By Chris Quick on June 17, 2010
I’ve said it a few times on this site but, I really like Joe Martinez. When you survey the Giants minor league system and the arms that reside in it, Martinez isn’t likely to be at the top of your list. He doesn’t throw particularly hard and at 27-years-old he’s most likely fully developed as [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged 5th starter, joe martinez, pitching, todd wellemeyer
By Chris Quick on June 1, 2010
The panic in Giantsland with regard to Tim Lincecum’s recent struggles has been overwhelming. It’s for a good reason, too. Tim Lincecum has been the most valuable Giant since he moved from really-good to really-freaking-oh-my-goodness good. The Giants, as a team without the benefit of a top notch offense, will need every starting pitcher on [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged analysis, changeup, pitching, tim lincecum
By Chris Quick on May 27, 2010
Watching Tim Lincecum struggle against the Washington Nationals should remind us all that he’s human. And, at the same time, the tremendous strides he’s made since he debuted in 2007 at the age of 23-years-old. I’ve written about it before, but two things essentially have turned Lincecum from a promising college arm to one of [...]
Posted in Giants, Plots | Tagged pitching, tim linecum, walks
By Chris Quick on March 1, 2010
Ah, nothing like cruising around for cheap relief arms with upside. In order to create room for the newly signed Chan Ho Park, the Yankees have DFA’d 29-year-old reliever Edwar Ramirez. You can read the Wikepedia article on the process of DFA, but the meat-and-potatoes lies here: If a player is not traded, and clears [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged edwar ramirez, pitching, relievers
By Chris Quick on February 11, 2010
Playing around with some PFX tonight. I wanted to plot a graph of fastball height location vs. frequency thrown. I selected Matt Cain and Jeremey Affeldt as comparisons. Big thanks to Joe Lefkowitz’s Pitch F/X Tool for providing the data. My deskstop is still packaged away, and with it my database. All numbers from the [...]
Posted in Giants, Plots | Tagged groundballs, jeremy affeldt, matt cain, PFX, pitchf/x, pitching
By Chris Quick on February 7, 2010
It’s time for my annual Giants WAR projection post. You can find the link to the 2009 projection, here. It explains a few things in general and it’s not a bad place to start if you’ve never seen a WAR projection. But, the basics are that: a team totally devised of ‘replacement level talent’ — [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged 2010 team, aaron rowand, hitting, john bowker, jonathan sanchez, matt cain, pitching, tim lincecum, WAR, wins above replacement
By Chris Quick on January 29, 2010
When left-hander, Madison Bumgarner, made his MLB debut last year, the top pitching prospect in the Giants organization showed up with less velocity than advertised. After working in the low-to-mid 90′s in the minor leagues, Giants fans were shocked to see Madison posting 88′s on the stadium radar gun. Velocity concerns aside, Bumgarner has a [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged 5th starter, free agents, madison bumgarner, pitching, pitching rotation
By Chris Quick on December 15, 2009
On the scale of exciting Hot Stove News, the Giants signing Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal probably ranks near the bottom of anyone’s list. Pena Jr., the son of former baseball player Tony Pena, has spent parts of 4 seasons in the majors as a shortstop. Unfortunately for Pena, his career as [...]
Posted in Giants | Tagged PFX, pitching, toe the rubber, tony pena jr
By Chris Quick on September 9, 2009
In a September game against the San Diego Padres, prized Giants’ prospect, Madison Bumgarner, made his major league debut at the age of 20-years-old. After being drafted in the 2007 draft, Bumgarner has made quick work of minor league hitters. In just two years, Bumgarner has thrown 273 innings, struck out 256 batters, and posted [...]
Posted in Giants, Plots | Tagged madison bumgarner, pitchf/x, pitching
By Chris Quick on July 11, 2009
Wow, what a great game to come back to the blog with. If you didn’t know, last night Jonathan Sanchez pitched the first no-hitter of 2009 and the first Giants no-hitter since John Montefusco did it to the Braves in 1976. You’ll often hear sports fans and announcers say: ‘This game had it all’ but [...]
Posted in Giants, Plots | Tagged jonathan sanchez, no-hitter, PFX, pitchf/x, pitching
