by
Greek Giant
I always liked Conor Gillaspie. I love that he bats with no batting gloves. I love that he literally rubs dirt on his hands to get them ready for the next pitch. You gotta love his old-school approach to baseball. Last season’s hero of the Wild Card game looks to be assured a roster spot with the signing of his new contract. The Giants came to terms with the third baseman for a one year deal that will pay him $1.44 million. The contract means the Giants and Gillaspie will avoid arbitration, which can sometimes get ugly.
And They Are Stunned in the Big City!
Conor Gillaspie has proven to be an important part of the Giants options for pinch-hitting duties and a sport start at third base. His left-handed bat provides some punch and he has that “veteran approach” that Bruce Bochy loves.
This means that there is one less spot open on the roster for an infielder. Between Eduardo Nunez, Kelby Tomlinson, Jimmy Rollins, and others, the Giants may have to make some difficult decisions before opening day.
In other news, the A’s signed Santiago Casilla to a two year deal worth $11 million. The 36 year-old right-hander and former Giants closer was basically chased out of San Francisco with flaming pitchforks. Rumors have swirled that he was not able to speak with Bruce Bochy after the season (whatever that means) and Bruce Bochy followed with a long letter thanking Casilla for his work as a Giant.
Part of me is happy for Casilla and his new contract. The other part of me is hoping the new team leads to a new awakening for his career. Let’s remember him fondly and wish him the best, except when he faces our boys in inter-league play or during the World Series.
Breckeroni welcomes Conor with open arms – JoBu has some Rum and Cigars for Conor
Gillaspie is a good hitter: I’m with Lefty on the last post, Nunez is the 3B, and Gillaspie might end up being more of a PH than an on-field player. But we’ll see in camp, and when the season starts. I do remember that Ishikawa got the “hit a post-season HR and get a million buck contract” deal, but didn’t make the team after Aoki came on board.
That’s probably what will happen but i’d prefer to start gillaspie at 3rd.
I’m sure they were impressive. What was the “n”?
Let me re-phrase that. First- what is one of the most important variables for calculating defensive metrics?
So, what was the sample size in calculating his defensive metrics for last year?
For 3b range is generally the most important, there are various stats for calculating it (UZR/150, RngR, rPM). Error-related stats are important too but generally the difference in number of plays made or not made because of range is going to be more than the difference because of errors.
304 IP vs. 387 for Nunez.
I’m not sure what Lefty had to say about Conor, but I’ve seen him for years. Granted, he’s improved from the concrete glove and lead ass he used to have; he’s built a better attitude over what he had early in his career, but he’s still not a brass glove infielder, let alone a gold one. He’s gotten good enough to play a little bit of 3rd, but not enough to set up a tent there. (Remember CWS) He’s been a hard worker and has improved more than I thought he would. He’s not there yet.
So, off the bench he works as a pinch hitter that might stay in the game under the correct circumstances. I’m not buying him as a starter. Occasional, maybe. We’ll see what happens a couple of months from now.
My comment was in response to an article CU linked about the “battle” for 3B between Nunez and Gillaspie. I said I didn’t think it would be a battle and that, barring a trade for someone like Todd Frazier, Nunez will be the presumptive starting 3B.
I think we’re in complete agreement.
Human Be-In celebrates landmark 50th anniversary
http://www.be-in.com
Peter Hartlaub from the SF Chron – http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Human-Be-In-celebrates-landmark-50th-anniversary-10850964.php#photo-12169035
I have to say that i wasn’t a fan of gillaspie’s until around august when i actually looked at his batted ball and fielding stats and realized that he was actually playing very well but getting very unlucky at the plate. He finished with 23% line drives, 31% hard-hit balls, only 14% ks, the best uzr/150 in the majors for a 3bman, and the 2nd best drs/inning.
To me, the most amazing thing about Gillaspea was how credible a defensive 3B he became. He was godawful in Fresno.
Not just credible, check his defensive stats last year in fangraphs (per inning played), he was outstanding.
JM, I love so much of what you bring to the blog, but your reliance on flawed defensive stats is a habit that should be lost.
Sample Size.
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=3b&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=300&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=30&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0
Gillaspie played 304 innings at 3b, Nunez played 387 innings, and Gillaspie’s stats were much better.
So what? Neither are valid. The sample size is just too small for a valid defensive metric.
You have maybe better defensive stats?
To few chances to go that far, plus Crawford is edging to make up for his lack of range. But, IMO, he’s worlds better than he was in AAA. He was outright painful to watch there. Whomever worked with him did a bang up job, and Gillaspea really put out the effort.
It is all in the field grooming and the clay…..
95% or hire of those here and the other blog were Anti Gillaspie.
*Names withhold to protect the innocent and the loud gasps coming from the back of the room.
Guilty, but I apologized
I remember your heartfelt apology.
Pope Franny also gave a papal dispensation to all non believers.
I think mine was more sincere.
Sincere was guilty. Where is that dude?
Last I heard he was eating peyote with Jim Morrison, Bruce Lee and Gandalf.
I miss The Sincere. I hope he is OK, and doing well in PA.
guilty but won’t apologize. JM, you were correct to be skeptical of him. He was a meh player when they hired him but he slowly improved over the season and got some lucky hits in the post-season. I have faith he has learned something from the coaches and will maintain his improvements. He is as solid a bench player as I can expect the SFG to ever have (unfortunately).
I was as guilty as anyone. I was quite upset that he was taking up a roster spot. I have no problem admitting when I’m wrong. Conor was amazing down the stretch and in the postseason and he proved me very wrong.
Now, turning to another guy who was great down the stretch, Ty Blach. I am on record now that I will be apoplectic if Cain gets the 5th spot over him.
Your honor, I put in to evidence the following posts from 2016. My client, Mr. mE, is not guilty in this class action suit
Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nGQLQF1b6I
I don’t remember (seriously), so does that support a plead of “insanity” if I was anti-Gillaspie?
It would …
C’mon, yer Honor. Conor was a prodigal child, and he admitted it. Made the team thru an injury, and proved to be a clutch PHer. EVERYBODY seems to have forgotten that he hacked up 3B purty bad, but until Nuñez showed up, the Gints were short. Then he smoked Familia and Chapman. Which I really appreciated the hell out of. Heh.
What I mean is – I applauded him as an ML player – but I don’t agree that he’s our Third Baseman. No way.
I was down on him as well, until I began to look closer at his ABs. I noticed that he was always ready, worked every pitch, rarely got fooled, and almost always made good contact. End of the day, that’s about all we should expect. What happens after that = BABIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nGQLQF1b6I
Two-shay, Clutch!
Guilty: Slow, bad fielder, came up as a prima dona
But … he had 5 DRS last year and I think traveling around has humbled him.
A former #1 Giants draftee coming back scores high on my ClubHouseFactor™.
Being around winning Vets and players his age who “have made it” can only be good.
He is winning me over.
It’s nice to see casilla get a decent contract and not have to move far. From 2010-2014 he was a really great reliever, one of the best on the game.
his save percentage and blown saves was distorted by having to come in a protect the 1 run lead over and over and over.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1aff8a8ae970e97609ea1e8e36e6a54f0dc0e9c6f330b940b11ced294f8225cc.jpg
http://www.sfchronicle.com/author/don-asmussen/
Baseball + Comedy Unites Our Planet https://twitter.com/don_asmussen/status/819245656061583360
Hallelujah, that baby is gone!
Conor = commando
Like Schierholtz.
Did Moises Alou really whiz on his hands in the tunnel to somehow improve his grip?
Moises and siblings would urinate on their hands after working in the sugar can fields after suffering lacerations in the palm of the hands. The urine would cauterize their wounds.
Could have sworn you urinate in the shower on your feet to avoid athletes foot.
I’ve heard that as well. Might be a locker-room tale, but…I’ve done it!
It also DOES work for that.
Yes, I asked the Donald if in fact it works. From what was indicated though is that the use of others is more gratifying to get rid of the itch.
🙂
Your next Field Test.
Before you put on those Wells-Lamonts ….
Pitchers and Catchers report 32 days 5 hours 35 min
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d2288160382b7dacd01840103a4d50dbc1f252a7647bdca0cdea8958435a71a.gif
Pence is sitting outside the clubhouse in Scottsdale like a puppy, waiting
Hard to say with Lexi hanging around 🙂
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d0129b53b6582dc40aa341ffb354776fe9008220905349cbf76a8eadc36581f.jpg
Did they get married yet? I doubt it, as I’m sure we would have discussed it here. Hope they plan to do so before ST. Cute couple, and we know the man that Hunter Pence has become.
I believe they got married in November, TF. In fact, I think the pic with our guys all dressed up was from there….I’ll bet Lefty can help us out, here
Yes, they got married in November, right before Joe Panik and his lady tied the knot. Somewhat oddly, not a single picture of the Pence wedding has appeared on social media, even though there were plenty of the Panik wedding (and Derek Law’s wedding over New Year’s). I can only assume they’re “saving” wedding footage for some social media splash of their own, and they must have gotten all their guests to surrender their phones and/or promise not to publish any photos.
You need to use Twitter® and follow HP8; it is not that complicated if even I can do it.
As you might imagine, this couple are pretty entertaining.
If you have social media, I’m surprised you didn’t know they tied the knot. Lexi and Hunter are the kind of social media personalities that like to publicize their daily lives.
It’s snowing in London.
Rare. (Unlike their beef)
lmao
My baby girl flew from Heathrow yesterday and juuuuust missed it. But she did catch West Ham and Man City at Olympic Stadium. Oh, plus lots of non sports fun, but I’m singularly focused
Giving Signs – by Tim Leiper – Toronto Blue Jays – Excellent Video
http://baseball.coachesdirectory.com/article/giving-signs–tim-leiper–toronto-blue-jays-video.html
Good Night Allen! ST is coming upon us soon.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8f6081ecdae8cba5a8aa36de2132a7e0291ba28d8896bc9f991652b89fb5a6e.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7d6afd3d1fd0720cd61e55aa2d62000d7508d5e7e0a05563a5216bb7a789e6f.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ba98169ef0ef1988de9c1e0ce7cfdc26300cbb0fcce390919b161a0236567cf.jpg
Cubs plan trip to White House early. Maddon and Obama talk.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cubs-visit-white-house-obama-monday-410331295.html
Sounds like Justin Wilcox may be the next head coach at Cal. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, he was Sarkisian’s DC at Washington and USC and was fired after Clay Helton got the gig. In my opinion, he was a terrible DC at ‘SC, but I guess he went on to have a good year for Wisconsin. No head coaching experience.
So the ‘SC coaching tree continues to spread. Ed Orgeron at LSU, Lane Kiffin wherever the heck now (Florida Something), even Sodden Steve in a cherry position at Alabama. But Justin Wilcox, about to become the highest paid employee in the state of California? Would not have predicted that a year ago.
I don’t think that’s going to work out well for Cal. Just sayin’.
What high powered offenses – and top passing QB’s – did he face last year? Therein lies the answer to last year’s success, if simplistically. Can’t wait to see how Cal’s defense plays the Pac-12 next year (what did Yogi say about deja vu?).
I thought he was awful at ‘SC, and he had some great defensive players like Leonard Williams, Su’a Cravens, and Adoree’ Jackson.
We was and he did. I’m shocked he’s being considered for HC anywhere.
*He*
The key with the Wilcox hire is he might be bringing Tosh Lupoi with him.
Tosh Lupoi is the key
Lefty: turns on TV to TNT for Warriors game; it’s in studio pregame.
EJ: Charles, your take on the Warriors is always entertaining.
Barkley: pauses, opens mouth
Lefty: hits mute button
On the bright side, Kevin Harlan is the lead announcer! He’s one of my favorites in any sport. I can ignore Reggie Miller if I have to.
