by
Haak Away & 22sSweetSwing
“VegasGiantsFan” and “Carmot” stirred us up with reports of minor leaguers in the Giants system. We each began to look into a few players: a groundskeeper in Augusta that could throw 95 MPH and got signed; a pitcher that comes from my parents’ home town; a catcher from my local high school; a new signing that we just had a good feeling about. Foothill Ryan would say, “He is my guy.” If he did well and got spotted on some prospect list someone else would say, “Yeah, I told you about him. He is my guy.” Out of this banter and bragging I said, “Hey, who really are you calling ‘My Guy’? Commit to just a few and stick to them. Let’s write them down and we will see if they really are a worthy MyGuy™.” That was the winter after Bum became a legend against KC. 27 of us went on the record with the first official MyGuy™ picks.
Three things that make MyGuy™ really fun from the feedback we have seen.
Being a Scout from Home
Baseball invites us to evaluate players and make predictions. MyGuy™ plays into that by saying, ‘What Giants prospects are going to blossom this year?’ It is part of the American Dream of Joe Average having the potential of becoming a star and hero.
Competing Against Yourself and Others
Everyday here we make claims on which player is better than the other. The banter sharpens our thinking and toughens our skin. That is good in itself but MyGuy™ adds an objective reminder: “Here is what you predicted; here is how things really turned out.”
Seeing How the Giants’ Future Looks
Admitting some lucky guesses and being handed some bad breaks we face the facts that MyGuy™, like real life, is really out of our control. We get vexed about our failed picks but we enjoy a corporate, TWG excitement in the fact that some of the other Giants Kids are on track. Ultimately we get to rally around a Law, Duffy and Panik with a true knowledge now of how they got there.
So here are the 2016 MyGuy™ results thanks to 22’sSweetSwing crunching numbers as a gift to us all.
Standings are based on the rank your picks finished. Like golf, the lower the score the better. A perfect score would be 22.
Feel free to email HaakAway at My SF Giant Guy at Gee Mail dOtt com if you have questions.
The 2015 Winner was Skweezplay55 who picked Belt, Maxwell, Crawford, Beede, Carbonnel, Heston, Strickland
The 2016 Winner is Noce who picked Heston, Pence, Law, Susac, Beede, Slater, Coonrod, Duggar, Watson, Davis
Score … Name … Players Picked [Your Best and Worst]
62 … Noce … Law & Davis #1 … #33 Susac
79 … Dr. Lefty … Duggar & Bickford #2 … Stratton #23
104 … ClutchUp … Cyr #3 … Arias #24
119 … Contarini … Law #1 … Fox #32
125 … stevek … Bickford #2 … Cole #30
126 … Bapah … Law #1 … Fox #32
128 … Appaled7 … Bickford #2 … Fox #32
128 … TotalFan62 … Bickford #2 … Fox #32
129 … doughnut … Bickford #2 … Crick #28
135 … HaakAway … Beltre & Agosta #7 … Susac #33
136 … Anit-L … Bickford #2 … Romero #34
136 … Moooose … Bickford #2 … Susac #33
138 … dgg … Bickford #2 … Blackburn #30
138 … PS35 … Coonrod #4 … Fox #32
139 … SweetSwing … Watson #5 … Romero #34
139 … Croix … Bickford #2 … Blackburn #30
141 … ScoutRyan … Watson #5 … Romero #34
141 … Sarcastic … Cyr & Horan #3 … Olivio #31
142 … PandaPuffs … Law #1 … Suarez #33
146 … doobie … Coonrod #4 … Fox #32
147 … GiantC … Slater #4 … Susac & Suarez #33
148 … 610nmn … Coonrod #4 … Fox #32
151 … GSDubs … Slater #4 … Romero #34
162 … Skweez … Bickford #2 … Blackburn #30
165 … Matthew … Bickford #2 … Fox & Forjet #32
191 … CC … Beede #6 … Zambrano #36
Work on your MyGuy™ picks for next season. It is a friendly competition that will push you to do some happy homework on who the next Giants stars will be; what kid from South Caldwell High School in North Carolina might close out the next World Series?
I have followed the MyGuy discussions over the last few years with interest, ut still dont have the slightest idea about how to enter or how the results are measured. I know that I would appreciate a description and step by step instructions– though that still may be too complicated for my aging brain.
Breckeroni says go for it. And there is no purchase necessary.
My question is how do I go about it?
Surf Maui, Haak will answer all your questions. You can email him or ask him here by responding to one of his comments. The MyGuy guidelines for 2017 will probably not be posted until we get closer to spring training.
“Feel free to email HaakAway at My SF Giant Guy at Gee Mail dOtt com if you have questions.”
Mine too apparently, although perhaps names in a hat shouldn’t be the optimal method of choice.
I got my Cutch Year out of my system…I’ll co e roaring back. From 3rd to next-to-last. Humbling.
You guys are wonderful, and we all think you for being Commisioners that make Selig look like the embarrassment he is!
The seagull and “in memory of avwh” are wonderful. I love the wingspan. Is the seagull carrying something?
That appears to be a crab. I couldn’t tell you the species of crab, but that gull has fine taste. No garlic fries for Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
It does look like a crab! Do you suppose avwh took the photograph?
I do. I love his photos of pelicans dive bombing for dinner and the celestial time exposures. Here, peruse away. You’ll find the seagull above in the bird section.
http://allenh.zenfolio.com/
There it is! Photo #92: “Gull with Crab.” Allen was such a remarkable photographer.
That he would prepare in patience for the perfect shot; a barn owl gliding and surveying across a field free of sound.
Allen’s widow picked that picture and thought the “Crazy Crab” subtle reference would be appreciated by us fans. Glad you noticed.
That’s a lovely backstory, Haak.
Didn’t PS35 and dgg tie last year somewhere in the middle? If that’s true, that’s eerie!
People will be talking, hopefully our spouses won’t find out.
Awesome, and worth the wait! The button looks GREAT.
I did better than I thought. My AA picks (Chase Johnson and Ryder Jones) were kind of a bust, and my MLB picks (Pence and Samardzija) didn’t turn out as clever as I expected(!). My AAA picks (Mac and Stratton) did both make it to the show, and I had promotion credits for Bickford (A), Coonrod (A+), and Duggar (A+).
Fun stuff–thanks so much to you both, and congrats to Noce for wiping the floor with the rest of us!
Second guessing my picks:
— I should have picked Law instead of stupid Bickford.
— Why in the word did I pick Blackburn at the beginning of the season when at the end of the season, I picked Blackburn to be traded first, not Heston?
Plan for next year:
— Follow the leaders.
Hot pick for 2017 = should be on all participant’s roster, Christian Arroyo.
Arroyo had a wRC+ of 89 at AA Richmond. I predict he’ll take off in the hitting friendly environment of the PCL and boast a wRC+ >110. He also stands a good chance of double promotion to the Bigs.
Sleeper pick for 2017 = Jordan Johnson.
A 1.43 WHIP and 5.33 ERA in the Cal League likely belie some of his talents. I’ve seen him down in Visalia, and I think he’s better than this. He’s ripe for not only improvement, but promotion.
I like how you’re listed as “Scout Ryan” on the MyGuy list.
I’ll probably go with Beede next year, but then probably everyone will. What about Sam Coonrod?
Another good pick. Beede is more likely to get a September call up, but Coonrod could have a great year and give you a double bonus from Richmond to the Bigs.
Coonrod was MyGuy™ this year from San Jose, and he got me a bonus by getting promoted to AA. If he starts the season in AA again (possible), he’d be a good strategic pick because he’s likely to get promoted at some point.
Congratulations Noce! Impressive!
Mark Melancon: “From Day One. I thought this was the best fit.”
So I really didn’t have to be all that worried after all!
The deal was sealed, somewhere along the line, with an arrangement to meet early Monday morning at the winter meetings for the formal signing. Pretty cool to have the Giants with a strong closer, and the strong prospect of the Dodgers w/o.
It’s going to be interesting to see what Kenley Jansen decides to do. I’m awfully glad the Giants are not in that mix.
Did you hear that he just got married in Curacao and that Justin Turner is at the wedding? I wonder if he’ll make his decision before his honeymoon. But I imagine an island is just as good a place as any. Turner probably thinking on his options in paradise as well.
I truly don’t follow Kenley Jansen that closely.
I got it from a Rosenthal or somebody tweet. His delay explained:
Dodgers, Marlins, or Nats.
Free agency seems like an odd time to get married.
I thought that, too, and then I realized that free agency goes from early November until spring training. November and December is “wedding season” for baseball players–in the past three weeks, Gerrit Cole married Amy Crawford and the Pences and Paniks had their weddings–so it would be hard to pinpoint it exactly. Not all free agent signings happen at the Winter Meetings, and I’m sure Kenley’s agency is on the job, in any event.
Junior Giants lobbied for Melancon as well, it seems. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/12/san-francisco-giants-mark-melancon-adorable-kid-letter-photo
All the former/current Blog authors who have come before TWG would be so proud that AVH has a MyGuy Award. Well done Haak Away!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f6393641f1b96cea6526ca831f5590afe9aca4ca4030b0c800a24d4acb6801b.jpg
A courageous and inspiring story of a woman’s struggle to survive in a world where Donald Trump has been elected President, and I’ve never been more sarcastic:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soloish/wp/2016/12/05/trumps-election-stole-my-desire-to-look-for-a-partner/?utm_term=.e41394e980a7
Share with your daughter(s) 🙂
OK. We get it. We heard you the first 200 times. You despise and sneer at any of us who are upset by Trump’s election. Message received. Over and over and over.
I chuckle at anyone who thinks the world has come to an end. It hasn’t. Life goes on. Nothing is permanent.
Good for you. Enjoy your chuckling. I’m not going to bother to argue with you since you’ve already made it clear you won’t listen to anyone else’s concerns–you’ll just mock them.
I’m not telling you what to do or what (not) to write about because I don’t believe in that and because I’m not in charge here. I’m just telling you that your message has been received.
Concerns are one thing. The last sentence from that story is something else: “There is no room for dating in this place of grief. Dating means hope. I’ve lost that hope in seeing the words “President-elect Trump.”
Some people feel that way, why does it offend you?
I can’t think of too many things that offend me.
I never thought you a cheap shot artist until now. That’s sad, and more than a little disappointing.
Cheap shot, how? With all the real problems some people face in their lives, this woman has lost hope because of the results of an election.
