Voggy Rises Again
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:
While the 44th president is giving his farewell address, the incoming 45th president is tweeting all-caps replies to a urination scandal
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Right on for Voggy! I will always have big respect for him, and his contributions to our Giants.
33 daze until pitchers and catchers report. Play ball, bitches!
Sometimes I catch NBA TV after Warrior game ends just to get different perspective. Kevin McHale, whom I despised as a player (textbook post moves though) does a great job of analysis and is pretty funny
.
His take after E Johnson quotes defensive stats on GS (which are generally near top of league): “They play great D when they want to.” Then they showed 3 sequences of great team D forcing bad shots late in clock.
And he made great comment about Pachulia play, when, “He’s on the floor while 2 Heat guys are standing around.”
.
Good for Vogs, and for added bonus points, Stix might get to see him pitch if they have the game on in the TV room.
I think one thing the Dubs discovered after last year is trying to play the whole season a a breakneck pace, both offensively and defensively, will burn them out in the end. They totally mailed the game in last night. And watching them play haphazard defense is whet the team would look like without Klay out there. I mentioned early that he might get traded, and I’m glad they didn’t.
And Trump’s latest scandal kind of puts the Wikileaks into a new light.
Willie, the only reason I hated McHale is that he should have been a Warrior. If the Warriors don’t make that trade, they likely win a couple championships.
Oh yeah the infamous draft deal with Celts that nets Warriors Joe Barely Cares
. Funny thing is, Parrish when he was here as rookie was flat awful, a turnover waiting to happen with zero footwork or clue what he was doing.
I was just never a Celts guy, tho I’ve come to respect them (even Auerbach) over the years. The Bill Russell and Auerbach books are good reads.
He was green if anything, Willie. But he was getting his game together by the time we traded him.
Watching the imbecile’s news conference and tough to follow him. When the Donald goes off script, transcribing him must be a challenge. When he’s speaking off the cuff, his rambling remarks can be full of digressions and hard-to-follow tangents. He often jumps to an entirely new thought before finishing his previous one. He’s the king of the non sequitur.
Mind boggling.
“Send for the doctor and send for ‘im quick.
This cocaine has done made me sick.
Cocaine has got all around my brain.” – Cocaine Blues, Rev. Gary Davis (1935)
We (the United States) must be the laughing-stock of the fucking world right now. I can hear people around the world going “WTF is going on in the United States?!”
Sad thing is, I fully expect Trump to be impeached well before his term is done, and it doesn’t get any better if that happens…I think Mikey Pence is even worse than the trumpster.
He may be president (in nine days), but that asshat is NOT MY PRESIDENT.
I am going to a protest on the steps of the state capitol on the 20th. Time to stand and fight!
Meanwhile…how ’bout them Mets! 😉
Chuck, the scary thing is is there are a LOT of people in Europe who feel the same way as Trump regarding immigrants. The surge of immigrants coming up from Syria and the Middle East is ginormous and it is causing big problems in Europe. The US does a much better job of integrating foreigners, but they are getting inundated by the influx.
Chi, see my comments from a couple of days ago about the zero.zero possibility of Trump being imprached…this new Russia story is so ridiculous. Not one factual statement and every news outlet reported on something without any factual evidence. There is an absolute new low with the media. This is what is ridiculous. Plus it is now obvious, people at the CIA are serial leakers…some heads are gonna roll over there over this…
Well, I beg to differ and think he will be impeached. It really does not matter. Based on who he has selected for his cabinet alone turns me off from the man. And, I have NEVER had any respect for the man. I think he is an ass. And none of that is going to change. I will just fight the good fight as best I can until 2018 rolls around, and we’ll try to win back some seats then. It is all good brother – I will never let political differences get in the way of friendship, and especially true with my Flapper brethren.
Yeah, when Brexit passed i thought, can we be that stupid?
Aaaand the answer is yes. My thought about Bush II when he got elected is that we as a nation would never elect someone so vastly underqualified for the most important job in the free world.
Oooops. Once bitten, twice bitten.
Trump is literally a 12 year old girl who just got her first twitter account. Can’t we exile him to Elba?
