Bour
I know it’s just a minor league deal but it’s still irritating. Z is the master of the underwhelming. Trot a home grown guy out there over this beer league softball castoff.
Anyway, 32 year old Justin Bour is here…
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A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Another useless “Justin” brought in to end his career in SF.
Others:
Smoak
Christian
Ruggiano
Maxwell
You can’t make it up (as they say)…
Excellent list
BTW, per baseball reference Bour is in fact pronounced “bore” (like core!)…
Bour, Bour, Bour!
How do you like it?
How do you like it?
Chuck and Mac, I’m so sorry for your loss of loved ones. We’re all thinking about you.
“Free-agent pitcher Sam Dyson has accepted a suspension for the entire 2021 season for violating MLB’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, the league announced Friday.
“Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Dyson violated our policy and that discipline is appropriate,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in the release.
Dyson, 32, last pitched in the majors for the Minnesota Twins in 2019. The allegations were brought to light by his ex-girlfriend, Alexis Blackburn, in an Instagram post posing as her cat late that year. “I don’t have to worry about getting hurt because of anger or control,” the post read. “I don’t have to be scared of yelling and things being hurled at mom and me.””
Wasn’t Bart getting time in alt site at 1b? Can’t remember where I saw it, but some site had him playing 1b for Giants in very near future.
btw noticed Joel Rosario had couple mounts at SA yesterday.
Bart needs to do something this year or he’ll fall into bust category. He’s already sliding down the prospect lists of most pundits
Kat, JD to start today in Scottsdale vs. Royals. Set to bat 9th and play RF, with Vosler in LF Yaz in CF Cueto to start along with Longoria. Just a fwiw but in Pav’s column I saw on Slater the other day with Kapler quotes about him getting ST time at all 3 spots in OF, he also said Yaz is better CF than numbers showed. So definitely a hmmnn
Good. If Grave Duggar is injured beyond repair I’d like to see a good Stanford man on guard
Slater will get hurt standing guard.
There is a really good interview in the Athletic with Greg Johnson. Question and answer with Baggarly. This is a small part.
You touched on this a bit earlier when you gave Farhan Zaidi a clear vote of confidence, but what other thoughts do you have about the performance of the current baseball operations group?
If you look at where we are today versus where we were when we hired Farhan, it’s probably one of the biggest shifts in baseball operations for any team. From the young coaching staff to the improvement on the player development side with analytics, it’s been very dramatic in a fairly short period of time. Those are the things that we want to see: that we are moving in the right direction for the organization. As we continue to do that, we feel like we’re on the right path to have a competitive, winning team. As far as fan patience and bringing in stars and free agents, I think we have a very smart fan base. Based on the things that I read and see and get on Twitter, people really seem to understand that you don’t win by going out and outbidding the other 29 teams for three or four free agents. You win by having one of the best farm systems and scouting systems and developmental systems. That’s where the emphasis is with Farhan. He’s a very thoughtful leader, very smart; he’s brought in tremendous people. I think (GM) Scott Harris, (vice president of performance and wellness) Colin Cahill, they are bringing a fresh perspective, a new skill set.
If he is blowing smoke he’s really good at it.
Agreed, but part of that does leave large question in regard to pitching. they brought in Gausman Smyly and Tyler Anderson (among others who sucked) 2020, and let 2 of those guys walk. Gausman has $19 QO (where they did exactly outbid everyone else), and the other SPs brought in this year are on one year deals except for Sanchez, and all of them have recent health issues.
It’s easy to get burned and burdened with FAs, but you have to fill rotation somehow and prospects within farm system very limited for SPs. Realistically, how many of reclamation projects would work out and even if they did how many would they keep vs. trade off?
I don’t think they expect a whole lot out of some of the pitchers they brought in. Most of them are just stop gap and easily expendable. I have been saying for awhile now that we should concentrate our top draft picks on pitching they seem to take the longest in developing.
Chron has online column saying Giants and A’s have OK to allow fans in for Opening Day. Depending on tier rating, it would be btw 20% to 33% of capacity. A’s plan was to allow about 11,500. Giants of course open on road in Seattle.
I like what Winder said – patience is key, especially after the fiasco decisions of the previous regime after our last hurrah in 2014, e.g., Melancon, Longoria, Cueto (albeit, he was excellent in year 1 of his 6 year $130 million contract), Smarg, etc.
