off inside-the-parker, and on and on. Always a lot of cool things that happen even if the final standings are disappointing. And in the long run, the final results of 2013 will kind of fade from memory, and the overall joy of winning the World Series in 2010 and 2012 will become even larger in our awareness, as the full appreciation of that accomplishment continues to sink in.
Take care, folks, and I’ll see ya sometime next week! And let the “hot stove” talk continue! 🙂
And, oh yeah- THE FLAP ROCKS!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
You should try to get your picks in for the contest . . . who knows? You might win a new PC to resolve your PC issues. 🙂
He wants to close, so I don;t think he sticks around in LA either. He’ll take his schtick somewhere else.
Dawg, very sorry to hear about your son.
We’re thinking about you and your son, Dawg. We hope he gets well soon.
What a contrast last night. On the same night when a genuinely emotional scene played out at Yankee Stadium for one of the game’s most respected and classy players, this attention-starved clown makes a pathetic spectacle of himself following what may be the final game of Timmy’s career with the Giants. LIke I needed any more reasons to root against the Dodgers.
Baseball is about production, but I doubt Wilson’s act plays well with prospective employer team GMs. Nor did it probably sit too well with Giants players, as Wilson’s schtick took away from Tim’s possible last night with the team. Why would a dude like Wilson do just about all he can to throw away all the goodwill he generated with Giants fans? Maybe he felt dissed by management, but he could privately vent that. Strange doings. And last night he did what I thought impossible — made me feel sorry for Baer…
why am i not seeing dawg’s comment, I saw it earlier. weird. dawg, i echo the sentiments of others, and hope your son makes a speedy and complete recovery,
oops, i saw it reading the comments that i missed last night.
The thing that is a pisser about this whole Wilson thing is that the Giants made multiple tries to get with Brian (beginning with inviting him to the initial ring ceremony), and he never returned a call one. These details are in this piece from CSNBA if you have not seen it:
http://tinyurl.com/ke7ympv
Also a piece I just saw about Zito potentially getting another chance to get some love from the fans…
http://tinyurl.com/mwyzzxt
Something is still nagging me about this entire affair. Specifically, I understand that per the Giant’s brass, “Club vice president Staci Slaughter, said Wilson’s ring was made in time for the ring ceremony in April, but he declined an invitation. Slaughter said several members of the organization, including Baer, manager Bruce Bochy and VP Bobby Evans, have tried over the last seven months to arrange a meeting with Wilson but their calls weren’t returned.”
OK, I am following that part of the conundrum . . . Per the aforementioned released statement, Wilson was contacted at least 4 times (once by the organization regarding the April ceremony, once by Baer, once by Bochy, and once by Evans), right?
So, someone please give me a rational reason why Wilson would confront Baer about his frickin’ ring after being notified at least 4 times? Something doesn’t make sense here. Is Wilson so loony toons, that he would get in Baer’s grill just to tell him about his ring . . . or, was something else being addressed in their confrontation? Sorry, I am not buying that this was only about a damn ring.
the guy should be ecstatic. in the postseason again, throwing as well he ever has, and in line for a closer job somewhere next year- for good bucks. and he’s in the process of fucking that up.
blade, I thought the same thing. That there’s something else to this. After all, the Giants were just down in LA, they surely could have given Wilson the ring then. Why not? Just drop it off to Dodger management if Wilson refused to accept it any other way. But, the fact remains that whatever the reasons behind it, this was a bad scene by Wilson. He could easily have confronted Baer and Sabes up in their offices before or after these past few games for the ring or whatever reasons he felt dissed. In private…
Additionally, during their confrontation – Wilson gestures with his left arm to his far left and then gestures with his right arm to the far right. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the ring location, unless he was saying, “Larry, you guys told me my fucking ring was hidden in the glove hand of Juan Marichal’s statue . . . After I checked and didn’t find my ring I called Staci Slaughter and she said, “Wrong statue – it’s on top of Cepeda’s statue. MOFO, I checked both. Where in the fuck is my damn ring?” 🙂
And here I thought Brian was telling Baer to get those kids off his damn lawn, and Baer had to explain that it wasn’t Wilson’s lawn anymore.
