Trade Deadline Approaching
Big series starting tonight, one in which I have no feeling whatsoever—my gut is traditionally inclined to expect a trip to the woodshed but this has been a weird year so I’m cool to watch it unfold….
Trade deadline is next week. I am on record as saying nothing significant will happen for obvious reasons already stated. But it’s still fun to kick around trade ideas so where do you guys stand on this one:
Cueto and Flores for Clint Frazier. I really don’t think the Yanks would do this but they have been decimated by injuries and both Cueto and Flores could be a huge boost to their post season run. For our part we get rid of Cueto’s salary in 2021 and the buyout. If they didn’t offer Frazier would you take Andujar? I probably would just to get another future piece although I’m not a biug Andujar fan. Still, getting rid of that Cueto contract would be nice.
I’d also be just as happy to watch him pitch the rest of the season. He’s been very good and entertaining and I put a high price tag on that this season. (same feelings about Wilmet, btw).
Ouch. This now hurts more than I realized. Fucking kick this guy OUT of fan base immediately.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
mm Big NO to either trade from me. The Giants don’t have a payroll issue it’s talent level, especially for pitching. Value of Frazier I can see, Andujar a flat no. It’s hard to envision a rotation full of the likes of Cahill Smyly tyler Anderson holding up over 162 next year, especially if either or both of DH and closed archways are still here next season.. Keep Cueto and see what happens 2021. Pitching will still be a need for contenders.
The guy who is more intriguing is Gausman. His last few starts have gotten better and better and Yanks and others might be more interested since he doesn’t make near as much. At this point Giants might be better off keeping him and negotiating new deal.
The Giants need to go all-in on trying to win a cheapie championship this season. The biggest factor is Covid-19, and I’m as surprised as anyone that the virus hasn’t completely decimated MLB during the mini-season….yet.
Only a few teams have had to struggle their way through that nightmare so far.
The Giants have won 3 of 7 from the Dodgers so far. One win in this upcoming series would make 4 out of 10, which I think, before the season started, we’d have taken in a heartbeat. Especially since 7 of the games were at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers are going to win their 8th straight division title this season, and I’ve come to believe that the team that has to break their streak is the Giants. It may take a few years, but the other teams in the division aren’t going to do it. For whatever reason, the Giants play the Dodgers tougher than those other teams in the division. Maybe it’s the extra mental focus because of the rivalry. I’m sure the rivalry works its way into the minds of the newer Giants when they join the team. It’ll be very different without the fans packing the Giants’ ballpark, but I expect the Giants to be mostly competitive in this series. And winning a game in this series is very possible.
Good take.
Though in many regards the Padres are finally for real, those LaBumbos are still in their heads and for some psychological reason, those Friar Tuckers simply cannot make headway vs. LA. As you point out, the Giants almost always play them tough. Judging from the pitching matchup, our chances to pull one off this evening look at least fair to partly middling.
TWO victories in this series would send a profound message that sometimes the Big Dog can be bested by a ferocious little terrier. That happens and the LaBumbos balloon, no matter its helium level, might develop a couple of leaks.
Like Giants, Pads also are 3-4 vs. the Bums, but the Dodgers have beaten up on everyone else for a ridiculously combined 14-2. Current run is 11-1, yikes.
I think Frazier’s become untouchable if only because Judge and Hicks are constantly hurt, plus egghead Gardner is about done…
Yeah that’s what I wondered. Frazier’s name has come up every single day in MLBTR for a while now yet he’s still there. And he’s hit pretty well, right?
Yeah and apparently he’s saying the “right” things this year…
Whether Cueto goes or stays is up to the Brass–all the way to the ownership circle–and not to we, the fans. That said he’s pitching tonight against Uriah Heep, so I feel there’s a good chance of a Giants win against a by now a very overconfident LaBumbos team. Considering those last six games against admittedly not so hot opponents, the team has begun to jell as a team and Kepler appears to have grown with them and is now tending to make better personnel choices.
