Winning With Dead Weight
Two nice Bay Area wins last night though both had their warts. I give the Dubs a ton of credit for getting through that game with all the stress they had pregame with Kerr’s Covid and Draymond losing one of his friends to a shooting. The Giants have to figure out Bart and McGee. At least with McGee you know it’s in there. Bart is a different story. This guy was a first round draft pick. That’s it. Teams miss all the time on those guys. He’s basically failed aross the board during all his time at the mlb level.
Stix take:
| Carstie Clausen | Mon, May 9, 8:30 PM (9 hours ago) |  | |
| to me |
Flav: Been following the game on Gameday this evening. Perhaps the one thing that bothers me the most is that Bart has been clueless in his at-bats for some while now. He’s become a Black Hole in the lineup. Every time he comes to bat I just automatically feel that he’s not gonna get on base and most likely strike out. Maybe it’s time to consider options. My pick would be to make a trade with the floundering Cubs and see if they can be tempted by a mid-range prospect or two for Willson Contraras, who for some reason has not seen much action. His offensive numbers have been acceptable if not particularly stellar. Maybe more seasoning in AAA would be what Bart needs. Seems like he’s digging a hole that just gets deeper and deeper. A less stressful and responsible situation might actually do him some good.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Dubs showed what champions are made of pulling games off like last night. People around the league in public dismiss how valuable Dray is and once again he comes up with the massive defensive play. Even with everything not running smoothly, champions know how to win. Suns don’t want a piece of us and hopefully that series goes 7 and we close out Memphis in Game 5.
And in terms of Joey Bart, I am not overly concerned. His job is to handle the pitching staff and if he can get them to handle as well or close enough as Posey had done last year, we should be in 90 win territory. Maybe makes sense to go out and grab a third catcher with some hitting ability for the second half of season who could come in later in games for a key at bat for Bart. Any lefty hitting catchers in baseball anymore? Don’t think we need to panic on Bart.
Roster is playing havoc with Kap’s platoon ball. Last night he started 4 LH vs. LHP. Yaz in RF with Slater and Dubon, Crawford at SS, Belt was supposed to start but in the shuffle Gonzalez hit 9th at DH. Longoria was working out at yard so seems he’s likely to be activated soon, at someone’s expense.
Really surprised Kap hit for Bart there mid game, a move that paid off with sac fly. First time he’s done that I think, yanking Bart out of the game and says a lot. Having a rough time at plate–as Stix said misses most of pitches he swings at. Casali at least has hit couple hard outs and at em balls lately. Giants committed to this combo; dunno what they can do at this point. Sending down Bart to AAA and bring up another kid, idk.
yeah. Sending him down to do what, I don’t know. And I don’t see any catchers on the market this early that would be a big upgrade. We’re stuck at catcher position right now and I blame Z for this who saw Posey walk away and did precisely nothing to fix it.
There is no guarantee with any 1st rounder. I would test the market for him and see if we can get some kind of return. We need a catcher that can hit. I would get another vet in here send Bart down and see if he can shake whatever is holding him back. And if he can’t just cut bait. We have Bailey and a couple of others that might show some promise. I think that’s why we took Bailey anyway, just in case.
Flav, their answer WAS Bart. Bart IS a 1st round pick. He gets this season to get his hitting in order. It may be ugly, but it may work out. They aren’t gonna be jerking him back and forth from Sac to us a la Matt Williams. At least I hope not. And they certainly aren’t gonna trade him. Not now anyway. Not this early in the season, if at all.
I was watching the Dubs and the Giants and was wondering why Bart was pulled. I just assumed he got hurt.
fuck that. That’s not a plan. First rounders in baseball aren’t the same as in any other sport, they miss all the time.
Who, then? It’s not like there’s a Gary Carter hanging around to be plucked anywhere. I guess we coulda got Yan Gomez, but still and all, the guys available to sign are all old.
Who then? Is this a serious question? There is no who NOW. The time to deal with this was the off season. Z is paid to do this and he did nothing. I’m not going back in time and looking at what catchers were available in the off season. That’s Z’s fucking job and he failed. Hoping Bart was going to work out, with tons of evidence that he sucks and the back up plan being fucking Casali, was unacceptable.
And now I’m thinking, Stix, that your suggestion of sending Bark to AAA, while expeditious and certainly painless, might not be, in a matter of speaking, the Giants’ way. Bark stays where he is. We’re gonna train the lad!
Bark with K is fantastic. Btw now O for May/0-15. Doesn’t seem to know what to do with a strike–either lets it go by or whiffs on it.
Z was in tough spot losing Posey which it appears Giants knew was gonna happen. Giants had amazing record when Casali started last year, 42-13 I think and he caught number of shutouts. How much value to put in that I don’t really know. Dumping him after how well pitching did last season with him behind the plate would have been head scratcher, despite how crummy hitter he was.
They have C in pipeline, just all young guys right now. Might have to try and weather storm as Loo said and hope coaching staff can be of some assistance. They are still winning.
