Hot off Baggs’ twitter: Well, that’s one way to work on the catcher problem. We ranked Sanchez, pre-season, as the 12th best prospect in the Giants’ system. At the time, Sanchez was more of a “feel” pick for me — though, Otis was heavily stumping for him. This is what Otis and I thought back in January when we posted… Read more →
Usually, through the beginning of June, a team with exceptional starting pitching — including a two-time Cy Young award winner, a lefty that’s tossed a no-no and… whatever the really good Matt Cain is — isn’t anchored by a sophomore and a journeyman. Usually. Yet it is the case of the Giants, at least so far this year. Win-loss records… Read more →
First, here’s a chart of the Giants’ win margin and defeat margin so far in 2011. (Green bars above the line indicate how many runs the Giants won by on that particular day — It’s typically not by very much — while the white bars below indicate the number of runs they were defeated by.) A couple of things that… Read more →
Alternate title: please stop letting Javier Lopez face right-handed batters. I feel like I’ve been beating the ‘don’t let Lopez pitch to RHBs’ drum for awhile now, but once again, Bruce Bochy left Javier Lopez in to face too many righties. The result was this… J Lopez relieved S Romo. L Berkman grounded out to third. A Craig doubled to… Read more →
I am going to piggyback on Chris’ – and Crazy Crabbers’ – earlier post on Bochy’s confounding bullpen usage. (For now, I’ll leave his perplexingly slow hook during Tim Lincecum’s Monday start alone.) Instead of making Chris’ graph more complex, I’ll make it even simpler. I’m going to focus on four pitchers: Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Jeremy Affeldt and Javier… Read more →
In last night’s win against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Giants’ left-handed pitcher, Barry Zito, suffered what team officials are calling a ‘mid-foot sprain’. Zito landed awkwardly in the 2nd inning while trying to field Joe Saunders bunt pop-pop, and had to be pulled on the next pitch. In the post-game wrap, Barry Bloom made mention that Barry Zito’s ankle was swollen… Read more →
Some not-so-great news from Andy Baggarly: Brian Wilson’s ability to pitch on Opening Day is in significant doubt after the Giants’ right-handed closer had his throwing session cut short Wednesday – his first time picking up a baseball since straining his left oblique six days earlier. I think it’s now safe to say, only after the shortened throwing session, that… Read more →
Eli Whiteside vs Chris Stewart Eli Whiteside got hurt early this spring, and Chris Stewart has taken advantage of his opportunity, thumping out a .318/.400/.545 line in a handful of at-bats. His minor league track record indicates that he might actually be a bit better of a hitter than Whiteside, but not so much that you’d actually notice. Other things equal,… Read more →
By now you’ve probably heard that Brian Wilson has a mild oblique strain. Please, step back from the ledge. Additionally, his status for Opening Day is in doubt. Henry Schulman broke the original report of Wilson’s injury on twitter, and expanded on it at his blog. Bochy tried to be reassuring, saying, “Nothing is torn or anything,” but even he had to… Read more →
Hold onto your straw hats and barstools, it’s time for our part two of our Top Prospect List. Today’s post tackles the #10 through #6 spots in the Giants farm system. 10. Eric Surkamp, SP 23 years old in 2011 Chris Quick: Eric Surkamp has excelled since the Giants drafted him in the 6th round of the 2008 Player Draft…. Read more →