It Must Suck So Bad to Be an A’s Fan
The Brandon Crawford signing was a nice reminder of how good the Giants are at sustaining their team. We get to actually be fans of players who, by and large, don’t go anywhere. That’s old school baseball. Contrast that with Billy Beane and the lotto numbers he’s addicted to playing in Oakland.
I just scanned the A’s roster from 2010. I think Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp are the only guys still on the team. That’s going back a long way, I know. But I bet if I checked 2014 there wouldn’t be THAT many more players still on the team.
Locking up Crawford won’t be the most exciting thing to happen to the Giants this off season. But it will be one of the more comforting things to happen to the Giants this off season. and I appreciate Giants management for giving me a team to care about year after year…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Great post. I believe the Giants may have slightly overpaid for BCraw, but WTF, it is not my money. I am happy that he is locked-up and probably a Giant for life.
Now let’s see them get about the business of adding a starter or two, and a LFer.
I don’t know Chi, knocking off those Arb years coming up and the no trade years for one of the top SS in the game is a good thing to me..
And yes get a LF, cause theirs no need to shoot blanks in LF next year!
Kat – I didn’t say I disagreed with the signing, and even said “I am happy that he is locked-up and probably a Giant for life.”
What I said is that I think the team may have slightly overpaid for him. After 2017 he makes 15 mil per year. But again, it is not my money, so I could give a rat’s ass (unless it gets in the way of signing a top of the rotation pitcher and a LFer).
One of the opening points guy on F/G made was that Crawford is certainly in convo about best SS in all of baseball right now. Whether or not it’s indictment of rest of team, he led the Giants in HRs, has improved his bat (and power) every year, and does give you GG work on most important defensive position on IF.
The whole idea of bargain in any contract relates to what you are paying vs. the value you receive by how the guy plays. Crawford is 4-5 WAR player who will only make 5-6 mil next couple years; hella deal for Giants and paying for life of contract Giants should still come out way ahead even if eventually batting prowess drops off a bit by time he is 34
Still seeing same story about Freeman being available tho without any further substantiation. He is owed $118 mil for next 6 yrs (through 2021).
I recently have had this conversation with my brother who is a die hard A’s fan. I asked him how he can support a team that doesn’t care about its fans. They constantly trade away their best players for farmhands, they play in that hellacious ballpark and flat out refuse to even consider a new park in their own town. There is a lot of corporate money in Oakland, sure not the obscene amount that there is in the south bay, but a lot. Doesn’t seem like they want it though. I’m not quite sure what they want, but whatever it is a competitive baseball team is not on the list.
so what is his answer when you ask him how he can support that type of a team?
He says F it, I’ve been an A’s fan my whole life, what do you want me to be a Giants fan now? Never gonna happen.
sfsarge–I’m not sure there’s a huge amount of corporate money in Oakland yet. Clorox recently moved its HQ to Danville or some place out there. Couple years back APL moved its main office to Arizona. (Great place for a global shipping, line, huh? Guy I knew through the Oakland LLeague spent two years here managing the move.) On the other hand, Pandora’s here and Uber’s moving in and both uptown and downtown have changed dramatically in the past decade. Oakland’s just going to get wealthier now. So the future’s worth investing in.
In any event, for a long time many of the rich people with offices in SF have lived in the Oakland hills. The weather’s always a bit warmer and more pleasant than SF. Those rich folk will be happy to go to local a’s games on the weekend in expensive seats and suites. If only the a’s owners would make something of the opportunity. They’d rather just blame the city for their problems, throw mlb revenue sharing dollars at the payroll, and pocket the profits that roll in annually while the value of the franchise grows. The a’s owners suck.
Ok, maybe not anymore. But there was and they were putting together a bid to buy the team the last time it went for sale and they got beat out by the current ownership. Not to mention all the wealthy individuals in close proximity of Oakland: Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville, Blackhawk, etc.
I wonder why Fisher owns the A’s. Does he even go to games? Is he dialed in at all into the ownership club, or does Wolff do the Florida junkets? What’s the point of owning a franchise that is stuck in limbo, largely of your own doing? Is it really that cool to watch some revenue sharing dough roll in, and watch good players constantly roll out? If I were a billionaire, I don’t see the kick in the pants to owning the A’s under present conditions…
Fisher’s role is very weird He does nothing. His father was one of the group that saved the Giants in 92. (Remember those GAP signs that showed up in the gaps at the Stick?) Now Wolff’s son is being groomed to take over when the asshole Lew kicks the bucket. For some reason, Lew runs the show. Some of the lesser owners, guy named Saperstein, in particular (not to mention Beano) have perverse incentives. Owning the team is one of the most solid investments imaginable. Why do anything?