We may never know if it was just the ring, or something else. And truthfully, I don’t give a rat’s ass. IMNSHO, way too much has been made of this as is. Regardless of what it is all about, Wilson made an ass of himself, and as others have mentioned, potentially damaged his chance for a closer’s job next year (although he will probably still land one with someone).
Let me ask you this. If he could be brought back to the Giants next year to compete for the closer role, would you even entertain that idea? (Dude has been pretty lights-out since his return.) Just curious where other Flappers stand on this particular hypothetical…
Hell yeah, bring him back. On the Richter magnitude scale of baseball player imbecilic brain dead moves, this barely moves the needle.
I am all about winning . . . I really could give 2 shits what these guys do in their non-baseball activities, sans murder, mayhem and rape.
i don’t think there are tie breakers for 3rd place, it’s just a tie, kiss your sis, and see ya next year.so here’s the deal, which most of you know anyway- sweep and we’re third. 2 of 3, it’s a tie. if we lose the series, pads are 3rd. also, it will take just one win to win the season series. now- the sherpas- our magic number is 2- any combination of sf wins and yeti losses and the giants will be assured of avoiding a last place finish.
just typing that comment gave me the heebie-jeebies. a lot of us have suffered the malaise. the *cellar*, the dank creepy place where evil lurks and where the ‘under the bed’ people spend their days, i won’t go! you can’t make me go, ma! eeeek! no no no no!!!!
what? i don’t have to go? really? the ballplayers would go? well, shit- as long as it isn’t me. look- the cellar is like, well, it’s like ‘room b’- this is the concierge..
The cellar? Isn’t that where all the good wine is stored???
uh, maybe… why don’t we see if we can talk a scantily clad babe to check it out for us…
Greetings lads. sorry i’ve been busy at work. here’s a link to some of what i’ve been up to: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=463544963715241&set=a.137600586309682.27017.129562970446777&type=1&theater
i’ve been trying to check in daily but usually brain dead so no comments. nice to see twin back.
well, as you can see above, my latest surgery has successfully returned me to a more youthful state…the side effects are a bitch, though..
Eric, cool photo . . . Thank you for sharing. By the by, do you know Greg McCallister? Engineer/scientist that was working on the Mars Curiosity Rover at Lockheed. I may have asked you this before.
nope. Unca was asking about someone too. I’ve been asked hundreds of times and the only time i knew the guy was when i was making out with his wife (she said she was divorced). He didn’t tell me his name until later. She called me the next day and said she “had” to tell the guy. Super.
lmao
Awesome picture…funny as hell story/reply (only time knowing the guy…).
Wow how did I miss this?! I thought Bri was just goofin’ but you say he was hassling Larry?! That is just insane! Which is obviously where he has gone since switching to blue. A happy person wouldn’t be acting this way so what does that say? Guess Wilson is already miserable so…perfect. 🙂
Reblogged this on THE LIGHTER SIDE OF SPORTS and commented:
An unhappy Wilson is exactly what I expected, and only an unhappy person would behave this way! At least we don’t have to waste any more time on bad thought for Bri Bri, he’s already miserable. Sorry Wilson, Once you go Blue, You aren’t welcome Back.
well, a totally insane nutso job throwing 95 is actually a pretty good qualification for a mlb closer… he adds a pair of coke-bottle glasses, throws a couple warm up throws to the backstop and there’s your man…
Oh you don’t have to convince me! I have been Brian’s strongest supporter since way before the “Beard” back when nobody liked him I stuck up for him consistently
Unfortunately I can’t condone this behavior. The Giants and San Francisco were very good to Mr. Wilson.
Thank you for reading. 🙂
i’ve already commented on this incident at 9:21 a.m. the post you are responding to was quite obviously intended to be humorous. i’ll put you down as ‘not amused’..
