Foraging A Path
So we are back to 5 post season teams coming out of the National League. Three of those will get soaked up by the division winners. We have no chance at that. So that leaves 2 spots. You have to think that whoever doesn’t win the NL crown between LA and SD will get one WC spot.
Now we’re down to one left…..
The NL East got a lot better. Gotta think that whoever doesn’t win that divison gets the other spot, right? Atlanta….The Mets (they’ll be rolling AND then they get Syndy back in June)…..Washington…..Miami…..that division is GOOD. The NL Central is pretty harmless, probably only the division winner coming out of there.
Looking at that mountain to climb, is there a realistic pathway for SF to make the post season in 2021? Assuming The Grave Duggar is functioning at peak level all season and the team suffers zero injuries……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
perfect pic to kick off a Friday thread…
I’ll never forget the “clunk” of that homer landing over the wall.
If I remember right, a couple of batters earlier, Huff laid down a successful sac bunt.
It was the first bunt attempt of his career!
Then I believe Burrell K’d but got picked up big time by Renteria…
And Flemming’s voice cracking
Great photo.
Rent, WS MVP and SF hero for life.
Ironically, Texas was lacking enough power that day too.
rim shot while on cruise
Nice pic! Twin certainly would have approved.
Nah, Giants likely lucky to get near .500, somewhere near vast middle ground of NL central wannabes. Only points of interest are to see who if anyone emerges as keeper(s) from pitching staff.
What happens to the GD, as with rest of Giants minor leaguers and top prospects, will be a major point of interest. Potentially even result in a SactoPalooza to watch him, no?
Only games I am attending are San Jose (when I spend time at my Mom’s house in Sunnyvale) and Sacramento games with Chi or whomever else wants to go. I think Kevin lives near there too. Not certain. Also – Willie, if you want to gamble on the ponies, I usually go to the Satellite shack at the San Jose Fairgrounds, which I think is near your house.
Phone park games? lol . . .
It is hard to fathom why Giants would mess around in arb over someone like Solano for so little $$$. Isn’t a victory for anyone and what he makes wouldn’t be an impediment to trading him away if he is able to duplicate past success at the plate. Fun hitter to watch as he sprays line drives around the yard, despite lack of bombs.
I looked up Justin Turner’s 2014-16 LA salaries: 1M, 2.5M, 5.1M. In that lower range, 700K is a significant difference. Solano has 430 PAs for SF.
I’m sure it is to Solano and was to Turner in those days too. To the big clubs like Giants and Dodgers, not so much. LA just exceeded lux tax $250 mil threshold; Giants even at half that?
I think it’s more a principle/expectations thing, kinda like the way a consumer worries about not getting ripped off in one context by spending an extra dollar, yet doesn’t give another few hundred a moments thought in a different situation. If Solano hits 320 again with 350+ PAs, he’ll get his 5-6M next year, I assume.
Maybe the strategy by ownership/management was to really sweeten the pot with Donnie Barrels,by making him an irresistible commodity for some team which is in the hunt but a bit lacking in OBP oomph at the top of their lineup. Only cost to that organization would be a high-end starter prospect who grades at no lower than a #2 rotation piece. El cheapo producto. Low salary. Low, low, low. Solano maintains his offensive pace and he wears other colors by 7-31. My prediction.
I am kinda more interested in the Giants minor league system than I am the finished product this year. The Eugene Emeralds have put out their schedule and it looks like a May start for them They are the High A team of the Giants. I am gonna catch a least a couple of those games and If they ever open up everything again and I am in the Bay Area i will catch a Giants game or two. All we gotta do is play the Dogs and Pads tough and I am all in.
In order of least likely to happen: They’d need 3-4 of those starters to be above average over the entire season, a repeat of last season’s offensive numbers, and a bullpen with no major disappointments to get 85-90 wins.
Man, James, do you aim high. Twin would curmudgeonly be all over you like the legendary ton of bricks. Even 85 wins with this bunch would top the ’51-model Little Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff. My somewhat pollyesque take remains at 78-84….and that’s including minor miracles. Get in on the betting (see my commentary below) and take a polly position. But I won’t hold you to going all gang-ho on the level of wins versus our two nastiest adversaries.
It’s only a potential scenario, one that would require even year 2010-14 kind of luck to play out.
Not a betting man myself, so this is a bit out in L.F.: Haven’t checked the schedule, but it’s likely SF will play 37 games total—one at 18 and the other at 19—With the Pads and the LaBumbos. Twin would have hollered out that winning anywheres close to half those contests as Polly beyond belief. So let’s hypothetically set the low at 10-27 and the high at 16-21, with the median at 13-24.
