Here’s a new graphic — in its early stages — of something I’m calling Game Flow. The idea is that it’s a simple graph showing the progression of the game from the pitching side of things. I’m still looking for a way to incorporate things like runs, outs, strikeouts, and walks into the graph, but for now this is a… Read more →
Some more thoughts on the five-year contract extension that Matt Cain signed today. * Per ESPN’s TruMedia, only four starting pitchers — Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, and Cole Hammels — had lower wOBA against scores last year. Batters averaged a .262 wOBA against Matt Cain in 2011. That really is a remarkable number. The league average wOBA against… Read more →
— More to come later, but for now, yay! This means I won’t have to break out any of those dreadful ‘Matt Cain on the Yankees’ images that I created back in January.
Over the weekend it was reported that the Giants and Matt Cain are still having, in what Larry Baer has described as, “back-and-forth conversations” in regards to a potential contract extension. The Matt Cain Contract Extension plotline has been, and will most likely continue to be, one of the more interesting threads of this year’s Spring Training. The Giants have… Read more →
Ryan Theriot’s BB-Ref page: Matt Cain’s BB-Ref page: So, let me get this straight. Matt Cain = $240, Ryan Theriot = $310. What kind of sick, sad world do we live in? — After posting this, friend of the blog Wendy tweeted me this link — it’s a study by Ben Lindbergh of Baseball Prospectus on these very Baseball-Reference sponsorship… Read more →
On Tuesday, Tim Lincecum and the Giants came to an agreement on what he’ll be paid over the next two seasons before he has the opportunity to become a free agent. That agreement came in at a hefty $40.5 million: The Giants had sought to buy out at least a couple of Lincecum’s free-agent years, but the right-hander’s camp… Read more →
A common statement, from both fans and the front office, this offseason has been, “One of the reasons we haven’t spent larger on the free agent market is that we need to lock up our starting pitching (Cain and Lincecum). And spending dollars today, might prohibit that goal tomorrow.” Matt Cain is earning $15M this season, his last year under contract with the… Read more →
Pardon me for invoking ancient internet memes, but this post is inspired by Matt Cain and his prodigious dinger against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. Cain’s blast got me wondering, “What’s the most HRs hit by a Giants pitcher over his career with the team?” Well, a quick search of the Baseball-Reference Play Index and I got my answer. My… 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 →
Or, an alternate title: If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably already heard this stuff. 1) Getting Jeff Keppinger was/is a solid move for the Giants. With Freddy Sanchez officially opting for surgery, it was a move that the Giants had to make with their current depth at second base. Keppinger has been moderately useful since he donned a… Read more →