“Velez attacks flaws in hopes of sticking”

Eugenio is like the bad habit the Giants just can’t quit. Giving Eugenio playing time should be lumped in between picking your nose and forgetting to turn off your cell ringer during movies. Yet, he runs fast and the Giants like guys that run fast because speed doesn’t slump, unless you’re Eugenio Velez and you can’t get on base. Then speed kinda slumps. But he’s still fast! And he’s kinda funny looking which is nice because every baseball team needs a guy that’s funny looking.

Worst article quote:

Third-base coach Tim Flannery, the Giants’ bunting guru, estimated that the fleet Velez could boost his batting average by 15 to 20 points if he became proficient at tapping the ball up the third- or first-base line or dragging it by the pitcher.

Hmm, the arbitrariness is delicious. The only skill between Eugenio Velez and competency on offense is bunting. Yup.

I don’t have to tell you that Eugenio Velez isn’t a very good player of baseball. Of the 5 tools that scouts like to use to asses players, Velez has 1 tool, he’s very fast. And unless you count hilariously crazy defensive clanks as a tool, it’s the only that he has to work with. He’s played almost every defensive position on the diamond. In the minors, he played 116 career games at SS (which is still a funny image to me) 201 games at 2B, 74 games in CF, and 52 games in LF. This gives Eugenio the illusion of being a versatile utility man when he should probably only being playing LF in the majors.

What I think shocks me — and maybe you — the most about Velez is that he’s not young, either. Despite his scrawny, gangly and youthful appearance, he’ll be 28-years-old next season. His minor league numbers should give us the slightest hope, but each day they seem more and more unlikely. Velez might be out of baseball in 2 years or he might still be playing, who knows. But even though I don’t think he should be playing too much on this year’s team, I’ll always appreciate him for this:

Yeah. That was pretty cool.

“There’s also a sense of confidence to go with that,” manager Bruce Bochy said, referring to the addition of free agents Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry, Randy Johnson and Edgar Renteria and the 28-27 record San Francisco posted to close the season. “Every team comes to Spring Training full of optimism, but I think with the changes that have been made here, this club does come in with a sense of urgency to have a good year.”

Ahh, it’s that time of year again. Baseball is 90% back. Pitchers and catchers have reported to warmer climates in preparation for another season. In about 8 days, Spring Training games will begin and we can start to read real boxscores again. Everything is fresh with optimism. This-could-be-our-year’s permeate the air. It’s thick, it’s heavy, it’s optimism. All of those feel-good vibes will eventually bubble over into sports articles and headlines. It’s hard to help, there isn’t much else going on right now and, as they say, everyone is tied for 1st place at the moment. You might see headlines like:

Dave Roberts Helps Eugenio Velez Discover Mechanical Sandwich-Eating Flaw; Velez Hopes to Eat 1,000 Sandwiches in ’09 Campaign

Lincecum Adds Gyroball to Pitching Arsenal, League Weeps Silently

It’s easy to be optimistic right now because the games haven’t started yet. We haven’t seen routine flyballs clank awkwardly off Eugenio Velez’s glove. We haven’t seen Barry Zito walk 6 consecutive batters in a row to start a game. We haven’t seen Aaron Rowand miss a cut-off man by 30 feet. We haven’t seen any of these things yet. They are things that can shred optimism to pieces in an instant. Piece-by-piece the harsh realities of, well, um, reality assault us at every turn. Eugenio Velez probably isn’t going to swipe 60 bags this season. A few prospects will probably flameout. The bullpen might be worse.

Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about those realities at the moment. Spring Training is like a good dream. At the moment, it’s still just a dream. Unrealized, hanging in the ether, vague but with shape and full of promise. Whether or not it’s actualized is still to be seen, but for the moment, we should try to enjoy the process as much as possible.

What’s the point to this rambling post? I’m not sure. I guess it’s one part “Read these things with a big ‘ol grain of salt” and two parts “Holy heck, baseball is back!” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I discovered a mechanical flaw in my sandwich eating technique, and I’m going to go correct it.

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Perennial Giants ST blog, Giants Jottings, is back online and posting excellent pictures again. If you’re jonesing for pictures of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, or Eugenio Velez — you sick freak — this is the place for you. Giants Jottings is a must-see for this time of the year.