The guy is a ego maniac, I agree with her, how could anybody give that guy the power to start a WAR are get another Country so mad they might start a WAR .
A thousand thumbs up, PJ. Sincereley.
No nation is going to start a war with the USA.
More likely him starting one, with his temper and his 2 year old tantrums !
Did you ever read about that little tiff over Taiwan called Quemoy and Matsu in 1961? It’s euphemistically called the First Taiwan Straight crisis. It led directly to China changing its policy by allowing Soviet logistical support of North Vietnam in 1962-3 forward. That led directly to that little disagreement in Vietnam that killed 50,000 plus American soldiers. Don’t be naive or ignorant of the potential consequences of a narcissistic goofball to blunder into such a tragic misadventure.
Word, CC.
So now you’re the arbiter of what’s a real problem? With all the time you’ve spent trying to get people to understand your reality, you’d think you might reciprocate.
When and if Trump gets the USA in a WAR, I will think of you, he is the President, and is an ego maniac, and you think it does not matter who is President, it is like a Police officer who is mentally unstable, a dangerous situation .
Ditto. Message received. No need to be repeated again.
Thank you for your editorial suggestion. Only certain views should be repeated. Got it.
The problem is your mocking and condescension toward others.
The problem is that TO hates himself.
I don’t even hate you, whoever you are.
Go tell that to a Psyco-doc.
I’m Alvise Contarini. I was born in Venice on December 19th, 1947. I got a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences at Ca’Foscari University in Venice and I was compelled to leave the Academic Community and to become CEO of my family firm when my father died prematurely. Three years ago I retired and passed the command to my two sons. That’s all. Your suspicions that I’m a fake are childish and ridiculous.
His MO for about 4 years now ….
You shared one view, a WaPo article about a young woman whom you felt deserved to be mocked. OK. In reply, CC posted another WaPo article, about an 18-year-old student who challenged Trump a year ago at a campaign event about his treatment of women, and he promptly attacked her on Twitter, leading to death threats and harassment from his charming band of supporters. That is another “view” of the world of Trump. I suppose that makes you “chuckle,” too?
I’m not a Trump supporter. I didn’t vote for him. I don’t like many of the things he says and does. I just think the dramatic reactions to his election, like the writer’s are way, way over the top.
Over and over and over is not only what The Oracle does best, it’s almost all he does. I imagine when he arrests somebody, he reads him his rights all the way back to the station!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/politics/trump-president.html?_r=0
Well TO – it is gonna be a different POTUS for the next 4 years. No way this goes *.
Did you have any different reaction to this one? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-is-what-happens-when-donald-trump-attacks-a-private-citizen-on-twitter/2016/12/08/a1380ece-bd62-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html
I read this a few days ago. Truly scary.
A guy like that needs an asswhiping from her father/brothers at the very least, not a twitter account.
I saw that a few days ago, cracked me up. She literally broke up with the guy she was seeing. Can you imagine? ‘I’m sorry, this relationship isn’t going to work out. Donald Trump is going to be president.’
Pavs has taken (what AB had) to new heights!
https://audioboom.com/channel/the-giants-insider-podcast
One of the Dodger “Peeps” is gonna draw the short straw when Tommy goes for his last supper – or else that Tum Tum is gonna burst. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/723830ae722f4baed5b8b29ff8ce610775f0dbad4316fa9f58ba40b95d265921.jpg
What will Wally Pipp say? He has standards.
Good Point. However at 89 yrs of age Tommy could reach out to the LAD’s team nutritionist and go from that looking like a aircraft carrier to possibly an inner tube…
There’s no point in body shaming anyone, even Lasorda. He’s lived longer probably than either of us will. I just wonder if myths have standards.
What did they call it before “body shaming” ?
Being an ass.
If you grew threw the 70’s-80’s-90’s or 60’s and looked like Tommy – ones father-brother-uncles and nephews would have let you have it and that’s tough love.
I remember when my grandmother was around 85, my mom would take her grocery shopping every week. My mom was horrified that she’d just buy junk food–cinnamon rolls and bacon and Hershey’s Kisses and peanut butter (she used that to try to hide from us that she’d gone back to smoking–the PB was for her breath). I’d say “Mom, she’s 85. Why shouldn’t she eat what she wants now?”
Two opposites can be equally true. My mom smoked Pell Malls like a sailor. One day around the age of 75 – her doctor told her “Eleanor” – you may not get to see any or some of your Grands because your smoking has given you a peptic ulcer. Anyway – she tossed her pack out at his office and her 7 cartons out when she got home and cranked it up until 90 yrs of age.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b56b2441ba1b8cec33905ea42e03baa12b04a263f4c1b881f7cd0c32b9edeca.jpg
I stopped smoking 3 packs a day 15 years ago. In a day.
Bravo!
My mom quit 40 years ago and never fell off the wagon. One of her motivations was that I had developed serious allergies and respiratory issues from being around all the secondhand smoke. She and my grandmother went to the same stop smoking support group, but my grandmother couldn’t stick to it.
I did it all by myself. I was so ill that I couldn’t get out of my bed to go outside and smoke. I had never smoked indoor.
I may have shared this story before, but my husband’s grandfather passed last March at the grand old age of 102. For his final years, he lived in a condo in Leisure World, a big retirement community down in Seal Beach (Orange County, CA). The caregiver told my mother-in-law (his daughter) that Grandpa needed to cut down on his drinking because the caregiver had found TWO (gasp) empty bottles of wine in the recycling that week. Grandpa was over 100 by then. Again, I couldn’t figure out why in the world Grandpa should change a thing at that point.
He got his promised 3 score and 10 in, let him eat. I care more about the drivel that comes out of his mouth, not what goes into it.
You’re worried that Lasorda is being body shamed? I don’t think Lasorda would mind. He’s no doubt worked hard on that gut.
Maybe Lasorda’s work on his gut is none of your business.
Good one.
Italians (Eye Talians) would tend to agree
Me Earthman.
It’s frankly, irrelevant. Why should anyone care in an old man? BTW, the issue isn’t a douch bag like Lasorda, it’s CU and what it says about him. I care about him, not Lasorda. Pssst, you don’t have a clue what someone else thinks and how they feel, you proved that below.
Sandoval is another victim of body shaming?
Some have. He has an obligation to perform for payment. Give the money back, and he can be physically whatever he wants. You can’t seriously think Sandoval’s situation, and that of an old man are comparable. Man, you’ve been letting to many woodpeckers at your knot hole.
Every time I see Lasorda, I think about his son who died of AIDS and their complicated relationship. I found this GQ piece from 1992, a year or so after Tom Jr. passed away. It shows the complexity of the situation, and it’s worth remembering that times were very different then. Sad situation for both of them.
http://thestacks.deadspin.com/the-brief-life-and-complicated-death-of-tommy-lasordas-485999366
Times were tough for Glenn Burke who Tommy and others offered Glenn 75K to marry some Hollywood Starlit. http://thestacks.deadspin.com/the-double-life-of-a-gay-dodger-493697377
This is awesome. Writing to Santa is so last century. Now young Giants fans write to Bobby Evans and beg him for Mark Melancon.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/look-a-young-fan-wrote-a-letter-begging-the-giants-to-sign-mark-melancon/
How I – aka – we all – wish that Marco’s Giant career did not end so soon. 🙁
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2012/09/13/scutaros-at-bats-are-must-see-events-for-teammates-because-of-something-they-almost-never-see/#comment-308758
Andres and wife
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e711264ebe6c00d721dac08827d04ff85e3f292530e3b679d130e12fbba9cd43.jpg
https://www.gofundme.com/2q42qxw
🙁
Damn when Klay’s brother Trayce came to the Dodgers – I was impressed with how “Stephen Piscotty-like” he was. I never knew how banged up he became:
* He played in 80 games for the Dodgers, hitting .225 with 13 homers and 32 RBI.He was placed on the disabled list on July 16 with a sore back.When his injury did not respond to treatment, he underwent an X-Ray which revealed that he had multiple fractures in his back,which kept him out of action for the rest of the season.*
Wiki
Ouch – he had a nice power pace going. He was kind of their Mac.
I didn’t realize that. What little we saw of him looked entirely too promising.
That’s a nice grab for the BoSox
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/report-red-sox-agree-to-1-year-deal-with-moreland/ar-AAleDER?ocid=mailsignout
Agreed. He’s a good defender at first – much better than Han Ram with the glove over there. He’ll pop 20 big flies as well and knock in some runs
What a year for this guy: A+, AA, MLB…
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=benint000and.
Member of all-time non-Euclidean name team* on the verge of signing with Giants**
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=benint000and
*Socrates Brito another
**Yomiuri Giants
Andrew Benintendi’s signing with the Yomiuri Giants? That’s going to be an awful shock for the Red Sox. 🙂
*check link
Oooops. Fixed.
Wonder if Mr. Lefty told Doc_Lefty that her office at work has been remodeled?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fb57a9877f642c71216daab7c99c412f41b25b5a175450989836bd021c24fda.jpg
I WiSH my office was that big and looked that nice.
I knew it!!
Lefty’s sports library.
http://excertos.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/toomanybooks.jpg
Reason 4,508 why baseball is the BEST of sports: “It is 9:41 pm on Sept the 9th….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJdli-ONL-8
1988 Gibson HR – the call
Vin Scully’s call of the homer… “High fly ball into deep right field, SHE IS…GONE!!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCkYon5qjWI
And Jack Buck’s… “I don’t believe what I just saw!”
http://www.hark.com/clips/bglrsvypyl-kirk-gibsons-1988-world-series-home-run-call-by-jack-buck
Don Drysdale’s… “… and a drive hit to right field… WAY BACK!! .. THIS BALL… IS GONE!!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpsqaSJkovw
And then there was the King transcript – Bill King:
It sounded as if King just KNEW something special was going to happen. THIS was what he said at the height of that call: “So this moment is approaching excruciatingly tense proportions. Eckersley, the premier closer in baseball and Gibson, the hobbled hero of the Dodgers all season in an incredible duel here. Eckersley has yet to throw that backdoor slider…Here it comes….there’s a swing, a high fly ball to right…going….GONE! GIBSON HAS homered and the dodgers have won game one!!! An incredible moment!! Gibson is mobbed at home plate and Tommy Lasorda gives him a big kiss on the cheek and the Dodgers have thrown the favored A’s a huge challenge, as Oakland must now try to come back tomorrow night to even this series up against Dodger ace Orel Hershiser!”
