A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

I’d love to get nostalgic and do a *decade ending* thing and celebrate our 3 in 5 and being the BEST team of the decade. But, I’m not really feelin’ it. We’ve celebrated it enough. We’ve basked our balls off.

The only thing to look forward to is tomorrow and the day after that.

Here’s the first blog post at the Flap, not quite 10 years old…..

https://oneflapdown77.com/2010/05/31/welcome-to-the-new-blog-oneflapdown77-com-is-born-today/

Happy New Year Flappers. It’s been a long time…..

Still riding high off that incredible win last night. I had so prepared myself for agony. Seattle always inflicts the greatest pain at the rawest possible times. Regardless of how we did it a W is a W and in this case it was a HUUUUUGGGGE W.
I am legitimately feelin’ a Niners/KC Super Bowl this year.

I know it’s not till tonight but man I am so geeked for this game tonight. Marshawn Lynch is back? Pffttttt of course he is. I am SO TIRED of losing to these fuckers. Can we just go up to Seattle and bitch slap these fucks?

Was at Golden Gate Fields yesterday. Not sure how long that racetrack can stay on that billion dollar land. Check out this incredible view of The City from the damn pisser room:

Still no SF news other than the surprising Dubs thumbing their nose at the #1 pick in next year’s draft. Irritating. But you can’t harness the championship gene. Draymond always said they’re cut from a different cloth.

Trying to get into the Bowl season, no such luck so far. Maybe today gets me going?

I don’t usually post articles (I’m more of a *post tweets* kind of guy) but this is good at answering a lot of the questions that get brought up here. I’m no Pavlovic fan, he blocked me on twitter years ago. Still, a good read. I was especially disturbed by his comment that “Belt has a lot of fans in the revamped front office….”

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/giants-mailbag-does-management-care-about-vocal-fans-displeasure

Personally, I am in a weird place as a Giants fan. The warm glow of the 3in5 supernova has worn off. Basking ended years ago. But I’m also not so starved for championships that I’m wallowing in angst and self pity over the team not being very good. Zaidi probably loves fans like me, I can wait on this…

My favorite part of Christmas is waking up early and having the house to myself, alone, for a couple of hours. I know that sounds weird. But I like to drink my coffee and reflect on the year. This has been a hard year personally and I won’t go details. But as it relates to our teams here in the Bay Area, yes, it was a hard year for them, too.

The Giants were not very good. They gave us one fun month, 5 lame ones. I’m still not over trading Smith and Bum. We are now wandering in the wilderness, one of the best metaphors there is for having a crummy team with very little impending hope.

The Warriors dynasty ended. Just like the Giants they got their 3 in 5. Can’t help but think it could have been 5 in 5 if it wasn’t for LeBron getting Draymond taken off the floor for a game. And last year we just couldn’t overcome the injuries. Around here they’re just calling it “Dynasty Interrupted” and I think that’s a good name for it. Dubs will be back soon.

The Niners? That’s obviously pending. I’m excited about the success of the team this season but they have a long way to go and I could easily see a big let down coming.

Whatever. None of this is a big deal. I hear some stirring right now in the back of the house. She’s 17 now but still gets excited about this morning. That’s good enough for me. Merry Christmas Flappers, wherever you are and whoever you’re with make it a good one. “These are the days” but they’re dwindling so don’t take them for granted…..

Searching for content, I went back and looked at some old Christmas Eve posts hoping for something emotional and flowery–no such luck– at least not the first few years and that’s when I stopped looking. There was something amusing at the end of Christmas Eve 2011. I proudly announced that 12/24 post was the 600th at the blog! Woo hoo. I then claimed I’d be retiring at post 1000….

Today is post 3,321…..

Anyway, maybe there are some decent 12/24 posts after 2012 but I quit looking.

And doesn’t that kinda feel like what Z has done? Quit looking?

Probably time for a new thread although I never got tired of seeing B-Wheezy turning his back to the plate and firing up that weirdo arms crossed pose. What was that all about, anyway?

There is no Giants news. They suck and will continue to suck as long as Z and ownership decide they’re rebuilding.