So my opinion remains and is even buttressed that Cueto should be retained, even at an ongoing high price, unless the offer is quality for quality—most especially when dealing with the damn Yank-Me’s. So no second best prospects or established players for the guy who pitched masterfully for two consecutive games. If we give up an elite player, we should get the equivalent in overall projectible value.
I’m sure they’ll dangle Andujar, but we got Longo at 3rd for 2 more years…
The albatross contracts are winding down and look less awful compared to a super sick one like Giancarlo’s got.
Even Zito’s old deal looks like pocket change now.
Next year’s Giants probably won’t be drastically different from this year’s.
Minus Pablo and Smdj – plus Posey for sure…
Exactly Loo. End of last thread I wondered who pitches for them next year as I can’t believe guys like Smyly tyler anderson and Cahill would hold up over 162. Other than Webb, none of their prospect SPs have any experience. Pen guys will mostly be same crop of youngsters trying to figure stuff out over long season.
Who takes SS when Craw is done or covers 3b for inevitable Longo injury? How much longer can Solano exceed expectations? How many scrub singles hitters like Dubon or Duggar can they keep strictly for defense?
Tyler Beede is out, injured, for the rest of the season. His upside is not as high as Webb’s, but if the recovery is full, he should at the least make for a passable #4 starter. Tyler Anderson may just have found his place after getting stuck in the pitcher nightmare, the Box of Rox. A bit early to make a projection on either Cahill or Smyly. We might also want to trust in the process. Zaidi has an incredible capacity for transforming sow’s ears into silk purses.
I don’t think you have to take Division away from LA at all–just get into playoffs and in short series they have proven to be very beatable. Combo of good pitching and out managing Roberts has worked repeatedly for different teams.
Giants aren’t capable of winning the Division for at least 3 more years, if then. Padres are much further along with rebuild, with quality young pitching and with bona fide star like Tatis, than Giants are.
The trade for him was dumb, but I’ve developed some respect for Longoria.
Definitely a solid pro…
Well, we know how the front office is gonna play this. And that is to let it ride. As we have shown in our earlier incarnation, a couple good SPs and timely hitting works in the playoffs.
They may even dumpster dive for some pen help.
Trading for anything but a current player like Frazier would be risky as most of these prospects are cooling their heels in some sort of scrimmage hell.
WIllie, I think by 2022 we should be fairly well set up to make a run.
I’d worry more about pitching than anything else, and Z didn’t draft much this season at elite level. Finding quality replacement SPs from trade or FA market will be very expensive. In house, not enough SPs beside Webb to last 162. The last few teams to win everything had very strong starting pitching to counter all the juiced ball offenses.
Good to see Jimi enjoying the game in Seattle.
How about “Hey Joe” as a walk up song for Bart?
mm tremendous version by Hendrix but somehow I think subject matter might uh cause some difficulty.
I can see Zman going after a Starting Pitcher and he has a some talented outfielders he might deal one.
So I’ll throw 2 out here both with the Royals and both with controllable contract.
1) Kristopher Bubic LHP for Alexander Canário.
2) Brady Singer RHP for Hunter Bishop.
Singer I would prefer and you have to dangle Bishop to get him imo..yeah off the wall but that’s how trades at the deadline get done..
Singer was a first round pick 2 years ago no way in hell the Royals, a team that relies on young talent to ascend, trade him now. And why would we trade Bishop? Let’s see how he develops.
I’d dangle Cueto to see what’s out there. Probably not much in a pandemic season when the whole thing could be shut down. Probably next season, if there is one, is when you trade him. When the team is finally really good again, he won’t be…
Offense is where all the top SF prospects are. Plus Bart you have Ramos Bishop Wilson Luciano Toribio Canario, plus Bailey and Schmitt they drafted this year. I don’t think pitchers they drafted this year including the HS kid are gonna do anything beyond Fall League. So likely long years away.
None of the better SPs are in Sac, none. the only one who has pitched above A ball is Hjelle iirc. The others might get shot at AA ball next year, so 2022 might get their feet wet at ML level. None of above are rated at Buehler level. So barring someone exploding into prospect stardom, this is gonna be issue holding team back from contending.