Learn this term – “Gaslighter,” as Trump has become America’s gaslighter in chief. The term comes from a 1940s movie called Gas Light. This article nails it.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/opinions/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america-ghitis/index.html
Wasn’t Hitler the original gas lighter?
Probably AK. Most dictators practices this. See Chuck’s comment below, i.e., Russia’s Putin, Stalin, etc., all “gas lighters.”
Great read…thanks for the share, brother.
That has been in the Soviet playbook since 1948.
Some of you may remember Wendy Thurm from her sharp and amusing blog and twitter coverage of the Giants. @hangingsliders She published on fangraphs quite a bit too. She was a very successful SF lawyer before that–partner at perhaps the best litigation firm in SF (the firm that represented mlb in the recent San Jose antitrust case). Then she started writing about Giants baseball. Now in the wake of the election she’s devoted her energy to organizing and fighting back. Her emailed newsletters overflow with info and links, yet they’re not obtrusive. Try it out. She makes it easy to subscribe and then to unsubscribe if it’s not for you.
http://tinyletter.com/AWayForward
Think I will be skipping that one Xoot…
Hey everyone, I have received a secret intelligence report from an English intelligence source.
The report documents that the Alien Lizards have scandalous dirt on Donald Trump and his aids have been to Mars for secret meetings…while on Mars, his staffers hired Big Heads Alien prostitutes to piss all over Mars…
ALL THE EVIDENCE I HAVE JUST PRESENTED EQUALS THE ENTIRE AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE THE MEDIA HAS DISPLAYED ABOUT THIS MADE UP INTELLIGENCE FROM A “FORMER BRITISH INTELLIGENCE SOURCE.”
aides or aids…lol…
“new Russia story is so ridiculous. Not one factual statement and every news outlet reported on something without any factual evidence.”
I see your point, GH; but, since Trump won’t come clean on what is his relationship with Russia, it creates a vacuum that will get filled with theories, speculations, rumors, questionable stories, etc.
Trump’s laughable refusal to acknowledge that some Russians did interfere with our election, to some extent, by hacking into the Democratic headquarters (which is basically what the crime of Watergate was, pre-internet), opens up Trump to all sorts of questioning.
Well in all fairness, Trump just received this intel brief on Friday…5 days ago. And his public statements since acknowledge Russian involvement. Without question if anyone is familiar with Russian hacking, there may be all kinds of Russian mafia outside of Kremlin control on constant hacking attacks against every level of American society..
But all four major US intelligence firms have directly linked the hacking and interference with our election to Putin’s government. Fact.
Chi, none of us have seen the classified report…maybe they are leaking it…but I have been around a long time. People in intel will leak what they want. They are not showing any reporters the raw intel in order that any independent source could verify.
And when did guys on the left either start listening to or defending the CIA???
One of the big questions that hangs over this election is: why are the Russians so happy that Trump won?
It’s leading to all kinds of speculation and theories.
One of the more viable theories is that they are happy that the U.S. will struggle greatly in many ways because of Trump being president. They know he’s easy to mess with. Hey, but maybe they’ve misjudged him, and he’ll get angry and start WWIII with them. There’s a thought.
FYI: There might be more Russians in Brooklyn than in all of Moscow…
I am not sure any country wants an irrational actor being the head of the major global superpower. Going back and reading about the Soviets, their leadership was worried that Reagan may have been irrational enough to start a war and that may have lead to them discounting Reagan and his ability to lead a real bounding US.
If you wanted a weak Trump in power than you would not want a unified American government in Republican hands and the Russians would have worked against that then if that is their goal.
I honestly believe Putin at least wants a different dynamic of a relationship with the US and believes that can be achieved with Trump as President instead of Hillary.
People that actually think Trump is going to be compromised by Russia has to realize the Congress is dominated by strong majorities who absolutely do not trust Putin and Russia and will hold Trump and his Administration to the fire. Congress will not roll over in regard to potential sanctions continuing against Russia, etc.
