by
Greek Giant
Few things bore me more than empty baseball hot stove rumors. If you are paying attention, you will notice I rarely write about every so-called “rumor” regarding baseball trades, free agent signings and other potential additions/subtractions to the Giants during the offseason. I find most of these “stories” dull and I see them as transparent news filler. I would rather write about Travis Ishikawa’s home run or why Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent belong in the Hall of Fame.
The recent news about the Giants being “interested in” (whatever that means! I am interested in many things, from Emily Blunt to Dodge Challengers but you don’t see my writing about them do you?!) Jae Gyun Hwang piques my curiosity because of the success the Pirates have had with Jung Ho Kang. The Korean Hwang is a true power hitter and someone who might become the Giants third baseman immediately. This theory adds further fuel to my theory that the Giants are cooking up a trade that would involve moving Eduardo Nunez.
The Hwang story is gaining steam and appears to be more than tire-kicking on the part of Bobby Evans. One other reason I am intrigued is that this appears to be an outside-the-box type of move for the Giants. They have not been very active in the foreign market the past few years (with the exception of the Lucius Fox signing).
Hwang, who is already 29 and unproven in the Major Leagues represents a bit of a risk factor for a team even though he has demonstrated considerable and consistent power the past 5 years of his career. I think the success of Kang in Pittsburgh has upped the attention factor for Korean players in much the same way Hideo Nomo put his stamp on the concept of signing Japanese players in the mid 1990s.
We shall see where this goes. In the meantime, if nothing else, it’s fun to theorize about what the Giants are working on regarding their infield when their biggest need is their outfield.
Consider me interested…
Depth, never bad to have more good players, competition is good, may the best players make the team .
Nunez has also been a career utility player , until last year, so maybe the Giants would rather he go back to that role with them , and find an everyday 3rd baseman .
Is his Hwang a gyun?
How prolific
I guess it’s because he hit a little bit better than Brett Pill did last season.
Pill: .325/.372/.517/.889 with 37 2Bs, 22 HRs and 101 RBI.
Hwang: .330/.391/.558/.949 with 22 2Bs, 26 HRs and 104 RBI.
Pill had 591 ABs, while Hwang had 446. I have no idea what their rolling trend graphs look like.
Nice pull. Need fangraphs for that – and unfortunately I don’t think they tap into the KBO.
ps- I wonder if Pill considers making an MLB comeback on a MiLB contract sometime.
The other thing about Hwang, which would separate him from a Pill type, is he has some speed and can play SS.
I have to make a correction. Those were Pill’s 2015 stats. For 2016, he was .317/.359/.521/.880, wth 36 2Bs, 20 HRs and 86 RBI. As for giving MLB another shot, he’s already 32. Maybe he’s content with the good money he’s guaranteed there. I wouldn’t blame him.
]
The Brewers signed a guy, Eric Thames, that departed from MLB to try his hand in KBO.
He was crushing it for three years, averaging over 40 HRs in 520-595 PAs per season:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=thames001eri
now he’s got a 3/16 mil deal in the Bigs.
Take two and hit to right field.
Someone is going to call me out for racism but the last time the Giants got an East Asian guy with some speed his baserunning turned out to be a catastrophe.
Are there any good West Asian ballplayers out there?
I guess you could call where i live west asia so i’d have to say no.
Europe?
Iran?
Constantinople?
Kiev?
Tel Aviv. Not too many MLB prospects here.
Your point?
IF you don’t want to be called out for racism, think about your words before you hit send. And not just racism, but that comment could get you called out for irrelevant. And not very bright.
But hey, feel free to open your mouth anytime. Careful though, something could fly in there.
My point is that the last time the Giants got an East Asian guy with some speed his baserunning turned out to be a catastrophe (quiz–do you even know who I’m referring to?), so if SFB’s comment about some speed is relevant then my comment that he might be a bad baserunner is relevant (because there’s a difference between baseball and a track meet). It’s easier to get away with lousy baserunning in Japan than in the US (I’ve seen this first hand), and the same might well be true in Korea. Do you agree that Hwang’s HR totals in Korea don’t necessarily translate into the same thing in the US? If you say no because that comment would be racist, then you’re so out of touch with reality that there’s no point in continuing. If yes, then why wouldn’t the same thing apply to his baserunning?
I didn’t say that I didn’t want to be called out for racism. Where did I say that?
You called yourself out for racism, not me. If I called you out for anything it would’ve been haughtiness, or hubris.
haughtiness:
the appearance or quality of being arrogantly superior and disdainful.
“her air of haughtiness”
synonyms: arrogance, conceit, pride, hubris, hauteur, vanity, self-importance, pomposity, condescension, disdain, contempt; More
Haughtiness or hubris to point out that our last East Asian was a lousy baserunner? That’s a new one.
I’ll say this much…only in here could Brett Pill’s name ever be mentioned again.
Wow, he was another good young player that Bochy never gave a chance, but you are a Bochy fan boy , so you think Pill was a bum .
Not sure about the “Bochy fan boy” title bestowed on me by you… but yeah, Pill, in the vernacular, was a bum.
Actually your worse then a Bochy fan boy, your ignorant, when a player gets 1 at bat a week at most, it is imposable to succeed, and Pill hit decently, and was very good in AAA and in Korea, so we will never know if he got consistent at bats in MLB, how good he would have been .
