Stix Break
This is from a couple of days ago but still worthy of a spot in the main thread. Stix’s version of War and Peace:
| Carstie Clausen | Fri, Aug 5, 11:48 AM (2 days ago) |  | |
| to me, carstie |
Flav: Kudos. This meta-analysis on the why’s and the wherefores was, like Blade immediately pointed out, definitely top-grade and one of your best ever. Constantly, you hit the nail right on the head and so did Blade and right on through the rest of the Flappers, concluding with Bozo, at which point I decided to give credit where it is overdue. Great bunch here and it will be tough when this season ends and you hang up those spikes. Got my fingers crossed that someone, or maybe two or three guys can get together and share that “burden”. Cue Eric Burdon and The Animals and “Down in Monterrey”. Somehow the Flap must go on and you have done your bit and today’s superlative offering might well serve as an overall swan-song.
I’m totally with you on not trading off Rodon. It should of happened. However, as a Flapper pointed out, the teams who could surely have used him to get into and dominate in the Post-Season only offered “grade-B” material. Perhaps that had a lot to do with a perceived dump on the Giants for the team’s recent collapse. One would think that at least one single Grade-A prospect, plus two or three lower-minors “B”s would have been offered. But business does not always make sense…particularly when uncaring owners get involved in the process. Yesterday an Atlanta perspective came to my attention. The Braves had already overextended themselves in trading prospects to offer something even remotely acceptable for JocUlations. So it is what it is.
So how much of the transactions or lack thereof fall on Zaidi’s shoulders? Butts in the bleachers may be the underlying reasoning coming from Baer and/or the Johnsons. Both of those two stars are draws. Star-factor brings in those fashionable fans. Perhaps a few thousand extra butts in the seats over the course of the season. Bottom line stuff.
For some crazy reason it has fallen on little old me to analyze what Zaidi/Harris actually accomplished.
Mostly, the Tradewinds that did blow were long-term: Down on the farm. On the lead, the trade with Seattle for our useful catcher Casali and Boyd who were currently on the I.L. Seems like the Mariners are all-in this season. It has been awhile for them, like ’95 when they got ambushed by the original Evil Empire, while having set a new W-L record during the season. Hungry Mariners have had a raft of injuries, particularly effecting their catchers. So they gave up a AA pitcher named Stryffer. Who? Reliever. 35.2 IP with 19 entire bases on balls vs. 57 special K’s. 2.27 ERA and a total of 14 saves. Giants desperately need for next season a probably reliable late-innings guy. Who knows? Stryffer could be the Stifler. Maybe an effective sangfroid closer. Certainly a setup man. This could have been a steal.
Asking for a bit of personal credit on the Ruff-stuff trade. I called it on Ruff in one of my more recent postings. For the Mets Darin could be the ’54 model Dusty Rhodes New York Giants World Champs pinch-hitting specialist—or in today’s world—D.H. for the team that retained the Giants orange (along with the Dodger blue) to show a bit of civic baseball pride. Ruff showed his stuff for S.F. and we will miss his timely blasts. So who did we get for him? Topping the official list: J.D. Davis. Mets needed roster-space and seldom used Davis came to be the fall-guy. A California boy, Davis maaaybe will find his sweet-spot with Los Gigantes. No big gamble, though. My take is that Davis was just the face-man in the trade.
LHP Zwack, a 24 Y.O. Minnesota boy has had him a ball in his hands in both the Mets’ A and A+ leagues this season. Check out these stats: He’s 6-2 as a starter and even picked up a save along the way, sporting a 2.36 ERA over 76.1 IP giving up all of 58 hits over that span, 20 earnies, three whole taters along with an 18-96 BB-K ratio; a sweet WHIP, a whopping one of ).996, along with a 6.8 hits per nine, H.R.’s at 0.4 and finally 2.1 BB per 9 topped by 11.3 special K’s. I’ve been following pipeline stats throughout the season and the only set which comes even close is our 20 Y.O Kyle Harrison. If MiL stats are any measure for future performance in The Show, Harrison and Zwack should be in the top 3 of the Giants rotation by ’24 or so.
