March 5th
If anyone was wondering about how important Spring Training results are, look no further than Chris Berman managing the team yesterday. I understand he’s a Giants fan but was there some other reason for this?
Did anyone catch the A’s getting sued by the players union? I asked my A’s fan buddy about it, does it bother him that his team won’t even spend the minimum amount of revenue sharing on even player development, and he said “Doesn’t bother me at all. A couple of years ago the Astros would be getting sued and they just won the World Series.”
That kicked off a pretty spirited debate as I argued that it would NOT have been the Astros unless they pocketed the entire revenue sharing checks like the A’s did. He said “I’m not worried, they’ll sign Lance Lynn and get there.” Sure, now that they’ve been busted they HAVE to sign a “Lance Lynn.”
I don’t understand why so many A’s fans sit around like sheep every year watching Beane fail again and again….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I believe it was a tribute to Berman’s wife who passed away last year they were married in 1983 so he wore 83 on his uni..
yeah, I saw that. Not to be crass but people die all the time. If that’s the angle let’s let Merna out there and she can take the reigns. Berman isn’t part of the team in any capacity, right? Seemed weird to me to let him do that.
No one with any knowledge would compare the Astros of the past decade to the worthless a’s. The Astros rebuilt their team into a winner, and then continued to adjust the roster for improvement (reducing SOs last season, e.g.). The result has been a team delightful to watch for the past few years. The a’s haven’t built a thing; they haven’t even tried. Their bizarre attempt to cobble together a temporary, pop-up PS team in 2014 is all they’ve offered. Otherwise, a’s fans have been left with uninspiring teams playing in the effing E Coli–the worst of the worst. mlb and the union both started to kick the a’s asses during the last CBA negotiations so things may improve.
C’mon Flav, get with the program, this is Moneyball. There’s a method to Beane’s madness.
well, lot of A’s fans are sitting around somewhere else beside the ballpark. I think them and Tampa (!) are at bottom of ml attendance.
Snarkk went last year right? It’s easy to get to via BART and obviously plenty of seating available. Wouldn’t be a bad place to see a game. Melvin is a good guy too, hope things work out for him.
I went to a game last year too. It wasn’t too bad. You could pay for cheap seats and move around some place better pretty freely, and one inning they had Budweiser for 2$. That’s the only Bud I’ve had since i was old enough to buy my own beer. But for 2$ for a 12oz not bad. They also had drakes denoggonizer. 22oz bottles for 10$. That’s not much more than they cost at the store
Maybe the A’s fans are maintaining a Very Big Picture mentality. The A’s are third all-time in MLB championships. Dare to dream!
https://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/5-mlb-teams-world-series-titles.html/?a=viewall
The Giants are 5th all-time.
Baer or someone else in the Giants org probably has a friendship with Berman; these guest appearances happen sometimes in ST.
The Yankees brought in Russel Wilson this season. The Wil Farrell thing happened a couple of years ago. Someone brought in Billy Crystal one season. And those are just off the top of my head. They’re kind of a ST tradition for some reason.
Didn’t Bochy complain last year ST was too long with too many games? Giants are pretty set for position players with 2 OF spots/2 IF only competition. Pitching staff a little different but idk how much stock you can really put into numbers…gotta be more of a feel for what someone can do once season rolls around.
Interested to see what Young the new pitching coach says and does with what he has.
An article I read said that Berman is pretty tight with Bochy and Sabean and that they invited him to do it. I still think it was Baer’s idea. I just can’t see Boch or Sabes thinking that far outside the box to invite Boomer to manage a ST game.
Buster has caught two innings so far.
At least he’s getting his reps…
I’m planning to catch the Gyros-Mariners game this Thursday in Peoria. It’s a nice park, but fairly far out west among the strip malls…
I don’t have a problem with Berman or Bozo the Clown “managing”. In the old days of MLB, back in the roaring 20s and thereabouts, there was a lot of showmanship and clowning going on. Sports is entertainment, and that’s in spades in the Cactus League. It’s like the glorified minor leagues, where crazy promotions are de rigueur. ST is a month of stretching and calisthenics with a bunch of 13-11 games thrown in with guys you never heard of playing from the 5th inning on. So, Berman giving the LU card to the ump doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I have a problem with managing when Bochy pulls a dealing Moore in the 9th of game 4 against the Cubs to call in the Gas Can squad. I don’t think Berman would have done that…
Sheep great description…baseball has let that org flounder and the attempts by the Giants and MLB to keep them out of SJ still rubs me wrong…
If I recall there was a great story in the Merc during spring training 1989 when Roger Craig asked the then Commissioner Bart Giamatti, who had been sitting in the Giants dugout during a spring training game, to decide if I can recall accurately whether they should send the runner at first for a steal.
