Adrianza Digs His Long Ballz
I’ve heard two Ehire Adrianza at bats on the radio. Two. Total. The first one, he hit a bomb off Andy Pettitte to break up a no hitter at Yankee Stadium last year. Yesterday, when I turned the game on in the 9th inning, he roped another one. So clearly, if Adrianza wants to make the team, he needs to pay me to listen to his at bats on the radio. 🙂
When I got home, with the excitement of yet another HR from Adrianza brimming within, I decided to check out how many he’d hit in his lengthy minor league career. I knew he wasn’t a power hitter but still…..
Let down: Since 2006, yes he’s been toiling in the minors for nearly a decade, he’s hit 17 home runs. He’s hit an underwhelming .248 in that same career. Players who bat .248 in the minors typically don’t make a smooth transition to a major league batters box.
Yes, he was signed when he was 16 so he’s had a lot of growth room to fill, and yes he’s out of options, but watching him battle in out with Abreu for the back up infielder job is not really doing it for me. Especially considering the very real possibility that Scutaro will be missing an awful lot of time in 2014. Whoever backs him up is going to be playing a lot.
I suppose one option would be to just use Adrianza’s plus glove as a later inning replacement but a bench of Arias, Abreu, Adrianza, Colvin and Blanco is just about the lamest combo that we could cobble together.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
And Sanchez. Unless Marco goes on the DL, either Abreu or Adrianza will probably get traded. Last year we had a weak bench (I think even weaker) but I think the main problem was that the bench guys were pressed into starter duty and didn’t run with it. I’m not sure what was up with Torres (medical?), I guess Francoeur now says he was depressed, Pill was AAAA. Noonan didn’t impress, Abreu was hurt
I hear you but really it’s on the regs–Pagan Pablo Pence Belt Posey. If Crawford hits .250-ish and gets back to stellar D and Morse is healthy enough to supply consistent middle order pop, then Scut is a 7 inning guy ala Burrell–give me 3 good ABs and take a seat. IF otherwise is solid defensively, and nothing wrong with being defensively strong up the middle with better glove at 2b.
I know there was a thread on this earlier, but LA bench is very suspect. Zum made light of the injury riddled Crawford having a face
plant on bases—realize, Kemp is STILL hurt so the OF is Ethier Crawford Puig, all of whom could easily implode at any minute. Back up is Van Slyke kid.
IF has ??? at 2b (Cuban signee could open in minors) old man Uribe (one good year out of last 3) at 3b and Hanley, whose days at SS are surely numbered. C position nothing to be excited about either. The Gordon kid who they might try at 2b is a terrible SS who hasn’t hit for shit at mlb level.
In short, while LA pitching is tough to match, they could likely use Blanco and Arias, Hector too.
Good points. LaBumbos are like a pizza menu with zillions of ingredients but little coherence.
Is there a Flap FL this year?
neg
I like your perspective, WillieD. Keeping it real. I have thought for some time that unless he is hurt or just pisses down his own leg, that Abreu would take that last utility spot.
I have never really been impressed with Ehire (I had hoped he would blossom but it is pretty obvious that is not going to happen).
D lapses last year were hard to watch, just fundamental f-ups turning routine plays into scoring ops and making it tougher on pitching staff. To me these were unforgiveable mental mistakes, as if Giants players figured after 2012 all they had to do was walk out there with unis that said SF on them and everything would be fine.
I think Pablo (in shape) is a pretty good 3b and Belt is terrific, Posey more than adequate. A better glove guy at least for a few innings at 2b alongside Crawford plus Pagan Pence and Blanco (for a few innings) is a solid defensive OF. Without a lot of big K guys, gloves will be important, esp in the big yard at home.
I agree. Too many instances of missing the cut-off, and other blantant mental mistakes last year. This team must play solid fundamentals if it is going to complete.
There has been much speculation on how frequenetly Scoots will be in the line-up due to his bad back, and also who will back him up when he cannot go.