All these shenanigans aside, if the Giants and Wilson made ammends and they brought him back for a year or so at a good dollar total, I could live with B-Weezie in the Orange and Black, again.
I can’t see it. Even without this latest, I never thought Wilson even wanted to return.
Good blog, folks.
shenanigans? my insane closer comment was meant to be humorous, but it’s quite true 😉 a guy who would been great was bob veale. he’s the buc lefty who mccovey said was the toughest he faced. not insane maybe, but he had those coke bottle specs, probably threw high 90’s, and had *no* idea where the ball was going. there’s a story that his glasses broke once when he was on the mound and lou brock refused to bat. bob prince said he could ‘throw a strawberry through a locomotive.’
veale did close for awhile and he had 5 saves in 27 games with a 1.07 era before he was moved to the rotation.
stick around, Giants62 . nice people here, no trolls, interesting comments…
historical note- veale pitched in relief on september 1, 1971 when the bucs became the first team in major league history to field an all-black lineup- rennie stennet, gene clines, clemente, stargell, sanguillen, dave cash, al oliver, jackie hernandez, and doc ellis. it wasn’t a pr move- starters richie hebner and gene alley were injured and bob robertson didn’t start ( unknown reason ). supposedly the players didn’t even realize it until, according to al oliver, around the third or fourth inning… dave cash was sitting next to oliver and someone said: ‘You know, we got all brothers out there, man,’ and oliver recalled ‘that we kind of chuckled because it was no big deal to us. We really had no idea that history was being made.’ the game? manager danny murtaugh’s combination of american and latin black players pounded out 13 hits en route to a 10-7 victory. the first 5 hitters in the line up had 2 hits each, veale got a *hold* by retiring one batter in the third. luke walker got the win with 6 innings of one run ball. ellis had been ineffective and left in the 2nd…
promise not to tell but I would revitalize my crush in a hot second. LOL I would love to have him back but I don’t want him to know that! :O
I wasn’t saying shenanigans in a bad way…I think this episode is classic Brian Wilson. And I agree it doesn’t hurt to have a little of that in your closer.
Agree Giant62…if he had any interest in returning, he would not have been all butt-hurt over the contract situation, and signed.
If you like to talk Giants ball, stick around. There are some good discussions here, and as Twin says no trolls…
Evil Dead Part II. Great movie.
Grooovy.
This may not have an immediate impact (influx of Cuban ballplayers into the Majors), but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out….
http://tinyurl.com/m5e8bvt
Eric, sent ya an email. . . .
1. Gregor Blanco (L) LF
2. Tony Abreu (S) 2B
3. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
7. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
8. Juan Perez (R) CF
9. Ryan Vogelsong (R) P
If Bochy cares so much about winning, as he seems to if his managing this week is any indication, he needs to stop sitting Angel Pagan. I’m fine with taking a look at Perez but have him play for Blanco, not The Crazy Horse.
i think i read that the plan had always been to go easy on playing him after he returned. i found this on sf gate from the day he returned, ‘Bruce Bochy said the tentative plan is to rest Pagan every three days. Pagan said he’s 90 to 95 percent and doesn’t expect to return to 100 percent this season.’
Wilson can’t be bent about this ring-thing. He pitched in 2 games for us in 2012. If I was him, I’d be almost embarrassed to get that ring,
He’s still pissed they didn’t offer him a deal prior to 2013 starting. And why would they have? He clearly wasn’t ready, as they had suspected, he didn’t even get healthy enough to play until August. And per mlb contract rules, the LEAST they could have offered him is 20% of what he made last year which would have been about 6.8 million for this season.
Fuck that. The Dodgers gave him a mil to pitch as a set up guy the last 2 months of the season. That seemed about right at the time……
have you checked your email? i’ve purchased the agreed upon prize from our ‘power wager’. you should have it in 10-14 days.
I have not, it’s been a crazy day. I will now.
That right thar, Flavor. The SOB probably got his pussy hurt because the Giants didn’t try to sign his ass.
