San Francisco Giants

By Chris Moderately big news item: Freddy Sanchez has signed a two-year contract with the Giants valued at $12M. After trading RHP Tim Alderson for Sanchez at the deadline, Freddy never really hit for the Giants. Or played much, either. Sanchez appeared in just 25 games with the Giants and hit a disap...

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) I have challenged all to point out teams that have successfully rebuilt without acquiring a veteran at market value to help them in their rebuilding process. Even the Tampa Bay Rays, which some have pointed out, signed Pat Burrell last off-season to help with taking the next step forward a...

By Jeff Shull One thing that was very frustrating in every loss so far is that the Giants have blitzed just about as much as the other teams, but the opposing QBs are finding the receivers wide open, and Manning is making the wrong decision nearly every single time.

By Saulo Padua Week Seven is gone and the Giants are now 5-2. Not a bad record at all, however, the fact that Big Blue lost two in a row is a disappointing and gut wrenching one to all Giants fans. The Giants' next games are not going to be easy, as they face the arch rival Philadelphia Eagles (twice), the San Dieg...

By Blueshirt Bulletin But unlike their compatriots in the Meadowlands, the Giants, who were similarly trounced in a streak-busting loss in New Orleans, the Rangers weren't questioning themselves all too much, even though they, like the Giants, ran up the latter part of their streak against bad or inexperie...

I think the Giants will move defensive end Justin Tuck inside even more than usual Sunday. The Giants want to bring pressure up the middle in an effort to force Brees out of the pocket. He can move around a little bit, but it's not as if he's great at throwing on the run. I also think you'll see the Gi...

By Jeff Shull The moment all NFL fans have been waiting for has finally arrived—the New York Giants first real test of the season.  You'll see what I mean when Dallas comes to New York—barring any major injuries to the Giants. Edge—Even Edge—Giants Edge—Giants (only slightly)

By Richard Resch In conclusion, while the NFL’s instant replay system needs some work, it’s still better than the joke that is Major League Baseball’s “we only review home runs because no other play is important in determining the outcome of a game” policy.

By Chris At first sight, not bad. I’m not huge on Medders, but I’m sure he’ll be back. Barring any free agent reliever signings, there’s a good chance that both Runzler and Joaquin could start next year in the Giants’ bullpen. If they make it to the bullpen, the Giants could have one of the harder throwin...

By Grant Giants Brass: Uh. The first one? Giants Brass: But Renteria makes $9M. He has to start. Giants Brass: I'm pretty sure we'll find a way to keep Freddy Sanchez. He hit .284 for us! McC: ... Giants Brass: Vrrrrrrrooom! McC: ... Giants Brass: Vrrrrrroooom!

This is New York's final season at Giants Stadium before opening up a new facility in 2010. In 1976, the Giants' first home game was against the Cowboys. The stadium was considered enormous at the time, but it definitely began to show its age in recent years.

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) Why are the Giants winning? Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Wilson, Romo, Valdez, heck, Affeldt, Miller, Medders, Johnson. In other words, the pitching staff. Who put that together? Sabean. That's why I hope Sabean is extended for another two years.

By Boris Yovchev A few days ago I was reading a recent edition of Sports Illustrated magazine and there was a review of the San Francisco Giants and their ace pitchers Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Barring any injuries to Cain or Lincecum, I would be dismayed if the Giants do not make it to the World Series within...

By Josh Berman The New York Football Giants have raised a few eyebrows lately especially after a poor performance in a meaningless game against the Chicago Bears. The Giants have a habit of being unlucky with kickers, I think it would be wise to focus on that position in the near future.

By John Fennelly Those three players, along with 2007 seventh-round selection, S Michael Johnson of Arizona, combine to form the Giants' starting secondary. At safety, the Giants have only two others in camp. They signed the Texans' C.C. Brown, a four-year starter in Houston, and Sha'reff Rashad, a rookie...

By Nathaniel Stoltz Yesterday, the San Francisco Giants acquired first baseman Ryan Garko from the Cleveland Indians for left-handed pitcher Scott Barnes. Now, I know that with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, Kevin Pucetas, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Alderson, Jesse English, etc. the...

By Simon Balin Shinjo was a San Francisco outfielder who was great with the glove like current Giant Travis Ishikawa is great with the glove, but luckily for current Giants fans, Ishikawa can hit too (something that Shinjo had a few problems with). Where 's Frandsen?

By giantsbaseballblog@yahoo.com (Trevor Cole) Even though they sit atop the NL Wild Card standings and carry the second best record in the National league as the second half kicks off on Thursday, the Giants still have some issues that need to be addressed if they're serious about making a real run for the postseason. Last post we broke do...

By Brian Anderson Sinorice Moss, wide receiver, entering fourth season with team Darcy Johnson, tight end, entering fourth season with team Jay Alford, defensive line, entering third season with team Zak DeOssie, linebacker, entering third season with team

By Andy Bensch The two men in question are Giants manager Bruce Bochy and General Manager Brian Sabean. I'll start with the latter. Even with the Giants' most exciting offensive player Pablo Sandoval tied for third in the National League with a .336 average, the Giants are just as offensively inept as they...

