All Our Players Suck
I’ve decided that no one is going to believe me about Billy Ham until they see him play with their own eyes. On base percentage only tells you how often they get on base it doesn’t tell you what they do when they get there. We have a bunch of guys who stand around waiting on first base like they’re at a fucking bus stop. They loiter, really. If first base was a 7-11 they would be the guys you see outside selling CD’s and watches. Billy Ham ain’t got no time for CD’s and watches. He’s peace out and see you at home plate.
But it’s really not worth the back and forth (again) about a guy who isn’t on our team.I hope Sabes trades for him so we can fire up some real excitement about the guy…..
As Xoot noted yesterday, today at 10am our old buddy Stix finds out his fate. Xoot’s post was one of the best Flap posts of all time, IMO. It had everything: information, Flap history, compassion, a link from his daily life to Flap life, common sense, everything.
I remember the links to Stix’s craft showcase pages. Looks like they’re dormant now. The only images I can find are buried in this local newsletter.
https://r2arts.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/july-august-2011-6.pdf
Stix owned an ancient deer rifle he never used until a Homeland Security helicopter buzzed his home three times one morning. I walk past Homeland Security cars and trucks every day on my way to my office (they park outside the old Custom House in downtown SF). The HS logo is faint. HS deliberately uses pale grey and pale slate blue and a weak font. No bold stars or colors or government warnings. The vehicles look like something a tasteful contractor would deploy,until you notice the cartoon eagle buried in the design. Apparently HS wants to be able to sneak up on people. The helicopter that buzzed Stix had the same faint and deliberately vague logo on it.
Stix’s fear of the US government was not his only fear and his fears are not all irrational. Stix is not reducible to the caricature of a dim middle-brow reification. Condemn him for shooting his rifle if you choose to. I understand that view. But don’t deny him his complexity and intelligence.
Stix is scheduled to appear in court at 10 am Minnesota time, tomorrow, for sentencing. I’ll see what I can find on line afterward.
RPAD Time.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I tried fast tracking that epic post from XOOT to the POTD-HOF but it won’t let me edit that page anymore. Might have to start a new one.
I think we’ve all seen Hamilton play. His OBP for 2017 was .299, which sucks ass for anyone let alone a lead-off hitter. He also fanned 133 times. He’d better hit a ton of homers with that many K’s. His career OBP is lower than that. He’d be a big defensive upgrade but this team needs offense. You know that. The 59 steals are great, but that OBP is abysmal.
remember when we were talking about Casey McG and his 177 hits?
Well for BH magic number is 438.
That is his PAs 633 minus hits 144 walks 44 and 7 sacrifices, which don’t technically count as ABs and I’ll minus them out of his PAs. So 626 times he came up and got on 188, which leaves us…
438… the amount of times he made an out at the plate, and wound up fastest guy sitting in the dugout.
Bottom line, imo he is a crummy (.634 OPS) hitter, which Giants already have way too many of.
So that’s BH in a nutshell
438
i’m praying we get him so you can see this for your own eyes.
Just watched the 2010 montage in the retro post. Fun. Seeing Timmy dominate, and reminded of how much Uribe was clutch. So caught up in his departure to the dodgers i kinda forgot he was a hero of 2010. Sad to see Halladay. Not sad about the Ross homers though:)
Many of the posters in 2010 are still here. TedSpe? Where did he go?
Ted checked in about a year ago. Like some of the rest who have left, I just don’t think blogging is his thing anymore.
Stanton is on a team that can hit. If he comes here, he’ll get walked 200 times. $30 million a year to watch the oppo manager hold up 4 fingers. IF the Giants do that, he’ll be here for 90% PR and 10% baseball…
I’m meeting a nice gal sales rep from SoCal for dinner tonite. She’s stone Dodger fan and was at the game Bum won night after they clinchéd. But I don’t want to talk baseball, to her or anyone til SF does something beyond the PR talk fluff I’ve seen so far.
Sure LA lost again, but they have bright future…2 words I would not use to describe current Giants.
So not a romantic think WD…otherwise I would veto the date….
Stix update: wait a couple more weeks. Same judge, new date. wtf knows why. This is all the explanation the court offers.
11/14/17 128 . . . NOTICE of Setting Sentencing as to Carstie Lee Clausen. Sentencing is rescheduled for 11/29/2017 at 9:00 AM in Courtroom 13E (MPLS) before Judge Michael J. Davis. (KMW) (Entered: 11/14/2017)
irritating. Well, thanks for staying on top of this.
