There’s Only One Ball
Wotus was on KNBR this morning and said we have 45 pitchers in camp. LOL I knew it was a lot but FORTY FIVE? Anyway, they asked him if SF can compete with LA and SD this year and he basically said *yes*. He included like 12 conditions that would have to unfold but he said Yes.
Yes.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Didn’t hear the interview, but whatever the specific conditions Wotus cited, they can be summarized this way:
1. If the offense repeats what it did last year and
2. 3 of the starting pitchers are better than league average at 150+ innings (Gausman, Cueto, Wood?) and the 4 and 5 spots aren’t terrible
they won’t technically be out the race until late in the year.
Given recent injury history of few of the SPs acquired, not a bad plan on paper. Also provides sufficient enough workload opportunities btw ST and AAA to evaluate who you have and make decisions going forward.
Thx to Xoot for that link to Athletic column. Recently entered full on retirement, so added that one to stuff I already read online. Lot of interesting content so far, and I also dig reading comments sections underneath columns. Other online sports sites used to allow that but have rescinded it, and sometimes even MLBTR closes comments due to lot of political vitriol back and forth. There was even some of that in Athletic story I read today about Baer announcing KNBR/Giants extension. As others said, hard to believe Flemming has been there 18 years now.
Congrats on your retirement, Willedav.
This mornings Athletic has a be your own 49er GM. where you have to fill out the 53 man roster while being under the 182.5mil cap. Gonna be fun and a little time consuming.
Congrats on the retirement!
Just read this article on Francisco Lindor. Mets are in talks to extend him beyond this year (he is set to be a FA next year). Three teams listed as interested, including the Giants.
https://fansided.com/2021/03/10/suitors-lining-up-to-pry-francisco-lindor-from-mets/
Why would the Giants have interest when they have Luciano in the wings? Makes no sense. Everything I have read on Luciano is the Giants intend to keep him at SS.
this is just Heyman talking his usual no-nothing shit.
I have money on Luciano ending up at second…I think will take pressure on his defense and focus his skills on offensive firepower…
Stopgap-trade bait? The Giants are the perfect foil to jack up the price of a given free agent.
Do they think Lucky won’t be ready till 2023?
Charlie – Read an article where Luciano was interviewed the other day, and he still feels he will be ready to make the big club next year…even with missing a year of minors last year. It will have to be a Will the Thrill/Robby Thompson type of jump (AA to bigs) as I am not sure Luciano will progress higher than AA this year.
iirc, Pablo started 2008 at A in San Jose and ended up at China Basin in August. It’s possible.
Lots of bullshit sprinkled into this LU.
that Krizan guy did homer yesterday game iirc.
Made a great diving catch in LF too I think
I saw speculation about SF pursuing one of the FA SSs elsewhere a week ago or so. By the time Luciano is 22 in 2023, all of those free agents will be 30 and Longoria will be gone.
When it comes to pursuing expensive 28 year old players, I hope SF isn’t entirely focused on filling a specific position because there’s a weakness on the roster or there’s no highly rated prospect in the pipeline. They should simply aim to improve the team for at least 2-3 years. Lindor, Seager or Baez would very likely do that.
I really believe with all the money coming off the books next year that the Giants will be major player in F/A.
They can be as aggressive as any team with certain players they seek out.
I think they will go after SS Trevor Story who is still in his prime and will add the slugging power,good defense durable, they desperately need from the right side. And I also think that Lucky Luciano will out grow his body( time will tell what the Giants decide on him)to be a SS and he will end up at 3rd.Still nothing wrong with that, learning everyday from a veteran like Story, while both forming a lethal combination on the right side of the infield for years to come!
No way will they be in play for Lindor who will resign with the Mets for some crazy shit like 300 mil,are Seager with LA( who’s not durable anyway with injuries) Story would be cheaper, and with so many quality SS coming out next year he would be the right choice..
Here’s some Steven Duggar “porn” for Flav, SD, Loo, et. al.
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/3/10/22324353/san-francisco-giants-steven-duggar-outfield
Thanks, Blade!
It’s quickly turning into a groundswell.
I myself was anti-Grave Duggar until SD & Flavor wised me up.
Those two have great instincts…
thank you. You are wise.
idk Kat, from what new CEO younger Johnson said in that interview with Baggs (thx again Xoot, fantastic read) long term expensive FA deals are out. He made specific mention of what happens by year 6 etc…I’m skeptical the SS FAs would take 2-3 year contracts without opt outs that would benefit them. His whole tenor seemed to be against the type of contracts Giants have signed in the past that haven’t worked out how they wanted.
Couple other things that stood out to me baseball wise: he is in favor of expanded playoffs, the DH, and said approval rate (by fans I guess) for runner at 2b in extras was 70%…um not here certainly.
