Head Shot
Something probably needs to change with baseball’s concussion protocol. How in the hell do you get hit in the head, stay in the game, AND THEN go into CP once the game ends? It probably has to do with symptoms that begin later like a headache or blurred vision. But duh. If you know there are symptoms coming and you aren’t feeling them in the moments after you get hit in the head but YOU KNOW THE SYMPTOMS COULD BE COMING you have to get the guy out of there.
Remember last year after Belt got hit in the head (I think pre-game) but he played that night and as he was rounding 2nd heading to 3rd a throw from the catcher missed his head by inches? That’s how I remember it anyway. Belt might be dead now if that ball had connected with his dome.
_______________________
Sacto Kings talk. I love it. Cousins got suspended for yelling at Karl who hadn’t been defending him vigorously enough, in Boogie’s eyes, to the refs who kept whistling him for fouls.
He has come back from his suspension saying he and Karl still haven’t talked even though Karl says they have “exchanged pleasantries.”
Seriously, why is Karl sticking around for this nonsense? He’s 64 years old, he’s been the head coach for 6 NBA teams, he doesn’t have enough dough stashed away to live how ever he wants?
Because you can’t tell me he enjoys going to work and having Boogie give him death stares at practice, sit several feet away from during time outs (and not even look his way) and scream at him in public every time he snaps (which is often).
And what is Divac doing? Do SOMETHING. Trade Boogie, fire Karl, ANYTHING. Sticking your big head in the sand doesn’t seem to be working…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
tweet of the day:
Praveen Swami @praveenswami 28m28 minutes ago New Delhi, India
Delhi jewellers threaten to stalk public places jiggling belly fat unless government rolls back 1% excise duty.
Agree about the Cueto hit. I couldn’t believe that didnt take him down for the count, let alone that he stayed in the game. Everyone called it a “glancing blow.” I don’t know about that. If sure looked like it hit him square on the side of the head. Didn’t sound like a “glancing blow” either.
Matheny, Belt, Blanco and now Cueto. The Giants damn sure ought to know better by now.
And there was the rook pitcher Joe Martinez who took a big hit on a comeback. I think it was either 2008 or 2009. So, the Giants have had more than their fair share of concussions. Given this, you think they would have been more proactive with Cueto.
especially for a ST game although I know it shouldn’t really matter if the game counts or not.
Fun Fact: I was at that game. Mike Cameron was the batter and he was visibly shaken up after that happened.
2009 dog?
Didn’t Aoki have some head issues last year to0? Ran into a wall, I think. Kept playing for days WITH dizziness……
I think you are right, Flav. I do recall Aoki having some issues, and I too believe it was because of a run-in with a wall…
Aoki got beaned last year.
The Kings are a fucking mess. Initially I thought Divac might be a good hire as the GM, but I am starting to wonder now. And not sure I would trade Cousins. It would have to be a hellacious return to pull the trigger on such a deal. Just ride the season out with Karl and find a good coach…one who can get along with Cousins. Or get off the pot and trade him, but again, it would have to be a huge return from the other team(s) for me to even consider such a trade.
Great news that Cain is slated for a start on Friday. I also read that while they are being cautious with Bum (and I concur), that he has said if it was the regular season, he would make his start. If Cain can come back and be a serviceable 4 or 5, that will be huge. It would be so damned exciting to see “The Horse” out there throwing darts again! Giddy Up!
It’s a goddamn preseason game, guys. What the everloving fuck? Get Cueto out of there. This is like the 1960’s NFL.
“How many fingers, Johnny?”
“Twelve.”
“You good?”
“Sure.”
“Go get ’em!”
As far as the Kings go, ehhh. The fans are great and into it. At least when I went to a few games when they were relevant back in the early aughts.
They shit their bed when they fired Malone. Totally nonsensical move to fire a young coach who had the team behind him for an old guy with nothing left. If I was the Kings, I’d stick with Cousins and Rondo. Lose just about everyone else. Cousins, for all his perceived immaturity, is one of the best big men in the game. Karl is using him like we use Draymond. Dumb dumb dumb. The Kings should be a half court team, not a run ‘n’ gun team.
Didn’t see your post there, Chuck.
Agree with your last paragraph. Sacto should have never fired Malone…asinine move, big time. I agree on the keeping of Cousins and Rondo, too. Karl needs to go, and I am not so sure that Divacs shouldn’t go, too.
Aoki getting beaned.
Previously there was this . . .