The story portrays the moment as Giamatti was like a kid at a ballgame sitting on the edge of his seat, sweating and rejoicing when whomever it was stole 2nd. Awesome story that really made Giamatti connect with the true diehard baseball fan…
Flav, here is how you cancel Spotify. Change the payment method to some low balance credit card, probably takes two seconds to open a cheapie, then cancel the card after you transfer the spotify membership…
that’s not bad. I will try that. My daughter gets back end of March, I’ll try it then.
Or some prepaid card with a visa logo
The Giants facing Moore & the Rangers today. Could be a Lincecum appearance.
Berman is a huge Giants fan. I’m sure he got word thru the channels.
Flavor, No need to get all fancy juggling payment types etc., just call your bank and tell them not to make payments to Spotify. If Spotify has issues direct them to your financial institution. That usually backs them off pretty quickly. Should be easy as that (I’ve done it before).
I will try that. That seems way easier and something I probably should have thought of on my own
I will try that. That seems way easier and something I probably should have thought of on my own
Speaking of Berman . . .
http://www.tmz.com/2018/03/05/chris-berman-jemele-hill-espn-lawsuit/?adid=hero1
Berman is a sleazeball. Don’t know why the team went out of its way to do him any favors.
Pence looked terrible today again; he’s been terrible in ST so far. He might just be totally done. But he’ll get to play a lot this season because of the contract. We’ve been down this road before….
He finished ’17 with an OPS of .701. Yikes.
Last season Pence looked even worse in the field than he did at the plate.
And now he’s supposed to learn a new position?
Gonna be ugly…
there is a GREAT likelihood that Pence is going to tear another hammy going balls out trying to re-capture some of that Reverend Magic that’s clearly not coming back. He’ll be replaced by a young gun by middle of May, likely sooner…..
Hopefully in March. Much as he was great those few years, he’s bringing nothing at this point.
Jensen hit another HR today.
has his OPS reached 3.000?
2.600
just googled *Chris Marrero* again to stop myself
Small sample size (10 ABs). Seriously though, does Jensen have a chance to make the team? I haven’t seen but one ST game. Looking at the depth chart, he isn’t even listed . . .
http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/depth/_/name/sf/san-francisco-giants
Pence was done last season. His contract is the only reason why he has a locker. I wish the Giants would grow a pair and release him. Beede tied for most innings (5) pitched this spring. I’m curious about his next outing, as he hasn’t shown much thus far. .
When I was younger and ESPN was kind of a new thing, I liked Berman. Kept enjoying him through college. Then, he started to wear on me–especially all The Swammy stuff and when he got so involved in their NFL coverage. THEN, he got some play by play gigs and he really drove me nuts. All the while though, he has talked about his love for the SF Giants, and I always thought that was cool.
The Athletic story where they embed a video of him talking about his first MLB game at The Polo Grounds to a group of guys including Felipe Alout—who played in that game, was awesome.
I
The home run derby shtick did him in publicly…
If Jensen hits 10 bombs, bring him along to SF. I don’t even know what he plays, but I’d give him 25 ABs to see if ST was a total mirage…
He’s been playing 1b. I don’t know if he has outfield ability.
According to Wikipedia he is a 1b/outfielder.
He probably got smart and started juicing…
If Pence plays the night I see the Gyros, I’m going to pay special attention to him. I’m like many Flappers here, this guy could be done. Why, at only 34-35, I dunno. I agree that regardless, they will have to play him early on in the season due to the contract, but man. If he craters, they’ve got to DL him or something. It will make no sense to keep Duggar or Slater or Shaw cooling heels in Sac with Pence swinging and missing outside sliders in the dirt and slamming 10 cups of buttered coffee pre-game. There won’t be enough vids with the wifey to make sense of that…
There is no reason why a superbly conditioned athlete should disintegrate at 35.