Thanks for the update, xoot.I sent you an email earlier asking if you had any news.
Fuck, I hope they show some mercy and leniency during sentencing. His health has deteriorated so badly while being in that shithole, you would hope they consider that, and his age, and show some compassion.
The rumors about the Giants and Stanton just won’t stop, will they? Signing him would be similar to signing Bonds (with a bit less drama, I guess, as they’d also just saved the team for SF). The owners would have to be committed to an ambitious long-term plan.
Taken with a grain of salt:
“More good news for the Giants on the Giancarlo Stanton front. According to a report by Chad Jennings of the Boston Globe, Stanton “will not accept a trade to either the Red Sox or the Cardinals” this offseason.
A baseball source said yesterday that he’s been told Stanton will not accept a trade to either the Red Sox or the Cardinals, another team linked early and often in trade rumors. Perhaps there’s some flexibility in that stance, but Stanton’s preference is a factor.
As is the Red Sox’ ability to make such a deal. Trading for Chris Sale, Craig Kimbrel, Drew Pomeranz and Tyler Thornburg has left the minor league system relatively bare, and their best remaining trade chips are Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi, two players the ballclub would like to keep in the lineup.
This news would seem to reinforce an earlier report by Bob Nightengale of MLB Network, where he stated that the Giants are leaders in the Stanton sweepstakes this offseason and that they’re easily in his first choice. There is also the fact that the Red Sox are not looking to offload any more young talent in exchange for Stanton and his massive $285 million contract. What once seemed like a possible fit is now looking like a non-starter, and that has to make Bobby Evans and Co. smile.”
This is going to take a lot of brainpower to pull off. I hope Booby’s been taking his Flintstone vitamins.
Flinstone vitamins…😂😂😂
Right along with his Fruity Pebbles breakfast cereal.
um, what would this do to Giants lux tax issue? Salary hit next couple years before his opt out is $29 mil a year, right?
Snarkk makes great point tho—you can’t have Pence hitting behind him.
Didn’t Marlins bat him second behind Gordon? Guys behind him were Yelich and Ozuna.
Still think hype is PR nonsense orchestrated by Baer so local scribes keep fans hopes up.
On top of absorbing salary I think getting Stanton is going to take Ramos, Strickland and either Belt or Panik. I’m all for getting rid of the concussions boys but unless they move Gordon to SS, the Marlins don’t need a 2b. Lets say they want Panik purely for cost considerations.
Vortex of suckitude (cf)
Belt
Posey
Stanton
Crawford
Pence
Arroyo
Generic Honky (3b)
Pitching spot
Gotta hope Pence bounces back and pushed Crawford down the lineup. That’s a lot of hoping and what-ifs in the LU.
Marlins pitching was awful, so I’m sure they’d want at least one young and cheapo SP. They already have Bour too, so Belt and his $$$ wouldn’t fit .
I just don’t see how SF pays this guy—Posey Smrdz Cueto Melancon plus mega $$$ upcoming deal for Bum and $15 mil plus multiple year deals for Craw and Belt. that’s almost $150 mil just for those guys, plus Stanton would equal $175 mil for what 8 players?
Throw in Beede then. Didn’t he already wreck his career by getting married before reaching the show? Besides the club is picking high in the draft this year and can get another shiny arm.
yeah Dirt that would work. Plus hopefully it gets his ditzy little woman 3K miles away from here. As in, how can we miss you if you won’t go away?
Ill catch up on the latest with Stix. But if mlb trade rumor is anywhere near accurate about our 18 yr old puerto rican (no not Roy Moore’s current paramore) Heliot Ramos as the Marlins top interest, we might be able to keep Arroyo. I still think adding Blach and couple more lower level prospects gets us in the ballpark for Giancarlo. If we can pull some wool and have them take an expiring contract like Spam’s to avoid a full tax hit and add in a couple more prospects to get that done I am all in…Panik for Bradley makes even more sense to me today than when I threw that out yesterday but Billy Hamilton for something less than Panik also has a nice ring to it…
Isnt Hamilton’s OBP less than wonderful???
Much. It abysmally sucks. No way I want Hamilton (sorry, Flav)…
So, Span + Pence = $30 million in LF for two guys that are hurt constantly? And, can’t protect Stanton in the lineup. Sweet. Say no to Stanton…
Not sure if his name has surfaced here, but another name for CF being kicked-around is Jackie Bradley Jr of the Red Sox. I would take him over Hamilton all day and twice on Sunday.