I was first a Raider fan in the late ’60s and into the ’70s, as a kid. I actually did also pay less, but some attention to the early ’70s Niners, as they were pretty good until they met Dallas in the NFC champ games. But, the Raiders were way more interesting, though they always lost for some reason in the playoffs from SB II until SB XI with the Vikes in ’77. When Darth Al took the team to LA, that was it. He said screw you Raider fans, so screw him. My allegiance went totally to the Niners, especially since they had a guy named Montana starting to do some pretty good things. Today, it looks like the Raiduhs are going to more interesting the next few seasons than the Niners. So, I could get back into caring a little about the Raiduhs. But, it’s obvious Mark “Bowl Cut” Davis is angling to move back to LA, so I’m going to stay at caring just a little to see how Carr does – I like him. The Raiduhs may end up staying up here, but appointing Iger to broker some kind of Chargers-Raiduhs combo stadium down there should be a wake up call to real Raiduh fans in the Bay that Bowl Cut doesn’t really care about even the “new” Oakland Raiduh fans developed since they last moved back here…
The fan experience at the E Coli is horrible, the team is a bunch of strangers. Sonny Gray is very alone on the roster. The a’s put names on the backs of their home jerseys; the Giants don’t. An a’s fan I know has a beautiful green home jersey with no name or number on the back.
Should be a ?
He’s a more understated guy than that.
The only nice thing about the mausoleum was the view of the east bay hills. With that gone, well, you got nothing
Presently, with perhaps some fairly strong competition from the Cardinals, the Giants just happen to be the best run team in MLB. Come up with another entity if you can, but so far as i can tell SF is #1 as an overall business and on the field organization. Excellent management throughout and that shows in its regard for the products of the pipeline. Curiously, Oakland maybe even tops Miami as the perfect counterpoint to the excellence demonstrated by the Giants. Interestingly, being just across the bay, they essentially spotlight the Giants by their propinquity.
I agree, even to the point of sending KC’s front office a bunch of pizzas while they geared up for their parade, class.
You know the other day I was remembering how I laughed when Bill Neukom’s first order of business as Managing Owner was to introduce his “The Giants Way” . Now I wonder if that document was really a stroke of genius and helped in creating the business/team model the Giants run. Whatever the reasons are, I sure wouldn’t be giving Bow Tie’s document to any other teams now.
I like that the contract rewards Craw for all of his hard work, and it also rewards the Giants for the patience they showed while Brandon grew into the GG, AS that he has become. Tack on that he’s a fan favorite and I’d call this contract a win for everyone
Those of you who have followed the Sacto Kings for a while will remember #55, Jason Williams. Here is a video compilation to celebrate his recent 40th birthday. This dude was flat-out fun to watch! One of my all-time favorite Kings…
I stopped following them when they left Rochester.
Nice cold Genesee, anybody?
djloo: Betcha yer not old enough to remember Arnie Johnson of the R. Royals. He was from my hometown. One of his nephews owns a huge chunk of Bosch and Lomb as an inheritance from Arnie who married into the family.
Rochester of course being the trivia answer to the ?:
in what city did Kings win their only NBA title in franchise history.
Good times, Chi, thanks! It was the beginning of the Kings’ great years. Bibby took over at point guard, eventually, but Williams was part of the improvement of the Kings, and getting the fans excited about Sac-town basketball. The Kings eventually came oh-so-close to winning a championship. It would have been great for the city. Oh well, maybe another good era for the Kings will arrive eventually.
I still think one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen about the Giants is that pic of Crawford as a kid, leaning on the railings at the Stick, with the sign begging the Giants not to move. And now a GG starting shortstop for World Champions in his home town. Very cool, Brandon.
totally agree about that pic
The picture heading should say:
Hey dude, trust me, the Giants are stayin’ and someday I’m going to score a deal for $75 million off ’em…
http://deadspin.com/5955635/giants-shortstop-brandon-crawford-was-an-adorable-little-voice-of-reason-as-a-child
I have always loved that picture! Speaking of Mr. White, I wrote him a letter (and also one to the commissioner) spelling out the many reasons that the Giants should remain in San Francisco.
