Giant Bore
You’re probably right, Flav, but so is Xoot.
On paper this team’s a bore.
A band of misfits no more…
This is absolutely spot on. I’ve been having trouble putting my finger on why. I think it’s 3 fold: 1) the rotation is pretty much set. 2) we have no exciting, young player to root for. Sure, MacPark offer some intrigue, but we all know neither is going to get enough at bats to fulfill the promise. 3) the guys we have are pretty much who they are. Almost all of them are *pros* who don’t show much personality at all and who have settled into the back of their baseball cards. We used to spend the spring with raging debates about what Belt’s numbers will look like but I think everyone is on board with him checking in at .280ish/18ish bombs/85ishRBI’s. Anyone REALLY want to argue for or against that? I don’t have it in me….
So this team looks, at least on paper, to be a colossal bore.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I guess that’s why Span’s gray beard bugs me. It just makes the team seem older and more tired, as a kind of metaphor, or something.
The wild card is the bullpen. If the young guys in the pen can take the next step forward, they could be the energizing factor for this team.
I could not agree more with Zumiee – that the wild card is the bullpen.
Winning has a way of building energy…if they play to potential (and I think they have the potential to win the West, outright), it’ll be a fun season. And you have to remember that the team at the mid-point or the end of the year often looks different than the one at the beginning of the season.
Boring or not…I am ready for some Giants baseball!
I don’t know how many teams out there look to the bullpen to be the energizing force for the team. It should come from the guys who are out there every inning. But unfortunately, guys like Buster and Crawford and Panik, etc…. just don’t seem to have that in them….
Nothing boring about watching Cueto pitch, bum neither. Or for that matter watching baseball played the right way, to the tune of 80+ Ws. would you rather watch Nate or another floundering OF and Zito? Uggla and McG?
My godson from SD was up here with his cute baby girl–he’s going to AZ to watch the Pads for a few days soon. He knows straight out the Pads are going to be awful and probably lose close to 100 like last year.
I asked him about starting rotation (he said help is a year or two away) and what their opening day LU is (he’ll be there), and he said there are lots of ? at SS and CF.
So they will have plenty of exciting young guys, and will suck big time. I’ll take boring Giants any day.
Beside LF, which I doubt will be boring, the WC for me is Nunez. Other than his time on the Twins, he’s never been a regular. I don’t trust anything about his Twins numbers, so I’m interested to see what he can do with 500 ABs–BA, slugging, on the bases and D. Bochy says job is his and he liked what he saw last year.
He is in a contract year and has Arroyo in rear view mirror, so there’s a lot of incentive to go out and make a name for himself. Last year he got hurt and had to watch playoffs, which featured his replacement Gameface epic bomb.
In the piece by Carl Steward at mercnews.com he says he is still in contact with Jeter who took him under his wing in NY.
Arroyo watch is also going to be a story. With all the hype, if SF assumes he’s ready, where does he play/who does he move out?
With Hwang also probably going to AAA, I wonder if Arroyo will be getting more playing time at 2B?
Kruk ruined Crick today. Basically said he’s never gonna get his release slot. Kruk sure has no problem dissing the young guys.
I thought Crick was having a pretty good ST, what did I miss?
He must have had a rough outing recently because Kruk was merciless on him today. He said the coaches have been telling him the same thing every year and he still hasn’t changed and even went so far as to say “at this point I think it’s fair to assume he CAN’T do it.” Brutal.
Wow, I know he got optioned to the Minors yesterday but this Spring he pitched 4.2 innings, allowing no runs on 4 hits and had 4 Ks with a 1.07 WHIP out of the Pen.He did give up 2 BBs in those 4 innings but for Crick that wasn’t so bad (his BBs has always been the Giants biggest complaint about Crick), but I wouldn’t think that would deserve that much shit from Kruk. Wow.
I’m sure the Rockies would have settled for a much more boring ST. Their new $70 mil FA Desmond got beaned in the hand and broke metacarpal bone, for which he is going to need surgery. He was supposed to be their everyday 1b but could be out for months, so now they are in scramble mode.
Also, very sad story one of their promising young SPs, Bettis, has to undergo chemo for recurrence of testicular cancer.
Well, Pence is still Pence. Hopefully he fires up the troops and doesn’t get hurt making videos with his wife.
Nothing spells excitement to me more than Belt working hard on his base running skills this off season. Hopefully, he also worked on getting his slap bunt down.
Giants are boring? Perhaps, but two of MLB’s most exciting players, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, have a combined zero playoff series victories.
I gotta think with teams hitting .300+ against all our starters not named Bum, that this could become very exciting…for the Pen.
I’ve actually never heard Kruk go off on a guy more. MAYBE Huff after that fuck up gm in NY or Pablo because of all the fat. But he basically gave Crick no chance of mlb success.
One of the things that used to bug me the most about Kruk from the bad old days was how he would gush about some scrub guy the Giants would bring out of the pen in some game they were getting thrashed late. “He has electric stuff and when he’s right you’ll see yada yada with great movement.” And then the next movement would be a shot bouncing off a wall 400 feet away.
