Does Anyone Care What Baseball Players Think? If You Do, Read on….
There was an anonymous poll of mlb players recently conducted by ESPN. I’ll post the link at the end of the thread but here were some things that stood out for me:
Regarding PED’s: AL slugger: “I think the number is probably about 10 percent, but that’s not counting Adderall as a PED. If you included guys who are using Adderall, wow, that number would be through the roof.”
Who’s the most overrated player in MLB?
AL All-Star: “I like Bryce Harper. I think he’s going to be really good. But the attention for him — and for Puig, to a certain extent — is overkill. It’s just been hype so far.” Puig was voted 2nd most overrated.
65% of players dislike the new rules eliminating home plate collisions.
The players predict the World Series will most likely be the Cardinals or Detroit
Here’s the link:
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Thinking about Zum’s post regarding Uggla getting a WS ring. This can only mean that Baer will be contacting Flavor to schedule our Flap Universe ring ceremony. Ring size is about 6.5 for me.
Bahaha…I haven’t worn a ring in years…I will need to get sized!
BLEEP rings! Lets play ball!
I did not see the last half of the thread yesterday, and only heard this morning that Nick “The Greek” Peters has passed. I followed him for many years when he was on the beat with the “Sacramento Bee.” One of the best baseball beat writers of all time, IMO. RIP.
Pitchers should not come to bat. Tradition be damned!
FUCK the DH. Any player who takes the field with a glove, should also have to bat. THAT is the way the game was originated and how it should be played. The DH is an abberation of the true game of baseball.
I concur, fuck the DH. Hate it. Sorry Nipper.
and vice versa. Unless you are a one and done PH, you gotta bat in your hands you gotta take the field.
Wish the union would go for adding one or two to the rosters and dumping the BS DH.
That is what I have always thought would be a good compromise (adding two or three players to each roster and dumping the dumbass DH).
Here is what I captured from the last thread on Pagan going over/under on 100 games (sorry if I missed anyone):
Over:
• Chi
• Zumiee
• Blade
• Snarkk
• Lurker John
• WillieD
• Bozo
Under:
• Flavor
• Kevin
• Dirt
• Kat
• ewisco
Kev and I have a side bet. Loser buys the other grub and brew at a game (Giants or RiverCats).
You already owe everyone a beer at the Fappening for some other bet you were floating last year. Is this double or nothing?
Good memory, Dirt! I remember him losing a bet but I can’t remember what it was?
Yep, I too do not recall the bet, but I do recall losing one. So, whoever is present at the next Flapalooza, you got a beer (or your non-alcoholic beverage of choice for those who do not partake) on me. I am always good on my bets.
No, this is not a double or nothing. I will honor the loss of that bet. And if I win the Pagan bet, then Kevin will owe me a brew and some grub.
I may be wrong, but I am pretty certain that the Caballo Loco is going to surprise those of you who took the under.
142 games for Pagan this year. Why? Because Dr. Implicito uses revolutionary technologies for his Minimally Invasive Approach to spinal surgery during all phases of your procedure. And remember, No matter what sport you play, or how frequently you play it, it is important to see Dante Implicito, MD if you are suffering from any type of chronic back or neck pain.
Yup, all that adds up to 142 regular season games.
Plus, the second ring will help even out his posture.
I am over at 110
I was going to say, I’d put A-Fraud at the top of the overrated list, but I see he’s #3. I can see Harper and Puig, just because they haven’t reached their potential yet. Coincidentally, all 3 are beyod obnoxious. Correlation?
Reading what clueless Brandon Phillips has to say in his rant was a trip.
“…just winning the game.”
Uh, Brandon, you were second highest paid player ($11 mil) on Reds team that won 76 games last year. On base? 23 walks all year in 460 ABs. Slugging? 6 other guys on team were higher than you with your 8 HRs and 51 rbis, powerful .266 avg. and .678 OPS. This guy should STFU and look in the mirror.