Stick with the scrap heap.
It’s what they do best…
Yep.
Pretty sure I’ve never seen this before.
Well, he sure doesn’t try to avoid it. Smart play.
Yeah that’s a heads up play right there!
Trade Bishop? For an SP for this run for this abortion of a season? Hell to the no, AK.
Smacks of Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz. We are thinking of the future not the now. I’m with DJ. Dumpster dive for some pen help and scrape up a starting pitcher for a bag of money from somewhere.
We’ll know more by end of season, but Tyler Anderson’s performance the other day may indicate that Zaidi may have uncovered a diamond which was mistaken for quartz, mainly because he was toiling at the Box of Rox. That venue is feared and despised by most pitchers. Contrarily, they look at Oracle as a Destination. That is the reason why Z & Co. have been big on drafting talented position players. Provided this plandemic lockdown is over by next season, the possibility of swapping one of those guys for an equally talented SP should rise into the probability range, Other option, of course, is free agency–again play by the Bay as a draw.
That was basically Flavor’s edict many weeks ago.
Hitters won’t come here – pitchers will.
So grow some hitters and import arms…
“How about “Hey Joe” as a walk up song for Bart?”
Bart definitely needs to up his game in the walk-up music dept. He has some schlocky “new country” song. Horrible. Merle Haggard used to call the “new country” songs tuneless garbage. Well said by Haggard.
A lot of the “new country” songs are pop songs, really. Bad pop songs, too.
Truly creative and original songwriters do not do pop.
New country = 90’s pop.
So sappy, too. A lot of the men singers are all:
“I took my pick-up truck to the fishin’ hole,
and ate some of Grandma’s apple pie.
It’s good livin’ and I ain’t complainin’
It’s the country life for me.”
A far cry from the Drive-By Truckers singing a song about someone who died because the person’s insurance wouldn’t cover a necessary medical procedure.
Yeah. It’s not even a full step above bubblegum “music” from back in the day, most of contemporary rap and a lot of other crap that gets passed off by the cultural arbiters as music. New Country is to the likes of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson as latterday rap is to boogie-woogie, R n’ B or John Lee Hooker honking out all of the above.
first two verses of current country anti-star Sturgill Simpson’s Call to Arms:
I done Syria, Afganistan, Iraq and Iran
North Korea tell me where does it end
Well the bodies keep piling up with every day
How many more of em they gonna send
Well they send their sons and daughters off to die for some war
To control the heroin
Well son I hope you don’t grow up
Believing that you’ve got to be a puppet to be a man
The song itself. (I know, I posted this once before, but still, it’d be a good walkup song for a kid from Buford, Georgia.)
Similar vein to the Simpson
that’s really good
Quoting a friend: “A song Springsteen has been trying to write.”
i was just driving and on the Bone they went: Jukebox hero (the who), Crue, Journey, ACDC. I almost stayed in my car for song #5 but I had to bounce. I texted Diggity i was so excited about my good fortune.
I saw a documentary the other night on Coltrane. Netflix. Very good. Recommended. The guy died at 40. Just wondering how much he could have done if he’d have another 20 years. Mrs. snarkk and I, when we toured around Europe in ’93 for a couple of months, were in Helsinki when we met Willy Pickens, jazz pianist, by happenstance. He was touring with Elvin Jones’ group. He invited us to the show at some kind of small university type venue, left free tix, and it was great. We later went backstage and Willy intro’d us to Ravi Coltrane who was in the band at the time, and then invited us to a jazz club after the show. That club was cool, it was a bunch of Finns getting down with a good jazz group out of the US with a fronting black American lady singer who I don’t remember other than her being kinda like Etta James. Very cool memory. Totally in the long tradition of Euros being very receptive to American jazz. Willy died a few years back…
Coltrane’s Giant Steps would make a helluva smooth walkup tune.
what a nice thought.
Opening bars of Impressions would be cool too.
there’s footage of Trane quartet plus Eric Dolphy performing it in German whse. stage I have on DVD somewhere…Jazz Icons maybe.