This article lends a bit a assurance in case the Giants need to pick someone up. Baer in talking about the payrolls of the Bums and our Giants had the following to say:
“We think we can get it done with a plan where, each year, as long as business stays strong, we can go up,” Baer said. “But we’re not looking for wild swings up, because usually what that necessitates is wild swings down.”
Baer promised to give general manager Brian Sabean more money for midseason acquisitions if the Giants are in the race, saying, “There’s some firepower left if warranted.”
So, there is money if they need it. First we need to see how the potential guys (Ehire and Abreu) work out (or don’t) and take it from there. Here’s the link to the article:
http://tinyurl.com/l48uf2s
Easy to see why Spring training is not held here in northern Minnesota. Finally coaxed myself outta the sack upstairs at around nine this a.m. Heating stove got a refill. Ice floes atop the water buckets on the kitchen floor. Cat-water frozen almost solid.
Turned on this machine and hooked into Yahoo weather report for this area. Twenty-four below zero. It’s getting a bit old. Betcha if they were playing up here yesterday that Red Dick guy would not have scaled that fence even once. Not much bounce when there are two feet of snow on the ground and a howling north-northwesterly at about 30 MPH driving the one-below temp into a windshield factor i do not even wanna contemplate. That was yesterday afternoon’s lead-in to last night.
Looks like March is NOT gonna come in like a lamb. Not even a sour old goat. The original Frostbite Falls (aka International Falls) some 130 miles NNE of me set their all-time low for last night at -33. We probably did not bottom that, but probably neared -30. Saturday night, March 1st is projected for a comparatively balmy -26 degrees. Couple more cold ones after that and then we start getting more snow with the milder temps.
So my question is this~~ why do MLB schedule makers even consider early season starts in venues like Minneapolis, Boston. Chicago and Milwaukee when cities like Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Houston, Arlington, Phoenix, L.A., S.F., Dago and Oakland usually enjoy decent to fine weather in early Spring?
Home openers stix. Teams don’t want to wait until May before getting a full house, Outside of that, I can’t think of any other reasons. By the way, when it gets down into the 20s and 30s here, I’m not thinking about y’all in the Dr Phil states, I’m just thinking that it’s cold.
Cheers man, I hope you start thawing out soon.
Sheez, Stix. You’re 130 miles south of the Canadian border? That’s positively tropical. I was in Minn once as a kid. I remember Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox near Bemidji. It was summer. Lots of mosquitoes. That’s all I remember…
Bemidji is close ~ about 40 miles E.S.E. from here. Some say Manysnowta has two seasons: Winter and mosquitoes. Some years that’s true. Up till last winter we’d had a nice long stretch of mild ones. Guess we’re paying for that now. Actually i’m about 85 miles due south of the convergence of Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota up at Lake of the Woods. Tundra begins, though, about ten miles north of here in the basin of former glacial Lake Agassiz. That area is much like Cali’s Central Valley, save for the differential in temps, water resources and ethnic groupings. Place is flat and boring, but has mostly good soil. Big farms.
My home here on Echo Ridge is about halfway between the Red Lake and White Earth Anishinabe (Ojibwa/Chippewa) reservations. Three sheriffs back Popeye Goodwin was the Man in my one-stoplight county. His folks were bootleggers and his kids were big on toking up. One little town, curiously bearing the same name as the biggest river in Spain, is mostly Chippewegian.
Whoever they pick as the second sacker backup better be bringing the leather. If two are equally bad hitters, obviously take the dude that can pick it. This team needs good D up the middle. Adrianza I wouldn’t know if I ran into the guy. A career minor leaguer to date is just that, he’s not going to turn into Joe Morgan just because he gets a seat on the pine as 25th of 25. Giants fans better hope no starter position guy gets hurt for any length of time, this bench, at present, looks as bad as last year…
Off track, but another lamentable factor missing from today’s NBA—with scores in 80s and 90s– not much *garbage time*. There was one that would have been fun to watch last night as Nets in Portland got down by 25 at half and then got outscored 42-21 in 4th Q and lost by 40. Some guy I’ve never heard of Wil Barton got 20 and 11, taking 13 shots in 28 minutes for season highs for the Blazers.