Very weird decade that’s about to end. This is the end of the damn DECADE. And no one seems to care. Best Bay Area sports moment? Best moment of my lifetime? Gotta be this one. And as much as I think Aubrey Huff is the dumbest motherfucker alive, seriously he may be the dumbest motherfucker of all who have yet to live, watching him take his hat off and hoist it with that shaky arm high above the celebration…..man, that shit was the shit. And then he tossed it away like the dumbfuck he is. I hope he never got it back. As dumb as he is he’ll always be one of the greatest Giants to me.

Giants are in a pretty tough situation in terms of available moves right now. Nobody wants our withered, aged core so unless Z gets extremely creative those guys are going to be laying around and going nowhere. Teams like the Indians can do that with players who are coveted  like Kluber and now Lindor who is getting aggressively dangled.

Conversely, nobody is going to trade for any of our young studs at this time of year. That happens at the trade deadline, not the dead of winter. I suppose Z could pull off another *Cozart* deal but how many of those are realistically on the table?

This is looking more and more like another dumpster dive off season.

Regarding Loo’s POTD: come on, they aren’t going to be worse than the Tigers. But you aren’t too far off. When we let Pillar go and then Bumgarner, you’re clearly not trying to get better. But I also don’t have a major problem with them not trying to maintain a team that was going to win somewhere in the 70’s, at best. Last July’s fluky run aside, that team stunk. It was really more representative of a team that would win in the high 60’s, low 70’s. So I don’t have  a problem with Z wanting something better than that for us. But there is no magic wand. This is going to take a few years. I do expect him to bite the bullet somehow on these core guys and jettison them somewhere with us paying most of the salary. That will be the best time for us this off season, I fear.

Make no mistake about it, we are wandering through the wilderness years. The only change is that Z is embracing it. His honesty is actually refreshing…..

Mixed feelings about Bum leaving. On one hand, I’m fine with it. Everything ends sooner or later, I don’t need to hold on to my heroes till everyone’s dead. Joe left. The Thrill left. Everyone leaves. Everything ends. Life sucks.

Still, it would have been nice to have him around. We do still need actual starting pitchers. And I’m not sure what the point was of going 4 years but not 5. The Giants are going to stink next year and possibly the year after that. If you go 4 years you’re hoping Bum is still effective in year 3 and 4 when you get good again. If the blueprint is to be good in 5 years you’d want Bum then, too.

And now, he’s dressed in soot. He’s going to look terrible in that uniform and I don’t think he’s going to be very good pitching so many games in that dry air. Someone said he’s got a house and horses there or something. Maybe that’s why he wants to play there. Maybe his largening wife has big girlfriends there. Who knows.

Very little of this makes sense…..

Nice little weekend of decorating the tree and watching sports on tv. Still trying to figure out why the Niners are 11 point favorites. They have so many players out. And Atlanta still has some decent guys, it’s not like we’re playing the Jets or some shit.

KNBR morning guys freaking out about *mutual interest* between Bum and LA. Sounds like smoke to me and I don’t see how that ever comes together. Bum in LA? Come on….

Well, that was pretty underwhelming. The Winter Meetings have truly become a waste of time unless you’re a GM looking for a lap dance and a nice steak.

I’m seeing a lot of support for Ron Wotus on KNBR, twitter, etc. Like because he’s the last man standing he’s somehow been elevated to this secret guru or whatever. Marty Lurie loves this guy. Me? Wotus is ok. He’s just ok. There’s a reason nobody wants him to lead their team.

The Angels are not a team that cares about money. They burn it willingly and in overpaying fashion. The fact that they gave up a young stud like Will Wilson to shed 12 million in salary is ludicrous. They know Cozart is never regaining his form because of a chronically injured shoulder and they must think Wilson was a mistake pick. So did they see an opportunity to ditch 12 mil (because even though they don’t care about money anyone would shed salary if it was easy to) or did they just completely screw up and give us a #1 draft pick stud?

In today’s age of peaked and honed analytics it seems unlikely that it was the latter.

It bums me out that this was the only thread I could think of with the Winter Meetings concluding today. Do something Young Z or I will grade your performance low.