Some of you I know disagree with what Z is doing, but I really think that ownership is gun shy after flushing millions of dollars down the toilet on free agents that didn’t work out and extending too, too long contracts to our World Series heroes. Consequently, I suspect Z is on a strict budget. He has my full support. Anyway, good post Winder.
supposedly their farm system is greatly improved. I don’t see the need for some lunch box head 32 year old hasbeen. He’s just taking spring at bats away from someone who might show them something
Agree Blade… Zman’s done a wonderful job building the farm systems up which is now ahead of the Dodgers I believe at 14?They were bottom feeders before he arrived and I like how he drafted BATS for the future first instead of in the past when they went heavy on pitchers who haven’t panned out!(I think that was all on Z’s philosophy)
He’s on the continual track for success and once the bore core contracts are off the books he will have the ownership loosened up they’re tight wallets to make additional players possible going forward..
AK, I didn’t know there was a ranking where we are ahead of the Dodgers, insofar as our farm system is concerned. If you find the article/review, can you post it here or to me? Thanks!
Blade I saw a list from Bleacher Report that’s updated farm systems for 2021 and they have the Giants actually at #6 while the Dodgers slipped to #22
Another site http://www.prospect1500 for 2021 had the Giants at #10 and the Dodgers at #16
Thanks AK . . . But for some reason, it wont load. Don’t know why, as I have tried a few times.
I did a search of the Bleacher report for farm systems and did get that, so that’s fine.
Willied… Good to see Jaylin Davis out there today he will easily despense of GraveDuggar for extended playing time.He’s a guy that could play all 3 outfield positions as well not just RF.They should give him some reps in CF as well cause he has the arm and speed to play there.Batting 9th? No respect still, but I guess they are just easing him back slowly..
RF at the O might be tougher and require near as much range if not more than CF. Gotta admit Torres covered more ground than about anyone since.
Appreciate WillieD’s continued emphasis on the pitching. I think the Giants have often gotten too much or too little credit for it since the Lincecum glory days. It will be interesting to see if the “total roster” approach to the pitching staff carries over in 2022 and beyond. Doing a quick scan, it looks like pitchers are overrepresented in this group: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/554808-mlb-free-agency-50-biggest-free-agent-busts-of-all-time
I wonder if pitching reclamation projects have that much worse a track record than free agents do. As someone who’s been both a successful cheap gamble and FA flop, how typical is J. Schmidt’s few years of success with SF?
Another question: what percentage of pitchers are consistently effective at least 4-5 years and beyond? I think the list at any one time may be smaller than the total number of ML teams.
Presently I would say Max Scherzer is one pitcher that’s been as consistent as they come since leaving Arizona in 09. pitching great for both Detroit and now Washington even at 36..
I do like how the Giants got every ounce of Jason Schimdt who truly was a stud for SF, before going to the Dodgers and flopped with arm/elbow issues.I wonder if the Giants knew that was coming??
Big Daddy was pretty good too.
The Giants had remarkable good fortune with Vogelsong. That was a pivotal reclamation signing.
This just confirms what I thought about Z when he was hired and suspected, insofar as cleaning house – top to bottom. AK, again, thanks for sharing this about one aspect of his housecleaning, i.e., the farm system.
“Farm System Snapshot
The San Francisco Giants’ climb from the bottom of these rankings to the No. 6 spot in the short time since general manager Farhan Zaidi took over prior to the 2019 season has been nothing short of amazing.
Joey Bart hit .233/.288/.320 with zero home runs in 111 plate appearances as the team’s primary catcher last year after Buster Posey opted out, but he maintained his rookie status and could be headed back to the minors for further seasoning.
Heliot Ramos should be the next top prospect to arrive on the scene as he looks to stake claim to the center field job, and there is a wealth of exciting position-player talent behind him led by dynamic power-hitting shortstop Marco Luciano and low-level outfielders Alexander Canario and Luis Matos. It’s a pitching-thin system, but it’s stocked with talent.”
What really fucking amazes me is where the rest of our division is: Dodgers 22? HAHAHA! Rockies almost last at 29. Padres at 21 and Arizona the closest to us at 10. Hey, I get that this is just one person’s (or website) opinion, but at least I can take joy that the GMen are making progress relatively quickly in a key part of their organization. Here is the site AK alluded to:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2926532-updated-farm-system-rankings-for-every-mlb-team-at-the-start-of-2021
blade- It does seem like we are moving in a positive direction.
Yes!
I just want to point out that 8 of those top 10 from that list were either drafted or signed by Sabean/Evans.
Besides adding top flight guys to your farm system, the rankings will also go up when previous players that were ranked lower (or unranked in some cases) start to play better.
Yes, Farhan has made some good drafts and has done well with his trades to build the back end of the farm system but he also inherited some top ranked players. Just sayin.