Oh well thanks genius. First of all, speaking of ignorant (you), Pill was neither young nor good. The Yankees had seen enough of him to know. Same with the Giants. You’re pathetic (at least I didnt call you a jackass).
You have MLBSF characteristics….fan boy…Bochy….
Brett Pill was/is a career AA type player.
I don’t know if Nunez is involved but something is going on in the infield. The Giants are acting too interested in too many infielders. They already have two 29-year-old 3rd baseman on their likely 25-man roster and now they’re acting interested in a third?
My major concern in the infield is that there really isn’t an adequate backup for Crawford and the evidence is getting very strong that Crawford needs to be rested a significant amount to be fully affected, his decline in the 2nd half of the season last year (masked to some extent by the 7-hit game) was a major reason for the team’s meltdown.
I wouldn’t say Hwang is a “true power hitter”. Balls fly out of KBO yards. He does appear to have some pop though.
The Giants interest may stem from his putative ability to play the outfield and be a utility player.
Another, more recent Korean transplant to MLB, enjoyed some success for Baltimore in 95 games played last year:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=kim—004hye
Perhaps Hwang can play the game at a similarly high level
by comparison, Jae Gyun Hwang KBO stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=hwang-001jae
OFF Topic
As far as next 49er GM – I will raise my hand for former football player Louis Riddick since his career was so short it is doubtful that he suffered more than one concussion. San Francisco 49ers (1991)
Sacramento Surge (1992) Atlanta Falcons (1992) Cleveland Browns (1993–1995) Atlanta Falcons (1996) Oakland Raiders (1998) Orlando Rage (2001)
Pair Riddick with John McVay’s grandson Sean McVay and more forward from there.
You mean is doubtful he suffered only one concussion? Makes more sense, no?
Lon 🙂 I pay you big Huevos to be my editor. I will diddle with the doodle and clear it up,
I like Riddick on Mike and Mike a lot. Very intelligent.
Sean McVay is 30. 30!!
Once in a life time hire. Pick ANY of these and close your eyes and you will hear John Gruden.
http://tinyurl.com/jcsyomt
Brian Billick is a mentor to young McVay and his grandpa was the glue when Eddie fired Bill 5 or 6 times that were not made public – he would tell Eddie to go home and get some sleep and then in the morning Bill and Eddie would be civil to one another.
Okay, on further thought I am interested in Hwang but want to hear about his platoon splits (anyone know?). It isn’t just the HRs, which may not be that impressive given the general situation in the Korean League, but he also hit .330 with only 64 Ks in 522 PAs. The Giants’ problem at 3rd base (as in left field) is that platooning is pointless because the right-handed hitter (Nunez /Williamson) has a reserve platoon split. I was quite impressed with Gillaspie last year (23% line drives, 32% hard-hit, 14% Ks, 5.2 Def and 5 defensive runs saved in only 304 innings), and assuming that Hwang hits lefties well, I could definitely see platooning him with Gillaspie (at least for starters) and adding Nunez to a trade deal. Nunez and Tomlinson for a left fielder? I could even see Nunez and Panik for a real stud (but I know that few people have as much confidence in Kelby as I do).
He has a little Shinjo in his hitting mechanics. (“This is not good folks”) and loves the HR Derby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAnOtkKPzcE&vl=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqYquyVGvOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUoBUpX173U
Once I saw a Shinjo bobblehead at the Goodwill store out on Clement near 6th. It was only about $6. Can’t believe I passed. About ten years ago; they probably sold it by now.
It’s still there…its down to $2.99
Shinjo bought into a Sushi Bar in San Mateo next to Cappelini’s restaurant.
Lots of Saki to go around.
Nice. Daddy like. Got some Bautista too!
You say Shinjo. I see a little Manny.
Love the background music in these BTW.
For those fans thinking outside the box and wishing for a career change:
Major League Baseball is hiring:
Contract Technical Recruiter
Technical Project Manager, Product Operations
Senior QA Engineer, Core Media Video Processing
BI Engineer
Technical Project Manager
Contract Technical Recruiter
DevOps Engineer
NoSQL DBA
Technical Project Manager
Sr. Data Scientist
DevOps/SRE
Director – Enterprise Program Management
Front End Engineer – Web & Video
Technical Project Manager
Counsel , Investigations
Software Engineer
http://mlb.mlb.com/home
They got anything for a songwriter?
Baseball could use a new tune or two. I think verses in Spanish would be fitting, as well as some hip-hop and country segues. And don’t forget a few power chords with some serious gain from the amp!
Am working on it. Right now. Good ideas. I have a Fender III amp which is good for figuring out different tones. Can model every Fender amp (’59 baseman, ’65 deluxe, Princeton, twin, etc) and many British sounds I presume Marshall, etc. hmm – I notice autocorrect changed “baseman” to baseman. I have a feeling the muses are asking me to come up with a tune in that ’59 voicing that chronicles the ChiSox-LA WS. And probably thrown in some Duffman – he’ll be my baseman. Stay tuned for that country/Spanglish powerchord boogie!
“Adios pelota!”
We have a working title..
So how much would Hwang cost???
Hyun Soo Kim signed for 2/7 mil last winter, so perhaps Hwang could be looking for a 3 year deal and perhaps 3/12 could seal a deal, with incentives. Maybe 2/8 and incentives as well.
The kicker would be that Hwang would be eligible to play in Sacramento until he is deemed ready for the Show.
Bapah, are you ready to jump on this bandwagon?
get it done!