I was total garbage time only guy in HS; I can only recall getting into 3-4 games in first half in 3 yrs, so garbage time last couple minutes with big lead was time to shine and shoot if you were open. F that stall or dribble out the clock noise.
Brings me to Alan Crabbe of Cal who got in for 7 minutes, put up 4 shots and missed them all. He hardly ever plays, and I just can’t believe he forego senior year after being conference player of the Pac 12 as a junior. Maybe he was sick of Monty but I can’t think life in the NBA as a rookie bouncing around hotel rooms while rarely seeing any PT is anywhere near the fun he would have had at Cal.
Lot of very successful college teams are led by seniors these days, guys who stuck it out for 4 yrs like the McDermott kid, learned the game, improved their body and skill level, and got to enjoy life at college in good programs. And hopefully did something for their education (for free) to help prepare for rest of their life.
I stopped watching the Nets-Blazers blowout by halftime.
I think a lot of the early leaving for the NBA is fear of injury. If I were good enough to be a first rounder NBA or top rounder NFL guy, I wouldn’t play a day more than I needed to in college to get enough tape on my play so I could get drafted and cash checks. Why should I play and risk injury when I get paid nothing, and my coach (Calipari, Coach K, Boeheim, whomever) make millions off of me, not to mention my school, and the NCAA poobahs. They’re using me, so why shouldn’t I use them? You can get insurance, but that’s not a long-term payday, and if you really wreck your knee to where you’re a shell of your former self, you’ve lost a chance at millions more. Crabbe can go back to Cal and get his degree if he wants to. Life with Monty probably wasn’t that great, I agree. Wish we had Crabbe this season, Cal will be lucky to make the tournament — I figure we need to get into the conference final to be off the bubble…
I just think the player is better served to stick around and mature physically and emotionally. Too many guys who leave early end up like Jared Cunningham of Oregon State who is back in the D league playing games in bumfuck in front of nobody, along with Jamal Franklin of SD St. Both these guys were fabulous in college but unable to crack NBA LUs, with very uncertain futures. Life in real world is a lot harder than they think.
Sure D-1 college is big biz for the institution and coaches, but it’s also pretty good deal for the players–school is free, you get to play ball in front of big crowds and TV, and likely have pick of babes and whatever partying you want to do. Plus, if all you want to do is take *general studies* courses there are likely babe tutors and friendly profs known to AD and coaches. Think Jason Kidd set foot in a classroom?
I’d also wager pct of the guys who leave early that go back and finish their education is slim and none.
We’re gonna have to bash the long ball more this year and we have some firepower(Panda,Reverand,Belt,Posey and Morse to help out for the usual no SB game except for Pagan & Blanco,Reverand and sneaky fast Belt..
and a possible bench scrub (Abreu,Perez, Andrianza?)
Team will probably end up bottom feeders in SB in the NL…
SB?…
Stolen Bases…something they don’t know about..
I saw some of the Dubs-Bulls game last evening while on the eliptical at my health club. Dang, talk about blowouts. When there is an NBA blowout, which is fairly frequent, I think there’s not much worse in sports. Just unwatchable. At least if there’s an MLB blowout, you can still get into the pitcher/hitter matchups. In the NBA, it’s just horrendous watching the going-through-the motions garbage time, which was basically the last 3 quarters in the Dubs game. Mercy rule should apply…
Stix – all I can say is BRRRRRRRRRRRR. Cold that cold just does not meet human habitability standards (at least in my book). I feel for ya man…you know, you could always consider moving to a more hospitable climent.
On the flip-side, my daughter just texted me on the 10 day forecast for Scottsdale. The day we get there (March 8th) forecast is for low 80s. Now that is some baseball weather. I’m ready to suck down some overpriced suds and destroy a couple of hot dogs. Play ball!