What an incredible finish here at Dodger stadium!!”
King was never at a loss for words, in this case he did need to lose some. Like about a hundred of them.
Some say that. But he was the best at. What he did.
He was the best football play-by-play guy ever (radio), and the most dramatic basketball announcer, but baseball was his worst sport, IMO.
Carmot was more about why we should sign that SS from Nepal.
Just read an article about teams who need(ed) closers, who’s gotten them so far, and who still needs them. It also listed free agents still available (including Casilla and Romo) and closers available via trade.
The article suggested that Casilla would be more appealing to teams than Romo, and this got me wondering. I looked up all relief pitchers from 2011-16, ranked by WAR. Romo, who has a WAR of 6.2 in that period, was #13 on the list (#1 is Craig Kimbrel, and Chapman, Jansen, and Melancon are in the top 10). I kept scrolling down to find Casilla, and he’s all the way down at #180 and in fact is tied at 1.1 WAR with…Derek Law, #181. Javier Lopez was higher than Casilla, and Hunter Strickland, at 1.8 WAR, was higher than any Giant other than Romo.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how those two guys are valued on the free agent market and where they end up. I wouldn’t be stunned to see one or both of them in Dodger Blue.
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&page=1_30
At least the usual suspects are leaving politics off the blog, just like Greek asked! Happy Saturday, all my great friends of all perspectives!!!
Dubs time….
been staying away from ladders, bud?
I was going to get up and replace some burned out bulbs today because I’m a dim bulb myself….and Beauty went full wolverine on me at the suggestion. Hence….
Yes, I have.
Mr. L was just putting lights out on our front porch, and I reminded him about the “no ladders” rule. We also can afford to have someone clean out our gutters. No roofs, either.
Isn’t gutter talk forbidden here?
She knows there is a grace period before she can easily increase the size of your life insurance policy.
Beauty know best. Tells Beast to lay low. Beast obliges. Beauty happy.
You are one of the “usual suspects”, bub. And just what are the other banned subjects?
Knew I’d hear from ya.
Like Lefty, I have never started anything…nor will I. What she said to me was spot on….
Whatever you say. BTW- is this a private or a public blog? The lines are pretty blurry.
Not sure, my contacts need an upgrade
That’s just too easy.
No need to pick a fight, pal. TO took care of that. I say we play Charlie Brown Christmas music and eat brownies. Let’s have PJ make them instead of me….mine might leave a mark
I wasn’t picking a fight, I have no idea why you would think that I was. But I can do that- are you digging those fake Hillary news stories ? Is she into cocaine trafficking yet?
That’s old fake news!
Really? That’s not the one she was running from Macy’s Tiny Tots department?
Here’s a great place to learn about the way things are:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
A guy in Greece fessed up to making $60,000 off those.
And as we know, a lot of people believe them. As to her own safety, it’s a good thing that Clinton lost.
I’d laugh, but she did seem to have a sense of relief afterwards.
Laugh? At what? In the debates Donald virtually invited it
See….yes you are
I said that I wasn’t but that I could. And so I am. Everybody should be sounding the alarm. After Friday, January 20, we’re screwed.
Hang in there.
Most of us have been, but speaking for myself only, I don’t feel obligated to just bend over and take it when someone takes repeated cheap shots. I won’t start it, but I won’t promise to leave it alone, either.
Bummer that we will only have dried and canned food in our bomb shelter. My biggest Chef’s challenge is soon to come.
“Iron Chef Bomb Shelter”!
Actually I was going to do an iron shelter but then I couldn’t apply my Magnetic Face Mask.
Chopped!
Agreed. I saw the poke. It was uncalled for and pretty predictable. I think we’ve been playing nice….I should have said “suspect” singular.
So you bring up something, argue for a while, get a lot of pushback, which then hurts your feelings so you stay away for a few days. I make a reference people don’t like, and you hop right up to say how wrong I was. I guess you learned your lesson well.
That would be one way to try to describe it.
The World According To TO
It’s a unique view
They sure taught you. Stick to the views that are accepted and popular. I honestly didn’t realize that making fun of someone who stopped dating because there was “no hope” left in the world after an election would be so controversial. I had no idea it could possibly be considered a reasonable reaction.
In perfect playground parlance: you started it.
In perfect TWG parlance: and you knew exactly what you were doing.
Steve Kerr pulling a Bochy tonight, starting Varejao when Zaza was a late scratch. JaVale McGee’s the best C on the team, but what if he plays great and puts Kerr in an awkward spot with Zaza? Can’t have that.
And so far it’s going about as well as when Bochy does the equivalent.
It was the right move with so many games in a row. It was not about Zaza..
So in 2015 I was 20th, and this year I was 12th. Was I the Most Improved MyGuy participant? The Willie Mac award winner? Will we have projections on next year’s MyGuy competition?
I think I went from 17th to 2nd! Step aside, pal.
Are those figures adjusted for blog factors, quantity of comments, or information gleaned while attending pre-season RiverCat functions?
We sandbagged you, beware. 😉
You had to be “20” that year as it was your Trademark™.
You must have done something to get the number 12 ranking this year.
Well, I predicted 200 innings for Matt Cain. I’m getting out of the prediction business. For the safety of those who I am predicting about!
Becasue MyGuy™ is based on how much they improved from the year before Cain actually won among the MLB pitchers. His WAR went from -0.4 to +0.0 while Smardj was dead even at +2.6 and Strickland also even at +0.8.
“Well, I predicted 200 innings for Matt Cain. ”
Hey, don’t blame Bochy for this one- he tried.
And he’ll probably try again.
Get me 200 times safely reaching base for Denard Span. Thanks.
You were a year too early.
Nice. 152 hits last year with 53 walks and 4 HBP.
Real nice year in 2014: 184 hits, 50 BBs, 2 HBP; finished 19th in the MVP voting that year.
Catching up after a uniquely busy day as we hosted our grandson’s #5 birthday and his 23 closest friends (who brought their parents too). We planned on a rainy day and were not disappointed. All a great family day but I missed stirring the pot with you all.
The button with Allen’s own photo of the gull was made and a dozen of them given to Allen’s family. December 20 is the first anniversary of his sudden death.
We will leak out some more data from this MyGuy™ that is interesting to us.
Thanks for all those who took the risk of being dead wrong publicly.
I had forgotten the exact date, thanks for the reminder.
http://www.quernheimfuneralhome.com/notices/Allen-Hirsch
Cut my satellite feed at the beginning of the month. Are the Warriors still shooting lots of threes these days? More than ever? Do they still have a winning streak going?
Speaking of Food Network shows, if they ever do an Eating Out on the Cheap show in Fresno, wife and I just split a giant bowl of pho and a plate of egg rolls with tip for 18 bucks. It’s real good stuff. Of course, In N’ Out would run about 10 bucks without the sodas and that’s good stuff too.
Speaking of no satellite, it’s Game of Thrones, Season One, Disc One tonight. Ahhh yeah, it begins. Again.
You need to raid or get on the mail share list at your public library. Even if they don’t have an enormous selection, there is a library consortium that lets you borrow from pretty much every library in the state.
The Dubs are actually shooting/making fewer threes. At the moment they’re on a four-game winning streak, but it will be over in about 10 minutes–they’re getting killed in Memphis. That will make them 20-4, which is still the best record in the NBA.
That’s like .8333333333333333333333333333333333 winning percentage.
Hoops is just a different sport. Juggernauts can just roll through a season. An MLB juggernaut is 100 wins and .617 winning%.
It’s a serious game.
Does today’s basketball do it for you at all?
College ball, sometimes. Last time I watched pro ball was in 2004 (?), when the Piston beat the Lakers.
The 80’s felt like a special time for the NBA, in my humble and inadequate estimation. Great decade for the synthesizer as well.
There haven’t been any better teams, or a better rivalry, than the Lakers and Celtics of the 80s.
I had access to Rockets season tickets back in the mid 80s, back when Jim Peterson was there.. It was fun, but rough.
Boom. Danny Espinosa’s unhappiness in DC surfaces. Next think you know, traded to Disneyland. The Happiest Place on Earth.
Is that kind of like Ehire Adrianza being cheesed that the Giants brought back Ramiro Pena? Isn’t Espinosa a below-average utility player?
poor batting average, but popped around 24 HRs last year and his defense has rated above average the last few years. Positive WAR player – between 1&2 per year.
Still, having a snit fit because the team got a great new player seems a bit extreme.
weak sauce. Have fun with the Angels, instead of with a team that should go to the playoffs. It’s not like Turner and Murphy are guaranteed to stay on the field the whole season.
Exactly. Espinosa could have been a good and valuable backup.
Solid player imo. I’d want him on my team as util guy
Matthew, the boys looked good tonight:
http://www.foxsports.com/college-basketball/story/freshmen-leaf-and-ball-help-no-2-ucla-beat-michigan-102-84-121016
Matthew? I’m your Bruin buddy, buddy. So is this team actually good? Mr. Lefty gave me the first hint that they might be back.
What did you study anyway?
I was going to say he studied “the most popular major at UCLA, being a Pain in the Ass,” but I decided that was a mean and unhelpful comment, so I didn’t say it.
/angel w/halo emoji
lol but you did. Don’t be jealous because you went to the the lesser LA school.
she went to a few schools. But reserves SC for bragging rights – which SC loves to do!
And they hate being called “SC”!
We don’t, actually. Most alum refer to it as ‘SC as the default.
damnit!
Yeah, I’m a proud UCD alum in other ways, but the sports teams…not so much. But ‘SC is very good academically now, too, so it’s alllll good.
they are. sorry to hear about that tragedy on campus a week or so ago :-
Yeah, that was awful, and it happened just a day or so after Joe McKnight (former very good RB) was shot dead in New Orleans. Rough week for the Trojan Family.
I don’t know how his killer walked away from that! Is that still the case, the man is free.
And it was about the sameday that a man was let go after confessing to punching a 14 mos old baby in the stomach who later died because it wouldn’t stop crying. It was like what the hell is going on?
well for one the killer is white, so there is that.
I really liked McKnight in college, thought he would have a longer NFL career.
No, they arrested him a few days later on a manslaughter charge. We’ll see if it sticks. But yeah, if the situation had been reversed, I doubt McKnight would have gotten to sleep in his own bed after shooting a 54-year-old white guy three times.