Pretty cool with Z so far. Gausman, fine whatever, we need a starting pitcher. And he’s affordable. The Cozart thing is cool because of how creative it was–basically buying a first rounder. I don’t know if this ever works out, The Dubs did it with McKinnie and I think someone else. Didn’t work out. And if the Angels are giving up on this dude so quickly he’s probably a mistake pick.

But I still like the creativity….

Giving Cole 324 million is hilarious and the Yankees must really be getting desperate. Having not won a World Series in so long must be eating away at the hair on Cashman’s balding head.

If the Giants had signed that dude for 324 million I would have puked.

Uh, ok, but you did absolutely nothing last year so….

It’s funny to me to read Giants fans who still want SF to sign Bum now that his impending deal seems to be 9 figures. Everyone just loses their minds in the Winter…

Winter Meetings start today. No expectations but I’m open to getting excited about something if it happens. Don’t really remember what the strip joints are like in San Diego. I know Sabean used to love his medium rare stakes back in the day. He would go hog wild in Miami.

I’m in Oakland all week for work and I don’t think I have a more hated interstate than I-80 so my mood promises to be surly.

Some good info at the end of the last thread from MacDog.

Just for fun, if you had a gun to your head and you had to sign one of them, who would you sign? Puig or Ozuna? They’re both 29. They have similar career stats. Puig was much better when he was younger. Ozuna had one monster MVP-type season. I know Cardinal fans were pretty tired of this guy by the end of last year.

My vote doesn’t count because I’d choose anyone over idiot, overrated, on the downside of his career Puig.

So I’ll kick this off with a vote for Ozuna. But cast yours and state your case….

Yasiel Puig turns 29 today. Imagining anyone celebrating him has me doing a slow burn. Don’t compare this idiot to Jeff Kent who was surly for sure but who still came to work everyday trying to win.

This is what Puig cares about:

Guaranteed this was his favorite game of the year.

Puig has been an overrated punk since day 1. He’s got some power, but not enough to put up with his 10 cent head. Or the injuries that are going to start piling up as he heads into his 30’s.

If the Giants sign Puig I am headed out to the ledge. Not to jump. Just to smell the air and maybe take in the view. Re-focus. Serenity now, serenity now….

With the average Wheeler taking down 118 million from the clueless Phillies it now appears that Bumgarner will get at least that. If I was forced to hand out that deal I’d obviously choose to give it to Bum. But neither is a good investment at that cost. This is more of an indictment on the way free agency works and how baseball players get paid. This is just *the game* and GM’s and owners go along with it.

I’m happy that Z is sitting these big signings out. All they do is kick the can down the road, a can we ultimately will need to…..recycle? I dunno, there is probably a better metaphor in there somewhere.

Tim Ryan is suspended for one game. I understand why he’s been suspended, in today’s world you can’t say anything publicly that connects race to performance. But let’s be honest here, what he said is not inaccurate. And when you think about it long enough, it really isn’t offensive, either. I am open to listening to different perspectives on this issue.

Disappointed to hear we let our leader in nearly every meaningful offensive category, not to mention our WM winner, flitter into the mist. But while Pillar was our most exciting player, by far, he wasn’t going to make much of a difference on next year’s squad. And he’s certainly not part of the plan for the future.

Unfortunately the interest level I have in this team just took a big hit. If we are going to stink it would be nice if we had some players who are fun to watch. Exit 1.0 but Crawford, Belt and Longoria, the 3 most boring baseball players of all time, stay here?

That’s a tough sell for me.

Early December news:

I love how he’s a *huge fan* lol. Yeah, big big fan. Gotta get this guy. The entire season teeters in the balance as we await Kai Correa’s decision.

At least our bad players will be spotted up in the correct shifts this coming season….

Really interested to see how the Niners do against this Baltimore God. It’s funny, nobody said crap about this dude till this year. And then I watched him last week and it’s astounding how fast he is–looks like he’s playing against high school kids. I don’t remember a ton about Michael Vick but there’s no way Vick was better than Jackson.

Earlier in the week I was thinking this was a good test for the defense but now I don’t really feel that way. This guy Jackson might not be something a great defense can contain. I suppose if they manage to limit him it will either be a testament to how good he is or an indication that the hype on this meteor was overdone.

But the Rams have a decent defense and he torched them.

So……