Panda To Stay In Venezuela
Chalk me up as disappointed that Sandoval won’t be attending FanFest. The Giants excused him to *continue his workout regimen in Venezuela.*
What *workout regimen* can’t The Panda do here? He obviously wants to finish the Venezuelan World Series or whatever that is. I don’t care about that thing. Are they paying him to play in that or are we? After pulling up lame running to first base the other day (he’s apparently fine now) I would think that he’d be spooked into resetting his priorities. He did what he had to do to get in shape for his big, big deal coming up. Why risk a freak injury at this point?
The Giants are way too coddling of their players, especially Sandoval, in my opinion. I’m not certain of this, but I think mlb players get paid every two weeks like the rest of us, even during the off season. If they say come back for FanFest, you freaking do it. I would think the multiple risks of spending this much time in Venezuela (I’ll leave “multiple risks” up to your imagination) would kick-start Sabean into telling him to get his ass back to SF NOW for FanFest and whatever else he needs to do to get ready for the season.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I’d like to know how much control or even knowledge about Panda’s workout regimen the Giants trainers have had over the last coupla months. No mention I’ve seen of that in the local scribes’ occasional “reports” when a pic of slim Panda is released from Venezuela. Pulling a leg muscle isn’t the biggest deal in the world, but it should ratchet up the concern meter a bit for Sabes. If I were thinking of giving a guy about $100M in a LT contract, I’d like to know in detail what he’s been doing to his body; hell, I’d like to control what he’s doing to his body…
I’ve seen some videos, he’s usually running with a sled or doing flexibility/agility training–certainly not anything he shouldn’t be doing.
Is he eating again?
Snarkk- side comment about vipbox— I use it but I am leery of it. You have to be pretty vigilant with how you get to a game, the pop ups are everywhere and that site is constantly trying to download shit to you. I haven’t had a problem yet and my scans never report a problem but it just seems like a shady thing to me. I use it to watch games that aren’t broadcast here. You have to get good at knowing when to hover over a box and when to click on it because the box moves and I think that’s something that,if you don’t do it right, could result in unknown stuff going down on your computer.
Twin would be the best person to comment about this subject, obviously.
Thanks. I may not have the patience for all that. Maybe I’ll end up going to my health club and work out during the Giants games. Maybe dropping Cable TV will make me drop 25 pounds…
Unemployment checks in NY are paid weekly.
your gold is showing up early this year. I hope it carries on into the season!
100M for Sandoval…Puhleeze. I’d be shocked if they offer him more than they gave Pence… And btw, sold out ballpark everynight…Ya I guess the fans feel stiffed.
Pinstripes can be very slenderizing…
“I’d like to know in detail what he is doing to his body”…like what hand he uses to wipe his butt with?
Or is that something else the giants should control too?
I’m with you Willie and am tired of the micromanaging of Panda. I say judge him on his on the field stats and let the rest go. If he plays well, leave him be. If he plays crappy, keep him until you can find someone better—and good luck with THAT given our track record at 3B.
PS We pulled out a tough victory on the road at Borrego Springs High tonight. We actually got outcoached and outplayed, but we had better talent and eeked out a 9 point win.
He’ll be fat and out of shape if not immediately……..soon…..bank on it.
He *is* ambidextrous.
Yeah, my understanding is he can throw proficiently with both hands. I remember reading a story on it at one point some time ago, but do not recall the details…
Maybe he eats with both hands…
I don’t think we need to know whether Pablo uses Charmin or something else for personal hygiene, no. But, if you’re about to give a guy around $100M to perform as an athlete, damn straight as a business I want to know what he’s been doing to his body. That’s not micromanaging, that’s just being duly diligent and not an idiot businessman. That, Baer is not. Why wouldn’t they offer Panda more than Pence? He’s younger, he’ll want a 5 year deal minimum, probably 6 or 7. If healthy, he’s a far better hitter than Pence. In this current market, people are throwing around $100M like it’s nothing. If Panda performs, somebody will give him $100M if the Giants won’t. And that somebody likely includes the team with initials LA on its caps. Ramirez will be a FA after 2014, and will be 31. If they don’t sign him up before this season, I could see LA eyeing Panda as their next 3bman. With the Spanish language thing in LA and a young, gregarious guy, he’d be a huge coup for them…
When I read that Pablo was not going to be at FanFest, I didn’t give it a second thought one way or another. I really could care less. I am going to assume that the Giants are keeping some tabs on him…to what degree, who knows. I am with Willie and San…fuck all the micromanaging of Pablo.