Mississippi been burning a long time.
The same things that have always gone on.
The sports teams were much more successful as a Division 3 school winning Division 2, championships. Yep, still desperately holding on to the non scholarship pride.
Can’t hear you. Too busy thinking about the Rose Bowl. Which bowl did the Bruins get invited to, again?
Just bought a jumbo pack of toilet paper at CostCo.
I was thinking actually today what a travesty and embarrassment it is to go to the Rose Bowl against a team that systematically hid, knowingly, that a trusted member and good friend of their “revered” coach, raped young men for three decades or so. I’m sure there is much pride in that.
Penn State should be embarrassed. Their opponent is hardly responsible for their history. They didn’t get to pick who they would face.
I have a good friend who’s a Penn State alum and a diehard fan of the footballl team. I remember when Paterno died and she put “RIP Joe Pa” on Facebook. In my opinion, he’s burning in hell right now, but I didn’t say that. I understand rooting for the team as it is right now–the kids aren’t responsible for the history–but revering Paterno’s memory? Disgusting.
I was Communications, minor in History.
I thought Matthew was the Bruin. Good to know it’s you.
The team is being led by two freshmen who are improving every game. At the the starts of the season folks thought they would be competitive and started #18 in the poll.
Beating the Wildcats in Lexington really opened eyes and tonight beat a decent Big 10 team.
Ball and Leaf seem the real deal. Already Ball is seen as a top 5 pick in this NBA draft, perhaps even top 2.
His brother joins the Bruins next season and the little brother in 3 years.
I’m a Warrior….THE California State University……(Stanislaus) ( Turkey Tech) ……(D2 Champs……) ( before I got there….)
I grew up with the Angels, so bear with me:
Maybin LF
Trout CF
Pujols 1B*
Cron DH
Calhoun RF
Escobar 3B
Espinosa 2B
Simmons SS
Catcher
Richards-Heaney-Skaggs-Nolasco-Shoemaker …. Street/Bedrosian SU/CL
80 wins? 85?
84
I’m just not into this obedience thing. Unless I’m asked to eat the last piece of pie.
Good night, all.
I’ll bet you follow every one of Merna’s directives, Pal.
Well, considering that I’m the feeder and she’s the foodee, I have some leeway. At least until after dinner..
I coulda sworn I picked D Law…thought I was first to take him
You did pick him. Let me check to be sure you got credit for that. My guess is that Arroyo, Crick and even Shaw [he had such great numbers last year] brought you down but fininshing #9 is in the top third.
EDIT: My typo on the article as you did have Law (#1) and also Bickford (#2). But your total and score are corrrect. Your downfall was in Shaw (21), J. Johnson (25), Arroyo (27), Crick (28).
Gotcha. Thanks Haak (and 22SS). Great contest.
Top Ten MyGuy™ Pitchers 2016
The numbers we use: ERA [divided by 3] plus WHIP.
Teams listed are where they finished 2015 to where they finished 2016 [bonuses for each level]
1 Derek Law 3.04 to 1.67; from Richmond to MLB
2 Phil Bickford 1.52 to 2.33; from S/K to San Jose [to Milwaukee]
3 Tyler Cyr 3.79 to 1.97; from Augusta to San Jose
4 Sean Coonrod 2.28 to 2.26; fromAugusta to Richmond
5 Grant Watson 3.40 to 2.85; from S/K to Augusta
6 Tyler Beede 3.08 to 2.22; all at Richmond
7 Michael Agosta 2.71 to 1.99; all at San Jose
8 Jake Dunning 4.19 to 3.14; all at Sac
9 Ty Blach 2.82 to 2.22; all at Sac [not enough IP in MLB]
10 Matt Gage 2.82 to 2.34; all at Richmond
I looked at this list, and wondered if anyone picked Dunning, but then found him on my list of guys. Here’s my recipe for finishing closer to the bottom than the top:
MLB: Denard Span(0.266@SFG), Matt Cain (5.64@SFG)
AAA: Jonathan Mackensey Williamson(->SFG,0.222), Jake Dunning (3.14@RC)
AA: Christian Arroyo(0.274@FS), Chase Johnson (3.27@FS)
A+: Johneshwy Fargas(0.275@GJ,0.107@SJG), Sam Coonrod (->FS,3.03)
A: Lucius Fox (0.207@GJ–>Rays org), Connor Kaden (3.71@GJ)
Next year I might as well select the class A level randomly!
Ha … Fox, Fargas and even Arroyo cost you. Cain actually won the MLB category as Smardlj and Strickland only matched their 2015 numbers [good but not improving].
That’s my guy (MyHorse). I’m thinking of picking these two MLBers again next year. I wonder how it will turn out for Fox, who was very young and maybe a bit unready for pro ball? 2017 shapes up as the make or break year for Fargas. Your game is a little odd, since it is focused on improvement, which has to be why I chose Dunning, and probably nobody took Bumgarner. But thanks for doing it!
Yes, you got it right… Improvement
It fits the “who is going to blossom” idea but also if we just picked who is going to have the highest WAR, etc. then it is Buster and Bum … not much mystery there.
EDIT: “Sam” Coonrod and “Martin” Agosta…but poor Martin had TJ surgery, so he won’t be Anyone’sGuy™ this next year.
And Agosta was MyGuy too.
I picked him for the Sacramento/Local kid angle and it laid off.
Top Ten Position Players Final
Scoring is wRC+ but also a bonus of 25% for every level they moved up. [Thus Duggar got a 75% bonus since he kept his wRC+ up even though he was facing AA pitching in the end.]
1 Dylan Davis … wRC+ 71 to 132; all at San Jose; OF
2 Stephen Duggar … wRC+ 125 to 131; jumping from S-K to Richmond; CF
3 Tyler Horan … wRC+ 91 to 120; jumped San Jose to Richmond; OF
4 Austin Slater … wRC+ 108 to 137; from Richmond to Sac; OF/2B
5 Jalen Miller [19 yo] … wRC+ 69 to 70; AZ Rookie to Augusta; 2B/SS
6 Jean Angomas … wRC+ 94 to 84; AZ Rookie to Augusta; OF
7 Kelvin Beltre … wRC+ 122 to 113; AZ Rookie to Augusta; 3B
8 Dillon Dobson … wRC+ 134 to 124; AZ Rookie to Augusta; 1B/3B
9 Ryder Jones … wRC+ 84 to 88; San Jose to Richmond; 3B
10 Skyler Ewing … wRC+ 89 to 115; full year at Augusta; 1B
Dylan Davis and Dillon Dobson are going to be the end of me…remember when the Giants had both Jake Dunning AND Jacob Dunnington? And we still have all the Joneses and Johnsons. And don’t get me started on the Tylers/Tysons/Tys.
Three pitchers and one hitter in your two top-10 lists are Tyler/Ty (Blach is officially Tyson, not Tyler). That’s 20% right there!
What was the ranking of ML players? These were based on increase in WAR? Right?
2016 MyGuy™ MLB Player Results
Name … 2015WAR …FinalWAR … FinalRank
Position Players
Adrianza … +0.2 … +0.2 … #3
Pagan … -0.7 … +2.1 … #1
Panik … +4.1 … +2.1 … #6
Pence … +1.6 … +2.0 …. #2
Span … +1.4 … +1.4 … #3
Tomlinson … +1.2 … +0.8 … #5
Pitchers
Cain … -0.4 … +0.0 … #1
Heston … +1.4 … -0.1 … #4
Samardzija … +2.6 … +2.6 … #2
Strickland … +0.8 … +0.8 … #2
Since I picked both #1s , how did I finish so low in the standings? My other picks must have been really rotten.
No offense, Bap – but any system that rewards someone for picking Pagan and Cain in 2016 has some serious issues.
They weren’t my favorites; I felt they had the greatest chance to improve their existing WAR. I think there is a design issue to discuss more than my picking of of the most likely to improve their WAR.
I assumed you used the same hat I did to pull names out of?
I used science and math to pick those two, not my understanding of baseball.
I used name familiarity. George Eliot/Mary Ann Evans – Adam Bede and that Zamboni gadget for smoothing ice in hockey. That probably tells you as much about outcomes as minor league stats do.
Remember it is weighted to the Minor League. You got both the #1 MLB players but even if I picked the worst MLB player I am still going to get a 6 so I have not lost that much ground to you. But when you picked the best Minor League guy in Law (1 “stroke” in the golf analogy) and I picked Susac for 33 “strokes” then you have really jumped ahead of me.
I must have missed this the other day–the Giants signed veteran reliever Bryan Morris (formerly from PIT and played with Melancon; most recently from MIA) to a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The article here says he’s a groundball pitcher, not a strikeout pitcher. That part’s OK, and the ERA’s good, but the other stats–WHIP, BB/9, HR/9 are a bit worrisome. Walks, baserunners, and HRs are not good attributes in a reliever, and ERA doesn’t tell you much.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/giants-to-sign-bryan-morris-to-minors-contract.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29
They also re-signed lefty reliever Matt Reynolds.
Wasn’t Reynolds DFA’d by the Giants toward the end of the year? The regular season, I mean. Vague recollection.
Yes, he was, but they signed him back. I think getting some veteran depth like Morris and Reynolds is smart. With the exit of the Core Three, the Giants suddenly have a pretty inexperienced bullpen. Talented, I think, but pretty green compared to what we’ve had in recent years.
Another point of confusion: Newly signed relievers Bryan Morris and Matt Reynolds.
The Giants’ top draft pick this year was Vanderbilt outfielder Bryan Reynolds.
If I were Bobby Evans, I’d have one really detail-oriented staffer whose sole job is to make sure I didn’t trade the wrong guy because I mixed up the names.
That’s where Johneshwy Fargas comes in handy!
Yep. We may not know exactly how to pronounce it, but we definitely only have ONE of those! 🙂
All the Blacks/Blachs/Blachmeisters (see, I forgot) really mess me up. Imagine how confused Phil Bickford got.
“Uh, Hey, Man, what’d you say yer name wuz?”
Didn’t they draft the wrong guy once?
Melancon spilled the beans on Morris at his press conference.
What’s his FIP and FIP – ERA absolute value difference? Groundball pitcher are notoriously hard to evaluate.
