Smarge Steps Up
If you are an optimistic person, last night was a good night for you. At least when it comes to the Giants, I don’t know if the rest of your night was good based on your disposition. If Smarge can keep this going we should be able to hold on to the slightest whisper of hope through the Summer. 59K’s to 1 walk is almost unbelievable.
If you missed the Calixte throw, you need to go see it. That was a historic throw in the annals of bad throws. He fired towards the plate and after tailing off to the right like it hit wind sheer from a 747 the ball landed somewhere near Calixte, Mexico–that old, dusty town you buzz through on the way to Puerta Vallarta for mas Bohemias. That line never gets old to me.
I give Bochy a lot of shit, nearly all of which he deserves. But that move to pull Calixte back and bat Hill was a good one. Calixte is clueless man, he was sauntering up to the plate and didn’t even know Bochy had called him back. Whatever. And look, we need guys like Hill on the team. Not to play every day but to provide a little punch off the bench. He roped that ball down the line. Calixte might have hit the catcher with a swing or some shit.
It’s Matt Cain Day! Why do I always feel a little nervous on Matt Cain Day?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Great post, and yes, I am one of those Polly-Fucking-Annas.
And I half expected this, especially after I started talking yesterday about blowing the team-up. Figures. But fuck it, with this squad you take the Ws any damned way you can get them!
I sure as hell would love to see a few more romps like this, especially against some quality teams. The Twins and Rox fit the bill currently…rest of the month, not so much. Time to make hay, boys!
And I had been down on Hill before he came back up, saying they should cut that tie and let the young-uns play, but you are right Flav, we do need an old crusty vet or two like Hill to provide some pop off the bench.
Entertaining game…Humm Baby – Let’s Do It Again (that’s what she said).
Busy day at work – make it an awesome day, FU.
Caught the add on rally on radio, started by Specs, yaha and the other one was finished by one of Bochy’s trademark old vets. iirc Miller said Specs is 4 for 13 as PH, tough job.
NL Central is so odd–Reds are 4 games under .500, Cards dropped 4 in a row 7 of last 10 3 under. Cubs have finally caught Brewers and might be only playoff team in whole division, just like NL East.
Giants at least are scoring more runs in bandbox yard, Nunez making things happen.
Calixte, yikes. How often has this happened, where guy comes up has nice start and then quickly back to reality of not being ready to play ml level baseball? Seems symptomatic of so many others…
All 3 of Cain’s worst outings this year have come on the road, at padres Reds and Cards. At home he’s been fine ERA under 2.00, way more Ks than BBs. On road complete opposite, more BBs and like Morse ERA 8.00-ish and teams are raking him to tune of over .300 BA.
There is team option for next season with 2017 finally the end of the monster deal that will have paid him $140 mil.
If he’s no worse rest of season and survives with health/arm strength intact (4.53 ERA), what would SF (not bloggers here) do?
Bill Walsh affect or would SF keep him around as insurance?
you keep him. Doesn’t he have a 7 mil buyout anyway? After Cueto is traded the Giants will need pitching depth next season. Might as well have a vet like Cain around (unless he totally implodes this year)
Dump him!
21 million option. If Cain continues as is, sure he would be a serviceable 4 or 5, but that does not equate to 21 mil, IMO. I say you work a deal with him that says “we will buy you out (7 mil) and bring you back at say 5 or 6, and the total equates to 12 or 13 for next year. This ONLY if his numbers warrant it, and his arm does not fall off…
Craig, thank god my bladder was not full when I read your Calixte analogy.. if not I would have had to change my underwear….Hell, I’m the guy always looking for the silver lining even after 1 good game with this team….Pence back after 20 games out.. ok I’ll go with that…..And so, I’ll continue to wait for the chemistry mix to be just right to have the light not go out for this season….
Btw, in Bagg’s column Bochy said Calixte was trying to hit cutoff and ball slipped out of his hands.
?
Sounds like Costanza explaining shrinkage.
I was thinking (?) that the Cubs situation this year is much like the Giants in 2011 – first chance to repeat in ages. They might overpay to fill their needs. I doubt the Giants would have made the Beltran deal if they didn’t feel pressure to go for 2 in a row.
So, your thought is we could off-load some dead weight, Loo?
Brews starter Chase Anderson has thrown 14 straight scoreless innings in his last two starts, now that makes me nervous.
Hwang (playing 1b) homered last night for Sac, so did Arroyo. Mac has 4 in 22 ABs since going down and comment was made neither of them let demotion bother them.
Can we at least see Hwang for Morse? by end of month Giants have to do something with him.