Strong move, Lefty.
Congrats to Conor. I was on his jock in the “My Guy” game before all y’all sniffed it that cold New York night.
You will have your chance to prove your loyalty.
CG had 1.0 WAR in 205 PA’s last year.
The MyGuyQuestion™ is “Will he be the Giant Postition Player to Improve his WAR the most?
“You will have your chance to prove your loyalty.”
I’ve been following since he came up from the minors, traded to Chicago then to Anaheim, and finally back “home.”
So I think it’s a safe bet. = )
Don’t forget when he signed initially, he insisted on being put on the ML roster within a year, where sadly, he did not remain; in fact…
I think he got a bus ticket.
Wow! P. Conn wrote a love letter to Conor:
http://www.knbr.com/2017/01/12/gillaspie-should-compete-with-nunez-for-giants-starting-third-base-spot/
I wonder if PCONN was wearing his wife beater T shirt?
Fast for a Catcher. (a non sports post)
Since before Christmas I have assisted my wife and her mother on in home hospice care for my father-in-law. Since I can set my own schedule I was able to cover most days. This included lifting him up mostly and sitting by and watching. The hard part was watching a man slowly die of asphyxiation. I don’t want any sympathy, I had the freedom to do this and still earn a wage. I have cared for someone on a daily basis 5 times but this was the first to involve death. There are many who do this at the cost of income and of course there are Hospice care givers which I believe is one of the toughest jobs.
Last night as part of the funeral process we held a vigil. Someone came up to me who knew what I had done and said “Your a good son-in-law”, like it was something unique. I’m thinking is that like being fast for a catcher? Are son-in-laws supposed to not do what I did? I wondered what observations she had of other son-in-laws which allowed me to rank so high. At the end of the day it made me think and I came away with 3 attitudes.
1. If I disagree with you on this site I should be reminded to ask you what your observations were that lead to your opinion.
2. In the grand scheme of things what ever your opinion on BB9, doyers, Trump it’s really not worth much emotion. It’s what you do and how you live.
3. I can finally start my New Year and quietly be fast for a catcher.
Noce – actually, I suspect that ‘good sons-in-laws’ are hard to find. So take that as a supreme compliment, for your love.
I agree with paul, Noce. Good son-in-laws are often hard to find. That comment is not only a supreme compliment, but an indication of the husband and strong man you are. Well done, sir.
Thanks for telling us about your incredible story Noce! It is heartfelt. As someone who cares for his elderly parents, I understand completely your emotions and experience. Bravo!
Your welcome and thanks for your previous post of Baseball unites.
Marlins’ catcher JT Realmuto stole 12/16 bases last year.
Dodgers backup catcher Austin Barnes stole 18/21 in AAA last year.
Trevor Brown seems to have some decent wheels and so does the Diamondbacks’ backup, Chris Herrman.
Pudge Rodriguez stole 25 in ’99.
But Craig Biggio was definitely fast for a catcher. He stole lots of bases and played lots of positions on the diamond.
I remember that Bench held or was close to the record for consecutive steals without being thrown out. Over several season but still sneaky. As we say guile and cunning beats youth and strength.
First high tide (acqua alta) of 2017. No fun.
http://video.gelocal.it/nuovavenezia/locale/venezia-la-prima-acqua-alta-del-2017-tutti-sulle-passerelle/66853/67237?ref=hfnvvees-1
“We’ve always been at war with ‘Eastasia’…”
Obama is going to shake some ballplayers’ hands today, talk about baseball, talk about about whatever non-political facets of life that are germane with Maddon, Epstein, and the Cubs in the House.
He just may be able to enjoy some baseball this year. Soon enough he’s just going to be happy not having to deal with this war business all the time. It’s a never ending affair that turns a head of hair to gray; to be inherited by the next president, and the president after that, until no more presidents…
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-obama-at-war/#nt=oft12aH-1la1
Being a White Sox fan is not an easy gig, either: 78-84 in 2016.
They will be gunning for 100 losses and one of the top picks. But all of a sudden they have one of the best farm systems and those top talents could become a winner in a few years.
Afterthought: Can you think of anything cooler than a job where you can order Air Force 1 to stop off in Detroit and give Willie Mays a lift to the All Star Game? And later entertain Willie and Monte Irvin at the White House. I’m sure he’ll dig having a team from Chicago visit today, too.
It’s a tough job, somebody’s got to do it, but at least it has it’s perks. Happy retirement, Barack.
My wife picked up the book, ‘Dreams of My Father’ at the same time she picked up the VHS for Singin’ in the Rain at a thrift store. She says it is an incredible read, and she’s hard to please. So I will be reading that soon enough. It’s been quite a run…
Do that one, for absolute sure, but skip Audacity of Hope which is a policy platform statement. Hopefully he’s got some more good writing in him.
I thought the Vanity Affair interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin was terrific. She’s a huuuuge baseball fan as well. Red Sox though.
I think she started out as a Dodgers fan in NY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFkbSAH7yb4
Buster Olney delivers a major diss to the Giants’ bullpen. Not only do they not make his top-10 list, but he had five honorable mentions, and they didn’t get in there, either, despite having added one of the top closers over the last four years.
I can appreciate the disdain in the sense that the bullpen was horrible in 2016, but I think this year’s pen is going to be good. A related factor is that the Giants have a deep rotation of innings-eaters. That helps the bullpen, too. (Of course, I thought that last year, and it didn’t quite work out, but the regular implosions by Cain and Peavy didn’t help, either.)
It’s really hard to predict bullpens. Year to year, so many relievers have variable years.
That’s the funny thing about Olney’s piece. For a number of his write-ups of the top 10-15, he brought up a lot of “ifs”–IF Wade Davis is healthy, the Cubs have a top five bullpen, etc.
Pitchers are delicate creatures, so you never really know, but the Giants have a fair amount of certainty. Melancon’s been rock-solid. Smith’s been a quality reliever for the last several years. The top four relievers from last year’s bullpen in terms of WAR were (in order) Law, Strickland, Smith, and Gearrin–and they’ll be back, as will #6, Kontos. Of the bottom four in WAR, only one (Osich) is in the mix for next season (the others were Heston and Broadway, both gone by May and Lopez).
It’s really hard to predict ANYTHING referring to the humans, but that my wife will be very angry if I come home late for dinner.
Buster is going to get himself in Schoenfield territory with omits like that!
Giants are going to have a fine pen. Mark Melancon gets the job done better than just about anyone. And there seems to be arms capable getting him the ball with a lead.
Giants pen may not be the best, but it will not be a weakness (barring injury/ies).
I’d say they should be in the top HALF of the majors just on Melancon alone!
Name the 6 guys who are proven stalwarts in the BP. At this juncture, if one is honest, they’re mid pack, until they prove they’re better than that.
It’s unfortunate they don’t have Andrew Miller and Bryan Shaw to get the ball to Cody Allen, but:
Kontos, Osich, Strickland, Okert, Smith, Gearrin, Suarez, Law plus others will just have to do the trick – they’re not All-Stars, but they’ve got their teeth cut. Law has looked impressive. Smith has a strong reputation. Kontos does his role well. Strickand is a pretty solid option at the point – strong FIPs and WHIPs.
Let’s see if they can fill the hole we have on the diamond. I’m optimistic, but anything but certain.
Except Shoenfield picked the Giants at season’s end to win the WS last year
Bad omen.
Wait…I think I also read he’s picking the Giants for last in the division this year with the worst record in MLB and with zero chance to make the playoffs.
The bullpen wasn’t awful, it was about average overall. It looked worse than it was according to some stats because (1) they had more close games than any other team so that blown saves and meltdowns were magnified, and (2) they didn’t have a real closer.
This year they’ve got one of the top closers in the game, the old guys are out, they have no need for lefty-righty switching, and they have three very promising young relievers (law, smith, and strickland) who are only going to get better. I think they’ll have one of the best bullpens around.
Yep, that about covers it. A lot of those problems should be solved this year except maybe the close games thing, since they haven’t done anything to improve the offense.
I prefer when the Giants are underestimated. Words and analysis are guesses based on assumptions. Let them talk. We will find out in a couple of months.
Actually the analysis is based on historical performance, you have to improve on that past performance to invalidate that analysis. Maybe these fellows will, but the belief they will is the assumption. I hope they do.
What’s missing is that there are a number of promising young relievers who are likely to improve.
Relievers have small sample sizes in general. I believe with another year under their belt most except Strickland should improve. My concern is most seem injury prone and that begs the question how deep is the minors to fill in?
I hope i’m wrong, but i’ll make my prediction: By June our collective Conor Gillaspie honeymoon will be over and the frustration will be palpable as Bochy continues to go to him in high leverage situations while guys like Kelby ride the pine. Just a guess though.
IF Kelby is on the team, he bats right-handed, so he and CG would be complementary. I’m afraid that with CG and Adrianza on guaranteed arbitration deals, it’s back to Sacramento again for poor Kelby. That will be fun for me to watch in Sacramento, but it’s frustrating overall.
Bobby … Find someone desperate for some speed and INF back-up and trade EA for a Class A OF … I will scout him in San Jose. KT has to make this team.
I’m wearing my SJ Giants shirt today that I bought when we went to the game in June.
I like Kelby but I still consider his MLB performance thus far a small sample size. I hope he proves me wrong, and he should be a solid back up if Panik’s back acts up again.
He has a little over 300 major league plate appearances, which would be about half a season for an everyday player. Interestingly, that’s where Adrianza is, too, though spread out over parts of four different seasons (2013-16, while KT is just 2015-16).
To me it’s between those two, with Gillaspie having a different skill set. So let’s compare:
Tomlinson: 313 PAs, .299/.362/.377/.739, OPS+ 102, 2 HRs, 26 RBIs, 10 SB
Adrianza: 331 PAs, .220/.292/.313/.605, OPS+ 69, 3 HRs, 26 RBIs, 4 SB
It seems readily apparent, both from the eye test and the stats, that Tomlinson is a better major league hitter. Adrianza’s supposed to be valuable for his glove, but his major league defensive numbers aren’t more impressive than Tomlinson’s. They both can play several positions. Adrianza is nearly a year older. The Giants have put Adrianza through waivers several times since he’s been out of options, and no one grabbed him.
I don’t get why the Giants keep clinging to Adrianza and burying Kelby. I truly don’t.
“I don’t get why the Giants keep clinging to Adrianza and burying Kelby. I truly don’t.”
Agreed. he must be related to someone among the top brass in the organization or something.
The only possibly good reason I can think of is they trust Adrianza to back up Crawford in the event of an injury but they don’t trust Tomlinson.
Crawford’s a pretty hard guy to replace, but in my opinion, KT plays fine on the left side. I’ve seen him play both SS and 3B in Sacramento, and I thought he looked fine in both spots and especially good at 3B. He was drafted as a SS and played there a lot in the minors. I think he looks more comfortable on the left side than at 2B, really. They could also move Nunez to SS–he’s played there plenty–and use a platoon of Gillaspie and Tomlinson at 3B if Crawford were injured.
From the little I’ve seen of KT at 3B in the majors he looks like a natural there, he has great reaction time just like his hitting.
Adrianza is Ozzie Guillen’s nephew or something, but I can’t imagine why that would influence the Giants at all. Of course, they’ve invested years in Adrianza, but the same is true for Kelby, whom they drafted and developed.
It was a joke. I didn’t think he was really related to anyone in the Giants’ FO.
Age?
Kelby’s 26 and will be 27 in June. Adrianza will be 28 in August.
I hope I’m wrong, but: Giants are not going to get a “real hitter” for LF or 3B via trade. Giants will get what they get from Parker/Williamson/Nunez/Gillaspie/et al, and hope other guys have big enough years to put enough runs on the board. Pitching and defense should be pretty stingy. Stingy enough to make the playoffs. And that last part, I hope I’m right.