Yeah, who knows what drives the opening day for baseball…I think the Clown probably has as good an explanation as there is.
Chi: Our closest big town, Bemidji, was named after an Ojibwe chief who was living there when the first lumberjacks arrived back around the turn of the 20th Century. Some folks call the place Brrrmidj. Wonder why.
Thanks Flav. After yesterday’s post did you go out and get everyone the interview they wanted? I wanted Morse and here are two minutes of the goof, and I mean goof in the best possible way.
http://tinyurl.com/m63fght
This is probably just a gratuitous rant, but what the heck….. 🙂
I don’t know if any of y’all saw the Dodger/D-Back game on the MLB network yesterday………during just about the entire game there were two young (probably) college-age women sitting in the front row behind homeplate, and they pretty much stared at their phones during just about the entire game. They’re sitting in awesome seats, and they chose to stare at their phones for the whole game. Just seemed idiotic to me. I try not to get curmudgeonly, but sheesh, that’s just stupid.
I did see that as well Z..
Mostly Doggy fans which tells the story, Clueless, as usual with awesome seats calling or texting their friends to see me on TV!!
Say did you see hear when Scully I believe was talking about Catcher Henry Blanco who is with Arizona and PH late,he mentioned The Dodgers sign him back in 1990???
Fuckin A…24 years ago and still out there hacking? Must of been 12 when they signed him in Dominican or wherever with doctored age verification…
this is our world now; welcome to it (remember that show: My World and Welcome to It?)
I heard Morse talk with Murph and Mac of KNBR this am. He indicated he really favors hitting to right and right center, like his two would-be HRs yesterday, and he admires Posey’s approach on that. And, that he gets into trouble if he tries to pull too much. If that’s really his preference, that’s not a good thing at ATT — I thought we got this guy to hit HRs into the LF bleachers…
I see your point, but those two flies yesterday may have been off the bricks in ATT’s rightfield wall. Rightcenter will cost him a few though, true, as it does all the Giants power hitters. Hopefully he pulls some into those leftfield bleachers, too.
I’m no expert on this sort of thing, but Morse has some movie star looks. He’s going to give Crawford some serious competiton for “dreamboat.” I can just see the women in AT&T already, holding up signs like “Morse, I’ll write some code for you.” Yeah, awesome signs like that.
I should have mentioned Pagan, too; I’ve been told he’s seriously dreamy.
You’ve been indoors loo long, Zumie!
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I found this little gem reading about Black Sabbath:
Didn’t know the Spinal Tap thing was based on a true story . . .
And baseball news of the injury variety . . .
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/zack-greinke-leaves-spring-debut-injury-three-pitches-212630269–mlb.html
Just shows the fragility of these LTerm starter contracts. What’s the Giants plan if, say, Cain went down for the year with an elbow injury? Who takes his place? Petit? Escobar? Is there a plan?…
Zito made noise he wanted to try to stay in baseball. I haven’t seen anything on him about being in anybody’s camp. Anybody seen anything?…
I thought I read where he wanted to take the year off and come back in 2015.
Stix is so far off the grid, the Cartwrights on “Bonanza” are like the Jetsons compared to him — by the sound of his 10:33am post. Dang. And I thought things were cold here in ‘Cuse.
Heck, Pawlie, weather.com says you’re going to have a low of around 2 degrees tonight. That’s above zero, what’s the big deal? 😉
Far from a sure thing, but we could just possibly have a sleeper on our hands. Talking Adrianza. Follow the team’s Mi. L. pipeline fairly closely and was watching him “progress” gradually up the ladder. By three years ago i was wondering what the H are they keeping this hitless wonder for.
Then last season at Fresno he started getting it together with the stick. Factor in those two bombs. Consider the fact that he’s all of 23 and just coming into his full manhood. Recall a shortstop we had a few seasons back name of Vizquel? In his first years he had a hard time hitting his weight. Much the same progression for the Wizard of Oz with the Cards. Both those guys turned into moderately respectable hitters as their careers developed. If Ehire is anywhere near the vacuum cleaner that Omar and Ozzie were we could be looking at a very tight infield, up the middle and at the corners. In latter innings our outfield should be one of the best, as well.