Give us summa that Wand Dang Sweet Poon-Hwang!
“And so, I’ll continue to wait for the chemistry mix to be just right to have the light not go out for this season….”
You reminded me of a song from The Smiths, “There is a light that never goes out.” Great song.
Interesting. My wife is teaching me 3 Vietnamese words every day. Today’s lesson was “ang sanh” which means light; and, “den” which means lamp. Coincidence?
Nah . . . Third word was “cho” which means dog.
Obviously, your dog needs a lamp in his den…
Hey Steve, meant to ask you. didn’t you visit Laos during long trip that involved Cambodia? iirc there were some quite unnecessary visa issue…Impressions of sleepy country not much visited by my customers?
I’m reading series of funny mystery novels set there in ’78 after Pathet first took over. Lot of satirical derision directed by weary Laotians at them for political dogma and comrade this and that. Lot of mysticism too alongside Buddhism.
“There is a light that never goes out.” No way in hell I am associating that with this year’s team….
We need Hill? Not really. Surely there’s another guy in the organization (Specs) that can hit better than .138 off the bench.
that’s a pretty small sample size you’re using. Having vet guys on the bench is a good thing unless you want to revisit the Shingo days.
Shingo WAS a vet. Do you really think Hill is going to get much better?
I respectfully disagree, Charlie. We already have Specs up, and he is mostly a singles/speed guy (little to no power). Hill has the ability to get ahold of one once in a while.
If you want to dump vet dead weight, dump Morse’s sorry ass…
Don’t be surprised to see Giants legend Matt Cain return. Over 11 starts Cain is right around 5 IP and under 3 ER. That’s solid 5th starter material.
For $11 million? Everything’s pricey in MLB these days.
If Blach continues to pitch well and is making the MLB minimum or whatever then it’s a wash.
$21 mill . . .
I mean $11 million next season. $18 million option vs. the $7 million buy-out.
I thought the option was $18 million. I could be wrong.
Blach is making $573K this year and is arbitration eligible in 2020. Think of it as getting a #3 and #5 for that money.
So a next year’s roration could be Bum, Blach, Smarj, Moore, and Cain. That’s not terrible.
Depending on what happens with Cueto.
The option on Cain is definitely 21 mil.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/nl-west/san-francisco-giants/
In regards to Dirt’s 9:29: “Don’t be surprised to see Giants legend Matt Cain return.”
See my recent comment. NOT at the 21 mil option. Reach an agreement on the side that they cut him, he gets the 7 mil buyout, and then sign him for 4-6. Total comes in at 11-13. Even 13 is a stretch IMO for a 5th. Bottom line…no way jose at 21 mil. Again…just my opinion.
Bochy’s love affair with shitty vets has been an (Ray Ray) issue for a while.
You wanted to see more Frandsen or Velez in 07?
Frandsen hit .370m when he got the chance to play IIRC.
Bringing back Cain would be insane…
At $21 mill it is.
You have to subtract the buy-out money they’d have to pay anyway.
You’re both right…
Yep
According to Spotrac, he gets $21 mill or we buy him out at $7.5 mill. The buyout isn’t taken off the contract if we keep him.
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/san-francisco-giants/matt-cain-718/
Zumie understands that Chuck. It’s just the difference between keeping him or not…
What happens when Bum comes back, and if Cueto isn’t traded? I say go with a 6-man rotation the rest of the way. Keep developing Blach, and don’t over-do Bum.
Next year’s a different story. Somebody’s gotta go. Blach needs to be in the rotation, clearly.
Dirt, you’d like to see them trade Cueto this season? I don’t disagree with that move.
Chuck, regarding Hill, I think he’s going to have moments like last night where he comes off the bench now and again to win a game. I’ll take that over whatever the fuck Calixte was going to do in that situation.
Regarding Cain: if he keeps pitching like this, which is fine for a #5, he’s only going to cost another 13 mil. If we lose Cueto and the Giants don’t get development out of Beede or Crick for that spot next year, I have no problem with them spending an additional 13 mil on Cain to fill the #5 spot.
Cain will never get $ 13 million on the open market. If you really want him back, you buy him out and then offer him something MUCH less than $ 13 million. He should take the buyout and pitch for free after all the money he made for doing shit…
if he stays healthy and isn’t getting hammered around, very sensible move on both parts. Maybe whomever they get in Cueto (or others) deal isn’t that far away.
I’m unusually lucid today…
Loo, you and I are on the same page, brother. Pure Fucking Genius. NO FUCKING WAY on Cain for 21 mil.
Buyout @ 7.5. Resign at 4-5 mil. Total is around 11 or 12, and that is a lot of coin for a number 5.