Gets forgotten easily here.
I’ll see if I can find it, but think I read on aroundthefoghorn site where Giants current guy in charge of Farm stays in touch with Evans and talked to him a lot after he took over.
Winder, there is one thing I disagree with you about (amplified again by AK) . . . Specifically, Z is absolutely correct in concentrating on hitters in the farm system versus pitching. In fact, myself, Flavor, and others here have stated a number of times, that hitters avoid this place like the plague due to our poor hitting ball park and the fact that housing, taxes, etc., is so freaking expensive, resulting in our team having to pay a “California Penalty” (extra money) to entice anyone to come here, especially hitters. Conversely, pitchers love to come to our pitching friendly ball park and consequently are easier to sign.
blade- i agree you have to have bats in your lineup. Probably the most successful approach would be to draft the BPA in the first few rounds. But, after a couple of years doing that you gotta at some time draft for need and we need solid pitching.
Yeah they have to keep Nunez on the roster all year and I hope he sticks!
I’m also excited about both Castro&Doval who both have high 90’s heat with control.
Probably will start in Sac but it won’t be long this year when those 2 get called up..imo
Sounds good. Hope i get to see him pretty soon. I think the biggest obstacle is identifying superior talent when you see it. Looks like someone on our staff has that ability.
With that upside potential, even if Nunez doesn’t light em up in ST, they may feel that his projected value is such that he’ll be #26 on the roster.
I admire Bozo’s don’t believe the hype skepticism of the new regime. But as I’ve pointed out once before, the fact that Zaidi and co are objectively smarter in running the organization than Sabes was constitutionally capable of doesn’t mean a team that simply ignored all the new fangled shit couldn’t be successful or win a WS. It’s just that they are somewhat less likely to, if everyone else is paying closer attention to the data and trying to achieve other marginal advantages by trying new stuff. Still, there’s a limited and readily knowable pool of talented players, and you can reduce the element of chance only so much through better methods.
I’m actually not as down on Zaidi as I was when they first hired him. I think his trades have been solid and like I said above his building of the backend of the farm system would also seem to be well thought out. I do think he might drag FA decisions out and may miss out on players he targeted (that is just a gut feeling on my part). I do think he has made some fuck ups along the way especially with the players roulette using the Rule 5 and waiver wire. I know those are low risk gambles but they can also clog up production at a position while basically getting tryouts when the game matters. I still don’t agree with his hiring of Kapler but maybe this year he can prove me wrong on that.
The idea that he’s hesitant is interesting. I’d probably attribute the misses on the bigger names to other factors, including simply not being that invested in the signings. The stakes will be higher next year. The player roulette will also become less tolerable and costly, assuming expectations for success grow. The PAs the Connor Joes got might mean a game or 2 in the standings. Kapler I feel sorry for, forever the victim of Trevor Gott’s ridiculously bad luck. He’s very sharp (despite the cherry picked quote about “strikes all over the place” :-)) and as WillieD noted, his replacement in Philly did no better.
“I just want to point out that 8 of those top 10 from that list were either drafted or signed by Sabean/Evans.”
John, acknowledged. That being said, those same 8 players received coaching and different input from the new regime. Z made COMPLETE changes in the farm system, including releasing most of the scouts, coaches, and directors (of scouting and farm system). In other words, a different philosophy from what Sabean and Evans were doing. Equally important, Sabean and Evans were terminated from their jobs. Why? Mainly due to stupid trades, free agent signings, and the pipeline going “dry” from the farm system. In other words, ownership lost confidence of them and what they were doing, right? You just don’t hire someone new to run the organization (Z) just for shit and giggles.
Remember, no one from the farm system has accomplished squat yet, including the 8 from the old regime. Regardless of what happens to those 8 – whether they succeed or fail – will be attributable to both regimes (selection of them by Sabes and Evans and coaching by Z’s employees).
Well, I think Bart’s ranking went down, from 5 to 15 or something. Yes a change in coaching may have helped some players, although I’m not sure how much the minor league coaching staffs have changed (Ishi is still a hitting coach in the minors isn’t he?). But you know young players also start growing into their bodies, just look at Luciano now and also your guy Ramos (also a Sabean/Evens draft). The kids get stronger and yes more coached. And, yes you’re right that the ratings don’t always mean a player pans out at the Major league level. Christian Arroyo was ranked # 82 on MLBPipeline’s 100 list back in 2016.
Whatever, this is probably a waste of both of our time so I’ll stop here.