My immediate response was that Putin absolutely detested Obama and Hillary (I think one can fairly draw a straight line of Russian sexist and racial hostility towards woman and blacks as having maybe a lot to do with Putin’s hatred). But he clearly had no respect for Bush either. Putin and Russia don’t want an expanded NATO with missile defense. Putin and his hard-liners believe that situation poses a military threat to Russian interests.
They obviously believe they will have in their mind a more fair American Administration with Trump, who may be open to arguments of a less expanded NATO and possibly a President willing to de-escalate. Putin and the hard-liners think they are justified in seizing territory in Crimea and eastern Ukraine that are majority ethnic Russians and probably believe that Trump is going to be less confrontational with Russia on those territorial issues.
If one wants a bilateral relationship with Russia based on an easing of tensions and maybe a newfound working relationship to prevent Russian hacking and possibly joint efforts to defeat Islamic terrorism, then Trump’s approach may actually bear fruit.
Did you hear we are massing 4,000 troops and tanks in Germany, and performing war games?
I’m not sure those folks in Germany are feeling particularly comforted by the talk that Putin will stop at the German border since Trump’s response appears to be giving Putin free reign to rebuild the Soviet Union.
Sure, we need to have diplomatic relations with Russia, I just don’t feel that Trump has the wherewithall to hold his own against Putin. Not by a longshot.
In my head Trump = Jed York and Putin = Brian Belichick
If the Niners trade with the Pats to get Garopollo we will be fucked and the price will be too high.
Chuck, let’s be fair…can we say Trump at least is the Woody Johnson of the Jets????? Not even Ted Cruz can be as much of a dunce as Jed York…OK maybe Ted Cruz!!!
The military exercise is Obama’s good bye to Vladimir…
I down for trading to get their offensive coach to be head coach but F Garofalo…
Exactly.. Trumo will roll out the red carpet all the way to Berlin.
Breaking news: Trump says Russia probably did do the hacking, and interfered in the election.
Score some points for “facts and reality.”
Question that cannot be answered is who really controlled those Russian hacks??? Were they just government directed or were there Russian criminal elements working alone or maybe even with government direction??? We will not know as a public, that will be kept classified (of course intel sources have been leaking blindly since the election)…but what was also discovered in these hacks? Hillary’s chief of staff had nasty things said about other Democrats to him, the media in a couple instances gave Hillary questions before a debate and before a town hall meeting, the Democrat party eladership were trying to tank Sanders candidacy and oh yeah, they uncovered evidence that Hillary illegally shielded her government emails that had been subpoenaed and oh yeah they eventually admitted that thousands of emails had been destroyed by her private lawyers without anyone in the FBI actually reviewing that material. That is what the hacks uncovered. There was no hacking of election systems or vote totals…
No. The question is, how much involvement does Trump have in the hacking? Trump by all accounts has numerous business ties to Russia, and it would be in his best interest to be Putin’s bitch.
Here’s what Trump Jr. had to say about Russia:
The fucking emails are beyond trivial compared to a foreign power trying to undermine our presidential election. With or without the assistance of the guy looking to WIN the goddamn election.
The latest “news” isn’t all that momentous. We all knew he’d be a piss-poor president.
Unfortunately, his mastery of “gas lighting” is such that these news bits become minutia. In the past, when news wasn’t so fragmented and wasn’t 24/7 (think ABC, NBC and CBS, along with NY Times and Washington Post), just about every one of these individual stories would sink a President. Trump? He’s Teflon.
He may be Teflon, but I truly believe he will be impeached, or assassinated.
I think he may very well abdicate.
Fake WMD as justification for invading Iraq and Mission Accomplished were just as bad and temporarily as effective. Plenty of good news sources pointed that out. Reagan’s Contra war–with his invading army of “Freedom Fighters” –raged behind fake-news denials. I spent January 1985 in Nicaragua so I knew a little bit about what was really going on. I also found plenty of good news sources reporting accurately and in depth about the country and the war. Starting with Reagan republican regimes have thrived on duping white ignoramuses to support the party of the rich. Non-ignoramuses don’t get gaslighted. If they support the republicans they do so knowingly, for their own benefit. Sorry for the rant. I’m signing off on politics now. It’s obviously not the central theme of today’s post. Voggy’s a helluva inspirational guy. He’d get a standing O at China Basin if he just warmed up in the pen for the Twins.
