I was on a podcast
Go listen to my terrible voice on the Curse of Benitez podcast. We talk ZiPS, Brandon Belt, Melky Cabrera (the creepy one), and a bunch of other Giants stuff. Go ahead, click, listen.
Giants’ ZiPS released
This is one of my favorite nerd days of the year. Go check out the latest ZiPS at Baseball Think Factory, courtesy of Dan Szymborksi. Quick thoughts: The best starting lineup by position players is — OPS+ scores in parentheses — 3B Sandoval (127), 1B Belt (121), C Posey (116), RF Melky Cabrera (106), LF Huff (103), CF Gary Brown… Read more →
Giants extend Sabean and Bochy
File this under not-too-surprising. The Giants executed a pair of long-anticipated moves Tuesday by extending the contracts of general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy through 2013 with club options for 2014. “Brian and Bruce are certainly two of the finest professionals at their respective positions in all of baseball,” Baer said in a statement. “They have effectively built… Read more →
Why being cheap could be a good thing
The Giants are in the middle of a wild offseason. For the most part, prices are high, and teams are paying top dollar for non-elite talent. We’ve seen Mark Ellis, Jamey Carroll, Bruce Chen, and Rod Barajas all get deals that, at least in my opinion, are a little shocking. At the moment, baseball seems flush with cash and in… Read more →
MLB’s new CBA analysis: As it pertains to the minors and the Draft
I hope everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving. Here in the Dominican Republic, we do not celebrate the holiday. I went out for Italian food on Thursday instead. For that I am thankful, and I am thankful for the new labor agreement hammered out between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association. These sneaky mothers got the deal done and… Read more →
Putting to rest the Buster Posey shortstop myth (at least for now)
Sometimes, when I’m feeling saucy, I like to peruse the Giants Inbox. It’s a semi-regular send-in-your-question type column on SFGiants.com that features team beat-writer, Chris Haft. Chris gets to answer all sorts of questions from regular fans like you and me. Questions such as: “Is Melky Cabrera any good?” or “Is Nate Schierholtz’s defense underrated?” or whatever. Generally it’s pretty… Read more →
The middle infield market is going insane
The deals that have already been made: * Willie Bloomquist: two years, $3.8M, signed with Arizona Diamondbacks * Mark Ellis: two years, $8.75M, signed with Los Angeles Dodgers * Jamey Carroll: two years, $6.75M, signed with Minnesota Twins Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins are obviously still the top free agents to get if you need help at shortstop, but even… Read more →
Giants add free, speedy, slappy hitter
Twitter: I can honestly say that I don’t know anything of importance about Gregor Blanco. A quick look at his minor league career line (.265/.367/.364) portrays an outfielder with some on-base skills, but little power. Blanco will be 28-years-old in 2012 and it’s worth mentioning that he was really, really bad this past year in AAA (.201/.350/.327 in 74 games)…. Read more →
Winter Leagues Digest: November 6-13
Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of this week’s post, I want to extend my best wishes to Wilson Ramos’ family and the Washington Nationals organization. I was so happy to hear he’d been found safe and has returned to his family. I hope all our players in winter leagues around the world stay safe. The playoff races are… Read more →
Jamey Carroll signs with Twins (and infield market musings)
Why is this Giants news? Well, mostly for the fact that for a brief time today, Carroll was rumored to have been courted by a “mystery team”, and it turns out it was probably the Twins. Lefty had a nice post earlier on the merits of Carroll with some included caveats. Carroll, even at 38-years-old next year, is a pretty… Read more →