A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Today we got steamrolled by a stud pitcher. It happens. I didn’t see the game but I started thinking about the roster moves they made today and it started irritating me so today’s thread is tomorrow’s thread. To be honest this is why i re-started the blog, to vent……

Let’s start with Bryce Johnson. Is he a prospect? Eh, probably not. But he was very good in Spring Training hitting .310 while being a perfect 12 for 12 in SB attempts. This guy was drafted by us in 2017. A 6th round pick. Instead of rewarding a homegrown guy with an opening day roster spot we jettison him for…..Matt Beaty? Why? Why are you trying your best and doing, frankly, everything you can do in Spring Training, only to be sent away for…..Matt Beaty?

Ok now Stephen Piscotty. Nice Stanford lad. Knows how to hit bombs. Absolutely Bay Area homegrown from birth. But did that matter? Not to Zaidi. Even with all these injured outfielders they ignore Piscotty and he’s got to end up asking for his release. So kind of them to honor that request.

David Villar was supposed to be the starting 3rd baseman right? Homegrown guy finally getting his shot? Nope, not today. He’s on the bench.

Joey Bart….you don’t get to start. Come on man, Roberto Perez? On Opening Day?????

Running a baseball team isn’t just punching numbers into your calculator. The Giants had a great opportunity to respect the hard work of their minor leaguers and native Bay Area guys and they rejected all of that.

It’s tone deaf shit and another reason why I don’t like Zaidi or Kap…..

Pretty cool to start right out of the gate in New York. Thairo gotta be chomping at the bit for this chance to do some damage vs his old team. Honestly, after Cole quickly disposes of us today and we have a day off to get over that we really do have a decent chance to win the next 2 games. At least if you’re just looking at the pitching match ups.

Prediction time! I used to love making season predictions until I realized the team we are making predictions about TODAY will be nothing like the team we will be watching in September. So really my prediction is just a carryover of my feelings about how this off season went. I wanted to come in at .500 because that is a perfect label for the boring team Farhan has put together. Nobody remembers .500. But I couldn’t pull the trigger. I think we are an injury or two away from having to dip into the minor league system and all hell could break loose at that point. I’ll say we win 75 games in 2023. And if our AAA guys do nothing this season when they’re called up Zaidi needs to go……

And now we sit and wait out just one more day. Irritatingly the game is on at 10am my time which is not exactly in my wheelhouse for watching it live. It’s a fun match up, too.

Who’s your *guy this season? There aren’t a lot to choose from unless you’re down with the retreads and housewife favorites. For me, without question, it’s Blake Sabol. Besides being a dead ringer for Javy Lopez, he’s a great story, too. And someone who could really help us with his bat. Let’s see him draw a start on Thursday and watch him rake a bomb off Cole in one of his 2 at bats before Kap pulls him in the 5th inning for one of his over-managed switcheroo moves.

People will say, “it’s spring training, it doesn’t count.” But when you give up 9 earned runs in your final start before it does start to count that isn’t gonna make anyone feel good. Stripling, like Manaea, is just another guy. Don’t call me a Doomer, I just want everyone prepared for what’s going to happen to the Giants this year. Clubber Lang said it best…..

I haven’t seen enough spring training baseball to have a take on this but so far I am in favor of the rules changes. At least the pitch clock for sure. I hadn’t realized how much the game has dragged on till I watched a game where the players were actually playing and not standing around stroking their balls and spitting. I don’t get it though, baseball has always been about stroking your balls and spitting. When did it turn into an extra 45-60 minutes of game time?

I am the biggest stolen base advocate out there but I’m worried this maximum throw attempt rule will do too much for the runner.

The shift change is also something I support.

What about Flap Nation? What looks good/bad to you guys?