Maybe it’s a good thing Hudson’s around as a constant reminder to Timmy to consider pitching to contact. A tight defense can make a pitching staff look pretty awesome.
Barring injuries, the Giants have a legitimate shot of having five hitters with 20+ home runs (Pence, Posey, Sandoval, Belt, and Morse.)
When was the last time that happened, if ever?
That would be nice, real nice. Bochy always manages for a 3-run bomb, maybe he’ll get some this year…
Guessing one of those 60’s teams did it.
1963
1999
Without looking. Bonds, Kent, Aurilla, Snow and Burks?
I was thinking 2002 as well, but pretty sure Snow didn’t hit 20 plus. Reggie Sanders may have.
Happy pre Mardi Gras y’all. C\heck in with youse guys and ga(ls) in a few.
Maybe Adrianza is just a few years ahead of his time. Given their current roster, the Yankees petition the AL to allow not just one but maybe 4 guys to DH and be in the LU at same time, bringing it to 12 instead of 9.
That way they can be sure to have a spot for Jeter, Tex, McCann and Soriano or Beltran all in the same LU, opening up a spot or two for the *good field no hit* all glove guys to play regularly in the field. Rosters are expanded to 28 and the union says *ch-ching* and contributes further to the de-evolution of baseball.
Baseball is a very geometric game based primarily on multiples of three ~ as in strikes and outs. Nine players. Nine innings. Three bases plus home. Three outfielders. Bases loaded=3 men on. Most outfield corners range upwards a bit from 300 feet. It goes on with 3’s and 9’s.
My point is this. Three times nine equals 27 giving you the number of at bats in a standard game. 27 man rosters would generally be comprised of 12 pitchers and 15 position players. The latter would divide into 8 starters and a bench of seven men ~ ideally the backup catcher plus 3 infielders, 3 outfielders and an ultimate utility guy who might be able to fill in at say, five positions.
Tradeoff for the Players Union would be to dump the Dink Hitter rule in exchange for expanded rosters across the board. More pinch hitters. More defensive changes. More double-switches. More strategy possible so managers would like it too. The geometric perfection of the game would be enhanced rather than diminished under this proposal.
Man, it must be cold up there…
Spring training homeruns are like a DJ Loo Birthday Card…..short lived in the memory bank.
gold-ish
If you can’t poke fun at Vin Scully once in a while, what that heck. After watching two Vinny-called games in a row, here’s my Vinny impersonation:
“Bill Jones steps into the batter’s box. Jones went to high school in Mountain Home, Idaho. His wife just gave birth to twins. Jones likes to watch action movies and play the guitar. He thinks french toast is over-rated.
And that’s a called third strike. I remember the time when Gil Hodges told me that the secret to avoiding the called third strike is to watch the pitcher’s eyes, and see which side of the plate he’s staring at.
The plate is 18 inches wide. But sometimes it seems like it’s 16 inches wide, or maybe 20, depending who the umpire is that day. I remember the time when Sandy Koufax told me that homeplate umpires are like birds of a different feather. Koufax pitched for the Dodgers for several years. He’s in the Hall of Fame now. And speaking of the Hall of Fame, Bill Russell won’t be in the Hall of Fame, but he was an outstanding shortstop. He used to be an outfielder, but they converted him to shortstop. That happens sometimes in baseball, heh, heh.”
Zumiee (Evan), that is one of the most brilliant parodies I’ve read in a long while. Brilliant! You capture Vin Scully’s cadence perfectly. Worthy of Peter De Vries (I have some 20 De Vries first editions; once went to his house in Westport, CT). Thanks. Hats off!
agree with Pawlie, that was brilliant Zummie.
Thanks for the laugh.
You forgot the Farmer John’s pure pork sausage… 😉
Love it!