Z does now have the credential he didn’t have before. With the Dodgers winning the World Series last year, he has helped build a team that won a championship. He has some lingering fingerprints on that Dodger championship.
He’s trying to bring to the Giants what he’s seen work. He didn’t have any magical quick answers for a team stuck with terrible Bore Core contracts, but there’s something solid being built, in the bigger picture.
The longer I live, the more I think the biggest factor in everything is: LUCK
Billy Beane couldn’t agree more.
2-1 Royals but the Giants have the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 3rd.
Jason Vosler continues his hot hitting with a triple to right field
and then, yes my boy Jaylin Davis knocked him in with a single to center!
Longo gets the job done with 2 outs, a double to left center clearing the bases as Davis,LaStella&Yaz score!
Jesus the Giants just signed another LH reliever..
Jose Alvarez with a MLB contract for 1.15 mil and a option in 2022 for 1.5 mil
Little by little, the importance of the starting pitcher is being phased out of the game.
Like the fullback in football, the goon in hockey, and the dominating center in basketball.
Soon there will be 13-14 man pitching staffs consisting of interchangeable guys in every role…
With his 190 HBPs, Randy Johnson may have combined 3 of those roles.
Giants right now have 7 left handed relievers vying for spots..
McGee, Alvarez,Garcia,Selman,Peralta,Menez,and Baragar
Locks are McGee,Alvarez&Garcia I assume after that who knows?
Guys with options will probably head to Sacramento I guess?
Loo I read John Thompson bio I Came as a Shadow (title is from a poem) and he was drafted by Celts same time as Levern Tart. They were in same camp with Celts, roomed together, and Thompson said Tart tore up other guards not named Sam or KC Jones and Havlicek.
But, counting Thompson that meant Celts had 6 black players, way more than most teams, and Tart never had a chance. He said 2 white backup guards made team instead and Tart never played in NBA.
But in first season of ABA, averaged 23.5 and was 3rd top scorer in league
I loved Tart with the Nets…
Vosler making a name for himself. And what is up with Gott? I thought we “gott” rid of him?
Shocking as it seems, Gott cleared waivers and Giants “gott” him back as a non-roster invitee.
wow Joel Rosario wins $400 K Santa Anita with Idol who ran right by heavily favored Maxfield in stretch and overtook Express Train at wire. Rosario had 3 mounts finish second earlier on the card, but got the big one
Maxfield was totally beatable but I didn’t think it would be by that horse. I had 5 of the 8 horses in that race in my p4 and didn’t get thru lol
Bour isn’t really “here.” Pavs tweeted, “Giants announced the Justin Bour deal, but it doesn’t come with a trip to big league camp. He’ll be in minor league camp starting April 1.”
There is story on MLBTR that Longoria is bothered by plantar and might not play lot of 3b right away. hmmnn Volser could come in handy
Jeez that’s a common occurrence for Longo with plantar fasciitis ever year.
Yeah Vosler is hitting the crap 💩 out f the ball.3-3 yesterday now up to .462!
I can see him starting the year at 3 rd and LaStella at 1st for Longo&Belt with they’re usual injuries kicking in early..
Just drove by LL field (Curtner and Leigh in San Jose) and saw kids working out on 2 separate diamonds. wondered if Dirt’s son was gonna have a chance to play–went by local Campbell LL field couple days ago and it was completely vacant.
they play baseball basically all day every day at the fields down from my house
Stanford women have gal from Pinewood (near you?) who is first guard off bench, Hannah Jump. she comes in for anna Wilson, russell’s younger sister, fantastic defender. Jump can really shoot as most pinewood players can.
they play UCLA for Pac 12 Tourney championship at 5 today, on ESPN 2. Cards are so loaded–one of their best players, Haley Jones from Santa Cruz via Mitty, scored 1 point yesterday and sat most of second half, and they won semi game vs. Oregon St. by 30.
UCLA is last team to beat them
I bought two MLB season preview magazines this weekend. Baseball season has officially started for me.
Time for GraveDuggar to pack it up?
After striking out in 3 consecutive at bats Friday
he now is 1-8 with 6 K’s in ST as he’s clinging on life support for an outfield spot that’s not going to happen..
Well timed comment to get the Grave Dugger’s shovel out…
mm see opening line of thread today…”I know it’s just a minor league deal…”
Yeah, it’s looking pretty bleak for the Grave Duggar in SF, but watch him catch on with someone like the Pirates or Royals and have a solid 10 year career…
Nothing like a Doolittle to throw some gopher balls…
Grave Duggar bomb alert.