Idea is for the betting types to set up a pool on the Giants’ W-L record vs the NLW heavyweights. If enough guys hit the correct totals, sharing would be involved. C’mon you riverboat gamblers, cast your dough on the fortunes/misfortunes on the Giants success or lack thereof versus the Big Two. Someone who gets into these contests can come up with rules and other specifics. Let’s find out who has the superior insights (or the best luck) in comparing our no-names wins with those of the superstars.
It strikes me that without some sorta contest like this, Flappers will be all doom and gloom, not really much caring about such potentially uneven games. Get into it, gang!
Snarkk and possibly others have already Flapped out due to the skinflint approaches of ownership and other misfortunes, So let’s build a bit of drama right here on the site. Seeing B.F. is the Director General of this little enterprise and likes to get into wagering scrums, the ball is hereby in his mitt.
I checked out the sked last week, it’s 19 games apiece vs. all NL West for 162-game schedule: Bums 9H, 10A; Pads 10H, 9A; Rox 10H, 9A; AZ 9H, 10A. Giants play Rox and Pads nine times each by May 9, then don’t play Pads again until Sept. And they don’t play the Bums until May 21, so if they can offset the Pads games by beating up on the Rox, maybe they can have a decent start.
Thanks for checking, MacD. Guess I gotta upgrade the stats vs the NLW monsters at an even 38 games. Yes, SF will need to beat the Rox at the same pace the Pads knock the Giants in order to stay within range of a .500 record. Depending on the rest of the April and early may opponents, you could be right about a not so bad start.
If Solano gets his 5-6 mil next year as James mentioned it won’t be with the Giants.
After he got burned by the Giants in Arbitration no way he returns because they won’t pay him his true value and he’s also a F/A.. So enjoy him him this year cause it will be his last.
Kat: See my 9:12. Looks like the org-borg does not contemplate keeping Solano. Thus both parties will be all about him performing at peak levels before 7-31. He goes to a non-cheapskate contender and they can make him happy by offering say, $17M on a 3 year contract.
I don’t know if there’s talk of this out there, but some members of the New York Giants Preservation Society (NYGPS) are proposing that our home ballpark be renamed Willie Mays Field at Oracle Park. Nope. Against it. Bad idea. And everyone here knows my Willie Mays bona fides.
We will agree to disagree on that one. As you may recall, my stance waaay back there, was to name the whole shebang Willie Mays Field. Fuck Oracle Park. The Johnsons & associates can afford to skip the extra revenue from Oracle—not that they never would, but I do happen to be an idealist and despise corporations and the greed that drives their agendas.
It goes against the notion of TEAM and disrespects a boatload of other Giants greats, from Troy, NY (team origin; look it up), to NYC to SF. And it sets a bad precedent. Other than that, call it Trotsky Marx Stalin Khrushchev Anti-Capitalist Running Dogs Vegan Oracular People’s Park, for all I fuckin’ care.
PK..Can I get that name change to fit on a jersey?
I’m with Pawlie. Don’t like it.
What does it do for anyone including the near 90 year old Mays who has enough accolades such as the WS MVP trophy that ridiculously bears his name – instead of the deserving Reggie Jackson…
Moot point IMO. The address of the park is 24 Willie Mays Plaza. So it doesn’t matter what corporate name they use now or going forward, 24 Willie Mays Plaza will still be the address.
as Jon Miller probably said, coming to you from 3Com Park, I think it is now, at Candlestick Point.
How about GraveDuggar Coffin Park⚰️??
One bet that’s always a sure thing, the Larry Baer idiotic syndrome of always starting on the road will (what over 10 years straight now?) continue as they’re scheduled to open the season March1 in Seattle..
March?
As much as I like watching Solano hit, even if he was going well this season he’s not bringing back much. He’s a platoon player who turned 33 in December and is not much of a defender. Unfortunately everyone nowadays way overvalues their prospects. Return for him from any contender type more likely to be lottery ticket far down their prospect list. Young controllable potential #2 starter types = single most valuable commodity in today’s market; doubt even Yaz could bring one back.
MLB.COM predicts lineups today for each team.
It’s kind of stupid as it doesn’t seem to allow for platooning, etc.
Like no Longoria or Wilmet? OR GD???
