10 Rounds, 9 Pitchers
Whatever, I guess Z knows what he’s doing. If he thinks he can find all these rando hitters off the scrap heap, and he is apparently quite good at that, then I support the idea of stockpiling pitchers and praying you hit on one or two.
I see Loo’s prediction of an injured child finally came true. I didn’t see it, was it bad?
Crawford gets one at bat tonight maybe? Bomb to win it?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Years of control, vs. having to go QO $19 mil route in second year of Gausman. Buehler and Urias combined make around $10 mil iirc. Young pitching (as said if you hit on them) most valuable thing to own in baseball these days.
Z could draft poker players and tell me he’s going to convert them to infielders and I’d support it. He is a God at this, IMO
Like most teams, the Giants need pitching. So if a couple stick and a few others are tradeable, that would be a great draft. I like that all but one are college guys too, hopefully they move through the system faster.
Yanks took Stanford SP Brendan Beck in 2nd round.
Ian Villers, the Cal kid the giants drafted, looks interesting. Big, hard thrower.
yeah interesting. Local kid from the Creek, Northgate HS.
No. Can’t tell if that IS one of the adults, or just a big kid. But really. Come on, dude.
Just rub some dirt on it…works every time…
Let the kids have fun. Sometimes you get hurt having fun. That’s life.
At least they’re not at home in a dark room fixated on Fortnite.
The things we used to do as kids in the ’60s with no adult supervision whatsoever would put parents now at risk of having child protective services called. I used to ride my single speed clunker bike, starting in first grade, 3+ miles each way to parochial grammar school. Sometimes in tule fog conditions in the Valley when I couldn’t see more than 50 feet, I had to stop at intersections to hear whether a car was coming. And, I crossed a busy 4 lane road (2 lanes each direction) with no stop light/sign, in the fog, frequently. No way now that a lot of parents would let grammar school kids do that, unless conditions at home are not the best. Not to mention the threat of pedophiles and nutjobs out there seeing easy pickens with a little kid riding a bike alone.
Come to think of it, maybe my parents were crazy … 😉
I didn’t see that collision where the kid got clocked, was that a girl?
I did see this fan take a header as he was leaning over the wall at a concession aisle exit trying to catch a Matt Olson HR ball, lucky for him there were some people standing where he fell and helped break is fall..
Looked like a girl.
I’m glad to see a bunch of kids actually jazzed about baseball. I wonder if they were just local kids or kids of players or a mix?
Looks like the “adult” was responsible for the crash, I suppose he was responsible to help keep the kids safe and in order? …
If the big guy who flattened the child was an adult “supervisor,” somebody’s gonna pay.
“I want Answers “
“You can’t handle the Truth”
“I have the Right”
Soon thereafter, he becomes even more persuasive: ” I’m gonna rip the eyes out of your head and piss into your dead skull! You fucked with the wrong Marine!”
The video posted by Chuck is from 2016…
Oh.
What?
Looks like dumbshit Manfraud is going to eliminate 7 inning doubleheader’s and runner on 2nd base to start extra innings next year. Probably couldn’t stand getting booded and roasted by the fans during the draft for these 2 idiotic rule changes he incorporated..
Good. Neither one of those changes was going to work long term anyway. The ghost runner in particular is a lame idea. As for 7 inning doubleheaders, Ernie Banks will always have it right. “Let’s play two!”
“Let’s play one and 7/9ths!”
Patrick Bailey, giants #1 pick drafted 13th overall last year, demoted to low A San Jose. Originally sent to High A Eugene. Might just be numbers game where he’ll get to play more, as San Jose C was recently promoted to Eugene.
Still, when #1 pick is hitting under Mendoza line at A ball, kind of a hmmnn.
Dubon played RF for Sac last night and threw out a guy at 3b. Tauchman and LaStella continue to rehab there, though apparently LaStella’s thumb still bothers him as he left game after 2 ABs. Bart rejoined Sac, in order to go back to playing regularly.
Manfred threatening Oakland that if the upcoming City Council vote on the new stadium doesn’t go well, the A’s may leave…
a’s are already making plans to play in the Las Vegas minor league park while a new one is built. Lease on the E Coli only runs through 2024.
Personally, I think the A’s leaving Oakland would suck.
Not a fan of the 4 day break. Lets bring back Thursday baseball! I also heard on talk radio they are considering banning the shift. Lets hope!
How stupid is it to change the rules for defense? Every position has a circle they need to stand in? Fucking stupid. What ever happened to ‘hit ’em where they ain’t’?