First couple of weeks, Bart was relaxed and confident. K&K both talked about it; you could see it in the way he handled himself on the field. That poise vanished. K&K no longer talk about it. This past week, he had a BB and a HBP — his total offense in 15 PAs. And 8 SOs, of course. Maybe chaos in the rotation and pen overwhelmed him. Maybe not, as he must’ve dealt with high turnover in Sac last year. But something has. Strange, unless he’s slightly injured, I guess. He started the season crushing mistakes. Now, once again, he looks like one.
66 percent of first rounders make it to the majors. The same’s true for about 200 draftees every year. Of those 200, about 80 go on to create at least 0.1 WAR as major leaguers, which is a pretty terrible or very limited career. The other 120 are worse than that.
So, of the 200 from each draft class, 20 are first rounders. If you assume they’re no more or less likely to succeed than the lower draft picks, that means 8 of the first rounders achieve at least a 0.1 WAR. I don’t have data on these percentages, but I’ll instead guess that it’s more like 12-13 of the first rounders who at minimum get to 0.1 and that the majority do better than that.
Bart is at 0.3 WAR right now. The expectation that he should have at least a journeyman career is not unreasonable. The difference between AAA and ML pitching isn’t big enough to account for all those Ks.
But, then again . . . those swing throughs on 90 mph middle of the zone fastballs against a lefty last night . . . ugh.
Do the percentage #s differ much when broken down by pitchers and position player 1st rounders? Just curious.
Maybe a game or two at DH might help Bark focus on just hitting and resting between ABs…
He may be in lousy shape and the grind of catching is sapping his strength…
Maybe a week at Esalen with a jar of purely processed psilocybin might,
That actually sounds good.
Used to sneak down to the mud baths at Esalen back in the day. Had a friend who had a semi-illegal cabin we all helped build on the road down to Pfeiffer State beach in Big Sur. Many a weekend bash down there.
I don’t remember any mudbaths there. Sulphur hotspring filled tubs built right on the edge of the cliff I recall. Back in the 70s they used to open the baths to the public at midnight. I think $5 was the fee. Nice place to spend a nonfoggy night with a friend. Full moon would set at the edge of the world as the sky behind the coastal mountains showed a hint of dawn. Massage tables on the edge of the cliff, too. Last time I was there, a bunch of soldiers from Fort Ord showed up. They liked the nekkid women.
No moon nights were great, as well. Everyone needs to see the stars above Big Sur at least once.
Wondering if one of the beat writers asked Kap about pinch-hitting for Bart. I haven’t seen anything, and he probably would’ve said he wanted a lefty up there, but as Wille said earlier that says a lot about someone who’s 0 for May.
starting to wonder a bit about beat writers–anything that would reflect negatively on club seems to be off limits, as in Bart’s struggles, that are evident even when they win. Baggs had column couple days ago in Athletic talking up his adjustments behind the plate. Not much said about when he’s in batter’s box and soon walking away from plate.
Ken Rosenthal got canned from MLB just for criticizing Manfred in the Athletic, and wasn’t Hank Greenwald let go from the Giants for busting Baer’s chops in a book?
good point about Rosenthal. And yeah Greenwald didn’t care for Baer at all.
Been meaning to ask if all Bozos survived and thrived Nola. How was it?
Willie, we ate a lot of great food and heard a lot of great music and spent a shit load of bucks. At one point I went completely out with heat exhaustion and in the gospel tent no less, but I survived. I gotta tell ya, that is some scary shit.
“Every now and then I know it’s kinda hard to tell, but I’m still alive and well.”
Bart is Aaron Rowand. He’ll get 1,000 ABs to work his shit out.
Beat writers don’t do squat especially after Baggs stirred the pot about the shoving match between Pagan&Dunston, back in 2014.They all run scared to dig up anything for fear of losing their jobs.And the players up to the manager will always have their backs as they boycotted doing any interviews with Baggs.There all yes men now days.. You think one of them is going to ask if Bart should be sent down? And get the Wrath of Kap” back at him are her..
1. LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) RF
2. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
3. Wilmer Flores (R) 3B
4. Joc Pederson (L) DH
5. Mike Yastrzemski (L) CF
6. Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
7. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
8. Luis Gonzalez (L) LF
9. Curt Casali (R) C
P: Alex Wood (L)
according to Slush twitter, “Steven Duggar hopes to start hitting in a few days, at least taking dry swings or tee work.”
our savior.
Is there any use for him?
Barring a big slump, I figured Gonzalez buried him for good…
can’t imagine he’d get another shot
awesome pic. I can still remember a 12 year old Big Flavor out at Sunken Diamond watching him. He was bigger than life to me back then
Wasn’t he almost a Yankee?
He played single A ball for them I think.
Another day off for Bart?
mm with Longoria due back probably by road trip Friday, wouldn’t Gonzalez be the one likely sent out?
Wilmer scratched with lower back tightness, Dubon at 3B.
Mr.Ed might need some horse lineament on his back, he could qualify under Z’s fake injury 10day.
Gonzalez playing pretty damm good ball I just don’t see him going down, we’ll sois Mr.Ed .Don’t see a pitcher unless McGoo with that stellar 9.64 hitting the shelf for being the shits for being quite hittable with his one pitch pony FB that’s lost movement and velocity..
this is when college bball was at its best.
