A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Flappers, I am taking a hiatus for a few weeks. I’ll be out of the country for part of that and it just won’t be convenient to try to blog or change the threads. So man the ship, keep her sea worthy, weather any storms and watch out for pirates. Hopefully when I get back (January 9th) we will have assembled a team that can sail off to glory once again.

Steady as she goes mateys, steady as she goes…..

Rod Brooks, one half of by far the worst KNBR tandem at the station, was saying his big concern about Jay Bruce was if his home run power was inflated by Great American Ballpark and how it might translate to another home park not as HR friendly. I angrily dialed the station (but couldn’t get through) to let him know that Bruce hasn’t played in Cinn since the middle of 2016 and since he left Ohio he hit 37 home runs with the Mets in 153 games. He went on to continue to blast the ball for the Indians. I guess it’s too much to expect that KNBR hosts even remotely keep up with players who don’t play for the Giants…..

The concern, of course, is that Bruce is left handed and how might his power be affected by Triples Alley.

I’d still take him on a 3 year, 50ish million dollar deal but he’ll probably get more than that from someone else…..

Absolutely nothing Giants-related will happen today. Zero. Squat….That seemed to work yesterday. Anything happen yet?

KNBR afternoon guys were celebrating the Longo pick up but it was a pretty short sighted analysis. In fact, everyone supporting this trade seems to be just focusing on what Longo will do next year. There has been very little consideration of how his inevitable decline, which may have already started, will effect the team going forward.

This is a tough one. I like Longo a lot. He’s a great team guy, got a little pop, hits a lot of doubles, plays good D—he’s the prototypical SF target. And I do think our team is better with him. And I was not that high on Arroyo so losing him doesn’t bother me at all.

This just feels like a desperate move to try to stay relevant for a year. Longo is trending downward. We need more.

….Nothing will happen today. Or tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I can remember a less interesting off season. Not just for SF but all of baseball. Even the Stanton thing ended weirdly.

Great to see Timmy yoked out but I’m not interested in him anymore. Not sure what all that working out did for his hip but I doubt it would give him back the elasticity needed to have the motion he had as a kid.

I wonder what Giants players are thinking about this off season. Are they frustrated with operation “Do Nothing”? Or are they like, “Uh,we’re part of the reason that doing nothing is in full swing.”

I wonder if all these old guys want out of here. Head back to states where they’re more likely to raise a family. Most of them have already won rings so the edge of wanting to win has probably dulled a bit. And what about the guys who haven’t won? Span and all these youngsters. Are they sick of this yet?

I know everyone likes playing at AT&T but losing all the time has to balance that out, right?

Recent pic of Timmy. How could this guy be done?

With the Giants plan of “Do Nothing” in full swing, there isn’t much baseball related stuff to dive into.

Derek Carr is catching too much shit on the internet and local radio for trying to win the game. Dude laid himself out, stretched as far as he could, he just couldn’t get there. It was an athletic, competitive effort that just didn’t work out.

Here’s my question about paper gate: It looked on tv like the ball was short but maybe that was just the angle from the camera. The ref pulls out an index card, but he folds it first. What is the point of folding it except to make it more likely that it touches the football? To me that was the weirdest part of that whole thing. Why fold the index card?

Kobe Bryant is getting honored tonight and I couldn’t care less. The ultimate diva who’s numbers were skewed by an absurd amount of jacked up shots, he ultimately destroyed his team with his max deal at the end of his career, he got off the hook for rape and made it all good by just changing his number….there is nothing to like about this scumbag…The Warriors should stay in the locker room to protest this numbskull and I hope they beat the Lakers by 50.

The other day the KNBR afternoon guys were debating the question of whether or not Giants fans would tolerate a full rebuild. They were certain that SF fans would revolt if their favorite players were traded away. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My thought process, as a fan, doesn’t work that way. Why would fans want to watch their team lose regularly with players they *know*? And it hit me in that moment that all the marketing Baer has done over the years has finally come back to screw the team in the short term and the long term. Most SF fans are more attached to the players than they are winning games.

It was such a bummer epiphany to have……

So we got nothing for Matt Moore. One pitcher who is hurt and another who spent last year in A ball. That isn’t a surprise since Moore was probably the worst starting pitcher in the NL last season. I still don’t understand the move. Freeing up money? Moore only made 9 mil, that’s chump change.

Personally I would have rather kept him and hoped for a bounce back season. If we were moving 20 mil that would be different. Nine mil savings is probably going to the goddamn flower enhancement program outside the ballpark.

And now we might have to count on Beede as the #5? Yikes.  Can you imagine how pissed off his wife is going to be that he has to cut back on the photo shoots and actually start focusing on baseball?

The Winter meetings concluded for the Giants the way they began and the way they unfolded: nothing happened. Apparently the Reds wanted Ramos for Billy Ham and as much as I’d love to see BH wreaking havoc on the base paths, my understanding is that Heliot is our only top trade chip and he’s not worth letting go just to secure the top spot in the line up.