Bapah takes measured steps…he gently boards the wagon.
Especially given the proximity of McCovey Cove and buoyancy of bandwagons.
And Scouts Bandwagon Entrance tends to be a bouncy house
Bounce house??
https://adventurepaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/mustang-ranch.jpg
You’re on a roll today!
With machine gun bullet holes in the wall.
My question about having Hwang entrenched in Sacramento, is would that deter the Giants from moving Arroyo up to AAA this season to see if he is ready to help?
Arroyo probably destined to spend the whole year at Sac anyway. He might even start back at Richmond as well.
but with both there (if that were the case) that would limit Arroyo’s innings at 3B
Good column honoring Daryl Spencer. He hit the first SFG home run. My brother and I were privileged to see him play at 16th & Bryant. And we got to meet Russ & Lon. They leaned out of the booth and said, “Hi boys, enjoying the game?”
Here is the link: http://www.kansas.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/bob-lutz/article124309799.html
Thanks for the share. Great article indeed.
13 Thumbs Up. Spencer was an iconic original Giant and shared much of his professionalism with Jimmy Davenport. Now they are both UP there teaching how to turn the double play from the Hot Corner to Second to First.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb17e558489b3c399d005d3fd15776c06cdb348dc53259aa3e85eb6f2b7cbb86.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb6efb02ba4d8ce44e749df3488b822199bbcb5dbffec9198fcb29a24527a904.jpg
Hated the Dodgers…thought Alston was an idiot! MyGuy!!!!!!
But he was an original Giant.
This is interesting/amusing/loopholish…
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-mike-trout-could-legally-become-a-free-agent/
Memo to FHR: do you think Peter J loves power chords. It would stand to reason.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t appreciate Slayer or Megadeth – which I truly appreciate the latter, but I have a feeling he does approve of a strong 3 string chord. I’m sort of opposed to the power chord, preferring the full chord, or the 7th or the 9th, or the minor fall after the major lift. I guess that makes me slappy, or sloppy on the fretboard, maybe a little of both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4
Definitive. Man was stacking up songs like chordwood.
Why all the suggestions that Nunez should go back to being a utility man after an All-Star career year? Hasn’t he earned first dibs on an everyday job?
No one is suggesting that Span become a bench/platoon outfielder after the worst season of his career.
The Giants: where up is down and down is up. Don’t even get me started on Matt Cain vs Ty Blach.
Amen, mostly. It will be quite a bit of fun to see what Nunez really has. On the other hand, GG’s theory about signing Hwang and trading Nunez for a very solid OF is creative thinking.
Matt’s gonna have a good year, wait and see!
Conor may still have something to say about Nunez in an everyday role.
And they don’t make All-Star 3B years like they used to : .288/.325/.432 ….
…40 SBs helps!
I’ve also heard Span and “bench” or “platoon” many times on this here blog.
“I sure as hell appreciate that, Conor” has made us forget that he’s not a good 3B-man – his arm is more of a Gatling Gun than a cannon. Every grounder to him is an E waiting to happen.
That isn’t how he played last year. Check the stats.
Did you watch many games last season?
About 90% of them. Out of 44 3bmen with 300+ IP, Gillaspie had the best Def/inning rating (4.5/304.2=.015) and the best UZR (20.2) in the majors.
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=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=24,d
About 90% of them. Out of 44 3bmen with 300+ IP, Gillaspie had the best Def/inning rating (4.5/304.2=.015), the best DRS/inning rating (5/304.2=/016), and the best UZR/150 (20.2) in the majors.
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=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=24,d
I would say the theory would be to have Nuner (if he weren’t the starter) be our Zobrist, which only makes the team stronger, without out placing any need to rely on guys like Adrainza or anyone else this team tries to pass off as a “solid bench option”.
And while Nunez had a good season, don’t forget it was fro the Twins in a situation someone from the team had to make the ASG. His numbers were good, but no telling if he can keep up the same production.
just because he made the ASG doesn’t guarantee future success. I mean, even Belt made the ASG, did you see his 2nd half numbers?
Joc Pederson the year before as well 🙂
I personally think Gillaspie is better than Nunez and that was concealed last year by Nunez’ good BABIP luck and Gillaspie’s bad BABIP luck. Consider line-drive% (Nunez 17% vs. Gillaspie 23%), hard % (Nunez 28% vs. Gillaspie 32%), K% (Nunez 15% vs. Gillaspie 14%), and Def. (Nunez 2.6 vs. Gillaspie 5.2). The only thing which Nunez is better in is SBs. And Nunez has a reverse platoon split so he doesn’t even help there.
http://tinyurl.com/Lefty-on-Utley
I did not get a chance to respond to Lefty. Utley is hated by 50% and not hated by 50%. I am in the pro Utley group. The same goes for Matt Holiday for most people however in that case I am Anti Matt Holliday.
Tejada’s leg was broken by the type of slide Utley chose to use and since the Mets went onto the WS it did deprive Tejada of playing in the WS. ML Baseball mishandled his punishment because no one player is bigger than Joe Torre but Torre gagged and the Players Union filed a protest. Not only did Utley take zero responsibility – his teammates to a man in the dugout waiting for Utley to return all gave him high fives.