I hope you’re right myself, looking at the cost-benefit of who’s available.
No matter who is pitching or hitting – Pitchers succeed 70% or the time and hitters are left to manage the other 30% no matter what team anybody roots for.
Your a true member of the Slappy Blog, Gilllaspie gets key hit after key hit in the post season, and you still prefer Kelby over him, and most agree with you, just proves this blog is full of people that preferred the dead ball era of baseball .
There’s no competition between gillaspie and tomlinson. Gillaspie hits lefty, tomlinson hits righty, and they both have significant platoon splits.
Gillaspea is almost the posterboy for a dead average ML ballplayer.
Gillaspie swings a lot more often than average and has a good deal fewer ks and bbs. And last year his line drive% and hard hit% were above average, his stats weren’t better because he had bad babip luck. I’d say he’s a poster boy for an average giant hitter.
But when you sum it up, he’s got an RC+ about 100, and a WAR per year between 0.5 and 1.0. All the facets of his game are overwhelmingly average. He only has above average value if his game is managed carefully, platooning, as you said, being part of that. Playing him everyday, IMO, diminishes his value.
He seems to do better when he can get 4 ABs semi-regularly than just pinch-hitting. So yeah, some kind of platoon where maybe he starts twice a week and pinch-hits the rest of the time.
He might, but even then, I think he’s a roll player, not an everyday one. I hope he surprises everyone, but what he is is good enough if he’s used right.
That’s true but on the other hand it’s not like the Giants have a lot of anti-lefty hitting lying around waiting to be used.
I also think that we can’t rule out the possibility that he made some significant change in his batting strategy last year. His Swing% went up over his career average and his Z-swing% went way up (77%, highest before was 71%), and that may have been why had better contact (23% line drive vs. career 21%, 32% hard vs. career 28%) and fewer Ks (6% vs. career 7%).
He’s adjusting to the way pitchers are attacking him. Maybe it’s reason for optimism, but he’s not Joey Votto needing just a few tweeks. Like the infamous Duvall, let’s see what happens and hope for the best.
I re-read Tim Urban’s introduction to his article on Elon Musk’s Tesla. It was brought to mind by someone here mentioning Joules as a measurement of work. [It was also brought to mind, again, by an article about the 32-Megajoule rail gun ONR is developing]
Tim’s explanation is outstanding, as is the article on Tesla. If nothing else, read his introduction to the article.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-change-your-life.html
His explanation of energy is classic.
Interesting article I will circle back and finish later.
I’ve read or heard before that money is just congealed energy.
This makes sense when you consider that jewels can be worth a lot of money.
This is cool. Thanks
Funny dude, huh?
Very….funny, but so interesting in his method of describing these things in such a fun and entertaining way
You’ll have to check out some of his other stuff. Space-X, plus just his normal stuff. Sometimes I think his drawings are even funnier than his writing. I can see a new subscriber in the offing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rADW2-0bWu4&ab_channel=WaitButWhy
And here’s a TedTalk
Jobu, Breckeroni, Don Zimmer and Allen say – this guy needs to play more in 2017.
http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/213428966/giants-inbox-what-role-for-gorkys-hernandez/
I agree. I think he’s better than some starters we’ve had recently. Eyeballs only.
SSS (33 ABs) but he crushed LHPs last year (29% line drives, 48% hard-hit), and that was a huge weakness for the team last year. And looks like a good fielder. I’d platoon him with Span.
Tough moment for a local group Tower of Power http://abc7news.com/news/2-tower-of-power-band-members-hit-by-train-in-oakland/1700322/
Mrs. Sarcastic and I were at the Old Sugar Mill last weekend and discovered some great wine made by this ToP keyboardist:
http://www.bumpcitywineco.com/
A Petite Sirah? That is what that area is best known for. Great place the Old Sugar Mill for tasting.
I don’t remember a Petite Sirah from him but there was a great Pinot Noir and the Red Blend was fantastic.
I agree – The Old Sugar Mill is great! Eleven wineries under one roof. The Petit Verdot from Rendez-vouz Winery was outstanding!
http://oldsugarmill.com/
http://www.rendez-vouswinery.com/
I stand corrected Pinot Noir.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/sport-macho-baseball-baseball_players-bunt-batter-shr0957_low.jpg
Seems Bapah may have fixed disqus. I’m seeing those blue things and acknowledgement of comments above or below. It’s a dream come true. This goes out to you, “Bappy”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK_5cJpM06k
I miss DU-wayne.
I tell you about the time Dickey Betts left a message on the answering for my wife’s aunt, who had just passed away and whom wife and I provided hospice care for (a very tough period)?
“answering machine”
I’m ready.
Lefty, you get latest from Chancellor Hexter?
Sure seems like the right guy at the right time. Might they just go ahead and remove the “interim” part of his title?
Perfect name for a UC Chancellor. Chancellor Hex – ter?
I did, and again, I thought he did a nice job.
As for the latter–I don’t know. I’m a newbie on a high-level Senate committee this year, and from the snarking I’ve heard so far, I don’t get the impression he’s very well-liked among the faculty. Which doesn’t, of course, mean the university won’t hire him, anyway!
All rumors have some logic behind them – Josh Lupoi is the *key*
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/cal-football-head-coach-search/2017/1/12/14259798/tosh-lupoi-justin-wilcox-california-golden-bears-defensive-coordinator-rumor
so that’s enough of a reason to hire Wilcox?
Well that and the fact that not every coach is going coach the next year like he did the previous yr……..
They better hope he coaches more like he did this past year (where circumstances made him out to be better than he was) than the couple of years before that.
Lefty Reliever Smith has been signed.
Nunez, Smith, and Kontos come to agreement with the Giants.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/01/13/eduardo-nunez-george-kontos-reach-1-year-deals-with-giants/96552284/
Brisbee’s all over it:
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2017/1/13/14267692/sf-giants-arbitration-awards-nunez-smith-gearrin-adrianza-gillaspie
Padres and Wil Myers nearing an extension that may be around 6 years/80 mil.
Seems like a guy the rebuilding Padres will eventually trade. But it is nice to build around a core player and they do have some talented younguns coming up.
I love that kid. Bum – not so much.
A great insight on Conor Gillaspea, rather, the way each of us ‘sees’ him. Conformation bias… http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/01/kahneman-biases-act-like-optical-illusions.html
I must be very powerful in my own mind.
Woody Allen made an entire movie about that issue.
Hard to believe that some / any photographer actually got Conor to smile.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98e3e3d2c55ab8378584a6834b5aa3a58bc7cd7310c61714c29ac54e7646236b.jpg
As a meteorology buff/storm chaser, all the photog had to do was show him a picture similar to this and say : “say twister”.
http://scijinks.gov/review/tornado/tornado-lightning-lrg.png
THAT looks like the Helen Hunt movie Twister
At Petco Park on their snazzy huge video board, they put up “fun facts” about the visiting players when they’re batting. For Gillaspie, it’s the storm chaser thing. At first I wondered if they were making stuff up.
He looks pretty happy in this picture, too. Of course, he’d just hit the HR that won the Wild Card game.
https://twitter.com/jalynnec35/status/783917087190290432
you realize that is around the corner from Finnertys, on 14th St right?!!?
No, I didn’t know. Cool!
Taken at the Gold Club 😉
Rangers to sign Tyson Ross for 6 mil and incentives.
I wonder how much rehab he has before he gets back to form, if at all.
AL West gonna be interesting with Astros, M’s, & Rangers.
That guy looked like an ace a couple years ago, and the Padres just cut him. Seems like a good pickup for the Rangers and maybe a nice change of scene for him.
Pitchers. You just never know.
Knock on wood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrZRURcb1cM
i’d say that pretty much every guy around my age had a crush on stevie during the late 70’s. she was off the charts cute..
Christie McVie, stevie. Christie McVie. :o)
Yup. Her, Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Tiegs and Olivia Newton John.
Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie announced a soon-to-be-released album (aka. CD) together. It will be called Buckingham-McVie ala. Buckingham-Nicks (which…by the way…is a great album).
Update and better news for two Tower of Power musicians http://www.towerofpower.com/
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Tower-of-Power-Band-Members-Recovering-Hit-by-Train-Oakland-410629145.html
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/tower-of-power-train-accident/
CAL reached far and wide to alums Hardy Nickerson & Ron Rivera thus I would think the Justin Wilcox deal is not a slam dunk. I would imagine Ron Gould would return as an assistant. Players are emotionally leaning toward interim Jake Spavital.
Well, you never know how someone will step up to a new challenge, but I can tell you that champagne corks were popping when he got fired from being DC at USC–and that was barely a year ago.
Also, anyone whose resume includes wingman for Steve Sarkisian at two stops…well, let’s just say there’s some reason for concern.
OK, I guess this is more of Sonny seeking the Baylor job as well as he was Sandy Barbour’s hire.
MLB 2017 Hiring News – MLB hired umpires Adam Hamari, Pat Hoberg, Gabe Morales & Carlos Torres to the full-time staff * Since their respective MLB debuts as Triple-A call-up umpires, the foursome has a combined 1,364 games of big league experience going into the 2017 regular season, with Hamari the most experienced and Torres the least. 2016 retirements include Bob Davidson, John Hirschbeck, and Tim Welke.
Minor League Umpires Receive New 5-Year CBA
http://www.closecallsports.com/2017/01/minor-league-umpires-receive-new-5-year.html
HP Umpire Andrew Bell ejected Cavalry 2B River Stevens for flipping off the crowd in Adelaide during his 2 RBI double in the top of the 6th inning of the ABL’s Cavalry-Bite game. Video in link.
http://www.closecallsports.com/2017/01/abl-bell-ejects-river-stevens-for.html
Hot Stove excitement!!
I placed that right on a TEE for Mr. Sarcastic 🙂
Nice story about ML umpire Tom Gorman. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/17/sports/sports-of-the-times-tom-gorman-s-final-call.html
“Tom Gorman recalled a time when Henry Aaron had two
strikes on him and the pitcher threw a pitch right above the knees, on
the outside corner. ”Nobody,” he wrote, ”could hit a pitch like that.
Nobody. And so I yelled, ‘Strike three!’ The next thing I knew, the
ball was sailing into the seats.
”Aaron trotted around the bases and the catcher
turned to me. ‘Tom,’ he said, ‘what the hell are you doing?” ” ‘I’m
practicing, I said.’ ”
Good Night Allen
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a5a274a2002a6b549d562bfd450ded487ad08b150deacbbfca22e5d5d9d50a52.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e35908eb7df9a22b5a2100f174313e02f1cd3eb5c753825ddf822fca5aac6741.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d2288160382b7dacd01840103a4d50dbc1f252a7647bdca0cdea8958435a71a.gif
good morning little doobie
http://s3.amazonaws.com/stripgenerator/strip/05/14/06/00/00/full.png
This picture reminds me … “The Man in the High Castle” is a great story among today’s video offerings. It is what you do while waiting for Spring.
That last one looks just like Tim Urban’s cartoons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0UsWObeajQ
A nice rendition of a N.Y. tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvFQLqWBdiY
William bendix as the, “The Babe” trolls the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley.
Jim Bouton is auctioning off his collection of source materials that led to the manuscript of “Ball Four.”
Great article by A-list baseball writer and Giants fan Tyler Kepner.
https://nyti.ms/2jFSPLR
I remember laughing out loud when I read that. The anecdote he tells about his manager telling him to ‘pitch like Koufax’ is classic.
Bouton, quoting pitching coach Sal Maglie:
“The secret to pitching, boys, is to throw strikes.”
Bouton: Gee, Sal. Thanks.