About the Giants sending pizza props to the Royals’ front office upon winning the recent Series. To my recent discovery, this was not a brilliant Baer PR idea. The 2013 champs Red Sox sent pizza to the Giants front office upon SF’s 2014 Series win. That started it. At least until I hear somebody started it before then. So, the Giants just carried on a nascent tradition, and a cool one at that…
you’re correct, the Sox started it. And I agree, it’s very cool that the Giants carried it on. Imagine if the A’s won the WS and Beane tried to do the same thing only to have his credit card declined. How embarrassing that would be…….
White Chocolate was fun to watch. Maybe a wee bit too much behind the back for my tastes. But definitely a show stopper. He woulda make a hell of a Harlem Globe Trotter.
Yeah, Williams was pretty cool with the behind the back and behind the head passes and all that. But, he’s not in the same area code in handle as Maravich. Curry reminds me something of Maravich, but Maravich was way flashier, better handle, and not as good a long-distance shooter as Curry, but damn good, and could make more trick shots and runners than even Curry, IMO. A Maravich v. Curry matchup would be cool. Pete would take Curry to the bucket, but Curry would probably dribble himself open for three pointers against Pete, because Pete wasn’t a great defender. Maybe somebody has done it, but there should be comparisons of shooters and their point totals in the three-point era with guys in the two-point era. Guys like Barry, the Iceman, Maravich and other good shooters were constantly bombing threes, only they just got 2 points for them. Most assuredly they’d have a couple thousand more career points if there were a three pointer in those days…
Pistol Pete was my favorite player while growing up…
Here’s another blast from NorCal hoops past — what Sleepy Floyd is up to these days:
http://tinyurl.com/nevtk6u
I remember watching (on a very shitty bw tv) Sleepy’s amazing game against the Lakers in the 87 play offs.
classic. what did he have, like 27 in one quarter?
I remember that, too. Didn’t he go for 50?
high 40s is my recollection. only win the dubs got in that series, right?
Top of my list for Fav Kings (short list, admittedly) would be Nate Tiny Archibald. Saw him at Coliseum with teammate Sam Lacey when they were KC-0, and he led league in scoring and assists and I think won MVP. Completely unguardable, could get by anybody and finish.
Looked it up, no MVP but did lead league 72-73 by avg. 34 a game with 11 assists and shot .488 from the floor.
And he really was a little dude, barely 6 feet if that.
I saw Nate when he was in college at the 1970 Aloha Classic tournament in Hawaii . . . Knew he was going to be great after the show he put on at that tournament – 50 something points in one game and averaged something like 40 per game in the 5 games he was in.
Ballast Point, maker of Sculpin IPA, sold 100% to Constellation Brands for $1 billion.
Lagunitas sold 50% to Heineken, possibly based on also a $ 1 billion total valuation.
Top o’ the line craft brews selling their souls — outrageous!…
Lagunitas to Heineken???? So instead of grabbing a Heinie, now we grab a ‘Gunie? Ugh.
Lagunitas is overrated anyway. But I’m not a big IPA fan. Like thename though. Used to hang out at lake Laguna it’s back in the day.
Had some nice Scrimshaw last night.
On that note, I saw Guiness is now making an IPA.
Tried it. I wasn’t impressed.
That figures. Their dark lager is OK, but nothing special either. Like I said though, I really don’t like IPAs at all, and that’s pretty much all Lagunitas makes, so I don’t drink their beer.
Overrated? Not in my book. I think they brew some of the best brews around. Sad that they sold half stock to one of the big breweries…
“The Lagunitas Story” by Tony Magee (founder of the brewery) is a great read. I saw him at a Lagunitas tasting in Folsom years ago, and he played some old school blues between the introduction of each brew in the tastsing. Dude plays a mean bottleneck slide…quite the accomplished guitarist, and love his brewery.
Agreed, Chi. I always thought their IPA was top notch.
I thought I read where Lagunitas did the deal with Heineken, mainly for increased distribution. Still, I’m a bit concerned about the partnership.
Giants (and Dogs) looking at Braves pitcher Shelby Miller per BR.
Pawlie, I see that Emmanuel Burriss (the Pride of Syracuse?) received a non-roster invite from Philly.
What does Flap Universe think of the NL Cy Young voting/winner?