Players really HAVE played that way for years as is shown here with Roberto Clemente trying to “take out” the Reds MIF. Clemente appears to be “way off the bag”
I also think friends of Posey have reviewed the Cousins play and realized that was a avoidable slide by Cousins BUT in real time speed for Utley and Clemente and Cousins – those types of players end up playing the game the way they were taught by other older baseball players.
In fact in reviewing the film I think Nate could have done way better in “getting behind the ball” upon catch and then his momentum would have put the ball there way earlier and in a much better spot.
IMO wishing Utley (and anybody like him) all the bad karma he has coming might not be the answer as these type of players – like Utley – have played for the Giants Home Team throughout the years and they have made the exact -type of slide.
I personally think Panik is in serious jeopardy in the way he turns the 5-4-3 or 6-4-3 DP because he subscribes to the “staying on the bag” way of receiving and getting off his throw. I feel he needs to push off the backside of the bag or come across the base on the third base side of second base.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e017c0a98c9b69b50435ed5339c174db5e0f06216332aa9d6a0bf1e5fe3d2221.jpg
Great post Clutch, It’s the way the older ball player taught us the game. Growing up if you DIDN’T go into 2nd hard to alter the throw then you were going to get chewed out and your teammates would give you the business.
A great deal of hypocrisy about certain player NOT playing the game right and not following “old school” rules, and then they ride certain players for doing exactly that. All it comes down to is the uniform these guys play or one thing they did to get them riled up. Utley has had a pretty good career, always liked as a teammate, no issue, and played hard nosed baseball.
It also has to do with many commenting not actually being out on the field.
Either way I am uneasy posting what I posted however because there is some reality and hypocrisy to me supporting Utley because when it happened to Scutaro I was angry – however somehow Scoots finished the game “with eventual Honors”.
I think his back injury trying to compensate eventually put him out of baseball.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/39854216//
We’re “fans”, so we reserve the right to be hypocritical balls of nerves…
And, some of us, like you, DID play…a lot. I was a somewhat undersized middle infielder who had to play idiot-hard-nosed to get chances, and yet Utley annoys me. So be it.
You’re harder on the SF FO than that of other, much less successful organizations. We all have our blind spots and allegiances….
That’s how I felt about Panik before last season but the new rule has completely changed things. Runners are being really careful going into second base. Anything is possible but the danger is way down.
We’ll never agree on this kind of thing, but here’s how I see it, with all three of these guys (Holliday, Utley, Cousins):
1. All three put “making a baseball play” (so that they could please their teammates) ahead of the health, safety, and future career prospects of another human being. I find this morally indefensible when, like them, these guys that they didn’t care about injuring, spent decades of hard work trying to fulfill their dreams. If anyone should understand the fear and impact of a serious injury, it should be another athlete. It was reckless selfishness.
2. I could accept the explanation that it was in the moment and it’s hard to make good decisions in a split second. That’s plausible. But none of those three guys took responsibility for their actions, as in saying “I made a terrible mistake and it cost someone else dearly. If I had it to do over again, I’d do it differently.” On the contrary, Cousins was gloating on TV after the game, while Buster was in the hospital, “I feel great that I helped my team win.” Utley refused to accept his suspension. Holliday never expressed any remorse. (Marco Scutaro is probably going to have lifelong consequences from what Holliday did, and it certainly ended Scutaro’s career with a whimper.).
Like I said, it’s one thing to make a bad mistake in a split second. It’s another to refuse to apologize or say you were wrong. That’s why I think all three guys are bad human beings.
3. The argument that “people played the game that way in the past” just doesn’t wash with me. The game has changed over time and so has society. Just because something was being done wrong in the past is not an excuse for continuing it in the future.
I don’t disagree with your 123’s but all I am saying is that particular play has precedence attached to it. Batter Runners don’t try to take out the first baseman and R2’s don’t try to take out the third baseman. Yes times change but in the minor leagues they teach R1’s to “break up the double play”. Is it Macho? Yes. The time spent with one team exclusively can be limited and if a player had this rep – and was a good player – his next team would not hesitate, it would not even cross their collective minds.Then after baseball said players do not carry said baggage into their private lives because IN breaking up the DP – they caused a severe injury.
In the private sector or Federal – State – County and City – many men and women lose their way and “do” a bad deed. There are second chances galore out in society.
Even in many professions where we have contact with kids – if said person doing bad stuff moves to other states – they can start over within their original profession.
They say the only “bad publicity” is an obiturary.
Today’s word – tsuris:
tsuris
A Yiddish phrase for worries, stress, or hassle.
“Oy, Zelda, I don’t want to be a kvetch, but I’ve got tsuris up to here.”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tsuris
Take a Moment.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/01/04/tom-brady-calvin-riley-letter/
http://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/04/calvin-riley-death-tom-brady-patriots-letter-serra-high-school
This happened “back home” with a kid who attended my HS and he had gone on to pursue his dream as a closer for San Joaquin Delta College
https://www.deltacollege.edu/div/athletics/baseball/Riley.html
He and his friends during the Poke Man craze went to SF to have some fun and a random or otherwise bullet took his life. Tom Brady apparently contacted the family.
Well however this all shakes out, it appears G’s are looking at all avail options for RH power. The question is where do they add that RH bat?
They have pledged to give Williamson Parker a shot in LF, Panik is a GG, possible .300 hitter, and Nunez had a breakout yr and brings speed, something they don’t have much of.