Teams often bring in an extra IFer in late inning games. Will that be outlawed?
Playing in on bunt? At what point before pitch is thrown would an IF be allowed to move?
This is all I saw from yesterday. Eerily reminiscent of the guy who died in Texas stadium when Josh Hamilton threw him a ball and he went over the railing trying to catch it. Except he fell 20 feet.
https://myfox8.com/sports/obviously-i-want-a-ball-man-falls-over-railing-nearly-lands-on-head-trying-to-catch-homerun-ball-at-home-run-derby/
Wasn’t on the field though.
The A’s played their first six home games in ’96 at Las Vegas while work was being done on Mount Davis.
Banning the shift is OK with me. I would say only for the first 7 innings. Allow late inning strategic shifts.
2 infielders on each side of second base, with their feet either on the dirt or on the infield grass.
Only for the first 7 innings. Or 6, maybe.
In my opinion, it’s worth trying. Let’s see if helps create more baserunners.
Old man yelling who likes to yell because other old men believe stupid shit:
“Baseball Info Solutions reports shifting caused 213 would-be hits to be turned into outs in last year’s shortened 60-game season, which translates to 575 hits-to-outs over a normal, 162-game season.”
That’s one single every 4 games.
There’s a visual aesthetic to the game that is harmed by the shifting. A left handed batter getting thrown out at first base from short right field makes the sport look bad.
What’s wrong with baseball? The fact that something called Baseball Info Solutions is determining strategy.
I should have said “otherwise intelligent old men.”
Well, yeah, that would have been nicer. 🙂
Old man yelling at cloud:
Those All Star uniforms make it harder to tell who people are.
Old man yelling at whatever:
The unvaccinated people are trying to get us all killed.
Nice tribute to Aaron. great shot from AS game of him btw Mays and Frank Robinson of Reds.
Since the players refuse to hit’em where they ain’t” the game is now slow and boring. I agree the players should adjust. Belt got a bunt hit that way a few weeks ago and it was so cool. That said…All we see is a million ground outs, or a homer. No hits, not runners scoring on a single. All the scoring is on a walk and a homer. The “lame ” runner on second is actually growing on me because it is the only time teams play some of the ball we grew up watching..get the runner over. get’m in.
Something crazy like 60% of the scoring is on homers.
So.. Since the players won’t adjust, time to make an adjustment imo..
Well said. I agree.
There is no reason for them to adjust to the shift, because it has a negligible effect on the game.
I don’t. The same area on the IF is covered by same amount of players as before. If hitters want to hit singles, the holes to get ball through the IF are still there, just in different spot.
for LH, big hole to left of 2b, and another one btw SS spot and the line.
For RH, same thing–hole on right side of 2b and 1b, and another one down the line.
And if you want to go deeper, plenty of room in OF. Telling a mgr. where he can position his fielders is just plain wrong. His team, his decision.
Yes. The free runner on 2B and 7 inning double headers are drastic, structural changes. The shift is a strategic managerial development.
I’m already sick of Joe Buck as he shouting to get a comment from Bogerts while he’s fucking batting!
STFU 🤬 your so freaking annoying!!
Man, even the way the names are printed on the jerseys is messed up. They’re harder to read than they should be. Nike sucks.
For a boring sport in a self-inflicted decline, there are more than a few pretty cool players at this game. And, hey, they’re not all white guys with beards and crosses.
In those uniforms, who is everyone? I’m having to work harder than I should to know who people are.
agree. always liked players in their own unis and hats.
These are the worst jerseys ever.Looks like every player spilled a whole bottle of ketchup all in the same spot..Nike does suck..
For fans, it brought pride to see your favorite team’s uniform literally represented in the All Star game, and that got taken away. Hopefully this turns out to be a one-time experiment.
If it weren’t for state of the art, data-driven analytical strategy, and training, the Giants would not be worth a shit this year. And some shifts are aesthetically pleasing, too.
I agree that a team has to play the sport as it is to win. Totally.
Only a rule change can make changes.
Hasn’t bothered Crawford much, has it?
I’m for stopping shifts, or limiting shifts. Posey himself has expressed this POV.
If they don’t improve defense, or impact the game, compared to the previous no-shift approach in most of the game, then why do managers employ them?…
I want to see analysis of the impact shifts have had on double plays. Good as he is at 3B, Longo doesn’t look real comfortable turning two when he’s on the other side of the IF. And “double play depth” itself has nearly vanished.
What? Nothing there.