I would have been down with Avasail Garcia because of his right handed power stroke but again, the Giants weren’t able to get anything done.

Let me ask you a question: if you failed to get anything done at your job would you get to keep your job? I guess there are jobs out there for guys like Kramer who just walked around the office with a briefcase full of Ritz crackers. But if you were the GM of an mlb team, aren’t you expected to, you know, get stuff done?

Take another outfielder off the board. The A’s swooped in and swiped Piscotty Too Hotty. I might be a little more partial to him than others with him being a former member of The Farm. But it isn’t too hard to improve on the vaunted outfield of Pence, Spam, Slater, Dugger, hologram, etc…

While I’m typing this intro, there’s an ad on tv of some dope surprising his high maintenance lady with a car draped with a giant-ass red bow. This is the most annoying Christmas ad on tv, by far, bar none…..

I was too young to remember much about George Moscone getting killed but I do remember it causing lots of hysteria. Ed Lee died and all I’m seeing and hearing is some half hearted sentiments like “bummer, Ed Lee was a really good guy.” I guess the circumstances of the Moscone/Milk deaths were different and that was the reason for the *hysteria*. What do you guys remember most about that event?

Sounds like Ohtani has a damaged ulnar ligament. That’s probably not the worst thing in the world, he’s young and if he needs replacement surgery that’s almost something that makes a guy better now. The Angels probably aren’t too stoked.

From mlbtraderumors….

the Giants are impressed enough with prospect Steven Duggar that “it does affect how we view addressing that [center field] need this offseason,” GM Bobby Evans said.  “It does give us a mindset more short term.”

Here’s the link on Duggar:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=duggar000ste&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-

This is the guy he’s excited about? A perfectly forgettable honky in every way.

We are screwed….

This is an interesting blurb from mlbtraderumors.com about something I didn’t think the Giants spent much time doing:

“Though baseball hasn’t publicly embraced sports science the way it has analytics, the Giants are looking towards that very field as a way to gain an advantage. A fascinating article by Ian MacMahan of The Athletic (subscription required and recommended) provides some insight into the goals of Geoff Head, San Francisco’s newly-promoted assistant director of player development. “Everybody in baseball is tired by August,” Head tells MacMahan. “But if we are a little less fatigued than our opponent, it gives us an advantage.” The field of sports science focuses heavily on factors such as hydration, nutrition, workload and sleep; experts attempt to put together a formula that will keep players performing at their optimal levels as often as possible. According to Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the main difference between sports science and analytics is that sports science focuses on the “physical and medical aspects of a player,” as opposed to gameplay-based statistics. Less than half of all MLB teams currently have a dedicated sports scientist on their staff, and heavier use of sports science data could lead to big improvements by baseball players. As MacMahan puts it, “no one hits a home run sitting in the dugout nursing lead-filled legs and a tight back.””

How about you Zum? Are you going to be watching games every day next season?

A better question – Flavor, will you continue to write a daily blog if we again march toward 100 defeats (especially, if Booby lacks a plan, besides figuring out how to increase garlic fries and crab sandwich sales)?

______________________

Of course I’m going to watch the games next year. I’ve watched the games every year, why would I stop just because they stink? The sport wouldn’t sustain itself if only fans of winning teams watched the games.

The blog kinda goes hand in hand with us sucking. It’s a bit of a necessity at this point. Honestly, I think the blog is at its best when we are either really good or really bad. “Middling” is not the sweet spot of the blog.

I’m guessing it will be easier for those of you who don’t live in the area to *step away* as fans if we keep spiraling in this descent (although I’m not sure we can lose too many more than 98, this is about as low as it gets). For those of us in the Bay Area, the park is here, the fan base is here, during the Summer the Giants are the only game in town and it’s kinda hard to get away from it, especially if you are a true fan of baseball.

Plus, I’m actually ok with being a fan of a terrible team. Those 3 beauties have insulated me pretty good.

So yes, The Flop will be here, I’ll be here, I will continue to watch the games for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine it any other way.

I never understood all the noise about Stanton going to the Dodgers as it didn’t look like a good fit from the start. He wanted to go there? So what, the Dodgers don’t need him at the price it would take to get him. The Yankees are going BIG and it’s really a fantastic move for them. If Stanton doesn’t like NY (even if he wins a WS there he might not like it) then he can opt out in 2020 and I bet the Dodgers have far more interest.

Stanton, Judge and Sanchez—144 home runs in 2017. Lol.

Let’s just check in on what a dumbass Chris Mish is. There are MANY sideways, misguided tweets from him but I don’t want to clog up the thread. Here are some examples from just yesterday. Guys like this are what’s wrong with reporting on the internet…..

This is such an idiotic time of the year. We are bound to all these twitter rumors, swayed by hot tips from guys I’ve never heard of. Who is “Chris Mish?” And why don’t our own beat guys ever seem to break any news? Anyway, there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there.