There is a lot of wisdom to that. Perhaps if Casilla and Lopez had learned that lesson last season might have had a different outcome
Next time the “holier than thou” players from the 60’s whine about PED use to bar someone from the HOF they should reread this book and a similar one by pitcher Jim Brosnan from the same era describing the rampant use of “greenies” by players of the time in the locker room. Does anyone think that if steroids had been available then, that thise guys wouldnt have used them?
i bet even a higher percentage would have used PED’s back then, were they available. since the salaries weren’t so out of whack, more of the everyday players may have cheated just to hold onto their job, and not have to go out, and get a real job.
Why is that relevant?
So many Hall of Fame discussions lately, I hear these guys are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You mean they aren’t already in?
I think this is a nice song, but Neal Schon’s outro guitar really knocks the old socks off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjOEgDppd6k
these guys should be in the R&R HOF…from spartansbug SC…the MTB…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc9_9-VBiRw&list=PL7vDNa0ULBzND3WAvMeCYtGJHlM0Gcpv2
In my regularly received compendium of books available for purchase was “How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History.”
It must be a huge book
The most interesting chapters are still to be written by president-elect DT.
I guess you didn’t get the news, clown, there is no politics here.
You could have conveyed that information without rude name-calling.
He has called me worse.
So, then it’s cool. The old “he started it BS.”
Most of us outgrew that when we were about eight.
Except for the PEOTUS-who-cannot-be-named.
Isn’t that POSTUS?
my wife will be marching in DC next sunday.
My sis from CT too!
would you go if you were closer?
Without a doubt. Hopefully we’ll be doing something in SEA.
Snorkels could provide LONG claws
I’m fine with post.
not yet
Acronym was unclear. Piece Of Merde (of) The U S.
That’s right Lon
HE DID IT FIRST, MOM!
Stay classy dood.
What a ridiculous edict.
Apparently he figures insults are still de rigueur.
Clowns? Funny? Funny like how? Funny like a clown?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWINtUCshxY
When you wrote that “clown”, were you watching yourself in a mirror?
Don’t even try to guess. How can you guess without a brain, you silly moronic idiot?
There you go folks. Need I say more?
Something very infrequent in Venice: the snow. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/75de4b59dbe5175a3454d2ba14bd016e0891baa339e4f39ced6942c88793ba66.jpg
Are there enclosed and heated gondolas?
LOL
Was there in October…hard to imagine it could go from that to this
Sorta like Charles Stoneham being told the lower bowl at the Stick was fitted with heated pipes under the seats. Then Mayor George Christopher was in cahoots with the builders.
Beautiful photo–very artistic.
At least some precipitation, Alvise?
We needed it. More than 2 months without a single drop of rain.
that really is a beautiful photo, AC. did you take it? what is that building in the background?
Probly AC’s casa – Alvise’s got some serious digs stevie.
stop
Sorry to be late. I was at some friends’ home for a formal dinner.
It’s “la Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblioteca_Marciana
Toby Keith shows his versatility/comedic side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxUuDPNbkJk
here’s my fave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68
I have this gem in my iPod.
I Love This Bar…
The UC Davis College Publicans have cancelled a controversial event featuring commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli after protests erupted on campus.
Rumor has it that nobody could fit the name Yiannopoulos on the billboard out front…
I think discussing this would be crossing the line that Greek Giant asked us not to cross.
We could memorialize Toby Kieth and Don’s Johns?
I did not plan to discuss.
But somebody else might. Just a reminder for everyone.
OK but an innocuous comedic comment it was only meant to be. Otherwise it would be living in Russia if we could not make round about comments.
there is a difference between a comedic comment and an Ahole comment, you know better than that. C’Mon Man.
But isn’t America supposed to be the Land of the Free, the land of Liberty and Free speech?
Dedicated to Eduardo Nunez’s contract ONLY the real ending is different. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ-t4DhAfrs
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/51231442/v1186327383/?query=Nunez%2Bsaves%2BPosey%2Bwith%2Bfine%2Bgrab
Tower of Power’s – Garibaldi and van Wageningen Updates
As many of you already know David Garibaldi and Marc van Wageningen were seriously injured last night before their show at Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA. They were crossing the street in front of Yoshi’s and were hit by an Amtrack train. According to unverified reports, there was a freight train that had just passed and a group of pedestrians were starting to cross the street but another train was coming from the other direction that they did not see. This is unverified information, more on the actual accident as information is available.
They are both hospitalized in serious condition and thankfully are expected to recover.
A statement from Emilio Castillo – Bandleader for Tower of Power
“I was at the hospital last night and saw David but Marc was in intensive care and I wasn’t able to see him. Dave’s head and face were pretty swollen and bruised but he was lucid and expected to recover. Marc came through surgery well; his internal bleeding was stopped and they were waiting for him to stabilize in order to do further testing. The doctors were cautiously optimistic. We appreciate the responses and prayers from our former bandmates, friends, and fans and we all remain hopeful and in prayer.”
Last year Mic Gillette passed away. TOP is getting older like the rest of us. One of my favorites from them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDdBgxGUcOg
TOP at Yoshi’s recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnclc1msamc
I grew up on their music. Playing in a Jazz band in the 70 you had to know this song.
My first exposure to the Tower of Power was in the 70’s on Little Feats Waiting for Columbus live album. Loved the horns throughout the album especially the little solo in the song Dixie Chicken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RvR3j535qc
Jimmy Piersall’s https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8483be183a0e82ef5bf8c23c9ef376001a95ce037e098f3da1a802e6af034c82.jpg – (now 87) reactions to his issues was years before Aubrey Huff’s anxiety attacks. Both men suffered their demons as proven when Piersall hit the 100th home run of his career, off Phillies pitcher Dallas Green. He ran around the bases in the correct order but facing BACKWARDS as he made the circuit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Piersall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWYkPG7-zNo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOBinw45Adc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IlaXNHIrIo
Any jazz fans here listen to Wolfgang Muthspiel?
For ONLY those so inclined. See below
Dear Baseball Chapel Prayer Partners,
Tragedy has struck our former Kansas City Royals Chapel Leader Mark Brown and his wife Sheryl (who formerly served as womens ministry leader) when their daughter Victoria (28 years) was one of 3 persons murdered at a house she was at yesterday in Kansas City. A 20 year old child named Ali Brown was also killed, though we do know yet whether this person was related to Mark and Sheryl. We at Baseball Chapel are hurting as we consider the deep pain Mark and Sheryl are experiencing at this time. Please pray for the peace of Christ to flood the hearts of this family who have experienced such tragedy. I know you will. As we receive more information to guide your prayers, we will do so. I’ve passed along all details we know of as of now.
God bless you all. Thanks again for your prayers.
Rob Crose, Operations
Baseball Chapel
Report from SEA on Top-Pot Donuts: I give it a 5 – much better than most, but when the baseline is Krispee Kreme (sic) (sick), there’s nowhere to go but up.
Not as good as Grandma’s homemade “fried cakes.”
A little Tower of Power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqbztYxCFrM
Different kind of version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk1BGDpjWak
“Baseball isn’t a contact sport” :-/
https://www.facebook.com/derek.willis.14/posts/10208117443040118
Having a bad day? https://www.facebook.com/derek.willis.14/posts/10208117455040418
Atlanta’s last TD was very impressive.
Wondering how the Cuban ball players future in MLB will be affected?
http://tinyurl.com/jzncm5k
I think you should do a better job of research. Have you never heard or followed the stories of how players like El Duque or Puig got here? They defected. Ballplayers who are are hungry to make it in MLB will continue to defect. No one was looking to just waltz into a spring training. Sure there was hope when Obama looked to make changes, however, player defected before the Obama administrations and will continue to do so post Obama. They will just continue to go to another country first before heading to the US with baseball contracts.
Dude, what is your issue. You’re like a victim on the show Special Victims Unit New York.
(1) I POSTED a link to a URL that had a thought provoking subject matter.
(2) I read it
(3) I then shared it here
I’d prefer Shanahan over McDaniels for the 49ers next HC.
Time for the C-hawks to retool. Off. line should be top priority.
Bravo to Jim Barnett https://twitter.com/JanieMcCAP/status/819741043969003520
Would love to see the Ws win it all with Nate’s #42 on their chests.
Good Night Allen.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51ff58e8c644b92da33602d4a54d7b6c759650416ffa806ed4a00021f88dbcdb.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/179c0251de15e59d318c78195f99360abb0a7bf84b8f8686e8d73f0ad75805a1.gif
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/36b5f03acb06658eea18755501b10fc985076994bcf2ff227d029786bab3e7a6.gif
A cautionary note about private information and genealogy sites.
http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/family-tree-now-opt-out-privacy-dox/
Site. Not sites.
Depends on whether you can extrapolate. So, what do moose eat for dinner?
Leaf. Or leaves.
Erickson. It’s a man hunting arctic moose.
Just started reading The Undoing Project. Lewis is a pretty mesmerizing writer.
When you’re finished if the subject intrigues you, dig out Tversky and Kahneman’s seminal paper from Science in 1973 or 1974. It’s quite readable, and jargon free. It’s insights are just remarkable.
I will, thanks! I’m sure I can get it through the UCD library.
Or a teen heartthrob.
Sounds tender and exotic.
Whatever we want!
Who cares? Our feckless, I mean fearless, leader is winning wars! Plural!
I hear this is a great site. Colleges should welcome these brilliant minds to speak to their breit and impressionable utes!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/14/donald-trump-winning-war-cnn/
Lots of baseball is planned there. None played, but they are purported fans of Moneyball.
…a bit of jostling — and at least one thrown cup of coffee — Friday evening at Davis.
But mostly there was a lot of chanting and yelling as several hundred vociferous protesters succeeded in shutting down an appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos, the puerile 33-year-old Breitbart writer who is best known for getting banned from Twitter after leading a charge of racist harassment against “Ghostbusters” actress Leslie Jones.
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-milo-20170115-story.html
I say let’m talk, and answer questions.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-john-lewis-20170114-story.html
Yeah I read it. He’s a knucklehead of renown.
Another great baseball post
If you don’t like it, you can always skip it. Isn’t perhaps America supposed to be the Land of the Free, the land of Liberty and the Land of Free Speech? You are free not to read it.
Free speech? Who says it’s free?
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article126629829.html
Wait until the end of 2018. I forecast an impeachment coming.
No athlete may be as grossly overpaid as Brock Osweiler.
Chris Stewart is considered an essential piece in the Pirates short term future, even as a backup catcher. That guys a ballplayer.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/01/14/team-report-andrew-mccuthchens-status-unclear-pirates/96605214/
Still wish we had him back…funny how things work. Buster Posey’s awful injury gave Stewart his first real shot. He was a minor league journeyman and he’s been a major leaguer ever since.
If Heyward clicks next year, the Cubs will be really tough to beat. He’s working on his swing now. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/01/14/cubs-of-heyward-hard-at-work-on-revamped-swing/96580430/
I wouldn’t worry too much.
They’ll still be tough to beat with a .230 Heyward, but yeah, for sure.
If you get MLB Network, this panel discussion is re-airing tonight at 9 pm Eastern, 6 pm Pacific. We watched it when it first aired on Thursday and thought it was really good.
https://twitter.com/mlbnetwork/status/820627863929880576
Typically, it appears to be different down here. It shows it at 3:00 pm here. 6:00 Eastern. Thanks, I was sorry I missed it. Now, I won’t.
Actually, it’s on this minute, too.
Buster Olney’s column today is a roundup of “what ‘sources’ in each major league team’s front office might say about their own organization if administered truth serum.” For example, the Nats expect to lose Bryce Harper after 2018 and are gearing up to win now. The Dodgers are worried about what Kershaw’s back and hip problems will mean going forward.