It behooves him to get and keep his ass in shape if he truly wants that LT deal. And I agree with wswin – no way in hell I give him as much/more than Pence.
Anyone going down to FanFest? I am passing this year (as I did last year). It is just too much of a clusterfuck. I wish they would move it out of the ball park and back to one of the earlier locations. Whatevah…I am ready to hit Scottsdale and take in some ST games. Giddy up!
As long as Sandoval is ready to play come April 1, I really don’t care where he is or what he’s doing in late January.
The media is butt hurt that Marshawn Lynch didn’t kiss their ass at Super Bowl media day, saying, “. . . were appalled by Mr. Lynch’s conduct and refusal to answer any questions.”
Fuck them. I’m “appalled” at the media for sleep walking through Bush’s 8 years as President; celebrating the steroid era; ignoring multiple genocide incidents in Africa; barely reporting the crimes of Wall Street and “too big to fail” banks; giving imbeciles like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump a forum to push their right wing philosophies; and, fucking up the baseball Hall of Fame.
LMAO…well said (seriously). Good stuff, Steve.
I know most fans don’t care whether players speak to the media or not, but here’s the deal. These players make a shitload of money, and part of their well-paid jobs is talking to the media. The majority of the players don’t like doing it, but they do anyway because they’ve accepted it as part of their job. Why Lynch has decided he’s somehow above all this and opted not to fulfill his media obligations I have no idea.
That said, it would be rather humorous to see what happens if Lynch wins the MVP.
I’m with you MacD. These players say nothing anyway, but they get paid a lot of money because of TV, that = media. So IMO, spending an hour saying bullshit answers to nothing questions isn’t that tough of a tradeoff to making millions of dollars. TV and online sports need content. These BS interviews provide content. Content generates commercials, the commercials generate the $ that are recycled back to the NFL and the players. Lynch is a Cal guy, and he was a very good back while there, but I think he’s being a tool in this. He can sit there and say nothingisms for an hour like the rest of them; why does his S not stink that he should get a pass from what the other guys have to do?…
And more. The NFL charged $28.50 for any fans interested enough to schlep on up to Newark and listen to players being interviewed. Now, we can debate the sanity of fans willing to do that, but this was how a few thousand people opted to spend their day. And if they’re going to part with $28.50, then the NFL better make damn sure every player is available, including Marshawn Lynch.
Remember the giant suck hole at 3rd base that seemed to go on forever? Sandoval has filled that void pretty well whether he has been portly or not. I would like to see the him maintain a real commitment to fitness but that is on him. There just aren’t enough good, or even average, third basemen out there. Admittedly, I don’t follow the minor leagues closely but I don’t see one coming any time soon..
I would be okay with a 5 year deal. He would be 32 at the other end so still relatively young. At the rate salaries are exploding the Giants would be able to move him in years 3-5 if he hasn’t gone Cecil Fielder.
Couple of thoughts:
1) on snarkk’s post at 11:36 on Pablo. He is a marginally better hitter than Pence. Lifetime averages:
BA – .Pence 285, Pablo .298. OBP – Pence .339, Pablo .351. SLG – Pence .476, Pablo .476, OPS – Pence .822, Pablo .827. Again, he is MARGINALLY better. But Pence, excluding his first year in the majors has played in 157, 159, 156, 154, 160, and 162 games. Dude is DURABLE. Panda, not so much…we know his story. And with his propensity to get in shape and then baloon in short order…then I disagree with you…in my book he DOES NOT deserve what Pence got.
2) On Lynch. Yeah, I think it is BS that he doesn’t want to talk to the media, but I don’t think it is him saying “I’m above that.” He just doesn’t want to do it. And if it costs him $100k and he is down with that, then so be it. I am not tripping on this at all…a non issue for me (esp. if he pays the big fine for non-compliance). Whatever….
Chi, I said IF he’s healthy. But, the major diff is IMO there are fewer top drawer 3Bman than OFers. Other teams actually develop OFers internally, strange as it may seem. If Panda is healthy and performs this year, and doesn’t balloon up again, he’d be one of the top 5 FAs on the offseason market, no question IMO. He’s 3+ years younger (28 in August) than Pence (31 this April), too.