You guys have pretty much covered it with the Cueto ball to the head thing. I rag on the Giants medical / training staff, maybe too much; but in this case — criticism is well deserved from the consensus I’m hearing here and on the morning radio. Just a dumb move. Give him a full concussion protocol AFTER he throws 3 frames and you get him back to Scottsdale? Don’t some teams take batters out now that are hit by a pitched ball? — and they’re wearing a helmet. Protect the player first. And, sheezus, protect your investment…
from Comcast.
SAN FRANCISCO —
Aoki may have been shaken up when he made a catch on the warning track in the third inning Wednesday and then ran backwards into the padded wall in left field.
this is, of course, AFTER he got hit in the head with a pitch the day before.
He played the next day?!? Fuck. This is the NFL of the 60s.
baseball concussion protocol just looks like half-assed lip service to me.
I hope the Giants don’t bury Arroyo too long in the minors. If, if the kid hits in AA, they should figure out how to get him up to the big club next year. Arroyo or Adrianza, that would be a tough call…
I agree. Same thing with Mac. The other option is to use them as trade currency as they continue to produce and rise up on the lists of prospects.
Now there are a few moving parts/unknowns here, but if Arroyo tears it up over the next year or so, and Duffy is no longer lighting it up (but still playing average ball), perhaps Arroyo becomes the everyday 3rd baseman, and DuffMan becomes the utility guy. That would make Adrianza or Tomlinson expendable via trade.
I do not see them trading Arroyo. He is one of their top prospects. I see them eventually making a spot for him, and again, my guess is that it will be 3rd base.
Unless one of you reported earlier…the rest of the King’s ownership blocked the decision to fire George Karl because of what they owe him. They don’t want to pay him and the ex Warrior assistant Malone who they fired and still owe on his contract. What a bunch of dipshits for firing Malone in the first place.
One would think Karl would be willing to take a buyout but for some people they always want more…I was watching the game live last night and that head shot was awful…I don’t understand how how you keep him in there or how he could even stand up….
How do you hire Divac in the first place??? He played basketball so he should be able to evaluate talent? Kings logic…look what the Dubs ownership did when they took over. Jerry West and Bob Myers to run the front office…brilliant…and now you have pieces like Steve Nash as a consultant….
The current Sports Illustrated, with the Warriors on the cover, has a great cover story by Rick Reilly. At one point, earlier in the season, he asked Steve Nash why he hasn’t been around the team lately. Nash said: “What can I tell a team that’s 46-4?”
Guys, you really screwed up in those 4?…
I did enjoy the story but think Reilly is over-rated…
same dumb reason that Stewart got hired in AZ
Excellent point…
Wow, Duffy has been a start for less than a full season and already talking about replacing him. Why is there something I have missed that shows he is no longer capable of playing? Just because some young buck shows promise and who has not played 1 regular season America in the bigs and you guys are ready to replace Duffy? Seriously? And yet when a old vet was out their you guys didn’t want a young guy to replace him. See Scoots and Sanchez for examples. I think it is great to have young players lined up in the farm system, it means if there is an injured player you have someone to plug in till the injured player comes back. Duffy is not injured and he certainly does not need to be replaced.
Kevin – wake the fuck up and read my post again (I assume it is my post you are referencing). This is what I said, in part:
“Now there are a few moving parts/unknowns here, but if Arroyo tears it up over the next year or so, and Duffy is no longer lighting it up (but still playing average ball), perhaps Arroyo becomes the everyday 3rd baseman, and DuffMan becomes the utility guy.”
Notice I said “IF” Arroyo tears it up (no guarantees there). And I said “IF” Duffy is no longer lighting it up (but still playing average ball)…
THEN I think you CONSIDER the switch. This was all in question to what you do with a guy like Arroyo, who by the way, is the ONLY SF Giant in MLB’s top 100:
http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016/?list=prospects
So, again, if Arroyo is lighting it up in A YEAR OR TWO, and Duffy is doing “OK,” then MAYBE this is the way you go.
Listen, I love me some DuffMan, but you have to find a way to get Arroyo in the line-up if he catches fire, and no, I DO NOT see him being converted to an OFer as an option. All signs point to the Giants grooming him as a 3rd baseman.
Dayum!
Well, define lighting it up, 20+ homers, and 75 plus rbis, then maybe yeah. What if Arroyo is lighting it up offensively but his D is just average or below? See I want the whole package, not just offensive numbers. And Duffy gave that to the Giants, and granted it has been only 1 year or 3/4 of a year. But if Duffy goes the way of Crawford and Panic, then what do you do with Arroyo?
No idea really but a hell of a nice problem to have!!