I wouldn’t even offer him that much. .
Maximum $2.5M brings him to $10M for the season.
Of course it’ll never happen if he gets offered a dollar more by anyone…
Yep.
Hill’s nothing special but he surely is a upgrade over Morse.
When are they gonna wise up and jettison his ass. Maybe he can con another GM at a wedding this summer and hook on with another team. But personally he should just retire, his one trick pony days are over..
If the Giants score more than 2 runs tonight I will be shocked, more than likely they will be shutout.
Love the optimism, Kev.
Zum, I like Cueto a lot and would keep him if it was up to me but I think he’s going to opt out so make the best of it and move him for something. Wilcoe suggested a good scenario with Houston a couple of days back. Apparently they have a glut of outfielders so the Giants need to get the best one they can and hopefully the dude is ML ready. Maybe Nunez and/or Strickland can get a potential pen arm in return.
Go into next year with Bum, Blach, Smarj, Moore, and Cain with the hopes that Beede can force the issue at some point, Smith comes back to realign the pen and pushes either Kontos or Gearrin out. All Booby has left to do is solve 3b and another outfield spot.
I didn’t like Hill pinch-hitting for Slater vs. Philly on Saturday down 5-2 in the 9th with two out and runners on 1st and 3rd, even though Hill delivered an RBI single to keep any chance of a comeback alive. To me, it was a lost cause, as Hundley would end the game on the very next pitch, and also what’s the point of having Slater up here if he doesn’t get a chance to hit in a spot like that. Last night was a different case, tie game, Smardjz pitched great and Giants absolutely had to go all-out to get the lead there. Maybe Hill can be dealt to a contender looking for a clutch bat off the bench, he’ll be wasted in this role playing for lousy Giants, although it’s doubtful we could get much in return.
i’d like to see at least a half dozen Giants on waivers as deadline approaches just to see what they could get. Hill I’m sure would have some interest with IF background and RH pop.
To Mac’s point, even Bochy admitted sitting Slater couple days in a row after he’d just been called up wasn’t good for the kid.
He played some CF in Sac; why not throw him out there vs. LHP or to give Span a rest on getaway game…even if Giants can’t unload or prefer to keep Span he could be moved to LF like Pagan if they can find someone to play that spot. Especially if they can’t pry a Marisnick type away from another team.
Let’s see what Cain does the rest of the year before we decide if he’s worth 13 mil or not for one year. That isn’t an outrageous salary at all for a vet pitcher who is pitching to a 4/5 slot–especially when you consider his history with the team and who kind of a teammate he is. I’m not advocating keeping him, just saying that it wouldn’t blow my mind if they decided to kick in the extra 13 mil to have him pitch for one more season. If he implodes, obviously you pay the 7 mil and give him his gold watch. But he’s far from imploded this season.
Hill is nothing more than a utility guy at this point. But what’s wrong with that? Every team needs one and he won’t make as many stupid mistakes as a rookie.
I haven’t actually seen Slater hit and first impressions posted here not much impressed.
But we’ve all seen Gorkys and he’s still looking up at the Mendoza line here in June after 2 months.
What’s the point?
I guess that’s what bugs me the most—there are obviously guys that aren’t part of solution to being competitive going forward, so why not try and identify who might be?
There’s a reason he lasted till the 8th round . . .
Yeah, I’m just tired of guys like Hill getting shots before Specs. Which is what happened recently. Keeping Hill is the same philosophy as keeping Morse (he’ll run into one at some point). If Hill bats .280 and provides some pop in his role as PH, great. If he stays around the Crapoza line of .150 with a double every 3 weeks, fuck it.
There’s too much dead weight is my point. We’ve trotted out like 35 OFers so far to no avail. I[k just pissed that the team went south so fast. The minors don’t seem to have any answers, besides Blach. The only way up for this team is by trading for prospects it seems.
Hill and Specs are both on the roster right now. I think you need a blend. You need a young guy like Specs who can handle the bat and get on, has speed, yada yada, and you need a vet or two who can play multiple positions and has some pop.
Hernandez and Morse are burnt toast. Parkermac? Hard to know what you bring when you can’t get on the field ever. Oshit, Gearren and Stratton are also dried shit. I’m all for trying the young guys now to see what they offer.
Is anyone still holding out hope that this will somehow majically get better? They have till the deadline to figger shit out, but we’ll know in a couple weeks where the chips are.
Dried shit on burnt toast anyway you slice it still makes a shit sandwich..