Here’s Baggarly on Panda — he says if SF doesn’t extend him this Spring, he’s likely in his last year as a Giant, and AL teams will be after him big time offering long term deals, which Panda obviously knows.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nbc-yahoo-sports/yahoo-sports-talk-live-2014-pablo-sandoval-last-141249731–ocid.yahoo.html
Well, when the Giants inked Pence for 5 years, he was the best option for FA OFers. So, they don’t exactly grow on trees. And that “IF” with Panda is HUGE (pun intended). We can agree to disagree…but in my book, no way in hell Pablo deserves a fucking wooden nickle over what Pence got paid. I want to see them sign him, but I would put performance clauses (games played, etc.) in the contract if possible. And again..I still do not believe he is worth more than Pence. Pence has always been consistent (he has his peaks and valleys, but over the long haul it all averages out). Pablo hasn’t shown that type of consistency, AND durabiltiy.
Also, lifetime averages for both: HR/RBI – Pence: 25/94. Pablo: 16/90.
And other team “actually” developing OFers has NO bearing on what is available via free agency for OFers. I get it that there are not many top shelf 3rd basemen…but it doesn’t change my tune on what I feel Pablo is worth. I think the Giants extend him…time will tell.
Internal development of OFers curbs the demand side of the equation for FAs…
I know you don’t agree with it, but this has not been the Giant’s method since Sabean took the wheel. Their model is pitching out the ass, and trade some of that to fill the holes on the roster. Giants have not developed an OFer for some time, but Posey, Belt, Crawford, and Pablo are all home grown. I really don’t trip on the lack of them not developing an OFer. Win another World Series and it is all good. Not a Raider fan, and was never a huge Al Davis fan, but to use one of his lines “Just Win, Baby!”
Agree Totally Chi!
Pence’s durability is the one thing no other postion player on the Giants can match especially Pablo,who will be lucky to play 130 games or less again.
“Dude breaks down like a soggy Burrito”
Meanwhile, Venezuela continues to be a nightmarish country for crime and murder. A recent Miss Venezuela and her ex husband were victims of robbery/murder near Panda’s home town. Panda hopefully has himself and all his relatives under protection down there. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/former-miss-venezuela-monica-spear-and-british-exhusband-shot-dead-by-robbers-9045050.html
Not too many palatable options, whether Panda is fat, skinny, or somewhere in between. As Sabean pointed out, Panda will get paid regardless – here or somewhere else – so I recommend we try to sign him before he becomes a free agent. This is the 2015 3rd base free agent list and I only see two alternatives, Chase Headley or Hanley Ramirez, both of whom are older than Pablo and will probably be more expensive than an “extension” for Pablo consummated before he hits free agency.
Third Basemen
Yuniesky Betancourt (33)
Alberto Callaspo (32)
Eric Chavez (37)
Jack Hannahan (35) – $4MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Chase Headley (31)
Casey McGehee (32)
Donnie Murphy (32)
Nick Punto (37) – $2.75MM club/vesting option with a $250k buyout
Aramis Ramirez (37) – mutual option
Hanley Ramirez (31)
Pablo Sandoval (28)
Ty Wigginton (37)
Kevin Youkilis (36)
Nice list, blade. Panda will have huge leverage in the offseason is he has a solid year, then waits to sign as a FA in the offseason. If Panda is paying attention, he’ll see that Pence signed way early, Pence could have gotten more than the $90M if he’d waited for the competition to heat up this offseason. Does anybody see this crazy market going DOWN next offseason? Were I Panda, I’d work my ass off, put up great numbers this season, and tell the Giants to hold their water unless they break the bank on me with a 7 year deal. Then, wait for the crazy offers to roll in during the offseason, particularly from AL teams that see me as a 3rd baseman / down the road DH, as noted by Baggs, or LA if they don’t extend Ramirez…
Pence didn’t do that because he isn’t a greedy fuck, and he wanted to be a Giant. Another reason I tip my cap to The Reverend.
Chi, I love the Giants. But, if some other squad offered me another year and $20 million on a deal, adios Giants…
Everyone is talking Sandoval….
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2014/1/29/5357942/pablo-sandoval-contract-extension-giants
Panda is a nice fit for the Giants. (Not sure if there’s a pun in there.) I like his attitude when he’s on the field. He has that “just right” temperament for playing at AT&T. When he hits a 415 foot drive that gets caught in rightcenterfield, he seems to be able to smile and shrug it off. That’s a huge thing for this team. Huff had that ability in 2010, and it helps create the positive clubhouse vibe the Giants have had in recent years, and contributed to their success on the field. It’s very important for the Giants hitters to buy into the home ballpark as an overall homefield advantage for the team. The Giants were very correct in getting rid of Carney Lansford as hitting coach, who had complained about the ballpark. It takes unique unselfish hitters to play for the Giants. Not everyone is going to want to come to this ballpark. But the upside is, when the SF pitching is dominant, championships can be won. Come to SF and win a World Series. That’s the drawing card.