Hey, Sabes may be on to something:
http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/09/27/sf-giants-gm-brian-sabean-window-for-2013-team-is-closed/
Great article for a number of reasons, e.g., a little insight on the Giants needs as defined by Sabes, and his positive comments about the Zen Master. Thanks for sharing James.
i suspect that james’ intention might have been to show that sabean considers pitching to be the greatest need.
Awesome article…touches on almost all of the areas that I see as priorities. While he did say “We need the strongest staff we can get,” the focus was definitely about starters. And I agree that they need to add there, but the bullpen is going to require some re-tooling, too. Thanks for sharing, James.
Big props for Hunter. He deserves this award with out a doubt in my mind.
I would have been pretty surprised if anyone else won the Willie Mac award. Well deserved, Reverend! And he hit a laser beam HR tonight that matches the type of hitter we have all said the Giants need in this yard.
Hunter Pence is the fucking man. Great “thank you”, Preacher
pence was pretty much a no brainer, i thought that pagan had a chance for returning this season when he could have sat it out, but hunter absolutely deserved it.
Twin, I didn’t think for a second about that bet but I love the autographed pic, can’t wait to receive it, and I loved seeing Torres out there tonight. Thanks, looking forward to putting it next to The Zito Montage. I’m a little concerned about what this wing of the house is going to start to look like. 🙂
well, i knew we had a bet but couldn’t remember what it was until you had the post about it. i know you didn’t intend it be a reminder for me but i do pay up on my wagers. hope you like it.
Just enough to get out. Nice.
1) Sabean’s comments. Yeah, Michael, I can never really tell if James is *always* talking about the pitching being the greatest need… 🙂 But these were weird comments. The window on this group has closed. He didn’t say group of pitchers, and it sounded to me like he was talking about the starting 8. And then he goes on to say how financially difficult it will be to shore up the offense with players from outside the organization. Well, I said in a post yesterday (perhaps lost in Steve’s insistence in talking about Asian girls) 🙂 that I’m excited about the off-season. “Rebuild”, “retool”, or “tweak”…. I think it’s going to be very interesting, and I think Sabes is feeling his oats… go get ’em, Brian….
2) Fuck Wilson. When there are contests and someone wins something, there’s usually a window of eligibility to claim their prize. Wilson had all year. Buzzzzz.. time’s up! You have forfeited your eligibility to claim that ring. He doesn’t deserve it anyway. Fool. Absolutely no way he ever plays for the Giants again.
Working within narrow constraints is of course a creative challenge, Paul. Not that I’m necessarily up to it . . . 🙂
Oh, I think you’re definitely up to it, James. I have tried with all my will to change your mind about pitching vs. offense, and you’ve stuck to your guns, always well supported by numbers, of course… 🙂 From what Sabes said, I think we both can agree that he’s got his work cut out for him this off-season on both fronts, pitching and the starting 8. And rather than being anxious about that, I’m actually looking forward to see what he does with it.
Pitching will (and should) always be the priority in this yard configured as it is right now. I don’t expect big changes in the starting 8. I bet ya we’ll see a platoon in LF again, and I think Perez has a chance to earn some time there. The bench needs to be strengthened, especially with Scoots being as long in the tooth as he is. It is certainly going to be an interesting off-season…
And a howdy do, to Mr. Belt.
And, how about a Howdy Doody to Mr. Pence?
A fucking test..
last time i had my fucking tested, i got an incomplete..
Only ? being how many more of those Giants HRs is Vogs gonna need?
Oh shit test worked.
Anyway i was looking at Larry Baer’s finger in the photo,and he is totally telling Wilson,we sent your goddamm ring, it was a “W/S Cock Ring” asshole,which you can have every fucking Dodger teammate lick it for you,since it’s the closest your new team will get to see a real one butt-head!!!!