Trading Nunez and adding an unknown from the Korean league? Trade Nunez and acquire Dozier, moving him to 3b? Maybe they keep Nunez and Panik, acquire a RH bat and figure it all out during the season, with Nunez maybe becoming more a utility guy. But clearly there’s no easy answer perfect fit here. And with their budget stretched….hard to see them spending much.
Would help if they had a guy with some salary they could move. Nunez earned 1.5m and is arb elig. That’s not going to offset an impact buy.
Would anyone trade Nunez for an untried 29 year old Korean journeyman? Doesn’t seem likely. If they were to acquire this Korean fellow and he fail, which is the most likely outcome, it would be with ‘mad money’. Do they have it laying around, maybe.
I can’t see that scenario either.
I guess to play, you have to ante up. Even if you draw a losing hand.
Mad money? Angry money?
This guy shouldn’t “cost too much”. I estimate from 2 years 8 mil to 3 years 15 mil?
And he can most likely be sent to AAA.
I know I’ve repeated this, but it bears repeating.
No.
Nunez would be part of a theoretical trade package for an outfielder perhaps, or for a young pitcher… Not in a swap for Hwang outright. The Hwang acquisition would be for depth and as a potential stopgap for Arroyo.
We’re all just guessing. Meanwhile, our three Giants beat reporters have said nothing about the Hwang rumor. I agree with the guy who once wrote: “Few things bore me more than empty baseball hot stove rumors.”
Hwang rumors get little ink.
I’m so with you on that….
This is my general guess.
Speaking of Nunez, time for a “nooner” or a “Nuner in SF”, if you will…
2nd half: .244/.297/.357, 4 HRs, 18/23 SBs, in 259 PAs
w/SF: .269/.327/.418, 4 HRs, 13/17 SBs in 199 PAs.
As you can surmise, he was dreadful in his final 60 PAs with the Twins, and pretty league average with the bat for the Giants (98 OPS+).
and a “Spanner” to boot as well:
2nd half: .287/.336/.429, 7 HRs, 4/6 SBs in 275 PAs (108 OPS+)
Span hit .213 in September and ended up platooned with Gorkys. Gotta tell the whole story.
he had some crazy 0 for 30 slump, so that didn’t help. But he came up big at the end of the regular season and in the postseason.
Usually, the whole story is the sum of the parts. And he’s got a very nice career batting average.
🙂
Many are down on Span. I admit he did poorly, sometimes. But he did well quite a bit too. “Wait till next year”.
Very hot first couple of months. On June 10, he was at .330/.880 ops….Then he had an awful July and weak Aug, rebounded with a good Sept. Hard to say what to expect from him but that was his first full time gig. Maybe hit a wall and then the adj with new team etc…took him a few weeks to settle in. He was shaky on d, then really good.
I know people love Nunez but the truth is that last year he had 18% line drives, 26% hard-hit balls, and 13% infield flies. He was lucky to hit as high as he did.
Are there any on the field or up at the plate similarities between the Pirates Jung-ho Kang and Jae Gyun Hwang?
You tell me…
… in my head, I say yeah, leg kick timing gizmo, use all fields…
Thick body ?
Come down off your throne…
(you’re welcome)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT-SFgkVlno
Classic stuff.
Word.
“Blind Faith” days?
Revisited!
Saw that live at Fillmore, maybe Winterland. One of em.
The Palms Playhouse up in Winters has new ownership.
http://www.palmsplayhouse.com/
I have lived walking distance away for over 10 years , but have never stepped a foot into the place .
Have you eaten at that famous pizza place on the corner downtown? I need your analysis to decide if it’s worth a special trip.
There’s a famous steakhouse–The Buckhorn–but if there’s a famous pizza place in Winters, I’ve never heard of it.
“Famous” may be a stretch…I think Fieri did a segment on it years ago
Anyone ever stop by Foster’s Bighorn in Rio Vista? Wall to wall dead animals. Some now extinct.
http://fostersbighorn.com/
Yikes! Not yet…I remember being totally freaked out by the eyes of the taxidermy world
Really weird. They need to dust more often.
Flavor-town!
Geez, PJ. That would be like – if you were not a baseball fan, living a few blocks from Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, or even Forbes Field, any of the classics for that matter – and never even being curious about seeing what’s inside. What a waste.
“..coulda been a contender, could’ve been Somebody.”
That’s gonna leave a mark, Rocky.
Niners Interview Schedule
Wednesday: Bills interim HC Anthony Lynn (COMPLETED)
Thursday: Packers execs Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst
Friday: Falcons OC Kyle Shanahan and Vikings assistant GM George Paton
Saturday: Patriots OC Josh McDaniels and exec Nick Caserio
This weekend: Colts VP of football ops Jimmy Raye III
Monday: Washington OC Sean McVay
Next week: ESPN analyst Louis Riddick and Dolphins DC Vance Joseph
there is a lot of talent on that list, let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
Classic stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ZBzIXoJDM
I approve of Beck’s Bolero as well.
Constipated Duck.
Beck?
The link GG provides on the Hwang story states:
“The Giants are rumored to be looking for infield help — that’s why they signed Rollins to that minor league deal, as well as Ramiro Pena and Orlando Calixte — and were connected to free agent third baseman Justin Turner earlier in the offseason.”
“The Giants are rumored to be looking for infield help”?
What? …and… Why?
They have an infield full of Gold Glovers and All-Stars and zero outfielders who are proven, healthy and young, so of course they’re stockpiling…infielders.
