A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Unless I resort to haikus, the last defense for a thread in the middle of winter is a trip to mlbtraderumors.com to see what they got cookin’. Today’s current lead headline does not inspire.

Market Notes: Profar, Utley, Francoeur, Masterson

So force yourself to comment on that headline or come up with something else.

It’s January 31st for what that’s worth….

Sometimes the way people look is how they act. If you look like a stupid, douchy pompous asshole with a head of waning hair that resembles the rough you’d see out at Palo Alto muni, there’s a good chance you act like that, too.

I would give anything to see what an interview with Jed York is like in his cabana. He and Lynch powering down the mai tais. Jed just so happy to have a friend over.

As an analyst, John Lynch couldn’t even score the top NFL games at Fox. Naturally, Jed sees him as a perfect fit for the Niners open GM spot.

At least he’s smart. He’s no Matt Millen. He’s already negotiated 6 years out of Jed’s dumb ass. But make no mistake, this is a joke hire. The deal ALONE makes it a joke hire. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about it matching Shanny’s years. Giving 2 guys with zero experience at their positions that many years, when qualified people barely get half that, is just a JOKE.

What does Lynch know about running an NFL team? He has never spent a single second working in a front office. I guess this could just hit by pure luck. But for a team desperate for reliable direction and sound leadership I don’t get this hire at all…..

Everyone’s been saying this is such a great opportunity, blank slate, tons of cap room, etc. The cold reality is that no one qualified wanted this job. That’s why Lynch is your new GM.

Our world may be collapsing before our eyes but I have good news for you. It rhymes with “No Broll”. In fact, I defy you to say No-broll-Pro-bowl 10 times as fast as you can. Try to say it ONCE as fast as you can.

Anyway, that mesmerizing ditty is on ESPN today at 5pm and when did they take that out of Hawaii? It’s in Canada now?

We’ll all be there soon enough……

New thread for the sake of a new thread. Horse racing question: Who you guys got tomorrow in the Pegasus World Cup? I recognize I’m talking to like 3 or 4 people here and at least one of them is banned from the site.

I am of the opinion that Espinoza gave Chrome a pretty bad ride in the Classic. Should have fired him earlier and not spent so much time looking over his shoulder like a crack addict.

But if Arrogate wins, I’ll give him the knowing dude head nod.

No one else has a chance.

As I scour twitter in the earliest hours looking for anything that might qualify as interesting SF Giants news, this is what popped up on my timeline:

New thread. I got tired of looking at Tito’s tired eyes. We brought Hundley on board. The Korean, too. I can’t find much enthusiasm to banter around either pick up. Glad we have them. Next.

Katie’s aunt sent me this yesterday. She lives in Reno. The text said “Guess who this former Giant is?”

This guy looks about 70ish? I’m gonna feel so dumb when one of you tell me who this is….

I still can’t get over all this Trump bullshit. I try to stay off social media. I just can’t stand his face or the little thumb that barely protrudes out of his tiny hand.

So…..football. Tomorrow. I gave out a free George Costanza 4 team parlay last week and if you didn’t make any $$$ off that don’t throw yourself off the bridge yet.

This week is easy. Atlanta annihilates Green Bay so lay those 5.5 and don’t even think twice about it. And Pitt beats NE outright. The $$$ line on that is +215.

Take both of those to the bank and no need to thank me later…..

I was listening to BamBam get interviewed on KNBR last night. Very interesting. One thing that stood out was his comments about Belt. You don’t say this publicly if it didn’t happen. BamBam said that Belt openly avoided taking hitting advice at one point telling Bambam 2 years into his big league time: “I hit .350 in the minors.” BamBam’s response: “Yes but this is the major leagues.”

Apparently that was the tipping point for Belt when it came to changing his approach to hitting and taking feedback from the coaches. I think BamBam said he started taking feedback “two and a half years in.”

I get tired of hearing Belt never changed. He did. And it was due to his stubbornness that it took so long.

Now that the annual Hall of Letdown is over let’s focus on things that matter: like our bullpen. I don’t know about you, but I’m still greatly concerned (and it’s January so I have to whip up any and all concern I can muster).