Trump’s the new John Gotti, the original “Teflon Don”
Russian chicks are HOT!
Golden.
Yes they are! There was one tittie bar outside of Osan AB in Korea that was filled with Russian “dancers.” They were BY FAR the hottest of the hot. SMOKING…
Second that Gold!
I am with xoot, and done with the political talk. Go Voggy!
Ok I’ll come clean…it just became official about a half hour ago…I have just been named as a Special Assistant to the incoming Secretary of Commerce…which means you all may not hear from me much and there goes my naps…
congrats man! That sounds like quite a title. And I am fully expect you to build a sleeping area into your desk ala George Castanza. No way you go cold turkey on naps. No. WAY.
I don’t think I have been able to get one in since that day after Xmas…sucks!! Been a little crazy…but thanks for the well wishes. I will eventually transition to a specific assignment within the Department or if I get my wish, would prefer to end up at the VP office…
Three things that I’m wondering about for 2017;
1) What will the Giants do with Mr. Out Of Options? (this has become an annual question for me),
2) What is the over under for Mac Williamson going on the DL with a fluke injury?
3) Will Matt Cain ever pitch 6+ innings again?
Answers are
1) release
2) 62 days
3) never
I guess I’m taking the under on #2
GH, so much for draining the swamp!!! I kid.
Congrats!!!
That is why I had to deregister at the end of this summer…
I actually like Wilbur Ross. Only sane selection IMO for his cabinet. Here is a positive write up on the man from a so called “liberal media” source (albeit, funded by our government):
http://www.npr.org/2016/12/14/505258592/wilbur-ross-the-best-commerce-secretary-pick-dems-could-hope-for
By the by, congrats GH!
I still think your politics are . . . umm . . . uhh . . . eh, let’s say a bit too conservative, but being a Giants fan goes a long way in my book.
Funny, he is supposed to be the crank in the incoming admin…well I don’t think I can do too much harm at Commerce. Will likely and hopefully be focused on telecom, tech and cyber issues…
What’s your GS grade?
And thanks…I forgot I could actually be involved in trying to heat up the planet up even more👹😈 Commerce has oversight over NOAA…
Undetermined yet….
Can you get Stix pardoned?
You took a government job and your GS grade is unknown? Hilarious.
You literally won’t believe this process…basically was contacted two nights ago about it. I never even interviewed and frankly I am not even sure anyone actually looked at my resume…so GS scale won’t be determined until later. Obviously the people like me coming in are not doing it for the money…
Shit I never thought about Stix…sadly not within our jurisdiction. But I am not sure which Stix camp I am in. I can take time served and felony and take his rake away…
Well, it sounds like you’re not a wage grade (WG) employee. lulz. Who knows? Maybe they will offer you an SES (Senior Executive Service) position. I’m guessing GS 12, 13, or 14.
Blade, I sort of expect we will be in that SES level…
Good article Blade and interestingly enough, he was a Democrat all his life until switching just this past Nov. He was even a Dem party official in NY in the past…
Chuck, I think we have all jurisdiction over interstate Commerce, there has got to be some type of violation of standards by the York Family…can I fix baseball trades????
Like a bad rash that won’t go away Santiago Casilla is going back to the A’s!Reported 2 year gig saves are optional in his contract..
Could never hate Casilla or any of the guys that contributed to the 3 titles.
Casilla is easily a top ten all-time SF Giant reliever. Easily!
James convinced me that Romo is #1…
No doubt in the minority here, but I actually would have liked Casilla back. He still has his “stuff” and his peripheral stats were very good last season. I think his confidence was shot last season and to be a closer, it’s as much about that, as having good “stuff.” I think as an 8th inning guy and certainly, a long reliever, he would have been useful here.
Unfortunately, the blown saves decided his future was not with the Giants. In my mind, he is forever – a great Giant. That’s just me though.