Surely I’m missing something…
Evans MUST have a straight flush up his sleeve on a deal for J.D. Martinez. Otherwise none of this makes any sense.
California dreaming on Lorenzo Cain…
Depth…
http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/submarine-540×380.grid-6×2.jpg
I’m not so sure about that.
OK
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/30/article-2351797-1A94D715000005DC-239_306x423.jpg
Crawford is moving to CF and Panik to LF….?
It seems to be a weird obsession/misdiagnosis
I sure don’t get it. One of the big reasons ground ball pitcher Melancon signed with the Giants was because of our solid Gold-Glove infield. What? Now the Giants are going to bust up the crew? Bring in Rollins and Hwang?
If they downgrade the infield defense, I will NOT be happy….
My hypothesis (stated below) is that they’ll platoon Hwang and Gillaspie at 3rd and trade Nunez (who has a reverse platoon split) and Tomlinson for a real left fielder. But if you have a better theory…
As reported MANY times
Pitchers & catchers report Feb. 13th
Position players report Feb. 16th
First full squad workout is Feb 17th
And Hunter Pence will be there on the 11th, just in case.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09c9fdfc0b848f7111ee70671d7ece06993c0719ec47aa9ac242dbf03bd7838b.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPTDuqZPesA
California dreaming,
on such a winter’s day…
I’m open to hearing more about Emily Blunt.
Smoke show….
That’s the Dodge Challenger part
A proud member of the motherhood clan, apparently.
Who’s the lucky guy you ask? Not sure, but I can take him 😉
http://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/201434/rs_634x862-140404072549-634.Emily-Blunt-Vogue-JR-4414.jpg
The Devil Wears Prada bitch. Good performance.
That’s right. I think she’s been in several more prominent roles since – a number of action roles as well. I think Greek Giant would like her to kick his ass and tie him up.
John Krazcynski, thinking woman’s hunk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk
Mama Cass would be considered healthy and normal today.
Normal, but I don’t know about healthy.
Interesting article on fake news, and fact checking. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fact-checking-wont-save-us-from-fake-news/
Roberto with neither foot on the ground.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1ec1846f45fc92b7f50883238492964b39d8e7099ea4a9e1f276c80de3bf4a2.jpg
Good Night Allen.
457′, light pole in play, & the batting cage!
Of course Grayson Allen’s indefinite suspension at Duke lasted all but, get this……….one game (a loss).
Duke is showing that winning means more than actually doing what’s right.
If Allen was African American, the press would be questioning his mental state or his lack of discipline or any other question that was asked about Draymond last season. And the suspension would most likely have been more than one single game.
It’s an NBA farm team and major earner. Are you really surprised.
not really. I was surprised they even did anything in the first place.
too much film.
The press did a lot of questioning of Allen’s mental state and lack of discipline. Sorry if that doesn’t fit your preferred narrative.
I question the ferocity of it.
Yeah, of course.
I’m white and I agree with Efrain. Allen gets chance after chance because he’s “a nice kid.” I don’t think for a minute that a black kid who did exactly the same thing would get off with a slap on the wrist, and the “thug” word would be thrown around a lot.
saw this in Heyman RT
https://twitter.com/MikeVacc/status/816811366908657666
I think Coach K has disgraced himself with this one. I just hope Allen doesn’t cause harm to himself or others after being coddled when he’s clearly unstable. It’s on Coach K if he does, at least partially.
Google “Grayson Allen mental state.” What Allen got was a coach willing to overlook his actions because he’s a good player, considertion which hasn’t been recently limited to white athletes.
Then Google “Grayson Allen nice guy” and see if you find anything.
Or how about this story, which refers to Allen as a “thug.’
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basketball/story/enough-grayson-allen-is-a-thug-and-should-be-kicked-off-duke-s-team-122316
OK, maybe the media aren’t giving Allen a pass, but his coach and league sure are.
Which is not unusual when it comes to athletes, and certainly hasn’t been limited to white athletes.
Well, Mixon got an extra chance after punching his girlfriend in the face…meaning? Race has nothing to do with this. It’s about dumbass NCAA coaches caring more about winning. Regardless of race
Harbaugh and the 49ers front office sure coddled Aldon Smith, who’s black. Sure easy to give chance after chance when the guy’s a good player.
Bingo…ain’t that the sad truth.
OK…let’s be fair. There’s sure a lot of black NBA players that think the world of (and would have no problem supporting) Coach K, so let’s not make this a race thing. You can disagree with his decision on how Allen was handled, but any thoughts that this decision was race-related is erroneous.
Coach K is a fraud. Acts like he’s a straight and arrow guy, above everyone else. He’s willing to call out other players (Oregon) but when it comes to his own “he doesn’t think they need to be punished in public.” Fraud.
Agree 100%. A hypocrite and a fraud.
This is really good. Brisbee has really grown on me; to the point that he may very well put out the best writing on Giants baseball. He’s the top getter at the “Ranch”. Sorry if this already got posted and I somehow missed it…
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2017/1/3/14154090/sf-giants-jae-gyun-hwang-free-agent-rumors
A quote within the Brisbee post from Jeff Sullivan:
“‘But, in 2015, Hwang’s strikeout rate was 9% higher than average. In 2016, his strikeout rate was 26% lower than average. Hwang repeated his best power season, while also having his best-ever contact season.