A most excellent idea Xoot! I second Willedav’s sentiment: “what a nice thought.” The day a ball player chooses such a masterpiece for their walk up music will be the day I know a different world is at hand.
The piano & bass intro (composed by Gil Evans — performed by Bill Evans and Paul Chambers) to Miles Davis’ ‘So What’ from his 1959 ‘Kinda Blue’ album would also be spectacular. Possibly, a bit too melancholic for some tastes. Maybe Buster could consider it for next season … probably scare the beejeezus outta some opposing hurlers.
Bass! You’re in on the 2020 season? I can imagine So What working. I always thought that opening had a touch of suspense in it, as if the subliminal title might be Watch Out.
I still feel pretty much the same was as I did at the start of the season. I would love to see a total rebuild. I would dump all of the bore core and trade Cueto and smarzie for anything we could get. Some of the pickups Z got us this year have turned out pretty good. Bring up some of the younger guys and I think we would play just as good as we have.
I’m with you on this Winder…
i’ll take this over last year’s 2% chance
How can Cards be at nearly 94% when they have barely played any games?…
It’s winning %age
Are they even at the ballpark yet?
1. Mike Yastrzemski (L) RF
2. Wilmer Flores (R) DH
3. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Donovan Solano (R) 2B
6. Joey Bart (R) C
7. Darin Ruf (R) LF
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Mauricio Dubon (R) CF
Belt getting the Craw Respect the Vet treatment. Easy for Kap to score some I’ve got some old school in me points with Slater out.
noted, yes. Kershaw going tomorrow though and at least one if not both of them likely sit that one out.
Belt went 0-4 in previous game Urias started; Craw came off bench Dubon (0-2) started at SS that night.
That was game Smrdz got bombed early and often. Flores homered off reliever santana.
The LU looks so much better today than it did just a week and a half back. The post-season will be a joke, but it would be fun. They need to take my idea seriously — cut the WS and rename the final round the 2020 Championship Series. But it would be fun.
After all the discussion here yesterday about Gott, I took a look at his wiki page for background and found it surprisingly dramatic. That guy had nothing but up and down adventure for the Angels and Nats, with many disastrous blown chances and subsequent redemptions, etc. The wiki descriptions of those years go on, entertainingly, forever. Finally, he got dfa’d. He was lost, hitchhiking at the crossroads in freezing rain, when the Giants picked him up in Feb. 2019, and some demon deal was sealed. Everything changed. The wiki entry for that good year is suspiciously terse: “Pitching for the Giants in 2019 he was 7-0 with one save and a 4.44 ERA, as in 50 relief appearances he pitched 52.2 innings and struck out 57 batters.” What happened? What kind of demon deal did he strike in Feb. 2019?
maybe there is something salvageable there and the short restart in second ST is what didn’t work for him. Still think he needs another pitch, ala Gausman split change to offset fastball.
FBs right down the pipe ain’t gonna cut it, that’s for sure. He threw 74% FB last year (fangraphs); it’s been 67% this year, but with slightly higher velo, and more curveballs. Looks like he tried to turn into a closer and didn’t make it. So far, anyway. Gott help us if he getts to try again. 7th inning guy?
His stuff is sorta reminiscent of Felix back in early 2000s. Big heater, but often straight as a string; breaking ball hangs up sometimes, Kaboom…
I always really enjoyed watching Felix pitch, but the epic fail vs. Spezio is part of the memory, too, unfortunately.
If you ever watch that entire at-bat again (painful—I know) you might cut him a little slack. I know I did. Spiezio battled like crazy and it didn’t clear Sanders by much.
Hitchhiking at the crossroads in the pouring rain? Apparently he didn’t sell his soul to the devil. Maybe the devil rented it, because I think Gott’s late on the payment.
Doesn’t seem like a starter Belt will do well against tonight, but Belt has been hot lately, so that understandably is a big factor in being in the lineup.
Belt is 3-12 vs. Urias, and is the only current Giant to hit a HR off him.
“Truly creative and original songwriters do not do pop.”