For the Giants? Here it is: “The constant push to win in recent years drained their farm system and really hurt them in the days leading up to the 2016 trade deadline.”
OK, there’s a cause-and-effect problem with this. I agree with the effect–we clearly saw that the Giants couldn’t compete on the trade market for Miller, Chapman, and Melancon last July and Hamels the year before, ending up with consolation prizes like Mike Leake and Will Smith. (Moore’s a different story because they had to give up a valuable everyday major leaguer to get him.).
It’s the “cause” I don’t get. How did the “constant push to win [drain] their farm system”? I can’t think of any fabulous prospects the Giants “drained” to get the pieces they needed to win their titles. Wheeler for Beltran, maybe, but as Wheeler hasn’t pitched since 2014 and the Giants have a strong rotation now, I don’t count that one.
Key trades in the championship era, starting with 2009:
–Tim Alderson for Freddy Sanchez: Alderson never cracked the majors.
–Joe Martinez and John Bowker for Javier Lopez: Nothing to see here, move along.
–Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera: Sanchez was long in the majors by then and amounted to nothing after he was traded.
–Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez for Angel Pagan: Love ya, Yungo, but–please.
–Charlie Culberson for Marco Scutaro: When’s Sabean eligible for the Hall of Fame?
–Nate Schierholtz, Tommy Joseph, and Seth Rosin for Hunter Pence: Yeah, still not feeling “drained.”
–Edwin Escobar & Heath Hembree for Jake Peavy: While Hembree’s had some play in the Red Sox bullpen, Escobar just signed to play in Japan.
–Keury Mella and Adam Duvall for Mike Leake: Yeah, that was a bad trade.
–Kind-of trade: signing Jeff Samardzija and forfeiting a first-round pick in 2016. Hard to say how that pencils out, but so far it’s looking like the trade-off was worth it.
If the Giants’ farm system is “drained” (a matter of opinion, anyway), it’s because (a) they haven’t had a lottery pick since 2009 and/or (b) they’re not drafting as intelligently as some other teams. But I’m not following Olney’s argument here about the “constant push to win” being the cause.
One thing. It should be clear by now, but… the Mets Break Pitchers
They do. That Michael Fulmer kid has to be happy he escaped in the 2015 trade for Cespedes.
Do you think Thor is unbreakable?
This is the narrative in non-giants’ circles in general. People are generally irritated with the giants for not only winning 3 world series while being on the west coast and not following sabermetric wisdom but not quietly fading into the sunset but insisting on continuing to try to win.
That isn’t the giants’ problem. Their problem as you said is for whatever reason their farm system just isn’t producing a lot and they get stuck using players in long term contracts when they aren’t effective any more.
I think you’re right. What they’ve traded away is mostly depth – B and B- prospects at best.
Their main issue has been lower draft picks, not trading talent for prospects, and perhaps not having the best scouting for drafting. They really miss out on top HS talent. Not that the Giants farm system is bad. In spite of losses, this is not a bottom 5 system. Maybe a bottom 10, but the difference between wherever they are and the 15th best system isn’t that much.
They have a better system than this orange and black squad:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/1/13/14265522/baltimore-orioles-top-20-prospects-for-2017
Apparently their drafting strategy is “safe” low-risk college players with good makeup. Thus you get your Joe Paniks and Matt Duffys–great guys with low ceilings. Even Christian Arroyo, a bit unusual for them as a HS draftee, was considered a reach.
My observation is that they’re better at developing than drafting, as players seem to overachieve what their status was when drafted. But that can only take you so far (you’re not turning Joe Panik into Kris Bryant), and it doesn’t give you much cache when trading in July, which was the point of Olney’s comment.
https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.11989689.0487/sticker,220×200-pad,220×200,ffffff.jpg
The constant push to win in recent years led to winning.
I was catching up on Olney’s various top-10 lists, and wow, is the LF top 10 desultory:
1. Cespedes
2. Marte
3. Braun
OK, so far, so good. Now it gets ugly.
4. Schwarber: Dude barely played last year and isn’t really an outfielder.
5. Kemp: Still remember the “triple” he gifted Gillaspie at a game I was at last year.
6. Brantley: played 11 games last year and no one knows if he can make it back.
7. Gardner: zzzzzzz (league-average career hitter, 34 years old)
8. Upton: Justin, not Melvin. Come to think of it, I’m surprised Melvin didn’t crack this list.
9. Gordon: How’d he get so far down this list?
10. Benitendi: He’s been in the majors for five minutes.
Honorable mention: Adam Duvall
Not mentioned: Angel Pagan
Sounds like he didn’t look at any games last year other than the world series, he’s completely out of date. Martinez and yelich should be near the top. Khris davis should be there. Kemp, brantley, gordon, upton, and benintendi (and obviously schwarber) shouldn’t be there at all (gordon completely fell apart at the plate last year). Gardner was actually pretty decent statwise last year but he got a lot of babip luck.
Olney has basically the knowledge of an average fan who catches a game once in a while and looks at some basic stats for a few minutes once a week.
Actually he said it was based on a poll of scouts and front office personnel from major league teams, so not just his personal opinion.
Not sure i believe him. It’s a pretty strange list whoever made it
http://www.grouchoreviews.com/content/films/4043/1.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtSmfws0_To
He had K. Davis as honorable mention. I thought Yelich was an odd omission, too, but Olney said that Marcel Ozuna is moving to LF for the Marlins this year.
Who’s in LF for LAD?
Ummmm…give me a hint? A multiple-choice question?
Maybe Braun if they finally pull the trigger on the trade for Puig?
Has anyone anywhere shown a glimmer of interest in Angel? His not being able to play in the postseason has to be a big damper on his hopes.
Dig the Kemp mention, in relation to LAD chat below, maybe Kemp could get traded back to them? But I prefer Puig in their OF, for his contributions to “team unity”.
The buzz at the time they traded Kemp was that he and Puig couldn’t co-exist, and they chose Puig. But they did a good job getting Grandal in that trade.
Ironically, though, Kemp is exactly the kind of bat the Dodgers appear to be searching for–and they’ll still be paying part of his salary this year!
The Dodgers also did not make Olney’s top-10 lineups list (they were an honorable mention). Obviously they have some good bats, but they still have some holes.
I thought it interesting that Puig was part of Kenley Jansen’s wedding along with Justin Turner and Scott Van Slyke and maybe another or others – but they seemed to be the core. It’s possible Puig may have done some maturing and that dissension in the ranks may be magnified by media.
reply to both of you. Yes, sometimes guys grow up. But Puig seems to have driven Greinke away, not just Kemp. And I don’t have the sense Kershaw cares too much for Puig.
Dave Roberts did a nice job of managing w/o a lot of pitching last year, and the change away from DTT to he might have had some effect on Puig? (pure speculation on my part)
Yes, Greinke really was disgusted with Puig.
Roberts still looks like a nitwit to me. Better than Mattingly doesn’t mean much.
I’m starting to think rankings such as Olney’s, regardless of sport, which include preseason prognostications, mock drafts, those “way too early” college football rankings, Heisman watch lists,etc – everybody has one it seems – are a relatively subtle, sports version of clickbait. People just can’t help themselves. Me included sometimes.
Wow! He’s clearly overlooking defense in this equation.
It’s Olney.
The Not-Really-“Buster”-Buster
I know this doesn’t belong here, but…
The Space-X people, you know, Elon Musk, had a successful launch and then brought back the rocket and landed it safely on a … wait for it.. a barge, floating in the Pacific. Really? In the ocean?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b7/4c/69/b74c69223f01e937e8902ac7d15cfc91.jpg
The barge is named “Just Read the Instructions.” This is a very interesting company, trying some fueling processes not used at national space agencies. Bully for them. It seems that Iridium has managed to reinvent itself, too.
I need a schematic. Landing an earth to space missile safely back to earth on an X-marks-the-spot landing is beyond my comprehension.
They are landing the first stage, under power, on a barge so if it crashes there is only ocean to damage. Here is the first landing, last year, in the Atlantic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPGUQySBikQ
The second stage is lost, of course. The rocket is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPGUQySBikQ
and recent launches have involved cooling liquid oxygen well below its normal condensation point to increase the density (more oxidizer is more payload). The company is experimenting with liquid methane as the fuel, something that I believe no one has ever gotten past test firings to an actual launch vehicle.
NASA used to fish the solid rocket boosters of the space shuttle out of the ocean and refuel them if not too badly messed up by usage (according to my memory which ain’t exactly “Lefty grade”).
found this, with schematic!
http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/06/24/why-and-how-landing-rockets
Good research! I enjoyed that.
It all makes sense! We could do this in our back yard now 🙂
Your back yard is WAY bigger than mine! I do have an open spot now where the emerald ash borers did their thing, though.
Uh oh. Are they a big problem in your neck of the woods as a result of non-nativity and climate change?
So the Giants are #2 on Olney’s top-10 list for team defense (Cubs are #1). They did not make the top-10 lineup list, not surprisingly.
The Giants “scored” on the following lists:
–rotation (#5)
–defense (#2)
–catcher (#1)
–starting pitcher (#3 and #10)
–reliever (#6, should have been higher)
–RF (#9)
–SS (#4)
–2B (honorable mention)
–1B (honorable mention)
Sounds about right to me.
SS seems low to me.
Lindor, Seager, Correa most likely
Yep, exact order.
Correa is behind Crawford in Fangraphs WAR and it isn’t close (5.8 vs. 4.9), way behind defensively.
Correa could go for 40 HRs next year. He’s an explosive, MVP caliber talent that happens to be 22 y.o.
He can hit but so far he’s a below-average defensive SS.
that’s debatable. UZR has him above avg and DRS slightly below. Seager is probably “average” as well, but when your SS can hit like they can …
I’m seeing here with 500+ innings he’s 17/21 in UZR/150 and 18/33 in BRS:
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=500&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=10,d
Seager is clearly better.
Let’s se him do it 1st, last year he was overhyped and had a bad year, potential is worthless, reminds me of the Harper is worth 400 million talk, then he has a bad year, and has only 1 great season for a guy hyped to the max, greatness is doing it year after year .
you said it. got to consistently be great to be among the greats. pretty damned good for 20 & 21 year old in the Bigs.
Correa had almost 200 more at bats in 2016 then he did in 2015, but had 2 less HRs, his average was down .005 points , his SLG% was down .061, his OPS was down .045, but some how is WAR was up 1.9 , another reason to ignore WAR .
Harper’s BIP data even from 2015 were really suspicious so his crash shouldn’t have been a surprise (certainly wasn’t to me). Correa’s BIP data is much better.
Crawford was #3 among SSs in Fangraphs WAR behind Seager and LIndor last year (assuming Machado is really a 3Bman).
Fangraphs had the Giants as #3 in hitters+fielders last year (WAR=27.7):
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0
Yes, but that’s all defense! They were in the negative numbers on offense!
We should not kid ourselves. This is a pitching-and-defense team. Their offense might even be worse next year with unproven commodities replacing Angel Pagan. I hope not, but it’s possible.
Ah, so by lineup you meant hitting, not non-pitchers? Okay, fair enough then.
Doing my part to innocuously integrate baseball with politics, which US President had the most game on the diamond? This guy, below?
Obama wins basketball and Gerald Ford wins football, am I right?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/4a/03/e5/4a03e5a878b6c72e471e71079c857b81.jpg
I remember Ike liked golf.
George HW Bush played for Yale. And I think there is a GroverCleveland in there. Guess I should read the article.
Lefty Grove for sure. Did he play for Cleveland?