We are but a single wayward pitch away from being in the same situation we were last year. Melancon goes down, then what? I don’t understand why the Giants haven’t signed Greg Holland yet and I know he’s about to sign any day now with someone else.

We don’t have to argue the negatives of Holland, they are obvious. But he’s done the job before and what would be wrong with giving him the 8th inning till his arm fell off?

The Giants learned a good lesson last year one that, frankly, they shouldn’t have had to be taught. You can’t win without a reliable bullpen. They, more than any other team, should know this…..

This is all you need to know about how dysfunctional the 49ers are:

Today was either gonna be a poll or a haiku. Not in a very creative or introspective mood so it’s gonna be a poll. I recognize the Giants probably aren’t considering any of these 3 players and it’s possible that Bautista is re-signing with the Blue Jays as I type this. But just to get a sense of where the Flappers stand on left field, if you had to pick one of these 3 guys, who would it be….

And if none of those 3 tickle your backside, write up a haiku and enter it in the comment section…..

I am the biggest Nunie fan there is but I would gladly send him to the bench if Christian Arroyo can play. And I hope he gets a chance to earn the job in spring training. I could care less about *projections*. Nobody knows. Fangraphs projects him as a *Prado at his peak*? Keith Law basically said he could win a batting title. Frankly, we would take either. None of it matters till we see what they can do with regular at bats at this level.

I think it’s clear he’s not a power hitter. Neither is the great and all knowing Nunie. Other than lacking power, nobody knows what Arroyo would do up here. And if he’s not ready, so what? Send him back down and let the reliable Nunie take over.

Go take a look at Gary Sanchez’ minor league numbers and tell me the Yankees saw THAT coming. Keith Law probably didn’t know who that guy was when he got called up.

I will never understand all the hand wringing and worrying front offices do about the psyches of their prospects.

It’s baseball, not the battlefield. Nobody dies if you fuck up.

By the way, I offered free money a couple of days ago and I’m sure nobody took the bait:

I’m not betting but if I were, this is what I would be doing:

Seattle +4 (if the choice is Wilson or Ryan I’m going RW all day long)

Houston +16 (this is a straight *go opposite of public opinion* bet)

KC -1 (just cause I want them to win)

Dallas -4 (GB will have a hard time stopping the Dallas O)

Feel free to go oppo of all that and make some serious coin with your bookie.

As the Giants, and pretty much every other team, continue to ignore the bombastic ways of Mark Trumbo we head into a surprisingly interesting day of NFL football. Each game SHOULD be good and my rooting interest will always be against the Cowboys and for Alex Smith. Go Pack, Go Chefs.

I was fiddling around youtube looking for Bobby Murcer moments and came across the game he won after the Munson funeral. I imagine his short time in SF felt like prison to him….

Here’s a fun stat for anyone who thinks steroid use is exclusive to hitters:

No Baseball to keep the threads moving so I’ll pop up the spreads for this weekend’s playoff games. Loo, I stand with you as a Chiefs fan tomorrow.

Reminds me of this epic commercial that I can’t BELIEVE came out 20 years ago. Great googly moogly!

I’m not betting but if I were, this is what I would be doing:

Seattle +4 (if the choice is Wilson or Ryan I’m going RW all day long)

Houston +16 (this is a straight *go opposite of public opinion* bet)

KC -1 (just cause I want them to win)

Dallas -4 (GB will have a hard time stopping the Dallas O)

Feel free to go oppo of all that and make some serious coin with your bookie.

I’m fine with the Gillaspe signing. You need guys like him hanging around. And 1.4 million is pretty close to the 1.1 million the Giants gave Ishikawa. At least now we know the value the Giants put on hitting epic post season bombs.

Nunie/Gillaspe combo is my kinda approach. It doesn’t have to be an either/or. They are both major league players (although one of them is great and all knowing). My issue with the Giants is when they back up the starters with minor league replacement players…..

“he had a rake….”

lqtm……

Kind of a shame that the brilliant “he had a rake” only hastened his ejection…

Voggy still chugging along, scoring a deal with the Twins. He’ll turn 40 this year. He hasn’t made much $$$ in mlb so it’s not surprising he’s still trying to hang on. I actually think he could be a decent bullpen arm at this stage of his career. I hope he doesn’t think he can still start….