I may or may not agree with this. I’m thinking it’s a semantics thing; we both probably have different definitions of what pop music is.
I would say the brilliant Elvis Costello is pop music; but someone else might say no, he’s in the rock category.
Where does Steely Dan get categorized? I consider them pop music. Jazz pop, for sure; but still pop, IMO. Someone else might say no, Steely Dan is another category entirely.
the greatest pop song of all time
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj05EY2aP7I&list=RDAMVMWj05EY2aP7I
That was fantastic. Shades of gospel. IMO
That isn’t pop, Xoot. R & B was never considered pop. At least not in mainstream radio. Pop is Brittney Spears, Tiffany for you older fans. The Archies. Hannah Montana. Costello isn’t pop. He’s punk/new wave. Even singer/songwriter.
That would be like saying Nirvana was pop because they started grunge. Looking back on Nevermind, it WAS overproduced and way too slick, but at the time it was sofa king new and different that you didn’t notice. When you go back and listen to Bleach, it’s like, oh yeah, THAT’S grunge.
Steely Dan, Dire Straits, while at different times were the same kind of fringe off the wall shit. Steely dan could even be considered prog rock. The Police were very mainstream when they started, but their early ska-inflected stuff was easy to digest, but not pop. Pop-ish? Popular? Sure but not pop.
Or maybe it’s just me.
thx xoot I remember that one. Probably heard it on KSFO, maybe Al Collins. That’s kind of stuff my parents used to enjoy and go see in person in City, singers like Jack Jones yada yada. Miss Wilson did an LP with Cannonball Adderley, great stuff. I’ve heard her version of Never Will I Marry, a tune Cannon recorded himself on With the Poll winners on Riverside, who included Wes Montgomery.
That version of that song was marketed as pop and spent weeks in the pop top ten, etc.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Uptown-Lounge/release/13691923
I was flipping through lps in a store on Telegraph in the 80s when a customer approached the counter and asked a question. I didn’t hear the exchange until the customer started to shout: “Easy listening! You put Simon and Garfunkel in EASY LISTENING?”
Huh. The 60s were weird for music. Tony Bennett and Tom Jones were pop, but 5 years later, that was seen as so old-fashioned
Progressive Rock bands for me were Yes,Jethro Tull,Genesis,Kansas,Pink Floyd,Steely Dan,The Police, Devo,Supertramp, Alan Parson Project etc etc etc
Just don’t get me started on the rock and roll hall of fame.
Flavor, re your update up above on the low-down thief — maybe he stole the hat, too.
Here we go again. Per MLB site, Chris Shaw added to 60-man. Has he been taking pitches from a machine or something? Hope springs eternal, I guess.
He’s an intriguing player. He just hasn’t clicked yet in his MLB ABs. Who knows when he’ll get a chance again.
I see “pop” as a really really big category, with great songs and terrible songs, and those in-between.
The Beach Boys’ briiliant Pet Sounds is a pop album, and a classic.
Guess I’d label the BBs as poppy-rock or rocky-pop. Influences seemed to work both ways with their vibe.
I love Yaz, but that was Lewis-ish . . . .
Christ. Has closing the arches changed RF that much? Yaz looks like a spazz these days. He’s clanked about 5 catches in 20 games.
Nice pitch around Johnny. Fuck.
Ooops.
The target was up and in. Johnny left a biscuit.
Error. Home run. Oooops indeed.
He nibbles for 3 pitches then grooved one down the middle, and we get to watch Muncy struggle to jog around the bases. Muncy’s not exactly looking in stellar shape.
if he’s gonna hit them there ain’t gonna matter. He bothers me more than Turner.
Oh, Gumby.
There ya go.
Wow!!! Belt! Urias didn’t get the email about Belt’s wheelhouse.
Holy crap, BELT-ED!
Well, now!!
Belted ! …
Love it!! They got the Beat LA chant going.
effing Belt! In a season this short, maybe he can get hot enough for long enough.
Man how many 3 run HRs Giants hit lately? with all the slugging, getting on base even more fruitful, including singles to RF to beat shift by RHs.