As a team the Reds were 14th in NL in runs scored at 595, and not coincidentally, 14th in OB. For all his speed, Billy Hamilton OB was .290. Even then he stole 56 bases and got caught 23 times, not much over 60% success rate.
Only team Reds finished ahead of last year were Cubs, which is unlikely this year.
But it ain’t the SABR guys who are ruining the team, it’s Phillips and his buddies.
No scientific basis, but I just can’t put Pagan in same category as Glass Sanchez. Salud!
My take on that survey? With a resounding no to the notion of a salary cap, the MLBPA is still the strongest union in America. Even A-Rod’s peers thinks he’s a chump. The most overrated question was misunderstood as biggest douche bags. YOUR San Francisco Giants are flying under the radar again (just how I like it).
Williedavm Phillips’ attitude is the perfect counterpoint to yesterday’s discussion about Bumgarner. Prima donna versus genuine, down to earth guy. Unfortunately, there’s way more of the former than the latter.
The Giants could win 5 straight World Series championships and they’d STILL be overlooked the following year. Why they are continually dissed by the media and the rest of baseball is beyond me.
Oh yeah, they’ve OWNED the Cardinals (Tigers too for that matter) the past 5 years, so screw them too.
Not sure it makes a difference (except for the World Series picks) but this article Flav posted was written last spring…I had no idea Adderal could be considered a PED? Anyone know what the benefit is? Better concentration? Isn’t that the drug they prescribe for kids with ADD?
hadn’t noticed that. They were discussing it on KNBR yesterday as if it just came out. I wonder if it’s been recently updated?
Per Google and WebMD, it is used to tread ADD, but it also has amphetamine in it. It’s said to “hone impulse control” and “sharpen focus.” Coincidentally, it’s the drug Bitchard Sherman was popped for.
it’s completely performance enhancing. I’ve taken it. Turns you into a beast for a few hours. It’s detuned speed.
Ha, you are already a beast Flav. If I going to be around you when you’re amped, I want to make sure I am on your team!
I think the Flapalooza bet that Chi lost was that he guaranteed that Sandoval would re-sign with the Giants. Technically it wasn’t a bet; it was a guarantee that, if Sandoval didn’t re-sign, Chi would buy us all the beverage of our choice. 🙂
Damn dude, you have a steel-trap mind! That was it! That fat fuck cost me a few brews…brews that I will gladly purchase for one and all at the next Flapalooza (and beverage of choice for Blade, Pawlie, and any others who do not partake of alcohol). Seriously, I am glad that the Giants did NOT end up spending 95 mil or more to keep Pablo. IMO we got his best years out of him.
zumiee, steeltrapman
Thanks for the link, Flav. That was an interesting read.
I love the bit on Bryce Harper. I never did like the dude’s attitude, and last year when he did all the chest-beating and stuff in certain situations, and the Giants still took them out, I got some serious satisfaction from that.
andres torres was an earlier adopter of Adderall. said that once he started taking it for his ADD his numbers skyrocketed. it started a trend, or at least brought it out into the open. it was amazing to me how many players all of a sudden had ADD.
Pagan, unfortunately, less than 100.
Flav, did you hear Kuiper reference that Candelstick drone video this morning? Probably saw it at the Flap.
I did hear that. I got the video from Murph’s twitter page and thought it was funny that he didn’t even know it was a video.
Did y’all read Vogelsong’s comments the other day? Revealing regarding motivation. Not quoting exactly, but he said some pitchers actually like a few bad outings at the very end of ST; it motivates them to turn it up a notch for the regular season. So, I’m extrapolating that theory for the whole team. Sort of. I guess.
Great, just as they were starting to play better..towards the end of spring training. I guess there is still time for some more sucktitude.