But that’s not all in the Ruff deal. Zaidi went for the throat on this one. Mets must have been drooling. Two more pitchers. The junior of the pair is a 23 Y.O. RHP name of Seymour, who pitched for St. Lucie in A ball and Brooklyn in A+. Not too shabby stats commence with a 2.76 ERA over 18 games, with 13 being starts. Cumulatively, he gave up 68 hits over 81.2 I.P., with 25 earnies, 8 dingers, a BB-K ratio of 21-92 and a WHIP of a cozy 1.090. That was achieved via 7.5 hits per 9, …9 H.R.’s, 2.3 BB and 10.1 special K’s. Steal #2?
Ready for The Show: Third theft from the top of New York’s pitcher pipeline is a 26 Y.O. obvious LHP Polak name of Szapuki. Triple-A stats better than any similar reliever for the River Cats. Not spectacular but sturdy with a nice 3.24 ERA along with 16 saves. Stats include 54 hits over 64 I.P. leading to 24 earned runs and including a scanty 5 taters, a 29BB-87 K’s and a fairly decent WHIP of 1.297. Hits per nine have added to 7.6, homers to 0.7 and 2.3 BBs vs. 10.1 K’s. Don’t fall off your chair if “Puki” gets the call by September. Another late-inning reliever and a southpaw to boot.
Strikes me that with those three much needed pitchers, Zaidi not only robbed the bank but also lubed up the teller and cleaned out the vault…We will miss Ruff-stuff maybe not winning a couple of games this year for us with timely taters, but his going to the Mets is gonna have a major effect on S.F.’s future. In two or three years it is not improbable that the Giants will have a stockpile of hurlers (including the vast majority of this season’s draftees) quite sufficient to wow them comes the 2024 trade deadline.
Off the top, the Casali-Boyd trade to Seattle, netting Stryffler, also provides yet another catcher, this one from A+ ball where he was being constantly evaluated by Giants personnel as he played against the Emeralds. Twenty-three years of age, Andy Thomas is the long-term replacement for Casali. A 2021 5th round pick for Seattle, Thomas sported an acceptable B.A. of 2.64 with a strike-zone conscious 400 OBP and an acceptable 444 S.P (adding to an 8.44 OPS) along with 9 H.R.s, a dozen doubles and a nifty 16.2% walk-rate.
More than one fan has griped about the trade of Trevor Rosenthal (Trevor, we hardly—never— knew you) for a low-power 22 Y.O. from Winkler, Manitoba name of Tristan Peters. A LHB, Peters can play well in all three O.F. positions which he has demonstrated this season for Wisconsin Rapids, the A+ affiliate for the Brewskis. Here’s some revealing stats: Over 330 A.B.’s (obviously no bench-time) Peters combined 61 runs scored with 51 RBI’s for a total of 112 runs produced (I love that stat) on 101 hits. Whenever runs produced tops total hits, my eyebrows lift pleasantly.
Here’s why some of the gripers complained about Peters’ relative lack of power. He happens to be one of those doubles-machines which I so favor, with 22 of them, topped in a sense by a nearly incredible 8 triples and capped by a modest 7 homers, for a total of 37 of his 101 safeties being XBH. He’s gotta have one helluva batting-eye, drawing 45 walks as against 61 whiffs. How many Giants farmhands have a .306 batting-average? Well we have another one now to join the tiny crew. Add all those walks and the OBP rises to a near-sterling .386, and highlighted by all those doubles and triples his S.P. is a surprising .485, for an OPS of .871. Not too shabby for a 22 Y.O. in A+ ball. Should he maintain anything remotely resembling this season’s production in pitcher-dominated Double A for the Flying Squirrels next spring, Mr. Tristan may join The Show by April of ’24. With his skill set, he may fairly soon find himself batting in the two-hole or possibly even leading off.
