The Outfield
So let’s just say we’re rolling out The Oaf, Duggs, and Parra. In theory you have some nice mix of power, gold glove D and a solid, across-the-board skills guy in RF. I’d still rather have Jones out there because he’d be more consistent at the plate than Oaf and he’s got about a billion percent chance of injuring himself less. Same goes with Duggs, btw. He’s an under the radar injury waiting to happen. I’m not sold on Parra playing every day. To me, especially at this point in his career, he’s better off as a platoon guy. Play him every day and we are going to be watching a “rich man’s White Shark” out there…..
But the option instead of Oaf/Duggs/Parra are not even reasonable.
I know this is a throw-away season but that doesn’t mean they can’t at least try to be competitive to start the year. It’s not like Jones would have been blocking anyone. Not only are we finishing in last place in 2019 but we are going to go about it in the most boring way possible…
I pity the season ticket holders that have to go sleep through this shit….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
This didn’t have to be a throw-away season, but Zaidi turned it into one. Not Sabean. Not Evans. Zaidi. This one is on the Golden Boy himself. He choked his first off season for us.
i agree he could have and should have done more. But this team was ruined by Sabean and Evans. Zaidi just didn’t do a single thing to try to fix it this off season.
This morning krukow called Rene Rivera “one of the best catchers in the game today”. Direct quote.
Someone else mentioned Duggar as being prone to injury. Huh ? Only one I recall was what ended his season last year. otoh Slater is the guy who couldn’t finish either of last 2 years without getting hurt. Giants have played him at 1b some this year. As RH I’m sure he platoons somewhere with Parra.
It is what it is, time for kids to show what they can do. Ferguson/Duggar (OB speed guys who can catch baseball) I’m OK with, Mac for power. Maybe some Hanson out there too.
Agree with Bozo tho, given revenue flow SF has zero excuses for not adding 1 solid hitter out there. Allowing Twins to outbid Giants for M Gonzalez I don’t understand.
He was injured in the minors, no time to look that up right now, but he was.Pretty sure it was the same shoulder he hurt in SF
DL Duggar missed a huge part of his regular 2017 ml season; I don’t know if it was the same bad shoulder that took him out. He’s not much of a hitter. Parra que Perdir in RF hasn’t posted much WAR in the past few seasons. I guess it will be fun to watch him throw from the corner (remember Nate S? his best trick). Mac the Oaf may be ok in LF and at the plate. Just ok. Our starting IF stars are all getting long in the tooth (Panik’s under 30, but he’s one of those guys who seems to be getting older younger, as Yogi might put it). Our hipster behind the plate and our ace on the hill may surprise us, may have something left to give. But the remainder of the starting rotation isn’t very fearsome. The pen, minus El Con Man, will probably be the star of the season.
With a lot of luck and contribution from guys shuttling to and from Sactown: .500. Let’s hope Wildman Hanson gets to play a lot.
The Miners just got a supreme LB in Alexander from my Bucs. When he gets healthy he will be your best LB!
OSF
It was worth the risk, IMO. He’s young and coming back from ACL tear isn’t like the old days. They have lots of cap space, why not. Go get the dude from Seattle, too
Earl Thomas? Yeah, they should.
Yeah, Kwon’s a pro-bowl guy who is young at 24. I like the get, but the ACL thing has bit us in the ass repeatedly.
I sort of get not even trying to do anything this year. I mean, signing guys like A Jones, Marwan whats-his-face, and a few other does what? Get us to .500? 5 games under .500? Either we make a big push for the division or we just roll out the Bowker gang, lose 101, and call it a fucking season.
It sucks for Bochy, who may just walk by the break if he’s got such a talentless line up to trot out there every day. .
Why throw good money after bad? I mean, yeah I like going to games and watching the team, but this year will be a lot less undivided attention from me. If we are not going to make a run, go whole hog fail. Fuck, I don’t know.
It does aggravate me that Farhand is basically sitting on his hands as there is a glimmer of hope that with even a semi-decent outfield, the pitching could hold up and win some games, and Belt/Longo/Posey/Craw could cobble together decent injury-free seasons.
Again, I ain’t got no crystal ball, but why they neglected this outfield completely is baffling to say the least.
Hopefully Belt starts off hot and gets himself traded. Longo? That’s some contract-eating, but it’s possible. It’s obvious that Farhand will waylay this roster as fast as possible given the constraints.
the reason you sign Jones and/or MWHF is because you don’t just give up on a season. Getting to .500 would give them the option of picking up a guy or two at the deadline. Season ticket holders pay for every season I can’t imagine too many of them are cool forking over thousands of dollars to watch Z do nothing and basically call this a place holder season
Hey it’s a bad penny year. We just got there in February instead of May. We don’t score, we don’t win.
Fuck, I keep going in circles on this. My glass-half-empty self says fuck it. Go the 105 loss route and gut every aspect of the team from Single A to the top. Suck for 2-3 seasons and hopefully we draft well.
Then there’s the glass-half-full me that thinks if we had a couple decent OFers, the vets wouldn’t feel the pressure to produce and they’d possibly hit their stride. Enough for the WC anyway. The pitching is there (if Melonhead gets hit by a bus) and these guys should be good enough defensively.
Farhand appears to have chosen the former.
Down with what Chuck said about throwing good money after bad. Zaidi is hamstrung by big contracts for several underperforming or injured players who have partial or full no-trade clauses, which makes them hard to deal for the younger big-leaguers or prospects who ultimately will lead the Giants back to serious contention.
I do understand where Flav, SD, and others are coming from (although I emphatically disagree this is a “throw-away season”). The Giants already have the fourth largest 2018 payroll of any Major League team, according to Spotrac. If anything, Zaidi is seeking additional maneuverability in salaries and defensive versatility among position players. I’m comfortable with what he has done thus far in his tenure. Has-beens like Jones, Cargo, etc., doesn’t move us forward in my opinion.