Ugh. Career ERA is 2.80. Career FIP is 4.36, xFIP is 4.06. Career WAR is -1.5.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=10234&position=P
But that’s the rap on groundball pitchers, they’re defense dependent. IMO, given the team, that’s not a bad thing. xFIP just isn’t a good stat, unless you’re comparing something and want to factor out park or something. It does stuff like park adjust HR rate. Bill James is a big time critic of accepted stats wildly undervaluing pitcher who can seemingly control quality of contact and GB rate. If you look at Heston for example, that’s the ‘skill’ he lost, GB rate.
We were talking here about “fat-shaming” 89-year-old Tommy Lasorda, and here’s a CNN article about people “fat-shaming” Pablo Sandoval over the years (including a link to a 2013 article in McCovey Chronicles). While it gives a nod to the idea that a highly compensated professional athlete ought to, at minimum, keep himself in good physical shape, it mainly just tsk-tsks about media fat-shaming, ending with this hilarious line:
“Judging from the photo evidence, he has it under control.” (Go ahead, Giants fans: roll your eyes or laugh out loud.)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/health/pablo-sandoval-weight-loss-trnd/?sr=amplify_health_baseline_desktop_120116_espn.com/blog/
Pablo 2011
Apropos of nothing but Reince Preibus reminds me of Pee-Wee Reese
Did I say Reese? Sorry, I meant Herman. Peewee Herman, that is
Being a baseball player, I’m sure that Pee Wee Reese was funnier than that bag of hammers.
Are we venturing into taboo territory here?
Also, I was wondering how long the ban will hold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snTaSJk0n_Y
Yes. Sorry. Sometimes I’m a dick. I can’t help it.
That’s not good enough Señor Victory. Dissent will not be tolerated.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Great job Haak Away and 22s Sweet Swing! Thank you so much. MyGuy is a ton of fun and a great way for us to connect and follow…our guys!
I think you advised us awhile back that we might be able to buy one of those MyGuy pins, in honor of our dear, departed friend Allen Hirsch. If that’s still on the table, I want one for sure!
Thanks also for the two lists of players below. Head start for 2017 MyGuy contest!
Glad you enjoy it.
Let me check with Mrs. avwh on how to handle that but I am sure I can do that.. Email me your mailing address:
You are very welcome.
John Shea wrote an article, New Bum deal? Giants gotta have Bum . First of all the Giants have Bum for 3 more years regardless if he signs a new deal or not, 2nd of all the Giants are already over the Luxury tax thresh hold, so if Bum’s annual average salary went from 12 Million to 27 Million or more, the Giants would have to pay a penalty of about 10 million on Bum’s salary alone . Next year when Cain’s salary goes off the Giants Books would be a better time , if Bum remains healthy and productive .
Great post, excellent summary. Makes a lot of sense. Not sure if the Giants are already over the threshold. I think they have a little big of wiggle room, but not much. Maybe can only add 5 mil of payroll.
Evans said they are already over the threshold .
I’m pretty sure they already have around 171 million dollars of opening day 25 man roster accounted for. The threshold is 195. I do not know the totals of all the other salaries and expenses related to the 40 man roster. If that is around 24 million dollars, then I guess it is.
Every report I’ve read says they are already there. I was surprised given the $ that was being saved with guys moving on. I don’t know how Melancon deal with the 20m bonus counts towards the cap.
Yes the 20 million does count, MLB goes by AAV, so Melancon is 15.5 M, so even if teams back load contracts it does not matter, last year on the radio lots of people were saying the Shark only made 9 M and Cueto only made 15 M in 2016, so Giants can spend more, but for tax purposes the Shark was 18 M, and Cueto was almost 22 M .
Yes, this time next year makes more sense. Cain will be off the books. They’ll know about Cueto. There are no other big contracts going off the books at that point, so they won’t need to replace anyone, barring serious injury/failure. Panik will hit his first arbitration year, but that shouldn’t be too huge of a hit. And the CBT will go up again, at least a bit.
That’s also the point when Bum’s two one-year options kick in, so that’s a nice time to renegotiate.
But the tax upper limit escalates over the next 4 years.
Forget the money. The Giants aren’t going to wait that long to renegotiate the deal with Madison Bumgarner.
Why not? He could blow his arm out in May or just start losing his stuff, why wouldn’t they wait till it’s necessary? The team has not fared well with reward contracts.
Because this is Madison Bumgarner we’re talking about.
As Alex said a few days ago:
“Bum is lefty, has elite command, cutter, deception, cojones, etc.”
Excellent points dgg.
With Bumgarner’s work ethic, pitching repertoire, and strong, simple delivery, I would not be surprised if he’s still pitching well into his late 30’s, perhaps even his early 40’s.
The number that MB and his agent will ask for in his new deal will be intimidating for sure.
Perhaps. I think it will be a two-way process.
Great job seeing both sides by the way, H&E.
Very prudent reasoning PS35.
That’s not the issue, they might not be over the luxury tax limit within a year or two. So how much impact accrues is less than it would by considerable.
I thought it would be better to respond to you, cc, than someone else.
Ahh, gotcha. LOL, I do that from time to time as well.
I should’ve upvoted your initial comment and hoped my upvote would have communicated my agreement with you. I will do that now.
What, you don’t arguing with a boiled egg. What’s wrong with you? 😉
I’ve become somewhat self-protective on here. I pretty much know by now who I can trust.
Too little Too late.
Baalke officially-unofficially is finally heading bye bye.
It better be “officially”
He was the Captain of the Exxon Valdez
Sounds like it’s just “likely” done.
Counting the days.
Yesterday, Patti Smith sang Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” in acceptance of his Nobel Prize for Literature. She struggled with the second verse and graciously asked to start over, saying she was nervous. She was honest and real and vulnerable and recovered to give a stunning performance of Dylan’s strong ballad written in the summer of 1962. I cried.
https://youtu.be/DVXQaOhpfJU
“I saw guns and sharp swords, in the hands of young children…”
Timeless ballad.
Guns in stadiums, what could go wrong? https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/11/seattle-seahawks-stadium-guns-proposed-bill-firearms
“The bill [in Washington State] was proposed by Republicans Matt Shea, David Taylor and Bob McCaslin and would prevent stadium operators from stopping members of the public with licenses to carry concealed firearms from entering their venues with weapons.”
This is just nuts.
LOL. IT”S THEIR RIGHT!
Guns, anger if the game doesn’t go their way, and beer for fuel. What could go wrong? (as you said). Stupid.
what could possibly go wrong with right wing nut jobs making the rules???
Everything.
Nut Job Evolution, Gun Freak edition.
Strasburg laments his slider. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/12/11/nationals-rhp-stephen-strasburg-thinks-new-slider-hurt-arm/95304436/
Hoo boy, the Nats may live to regret throwing all that money at that guy.
These huge pitching contracts are basically no different than putting all your money on black. And the bar for these contracts being ‘successful’ is getting lower and lower. Now, 2 or 3 years of elite production in the middle of a 6-7 year contract is considered a good return. And if you manage to get that WS victory, the guy can be a negative WAR player for the rest of the contract and it will have still been worth it.
If they don’t already. Is he ever the posterdboy for the 100 mph FB that was irrelevant..
Bapah asked for the MLB Results and it reminded me to acknowledge Bapah as our special “NailedItGuy™” for getting the most #1 predictions … Pagan, Cain and Law
2016 MyGuy™ MLB Player Results
Name … 2015WAR …FinalWAR … FinalRank
Position Players
Adrianza … +0.2 … +0.2 … #3
Pagan … -0.7 … +2.1 … #1
Panik … +4.1 … +2.1 … #6
Pence … +1.6 … +2.0 …. #2
Span … +1.4 … +1.4 … #3
Tomlinson … +1.2 … +0.8 … #5
Pitchers
Cain … -0.4 … +0.0 … #1
Heston … +1.4 … -0.1 … #4
Samardzija … +2.6 … +2.6 … #2
Strickland … +0.8 … +0.8 … #2
As I said below… the rest of my picks must have been really crapola.
To use the Golfing analogy, your first five holes took 9 strokes, your second 5 took 117 strokes. That is an ugly image that brings to mind wrapping a club around the nearest tree in frustration.
Bickford (2) and Coonrod (4) were part of your top five.
Mac (16) and Black (17) were mid-level for you.
Fargas (25) and Arroyo (27) low and
Fox (32) near last.
Well, with the exception of my ML picks, I’ll take those guys for the long haul in their next few years.
Stupid ! reward players that were awful, but not as awful as the year before, Heston barely played and was #4 no way . how about Connor, Pena, bet they improved in WAR , Cueto had a great improvement , nobody picked him !
Is the rule they had to be a Giant in 2015, I guess that is it , no you have Span on list . Cueto improved more then Cain, Conor improved more then Pence , on the WAR I looked at on ESPN. com .
No one picked them so they were not on the running for this.
So as you noted, if you think some guy under performed last year and he is coming to the Giants, pick him.
You love the word “stupid” – hmmmm
Matt Moore actually improved from a -0.4 WAR to a + 2.1 WAR , but nobody picked him since he was a mid season pick up .
Really … that is an amazing fact with a pitcher that we gave up Duffy to get. Something must have gone crazy wrong for MM in 2015?
TJ in 14
Headline:
Matt Cain Proves The Evils of WAR
Haha … Maybe so but it is one stat that includes defense for position players and I was looking for that for MyGuy™.
ERA virtually the same; slightly higher K-ratio this year.
Matt had 60 IP in 2015 and was 2-4. [1 win/30 IP]
This year he had 90 IP and was 4-8. [1 win/22.5 IP]
Wow, Giants were over the luxury tax threshold the past two years and headed for a third, like PJ said via Shea-Hey Kid.
I’m gonna have to look at the payrolls and then infer the amount of other expenses for the past two years.
But short hand, their 25man opening day payroll was something like 170-172 million last year, plus 15+ additional 40 man roster spots at .5 mil each, that should put the figure up around 180 mill. So there are some additional expenses that are hard to itemize that come to around 10 million dollars.
You do not get it, Cueto, the Shark, and both Brandon’s had back loaded contracts, so Giants actual salary in 2016 was lower then the average annual salary that MLB uses to calculate it .
Jed York, reaping what he’s sown, with Kaepernick along for the ride. I’m a big fan of justice.
You should for them to win a couple games and ruin their draft position that they’ve worked so hard for all year.
Draft picks, not a great draft in 2017, and they would mess it up any way, I hate fans rooting for losses for a better draft pick .
I’m not a fan and neither is TO.