Oh man. Buck telling Tatis to talk to the guy on his HR trot. It’s like they’re on a single-minded quest to make me hate this broadcast.
Where is degrom? How di schurzer get the start?
He decided not to play, like few other guys that aren’t hurt.
Buck is an idiot
I love the three-way split-screen simultaneous interviews. Not.
The game screen is smaller than the TV I used to have in the early 1990s.
They should have a round-table discussion with 8 people and put the game screen in the middle, like Alice in The Brady Bunch.
That’s funny, Zumiee!
Reynolds got 2 ABs. That’s impressive.
I’ll give Roberts credit though—Frazier made last out at bottom of order, and he took Tatis Jr. out for Crawford. And he gets to lead off bottom 6th…trailing now 5-1. Funny the AL guys don’t have any problem hitting at Coors.
Wonder how many times Buck had his lunch money taken, and how many underwear wedgies rips just after as a kid?
While Z was working for the Dodgers there are three players he picked up off basically the scrap heap that are all Dodgers playing in this All Star game.
Yaz, from the scrap heap, would have been in the All Star game last year, if there had been one.
Nike made sure their logo had a side of the uniform to itself.
Maybe that’s the strategy. The eye is drawn away from the confusing junk on the left side to the logo on the right side.
Nike will solve confusion in the world. Look to the logo.
What did they do waive the rule if u pitched on Sunday?
A’s Chris Basitt pitched on Sunday but in they’re tonight? As he says well I don’t know if all ever be hear again?
Gausman could be thinking the same thing, kinda BS.
If guys are swinging for the fences anyway, what good is denying the shift?
Maybe it would help the game evolve to something better than it currently is. Maybe it wouldn’t. It’s worth a try, IMO.
Like the runner on 2nd in extras, it is an artificial change that spits in the face of strategery.
Yes, that is exactly right. I’d put it this way: they are trying to hit the ball in the air as hard as they can on pitches that are strikes. The best hitters have always done this, even if it hasn’t been a conscious strategy prior to the evil of big data. Even if you are not a great hitter, you and your team are still better off if you do as the best hitters do. The 2021 Giants operate on these assumptions. The fact that hitters are striking out as much as they are is because the umpires favor the pitchers with their strike zones and pitchers throw a lot harder than ever.
“you and your team are still better off”
I don’t think anyone is disagreeing with that.
Some of us are just saying the sport itself isn’t better off, overall.
And at least one of us is saying the problems that are diminishing its appeal have been there from the very beginning. Enjoy it while you can.
Never realized that Melonhead looks like Mr.Burns.
When they start displaying large corporate ads on the unis, I’ll be pissed. Like nascar shells. Or soccer jerseys. terrible stuff. The AS game isn’t important any more. Who gives a fuck. But I don’t want to see FB and Google and Apple on SF jerseys.
“If it weren’t for the San Francisco Giants, the best story in baseball right now would be the Boston Red Sox.” Smoltz just said that (although I’m not sure he composed the second clause of his sentence quite so well). Now we get a bit more Giants chatter. But nothing worthy of the best record in baseball. Fox.
Yeah, the Red Sox are still the story. Maybe it’s just as well they stay hidden in plain sight.
well, I don’t think it can hurt or help. But it’s more interesting to me than what they now call “logos.”
Surprised we even got that.
Joe buck is a massive pita.
I’m shocked Buck after he started to say that they’re only been 1 Grandslam in A/S history he didn’t finish that one up by telling us all, Yes it was Giants pitcher Atlee Hammaker who gave it up to Fred Lynn!!
He also said Buster ‘declined to play’ in the ASG. He also missed the last week due to injury, you fucking dolt.
Buck tried to talk to the guy pitching, lulz.
The blue team won!
Xoot, completely agree about corporate intrusion. Over here, football (soccer) is king, and in addition to its popularity among the VNmese, there are so many expats here from football countries like Oz, UK, Germany, etc. Years ago shared a house with an Aussie and used to always piss him off when I’d walk through the sitting room and see him watching a football match and I’d say, “Oh, look, Toyota is playing Emirates Airlines, who’s winning?”… Amazing he always got mad, and I kept saying it until he stopped getting mad….
ha, toyota is playing emirates, good one. Gotta admit, adults and children here do run around in fancy gear labeled emirates.
Back then, I believe it was Arsenal that Emirates sponsored (not sure about now), and Arsenal always seemed pretty popular….
The receptacle for the uniforms:
Dislike the in game mic BS, but when Vlad Jr. was up while they were talking to Tatis Jr. at SS, he crushes that pitch and you can see Tatis Jr. put his hands on his head right away as everyone knew it was gone.