Ok, I gotta go get ready for work, take a shower. No piss in it. Just regular water. Boring.

Here’s a good tweet to sum up the USA right now:

I hope Fournette and McCaffrey watched the end of last night’s game with at least a tinge of regret. Deshaun Watson got to experience something they literally gave away: a chance to win a bowl game.

And I’m tired of hearing about how colleges use athletes and guys like Fournette and McCaffrey have to think of all the millions they would risk by playing in a bowl game. Please. No football player can be successful at the highest level if he’s scared he’s going to get hurt in a game. College football is the FOUNDATION of what they ultimately end up getting to do for work. It is the cornerstone of how they are going to make their millions. And bowl games are the essence of the sport. Play in the damn bowl game like everyone before them did. Like Deshaun Watson did.

Back in the day, on super rainy days me and my buddies would walk into Stanford Stadium through the open south gate and go play mud football on the field. I can’t remember how *illegal* it was. We never got in trouble, I think a groundskeeper might have told us to leave once or twice. But we would still get a solid hour or so to play on the field of our childhood heroes.

Deshaun Watson is the man…..

Still waiting for that ‘Bama line to move to 7……

Where’s everyone stand on the Super Bowl winner? New England is a little less than 2-1 and that doesn’t tickle me fancy much. Green Bay at 7-1 is far more interesting to me but that’s assuming their guys are healthy and they seemed to be picked off pretty bad yesterday. But Aaron Rodgers is incredible. He can do almost anything.

Speaking of great qb’s, I used to scoff at anyone who said Joe Montana WASN’T the greatest QB of all time. I’ve since softened my stance a lot on that. Did you know that Joe never threw for 4,000 yards? That’s like finding out Will Clark never had 200 hits in a season. Both are miraculously true.

Even if Brady doesn’t win it all this year I think it’s not outrageous to say he’s the best of all time…….

Chiefs at 9-1? You have no idea how badly I want to see Alex Smith win a Super Bowl. I might even un-block Denny if that happens…….

Yesterday I forced myself to watch both NFL playoff games and that was a mistake. Not entertaining. I tricked myself into believing the Raiders had a chance “because Connor Cook beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl” and because “Seattle’s defense isn’t as good as it used to be and Detroit has to win a road playoff game at some point, right?”

Wrong to both.

At least these days, baseball really is the best of the sports when it comes to the post season. Football is just a mess. The rules are stupid and what is up with these guys only getting to practice a limited amount of time? During yesterday’s telecast, Gruden said that Carr likes to take all the snaps in practice so McGloin is left to only be able to run the scout team. What does McGloin get out of that? And what the fuck does that leave for a guy like Conner Cook to do? Seriously, did Cook just sit around and lift weights and read the playbook all year?

No wonder he couldn’t do anything yesterday.

And I love the NBA but outside of fans in Cleveland and Golden State, how interesting will the NBA championship be this year if it’s a re-match of the same teams AGAIN?

At least with baseball any team has a chance to win on a given night. Every team has a star or at least one stud pitcher who can dominate a game. And every team has an *Ishikawa* who can rise up and produce what all the doubters say is impossible.

I’ll watch today’s games too. Hey, I heard some stat that in the last 10 years Eli Manning is 7-0 as a playoff dog. Wow! This could be a really good game!

Uh…….

Every time I start to bum out a little on the static ways of the Giants this Winter, I read tweets like this and realize things aren’t so bad:

Here’s the second page of Stix letter from the other side. I put his full address up in the left hand corner. Don’t worry about the #312, that’s a code for me at work. The rest of it is the official way you can contact him if you haven’t gotten enough of him here yet this Winter. 🙂

Here’s the most recent retro thing I can post regarding Stix:

I received this letter yesterday from our captivating captive. Two sides, front and back. Doubt you can read it so I’ll hit the high points. The most obvious first impression is the hand drawn leaf wreath thing he drew around the periphery of the first page. I appreciated the time it took to do that. He made a quick mention of his case basically saying he was going to argue that with “2 buzzings in my face at 100-120 feet caused me to snap–temporarily”. I can’t wait to hear what XOOT and Snarkk think about that defense. Seems legit to me.