I know it is only the second (and third) ST games for Los Gigantes, but WTF…it is baseball…Giants baseball.
Here are the line-ups for today’s two split squad games:
Home against the BrewCrew in Scottsdale:
1.Pagan CF
2.Abreu 2B
3.Posey C
4.Pence RF
5.Morse DH
6.Arias 3B
7.Colvin LF
8.Minicozzi 1B
9.Adrianza SS
(Bumgarner P)
Against the Fucking A’s at Phoenix Municipal:
1.Brown CF
2.Crawford SS
3.Belt 1B
4.Sandoval 3B
5.Sanchez DH
6.Perez LF
7.Herrera RF
8.Noonan 2B
9.Quiroz C
(Escobar P)
It’s ST magic time: lineups sprinkled with guys I never heard of…
Minicozzi at 1B? Is that a dish at the Steps of Rome, North Beach??
Leave the gun, take the Minicozzi…
I used my magical edit button to correct the spelling of the guy’s name. The least I could do.
Minicozzi,the pride and soul of the Richmond Flying Burrito’s
He’s my choice for a “Bomb” today!!
The new Rockem Sockem Randy Elliott of ST..
Now I know who this guy is. Good ST story…
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2014/02/28/meet-mark-minicozzi-the-31-year-old-enjoying-every-second-of-big-league-camp/comment-page-1/
No sooner than I finish the article and the kid (you’re no longer a prospect when your age starts with a 3) goes yard!
Gotta luv ST stories!…
Cool story…thanks for sharing, snarkk.
Quick question for you guys with the MLBtv.com package. I have had this package for several years and I get auto renewed every year. For some reason, I thought it included the audio portion as well? I just tried to log into to the audio for today’s game but it is telling me I don’t have access. I don’t want to drop $20 additional if I don’t have to.
during the spring just go to knbr.com
Thanks!
Got to love the internet. Here’s a fight between the Giants and the Mets back in ’62 as called by Russ and Lon.
Mets pitcher is someone familiar.
Wow, I hadn’t heard that one. Mets start messin’ with Mays, the gravy train, and the Giants got a little serious. Not surprised Roger Craig was in the middle of it, he was an S disturber as a player and manager. Shades of ’88 Cards/Gyros and Will jumped by Ozzie at 2b…
Yeah, one of my favorite fights. Maldonado was great. . .
Yep, Candy with the flying punch to cheap shot artist Ozzie. Dusty came in from the 1B coaching box and did some damage…
A dead-on parody of Vin Scully, and now this. The Flap’s the best.
Damn I was at the Stick that day! Lots of BOOs when the Mets came up to bat. Never heard that deep of sound again. It was a double header too. The whole park was booing the lousy Mets.
Matt Kemp is getting his injuries earlier and earlier. He’s going in for an MRI on his already messed-up ankle.
Giants up 6-0 over A’s in the other game. Belt 2 for 2 so far…
Given Belt always has great springs, then goes to his knees when the gates open…I prefer he knock it off 😉
That’s not what his girlfriend says.
Gotta hand it to Flemm, he’s getting into form early. Giants have played one game so far, and Adrianza is “pretty much locked in at the plate”…
Is Escobar throwing a heavy sinker yet?
Not that it matters, but it sure seems like our all- time win percentage against the A’s in Cactus League is hovering around 10%.
Hembree had an amazing hat-trick of infamy. He made an error, balk, and wild pitch to give the A’s a walk-off win. How many times in major league history has a pitcher ever done THAT?
Oh, and he walked a guy, too. What’s after the hat-trick, the golden sombrero?
That woul;d be the golden shower.
Sounds positively Benitezian…
LeBron wears a mask to protect his broken nose, and makes a fashion statement:
http://nba.si.com/2014/02/27/lebron-james-black-mask-miami-heat-broken-nose/?section=si_latest
KNBR reports Voggy did not break 90 mph today in his 2 inning stint. Uh, that ain’t good news, folks…