ST……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I hate to admit it, but I am starting to *like* the Astros. I don’t know if it’s a result of living in Houston for the last eight years and feeling so sorry for them or what. I usually go to about 2-3 games a year, more when the Giants came to town, as they will this May. It’s a very nice downtown stadium and especially so on a warm spring day with the roof open. The best part is you can usually get a club level seat from a scalper for about $10 bucks. It has all the amenities of AT&T (bar, comfy seating to lounge around in, great food options, etc…). The best part is the ushers don’t give a shit where you sit, so if you have a club level ticket down the left field line, you can sit in the first row behind home plate and no one cares. I used to always sit directly in front of the KNBR booth when the Giants were in town (some of you may remember the video I posted of Kuiper stealing Milo Hamilton’s box of peanuts and throwing them into the crowd and me catching one).
Anyway it’s a great experience and I have always taken pleasure in the Astros sucktitude (my new favorite word) because it meant for a great, inexpensive (assuming I didn’t partake in too many Makers) baseball experience for me. For all those years, I could enjoy baseball and not give two shits about the home team. But now that the Astros have moved to the AL, I dont feel like I am cheating on the Giants by liking the ‘Stros. In fact, they have some pretty exciting young talent (George Springer is going to be a beast folks) and I think they have a chance to be pretty decent this year. They have a solid starting rotation and a vastly improved pen. The lineup is intriguing with the addition of Gattis, Rasmus and Lowrie. This centerfielder Jake Marsinick is gold glove good defensively. Little Jose Altuve is one of the best stories in baseball. The guy literally made the big leagues during a tryout. Now he is the reigning batting champion. I don’t like some of the ways the front office goes about handling business. They have been accused of being overly sabermetric, to the point that they have treated players more likes machines than humans during contract discussions. However their new owner recently came out and admitted making some “rookie mistakes” so I am curious to see how/if the front office changes the manner in which they do business moving forward. Hey, we got Vogelsong back cause they rubbed him the wrong way.
Anyway, I do feel a little guilty for having a small crush on the Houston Astros. But be sure come May 12th, I will be rocking my Hunter Pence jersey ( no, not an Astros version) when the Giants come to town for inter league play and you can bet like hell there will be no love for the home town team.
That’s very cool, WJ.
I used to go to a few A’s games every year, but after the “Mt. Davis” football addition to the stadium, it just lost me. Plus, the walk from the BART over the footbridge and then back after the game is a really crowded and kind of weird experience.
The Giants’ AAA moving to Sac-town is going to be real cool for Nor Cal Giants fans. Although not LITERALLY cool, at times, especially July. 🙂 Raley Field is a very nice AAA ballpark.
Baseball is better when it’s experienced at a ballpark. Although the TV experience has gotten much better over the years, with flat-screen TVs and high-def, and better sound quality.
Altuve is the best 2nd baseman in baseball (including Cano) IMO. I had him on both of my season long Fantasy league teams and won 1st in both – the major reason being him. He fills the stat sheet in all areas and I forgot how tall he is, but I think he’s less then 5’5″?
I could be wrong, but I think the DH split between the leagues could last a real long time. The AL likes to keep it because they think it makes them look cool and progressive, and the NL wants to keep it out because they think that makes them look cool and more genuine.
It’s a little silly to have two sets of rules, but the DH is probably the perfect symbol of how baseball struggles to change and not change, at the same time.
The Dodgers signed a Cuban, Hector Olivera, to a 6 year/$62.5 million deal. He’s an infielder, I think. And he’s had some health issues in the past. The signing doesn’t make sense to me, in the sense that they should have just gone after Moncada. Moncada is younger, with a bigger up-side.
Wilco– regarding your new team-crush—- what do good seats cost? Can you buy them day of game?
Flav, I have never paid face value for an Astros game. Face value for all seats are in line with the league average. I think a club level seat in the infield is face $80-$90. Same for a dugout box seat. But interest for the team has waned so much in the last several years, that they are typically in the bottom five of attendance.