Maybe his wacky fundamentals have caught up to him…
*slamming 10 cups of buttered coffee* lqtm
Wasn’t the epic Prez meltdown over (repeated) blown pop flys Pence couldn’t corral/negotiate with 2b?
Question: with all the coffee he drinks, howinell does he stay hydrated? personal gallon jug of Gatorade?
I would have waived him last year, and I do believe SF would have had takers. the money is spent, just get a better player out there. And btw, the front end of the deal that included him being part of 2 WS teams, more than pays off the back end. Giants have more than made theirs already.
,dig this week of college b-ball more than the real tourney. Teams in small conferences fight like hell for the chance to get in. Lot of good players largely unknown on cool teams.
gonna be seeking your best picks of the tourney soon so hopefully that’s coalescing within you nicely
Craig..My daughter is 22. Re Pence..he will shock us all I can’t remember where I read it to quote it, but he was top 50 in mlb in exit velocity. Weird level of ground balls. Still hitting it hard. A slight tweak and he will be decent. Before you all go crazy i’m not saying he will be hitting 30 bombs
.275 18 80 Decent.Remember you heard it here 1st!
lowest LD level in that group of top 50 exit velocity. Not sure a tweak is coming, his swing is the same as it’s always been
SMC loss last night was worst case scenario; their league is not very strong and they could wind up in NIT. They could not guard BYU last night, either the bigs or the Haws PG. Face it, in Tourney there are going to be lot of teams better than BYU and they have only the 1 W at Gonzaga to count as good W, vs. some bad Ls.
Too many power conferences are going to send 3-4 at large beside League Champ like Big Ten SEC Big East, and ACC and Big 12 could send half dozen each. While those teams have lost more games they are in much tougher conferences and have been playing way better competition.
Vitale would scream if SMC got left out, but imo they don’t deserve to go just for beating up on chump teams during regular league season.
aren’t they like #20 in the country? I thought I saw that recently. How could #20 not make it?
Even after last night’s loss, St. Mary’s RPI is 43, so I can’t imagine they’ll end up in the NIT.
Pac 12 is a total bet against in the tourney this year, aye?
Ha, Pac-12 will get 3-4 teams in? Only thing is, there are no dominant teams in any conference.
losing probably dooms them to a #10 seed. that means they play #2 in their bracket if they beat the #7 seed.
current #2 seeds projected are likes of Duke Purdue Cincy and Sparty.
Strength of sched is bad and they’ve lost neutral court games to Wazzu (near bottom of Pac !2) Georgia and BYU, none of whom likely get in either. They just don’t look like a #20 ranked team should.
Re Pence..Possibly some wishful thinking:) We all know he isn’t going anywhere till the end of the year so lets hope there is a little tweak somewhere…
Wow, Chron piece on Righetti he sounds very disappointed. Quote from article, “Righetti didn’t do anything wrong according to Evans, who said it was a group decision and the preference was for new voices and perspectives on staff.” puro BS “we’re going in different direction” obfuscation.
This from Rags: “I’m still part of the Giants and I want to help. There are too many people I worry about, especially pitchers I worked really hard with to make sure they’re on the path they’re supposed to be.”
I think part of this is SF overvalues guys they have (and Moore) maybe lot more than they are really worth with Rags being fall guy.
A tweak here, a little ointment there, Pence will be good as new in no time . . . . If he blocks Duggar/Slater for more than 2 weeks, a la Ray Ray, I’ll be pissed. This isn’t the year to be desperately hanging on to what once was.
They showed the 2014 playoff run on Comcast last night, and it is still riveting. Pence at the fence, Scoots in the rain, on and on.
As recent as that was, it seems like a long time ago.
Moore wasn’t Cy Young, but he was a decent pitcher when he came here. He certainly never had as shitty a year as he did last year, so the inference is, despite the work he did over the years with a lot of guys is that Rags is responsible for Moore’s decline, as well as the non-emergence of all the pen guys.
Granted, Rags played the hand he was dealt, but it sure seems likely. The pen has been a mess these past 2 seasons, Moore and Samarj were nowhere near what they should have been so it was time for a change.
Amen Unca..