1. Denard Span (L) CF
2. Eduardo Nunez (R) 3B
3. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
6. Hunter Pence (R) RF
7. Joe Panik (L) 2B
8. Austin Slater (R) LF
9. Matt Cain (R) P
Nunie sure has upped his trade value.
I wonder if he has the Giants thinking about trying to bring him back…
Don’t look now but if you sub in Slater fpr Parker / Williamson ( and whats the difference?) We have our opening day projected lineup for the hitters! 1st time all year?
Sandoval (!) in the starting lineup for the Red Sox tonight. Long time, no see.
Yeah, I watched him hit. He appears to be in reasonable shape (for him).
Yankee announcers said the word is that the Red Sox are actively seeking a third baseman.
So once again, I say Cueto and Nunie for Panda and top prospect(s)…
that’s a decent trade proposal.
It’s not far fetched at all. You swap bad salaries and bring back a fan favorite, and one or two decent prospects. Baer gets to sell more Panda hats and you add a much needed enthusiastic Latino presence in the clubhouse. Not bad Loo.
I bet Pablo would like to mend fences and try to resurrect his career in the city of his great triumphs and popularity. Maybe the Sox would even eat some of his salary. And Cueto was right about the Latino shortage. Off the top of my head – Pagan, Blanco, Romo, Casilla, Lopez, Adrianza, Suarez all gone from just last year…
Brewer announcers basically mocking the lack of velocity on Cain’s fastball…
Bochy was positively jizzing himself about Cain on the pre-game show and how he’s got 4 pitches now, reinvented himself, the whole 9 yards. If Bochy is here next year and Cain keeps pitching like a #5 I’d bet just about anything we pick up that final year.
Of course if he keeps pitching like a #10 pitcher, we’ll probably just pay him his 7 mil and be done with him. 🙂 Cain’s actually gotten pretty fucked this inning
Willie, regarding Laos, yes I visited Luang Prabang, during a 6 country SE Asia, excursion. Great place to chill after the . . . umm, the Rated X Thailand leg of my adventure. I had a cabana on a tributary of the Mekong River. Every morning, breakfast was served on my balcony overlooking the river.
https://aroundtheworldwithblade.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/need-to-chill-out-then-head-to-luang-prabang-laos/
This water fall was amazing too. Only bad part was the rain the night before, which caused sediment to cloud the water. Normally, it’s crystal clear.
https://aroundtheworldwithblade.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/kuang-si-falls-laos/
Laos is a perfect sleepy country for people who want to forget about Trump, their job, climate change, etc. Chuckling to myself, because there were only a few people on the jet I took to the country. Paradise! You would love it I suspect.
My gut feeling is that you will eventually settle in the South Bronx…
I’m not certain about settling Loo, but for a short visit, the Bronx Super 8 siren call is definitely enticing I must admit.
lol! Solid gold!
it’s amazing how polished Lopez is at this having never done it before. And then Affeldt who hadn’t done it before is completely clueless.
Time for Slater to go back to The Farm.
8 hits already for the Brew?
only a couple were hard hit. Hernan hit the ball a mile and a line drive or two. The rest was slop
The Giants just got this guy for cash and a PTBNL:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dysonsa01.shtml
ERA over 10? Come on down!
He’ll fit right in.
zzzz . . .
i’m a little worried about how that cash is gonna pan out 3-4 years down the line but whatever you gotta take chances in the trading game.
The game that Slater is having tonight is the kind of games I had in little league, and were a big influence why I only went out for basketball after that.
I did play Friday night softball later in life, and was a little better at the sport. 🙂
Well he did have 38 saves in 2016. Could this mean Lemon Can’s headin’ for D.C.?
Doubt it…
Strickland could easily be moved in the coming days….
Agreed. There is no other reason to explain why they would add Dyson if they weren’t planning on trading someone in the pen. At this point any change for the sake of change is worth a try if your the Giants brass. Strickland, rightfully or not, will be the scapegoat.
if Strick were better I’d be for keeping him. He kinda sucks and has had tons of chances. IrishKevin actually called this first about 4 years ago lol
How good can he be if procured for cash and PTBNL? The dude’s WHIP is so high it’s stated in parsecs…
Bartolo Colon signed a 1 year, 12.5 million dollar deal with Atlanta. And he’s awful. Cain is coming back.
Scooter Gennett of Reds with 4 HRs so far tonight, tying MLB record of 16 others.
That’s more than the Giants hit in two weeks…
Giants on pace to be shutout in just over 1 of every 10 games played…
The Brewers fans are all too aware that the Brewers blew two ninth inning leads over the Dodgers.
Speaking of Irish Kevin’s clairvoyant ability, he’s about to call this shut out.