Like I say for a typical weeknight game, you can score a club level ticket for $10 from a scalper. When the Giants are in town (there is a good amount of Bay Area transplants here) I usually purchase my tickets on Stubhub the day of the game, so I can guarantee myself a seat behind the Giants dugout. In 2011 for instance (after the first World Series victory) I think I paid $40 for a dugout box seat 10 rows behind the Giants dugout. Giants fans made up about 50% of the 10,000 or so in attendance. It was like being back at the Stick in the early eighties.
Wilco, I’d enjoy it while you can that sounds like a lot of fun and great for kids too. Hope the Stros make a little noise, but that’s a really tough division with Angels A’s M’s.
I can remember Warriors days when no one cared where you sat either. Me and buddy would buy cheapo seats and then move around. I swear my buddy sat a couple seats over from Denver bench one night by Calvin Natt and Dan Issel.
You also used to be able to move from one side of arena to the other by going along the baseline during pregame. Standing right by NBA guys during warmups and being that close was way cool, esp to check out the haircuts.
Taking BART back and forth to watch A’s never bugged me–it was usually easier than driving up from south bay where traffic getting in/out of anywhere near san Jose was pain in the ass. Plus walk up ticket booth was right there. But I wouldn’t give Lew Wolff a f-ing dime.
Yeah Willie, it is perfect now especiIally with the two young boys. Rocket games are a different story. Like the Warriors, every game is a sellout. I really wanted to see the Rockets-Warriors earlier this year, but I couldn’t find anything under $100 on Stubhub. I did end up going to the Rockets-Kings game the day before Thanksgiving. Since so many people were already out of town, I scored lower level seats behind the basket for $30 about five minutes before tip.
can you imagine AT&T coming up with something this disgusting?
https://www.fanduel.com/insider/2015/03/24/the-brewers-are-introducing-inside-the-park-nachos-this-season/
They look as gnarly as that polish dog you had at the game with SanDawg Flavor…Utterly Disgusting
I feel disgusted saying it, but I bet those are really good. Especially after a long day of drinking or smoking with Timmeh.
Does it come with a replacement aortic valve?
Disgusting, but I am with Wilco in that they probably taste pretty damned good after a few brews at the yard.
I’ll be crushed if Duffy doesn’t make the team and Arias or Adrianza does.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/giants-duffy-preparing-two-very-different-possibilities
If history is any indicAtion, all three will make it…Though at least one of them will begin the season on the DL with a nasty hangnail.
I hate this “out of options” BS (with Adrianza). Same deal with the Cubs Bryant. It just seems that Spring Training should be utilized to determine the best roster. Instead, the bean counters get involved.
Yeah, I really like the Duffster, and have since he was first called-up. But unfortunately, I have a feeling he starts the season in Sac. And I don’t think the bean-counting is a factor, but perhaps the Giants feel that at some point Ehire will realize a potential that he has yet to flash. I think Duffy has a place on this team for a very long time, though.
Looks like the dodgers signed Olivera. I thought the Giants might drop in at the last minute for a poor man’s signing. Meanwhile Ryu has shoulder discomfort, Kershaw took one off the lip the other day and Greinke…well I don’t know what happened to him. It’s going to be SF and SD in the NL West.
Yeah, Zum reported that @ 1:06pm . . . Agree with him – that this signing does not make sense. However, this Dodger ownership is like this guy . . . http://whiskerino.org/2009/_img/beards/2009/45/_img/45_120609_l.jpg?c=040545
Zum? You mean Steeltrapman? Nothing gets past him (grin).
There’s some rust in the steeltrap sometimes. 🙂
Sounds like Zume has a new nickname. Steeltrap Zumiee. 😛
I think the Dodgers are going to big-time regret getting rid of Kemp. They weakened themselves a bit and they strengthened another team in their division. That’s a huge gamble.
Cubs’ Bryant hit his 9th HR of ST. Batting avg. is at .464.
Is that the Boras client being sent down for cost saving errr to work on his defense?