I threw Bradley out there yesterday but I was just regurgitating what I read. I tossed the idea of Panik for Bradley as a sensible deal…I’d take a Pence/Parker platoon and just let Spam eat his own contract of we could not dump him on the Marlins.
I could live with a Span/Pence platoon in left, if center and right get upgraded. It would only be a one-year platoon with those two in left, anyway.
Trade Belt during ST for an outfielder once Belt shows he’s not concussed. Shaw to first. Trade Span and pay some Daley back, after he shows he’s alive. Pence and Parker in LF..
Daley? wtf. Dollars.
Anybody remember Richard Daley and ’68 Dem convention? Pitched street battles in Chicago tween the cops and protesters. But, Cops didn’t shoot anybody. Today, cops would start shooting and stop only after some carnage. Dan Rather got assaulted by goons on the convention floor. I think we’re heading into another period of national disquietude, that’s more sinister…
i like this idea but there just isn’t a market for a player of Belt’s calibur in ST (assuming he proves he’s not concussed).
I think Texas could still be interested in Belt if he is proven healthy…
in spring training?
One could hope he is showing healthy….I would not mind getting my hands on that Mazarra….would he be decent protection for Stanton??? At least rhetorically…
A new OF of Stanton/Bradley/Mazarra all for the cost of basically just Pence and Spam…now that is scary. At least we are not paying Shih-Soo Coo $20 mill, $21 and $21 next 3 years…lol…
I liked Pence as a player.
Past tense.
For whatever reason the guy has turned into peanut brittle almost overnight.
Plus now he’s got that annoying spouse seemingly at every turn trying to somehow cash in on his celebrity via social media. He’s turned into a sporadic pop, loads of infield hits guy. That’s no protection for Stanton or any other guy in the LU with real pop…
Heard on the Sirius radio sports update that Flodgers are getting into the Giancarlo talks. I guess we were discounting they would just not sit idly by and let the Giants have front runner status in trying to pull off a deal.
They could add a Puig and plenty of prospects that would be much juicier that what the Giants could put on the table in terms of prospects amd players. We only got money and allegedly the Flodgers were not originally thought to be willing to add a Giancarlo size contract. I will vomit if they add Giancarlo…
I thought the “insider” Morosi said a few weeks ago Doghairs were not interested in Stanton; too expensive and over budget?…
Stanton would walk 300 times in our lineup. Only Bochy believes in letting the Arenados and Goldschmidts beat you night after night…
I said 200.
Let’s split the diff at 250.
Bonds was most effective when he had Kent and some other good hitters around him.
The 2002 SF squad had 198 dingers and a team OPS of .802.
2017 SF squad: 128 and .689…
2017 Marlins: 194 and .761
Stanton had just 85 BB, incl 13 intentional
Loo…it still worked for Bonds. Again if we cant build around Stanton immediately, payroll is down to $114 mill in 2019. And looking at the Rangers payroll, they are down to $111 mill this year and $55 next, it is not inconceivable to me to see Belt as a Ranger if healthy because they can afford him easily and they dont have a heir apparent at first. Lot of free agents but top tier will be more expensive than Belt.
I think it is conceivable that we could add a Jackie Bradley for Panik and Yahoo has a report that Ohtani can only make $3.5 mill this year.
So even adding Giancarlo if we can have Marlins eat the Spam contract and Belt can be moved, Giants payroll would be at $190 mill next year with an OF of Gaincarlo/Bradley/Mazara (you have to stick me with my Belt premise) and Ohtani either pitching and playing a little OF. 2019…no more Pence…and if we had all these players signed for 2019, payroll would not be much higher than $140 mill…leaving $50-$60 mill on the table for Bum and solidifying any IF holes if Posey is not at 1b full time by then or hopefully Shaw stakes his claim. My scenario assumes Arroyo would be at 2b and 3b may be the position needing a big time player (Donaldson a free agent after 2018 and maybe available via trade…that could be some pretty damn good protection for Gaincarlo)…
Belt would hit easily 40 HRs with the Rangers. Right center at Arlington is a jet stream…
If Stanton walks he’ll just push Billy Ham to second and from there he steals 3rd. I like this, it’s all LOCKING IN baby! Now Sabes just has to go out and get it all done.