We’ve had 2.5 seasons of terrible baseball, so this season is one last chance for the old guard (Belt, Posey, Craw, Smarg, Bum, Melanoma, Longo) to prove they have something left, along with the kids (Duggar, Mac, Hanson, etc.) to show they belong in the big leagues.
The way Farhand treated the OF pretty much makes it a throw-away season. I am just not convinced that AJones, et al would make a diff anyway. I suppose if we start fast then we can look at short-term things to help, but again, I just don’t see it happening,
This outfield is all platoon guys,who are we kidding?
I don’t see Bochy walking mid season. He’s too loyal to the guys left from the championship teams.Agree with sandog re Zaidi. Glad I didn’t renew my season tix this year.
Don’t see what’s wrong with being .500.
Well, nothing, unless it’s .500 for the next 10 years. The team has to find a way to break out of the treading-water syndrome.
sure Zum but .500 would be starting point from which you spend money and acquire who you need to go further. This is why the pads made their big move–play .500 with big middle order bat in the lineup now and hope their prospect players and very young pitching is good enough in year or two to get nearer the top. Not a bad plan at all.
We aren’t at .500 now, and stop-gap guys will do little more than continue the treading-water process. Or not. We’ve lost what 197 games these last 2 years? Span Cutch, Smargle, and Longo were supposed to put us over the top as well.
Jones and Marwan would be just like Longo and Span. Guys rolling down the backside of their baseball cards.
Duggar had a 1.1 WAR last season, even with missing time with an injury; and Jones had a 1.0 WAR. That’s the kind of thing Zaidi is looking at, and it may drive some Giants fans nuts, but the Giants made the decision to move into the analytics era.
Giants last year scored 600 runs/gave up 700. I’m convinced the pitching will be better and they can get runs allowed down to 650 or lower. But to get to break even they have to score more somehow.
Slater is going to get time in center and right as the utility OF and maybe they use Hanson and Belt in left more against righties with Panda at first more…
And didnt get to respond to yday’s comment about having no glimmer of prospects, I think we have two legit guys in the system who will be starters by 2021-2022 on Bart and Heliot Ramos. We could see Bart by next year and maybe Heliot a late call up next year if he gets to AA this year and can hang.
If Derek Rod and Suarez both prove themselves as locking in two spots in the rotation to go with maybe a third arm out of the system (we can dream), maybe they can add the two-right handed slugging types next season and we have a competitive team for 2021…at least a lot of contracts start falling away by 2021.
Saurez will be long relief in my opinion. He’s not doing enough at this point (unless he steps it up in Spring training). Right now, Bum, Smarg, DRod, Holland, and Pomeranz. Beede (who’s been light outs) or Stratton (who’s been there) also in the mix based upon performance in ST. I am hoping Beede gets the call out of Spring training.
Zaidi wants to do what he did with the Dodgers, and the Dodgers will do going forward: have 7 or 8 starting pitchers that they feel good about, and use the 10-day DL strategically to keep rotating them.
And the new GMs hate the idea of leaving a starter in until he has a big blow-up inning. They believe in taking the guy out before the big blow-up inning, even if it feels too soon to the fans. The old-school way was to say that, if the starter had been pitching well, he had earned the right to get out of some big jam later in the game. That’s just not the school of thought any more. Everybody wants killer deep bullpens that are utilized earlier in the game. There are some exceptions, mainly the big-horse kind of guys. Bum, Verlander, etc
Maybe Z should just suit up all year next to Bochy in the dugout and just whisper in his ear when it’s time to yank a pitcher due to his analytics chart history of every pitcher& hitter in every scenario possible..
Game is free on MLB TV tonight. Bum chucking.
Laugh it up…
It’s also on the Giants’ home station, NBC Bay Area, for those that might have a local MLB Network blackout.
The other night James inferred a time in the future when managers would be more like NFL head coaches, wearing a headset and getting real-time info from people in a booth. Why not?
I’ll settle for their chiseled physiques in sleeveless hoodies versus the ridiculous uniforms they sport now.
Odell Beckham to Cleveland!
Another example of “the only man who could have caught it, hit it”…
That is such a great line.
What was the point of “May 19th” without the year?
Dee Ford to your Niners…
Niners get LB Dee Ford. I wanted him as a free agent, but he just got a monster deal from Lynch. 5 years, $87 mill.
Now if we can get Nick Bosa we’ll be in good shape.
Ahh, didn’t see yers DJ
Well, I can think of at least one dumb thing he’s not likely to do again…
So that’s our next manager? First time I’ve heard him talk. Barely.
Just got in. St. Mary’s up on Zags by 9 with 3 minutes left. didn’t think they could hang and figured they’d wind up in NIT again.
Got em 60-47. Zags average about 90 a game and scored 100 in semi game last night.
Damn! Go Gaels!! They were up by 3 at the half.
Hell of a defensive effort.
Man, it’s raining hard in ‘zona.
Zoltan is calling the ‘pen.
Good job by Bum to get outta that mess.
he was pissed off, too, as if it’d been the middle of the season
Yep, he’s ready to go.
Yeah, that was strike 4.
Belt got all of that one.
Wow. That sounded great.
Nice work by Randy Hansen
Damn. Bunnie in mid-season form. Damn. A rally.
Too bad they didn’t have the mph on the pitches. It would have been interesting to know. Bum looked good.
This is pretty cool. Old timers game at Shea stadium in 1979. Lindsey Nelson, Chico Escuela, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, a ton of guys. THe ’69m Mets vs the Willie Mays all stars.