Here’s the under the radar accomplishments by the Dynamic Duo of Zaidi and Harris: Officially leading-off J.D. Davis who is a previously marginal but somewhat versatile corner infielder who becomes a hometown reclamation project for the Giants. He could be little more than a space-filler, yet another dumpster pickup. Or he could love him some home cookin.
Infield corners: Check.
A bit away yet, but a stolid, relatively solid replacement for Casali, probably by ’24. Trade an injured-list catcher and get a future replacement. Check.
Outfielder with full versatility, probable leadoff or 2-slot on-base specialist. Check.
Pitchers ready for the show and pitchers as outstanding prospects to fatten up the pipeline in the near future. Stryffer and Szapaki look ready for The Show. Likely to both show up in September and maybe sooner, depending on ongoing evaluations. Both relievers are desperately needed late-inning guys. The other pair, starters, are likely a couple years away, but sure have some promise and should rapidly advance to the head of the pipeline. Somewhere between September of ’23 and April of ’24 they could both appear in the Halloween Machine uniform.
Grain is starting to ripen on the farms around these parts. On the Giants farms, the ripening process has taken a Great Leap Forward. Keep those names in mind. The haul: A serviceable corner infielder, an up and coming catcher, a high OBP outfielder, with significant XBH cred and no fewer than 4 pitchers, a pair of ready to go relievers and a duo of promising starters. Rodon and Pederson did not bring home the bacon. Butts in the seats, dontcha know. But by finessing what they could afford to offer, Zaidi and Harris did their under the radar once again due diligence.
Personally, my take is that they played it like 3-card Monte…or maybe more like Grand-Theft automatic.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
mm note comment in thread. Ruth denied he ever did it and in those days no other team would stand for it either. As far as Rodon, I’ve seen comments that Z waited too long to make Rodon available thereby not allowing much time to negotiate a deal. Remember they were 7-2 before AS game and took 3 of 4 from Brewers. Slide began right after, and his last fine effort vs. Cubs was on weekend before Aug 2.
Note that new look Pads (whom Giants see tomorrow for 3 down there) with Soto Bell and Drury have scored 4 runs in 2 games in LA. dogs thrashed their SPs Musgrove and Clevenger, and pen for 16 runs of their own. 7-2 this year vs. SD. They are killing everyone not just Giants.
Stix- that was a great post you truly are a wordsmith. I wish I had the desire to dig that deep into the Giants wheeling’s and dealings. Thanks
Stix still can’t post here for some reason but he reads all the comments every day.
Stix.. A great way to start my Sunday. A little optimism about the Giants future. Thank you!!
Yeah that was pretty encouraging.
I don’t know where he gets the energy to research and write all that.
Is there a Stix diet or something?
Move to a cain in the woods. Turn off your phone, A la Ted Kazsinksy!
I’d like to get Lars Nootbaar from the Cardinals just for the name.
Today is the 15th anniversary of Bonds passing Aaron.
I bet most baseball fans (including me) couldn’t tell you who he hit it off without looking it up…
Ha, unlike Tracy Stallard or Al Downing. What I do remember is Bonds leaving the game later and the awful Nats coming back to win it.
The A’s had a winning month 14-12 in July that included taking 2 of 3 from Toronto and sweeping 3 game set vs. first place Astros at end of month. 2-2 in August.
Not too bad on paper when these guys are playing up to their ability.
Joc hasn’t homered since the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Today’s the day…
1. Joc Pederson (L) LF
2. Luis Gonzalez (L) RF
3. J.D. Davis (R) 3B
4. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
5. LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) DH
6. Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
7. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
8. Mike Yastrzemski (L) CF
9. Joey Bart (R) C
P: Logan Webb (R)
a Joc bomb call? Nice.
I’ll call JD Davis he seems pretty locked in hitting some blasts, just needs to pull them more instead of dying out in Death Valley Alley..