“The Dodgers are indeed in the mix for Stanton, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. To what extent Los Angeles is interested remains unclear, but the Dodgers certainly have the payroll capacity to take on the contract as well as the young talent in order to entice the Marlins to part with Stanton.”
Flodgers will be at $211 mill payroll next year without Giancarlo, so they would have a massive luxury tax hit, but unfortunately they are in much better shape financially starting in 2019 and can easily swallow that Giancarlo contract:(
They can probably unload the $9 mill Puig will make for 2018 and have what little Marlin fans there are ejaculating over Puig as a Giancarlo repalcment. I am very depressed now and getting nauseous…f the Flodgers
I added a “Flap Hall of Fame” page since I can’t seem to edit the POTD–best of anymore. XOOT’s post is the first one since last December. That’s bullshit, I gotta stay on top of that. Solid gold here 24/7
If you’re bored, go read the Flap Hall of Fame page. That is some serious golden gold from top to bottom.
” Ohtani can only make $3.5 mill this year.”
There is also a $20 million “posting fee” required to his Japanese team.
who cares? Posting fees don’t count against the luxury tax
I don’t see the Giants ownership being that casual about the $20 million.
JD Martinez could protect Stanton and he only wants 7/210 million
New LU..
in the fantasy world going speed&power baby! blowing up a farm system that sucks anyway
CF Billy Hamilton( flavor’s boy)
2B Dee Gordon
Catcher Buster Posey
RF Giancarlo Stanton
LF JD Martinez
SS Brandon Crawford
3B Todd Frazier
1B Brandon Belt
Christian Arroyo super sub at 3rd/2B/1B/SS
Power /Speed and a trillion dollar payroll!!
Man, the Flap is rough on players’ wives. I don’t see the wives being an issue. It’s the same on other teams, and in other sports. We live in a social media world now.
As if his injuries aren’t enough the last two seasons, I think Pence is distracted by this constant video bullshit.
It’s just my opinion….
There is no doubt in my mind that Beede’s progress has slowed because of that dopey broad he married. At least 60% of his time goes towards posing in pics with her.
Dick Vitale on a foul call during Kansas-Kentucky: “I got one eye and I can see that.”
But he was wrong!
He said it again in the 2nd half!
I didn’t hear the second one. I may have been busy shouting htf can KY have only one player who can shoot?
Yeah, he said it about the Kansas player who clearly took three steps on his way to a layup after catching a long pass.
I did see that play. All I heard vitale say over and over was Tom Brady!! because of the pass.
Stanton and L.Cain or B-Ham in the outfield would completely change the team. Posey can hit behind Stanton, he’s still a premier hitter even if power is down, and adding those couple of hitters would take some power pressure off him. Pence/Spam would work itself out at some point and maybe Slater will stake a claim. Give Arroyo 3rd base, stir, and voila. Yeah, I know. But like Craig said, it’s November, can dream.
I wouldn’t want Posey behind Stanton because, if Stanton’s going to get walked every other AB, Posey will end up hitting into a zillion DPs.
Don’t worry, Mac. There is absolutely no chance of Stanton coming to the Giants…
i’m starting to think there is at least a 10% chance that we get both Billy Ham and Stanton. What has happened to me?
You and me both, Craig. Call it… optimism? Call it… not willing to sit through 3 or 4 seasons of complete rebuild? … or call it delusional. I’d answer to all of those.
Ostler’s annoying at times but this is pretty good . . .
http://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/ostler/article/Wiffle-Ball-takes-curvy-rightful-path-to-hall-of-12354434.php
JD and Ham is more like it.
I would do that too.
Just my 2C but we should get Stanton. No minor leaguers we have are deal breakers. He would take pressure off the other hitters like Belt and Posey. He would NOT walk 200 times . He had minimal protection in Fla before this year. Bonds walked because he was ( for a time) THE BEST HITTER EVER. .370. Best eye. He NEVER missed a strike.
Stanton is no Barry Bonds. The elite hitters in MLB history like Ruth Gehrig, Mays (only 100+ walks once, not till 1971). and Aaron didn’t walk like Bonds, and the are way better than Stanton. Ruths 60 hr season 137 walks, Gehrig 173. He will walk maybe 120 times. New sabermetrics hate walks. They will still try to get him out, because often you can…. He will bring fans back, which brings money so we can keep the payroll high and be competitive every year. Another year or two of shit ( with no Stanton) and park will be like Candlestick. Payroll will go down, and we will be in the abyss like the old days. Lets make At&T great again:)