Yeah, they reportedly don’t want to start the clock on his ‘time served’ yet. They can save some money by holding him out of the big leagues for a couple of weeks. If they do that, they better hope they don’t miss the playoffs by a game or two, or they’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do to their fans.
Weren’t we saying the same thing Buster Posey’s rookie year? I remember him having a monster spring and not starting the season in SF. Or was it Bumgarner? Or both?
I just think of how the Giants almost waited too long to bring up Posey in 2010.
WJ, it was both. They almost waited too long on Posey, and then they held off Bumgarner for an extra week because he had an epic meltdown in AAA during a game. He went off on an umpire’s call. They gave the start to Ironhead (Joe Martinez?), instead, who lost that game.
And not to say that Bum would have won that game (against Baltimore, I think) instead of losing like Ironhead did, but we’ll never know.
And I have a lot of respect for what the Giants did in that situation. They were ready to bring Bum up, but they didn’t want to reward him right after he had gotten ejected from a game. That wouldn’t have sent a good message to Bum. They made him wait another week, which isn’t a heck of a lot of time, but they were in a division race, and couldn’t wait longer. Maybe the week-long “message” had an impact on Bum. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Here’s Bum getting tossed from that AAA game in ’10. At the 53 second mark or so you can see the ball flying into the outfield; Bum threw the ball after he’d been tossed, as he was walking off the field.
Thanks for sharing that video Zume. I remember seeing that the day after he pitched in that game. Hilarious. And agree…it was a good call by the Giants to hold him back a week.
Harper may be the most overrated player, but all I remember is that he was by far the Nats’ best position player in the NLDS, to the point where the Giants opted to walk him with two outs in the 9th of a 3-2 game in the series clincher rather than face the very real possibility of Harper tying it with a homer.
If the suggestion is to add 2-3 players to each roster and get rid of the DH then we are back to the Giant Head strategy of just going ahead and adding two teams to baseball to go with a true balance of 16 teams in each league..the reason I watch baseball is to watch NL ball which is real baseball! #FtheDH…
If you can’t play a defensive position, you don’t belong on the field at all.
GO DH! American League rules!
American League/DH blows. Sucks balls. Swallows. It doesn’t BELONG in American baseball. Maybe in cricket, but baseball? Fuck that.
Good recall on Bum’s meltdown Zum! I had forgotten about that. I agree, it may have benefited him and I bet he would say the same.
Douchebag doesn’t equal overrated. Although Puig’s number last year were shit to go along with a big helping of douchieness…
Harper? Meh. He’s like a lot of ’em. Most of ’em. He’s just more in your face with it.
It may be painful to acknowledge it, but Puig is probably underrated. His “shit numbers” included 10th in WAR among positions players, 8th in BA, sixth in OBP, fifth in offensive WAR, sixth in OPS, fourth in adjusted OPS among others. Only one SF player approaches those numbers, and he’s not an OFer.
Interesting perspective that most of us may not agree with: http://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-most-exciting-world-series-ever-it-aint-this-one/36790?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=INTL%20-%20All%20Clicks%20ALL%20Devices
The writer wrote this after game 5, i.e., I’m certain his perspective would have changed after game 6 and 7 were played. In short, his column makes no sense.
If a writer doesn’t piss you off and get you fired up they’re just boring you.
Well, the Giants didn’t have many position starters tonight in their 9-5 loss to the Tribe), but on the pitching side, Vogey got roughed-up pretty good (6 H, 6 ER and two HRs in 4.2). Affeldt didn’t fare much better (2H, 3 ER, BB) in an inning of work. Romo cruised through one with 3 Ks…that is nice to see.
Yawn….let’s start playing for keeps.
Yawn ……I finally agree with Chipower9! Play for keeps!
Who’s starting the season as the closer? Romo or Casilla? Has Bochy said anything about it?
I’d think Casilla has the job to lose. I haven’t heard otherwise but then again I haven’t heard anything,