Vlad Jr. was born in Montreal, in 1999. Tatis Jr. was born in the DR, in San Pedro de Macoris, but both dads did play together early 2000s for Expos.
I don’t think anybody’s answered my question — if the shifts don’t really change much in the game from no shifts, then why do the managers do it?…
Because they think it gets outs.
“Mike Vaccaro
@MikeVacc
These grotesque All-Star uniform shall henceforth be known as “Manthreads””
In 2009, batters put 130,217 balls in play or about 27% per game. By 2017, that was down to just over 121,400. For the 2018 season, the number was projected to be around 120,000, barely 25% per game. It surpassed that number very easily, reaching 120,698. Once again, there was another drop in 2019. That does not bode well for future fans. May as well watch batting practice, there’s more action. A 7.5% decline in less than a decade is a sharp drop.
https://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:eco%2Cw_512/MTgxMjc3MDQ5NTQzOTkyNDIz/baseball-a-changing-landscape.webp
I think it’s because even though they might not make a big difference on a whole, they might work well vs. different hitters in different situations. I think they prevent a lot of hits up the middle, but maybe not much else.
There’s also the old “sheep” reason…
Calling a bigger strike zone would speed up play and hopefully generate more swings.
Blogger Chuck Bannon noted that while home runs have increased, strikeouts dramatically increased, by almost 25% over the past decade. It’s only getting worse. In 2018, for the first time in the history of the game, strikeouts exceeded hits. There were 41,019 hits in 2018 compared to 41,207 strikeouts. That disparity widened in 2019, as there were 42,823 strikeouts compared to 42,039 hits. See chart below:
https://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:eco%2Cw_550/MTgxMTM4OTA5MTY4Njc0MTUy/baseball-a-changing-landscape.webp
By banning the shift, what is it you are trying to accomplish or add to the game? More singles up the middle, or singles into RF for LHs?
Seems to me if I’m a mgr. trying to position my defense vs. a hitter who gets singles up middle, then that is exactly where I would try to put a fielder to try and stop it. Same for a LH who routinely lines singles over head of my 2b–I’d play him deeper to take that away.
This is a basic part of all sports–in b-ball I would do the same thing, try and take away what my opponent or his players do best, and make them do something different.
Taking that away from a baseball mgr. seems fundamentally wrong, like telling his pitchers they can’t throw sliders or changeups to best hitters on other team.
Agree absolutely Willie. If you want to add action to the game, these are things I would do . . . and remember, this isn’t “new fangled,” as this is how the game was played in the 1950s and 1960s:
1. Decrease pitcher slots in the roster . . . I have said this numerous times before – 12 and 13 pitchers is ridiculous. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, there were no more than 9 pitchers. No wonder everyone throws 100 MPH plus, as they get so many damn breaks.
2. Coupled with the aforementioned, pitchers that throw hard take their god damn freaking time throwing the ball. Speed up play. Back in 1948, when Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson were on the field – an average 9-inning game lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. Today, it takes more than 3 hours. Now, pitchers aren’t all responsible for that, i.e., commercials, players scratching themselves, manager trips to the mound, etc., are equally to blame.
3. No more room for the people that look like me and you . . . Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Billy Martin, Bucky Dent, Brian Doyle, Freddie Patek and Bernie Carbo would have no place in the game if sabermetrics had come along earlier in the 20th century. The oddball and the lesser talented always had a home in America’s pastime. No more thanks to the madness that is sabermetrics. By the by, I read this from an article, “A side note, albeit a snarky one: one of the leading proponents of Sabremetrics, Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane, does not have a World Series ring. The guy even got a book written about him, Moneyball, which was made into a movie of the same name. I have not read the book or seen the movie. I’ll wait for the sequel: Goose Egg.” Note: #3 isn’t a recommendation . . . rather, a rant. lol
Yep.
In the NBA there is a thing called the defensive 3 second rule (not that I can explain what it is) that limits what defenses can do, in order to help the offenses score.
In the NFL, they’ve changed the rules constantly about what defenses can do, in order to help the offenses.
Soccer refuses to adjust its rules to make it easier to score, which hasn’t hurt its international popularity, but has always limited its popularity in the U.S.
Most popular game in the world by far. I was living in Vietnam when Vietnam upset a few big powers in the SE Asia region. As Paul indicated, it was huge for the community. Unbelievable celebration by everyone. Soccer isn’t a niche sport world-wide.