Thus far, the “Quest for 3rd” is going swimmingly as we are beating the Friars and the Sherpa Luge Team is getting outgunned by the Bums, 8-0.*
* That being said, I wish our roles were reversed with the Bums. 🙂
if those scores hold, the sherpas will have clinched last place.. all of this reminds me of an old chestnut from the cold war days. the russian finishes last in a two man race. pravda’s headline says he was the runner-up..
Yeah, exactly. Oh well, I almost have my mind wrapped around 3rd place being an accomplishment after this horse shit season. 🙂
here are the deatails on the quest for third-sweep and we’re third. 2 of 3, it’s a tie. if we lose the series, pads are 3rd. also, it will take just one win to win the season series.
the deadline for making your wild card picks for postseason contest is monday, sept 30th, 8:00 p.m. pacific. you can still enter the contest until end of the games of sept 29. flavor is running the contest, i’m providing the prize. i’ll ask craig to re-post the contest details on sunday.
night all.
‘Nite Twin.
So Twin,would that be 5 pm hawaii time?And 11pm east coast? And for Blade 10pm Rocky Mountain High time ?And Paul from Asia the next mornning,along with Eddacker? Well alrighty then….
There’s no need to fear! Vogelsong is here!
When Padres in this world appear
and cut the cheese that we all fear
and frighten all who see or hear
the cry goes up both far and near
for Vogelsong! Vogelsong! Vogelsong! Vogelsong!
speed of lightning, roar of thunder
fighting all who rob or plunder
Vogelsong. Vogelsong!
When in this world the Pence will lead
the Giants with his stealing speed
and 26 long balls we need
still who will buy late season greed
Vogelsong! Vogelsong! Vogelsong! Vogelsong!
speed of lightning, roar of thunder
fighting all who rob or plunder
Vogelsong. Vogelsong!
Hey, vato, too much Mad Dog tonight? 😉
I had a few tussles with the Mad Dog…
My beverage of choice in high school, when Bud wasn’t available. lqtm.
That’s fucking hilarious, Ted.
Walk with pride Mr. Blanco.
Damn…thought the Panda was going to join the party…
Dodgers are killing the Sherpas tonight, but they’re not too tough. Do you guys remember the home run that Mr. Ed got off of Koufax?
Damn, Steve…it had been sooo long since I had seen that, that I had almost forgot about it. That’s fricking hilarious….Mr. Ed goes deep on Koulfax…love it.
Outstanding
Rough night for Hembree….I still think he has potential to be a good add to the bullpen next year…
Why I love Mrs. James: “What ever happened to Alan Embree?”
My ex always would come up with nuggets like this, “Is Joe Montana pitching this weekend?”
Damn, they blow this game, I will be frickin’ pissed. ANOTHER 2 HOURS PLUS OF MY LIFE THE GIANTS WILL OWE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on Steve….that is lightweight shit compared to the torture of 2010…
True, but I had infinite patience back then. 🙂
Casilla!
Ties in with the article shared earlier on Sables. He speaks here too about what happened this year, and it is something about which we are all painfully aware…the lack of depth. As I said earlier, the bench needs a tune-up along with the staff.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/brian-sabean-giants-need-create-new-window
As bad as this year has been for us, I am tripping on the Cubs, who have lost 12 of 16 and watched an opponent clinch for the third time within a week. The Braves wrapped up the NL East on Sunday at Wrigley Field and the Pirates secured a playoff spot in Chicago the following day. Tonight, it was the Cards who clinched while playing the Cubs (albeit, they spared the Cubs the added insult of doing it at Wrigley Field).
Yeah, would suck to be a Cubbie fan now. Hey, 1985 was pretty fucking brutal as a Giants fan…
Yeah, what you said
TY
Ballgame!
Well, that’s the old ball game. Nice win for the Giants. Good night all . . .
Night, Steve. I’m out too, girls…
Then again, Dino did it as well, Well…not as well….
Y’all have the Quest for 3rd. I had the Drive for 75! And with tonight’s win, the Giants have overtaken the 74-88 Cincinnati Reds of 1991 and will not be known as the Worst World Series Defending Champion That Actually Tried. But why stop there? Let’s keep drivin’ and pass the ’86 Royals (76-86) and ’67 Orioles (76-85) and try to catch the 2003 Angels (77-85).