Kevin gets a lot of baseball related stuff wrong. I’m happy to bestow the *All Knowing Strickland Sux Knowledge* crown upon him.
The Giants’ network needs more variety of commercials. The same ones over and over and over gets annoying.
Today the Giants acquired a player for two oatmeal cookies and a frog.
Pence and Panik were the rally-killers at the end.
NG,
Giants avoided the shutout, still on pace to be shutout 10% of their games. It’s June, they’ve sucked for essentially a season if you add in the second half last year. So, it’s time to start blowing this puppy up…
Cain back to his 5 IP, give up a least one dinger and 5 earnies. Sweet. I wouldn’t pay this guy $7 million, let alone another $18MM or whatever it is next year if they don’t buy him out. Buy him out and never look back. Bring up a young arm to get clobbered just as well, and learn while doing it for $500K…
They HAVE to pay him $7 million to go away next season, per his contract. The other option is $20 million to pitch for them, a “net loss” of $13 million.
The other option mentioned on the Flap of paying him to go away and then re-signing him for a small contract….can that be legal per the Collective Bargain Agreement? Surely, the CBA doesn’t allow a team to go around a contract like that, does it?
I don’t see why not. Once you’re bought out you’re a FA, right?
Personally, I’d say goodbye…
Yeah, that makes sense. If the Giants pay the $7 million, and Cain can’t find any other teams interested in him, that wouldn’t be the Giants’ fault that no other teams were interested in him. It would just mean that Cain would have to swallow some humble pie to re-sign with the Giants.
The Giants would technically be gambling on that. I can’t imagine Cain’s market value being super high, though.
zum, I get it that they must contractually pay him $7 million to go away. They just need to pay it and say adios. This should not even be something to consider, i.e., bringing him back. If someone else picks him up, good for him, and good luck to that team. I’d can his ass now, and bring Beede up. He’s not doing great at AAA right now, but I don’t care. Let him get some teaching from Rags, and get the kinks out over the next 100 games in MLB. There is no point to having Cain get his ass kicked the rest of this season in every other game for a POS team going nowhere …
Those buyout clauses are a nice piece of extra cash for players. $7 million to leave. Nice work if you can get it!
Snarkk’s logic is infallible. Pay off Cain to go away, while there’s a semblance of good will. Then bring up the mystery $500 k lotto ticket from the River Cats or Squirrels.
Things are super quiet from the Lincecum camp this season. He hasn’t officially retired, but he appears to be done.
i can’t remember where I read this over the last couple of days, but there was news coming out of his camp that he was touching 94 recently. Sounds like complete bluster to me. I wonder where I read that, I’m drawing a blank
Technically, Peavy and Pagan haven’t retired yet either.
Or Bonds…
If you were an AL team in last place or something, wouldn’t you be tempted to sign Bonds for DH just for the fun of it? It would be a cool thing to see. But, of course, the commitment to black-balling Bonds was across MLB completely, and is probably still in place. Surely, even a 50 year old Bonds could still hit a few HRs. It would sell some tickets.
Didn’t they bring back Minnie Minoso every decade or so?
I doubt Barry would do that at this point in his *career*
To summarize in 2018 . . . Blow up team; sayonara to Cain; and impeach Trump.
Works for me.
now that I’m thinking it through, I heard the “Tim Lincecum hitting 94 recently” on KNBR, can’t remember which host said it or what his source was.
Timmy would be a better president than Drumpf. He’s pretty smart, articulate, isn’t beholden to Russkies, and would stop the newly re-declared idiotic war on drugs…
If it was Tim’s dad, then…..taken with a huge grain of salt.
only heard postgame wrap and saw the box but fwiw apparently hardest hit ball all night by Giants was last one by Slater at 115.
As Kuip said, the bloop by Sogard at 77 was one that doomed SF.
“why do I always feel a little nervous on Matt Cain day?” lol, esp on the road.
Or E.S.P…
Bonds’ last season….28 HRs, .480 OBP, and an OPS over 1.000.
And….no teams interested in signing him.
The Cards got pounded today in a way we’re not used to seeing. And their record is hovering below .500.
Cain’s roadie ERA is something like 8.50. WTF?
No wonder BF is nervous on Cain day…
From Baggarly…
Home run leaderboard:
4 — Scooter Gennett tonight.
3 — Giants left fielders all season.
Puig strikes out swinging at ball 4 to end the game, then nearly starts trouble while yapping at Nats reliever. What an ass.
That’s no way to talk about our starting RF in 2019, Mac…
Jesus. Just have Cain pitch at home. Didnt they try that with Timmy? Or did I think the same thing then?