Also he noted how fewer balls are put in play and mentioned going after shifts by mandating 2 iFs on each side, and limiting pickoff throws in order to bring back steals, bunts doubles and triples as opposed to just HRs.
As he’s the guy who’s been discussing, and will be voting on, those things for the Giants, his public remarks are both significant and carefully staged. I’d like to know where he got that fan support info for the free runner on 2B. Sounds like manipulative bullshit to me. At least he’s accessible.
Yes that 70 percent thing seemed like total owners PR bs.
If we are well under .500 this year, which is quite possible, I don’t think Zaidi and elite free agents are going to be interested in one another. I really think we will be looking more at next year’s version of Semien/Joc Peterson level free agents. And I’m good with that. I’d rather see us spread dough around on cheaper, short term deals than to thrown 400 mil at one dude, no matter how good he is.
Semien loves the Bay Area. Just bad timing, I guess.
It is a smart strategy, but a 69-93 season would also call it into question among the great unwashed, not to mention some of the geniuses in our very own stable. The 2020 upswing will look like a fluke. If you couple that with a less than stellar minor league season from Ramos or Luciano, then attempting to make a splash with a big name might look a little more appealing.
very stable geniuses?
Total studs.
Yeah I guess with LaStella being the only guy getting a 3 year contract I have to assume that’s going to be Z’s philosophy with players.He Will be the king of 2-3 year contracts which I’m fine with.If he can get an elite player to agree to that it would be a bonus. This roster will certainly change immensely next year with all the 1-2 deals leaving as well.
I like the idea of the one year deals as long as the players get a somewhat fair shake to prove themselves. If a player shines pretty sure we will extend them with a contract. With all the pitchers in camp seems like it’s a put up or shut type of deal.
Here’s the section from the Johnson interview where he addresses the separation of business and operations:
“From my perspective, what I look at is accountability and responsibility. How can I measure my head of baseball ops if the business side is dictating or pushing free-agent signings? That’s the temptation, right? For the business side, it’s about season-ticket sales and excitement. I know (signing a major free agent) is going to increase my fan engagement next year, but I’m signing a player that I know in year six, seven and eight is going to be problematic for the franchise. And that, I think, is a difficult balance for the business person to have. Now, I’m not saying we didn’t do a good job of balancing that. I think we did. But it’s very hard to hire somebody of Farhan’s caliber, tell him he’s there to build baseball ops, and then have some somebody on the business or the owner side tell him, ‘Well, I don’t like that signing’ or ‘Boy, tell you what, go out and get that guy.’ How then can you evaluate whether they did their job or not?”
There’s some room for interpretation of whether or not he’d automatically nix a big longer term contract.
Yep. Much later in the interview he repeated his unequivocal equivocation.
“It goes back to our earlier conversation: How do you make somebody accountable if you’re overriding or influencing decisions? I’m going to ask questions, I’m going to try to learn, I’m going to ask for input as I go along. But this is somebody who has built up a lot of trust in a short period with the organization. It’s separation of church and state on that.”
“
I see the Grave Duggar was 1-1 today with an RBI & a SB…
after a terrible start, batting .308 now…..
Best job for Duggar is entering “The Grave Digging Championships” where his best work will be with a shovel&pick. Granted it’s a bit of a dead end job, but it’s better then his dead ☠️ baseball career is…
you may as well just close both eyes at this point. Keeping them open and just waiting for him would be torturous.
now let’s see him do this in 500 at bats….
See him do what?
Duggar had 488 AB’s at Clemson and hit 3HR’s
That’s 1 for every 163 plate appearances.
No way he will get 500AB’s here..🤣
Looks like the dubs will go 0-5 vs the gauntlet that was supposed to show them as at least a decent contender. The Lakers, Suns, Trail Blazers and now the Clips are beating them up.
10 turnovers in the 1st half ain’t getting it done. Dray and Steph with 6 of those 10.
I take a couple years off, and come back and not a lot has changed, BF holding court with the usual suspects. Any way congratulations Willie on retirement, I retired May/2020. I like the talk of 2-3 year contracts. The FA who are 27-29 years old, that is all they should get. Let’s hope they build their Championship teams like they did in 2010, players from the farm system.
Wow. Dubs down 38 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Poole heating up in garbage time. Mannion looks like complete dogshit.
Johnny Damon traffic stop vid on youtube is pretty funny. TV station said blood alcohol level was .30, triple legal limit in Florida. Wife got into act too. Watched some of it on yahoo news story…guess we’ve all been there (not in custody) or close to it. Just something else I don’t do anymore.
.24 was the highest I ever blew. And that was a couple hours after I stopped drinking
My glove compartment was a well stocked mini-bar.
Had everything but ice.
I thought I was being classy and hospitable.
No generation really gets the one before or after it…