I know, but you mentioned a worse draft pick if they win 2 games, in general I hate that thought about draft picks, and tanking .
It was a joke because TO hates the Niners and wants them to lose. So I was saying that if he REALLY hates them, he should root for them to win.
Ahhhh, never mind.
Peter doesn’t any time for jokes. Sports is a deadly serious business.
They came very close to messing it up today, but Phil Dawson took care of business, and Kap did his part in the second half. Now, that’s leadership.
I root for people, Alex Smith great person , you root for jerks , Jim Harbaugh, we have different values !
I know what you and he were talking about, but my point was It will not matter , the 49ers will mess it up, I stopped being 49er fan , when they treated Alex Smith like cr p , TO is not a fan because he likes the Coach that treated Alex like cr p . I was a fan since John Brodie and Gene Washington days, early 70s .
I’m with you, PJ. The Alex Smith thing was the beginning of the end for me. But really I’m against the NFL because of all the other stuff, too–domestic violence, sexual assault, drunk driving, other violent criminals. I know athletes in other sports aren’t perfect, either, but it’s horrific in the NFL, and the league does almost nothing.
But I think all of us agree that the 49ers will mess up their draft pick(s). They’re like the Warriors back in the day–completely dysfunctional.
It was very mean of Harbaugh to resurrect Alex Smith’s career by believing in him when no one else did.
Alex Smith resurrected his own career. How about 8-9 OC’s in 8-9 years? Yep, you sure know your stuff there TO.
Alex Smith was placed in difficult circumstances, but he hadn’t performed well as a 49er. He was on his way out of town, and there wasn’t much interest in him elsewhere. Everyone was shocked when Harbaugh brought him back. Harbaugh was the first coach to show true confidence in him and place him in a position where he could succeed. Yes, it was up to Alex Smith to make the most of the situation, and he did, but without Harbaugh, he may have never received another real opportunity. Harbaugh did resurrect Smith’s career, and that’s simply a fact.
Completely untrue. With his aptitude he stepped forward with the black market play book that Harbs gave him and took all his teammates to San Jose State to study the playbook and Smith implemented ALL of the nuances of said play book. Harbaugh gave him unrequited love, something that was nice but Smith was going to succeed because of his skill set and because of his aptitude. Smith was going nowhere.
Harbaugh and Baalke F’d up not allowing Smith to have his job back. Smith resurrected his own 8-9-Offensive-Coordinators in same amount of years – career.
Smith signed a one year, $5 million dollar deal with the 49ers after Harbaugh was hired. No one else wanted him. Harbaugh did. Tomsula 10-6, right? You really know the game and life.
http://www.si.com/vault/2012/01/23/106151394/alex-smith-really-really
Smith signed what his agent told him to sign. Andy Reid had coveted him for awhile. And you know my Uncle Jim had nothing to do with the Harby-Smith issue but Uncle Jim did win some games compared to Chippy. When you get in a jam YOU always try to answer replies with another question vs an astute response. My overall knowledge of the big three sports would leave you in the dust, not that there is anything wrong with that.
If anyone wanted Smith, he would’ve signed for much more than one year and $5 million; no agent is going to recommend that a player sign a contract like that if there are better offers on the table; and Alex Smith is a smart guy who makes his own decisions. Beyond that, you’re right on the money. I will admit that you know more about the post office than I do.
The Smith item vs your rigid agenda is well known.His career was not in jeopardy.. Lots of teams “don’t want lots of players” but it has nothing to do with acumen or skill set level. Bottom line is he was the lead player when Harbaugh took SF back to prominence and never should have lost his job. As far as the post office goes, hmmm, I think Nixon turned it into the USPS, so again your attorney-cop-right-brain-left-brain allusions are data specific and right on the mark.
Side Bar:
I bet your SJ Internal Affairs Unit located itself in suite 666 – just for gentleman like yourselves who slide laterally over to another profession.
Way over TO’s head.
I know it’s not baseball, but this just flabbergasted me. https://www.texasobserver.org/hate-watch-racist-threats-spike-after-trump/
Do you think there’s any possibility that the site’s viewpoint might effect the numbers it’s reporting?
Actually the issues have been focused both directions in the past, and small in #’s. They aren’t anymore.
You aren’t paying attention.
So, when The Oracle makes an unpopular post, it’s mayhem.
Got it.
I’m sorry, CC…but why do you fuel these fires with these?
Look down below. Similar comments have been made today, which is fine with me. Consistency is overrated. One view is popular. One isn’t.
The reactions here are incredibly disproportionate. I guess it’s all relative.
Ruben Navarette did a perfect column today on it…
It’s so one-sided that I took heat for having the nerve to laugh at the idea that the world is coming to an end. Fortunately, it was a dry heat.
That actually had exactly nothing to do with what, at least by me, was said to you. You’re going to hammer a little harder for those stigmata.
You mentioned the period I stayed away… I had the audacity to try to say that everything would be alright. That was “hurtful”. Good God.
How dare you.
The CIA made me. There was nothing incendiary. I make no secret or apology for how I feel. Don’t take it personally.
The problem is when some of us make any statement that tells folks we don’t think the world is coming to an end, it’s deacon 5… People go nuts. Nuts.
So, one side owns the blog, and any opposing view is attacked with a vengeance with how hurtful and inciting it is.
I prefer it stops both ways. If “we” respond to any of it, it immediately becomes “us” causing the issue, trolling, not being respectful, and on and on.
Greek asked us to stay away from it.
And that’s what makes it fun.
That is not the issue, and you ought to know it. Say what you want, but don’t mock other people for their honest concerns and fears. I thought it, honestly, a little over the top myself, but how does that give a guy who should know better to mock someone.
Would you agree with me that if a racist thought the world was coming to an end when Obama was elected, it would have been ok to mock their concerns?
It depends on what your calling a racist. In any case, you’ve got to be able to gin up a better analogy than that. And no, I wouldn’t have mock some girl who I felt was really concerned. BTW, there’s a trick to this Socratic stuff, analogies in question have to be balanced. Trump’s words and deeds are the source of peoples antipathy to him, not the shade of skin he happens to have been born with.
The world isn’t coming to an end. Anyone who believes that it is should breathe into a paper bag for the next four years. If somehow it actually does come to an end, I’ll make sure to comment here, admitting my mistake, before the internet goes down because of the apocalypse.
If I were a fan, I’d also be rooting for them to lose at this point.
Bad Draft in 2017, I t would not matter, so you like tanking, not an honest Cop I guess !
I’m not in favor of trying to lose.
Good .
But if it works out that way…
That’s a good point, but I’m confident they’ll screw up the draft, no matter what their position.
It’s Baalke:
This roster has no depth. None. The moment Kilgore went out and….Marcus Martin, who has no business being anywhere near an NFL field, went to center, the offense was completely done.
Yes, that’s on Jed.
It’s stupidly getting rid of one of the elite coaches in a sport where coaching is most important. It’s being so lacking in backbone that you undermine the coach and team to try to justify what you know will be a very controversial decision. It’s Baalke. It’s choosing coaches like Tomsula and Chip Kelly. No matter what the 49ers’ talent level is, they are worse in the second half than the the first half, nearly every week. That’s coaching. To sum it up, it’s a lack of wisdom, character and courage. It’s Jed York.
Oh, York is first, but he’s going nowhere. He chose Baalke and ruined things
No it is Doctor York…
So am I loved those Michigan losses to Iowa and Ohio State, choked !
i know right. See how he really didn’t speak about those after the fact. I loved Harbaugh getting his trap shut.
Who would have guessed my Uncle Jim Tomsula would be a better coach than the Chipper? And Chip has the proven better roster.
Haak, 22SS,
Thank you for all your work in putting on this contest. Also thank you for the positive comments below. I’ve run a Fantasy Football league for 30 years, starting in the days of reading and calculating the stats from the paper. I know what kind of work it took to complete the calculations on this data.
There is one think I know for certain after 30 years of fantasy leagues both baseball and football. It’s better to be lucky than good. The final result was an increased awareness of the farm system to add fodder to the discussions on TWG.
Congrats on your VERY convincing victory. Great job!
Congrats to you as well, you had a very good selection.
Thanks. It’s fun!
Nice going, you more or less lapped the field. I wonder if MyGuy could be tweaked to where it could be more easily updated. Obviously it’s complicated, I don’t have any suggestions but it would be cool to have a running score going.
When I see you name I’m reminded of a fungo bat. Back in my earlier playing days down on the Peninsula in the late 70’s Coach Noce at CSM was pretty much a legend. I don’t know why, but our coaches at Carlmont always referred to the fungo bats as “Noce’s.” “Hey 22, time for some flyballs, grab me that Noce. So, congrats, you share a name with a long skinny bat.
That’s a story I am going to retell. Thanks.
,,, http://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=15927
http://collegeofsanmateo.edu/baseball/news/golf.php
http://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=15927
Most of us ended up playing an indoor baseball game when it was pouring outside – NAMED NOCE Ball. The rules have been changed throughout time and even then nobody agrees on what the first game of Noce Ball looked like inside the GYM
https://www.facebook.com/csmbaseball/videos/10157586047230191/
You palyed for one of these Carlmont Head Coaches!
Bill Hurst
Jim Mason
Jim Liggett
Jim Magnuson
Doug Williams *** Current CSM Head Coach * Took over from John Noce.
Mike Mancini
Bill Borrelli
Steve Hernandez
Norm Hayes
Rich Vallero
I thought that CSM/Noce reference might get your attention.
I played for coach Magnuson on Frosh-Soph, then Rick Brown my junior year on varsity, then Mr. Mag again Senior year. Mag was a great baseball coach though not much in to player conditioning. We had a blast though, my freshman through senior class team (basically two years JV and two varsity) won the SPAL all four years. Never got too far in the CCS though. I remember Coach Mason, nice fellow, came over from SC after it closed down. Coach Liggett was already doing softball by the time I got there, we’ve talked about him before. Doug Williams was the younger brother of one of my classmates. Never heard of any of the other guys.
Mike Mancini punted in the NFL during one strike year. Bill Hurst died and they named the field…
Liggett should have always done softball. Trying to recall who Coach Mason was. San Carlos HS had a head baseball coach named Pete Cocconi who coached Keith Comstock at San Carlos before Keith went to Canada Junior College.