Rags did a lot here but how long has it been since a pitcher came to SF and pitched better than expected? Same for a young call up? Cain Timmy Bum came up a long time ago. When was the last time (or ever) that a struggling pitcher on our staff turned it around and credited rags for it?
Zito Cain Timmy Cueto, Casilla Moore etc..Long list of guys we counted on that once they started to struggle they never came back. Not saying that is on Rags, but if he is as good as he should be we would have heard that once in a while right?
I think that’s a fair criticism. In the last few years, where’s the improvement in any of the struggling pitchers, and the younger pitchers in particular?
Righetti’s contribution to the three rings will always be greatly appreciated. But it’s not a bad thing to get a new voice in there once in a great while.
“The Giants are expected to open 2018 with an outfield platoon in centerfield, but Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle argued on KNBR Tonight that should Steven Duggar start the season on the major league roster, the 24-year-old prospect would turn some heads.
“If he started Opening Day on the roster, I think he’d already be one of the top 10 centerfielders in the majors,” Schulman said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that with his glove, his arm, everything like that.”
Thus far, Duggar has yet to offensively disappoint the Giants. Through seven games, Duggar is batting .412 with only six strikeouts in 17 at-bats. He’s spent a majority of the spring as the leadoff hitter, batting .357 with a double and home run in 14 games at the top of the lineup.
Although Duggar’s first home run of Spring Training came on February 25 against James Pugliese, a Double-A prospect with the Chicago Cubs, his second and third were hit off established major league talents in Homer Bailey on March 1 and Kenta Maeda three days later.
In 33 innings spent in centerfield, Duggar hasn’t committed an error with 13 putouts and a 1.86 range factor.
Nonetheless, the Giants aren’t going to merely hand Duggar the centerfield job, and although he’s played phenomenally this spring, he’s faced with fierce competition.
“He would have to, I think, be spectacular and I think one of things that’s working against him at the moment is that Gregor Blanco looks like he’s 25 again,” Schulman said. “They could always go with a Jackson and Blanco platoon early on.””
Blanco and Jackson are “fierce competition?”
Only 6 strikeouts in 17 ABs extrapolates to 212 in 600 AB…
good catch
Interesting take on Duggar. Anyone here seen him play so far? I”d trust Flap guys more than Schulman and his “top 10 CF in majors” take.
I’m sure the lack of development of young pen guys convinced FO Rags wasn’t being helpful any longer. I just wonder if these guys like the 2 lefty O-shits and Strick etc. are really capable of getting any better than they are.
Rags can talk and demo all he wants, and Posey can call the pitch and location, but ball isn’t in his hands.
Saw the 8-3 (? when I stopped watching it was 8-3) loss to the Dogs the other day and Duggar looked good. He jacked a home run to RF and made a nice play in CF. That has been all i’ve seen tho.
Positive (hopeful?) take on Duggar . . . https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2018/3/5/17081174/steven-duggar-sf-giants-starting-center-fielder
Me? I’ve seen enough of Blanco, Parker, Williamson, Gorkys, etc. I know what they can do. Same with Jackson and Pence. I hope Duggar can take the reins and eventually start (end of April?) in Center. I also like Slater.
Man, this team acts so much like ‘services rendered’ means a lifetime gig. Pence had his day. Bill Walsh had it right. Get rid of ’em a year early rather than 2 years late. Rowand and Ray Ray spring to mind.
Services paid for is the key with Pence, I’m sure.
The position switch at this stage of his career is really asking for trouble…
WillieD calling this FIRST this morning
Go Devils!!!
Dubs getting stomped by BKLYN? They blew a 28 point lead. In the 2nd quarter.
D-backs bringing back the bullpen cart. I like it.
I’ll be very pleased if Panik comes close in 2018 to Ray Durham’s productivity in 2008. I’ll be even more pleased if Pence does.
The Rags thing is probably more about his unwillingness or inability to offer honest assessments of the staff than it is the always dubious prospect of enhancing collective performance through coaching.
Ray Durham was pretty good his last season with the Giants. In fact, he had 5 good to excellent seasons with SF with one shitty one. Why anyone would compare him to a career mediocrity like Aaron Rowand puzzles me.
Rags didn’t complain about the shitty pitchers on the staff. He kept trying to fix them. That’s why he was canned.