Well said, Mr. Tall Almond Magnate.
Why, thank you, sir. Now, if the East Coast just had a way to send some of that snow and rain to the West, it would be a very groovy thing….. 🙂
Evan, you are not the only person from the West Coast lamenting in emails to me about the lack of precip and coveting ours.
Can’t we get Chris Christie or that thug GOP Staten Island Housemember Grimm to threaten to fire some weathermen unless they deliver rain?…
How many Flappers are going to Panda-less FanFest?
Went last year. It was ok. Probably have too much going on to make it happen. I liked it better when it was like 500 fans as opposed to 50,000
One of the consequences of success- all of those bandwagon fans that jumped on! 🙂
That’s probably what Paul McCartney claims, too. Pshaw. (I’m angling for some sort of adult-content innuendo but failing.)
I went once with the Snarkkettes about 5 or 6 years ago. Never again. Too many people then, and way more show up now. Lines are outrageously long for everything…
As mentioned earlier…not going. Didn’t go last year, either. To me, it is just too damned crowded at the yard. I would like to see them move it back to Fort Mason, or even across McCovey Cove to the warehouse they held it in before moving it to the ballpark. It is cool to get out on the yard…but I’ll skip it again this year. Locked and loaded on Spring Training, though.
Snarkk, in response to your 12:52pm . . . Thanks. I have only a one word argument against Panda ignoring an extension offer. INJURY . . .
Unless his agent is a complete idiot, he will advise Sandoval to consider that possibility when weighing (haha . . . another pun) a spring training extension offer and waiting for free agency. I absolutely agree with you that he would trump any extension offer by waiting for free agency to arrive. However, with his injury history, I would take the “sure thing” extension.
If I were confident in my ability and had resolve to stay in shape all season for a huge payday after 2014 is done, I’d risk it. He’s already got millions in the bank, or should have. A great season means Panda will be one rich dude in January 2015. If he signs before this season, yeah, he’ll still be rich. His choice of really rich now vs. obscenely rich later…
Another part of the equation (it is NOT all about the money for all players) is do you want to play in a full house of rabid fans with a team like the Giants, or some POS Junior Circuit team….
With the Super Bowl coming up I thought this would be a good one to share. Back when I could still stomach to watch basketball I always liked the Rain Man and the squads that George Karl put together. Dude threw down some mad dunks. Wasn’t he one of the original high school players to make the jump? Or a year of JC or something like that? He and GP running in Seattle was entertaining. Anyway, here it is.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20140129/shawn-kemp-seattle/?eref=sihp
Yeah, went in 2009 and 2010. Played catch in the OF with my son, but the field was covered in dirt due to a motocross event that had just happened. The year before they would rotate who you were standing in line for, and my kids got pissed when they tried to get Timmy’s but after waiting for over an hour, they moved Mark Gardner and some other coaches to the line they were in. Got some good pics though.
I figured after they won it all, I wouldn’t bother.
I believe the poet Donald Hall (Red Sox fan) has a book titled “Fathers and Sons Playing Catch.” Incidentally, “playing catch” was a term rarely, if ever, used in the NYC metro area when I was growing up. Only someone who never engaged in that activity or a sissy would say “play catch.” We’d say, “Wanna have a catch?” That was the phrase. “To have a catch.” (I always liked having a catch, because I was not very good in actual games of any sort.) The movie “Field of Dreams” got that right, in a scene toward the end. Incidentally again, that movie is based on a very fine book by W.P. Kinsella: “Shoeless Joe.”
One of those East Coast vs. West Coast things.
I remember the first time I heard some East Coasters refer to “pizza pie” and “tuna fish.” It’s just pizza and tuna out west here. I had no idea pizza was considered a “pie.” And tuna fish? Seemed redundant to add the “fish” part. 🙂
Yeah, I heard someone around here say ‘have a catch’ and I thought to myself, huh? Never heard it called that. Like west coast, soda (or coke); east coast, pop.
My mom (from Chi-town) always said tunafish. As in tunafish sandwich or creamed tunafish on toast.
PK, you callin’ me a sissy?
Zum, do you remember the line in Spinal Tap when Nigel says something like, I like tuna because it has no bones?
There seems to be many East Coast/West Coast things, but what about Hellmann’s and Best Food’s mayo? Same company, same mayo. but they sell the product under the two names, Hellmann’s on the East Coast, Best Foods out west. I know the history, but it still seems wacky to me.