Stix with his on post knowledge again breaking down the latest potential prospects as only he can, great job Stix!
Giants really should consider adding you to their scouting department.They could maybe contact you by sending a reconnaissance plane with a paperwork drop over your 10by14 Ted Kacazanki (sp) cabin to see if your interested? But remember:”Don’t shoot the messenger” but seriously great breakdown and your writing skills are impeccable!
Yeah I’m with Willied about Ruth calling that shot, I know he told little Johnny are whoever his name was in the hospital that he would hit a HR for him but never said he would point his finger in that moment. Think Lou Gehrig had a similar experience with a sick kid in the hospital he visited, the kid got greedy and asked if Lou could hit 2 HR’s for him, Lou told him I’ll try that’s a tall order, but he delivered 2 HR’s for the kid as sort of promised..
I think that’s just the Hollywood version…
Yesterday in 1953 Ted Williams started back with the Red Sox after returning from flying fighters in the Korean War. He proceeded to hit something like 13 HRs and hit .408 the rest of the season. Extremely flawed human in many ways, but incredible in others…
Looking at box score from Bonds 756 game, after he hit the big one in bottom of 5th he came out of the game and was replaced in OF by Dave Roberts who took over CF with Rajai Davis moving from CF to LF.
Roberts btw is called “Doc” by Dodgers bloggers.
According to Slush, Kap said Mercedes will get work at C LF and 1b in Sac.
Ridiculous. He hit 1 HR in 70 ABs for Giants and swings at everything. DFA the guy get him off the 40 man and move on. He doesn’t help the defense and does not add any power to the lineup, 2 biggest needs by far..
Belt will be a nice fit for the Astros next season…
On the Baseball Myth Truth-o-meter, on a scale of zero to ten, with “Abner Doubleday invented baseball” being a zero, “The Babe called his shot” gets about a five, in my opinion.
The vast majority of witnesses said that Ruth was not pointing to centerfield as if to say he was going to hit an HR to center; but was pointing two fingers at the pitcher, as if to say that the pitcher now had two strikes on Ruth, but Ruth was still going to do some damage in the AB.
Another thing I have my doubts about is Willie Mays’ claim that he could have had so many more doubles,
but stopped at first so McCovey wouldn’t be pitched around.
Does that even make sense to do? Can never be proven, but I’d bet he didn’t do that even 10 times.
And McCovey had guys like Hart & Cepeda protecting him in the lineup, too…
Crawford’s sucked from day one this season.
Hasn’t had anything close to a hot streak.
Stuck with him for another year…
“Ted Williams….
Extremely flawed human in many ways, but incredible in others…”
When DiMaggio and Williams both had retired, DiMaggio’s stock was much higher than Williams’ stock at the time. But over the years, that began to change. People came to better appreciate that Williams had given five prime years of his career to serve the nation as a fighter pilot in two different wars. DiMaggio gave three prime years in WWII, which is still a big deal, but had served in WWII as entertainment for the troops, by playing baseball.
Williams and DiMaggio were both difficult on the personal level. DiMaggio hated conversation, and Williams was incredibly foul-mouthed. One of Williams’ ex-wives said he was the most profane person she ever heard in her life.
Second homer in 6 weeks for Yaz who shoulda been in pinstripes by now…
Maybe Z wasn’t interested in the usual garbage prospects Cashman suckers other teams into taking.
Damm I was thinking of taking Yaz for a bomb 💣
He smoked that one for the lead!
Looks like the a’s can show the Giants a thing or two about fuckups and pratfalls.
Far from a HR for Joc Loo, but a dribbler will work for a hit..
Liking the Bart Coliseum station.
Shawn Kemp would’ve had a better chance catching that one.
play too shallow and then jump the wrong way off the bat — dance mofo dance!
lulz
For once, a fielding fuck-up (Craw) wasn’t costly, except the extra pitches by Webb.
all started with a very cheap bouncer down the LF line. Looked like a classic 2022 Giants inning in the making.