Btw, no excuse for leaving cueto in. This medical staff is not even clearly above a medieval barber.
Kevin – it (who plays where) will all be determined at that time, and it will be based on who the overall best player is (at the plate and in the field). It is all pie in the sky until that day comes, IF it comes. I said I really like Duffy, but believe me, Arroyo will be challenging like a MoFo to break into the starting line-up. As Eric said…nice problem to have…
60-6 is mind-boggling…
They’re in for a truly rough stretch. Home record, season record, injuries, how much rest to give the players. Where They should be just looking at getting rested and ready for the playoffs they have these other issues, which are not trivial. On the other hand, teams that are fighting for something heading down the stretch often do well in the playoffs. So maybe it’s all good. But this will be a level of tough focus that I don’t know we’ve ever seen in sports. We’ve been truly blessed to have been Bay Area sports fans these last 30 years.
Ive been thinking about this nfl/cte thing and I can’t help but wonder, when do the “sponsers” become liable? The science is looking pretty significant so where/when can players/families hold the sponsers liable? They are the ones providing the money that drives the whole zoo so why wouldn’t they be liable? Once they realize their risk the money will dry up and that’s your niners replay. My sons play football so I’m not a disinterested party. Thankfully they’ve been battling other injuries that have limited their exposure to head blows.
Plausible deniability.The owners and the league are on the hook waaaaaay before the sponsors. Mainly because of the foot-dragging by the league on players making claims to turning their back on older players to flat denying concussion reports.
You know, like baseball and steroids.
Well, Stanford fans got their wish and Dawkins is gone. But whoa, do they have to realize this program is not returning to the glory days Monty, for a number of reasons. Life is way different in college b-ball from 12 yrs ago.
First and foremost is the coming of the 1 and dones to Pac12 and then quickly onto NBA. Do you really believe kids like Aaron Gordon Stanley Johnson would come to Stanford? Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb? If they did, would they stay? No no and no, not happening. If you don’t get the best players that come into the league, winning and getting to the top is gonna be a lot harder no matter who is coaching the team.
A lot of other programs in the league have players in the same situation, legit stars not inclined to stick around for more than a year or two. And really, this is endemic all around major college programs.
There are programs that can recruit these type of players continually and then reload when they leave, but it’s not easy, as Cal and Martin will soon find out.
Cards will be better next year as long as those who were injured bounce back and there is a top C on the way that Dawkins recruited already. But who coaches them will be lot less important than who they recruit.
Remember that for all the Monty love, Dawkins team beat him at Haas in 2013 with Powell on fight night and beat them consistently at Maples including this year.
Speaking of Gordon, this still doesn’t seem humanly possible:
agreed. Right after he did this I said it was the best dunk I’d ever seen and I’m even more sure of that today.
Mostly agree with you. But Dawkins was in over his head. Tell tale sign: The team rarely came out of a time out with a +. I’m not saying they ALWAYS came out of a time out with something – happening but I’m telling you, they often looked WORSE after a TO than better. Granted, the TO is used to halt opponent momentum and it did that sometimes. But goddamn, he never seemed to call a play out of a TO that worked. Anyway, I’m fine with him being gone. They will be better next year, even if they don’t approach the “Monty Years”
One thing I really like about Steve Kerr is his ability to get an easy score out of a time out. I’d say 80% of the time he draws up a layup or some easy play that invariably works.
Wisco, as far as the Warriors go, it’s all about the #1 seed. The record doesn’t mean squat, but SA is only 3.5 games back and we still have 2 with them. THe #1 seed gets them home court all through the playoffs.
Hey, the Kings did something this season that the Warriors couldn’t do: Sweep the Lakers!
St. Mary’s is fun to watch with 5 out spread offense and good Gs that can handle and attack rim too.
Looks like they get 1 more home game in NIT. Coach Bennett getting lotta love as potential replacement for Dawkins and he’s had great success over there with different groups. Current team has 8 Aussies on it as he continues to use that pipeline.
Article in Chron also mentioned Monmouth coach K Rice—but didn’t he just get big new contract?
Something odd about Stanford b-ball, both men and women: for all their past success on gals side very few local players wind up there, quite unlike other college programs in bay area. And there are a lot of good players that come out of local private powerhouse HS like Pinewood Mitty O’Dowd Carondelet St.Mary’s Stockton Salesian.
Yes, Rice got a 5-year extension, though if he keeps this up, we’ll see if he stays all five years when the big boys come calling. And the end of the St. Mary’s game: That might’ve been the dumbest foul ever.