When they flashed Belt’s slash numbers as he came up I thought I would settle for those–.274 with .840 OPS occasional power.
Just went up!
Bart will learn not to let pitchers steal strike one on him so often. The most hittable pitch of the AB was the first one, and he took it for a strike.
That kind of thing is why he should be playing up here…
Never seen those.
Neither has anyone else under 80.
They’ll take your teeth out 2 at a time…
Lots of issues with 2020 as previously noted, but man it’s nice to be down 3-0 and know the game isn’t over!
this is a great twitter account. Every time Belt hits a bomb, without hesitation, he posts this:
Yaz having a bad night already
Losing the outside corner can apparently happen with one crummy defensive play and prior AB.
He lost it his first AB.
Jesus. Jonny misses badly again.
Yep, yep.
What kinda of a pussy wears a green SF Giants cap? A criminal!!!
This pond scum needs to be caught and prosecuted to the maximum sentence allowed.!
Shimmy’s not to sharp either
Chuck..
Belt is rewarding James’ belief in him.
Nope. Not looking good.
Cueto is throwing nothing special tonight.
Get Cueto out now, he has no idea what he’s doing tonight.
Well whatever Bart tried to say to Cueto obviously didn’t work..
Again I know I’m old school but I’ve always disagreed with Krukow about pitch count.It should be 12 pitches per inning for a starting pitcher not 15!!
12 isn’t realistic these days. Batters are better at grinding out long ABs than they used to be.
Certainly not 25 . . .
Kruk blaming this on lack of chemistry between Cueto and Bart is one of the silliest things I’ve heard in a while
No soft spots in LA order…
The FS1 announcers, one of whom is Pierzynski, are making a big deal out of Cueto and Bart clearly not being on the same page.
We need Tromp to interfere with some of these swings…
Make Interference Great Again!
The only thing I don’t like about Flemming is that he has a wacky way of saying “no-hitter.”
He puts the stress on the “no” and it bugs the hell out of me.
I blame the Stanford influence!
maybe that intonation is just so over your head you’re missing the genius of it? Most great Stanford men speak above what us normals can understand, don’t take it personally
then there are those who excel in the classroom and are inane to the nth power in the real world. which college unfortunately has little to do with.
Cueto will get one more scheduled start, Sunday at AZ Aug 30 ahead of deadline.
Not looking much like $20 mil guy tonite. ERA up to 5.50 now.
Agree with Flav, not being in sync with Bart is one thing, giving up loud contact tonite quite another.
Dodgers are analytics guys right? They almost never run, and i hear from every anouncer who sees him how much cueto is harder to hit from the windup. Why not just stay in it?
You want loud contact wait till Kapler decides to bring Suarez in.Why he’s even on the team is a mystery to me!
Hey great album cover by Fleetwood Mac titled Mystery to Me!!
how many of you guys have tried out bilasport.net ? Every fucking game for free and in HD. How is this legal?
Tonight the game is on TV here, but I’ve used bilasport a bunch since you posted about it, Not sure how legal it is but it has worked well for me.
i know it’s not my place to tell rich people how to spend their money but the giants should be taking care of these hard workers. I’ve had nothing but great experiences interacting with people who work at the ballpark. They are all friendly and excited to be there. THIS is unacceptable.
Giants are all deep pockets and short fingers when it comes to the little people…
Agree BF, I know a couple of vendors and they work hard, and are friendly if you need help finding your section are in one case my friend told me what beer line is usually shorter then the others! Bonus points for that!!
They were paying the vendors early on I believe? But are stiffing them now sadly..
It’s a friggin’ disgrace.
How about the players stepping up?
Damn, frustrating last two innings, chance to get back in this and get nothing.
Agree MacDog, they had every opportunity to get the job done off of Ur anus but failed miserably..
Dubon was way overmatched. He’s a weak bat these days.
Yaz must be low on his biorhythm thingie because he’s flailing out there tonight.
Huh. Be nince if we had taken advantage of the 5 baserunners
As Zumiee would say:
“Wow, just wow”