Anyway…
Lineup:
Tommy La Stella, 3B
Donovan Solano, 2B
Mike Yastrzemski, RF
Alex Dickerson, LF
Buster Posey, C
Brandon Belt, 1B
Brandon Crawford, SS
Mauricio Dubón, CF
Rotation:
Kevin Gausman, RHP
Johnny Cueto, RHP
Anthony DeSclafani, RHP
Aaron Sanchez, RHP
Alex Wood, LHP
Closer: Jake McGee, LHP
That is an interesting rotation. Wood looks like the safe bet to have a pretty good year. No reason Gausman can’t repeat what he did last year. Cueto had a few too many walks last year. Ok, now I am going way overboard with the optimism …
Giants could use another lefty in the rotation.They are to RH pitching dominant especially when u add Webb&maybe Beede to the mix..
Masahiro Tanaka would’ve been a perfect addition.
Giants too cheap to even try.
He wouldn’t have been that expensive…
Looking ahead to the season opener vs. M’s when Giants will probably face a lefty, that likely leaves out Dick, possibly Belt if he’s even available, and Wilmer and Longo would have to be in there.
Agree MacDog, The Mariners have 4 lefties slotted to start in their rotation, so the RH batters will be in there I assume..
Goes without saying, but also leaves GD out too. Best guess is he can be part of Opening Day lineup in Sac with Wade.
Grave duggar doesn’t get left out. He leaves you out…..in a shallow grave
I’m sure you won’t get left out. Gotta be way to figure out how to get daily minor league updates sent to your phone.
Lulz🤣
Prat 3 for 3 so far at SA…
Yeah saw that taking over jockey standings lead; he was 1 up on Juan Hernandez coming into today.
Need the girl in the 4th…
Monmouth Hawks on tonight, 4 PM local/7 EST vs. rivals Iona Gaels coached by Rick Pitino. College b-ball heating up. Near end of league seasons, foll0wed by league Tourneys and Big Dance. good stuff.
St. Mary’s Gaels got thrashed by Zags last night, too ugly to watch. Down by 30 at half, yikes. Talent level in Moraga way down, Zags meanwhile full of first round picks.
Rough first half, King Rice boiled over and got tossed and MU was down 20. Played better 2nd half and somehow got deficit to 3 with :23 left and the ball, but MU couldn’t get off a 3, went for a layup and missed, and too much time lost in scramble for the ball. Someone needs to tell slimeball Pitino to wear his mask.
I was watching at start when they were down 25-10; cool they got almost all the way back. Rematch tomorrow so go right back at em. Rice does get fired up. Pitino seems like he’s polishing the image for next gig at bigger profile program.
“Grave duggar doesn’t get left out. He leaves you out…..in a shallow grave.”
That’s gold, man.
can you imagine anyone fucking with him? If I saw him I’d cross the street no questions asked.
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/2/19/22292184/san-francisco-giants-donovan-solano-arbitration
thanks Loo. seemed petty to me they “couldn’t come to agreement.”. Btw that site used to have the best rundown of every level of Giants minor league games. Hope that’s up and running 2021.
Good to see *some* optimism here for an ok season. My hope for the past 2 seasons was just show some progress in the rebuild and let’s start seeing mostly (or at least more and more) players who could be part of the next 3-in-5. Don’t even care about wins-losses at this point. That MLB-predicted lineup in Loo’s 11:59 will likely not be the lineup that actually finishes the season (one can hope), but still, that lineup shows no progress and in fact shows a backslide, IMO. At least 6, maybe 7, of those 8 names in the lineup won’t be contributing to any semblance of a successful future. Same goes for that pitching rotation. Hate to doom it up, but I’d be surprised if this team stays out of the cellar. And that would be fine with me as long as they showed progress toward growing toward a sustainable better showing in 2022 and beyond. For this year, playing that lineup with distant hopes of getting one of the wildcards would just set the team back another year. Really hope that’s not what happens.
“Snarkk and possibly others have already Flapped out due to the skinflint approaches of ownership and other misfortunes”
Snarkk said he was taking a break from the Flap for a while because the political scene and recent national events made it hard for him to focus on baseball right now. I’m feeling kind of a similar thing. It’s the least I’ve been pumped up for a Spring Training since the mid-1990s. I haven’t bought a season preview magazine yet, and I usually get several of those when they first appear in grocery stores. When the ST games start on ESPN, my interest will probably pick up.
On the MLB Network, I meant.
That huge HR from Renteria is pretty much the only lasting memory I have of him in a Giants uniform. He picked his highlight moment very well, though!