I’m guessing he would think that, had you lived in NY, you would have probably called it the same thing all his buddies called it. Either that, or he’s calling you a sissy, but we all know I’m right. 🙂
no one says “no bones” like Nigel….Might have to see that movie for the 110th time…….
just re-read my “old glove” post from a few days ago. I was inviting him to “have a catch.” And while I wouldn’t ever say that out loud, it was just for written emphasis, I can kinda see how that wouldn’t make me a sissy. Or did I read it wrong above? Would that have made me a pussy? Oh wait, a sissy?
I think we need BuzzSaw to render a call on this……
In the movie Field of Dreams, Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella says to his father “Dad, wanna have a catch”?
Sorry Pawlie, didn’t read all the posts above Flavs…
Pablo in action just a few days ago-
Lotsa links
http://tinyurl.com/k2l8obm
Brutal…
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/judge-blocks-class-action-lawsuit-over-lakers-dodgers-050000674.html
Fantastic link wswin. This is exactly what “cut the cord” is all about, i.e., why people are disconnecting their TV from cable and satellite.
It doesn’t matter if you dislike baseball, basketball or football, because if you have cable or satellite, you will pay for it anyway. Almost your entire cable/satellite bill is subsidizing sports, primarily the NFL. Thanks for the link . . .
That lawsuit seems to me to make no sense on its face. Filed in state court. Federal law on communications trumps any state attempt at controlling that area of legislation. Seems to me to have been folly to file it, but oh well…
If you have a little time, take up the read that James linked to near the end of the *first glove* thread, it’s f-ing hilarious.
Fantastic idea for a play or something too, two highly f-ed up announcers in hostile territory who complain about their own team, opposing one, stadium, each other, opposing announcers, fans in it and just about everything else. I could see a local version of this featuring maybe Byrnes and Tolbert.
Like George Carlin’s line, “Drug problem? Yeah, can’t find any.”
Glad you stuck with it, Willie. These wasted reprobates are actually part of one circle of writers anthologized in an influential early 60s poetry collection edited by Donald Hall, who was just mentioned by Pawlie. Roger Angell it surely ain’t, though, which is a very good thing.
Just go home from Ranger-Islander game at Yankee Stadium.
Wind Chill: (-5)
Hot Chocolate: $ 12.00
For $12, it should be at least Belgian Chocolate with a Mint Liqueur chaser…
No, but it did come in a souvenir cup…
Well, alrighty then. Totally worth it…
Chuck, naw, ain’t be calling you a sissy. Or a pussy.
Zumie,
In my view, “pizza pie” is redundant. You can say, “I want a pizza” or “gimme a slice” or even “a pie” [“pie” is becoming obsolete, I think], but you don’t say “pizza pie.” (Did you see where NYC’s new mayor, Bill diBlasio, got BLASTED for using a knife and fork to eat pizza? Tony Soprano would never do that. Pick it up. Fold it.)
I am guilty, as it were, of saying “tunafish.”
Hellmann’s is my mayo choice. I even use it for fries.
As for “soda” vs. “pop,” that is trickier. It is not West Coast or East Coast per se. In Stamford, Conn., we said soda. So does NYC. But get west of Rochester, and into Buffalo, and it is “pop.” I first heard “pop” in college in Minnesota and thought I was in a 1940s movie. (Stamford, by the way, is the only place I know that calls a “sub” not only a “grinder” but also a “wedge.” Of course, Philly has the “hoagie.”)
A few weeks ago, the NY Times had a pretty cool graphic of a linguistic atlas of the US, the results of asking people regionally about things like “semi,” “tractor-trailer,” “18-wheeler” and other terms (such as “sneaker” vs. “tennis shoes,” which are “trainers” in the UK). I’ll see if I can find a link.
Finally, getting back to baseball, is it not true that girls or non-native speakers or non-players, decades ago not now, said “made a home run” or “made a hit”? All of which reminds me of George Carlin’s riff on baseball terms.
Now, go buy some baseball poetry: http://amzn.to/1iP9Hd9
And in Nawlins, that sub, grinder, or hoagie would be a po’ boy…
Yeah, my wife’s mom’s family is all from Pennsylvania, and they all said ‘pop’. I had the exact same though, PK. What is this? Leave it to beaver? She had all kinds of weird expressions and shit. Her version of eeny-meeny-minie-moe was inappropriate at best.
And yeah, I saw that linguistic thing on facebook.
Here’s the link.
NY Times Dialect Quiz
Pretty cool. My problem is I grew up on the west coast but my parents were both from Chicago, so I get a lot of their terms mixed in with ‘sneakers’ and soda.
I knew you weren’t doggin’ me PK *insert dumb-ass winky face*