Sunday morning music time. Anybody see SNL last night? This guy rocked the stage!! Wowee!
http://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/watch-sturgill-simpsons-fiery-snl-debut-w461175
George Washington…heard he had a great arm. Dizzy Dean, who built up his arm by throwing rocks at a barn door, drew inspiration from young George. The Potomac is a wide river as it passes by Mt. Vernon so you know what kind of an arm was required to throw a rock across it.
Good knowledge.
Grant was a gifted equestrian.
Giants news, from Korea:
http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20170115002800315&domain=3&ctype=A&site=0700000000
Hi again
1. Hwang seems pretty flexible, and maybe the US Giants will jump on this?
2. the ash borer came from Asia (if I remember), got introduced somewhere east of me, so I remember when they were popping up in Michigan. Every year a bit further westward expansion, with central Iowa being the current battle front. There were lots and lots of green ash trees planted to replace the elm, so it’s a 2nd wave of losing urban forest.
3. I have never seen anyone talk about what happens to baseball bats in case all the ash trees die. This point may be nonsense but does bring my post up to being 2/3 baseball content. Even the dead branches that fell off my ash seemed to be pretty solid wood, so it is a good bat choice.
I think Giants should jump on this. What bad could come of adding more talent? Cross the bridge of what to do with talent overflow later 🙂
my work campus has raywood ash. Mostly do very well here. Haven’t tested for density.
I wonder what the proportion of bat woods are these days? Does maple dominate? I have a maple bat that I was fortunate to not break in game play and swinging in the batting cages. I feel like there must be a good article on baseball bats out there somewhere….
I’ll start here:
http://sabr.org/research/properties-baseball-bats
Maple bats from Canada were big when Barry was still playing, but those have maybe fallen out of favor due to breaking more often and into sharper pieces? I’m pretty sure cricket bats are required to be made of willow.
good article!
I skimmed a bit, but I was surprise how much content it had – even those ash borers were mentioned. Bookmark worthy.
I like the idea of signing Hwang and trading Nunez hopefully for someone who’ll improve the left field situation.
Tomlinson might inspire more intrigue because of his cost and control.
Okay, trade Nunez and Tomlinson. I like KT but the Giants clearly don’t know what to do with him.
Backup infielder seems the right role – he could fill a starting role on a team with a hole, rebuilding or otherwise. Every day role still seems a stretch for him though.
For the Giants yes but the kid can be a close-to-.300 hitter. Lots of liners and a huge number of infield hits. His career xBABIP is like .350.
KT never hit much in the Minors, was fast and not much of a defender, and no pop at all, might be small sample size in the Majors that is making him look like a better hitter then he actually is, but this blog falls in love with his type, love slap hitters .
Actually I was talking about this as well. I think despite the 300 ABs, it’s still a sample size and I would be hesitant to give him the keys to a starting IF job if the Giants FO decides to trade Panik.
No, at all costs don’t trade Panik. I like Tomlinson but Panik should be untouchable.
I agree on Panik but Tomlinson is the kind of player that could come back to haunt the Giants for years if they trade him.
Love is blind, Pete. Try to understand us.
I dig the long ball .
See my long post above about why I don’t like the long ball.
Whoa. Hwang is not major-league ready. Isn’t his league roughly comparable to high A? Better not trade away the starting 3B!
Hope springs eternal in some quarters, it seems.
I LIKE Nunez. I’m not in any hurry to get rid of him for some unknown Korean guy.
Yep. 1/2 a season doesn’t tell much of a story.
I don’t dislike Nunez but I think Gillaspie is about as good and they could get more for Nunez.
I’d say the statistics in the KBO compares to the Cal League, but the competition is probably more along the lines of AA/AAA.
Depends on who you think the starting 3Bman is.
Easy, fella.
Whoa Nellie
Great interview with that rocker from SNL last night. CC may have linked this some time ago, but great read for you music/art/adventure/philosophy loving folk:
http://www.rollingstone.com/country/features/the-fighting-side-of-sturgill-simpson-w443513
GG, pls add add speculative trades to the “no politics” mandate.
You’d end up eliminating 90% of Ryan’s comments.
That would be a positive, but the blog would have nothing to debate then , so that would be bad .
Your logic seems to equate positive with bad.
No Ryan crazy trade talk, when he always says the Giants do not have the top prospects to make a good trade, would be a positive, not being able to debate Trades in general, would make this blog obsolete, and that would be bad .
Footy is also a pretty astute student of the Game. You could learn from him, I have.
You guys like similar things about players, I am the opposite, I prefer Power, you guys prefer, speed and defense .
I prefer Intelligence and Rationality.
Ryan is a prospect fan, and I am a production fan, which means I go by what players have done , not what they might do .
Look at the future Pete. The past is always dead.
The past is absolutely a guideline. Yes…look to the future. Use the past.
The past is a guideline for people without a bit of imagination. if you want a breakthrough, in every field, you have to break with the past. Go tell that to my friend Albert.
Actually, that turns out to be a call for confirmation bias if you don’t use data as the past.
Predicting the future is hard, a guess, going by the past helps predict the future, if you predict the future based on potiental that could bite you in the but .
Nothing can bite my but without losing its teeth.
yikes. Take a nice pill.
In our nice dialect we’d call a guy like you “FORA DEI COPI”. Have a good translation.
Not true. I prefer neither power nor speed. Defense I do like.
I like good baseball players. I don’t like one-dimensional goons.
Ruth was a Goon, Aaron was a Goon, Mays was a Goon, Williams was a Goon, and so on !
Mays wasn’t one-dimensional at all.
Was the a team named the Goons? I missed that?
“one-dimensional goons”
…
Huh?
Based on a players physical makeup – height and weight – said player has an opportunity to DRIVE the ball rather than HIT the ball.
Hitters who clench the bat and cause forearm striations suffer tension and cannot relax and finish properly. Some Power hitters RUN INTO the ball. Hitters who drive the ball based on their size and bat speed can do so to all fields. Most POWER hitters hit the ball only to the same field.
IMO Footy is also a student of something else better and more important than baseball.
Oh, i should think there would be more than enough to talk about/debate in here without trade speculation.
Hall of Fame debate is the only other Baseball related topic, that is interesting , besides who should the Giants get to play LF .
And 90% of my interest in this blog, regardless of who might be interested about my opinion.
GSDubs…I like many of your posts, but I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you on this one.
Speculative trades are part of the Hot Stove season and many baseball fans love this time of year. These trades also don’t divide us anywhere close to the other topic; which is GG’s way of keeping this blog more friendly than not.
I respectfully acknowledge your disagreement. And I fully agree with you regarding “the other topic”.
We’d be Out of Business 🙂
Ha…maybe so. That would be a bad trade off for sure.
No ‘SC football comments either 😉
Oh no…just getting warmed up for next year!
More investigation into what made the Giants’ offense effective in 2010-14. Out of 30 teams, they were 23rd in runs scored, 28th in HRs, 27th in HRs, 25th in BBs, 26th in Ks, 10th in AVG, 13th in wRC+ (98), but somehow 4th in WPA (Win Probability Added, measuring how much each plate appearance increased or decreased their change of winning a game). wRC+ combines various statistics in a formula devised by the sabermetrics gurus to determine how many runs a batter produces, factoring in both the effect of the home park and the league–this would explain why the Giants are about average in terms of wRC+ even though they are well below average in terms of actual runs scored, because they play in an extreme pitchers’ park in the National League. But it doesn’t explain how they could be one of the top teams in the majors in terms of WPA, because in a general sense this should be directly related to general hitting effectiveness and in terms of wRC+ they were just average. This is presumably related to the fact that during this time the Giants had the #1 Clutch score in the majors–this measures the WPA effectiveness of a team in situations which are more and less pivotal to the outcome of a game, with a strong Clutch score being associated with hitting more effectively when the game is on the line. But in fact the Giants’ wRC+ did not reflect this–in low-leverage situations (when the game was not on the line at all), they were 14th in wRC+, in medium-leverage situations they were 11th, and in high-leverage situations (when the game was on the line), they were 15th. So this looks mysterious.
The explanation seems to lie in the Giants HR, BB, and K stats, in all of which they were among the lowest in the majors in 2010-14 (27th, 25th, 26th). These are all statistically correlated (negatively) with a high Clutch score–I checked the correlations between each of these for all teams in the last 10 years (2007-16) and the average r-scores were -.17, -.25, and -.11 respectively–individually each of these three aren’t strong, but when a team is strongly negative in all three like the Giants were, the effect is very significant (the Royals of 2014-15 were another team with a HR/BB/K/Clutch pattern like this). This is what is responsible for the Giants’ very high Clutch score, and the Clutch score is what is responsible for the Giants’ high WPA score in spite of their average wRC+.
To connect this with actual baseball, the most important situations in a game (highest-leverage) typically have runners in scoring position (the more runners the more important) with the score tied or the batting team behind by a run late in the game. In situations like this, batters with lots of HRs, BBs, and Ks will be relatively less effective than they would be in low-leverage situations–HRs will typically not increase the team’s chances of winning much more than a single (there will be a huge jump even with a single), BBs will typically produce little or no increase in the probability of the team winning the game (they will just pass the situation on to the next batter), and Ks will typically produce a much bigger drop in the probability of winning than some other type of out which may score a run or at least move a runner closer to scoring–this was the basis of the Giants’ ‘ground attack’, which would produce runs without power, speed, or a particularly high batting average. The kind of hitter you want at the plate in such high-leverage situations is someone who’ll put the ball in play, and this is what the Giants have emphasized.
The sabermetrics gurus have emphasized from the beginning that the way to win games is to score runs, so lineups should be built so as to maximize the total runs of runs a team scores in a season. This is the whole idea behind stats like wRC+. The Giants on the other hand were designed not to maximize the total number of runs in a season but rather make contact, and this produces a lower wRC+ but a higher WPA and more wins.
There is an excellent piece of evidence to support your WPA assertion in 2010. I think the Giants led or near the top MLB in Sac Flys.
Hitting Sac Flys are a skill, looking for a pitch that is easy to elevate and timing the swing just right is hard to do, the Giants have a hard time doing it lately, Posey in piticular .
When you lead the league in SacFlys it’s an intentional act, I’d say that forces you to ask, how did those baserunners get to 3B or into scoring position. But no matter, the issue is how that talent can contribute to WPA without dramatically effecting RC+.
Good point but it is an artistic skill that many young players have not mastered because in stead of getting a pitch to handle – they end up lifting the ball and it becomes a pop-up.
The biggest key to successfully hitting a sac fly is “looking for and getting” a pitch UP within the hitting zone and hitting the bottom part of the baseball. That is unless you have a swing like Pops Stargell or David Ortiz.
The Giants were indeed 6th in sac flies in 2010-14. I haven’t yet done a correlation test.
In my experience, WPA is hard to generalize from because how specific and at times, non intuitive, it is. Like the key event in the Cubs win in game 7 was the decision not to bat Almora and rather use him as a pinch runner. I don’t think any counting statistic can supply that. Last month there was a good article on WPA using, in part, game 7 of the Cubs win, as an example. BTW, FG runs a real time assessment of game probability for each game. You sure get an odd viewpoint of what’s important in a ball game.
If you look at individual events, that’s true. But if you look at lots and lots of data, some general patterns are very clear. I discovered a WPA calculator before I discovered Fangraphs and I just got fascinated with it and spent a lot of time calculating WPA batter-by-batter. If you do this enough, the Clutch data makes sense. In HL situations you see singles producing a huge jump, almost as big as a HR, you see a K with the bases loaded and one out producing a huge drop while a sacrifice fly has practically no effect, you see a walk with a man on 2nd or 3rd not move the needle.