If the Giants don’t get Stanton or Ohtani how realistic is JD Martinez? And who wants him at 250 mil?

How ’bout no one? Does that do anything for ya? The idea that the Giants know how to or will engage in a re-build is nonsense. They will never do that. Should they do it? Absolutely. But knowing how to do something and doing it are two totally different things.

I want everyone here to be honest: if we get Stanton admit you will be ecstatic. Regardless of the hit to the farm system or the fractured future payroll, after watching Belt walk and Posey go the other way nearly every at bat last year, there has to be a little piece of you that would be totally stoked if we got Big Dick Stanton.

Admit it.

Two is a pipe dream. But this should all be getting wrapped up soon. Then it’ll be back to answering *Dave O’Gorman* requests.

If I had the choice of either of them I’d probably choose Ohtani just because he won’t break anything—farm system, bank, etc. The problem with Ohtani is that he thinks he’s Babe Ruth. I am not down with the 2-way game till I see it happen again in my lifetime. MLB baseball is hard. Pick the position you want to play and spend all of your time trying to master it. This “I’m a pitcher and a hitter” thing is a no-go for me as I believe the desire to play both will dull his production on the hill and in the box. So if he’d pick one position and stick with that I would prefer Ohtani over Stanton.

Since he isn’t going to do that, I want Stanton. The farm system already sucks, if we only have to give up Arroyo and we keep the teenager (think about how pathetic it is that we’re like “uh oh, not the teenager!”) then the bare-est bones of the shittiest of systems remains on life support. At least it wouldn’t be completely deceased.

And the payroll? Fuck the payroll. It’s already ballooned let’s balloon it some more. Not our $$$$$.

RPAD Time: 12/5/10

https://oneflapdown77.com/2010/12/05/jayson-werth/

Based on their actions, there is at least one thing we can can assume about the Giants: they are at least acknowledging that “the Giants way” needs some tinkering. By going after BOTH Stanton and Ohtani they are admitting that they cannot keep up with today’s new game without more power.

Whether they get either of them is another story. They will be stuck if they fail. This is really about the best we can hope for out of them. It’s just not realistic to think they can or know how to start the tank process and hunker down for years of sucking and stockpiling the farm system.

If you give me Stanton I can realistically get behind us being a lot better next year. That’s not a confident rallying cry but it’s better than what we went through last season.

I can’t do that again.

RPAD Time: I remember being more positive about Melancon than this. In hindsight, he was damaged goods when we got him, it was never in the cards for him to give us at least 1-2 years of high-quality closer contribution. And if we don’t get a lot better real quick it he won’t make a difference even if he’s healthy next year. Good #freeStix post, too.

https://oneflapdown77.com/2016/12/04/closing-in/

Still sorting out my Stanton thoughts. On one hand, it is completely pathetic (and a perceived easy way out) to offer up multiple good players AND agree to take on all that money. It would be easier to tolerate if the team would just admit they made massive mistakes with the long term deals Belt and Craw got. But whatever, the “its not my $$$” reasoning plays well here….

On the other hand who wouldn’t want Stanton in the middle of their line up? Assuming health, he instantly makes us better. And since I have zero faith in Sabean and Evans to go into full rebuild mode, this might be the only chance we get to improve the team enough to not finish in last place next year.

And at this point, I think I’d take that…..

Really interested to see how Aaron Boone ends up doing in his Yankee managerial career. I can’t remember a baseball team that was good that hired someone as manager who had absolutely no experience. It should tell us a lot about how difficult the job is (something I’ve wondered about after watching Bochy look like a genius with good players and an idiot with bad ones).

The Warriors did nearly the same thing with Steve Kerr and look how that turned out.

My Aaron Boone story is actually a Bob Boone story. When I was 8 my tee ball manager took us to a Giants game at Candlestick and he knew Bob Boone and arranged a meet and greet in the parking lot after the game. I don’t remember a single thing about that meeting except Boone’s lady was standing next to him. She was tiny and I was able to look down her blouse. She wasn’t wearing a bra and i was getting two eye fulls of nipple. First titties I ever saw live.

I remember being so happy.

🙂

I’m tired of all this Mike Stanton talk. He’s not worth the booty that’s getting kicked around. He’s a better fit in LA or St. Louis. Not that I’d be bummed if we got him. If he’s in an SF uni I’ll get excited. And it’s not like he has all the leverage here. If the Marlins decide they prefer the Giants package over the Cardinals all they have to do is say “Go to SF or we’ll keep you, strip the entire team down and you’ll finish last for the rest of your career.” If he cares about winning, he won’t stay in Florida.

I guess that’s not a huge amount of leverage against Stanton but it’s something. And if the Giants actually offered Panik, Instagram Boy and Shaw AND agreed to take on a quarter of a billion dollars I have to assume that’s the best offer the Marlins will get.

Stay tuned.

RPAD Time:

Great pic in this one.

https://oneflapdown77.com/2012/12/01/bye-bye-bee-wheezy/