That gets a guy noticed. That buys a guy the benefit of the doubt. You can’t do what Hwang did without making some challenging adjustments, but now his swing is closer than ever to being major-league ready. I’m sure it’s not perfect, and I’m sure there are some kinks to be worked out, but you can understand why the game would find Hwang an awful lot more interesting these days.””
and this one is gold by the author!
“Hwang’s strikeout-to-walk ratio was nearly 1:1, which means Bobby Evans got a text alert sent to his phone.”
So, how on Earth can folks translate humbers from a league like that?
Serious question, oh Prospect Hunter
Serious answer:
I think you have to compare the KBO with the Cal League, which is High Class-A baseball with offensive yards.
If a guy put up Hwang’s numbers there, you would consider him a very serious prospect. However, the guy is an older prospect at 29. Perhaps it could be within reason to expect he could hit .250/.330/.400 or better at MLB.
I think that’s too simplistic. It depends on the player. Few could jump directly from class-A to the big leagues and be successful. Kang was immediately a solid hitter for the Pirates.
Well yeah. He would exist somewhere between boom and bust.
More like boom and explode. And not between, first boom, then explode.
Pablo Sandoval just about did that though.
Then, signing a “29 year old A ball power hitter” should be seen as a Spring split squad roster filler, right?
Nope. It would should be see as signing a guy that has a chance to break camp but most likely would have to prove his merits at AAA. He’s a guy that’s looking to score at least a few million, possibly several or more over multiple years.
Given the Giants abysmal international signing hit rate, I wish you headed up their Int’l Scouting Dept.
If it wasn’t for dgg’s guy, Jeff Passan, I wouldn’t have heard of him. He’s rated on this top FA tracker above Michael Saunders, Brandon Moss, Colby Rasmus…
. Jae-gyun Hwang, UT: The 29-year-old Hwang is positioning himself as a poor-man’s Ben Zobrist, with power, speed, contact skills and flexibility. While he’s most comfortable at third base, he has played shortstop and second and is taking reps this winter in the outfield. After a .335/.394/.570 season with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases in Korea, he’s likely to choose from a number of three-year deals.
I’ve wondered why they don’t go harder after Asian players. Even if the play on the field didn’t pan out, it would be such a big fan draw. Seattle seems to do it. Same with Boston. Why don’t the Giants do it more?
There is an unsubstantiated rumor floating around that Dozier is headed for St. Louis. Wolfson, at ESPN, says the Dodgers and Giants have been joined by the Cardinals as a late entry into the negotiations.
“Not Dodgers” works for me.
I’d be fine with him going to the Dodgers but only if they gave up a whole lot of good players and prospects and Dozier turns out to be a bust.
I’d be pretty alarmed. They desperately need a 2bman and they desperately need someone who can hit lefties. He fits their needs much too well.
Yep, me too.
Ros is very good on the sideline reporting job for the Warrior’s TV broadcasts but it’s a boring role so I’m thinking they should have her be the regular color analyst for the radio broadcast, then move her to TV when Barnett retires. Roye is very good on the radio but he’s by himself and fills lots of time with stunningly boring sound bytes from players and coaches, reading tweets and jersey names of fans in the stands, really stretching to fill up the time. Ros would be great as an analyst. I’m sure they like her looks on the TV but I think she’d be great in a more expanded role.
Sudden thought–with the dehispanization of the Giants this year (Casilla, Pagan, Romo, Blanco, Lopez), I hope this doesn’t affect Cueto’s interest in staying with the team next year.
?Cuando firmaran esos hombes con equipos nuevos?
Eso me pregunto tambien yo. Se me hace que tal vez unos ya llegaron al fin de la carrera. Me lastima.
Help gained by the new coach added last year?
Everybody wants to be a victim. This is the dumbest story I read today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-american-idol-contestants-cries-over-being-called-white-boy_us_586d0e19e4b0eb58648b5445
Wel, it looks as though you read it in the two o’clock in the morning hour so you still have time to find a dumber one. Looks like a guy in need of getting his name in the media again.
You’re right. That’s is dumb. I was reading an LA Times editorial on more permanent “safe places”, such as housing, on college campuses.
Do we learn more while in our safe place, or from skinning our knees? It’s one of those complex questions…(and, yes, I know that many instances of “bullying” and “hate speech” are totally unacceptable….my question is about where lines need to be drawn…is that answerable?)
“Balkanization” is a word that came up.
Here ya go. You’re gonna have to get your knees skinned up reading an editorial from The Times 😉
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-furedi-safe-space-20170105-story.html
I don’t agree with that approach to campus housing. I think student groups, fraternities, etc. offer ample opportunities for students to find affinity groups of students who share their interests/identities. That doesn’t need to be institutionalized in the dorms.
I’m with Dr. Lefty…the self titled”marginalized” asking for segregation seems extremely counterintuitive.
This is anecdotal and a long time ago, but I grew up in an extremely white community, and college was the first place I ever really encountered people of color. My assigned freshman year roommate was a lovely young woman from Stockton of Chinese-Filipino descent. All of her friends were Asian-American. The very first night we were in the dorm, I went out to the Grad for pizza with her and 12 of her friends, and I was the only white kid in the group. It was a new experience in an entirely good way. She and I got along great and remained friends all through college. I would have missed that if we’d all been in our safe spaces.
That trend is just crazy. Can you imagine the reaction to a group of white students who didn’t want to have to eat their lunches around people from other ethnic groups?