Welcome back Thairo!
Yep.
welcome back Thairo
Yep.
i seriously don’t understand how Crawford got this bad in the field and at the plate in one freaking season’s time. What happened?
he looked esp bad that last AB — LH Puk, but still
That play deep in the hole to end the inning wasn’t too bad.
a’s telecasters thought the DP turn was good, too
Age caught up, no backup SS, mostly, so way to many innings, plus injuries, and I’m sure he misses Posey in the dugout to shoot the shit about hitting that seems to be missing, especially losing that main hitting coach Viele (sp) hasn’t helped..
Who says the Giants can’t win anything this year?
They have a good chance to win that stupid bay city trophy..
loser takes it home, I think
on the other hand, Craw has made some good plays in the field this season.
Kemp is giving me laughs playing LF today, I thought only are guys looked bad..
What if Giants got a full time 2b that could hit and handed Estrada full time SS job?
Dansby Swanson is an FA too.
Love it, but the Giants won’t let $15 million sit on the bench…
both of wilmer’s arms look weak today
Yaz bombz!
Agent .000 2-out walk in 6th ends deGrom perfecto bid.
Il brutto.
No more shifts next year so range of middle IFs is gonna matter more. Giants could slide Craw around and have him play some 3b too beside backing up Estrada. No more Longo or LaStella and if Flores is back he’s at 1b only.
If they don’t sign Turner or Correa to play short next year, bummer.
I wish there was no more La Stella next year (or this year), but he’s still owed $11.5M.
Giants screwed the pooch giving Craw that 2 year extension imo. He’s only going to play SS are DH some. Probably takes us out of Correa,Turner who is an outstanding leadoff hitter, Dogpile will resign him anyway I suspect, I would rather have Bogarts then Swanson just a solid player with more power and better D imo..
Rather just keep Estrada at 2nd get the lower tier SS in Bogarts who still really good and go all in on getting Judge here.Have to be strong up the middle and if Bart continues to improve, that would make a huge difference..
I’m still pining for Crawfish to retire. He’s a bit on the chunky monkey side this season.
Getting an FA or 2 wouldn’t hurt either.
A steal? with no outs? Ahhh, can’t move the runner.
Here comes Wild thing part II. Fuck
Yay, mini sweep at the Mausoleum.
I’m glad they didn’t blow this for Webb.
Yeah Dovalling in O town for the Win!!
Torture as usual but the ugly piece of shit trophy can now get dropped off the bridge on the way back to SF!!
The trophy is awesome!
What’s wrong with you guys?
This trophy ceremony is the most underwhelming thing I’ve ever seen. Hey Wilco, Blade, anyone else interested in dfs, I just took down the $4 $40,000 11,890 entries Sunday contest. WOO MOTHERFUCKING HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
You won $40,000???
That’s like 3 years salary!
Incredible! Congratulations!!!
lol no that was the prize pool. I won 4k. Had $60 into the tourney so it was a nice profit.
honestly the $ is nice but any time i do well in a big tourney it’s because I’m proud of the number of contestants I beat.
Damn!!!! Sweeeet!!!
Oh. Still pretty cool though
Nice DFS score! DFS is about the only thing I have done well since January 11th, when the stock market began its journey to bear territory, particularly the Nasdaq . . . Down approximately $200k, albeit, things are looking up lately. To add insult to injury, I had to pay CA and the Feds $73k in additional taxes for $300k profits in 2020. It’s all good. lol
Pads go down in flames again, shutout 4-0 on 2 hits for 3 game sweep.
Tyler Anderson is 13-1?
Our Tyler Anderson?
Goeslin and Anderson 24-2. SICK
Giants sweep Pads while they are down??? HOPE
It’s sicker, Dude. They’re 26-2.
On 8/23/66, Marichal & Perry were 38-7…
Nice little two-game series vs. the A’s.