And it was an oppo shot too, dude flexed power on that one
YES! YES! YES!
https://www.mlb.com/video/steven-duggar-s-solo-home-run?t=spring-training
Grave duggar: 1
Kaylin Davis: 0
Grave Duggar tied for the team lead in bombs.
Honestly they should just give the starting OF spot to ramos. He’s clearly ready to play at this level
Graveduggar making a statement! And against a lefty, no less.
Put him in CF every day and be done with it.
Love the Duggar posts. Entertaining. A scrub. I tried to look him up in my Shandler book. Not even in there. I guess the cut off is at 2-3 thousand players:)
more disrespect. Shandler is now on the list, too. He needs to sleep with one eye open going forward or he’ll be in a shallow grave by April 1
Now Bart joins in with a long ball. The Giants sure have the ball flying out today.
Now if only Bart could hit a HR in a regular season game someday that would be nice..
yeah. UNtil he hits one at the MLB level that dude is way down my list of prospects
If they want to give the final outfield spot to Ramos instead of The Grave Duggar I’m ok with that. Ramos looks electric and could really infuse some much needed spunk into our LU
Agreed, so does Ramos – “I’m ready,” he said. “I can’t wait. I’m going to do everything I can to get there and I feel like I deserve it. I feel like I can play in the big leagues.”
Ramos Fizz is now the team leader in HR’s with 2 today!
Put him in the outfield opening day,kid is legit, and like BF mentioned he’s electric, he has nothing to prove, and they could use a jolt of energy in the LU with him..
So let this be said:
The gauntlet has been thrown down.
But the Grave Duggar has answered;
and answered with vigor…
vigor…..and moxie.
I don’t know if the Giants are serious about Ramos in the starting LU on opening day but it’s about the only thing I’m rooting for. I know The Grave Duggar will start the year in AAA but he could easily get called up once Dick or Slater get hurt.
The NBA All Star game!
i’m stoked!
From a magazine:
The number of singles per game in 2020 dropped to 5.06. The lowest per-game average in MLB history.
Teams’ hitters set a record by averaging a total of 9.01 Ks per game.
Length of games set a record with an average of 3:07 per game.
It’s “a game that takes longer to play, yet contains less and less action.”
I once read that there were only like 12-13 minutes of actual play in an NFL game.
It was a long time ago, but I don’t see why it would’ve changed much either way…
Yeah, replay on TV between plays is huge for football broadcasts.
I think they meant out of the actual timed 60 minutes, Zum.
So much time runs off the clock between plays…
Oh I understood. I just meant how TV does such a great job of filling time between plays with replay and analysis. The TV broadcasts of football flow well.
In my opinion, football is better on TV than in person. The opposite of baseball.
djloo27 said, on June 27, 2017 at 8:13 pm (Edit)
Something about Heliot Ramos (shown sitting in the stands) reminded me of Willie Mays…
snarkk said, on June 27, 2017 at 8:14 pm (Edit)
He’s breathing?…
unca_chuck said, on June 27, 2017 at 8:34 pm (Edit)
He’s black?
djloo27 said, on June 27, 2017 at 9:32 pm (Edit)
The way his upper body looked in the Giants uniform.
It was almost uncanny to me…
that was a fun first half. Steph is INCREDIBLE!
it’s hard to care much that Cassius Stanley got robbed on his first dunk when I literally have never heard of him
I’ll give Marv Albert credit for his professional ability to sound excited during this “game.”
I’m not sure if there’s a family I care less about than The Royal Family.
I never understood the fascination, either.
I’ll take these folks anytime:
Yeah, there’s not a lot of “there” there with the royal family, or any royal family.
In 1963, when he fought Henry Cooper in London, Ali (the Cassius Clay) danced down the aisle and entered the ring wearing a velvet robe and a crown. People in England went apeshit.
https://images.app.goo.gl/J6z73vV6VUaiXobM9
Man..Apollo Creed has nothing compared to Cassius Clay!
Tomorrow’s the big anniversary…
Yeah I see all sorts of stuff on the tv schedule.
The day of the fight (a Monday), the NY Daily News published the predictions of 50-100 (not sure) well known personalities of the day. Incredibly, only one correctly picked Frazier by decision.
None other than Yogi Berra…
http://www.tinyurl.com/3fetbzew
the range today’s NBA shooters have is astounding. THAT was fun to watch.
And everybody heaves ’em now.
Not just the specialists…
A magazine article says the baseball card business is thriving again. It seems to go in cycles. I haven’t been interested in them for the last 45 years.
Lindy’s magazine predicts the Braves vs. the Yankees in the World Series.
Athlon picks Dodgers vs. Yankees.