You have no idea how big it was when they met at MSG in ’85, I think.
It was as if the putrid Knicks didn’t even exist.
Carnesecca was never able to solve the “box & one” defense Thompson devised to stifle Mullin…
Mullin wouldn’t recognize Flatbush Avenue today.
All his old hangouts are long gone as are the people who inhabited them…
that’s how I feel about Palo Alto when I drive around it these days.
Book I read that just came out recently about Big East was fabulous. Looked at hist of when league first got started, champ years of all the winning programs, etc.
Just saying, box and one not easy to game plan for either to get your scorer loose. Plus, idea is your other 4 have to be better than other guys. If they are you’re OK but your star guy probably not gonna be too happy.
The Villanova/Georgetown final was one of the greatest of all time.Any shot Villanova threw up went in..
Heavy favorite Hoyas led by Ewing and 4 other future NBA players coming into that game with a 35-2 record against a Wildcats team with only a 19-10 regular season record and losing twice to the Hoyas during the season.But Rollie Massimino had them ballin shooting 79% from the floor led by the McLain brothers and Pinckney? and hold on to win 66-64.. Former Seston Hall/Warriors coach PJ Carmsellio (so) said later it’s was the best game he ever watched in fundamental BB..
Those uniforms would look better if they would insert the span of the GGB across the front and connect it to the towers on the sleeves…
Padres Clevinger wears pigtails…
looks so fucking lame
Would’ve looked great on Gaylord Perry…
These days, I wear a reverse mohawk.
oh, that’s a good idea!
His delivery alone would drive me nuts if he were a Giant. What’s with that hitching bullshit? The definition of deliberate. Throw in the pigtails and I’m done.
His delivery alone would drive me nuts if he were a Giant. What’s with that hitching bullshit? The definition of deliberate. Throw in the pigtails and I’m done.
That’s the second play this week Gonzalez has boned in left field. WTF.
yes it is.
Good and bad but Gonzalez is hitting.327 with 2 more hits tonight, he’s not going anywhere imo
Loo, yeah, the buildup for that ’85 Big East final at MSG was nuts. I remember the intros, Louie coming out with a gigantic white towel draped on him, and Thompson wearing that hideous Louie sweater. Great theater, and then the game started and G’town blew out the Johnnies.
Casali keeps this up and we’ll see less of Bart.
Terrible execution by the Rox on DP ball…
That was weird.
shift made the DP impossible. K&K have a new sabr revelation to shake their snowy heads over.
If Dubon stays (and everyone is healthy key word I guess) Gonzalez has to be one sent down. 12 guys are solids:
OF: Yaz Wade Joc Slater Ruf
IF: Belt Flores Estrada Crawford Longoria
C: Bark Casali
pregame K&K said Dubon has to stay — he’s the only backup SS and probably the best backup for D at several other positions.
He has no options as welll and some team for sure would pick him up..
yeah, they said that, too. By adding it, they seemed to be making fun of the high-heeled pregame host who asked the question.
they finished by both promising to quit if Dubon gets released now.
Maybe but Gonzalez is leading the team in hitting at .327, I say find the fake injury for McGee right now..
Teams can’t execute a DP with their stupid shifts.A big pisser that Krukow comments on a lot..
Nice rope by Belt in the Alley as the lead jumps to 5-1..
Gonzalez made up for the error with the base hit and nice base running. He looks like a solid hitter with an idea of what he’s doing up there. Just needs to keep the defense clean. Clutch knock by BB9.
That’s a great shot of Mullins and Ewing. Great era for college hoops.
Slusser apparently has an in-depth article on Bart’s current struggles up behind the Chronicle paywall.
Remember the days when you could get tomorrow’s Chronicle for two dimes after 10 pm from a vendor near your front door? Mission St. and Cortland and later Mission and 24th for me.
Yaz looks like he should be selling cigs in prison in 1978..
Dubey bloop.
I’ve always admired how the Giants get runners in from third with less than two outs.
I’m imagining Clevenger sporting those while he was still on the Indians.
You remember 42nd Street, Flav? Or the BBC? Rose and Thistle? Are any of those bars still around? Saw Chris Mullin drunk out of his mind at 42nd Street about a month before he hit the wagon.
I know the Keystone Palo Alto is gone. Best small venue to see bands. Saw the Jerry Garcia Band there at least 10 times. One of the highlights of my life is I was hanging in the parking lot with a friend before a show and as we’re walking to the front to go in, a bus pulls up to the back door and Jerry walks off the bus and asks us for a light. So we proceed to pass the joint around and talk for 10 minutes. Surreal. Must have been around 1983.
of course I remember them, I did a lot of my early legal drinking there. I’m assuming you meant Rose and Crown not Rose and Thistle. BBC is the only one left and it’s remodeled and stupid inside.
McEeeek up to his old tricks.
Victory!
On a roll.
It got lower: 9.58 McGeERA.
9.58 McGoo is trash 🗑
Clint could get more outs..
They sure do win a lot in those City Connect uniforms.