This is so surreal in my world. 🙂
Wilson Got the ovation just like I hoped. Now he is a punk dumb ass. Later..
I just read this in RotoWorld, “According to reports, the Giants and Hunter Pence could be nearing a deal on a new contract to keep the would-be free agent outfielder in San Francisco. Pence acknowledged on Friday that the discussions were gaining traction, and that the Giants were close to getting back to him with a serious offer. After a monstrous offensive effort this season in which he’s hit .282/.339/.481 with 26 homers, 90 runs, 94 RBI and 22 stolen bases, Pence would stand to make a killing on the open market. He has however, been an emotional leader since joining the Giants, and may prefer to remain in his familiar surroundings.”
encouraging news, thx. A little more out of LF, 3b and C, plus healthy Pagan….and a better record vs. chump teams of NL Central and East.
I’m with James on Sabes looking for SPs. I think SF even this year has shown with shutdown pitching and decent D they can win their share of torture games. They’ve done that this season even vs. LA, which has a strong LU–Hanley and Puig at .340 plus, Crawford Uribe Ethier and A gon.
I’ve seen some comments about B. Crawford lately. He’s at .250 for the year, a downturn from how he started/finished last year, definitely. But if at start of year we’d said .250 and good D I think most would have thought that was acceptable. Would an Arias or (gulp) Adrianza hit better?
When I first starting paying attention to baseball early 60s, most teams had SS that did not hit much and no one cared. Being strong up the middle defensively was more important. Scut is a defensive liability but still a good hitter; if Craw is a lifetime .250 hitter I think SF should be able to live with it.
Willie, you guys in the bay area would see more games than I do, but it seems like more times than not, Crawford is making errors on routine plays. Am I wrong? Baseball Reference confirms that he is not better than Tulo (the Gold Standard in my opinion). Making almost twice as many errors and having less range than Tulo.
In any event, his overall play has gone down significantly from last year in my view. The play of Brandon at shortstop has often been talked about in reverential tones, at times showing a wizardry with the glove that would make the likes of Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel smile in delight. Yes, the range he has shown is peerless (other than not matching Tulo), his hands as soft as any other at his position. His highlight reel this season might be as extensive as any player in the league.
Why, then, do the numbers not show this? Please explain to me what I am missing?
defensive metrics have a long way to go before they can be relied on the way offensive metrics are.
Actually, if you want to know who the best fielding SS is in my opinion, my selection is Andrelton Simmons, +34 runs saved (I think . . . It may be more the last time I checked). That is an astounding figure, when you consider Tulo’s best was +31 in 2007. Anywho, I do agree that defensive metrics are more difficult to gauge than hitting (the advanced metrics only being around since 2001 or 2002).
The biggest problem with Craw this year was facing lefties: .200 BA, .259 OBP and .549 OPS. That’s just not gonna cut it. Either he figures out how to hit lefties or the Giants are going to need a backup infielder who can play both second and short, someone who, between Craw’s struggles vs. lefties and Scut’s back problems, might find himself playing a lot more than expected.
This is my point with regard to his fielding, i.e., his putrid numbers against lefties demands consideration that he be platooned or replaced. Giants need more than an automatic out when facing lefties, regardless of the player’s position. I posted about this a couple of weeks ago, where I said that a team really suffers when the player can’t go against lefties (or worse, righties, see Junior Lake). You better have someone credible to platoon – which we don’t for Brandon – or your team is going to suffer. The Oakland A’s have Moss who is platooned against lefties and have thrived . . . Why? Simply because Moss has been lights out whenever he gets the opportunity to play and they have a satisfactory back up when he is out.
So what you’re telling us is that the Giants should trade for Lake and platoon him with Crawford. I like it!
[…] Macdog said, on September 27, 2013 at 11:12 pm (Edit) […]
My point exactly