You may enjoy this article from 1995.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ex-coach-s-impact-on-local-baseball-keeps-growing-3158098.php
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90ea3d8a513c34ffebc67c89bfa7101e5a6c2397607f2c195cadedab3cdfce06.jpg
John Noce the legend on far right.
congrats noce. very well done. you were like secretariat in the ’73 belmont stakes. enjoy your title though, because next year i’m taking you down..
There is a reason that you are the Giant NUT
Congrats Noce!!!
Thanks
Does the sum of WAR for all players in MLB come out to zero? It seems like most everybody has a value bigger than zero. I’m not really getting the 2.1 for Pagan and null for Cain.
This is a great question!
Good ol’ Peter Gammons usually has something interesting to say and he loves his Tedeschi Trucks…
http://www.gammonsdaily.com/peter-gammons-primary-storylines-from-the-winter-meetings/
He just needs a little bit of tutoring to the pure stuff. Get him.
He gave a salute to Gregg Allman’s 69th birthday the other day.
Love Tedeschi’s voice.
Peter, if you’re out there, yes, I know about AAV and luxury tax threshold.
I just punched some numbers into a spreadsheet for 2016 AAV commitments. It gets too complicated once you get into players on the 40 man without MLB contracts (they make 40- 80 K) so it’s best just to estimate with a margin of error.
But the take away that I got is that the Giants were definitely over 189 million with just payroll obligations. There may be no other lines for servicing the 40 man roster than get entered into the budget. Just straight up AAV salary commitments on the 40 man roster.
Right now, AAV payroll is sitting right about 170 million without the arbitration players and the rest of the 40 man – but I have a hard time seeing an additonal 25 mil rising from these roster spots as the arb players aren’t big cases and the 40 man commitments are not big time sums either.
This is a better assignment for someone getting paid to do this shit. Yo, Alex P. dig into this stuff for me.
Bottom line, if BoEv says they’re already at/over the limit, he probably knows. I assume he has people for that.
I just wanted to check em, make sure they’re not pulling a fast one. ’16 checks out in my book, but absent some fixed cost for something I can’t account for, they still have some wiggle room in ’17.
Which the wiggle room may be something they account for as in, if needed, we need to be able to add 5-7 million at the trade deadline without going over the threshold. Have to account for expenditures that have yet to come to fruition.
Having said this, they should be willing to go over the threshold to get a player that increases their chance of winning another title – or just going deeper into the playoffs. Those deep playoff runs equate to revenue which more than offsets any tax they would pay.
As some are wont to say: the Giants are freaking printing money at 3rd and King.
I’m actually not going to be stunned if they end up with another bat, either through trade or free agency. I agree–having already invested resources at this level and clearly having a “window,” it’s foolish to stop now. Evans didn’t say they wouldn’t increase the payroll from here. He just noted, accurately, that every new salary dollar spent is actually $1.50 because of the tax. You wouldn’t want to do that for just “meh.” But J.D. Martinez (for example)? Maybe.
I also think the “we like our young guys and we need to give them an opportunity” is both a negotiating strategy and a message to the minor leaguers. Deep down I don’t really believe they’re done.
We need another OF, for sure. Mac needs at least Nate Schierhotz playing time, so get a 4th/5th proven guy to replace Blanco. Kelby and/or Ehire gotta play some OF too.
BOOOOOM
Glad to see Klay Thompson join the Warriors on the road trip tonight. His evil twin Klank impersonated him the first three games. That also explains Klay’s absence from Ian Clark’s high school ceremony. Klank doesn’t go for that kind of nonsense.
He was at the Saint Judes Hospital, with Macado, and Andy the night the others were at the Ian Clark jersey retirement, he also lead the Warriors in scoring vs the Clippers. You seem to always hate on Klay, me I always liked Klay and Harrison more then most Warriors fans, HB is scoring great for a bad team and shooting very good % too. Matter of fact after last night’s loss I read Klay told his teammates to stop by the Hospital to meet a dieing patient before they left Memphis .
That’s right–I remember them mentioning about St. Jude’s and how David Lee used to always go there. But no, I don’t hate Klay at all. I think he’s awesome, and without him in Game 6 in OKC last year, there wouldn’t have been any Finals for the Warriors. He sure is streaky, though, and he’s hard to watch when he’s “Klank.” Kind of like Belt that way. Sometimes Belt looks like he’s going to go 23 for 23 with 19 extra base hits and sometimes he looks like he’s going to strike out 90% of the time and never get another hit.
Steph is just as streaky, he is in a bad one now, people just forgive Steph more, Steph had 3 great games in game 5,6, 7 vs OKC, and a great game in game 4 vs Cleveland in the finals, but had bad shooting games in games 5,6,7 in finals and he must be hurt .
Some notes on Phil – who filled his lungs with some of the sticky icky.
Mentions his high velo’s but not his average velo’s during the ’16 season. A couple of guys that scout the SAL weren’t ultra high on him – bullpenish looking.
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2016/12/11/13911626/the-brewers-phil-bickford-s-interesting-ride-to-the-bigs-continues
I was bummed when they traded him, and not just because he was MyGuy™. But I kept thinking of the Tim Alderson/Madison Bumgarner thing, and it sure turned out that they kept the right guy. Hopefully Tyler Beede is Bumgarner in this analogy.
Alderson’s velocity and life on his pitches came across in reports as more pedestrian – and he was more of a control pitcher. Alderson and Chris Stratton may be a better parallel.
Maybe as to scouting reports, but Alderson was a top-100 prospect before 2008 and a top-50 prospect before 2009 (Baseball America #45; #60 on BP). Bickford was what, low 50s in BA when he was traded?
I’m imagining what it was like in 2009. Lincecum was in his second straight Cy Young season. Cain was stellar. Bumgarner and Alderson were top-50 prospects. They had two other Cy winners (Zito and Randy Johnson) on the staff. Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter in July. And they drafted Zack Wheeler at #6.
They also had the Offense From Hell, other than a career year by a very young Panda. But looking back, it’s clear why Alderson was expendable.
Especially given the addition of Freddy Sanchez. Exactly what we needed.
How many times have the Giants been “burned” by trading away a pitcher?
Their pitching trade record looks pretty, pretty good.
Nathan and Liriano for AJ !
what year was that again?
2004
I think Beede will be early Matt Cain 2.0. Sooner the better.
something odd about those mechanics too
There was something odd about Timmy’s mechanics too but he has a couple Cy Young’s in his cabinet
…and some real good herb, I bet.
No doubt.
What is off putting about Bickford is not that he smoked pot..
but that he was dumb enough to get caught not once but twice…
I don’t know…seems really immature and really stupid.
Well, he does look like Jeff Spicolli.
Aloha, Mr. Hand.
Damn. 50 games for smoking some Buddha? The War on Drugs is a failure. Thats my guy.
While both Kelly and Keap are not the long term solutions for this team, by no means can the failures of this season fall on them. Ballke built this so called roster, one that has to be the weakest in the NFL talent wise.
Kelly has actually has the team be competitive and not blown out, just does not have the offensive weapons his type of offense needs to run effectively and there is no defensive talent on the other side of the ball except for a couple of guys.
And only a complete idiot (you know who you are) would place so much blame on CK. You look at his stats, if you were an outside observer, and stretch the number over a full season and you see he could still be effective. He has no line and no running and minimal talent in the receiving pool.
In 9 games he has 1577 yards, 11 TD and 3 INTs and an 85.4 rating. He has 416 yards rushing and a 7.6 average and 1, yes 1 FUM. No the greatest stats, but far better than what other teams are getting out of the QB position.
His top receiver is Jeremy Kerley, I mean WTF is that?!
Plenty of blame to go around, but any success #7 is having can be directly associated with Kelly. Chip’s offense is hike the ball and get rid of it fast. CK doesn’t have to go through the progressions that most NFL QBs must be able to do…and is still a weakness for him. In fact, the NFL Films’ Greg Cosell was saying that it appears Chip had simplified his offense for CK.
I have no sympathy for any 49ers QB when it comes to receivers, because it sure didn’t matter to many 49ers fans when Alex Smith had a #5 receiver and a guy right off of the practice squad…when they lost to the NY Giants in the NFC Championship Game in Harbaugh’s first year. It was still Alex’s fault…despite some significant fumbles…in the eyes of many.
Anyway…back to CK…we’ll see what the NFL feels about his QB abilities if he opts out of his contract. People out here were talking about it being this game being an audition for a Jets gig next year…to be closer to girlfriend…but they don’t need him.
It’s all Baalke.
The moment Kilgore went down at center yesterday, I knew the offense would grind to a halt. Why? Baalke’s idiotic pick, Marcus Martin was at center, meaning the middle would be a sieve. It was, they stopped all flow. Game. Set. Mulch.
Matthew what’s your take on Shanahan if he is the next guy? Think the NFL game is past his age?
Franky I’d like young maverick type nit afraid to shake things up and not be a lackey to the Yorks like Baalke. Jed gets a great deal of flak but as he ages I actually think he can be trained to respect a guy not afraid to say no. Just need to be put in his place by a strong individual.
Well, If Shanahan is the package that includes his son, I’m in.
I’ve been fortunate enough to know one of the glory years guys, and he constantly rails that Shanahan is the smartest football mind he and they have ever known, and they should have gotten him all along.
So, I’d be all in on the Shanahan team
But does he want to come to SF…after a previous rejection or two? Why hasn’t the rest of the NFL hired him? Do they know something everyone else doesn’t?
It might as well be a job posting like this: ” Immediate Hire: Captain for the Titantic”
All indications are that he is a rampant egomaniac who demands perfection…and would accept the GM role, bring his son in as coach , and tell Jed to sit down and shut up.
It’s a risk that, from this fans perspective, is necessary.
Things seem cyclical in pro sports. The Raiders were Titantic 1.0 until they bilged out the 9 floors of taken-on water – and the Niners are 2.0
The difference being Al passed away and he had knowledgeable friends like Madden…who helped Marky-Mark hire Reggie…then they eventually got things right with the head coach, great drafts, etc.
Nothing like that in 49ers land, unless the Yorks sell the team. Santa Clara is pissed off, the fans aren’t showing up, and they will only be able to hire also-rans as their head coach and/or GM.
I said all along that the Raiders wouldn’t turn it around until Al passed…so when will the Yorks be selling the 49ers? I don’t see it any time soon, unless those books get opened by Santa Clara and some illegal stuff is uncovered.