And just a few weeks ago some folks thought Crick might be putting it all together.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/218249892/giants-kyle-crick-could-earn-bullpen-role/
Kruk could have just easily been talking out his ass, as usual. But there was no mistaking the side he was on: the side that Crick will never put it all together.
Zum’s early post could be a valid point of energy too. If guys like Strick Osich and Gomer (and Blach might be there too) can come in and throw hard and get hitters out with regularity and be part of a legit shut down pen it could be very exciting.
On the other hand, if they keep Gearrin I could go full Fred Sanford and have the real big one screaming at this idiot to stop screwing around and throw the f-ing baseball.
I think they may “look” boring, but that could be due to the fact they all know they were 3 outs away from going to a WS last year, they all know what this team is capable of. Now that they are more of a vet team they just go about there business.
Well, 30 outs . . .
Maybe boring was a little harsh but this group does seem kind of vanilla when compared to the Freak, the Beard, the Panda, Jazz Hands, Vungo, Romo, and younger versions of Posey and Pence…
Another bomb for Parker!
Well, we still have Clockwork Orange, Dong Hwanger, Madbum, the Reverend, the Horse, Gameface, TFLR, Smarglebargle, strike zone Hunter, the killer Bs (Buster, Belt and Brandon Crawfish), the omnipresent all-encompassing Nunie, Gorkys Park, Old Man Span, and MacParker.
I think Nunez leading off could be a huge spark.
I thought that was the plan when they got him, but they rarely did it.
Bad move in my book.
The dude can really motor.
Maybe Vince Coleman can talk Bochy into moving him up there.
There was not a lot to decide in this off-season, so maybe that plays into the perceived boredom. Really, I could give a fuck if they are boring as long as they win and make a solid run at another WS title. They were very close to making it back to the dance last year. The big delta this year is the changes in the bullpen, so I do see that as one of the more interesting (and key) components of the season.
That and getting rid of I’m dazed and confused Roberto Kelly& Rocking Chair Billy Hayes,Chi.. That was one of their better moves finally.
Agree, Kat…especially Kelly. LMAO on the “rocking chair” reference.
Coleman has as much clout as Dunston in the review booth…nonexistent..
Speaking of Crick…I thought he got sent to the Minors.
Obviously not – 2.1 IP today. 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 Ks. Saw the earlier references to Kruk’s comments…his cheese may be slipping…
Well, this is from yesterday’s SFGate – “Roster trimming: The Giants cut 12 players, optioning infielder Miguel Gomez and pitchers Kyle Crick, Ian Gardeck, Chase Johnson, Reyes Moronta and Daniel Slania. They also reassigned infielder Ryder Jones, catchers Aramis Garcia and Matt Winn, and outfielders Wynton Bernard, Steven Duggar and Austin Slater.” – John Shea
And Coonrod, who also pitched today, was reassigned on the 12th according to a Pavlovic tweet on CSN, “Next round of cuts: Giants optioned Blackburn, Gregorio and Stratton after today’s game, reassigned Reynolds, Blanks, Coonrod.”
So what the fuck do I know… 🙂
Speaking of slipping…..Trump’s job approval was at 39% in today’s Gallup Poll. People had gotten a whiff of the steaming pile known as “Trumpcare.”
I didn’t ketch the Kruk slam on Crick doesn’t suprise though..Maybe he was a bit kinder today? Like sayin:Boy howdy he sure found his Crick slot today!
He really is sadly to say starting to lose his cookies, when he mentioned ( back in Dec) a dipstick like Michael Morse would someday make a great big league manager I loss my own cookies 🍪
Maybe the team seems boring because it’s so…. familiar to us. For the past handful of years now we’ve been watching guys that have become like family to us. Comfortable. Maddening. Frustrating. Sometimes disappointing, sometimes joyful. Family. I have no problem with that. The occasional new member of the family *should* add some excitement along the way. For this edition, I think Parker and Nunez will bring that to the dinner table. Maybe another wildcard player as yet unknown. If Pence and Panik stay healthy, they could rekindle some of the energy they’ve brought as well. I still want more bombs, that’s exciting. But this kind of familial bore, I’m ok with, for the most part.
Jesus. The Warriors are insanely inconsistent these days. they finally attack the rim and can’t buy free throws.
Never thought I’d say this, but they really miss KD’s defense.
Wow. The Dubs are lost. Getting torched by the 76ers at home isn’t a good look. Down 15 in the 3rd?
Draymond is willing the Warriors back into the game.
All Curry is doing is turning the ball over and missing 3s.
Course he hits one.
Cal apparently sleepwalked thru its NIT game and lost to CSU Bakersfield. Bird and Rabb did not play. SFGate writer filed article that he thought Rabb had a phantom foot injury — inferring he did not want to risk playing with draft coming up. Looks like we may see more and more of this. If true, I gotta be consistent with my McCaffrey / Sun Bowl take; and say I don’t care, let the kids protect themselves. In reality, an NIT game is not worth spit to a player that will be up for the draft in a couple of months…