It was the inadequacy of wOBA, RC+ older brother, that birthed WPA. I enjoy using t as well, all I’m saying is that to wring the most out of it, expecting a correlation may be a lot to anticipate. Afterall, it’s purpose might be to illustrate that a baseball team is more than the sum of its parts… synergy. I’d add, the shape of the probability event ‘profile’ of events during games can apparently tell you a lot about the way a baseball team manages to win over multiple games…. score early and hold on or hit late and come back.
Thank for your excellent and very instructive analysis.
FYI…
Baseball America @BaseballAmerica 3h3 hours ago
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Lowell Cohn retirement…did the 49ers pay him to go away? 🙂
I know he has many friends amongst his fellow writers, but lots of cringing going on whenever he asked a question in 49ers (and others) press conferences. I’m sure Jeb was happy.
When’s the parade?
It’s scheduled in Alviso…during high tide.
Crocket and Benicia are still waiting for their parades.
LOL, Alviso, the toilet of the bay area (my apologies if you live there). There’s a sewage treatment plant there and it stinks to high heaven… at least it did during the 60s and 70s.
don’t forget the 2 dumps just up the bay from it as well. Worked at the end of Gold St for several years. Best Mexican restaurant around is right at the end of Gold St. Maria Elenas .
Didn’t it stink there? I find it hard to imagine that one could get used to it. I heard of an excellent Mexican restaurant in Milpitas, is that it? I think the 2 cities are right next to each other.
Alviso did not stink except for once or twice in 3 years. The end of Gold St. is walking distance to the 49’rs stadium. The corridor east of the bay on 880 through Milpitas constantly stunk. I looked at buying a house in the east hills there , smelled the stench and crossed off the area from my search.
What interesting does he have to look forward to reporting on?
Lowell has resurrected himself several times, Now that his son is ON the Press Democrat sports site for quite some time – he will go live at Bill Walsh Village in Twain Harte and tell stories about the one time Bill bought him a grill cheese sandwich at the Oasis on El Camino in Atherton.
LOL. Cohn is not half as nasty about the 49ers as some folks here are. Is everybody here POed at him because he’s irascible? I used to watch him on the afternoon sport TV show, he was entertaining.
His Press Democrat pieces are not bad but his pre and post press conference decorum leave something to be desired. At the end Harbaugh would not address his questions?
Harbaugh was/is a primadonna, I’d avoid him as an imprimatur. Decorum, what’s that got to do with a PR conference with a bunch of jocks. It wasn’t like it was at the Vatican. It’s an effin football team.
Ahhh. the Oasis. One of my favorite places growing up and still today. To be picky, not in Atherton though.
Yea as soon as I typed that I knew it was Menlo Park, Another MP hang out was Dutch Goose up on the Alameda. Big Byrnsie hang out. When the Niners were headquarted at 711 Nevada Street the fellas would hang out at the now closed Hideaway on Chestnut street in Redwood City.
Nobody could touch the greasiness tho of the Oasis Burgers 🙂
Dutch Goose…used to ride my bike there from elementary school. Alpine Beer Garden on Alpine Road for the bikers and great chili. Niners also used to hang out a lot at the (original) Harrys Hofbrau in RC. Those were them days.
Harry’s Hofbrau still draws their fair share of regular 49er fans even though they’ve gone and added the words “The Carvery” on the building….
Is this the same Alpine Beer Garden? http://www.alpineinnbeergarden.com/gal.html
Oasis http://theoasisbeergarden.com/index.html
The Dutch Goose http://www.dutchgoose.net/
Yes, the one and the same
He did have a good line about Jim Tomsula, saying that he sounded like a salesman from a funeral home giving his sales pitch: “We have the executive package, it includes a mahogany casket, a 2-hour service, and the hearse.”
Baalke could have been fired/released for the mere fact that the last draft he took ANOTHER coveted defensive college player with a collegiate history of injuries at the exact spot / round that Dak Prescott was available.
The CANUCKS have accumulated all the old lard a$$es for the World Baseball Classic
http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/1/15/14277852/canadas-world-baseball-classic-roster-interesting-old-names-eric-gagne-ryan-dempster
My Cowboys are in danger of getting booted out of the playoffs. I’m not worried right now. I’ll bet that Jerry has a few secret plays that he’s saving for crunch time that’ll be both huge and phenomenal when properly executed.
Providing there IS a crunch time!
No Jordy, no problem thus far.
The trouble the Cowboys have is Tommy (Hollywood) Henderson. He sucked the luck out and took it with him. That son-of-a-gun has won lotto twice since leaving the Cowboys.
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/161862990/hollywood-thomas-henderson-lottery-twice
Contrary to public opinion, God loves Hollywood.
God took away his plastic nasal spray bottle.
flushed….
Holy Mrs. Beasley!
Not as cool as reusable rockets, but chainsaws are a life saver as well as a clear cutter. One of the great developments of the 20th century. This is my orange and black attack…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/371dc625fb6060ec6c448ac92bd202f29c10e7963e71b4b19e723206e7848495.jpg
Looks like you’re buckin’ these at a bunch of different lengths.
You have a good eye. Can’t say I’m consistent working around knots and crotches. I say fuck it, it’s all gonna burn.
Just not all perhaps in the same venue.
Good one. I think there’s a big one that you can’t see where it’s cut in half. Squatter rounds get mauled easier as well.
You use a hydraulic splitter, or splitting wedge?
He’d better use a maul. There ain’t that much wood.
the boom stick. but those splitters are cool for people who are serious about their wood and have low variance with their sections.
I’m assuming you have a maul AND a wedge. I’ve done my share in this lifetime. Now, I’m satisfied with central H&AC.
Good advice from an old pro. I should put the wedge to work one of these days.
Actually wedges are sorta fun. Next step down is a well-balanced hatchet, maybe an ax, but not really necessary.
Mi Da was a Vermont lumberman.
You be careful with that machine, Foots.
(Did you ever see that great scene in Paul Neumann’s “Sometimes a Great Notion” where he cuts some douchebag politician’s desk in half with his new chainsaw?)
Go pride of Chico and the pack! I love cheese! And beer.
Bad pitching matchup for Dallas
U.C. BERKELEY!!!
p.s. I was in a bar and saw the last few minutes. I don’t watch football – but would it be inaccurate to say that ‘timeout’ Dallas called on the final FG was a dick move, and cheating too???
It was legal and I don’t think it was a dick move. Consider this: it’s a sudden death playoff game, and the Cowboys’ entire season was coming down to whether or not the Packers kicker made that field goal. If they “ice” him, make him think about it for another minute or two, and then he misses the second time–and anything can happen there–they get to try to extend their season in OT.
I’m no Cowboys fan, but any coach would have done the same in that situation.
I thought it was more like bribing a judge. NOBODY on the field except the zebra standing next to the coach saw the last-split-second T/O request, and it was timed so that the play had already started. Biggest chickenshit move I’ve seen since ARoid (Jeter?) ran around 3B yelling ‘Drop it!’ on a popup. I’m amazed that this kind of thing is tolerated. But then again, look at what IS tolerated nowadays.
I don’t watch that much football, but I’ve seen it done before. They have the timing down to a science, with the coach carefully positioned next to the zebra.
Wow. What a culture.
Bacterial.
Does icing work?
I was thinking today about our dilemma here around the awareness and discussion of current politics. I was trying to think of analogous situations in our everyday lives.
It came to me minutes ago as I was watching nothing in particular. Our political situation can be compared to ubiquitous advertising of Geico and Progressive insurance companies. I can’t stand either one, don’t want to hear about either, don’t care what happens to either, and hate that both intrude into my conscience more often than is healthy.
Nevermind. It probably doesn’t really apply, except they just never seem to ever go away.
I hate those Geico commercials too, especially that gecko with the phony British accent. And don’t even get me started on Flo…
I always have my computer lit up while watching TV. I just mute the commercials when they come on and turn to the computer. Sometimes a book.
I haven’t seen a commercial of that type in over a year since we abandonned Comcast TV.
Tom Cable, 49ers. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/01/15/49ers-interview-seahawks-ol-coach-tom-cable-for-head-coach/96621686/
That would be the coup de grace for me and my “faithful”ness as a Niner fan. It’s tenuous as it is.
LOL. I haven’t a clue how that goofy franchise works.
For those of you mourning the loss of Adam Duvall, thinking he could be the answer to “The Left Field Problem,” there are a lot of Adan Duvalls still out there looking for a job. Take Brandon Moss for instance. Here are his numbers from last year in 464 PAs:
225 .300 .484 .784
And here are Duvall’s in 608 PAs
241 .297 .498 .795
Pretty close, Huh? Moss hit 28 homers and Duvall hit 33 in 144 more PAs. Except for defense, they are a wash. I’m not saying the Giants should get Moss. I think that would be awful. But when we get close to spring training, and no one has made an offer, and the asking price has come down to 6mm, I’m afraid the Giants might be tempted.
LOL. You’ll be sorry.
“Except for defense” is a pretty big “except.” Duvall was a Gold Glove finalist. And Moss hits lefty–I think they want a RH bat, if anything.
I think some of those guys hit rigthanded. I used Moss as a ‘for instance.’
somebody should sign him. he would be a good platooner. Colorado?
Except for defense?
I’d think the analysis of referee bias done here will be what eventually do the NFL in. Why coaches yell at Refs, it works.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nfl-coaches-yell-at-refs-because-it-freakin-works/
This is a really good article, so don’t take this wrong…but, “Duh”
Where you have Crosby one should never give up on hope.
OMG, how cute is this?!
https://twitter.com/bcraw35/status/820819210867589120
I think this is a good question. It’s similar to the Giants question about left field, which seems, for the most part, answered. I could see them going light and keeping their prospects while they give early season playing time to Hernandez, Fernandez, 29 y.o. Cuban they just signed, and others.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/01/poll-what-will-dodgers-do-about-second-base.html
I seriously am going blank on their outfield, too. Pederson in CF, of course. I guess Puig in right. But in left? They had Howie Kendrick playing there in the playoffs, and he’s gone. Trayce Thompson is still not healthy and may miss the start of spring training. Ethier, I guess? Toles?
Toles should get plenty of playing time. Ethier and Van Slyke too. Hernandez plays some CF as well. There’s that Segedin guy also.
Toles sure had an impressive first 100+ PAs. A ‘where did he come from guy’.
I would definitly try Enrique Hernandez at 2nd. He’s only 25. If he works out, they have their 2nd baseman for years to come. He’s gotten 3 WAR in 596 PAs in his ML career, mostly as an outfirlder, but in the minors he was primarily a 2nd baseman. If he doesn’t work out, they fall back on Jose Fernandez, the fugitive from Cuba, who last played in 2014, and then only 15 games.
Nightall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkT7TY0P8W4
reeeeeaaalllll cooooollll
Happy 26th birthday to the Duffman!
https://instagram.com/p/BPTH9PagJvW/
In honor of our Duffman, pet your hefty cat.
Just locked the hefty cat, Stevie Nix, in the garage. She was comfy on a pillow. I’ll let her out in the morning. 😻
My cat would love to pet Duffy
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/592f244bcb97d86e0711c4f7d4eeb696dc6ef7278fe943df09ffa09c2a7b6cbf.jpg
A beauty.
Thank you!
Some provocative lyrics too! 🙂
Feels like stale bread around here.
I’m pretty sure there are rules now around not talking about stale bread. Better watch yourself.
Croutons. Makes great croutons. Oooops.
At this west coast hour, luke-warm coffee makes for a better analogy.
Are you really joining cabbie for a pre-ST look at the Giants? If I was closer like you I would.
I am doing some work to see if a few in my family want to make the ST trip but I got sticker shock last week when the Giants announced Bleacher sets for $40.
If I go, it will be early. I’m now at the mercy of my old truck. Tires, brakes and shocks are the only thing standing in my way.
Nah, who needs those things.
Your route would be 95% desert? All you really need is a good radiator with one of those canvas bags hanging on your hood ornament.