I was their when Eddie hired Joe Thomas as GM and then head coaches Ken Meyer – Pete McCulley and Fred O’Connor. Monte Clark had done a good job the prior year prior but Clark was familiar with Thomas and knew the chaos and disruption he would bring to the 49ers. DeBartolo offered Clark more money and an extended contract to give up his player personnel duties to Joe Thomas. Clark refused to give up his personnel duties, and was fired on April 6th and Monte Clark’s knowledge of Thomas came true.
Believe it or not – Eddie’s DNA and Jed’s are similar if you talk to the right people who know both and have know dawg in the fight. Eddie righted his wrongs by hiring Walsh but Eddie’s biggest asset was there was no $ restrictions on packing and stacking the roster. Eddie also fake-fired Bill many times but John McVay was always there to clean up the mess.
I am not a fan of Jed’s but hid Dad gooped up everything when he replace Marriucci with Erikson. Harbaugh brought relevence back to the team and I believe that Jed LET Baalke fire Harbaugh which was egregious. I also do not think Harbaugh would have lasted with the roster Tomsula inherited.
THIS cycle NOW is the one that Jed cannot swing and miss with.
The 49ers have the second worst point differential in the league, so they haven’t been any more competitive than their record indicates.
So maybe the hot stove heats back up this week. Things you already know by Rosenthal:
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/gallery/kenley-jansen-dodgers-marlins-white-sox-edwin-encarnacion-andrew-mccutchen-offseason-stories-to-watch-121216
Simply Red is expected to re-sign with the Dodgers any day now.
Of course the first two items are about the Dodgers…said it before, but had Friedman played his trading cards differently, their infield for 2017 would be AGon, Gordon, Seager, and Frazier. Let’s review who they got instead of having Gordon and Frazier:
For Gordon: Andrew Heaney (traded immediately for Kendrick, who’s gone now), Enrique Hernandez, Chris Hatcher, and Austin Barnes. Barnes is expected to be Grandal’s backup this season. They avoided arbitration with 31-year-old Hatcher after a terrible 2016 season. So, even with Gordon’s suspension last year, they missed out on his great 2015 (batting title, Gold Glove, stolen base title)–and his future. They’re left with a utilityman (Hernandez), a backup catcher, and a mediocre 30-something reliever.
Instead of Frazier, in the three-way trade with Cincinnati and the CWS: Frankie Montas (spent 2016 injured), Trayce Thompson (injured from June on), and Micah Johnson (25-year-old 2B who hit .261 in AAA last year).
I’d say there was more upside in the second trade, but overall, it’s quantity over quality. And that would have been an extremely formidable infield–it was there for the taking.
Not sure what the Dodgers can or will do now. Their financial resources are not unlimited. They have some trade chips, but not enough to go get ALL the guys Ken Rosenthal mentioned (Robertson, Frazier, Dozier, Kinsler, McCutchen…).
Seems like they can still make it happen with Jansen and possibly Dozier who won’t present the same payroll constraint as Braun, Cutch, or Kinsler would – Forsythe would be the alternative at 2B.
Puig/Ethier?
Seager
Turner
Gonzalez
Dozier
Grandal
Pederson
Toles/Thompson?
P
It will be interesting to follow Dee Gordon this year. Dynamic player, freed from the Dodger curse, then shamed by that suspension, and very likely motivated to play his heart out for DTT in 2017.
yet they won the past 4 division titles and their 40 man roster had more talent than the Giants this past season, with HAD being the operative word. It wasn’t by much and with the moves they Giants make this off season and any losses by the Dodgers that may change.
I’m still glad they don’t have that infield right now. And I’d say them winning the 2016 division title was much more about the Giants’ humiliating failure than the Dodgers’ talent or depth. Props to them, though–they showed a lot of heart despite all the injuries and setbacks they had. Roberts deserved the MOY Award.
“Club officials believe that even if they re-sign Jansen, they will be flexible enough financially to retain free-agent third baseman Justin Turner.”
What? I thought the Dodgers didn’t have the money to re-sign both.
We’ll see, but I had outlined their potential to run a payroll in the 230-235 region. They have money coming off the books in subsequent seasons. They can still spend to compete with the challenging Giants. Why wouldn’t they? They are in the penalty no matter what. Kershaw’s prime doesn’t last forever. Adrian Gonzalez may only have one good year left – his contract expires after ’18 anyhow.
Just when I thought they were running out of money, they’re not.
I just watched the NFL highlights of Jets/49ers. Pitiful. The defensive play in the 4th qtr/OT was the worst defensive performance I can remember–ever. Proven professional players overwhelmed with the mediocrity all around them quit playing NFL caliber football. Worst run defense in my 50+ years as a Niners fan.
It’s the Kelly Risk….
If you look at the snap counts, you’ll see a ridiculous proportion for the Niner defense in the 2nd half, with a ragtag group assembled by the worst GM in sports, including the most overpaid washed up vet in the NFL (Bethea).
That was mentioned as a shortcoming for Chip; even when he was in Philly. When you have a huge roster in college, you can freely substitute to keep the defense fresh. Not as many players on your NFL sidelines to compensate for all those extra snaps.
Highlights?
ExclusiveMyGuy™
Tip of the cap to a few of you who were the only one to spot one of the Giants Rising Stars:
Noce had Dylan Davis – the #1 performer among Giants minor leaguers; 132 wRC+; OF / San Jose
Mooooose spotted Jean Angomas – #6 performer; moved from AZ Rookie camp to Augusta; OF
HaakAway had Kelvin Beltre – #7 performer; moved from AZ Rookie camp to Augusta; 3B
ClutchUp found Skyler Ewing – #10 performer; full year at Augusta increased his wRC+ from 89 to 115; 1B
Doobie had Matt Gage – #10 performing pitcher; SP at Richmond all year; moved his ERA/WHIP down 20%.
Five examples of how looking for that Diamond in the Rough or the Long Shot leads to some great stories.
That is really cool. Impressive.
As always, Haak: great work. Thank you.
You were a pretty MainstreamGuy™ on your picks … wildest you got was picking Stratton joining Lefty, Matthew and stevek. So you have a personal challenge to look around for that MiLB nugget we are all walking right past.
But beware, sometimes an ExclusiveGuy™ is just charcoal, not a “diamond in the rough”, as was the case with mine.
“You have to kiss a lot of frogs …”
On my way to the dentist this morning, I was listening to MLB Radio and their take on Kenley Jansen, The 2 hosts were some guy I never heard of and Jim Bowden. A few tidbits:
– Bowden says…although not officially announced…he knows for a fact that the Dodgers, Marlins, and Nationals all have 5 year deals on the table.
– Bowden believes Marlins have the highest offer right now, but he would never rule out the Nationals owner’s check book…if he really wants the player. Max Scherzer’s deal was mentioned.
– Bowden believes there is no clear front-runner, but the Nationals and Dodgers give Jansen the best opportunity to win…the Marlins have familiarity with Mattingly and now AJ Ellis…and Florida has no state tax (which would be worth millions in this deal).
– It was also mentioned that Jansen’s representation has a history of going for the most money. A point was made that if the Dodgers’ front office wouldn’t match the highest offer for Greinke, why would they do it for Jansen? It doesn’t seem the be the Dodgers’ front office’s belief system.
– Lastly…Jansen’s new bride was brought up in the equation. She’ll have a say. Does she want to live in LA, Washington DC, or have a boat parked outside her house in Miami.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/808374442434895872
https://twitter.com/aguimar71/status/808375136487292928
Turner said to be 4/64+ possible deferments
Jansen 5 year & ???
Just reporting what I heard 🙂
Me too. Except I was hearing with my eyeballs d:^)
sorry for the pic of the Dodger wedding party – but since you mentioned the bride, thought I’d get that in there. Hollywood, the Belt Way, or South Beach?
No worries. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit 😉
Jim Bowden @JimBowden_ESPN 1m1 minute ago
Dodgers source confirms 5yrs $80m with Jansen
4 at $62 million for Melancon is a steal compared to what Chapman and Jansen are getting.
I strongly disagree with that statement. Wouldn’t touch Champan but IMO Jansen’s deal is the best of the 3. Jansen’s AAV is nearly the same as Melancon’s ($15.5M v. $16M). While Jansen got an extra year he’s also 2.5 years older. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the Melancon signing, but I’d much rather have Jansen at his deal than Melancon at his.
Jansen does have a heart condition, so you would have to cross your fingers that doesn’t come into play again. You obviously root for the guys health, but from a business perspective…5 years of crossing your fingers.
I agree, that’s the one area of concern is the heart condition. But since it came up over a year ago there hasn’t been a word of concern about it. And he just went through a fairly rigorous postseason in which he was extended to the max and he did great. Plus, he has less mileage on his arm than all of other elite closers. Not at all trying to indicate 5/80 for a RP isn’t a big risk, but just saying if that would’ve landed him I would have gone that extra mile to get him. Regardless, the most important thing is the Giants now have an elite closer. It’s just a little disappointing because it looked like for all intents and purposes Jansen was gone from LA. And now the Giants have to deal with him for at least 5 more years.
Understand.
Non Exclusive Interview with RHP Michael Connolly
http://williamgchase.com/chatting-with-san-francisco-giants-prospect-michael-connolly/
Sorry that I was not able to chime in over the weekend. Visiting relatives on Saturday and Mrs. Crawnik helped me celebrate my birthday yesterday. Got a really nice handmade Giants clock. Very cool.
Happy BD CRAW!
Thanks much.
can we see a picture of the clock please?
I will have to post it tonight once I get home from work.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0713665e65571fa7b392407549581c5a1640bdcee4bbcce4f2ebb76d39f1f8c.jpg
Cool! but it is only accurate during baseball season!
Any time…is Giants time!
When you’re a SF Giants fan!
Dodgers look like they’re going to retain all of their FAs. Already signed Hill and Jansen and looks like a Turner deal is getting finalized. All of us thinking now that the Giants have their closer the West is “ours,” well probably should buckle up.
Maybe the front office’s budget for another OF just went up a few million today?
The Dodgers are the same in a relative way
But they’re older
Shorter of breath
And one day closer to death
“…and I spit on them!” 🙂
Turner won’t be able to sustain his 16 season in year 17.
The #Rams announced they just fired Jeff Fisher per USA Today’s Tom Pellisaro.
New Post: http://fe0.84e.myftpupload.com/giants-offseason-news/should-will-clark-be-in-the-hall-of-fame/
Thanks for leading the MyGuy parade – it made 2016 more fun