The entire idea of safe places is to prevent people from learning things and to give them a distorted perception of the world. This is what happens when you get humanities faculty making decisions in a university. Even to say that the problem is Balkanization is to descend to the intellectual level of the people who are pushing this inane policy. The real problem is that it promotes ignorance.
(I teach in a university)
I teach in a university and am in the humanities division of the College of Letters and Sciences. (I’m a social scientist by training but my academic appointment happens to be in a humanities-based unit.) There are some faculty in our division who are pretty out there political activists, but they’re outliers, not the majority. My university is very STEM-oriented, and I wouldn’t say the humanities faculty are running anything.
Your university is damned good at STEM (so my university is well aware of you guys).
STEM is definitely the straw that stirs the drink at UCD, especially considering its roots as an ag extension of Berkeley and being a land grant campus. I wouldn’t say non-STEM faculty are second-class citizens. My department (the writing program) has been nationally ranked in U.S. News as one of the top writing in the disciplines programs for the last ten years and everyone knows it, and the STEM faculty very, very, very much want their students to be able to write in their disciplines(!). But as to the budget model, we get the leftovers, for sure.
Actually I am in the same situation (linguist in a literature department). The situation in Israel in general isn’t nearly as bad as the US in that particular respect but I remember was it was like when I taught there in the 80s and 90s.
I’m now the applied linguist in an independent writing program (separate from the English department), but my previous position was as a linguist in a literature department. Interesting dynamic. There’s campus politics everywhere, I’ve found.
Interesting example in psychology of getting out ahead of the facts, and creating social bias on dubious assumptions of fact. http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/01/theres-a-problem-with-a-bunch-of-psychology-textbooks.html
That is really interesting, thanks. It made me think about the various introduction to linguistics textbooks I’ve encountered and/or used. I don’t think there’s as much variation in those as what was reported here for psychology.
It’s not complex.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sites/default/files/event/skinned%20knee.png
Sigh. I liked him on American Idol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfQ7m2VbTVk
what are his power numbers in the Catalan Major League?
No Paco De Lucia, but pretty good.
Any baseball today?
In our wildest dreams. But maybe some signing or trade goes down today. Consistently gray skies, huh?
This is all I got on the twitter news front.
Do you get the feeling that there’s some Balkanization going on out West and among the top teams in the NL? Brink of war if you ask me.
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/817063331202678785
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b1a89eb2fd7ec8854e32d64f01d8c858df84d8ed771faf1f844c4e6bed8d473.jpg
I will admit this looks alarming but if you just get repeating to yourself ‘the Dodgers always choke’ and look at the past few years to remind yourself this is in fact true, you’ll feel happy.
The problem is that the Dodgers can take down the whole Western division with them. With Dozier they’re going to tough to beat for first place, then the Giants will again have to play a wild-card game and then probably the Cubs, where they face Lester in 2 out of 5 games (they handled the Cubs’ other 3 starters pretty well). with Bumgarner only pitching once.
On the other hand if Dozier makes the Dodgers so good in the regular season that the Giants would play them in the nlds, they’d only have to deal with Kershaw pitching inexplicably badly in the postseason for the millionth time.
If you haven’t yet, it’s an interesting study looking at Dozier’s splits. Where his power comes from, his strikeout rates vs L/R handers.
How the Dodgers play in the post season shouldn’t be the Giants’ worry. They should be focused on winning the division, which the Dodgers have done four years in a row. You’re right. Even though it worked out once, the Wildcard is a very risky proposition.
It worked out twice. I don’t think you can blame the Giants’ loss in the NLDS last season on the fact that they didn’t win the division. You can blame it on…well, you know (fill in your own narrative).
If they had won the division, they would have played the Nationals who were seriously banged up in the NLDS and they probably would have won. They would have had a much better chance against the Cubs in a 7-game series with Bumgarner, Cueto, and Lester starting 2 games each than in a 5-game series with Lester and Cueto starting twice and Bumgarner once. Lester was the only Cubs’ pitcher who shut the Giants’ down and as a left-hander was the only one who could be expected to shut them down. And if Samardzija had two games to start it presumably would have dawned on him to throw the curve the first time through the order at least in the second game.
See a major league spring training camp IN COLOR (circa 1939-40), – DVD “Ballfield to Battlefield and Back, From FDR to JFK” The Washington Nationals/Senators at spring training – Tinker Field in Orlando.
If anyone has been to spring training in recent years, this is a look back IN COLOR at a different world! During that era, facilities were “rustic” to say the least but the players looked forward to spring training because it meant the regular season was not that far in the future and spring training was a time to work out the “kinks” from the off season and enjoy a much more relaxed time with their teammates. The website – http://www.timelessbaseball.com has the DVD information.
Players smoking Camels in the Clubhouse
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d9b1808389967e3ec70903545b1c37339373c94ced9d1b27176085e6798d750.jpg
I hope folks here are battened down for the weather event anticipated for the next week or so. Forecast map of anticipated precipitations.
https://i.imgur.com/VXpPMZT.png
Sure, that’s the weather now, but what do the trends look like?
Frogs and locusts
Steph has always gotten “it” https://www.facebook.com/bobby.mckercher/posts/10211492690497949
New Post: http://fe0.84e.myftpupload.com/2017-giants-offseason-news/remembering-daryl-spencer-1928-2017-a-great-giant/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcylDkRw7dg&list=PLEF19652B31D5B8FE&index=4
magic..goose bumps