He went on to effusively thank whoever is sending him the books and would love additional reading materials. My impression is that he doesn’t get to know who sends them as he said “looks like another Flapper musta been the source for Alan Black’s “Kick the Balls”. As I’m reading it, he’s received at least 3 or 4 books from you guys. He spent page 2 of the letter talking about some of his favorite moments from the books and re-affirming his love of the Giants and this community.

Whatever your feelings are about Stix and the 2 months I spent “honoring” his past posts you gotta admit that it’s pretty cool how this all unfolded. Grass roots Giants fans in action supporting one in need.

Can’t argue much against that.

My first reaction to the A’s signing Rajai Davis was the typical derisive harumph. And then I secretly bummed out for a few seconds wishing it was the Giants who had signed him. And then I remembered some of those unreal at bats during his time in SF. He would swing at pitches and miss them by 12 inches. Or more. He looked like a deranged homeless man in the park trying to beat back the voices in his head with a stick.

But boy did Rajai prove me wrong. Can you believe he’s ranked 99th all time in career stolen bases? That’s impressive for a guy who swung and missed at balls the way I would imagine myself swinging and missing at them if I had my shot in the batters box.

Anyone here bummed even the slightest that we didn’t sign Rajai to a 1 yr/6 mil deal?

It might not get any slower at The Flap than just after New Year’s. The weather sucks. So does football. And I’m not sure but I think freaking hockey is going on right now. Aren’t they about due for another strike?

Retro Stix posts have been retired. I think Loo has gone into his usual winter hibernation. Nothing left but the ghost of haiku’s past whistling outside my darkened window.

Who’s gonna play left field? I think that’s pretty well decided. And I’m not even against the platoon of Mac/Park. I don’t think Bochy has enough hair left on his fivehead to tolerate watching 4 at bats out of one of those dudes day in and day out. But if he matches them up, goes with the hot bat, insert another Bochy cliche, he could probably get through the year watching a split contribution from them.

Of the other guys under contract or invited to ST I think Ruggiano has the best chance to surprise. But I don’t think we have anyone on the roster who’s old enough or built to play every day in left field.

Hey, what’s Angel Pagan up to these days?

Dear San Francisco Giant ownership: I usually spent the off season complaining about what you didn’t do, how you swung and missed again on signing a *real free agent*. How you penny-pinched your way through another winter…..

And then yesterday I watched Jay Glazer fire another 49er coach on twitter and I realized how thankful I should be that we have had such a stable ownership group over so many years. Can you imagine Larry Baer leaking info about Bochy being fired and having Peter Gammons or some other national idiot bust the story?

The York family is an embarrassment. There really isn’t another way to describe them. And listen up, NO self respecting coach or GM will come work for these idiots when the pattern of how they fire people is so clearly defined. Jim Harbaugh once famously kicked Jeddy out of the locker room announcing to everyone “this meeting is for men only.” Harbs had his faults but what a brilliantly phrased and prescient statement.

And today at 10am we get to hear from the little boy with the team toy blather away about *winning with class* and all of those famous *talks with my uncle* that I am positive NEVER HAPPEN. And if they do happen Jed isn’t listening because he’s a self centered punk who got a stadium built. Jed listens to no one but himself and the guy designing his cabana. He tells us about these *talks* with Eddie D because he knows it’s an easy way to calm 49er fans. Talk ’em off the ledge. Keep ’em buying PSL’s. I’m setting the o/u line of how many times Jed mentions *his uncle* at 4.5. Early betting now open. But whatever, I’ll listen into that *farce conference* because I’m a fucking sheep (or whatever the singular for sheep is). Niner fans will continue to get played the fool by this guy. He’s our own personal *Donald Trump* and the worst part is that he’s still going to be here in 4 years……

Happy New Year. Seems like as good a time as any to pull the plug on the Stix RPOTD. They had a good run. Now it’s time to warm up next to that stove. Feed the pussy. Smother some shit in v-8 juice. Fold a mysterious 5 grain of something into something that gets called a frittata. Drown the bejesus out of it in dipping sauces. And don’t forget to drive 40 miles for that shower.

Two flaps up for our shackled and bedraggled Flap bro but more importantly……ALL RAKES DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!