He may even be top three. Not gonna check any stats but after Romo and probably Affeldt who had a better Giant career? Wilson? Nen? Minton? Lavelle? Beck? Moffett? Linzy? Lopez? Especially when you factor in the 3 titles…
Just saw your 2 posts Loo – NO ARGUMENT from me.
Loo, maybe Casilla would still be with us, if he had gone crazy like Brian Wilson after a blown save:
Still remember and loved this!
So now we have one Flapper in the Big House and one in the White House (sorta). I like our versatility……
Casilla may have a good year next year, who knows. All I know for sure is that his head was so fucked up sideways by the end of the season there was NO WAY he could have come back and pitched for us in the bullpen. The fans hated him and he ended up being the shakiest motherfucker (emotionally) to ever take the hill.
Congrats on the new gig GH! Isn’t Secretary of Commerce usually a Designated Survivor? Pretty cool to think that you could be special assistant to the POTUS. Circumstances of that occurring, notwithstanding of course. 😉
if that ends up happening you gotta spring Stix somehow, some way……
can you imagine: “Mr. President, I have this federal prisoner convicted of trying to shoot down a federal helicopter, wait, don’t throw me out yet, he had a rake….his name is Stiiiiiiiiixxxxxxx (as I am dragged out of the Oval Office).”
POTD
Thank you thank you. They rotate that Designated Survivor from Cabinet position to Cabinet position. If I not working on Inauguration Day, I’m not going anywhere near DC…
You beat me to it Craig. I was just thinking the same thing. One in the federal pen, and one in the federal government. . .
Where do you fall in the line of secession, GH?
I’ve always imagined leading a coup…
Let’s see . . . We’ve discussed impeachment, assassination, assisting a Federal prison inmate on trial for attempted murder via a pardon or assisting in his escape. No doubt one or all 17 of these agencies are monitoring the Flap. lulz . . .
I’ve got to go finish Man in High Castle before I fall asleep..ciao..
read that POTD by GH a few times. That is one of the funniest motherfucking things anyone has ever written here at the Flap.
It was pretty damn good.
i imagined his voice trailing off “SSSTTiiiixxxxxx…..” to something barely audible in the distance, as he got dragged off down the hallway…….
Kind of a shame that the brilliant “he had a rake” only hastened his ejection…
Six years after the Beltran trade, Wheeler signs a one year deal for a lousy $ 800,000…
SAN FRANCISCO – Third baseman Conor Gillaspie and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a $1.4 million, one-year contract, a raise from his $1 million salary last year.
A week ago on Yahoo there was a story from Mets blog that they “need to sign either Romo or Casilla.”
Blog guy was sure Familia is getting suspended for at least 30 games and had numbers that said both of above were tops in high leverage situations.
Casilla, idk, just seemed to lose command of his pitches. Romo has been death on RHs for a while now. These guys can fit in somewhere.
I never warmed to Vogs style, but this guy can bring much needed vet grit and savvy to any young pitching staff and help them learn what it takes to survive in ml baseball, which isn’t necessarily all about your arm.
Gotta admit I like gameface. If you look it up at B/R or wherever, his numbers at the plate for everything (except SBs) compare pretty favorably with those of Nunez. I like PHs guys anyway so I hope he sticks, if at least as Harry Spillman type.
Best moment of 2016 for me. I had a perfect angle from where I was. I’ll always think of it every time I see that stupid roof top shack thing that it banged off of out in the bullpen…
Not just best baseball moment.
Best moment. Period.
Even better than Flapalooza ’16?
Now that is a POTD, with vid included esp with shot of Thor. thx man for posting that, just incredible to have been there and seen it live. I’d talk about that one forever.
too bad you couldn’t figure out a way to put a little monument out there on top of the “stupid roof shack” to commemorate Gillaspie blast like they used to have painted seats where Stargell blasted HRs headed to moon.
Trump is a disgrace to this nation. I saw snippets of his “news conference”. He’s turning the presidency into a circus. He’s a pathological liar. We have now become a laughingstock of a nation on the world stage. If a Dem were sucking Putin Pole like Trump, the Republicans would be calling for impeachment before the guy even took the oath. This episode can’t end well for the country, and won’t…
[…] said, on January 11, 2017 at 8:27 pm […]