You can imagine my surprise last night when I turned on the game and lo and behold, Brandon Belt was in the starting lineup. Belt, who has seemed more like a stranger in the past few series, got a rare start in left field — his first start since September 5th against the Padres. Belt ended up going 1-4 with… Read more →
It’s a depressing fact, but here goes: this year’s ball club is unlikely to make the playoffs. After sitting in the 80-90% range for most of the year, the Giants’ playoff odds have dropped all the way down to a meager 12.4%, so sayeth Baseball Prospectus. This past weekend series against the D-Backs was crucial, but in the end, the… Read more →
There’s been a lot written about Brandon Belt this season. The topics have ranged from “why the heck aren’t you playing him more” to “oh my god please play him more”. And, as Rory noted in his previous post, the bulk of blog writing this year has centered on the Giants’ pitiful offense. It’s bad, if you haven’t heard by… Read more →
If you’re at all curious about your team’s minor league system, Giants readers and non-Giants readers alike, you owe it to yourself to get Baseball America’s prospect handbook. Even if you know your team’s system pretty well, the book is still a handy tool. As you probably figured out, a dork like me reads that thing cover to cover. My… Read more →
Brandon Belt took the first flight out of Fresno on Saturday, heading to Miami and to the big club for the fourth time in 2011. He got no sleep. He didn’t see the field on Saturday, despite a late opportunity for Bochy to throw him an at-bat that went to Mike Fontenot instead. He did sleep that night and probably well…. Read more →
This is old news at this point, but let me get this all straight. So the Giants 1) have one of the worst offenses in all of Major League Baseball. (Since 2007, they’ve been basically the very worst.) They 2) have one of the worst performing first baseman in all of Major League Baseball in Aubrey Huff, owed roughly $15… Read more →
I was being sarcastic at first, but then reality set in: So, yeah. There’s that. I know that Belt getting regular PT in Fresno beats being glued to the bench in the majors, I really do. But man, this is just so painful to see. The Giants have a terrible offense. The Giants have a player in Brandon Belt that… Read more →
Last week, the Giants acquired Carlos Beltran for their very best pitching prospect, Zack Wheeler, and promptly went on to beat the Phillies to complete a winning series of two out of three. A few people wondered if it was time to consider the possibility that they could catch the Phillies for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They then went… Read more →
In the exquisite film The Shawshank Redemption, “Andy” Dufresne (Tim Robbins) wrote a letter per day to the State, requesting that they fund his library project. Eventually, it worked. Sadly, I bet some Giants fan out there has a desire for Brandon Belt to play first base over Aubrey Huff for the San Francisco Giants. I bet that desire is… Read more →
I love Cots Baseball Contracts. It’s a great place to get almost all of the details about any teams payroll. As I learned today, it’s also a place to go if you’re seeking to get bummed out. Looking at the Giants’ current commitments, you will find two players that I’d like to focus on for the purposes of this post…. Read more →