And a radio for sending out an S.O.S.
Uh…hood ornament?
I’m not even sure a Jaguar still has one.
Haak, check out the Giants away games during ST. Many are half the price of Scottsdale games. I caught two games last spring at Surprise Stadium (shared home of the Mariners and Padres) for about $20 and the seats were two rows back down the 3rd base line.
Thanks … I have spent the AM lookinbg at such numbers and jsut getting back to see your ideas. Yes, Mariners is $28 … about half price of Giants.
Not a bad view for $28 (refresh for pic)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee58c84c2bdd62443126d79107fa001da354288fadb2927f6dc1fc68815d2fc8.jpg
I think Pavs, Baggs, and Schulman paid less than that however… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3dd87db68299dd64d3a2a11a8d8950339d15503f514dd19c3dd0c364183ecd63.jpg
Your pic from Mariners game?
And look at that sunshine in March!
Let’s watch the SJGiants again this year. I would not be surprised if one of the young studs [Brusa, Reynolds, Dobson] moves up there during the season. MyGuy™ Kelvin Beltre should start there … he was #6 among MyGuy™ hitters.
Your view at the Mariner’s park?
MLK … equal rights for minorities without using violence.
Baseball was terribly slow with an ugly history but some ball players, like individuals in any situation, rose to the occasion. This is one day that the Dodgers get some credit here.
http://www.loudounprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mlkMarching.jpg
Come on TWG, I came here bright and early looking for some spicy Alex Smith is crap hot takes, followed by people insisting he can totally lead a team to a Super Bowl. I am very disappointed.
Sorry no Alex Smith hot takes from me, but he did look like a capable general, IMHO.
Sending along Jose Bautista as a surrogate hot take:
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/820991812756193281
So if G’s gave him 2 yrs 38m, it would actually be how much with the tax penalty?
like adding somewhere over 20 million to the 2017 payroll. around 23 million if their tax is around 20%.
Not to mention the penalty they would pay in DRS…
He drove them down the field to tie the game…did so…and a holding call took it away. Interception was because his o-line didn’t pick up the obvious blitz and the guy hit his arm. His TE played like krap; although there was a very obvious pass-interference missed when Alex threw down the middle to his TE…and the TE was reaching for the ball around a DB that was even’t looking at the pass.
In fairness, the Steelers are better suited to beat the Patriots.
I was reading the SABR article on bats and their evolution from the beginnings of ML Baseball and ran across this sentence.
“The origins of recognizing bat speed as more important than bat mass are difficult to pin down; the shift to lighter bats was gradual and not marked by any one specific event or person.”
I don’t get this. Physics has been around for quite a while. http://images.tutorvista.com/cms/formulaimages/83/kinetic-energy-formula.png
I don’t even remember when we all learned this formula, BUT
it seems evident that if something is going to affect how well, or hard, a baseball is struck, it’s going to be the speed of the bat over the mass of that same bat.
I don’t get it. Why did it take so long?
I’ll try to fix this on my other computer.
Because we evolved from cavemen.
Science Hour on TWG! That’ll make the guys wish they’d had their coffee strong.
It must be harder than you say. I think ricochet of two hard particles is a momentum transfer, just mv, and not the square in KE. But the ball compresses on impact and then rebounds, so it isn’t as simple a collision, and much of the momentum is in the speed of the ball. And the bat is sweeping forward while the ball is uncompressing so that energy could be transferred, not just momentum. Nothing in baseball is simple. One nice thing is that the ‘sweet spot’ not only feels good to the batter, there’s a nice sound sent out to the fans and players to know the bat’s harmonic modes were in full rhythm.
I always wanted the lightest bat around, and choked up on it, to try to make contact. I was totally envious of the people strong enough to swing the heavier bats as their hits certainly went farther than mine.
Scout did indeed find us a good article to read on bats.
Nice to have a physics man on board!
I had a chance to read through it carefully later in the day. good historical stuff – for example, I never knew there had been flat bats in use. Cricket and baseball edged that much closer together in my mind.
For anyone who missed it, here’s the SABR article Scout posted yest. Long, interesting, no physics.
http://sabr.org/research/properties-baseball-bats
Clemente has linked it before, but there is experimentation with bats that have axe handled shapes, for better leverage within the hands. I don’t know about their legality in MLB.
I remember that! I think I had a discussion with ClutchUp the same day about mandating a minimum diameter at the hands, to decrease the number of broken bats (esp. if maple comes on big after the ash borers do their thing). That was just before the new nettings to keep bats and bat pieces out of the stands were installed. One thing in the SABR article that surprised me was the implication a bat could “wear out” if the grains got compressed too many times.
and I always though it was beneficial that have an elastic snap of the barrel just before impact – which would add more rotational velocity than the speed of the hands through the hitting zone. Maple is a bit stiffer, so there is less of that, but maple is harder, so less elastic collision.
Dude, it’s a lever.
Like a golf club. Maximize rotational energy.
And the speed of the bat-head.
which is why distance deprived golfers crave a whippy shaft over the rigid shafts that offer more control and less head speed at impact.
When you’re talking about the square of the velocity when the object is struck, hell yes.
One other thing. Where in the tree (sap wood vs. heart wood) a bat is sourced has a hUge effect on its hardness and effectiveness. It’s ALL in the grain.
I think we all enjoyed Hunter’s triple hit cracked bat double in the slo mo, but the science part of my brain was also thinking about the extended collision period that all struck balls must experience.
The third impact of the broken bat created the spin and trajectory that made it a hit and not a put out at 1st.
I’ve been teaching bat speed since I started coaching and it was always based on this formula. School kids seemed to get it over older coaches. My feeling is that there are always limits to which basic physics gives way to other skills and serendipity. And, as you mention, there are many other things affecting a struck baseball, but for basic understanding, the faster the bat, the harder the ball is struck. Practically, there are useful limits.
So you are saying that my choice of a light bat was because my instinct told me I could swing it faster than those really heavy ones (I was a puny little runt in LL).
Sure. Although you probably just thought it was easier to swing. And you were right, though not thinking about velocity.
Being able to start a swing fractions of second later is a boon. A heavy bat had demands to initiate momentum sooner.
I guess I’d better go to my conference. Fun chat this morning B & SFB!
I suspect that it isn’t all momentum transfer nor all transfer of kinetic energy. Bat speed has too large of an effect on distance and how “hard” it is hit to be just a result of momentum transfer.
Good, strong bat + strong hitter + plus good swing + plus hanging slider = mucho distance.
hmmmmm…
seems there is a point of diminishing returns with increasingly lighter bats, where a bat can be swung just as fast than a bat that is lighter. Plus the strength of material, plus having sufficient mass in the bat head. It certainly gets more complicated than a single equation.
I’m sure there’s a point where the mass of a bat has very little effect on the speed with which it is swung. There is also, given the strength of the hitter, a definite point where the weight of the bat significantly slows bat speed.
Perhaps Bonds proved once and for all that control of the bat head (with a hard, dense maple) is the most critical component of hitting the ball a long way – collision with sweet spot and the point of the swing where the most energy is generated.
A question: Does K.E. stand for Kinetic Energy? Does m stand for mass and v for velocity? Thank you.
A+ on all three
Because the transfer is non linear, and the angular momentum imparted was/is poorly understood. As I recall, elasticity isn’t a simply ‘perfect’ event, given the part would grain and direction makes in a bat.
I wondered, when I played, why the fungo bat? Why would coaches choose a lighter, thinner bat to hit flies to the outfield? Wouldn’t they need something more hearty? I have never figured it out. This article didn’t help.
https://www.phoenixbats.com/blog/practice-perfect-story-fungo-bat/
A lighter thinner bat allows you to do it over and over and over and over and over without getting tired. Plus, it’s repeatable over and over and over. Coaches are old and lazy.
Padres to sign Trevor Cahill for less than 2 mil guaranty. Will try his hand in their not so vaunted rotation.
Phillies nearing deal with Michael Saunders.
I believe Neftali Feliz was on verge of signing with Brewers.
Bautista likely back with Jays. Trumbombs without a home…
Hot stove pilot flickering, smelling a bit like skunk.
ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I heard a comment this morning on Hot Stove that said the pressure is now on the Pads (as the only pro franchise in SD) to do well or lose their audience now that the Chargers are leaving.
they have a lovely yard – what could be better than watching the Giants or Dodgers come to town for those so inclined? But they have a ways to go before they’ll do well. 3 years?
I think Cahill is the vaunter.
Does that end Peavy’s chance to sign there?
I’m running out of firewood myself.
Oh, Alex…great guy, just not a championship QB.
That left tackle was not championship material either. Taking points off the board with a hold like that!
Didn’t your hear? It was a bogus call:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/01/15/kelce-tees-off-on-officials-late-holding-call/
kelce is a jerk. when they teach future refs what a holding penalty is, they will show them that play. if the left tackle was wrestling harrison, he would have been awarded 2 pts for a take down. maybe kelce should be mad at himself for dropping that pass, which may have changed the outcome, or for his moronic personal foul.
Not exactly a good return on investment for a #1 draft pick.
Fair is fair…Alex had the game tied, then the yellow flag. His interception was a result of his linemen not recognizing a blatant blitz, as the NBC crew were correct in pointing out.
Not a good day for many of the Chiefs.
Boy I never thought Jed’s search to end all searches would go this way.
(Rolling eyes)
With a heavy heart, Josh McDaniels excuses himself from the “honor” of being the 49’ers head coach .. LOL
And Jed says “Kyle was always our first choice” (until he also removes himself)
It might actually be “Tom was our first choice” when Kyle says “never mind”
Best scenario…Shanahan says “no”…then Cable says “no”.
Please no Tom Cable.
hit me with music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j6uXOfgWz8
there’s a girl in new york city,
calls herself the human trampoline…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDXzLeFUkpc
That girl has some self-esteem issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF_Etburj4Y
My political and baseball worlds collided again today as David Axelrod had Theo Epstein on his podcast today. (‘Axe files’ for those who want to look it up). Its definitely an interesting listen. It only gets political a bit at the end when Epstein (big liberal) is asked about working with the Ricketts’ family (big conservatives). I think he summed it up pretty well: “We disagree about politics, but agree about the Cubs”. Well said I thought.
To take the baseball analogy a bit further, it’s like Major League Baseball made Arnold Rothstein the Commissioner.
There basically two big ways these days of rating and predicting baseball (and other) teams performance these days, ELO and regression to the mean methods. ELO has recently been popularized by Nate Silver (538) and regression is the favorite at places like Fangraphs. An article today in Hardball Times goes through the ‘bloody’ details of comparing and contrasting them. I leave reading that to the intrepid here(http://www.hardballtimes.com/elo-vs.-regression-to-the-mean-a-theoretical-comparison/ ).
To me the really interesting nuance is that using both of them, as a fan, helps deal with the conubdrum Billy Beane so eloquently described about ‘Moneyball’ methods in the playoffs… this shit don’t work here. ELO has the advantage of taking into account the quality of competition, while regression doesn’t. In a large 162 game sample with teams of all quality in the mix, regression seems somewhat superior, but in the playoffs, where every team is usually superior, regression seems inferior to ELO.
“Elo’s main advantage over regression to the mean is that Elo
inherently accounts for strength of schedule. This advantage is most
apparent in the playoffs, where teams play exclusively against other
strong teams.”
What it is, it this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6f35OusJuI
ELO – Strange Magic
As Silver said, good music, bad karaoke. How Silver got there.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5247
Jose Bautista getting close to resigning with Toronto.
Pitchers and catchers report in 28 days!!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe5997a394183115e092f9205fc08cd1d0f26b68b5caecd9d3b0cd7ede5ac998.jpg
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