By james smith The guy can hit. He has hit over .300 every stop along the way in the Giants minor league system.  The Giants are in desperate need of some O. From where-ever. Frandsen sticks with it. While he's beginning to show signs of being mildly ticked at not getting, in his view, his fair crack at the job, Fra...

By Grant There could probably be a series on potential roster moves. Jonathan Sanchez or Other? Kevin Frandsen or Matt Downs? Rich Aurilia's gold watch: 14k or 18k? The one that fascinates me, though, is the glut of mid-20s, kinda interesting outfielders who may or may not be a part of the Giants' fu...

By Danny Penza As Barry Zito said on his Twitter page, “it’s time for the Giants to capitalize.” And he dominated his personal bogeyman, the Arizona Diamondbacks. 4.  Pablo Sandoval—100 at-bats, .300 average, .340 OBP, .810 OPS, nine runs, seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, nine RBI, two stolen base...

By John Fennelly David Carr - Carr was reunited with his old coach, Chris Palmer, last season when the Giants rescued him from a torridly brutal existence in which he was sacked 262 times in his first six seasons. Carr was the first overall selection in the 2002 draft, taken by the expansion Houston Texans, a...

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) In any case, I think Sabean has already earned the chance to get an extension to guide the Giants over the next two years. The pitching staff is nearly rebuilt, almost to perfection, and the starting lineup is starting to shape up pretty nicely, and should be ready within 1-2 seasons. The team...

By noreply@blogger.com (obsessivegiantscompulsive) 2008 Draft Recap:Edwin QuirateAaron KingCaleb CurryRyan MantlePredictions:Hitter of the Year: Buster PoseyPitcher of the Year: Tim AldersonGreat News: Connecticut Probably Moving to Richmond He also reported that our AA affiliate, Connecticut Defenders, should be moving: "It...

By Grant With Bengie Molina around for another year, the Giants are shoehorning Sandoval in at third just to improve the lineup. While I’m fine with the Sandoval-at-third experiment, I’m a little upset that the Giants feel the experiment requires that Sandoval throw away his catcher’s gear. If th...

By Grant Once it was clear that Roberts wasn’t a good defensive center fielder, the Giants decided that they absolutely could not be without a good defensive center fielder. So they committed $60M to Aaron Rowand, who was a good defensive center fielder. Emphasis on the past tense, "was." Rowand dra...

By noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) 11. 3B Jesus Guzman: The 24 year old was signed away from the A's in hopes that he could challenge for the 3b job in San Francisco this coming season. Has been scary good with the bat over his last 2 minor league seasons including Texas League batting champ in '08 and a 25 hr, 112 RBI season in the Ca...

By Josh Levitt But the one thing the Giants are sorely lacking is a power hitter. Giambi fits the mold: He walks a lot, gets on base, has lots of power, and is left-handed. Last season, the Giants' anemic offense ranked last in home runs, 14th in on-base percentage, and 15th in runs scored in the National Leag...

By Trevor(noreply@blogger.com) We've already taken an in depth look at what went on this season that lead the Giants to their 72-90 record, so I wanted to use this post to discuss some of the things that happened in the Giants' minor league system. This year, Giants fans got to know some of the young offensive talent (Travis I...

By Trevor(noreply@blogger.com) C: Bengie Molina, Pablo Sandoval 1B: Pablo Sandoval, Travis Ishikawa LF: Fred Lewis, Dave Roberts CF: Aaron Rowand, Dave Roberts P: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jon Sanchez, Noah Lowry, Barry Zito, Brian Wilson, Alex Hinshaw, Sergio Romo, Merkin Valdez, Billy Sadler

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) Baseball Prospectus, under Kevin Goldstein's leadership in the area, has started publishing their annual Future Shock Top 11 Prospects list and just published the Arizona D-backs Top 11 list.  I bring this to Giants fans attention because if things hold to form, the Giants will be one of...

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) I still believe the Giants left 3B open for the 2008 season so that if Durham beat out Frandsen (perhaps they believed that much in Frandsen's bat) , Frandsen would have a starting position to slide to.   This time, I think the announcement of Sandoval at 1B was a signal to other teams that the G...

By noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) The Giants also got bitten by the injury bug this season. The team leader in wins from last year and a big piece of their rotation, Noah Lowry, ended up missing the year with nagging elbow soreness. Also, the teams projected starting second basemen, Kevin Frandsen, a guy who hit .370 last Septe...

By noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) The starting pitching, minus Barry Zito, was pretty darn good for the most part this year. Tim Lincecum very well could win the NL Cy Young Award in November and as highly touted as he was, I don't think anybody, including myself, expected this kind of dominance, this quick. The Giants won 72 g...

Greg Blache 18/38 = 47% Lots of room to improve, and just a slightly below average day, but overall a good start to the season against what looks to be a top passing offense. Once the pressure started to get there, the Giants couldn’t get anything going.

What Did We Learn Tonight? You cannot run on this football team. It seems like on 95% of the opposition’s running plays during this preseason the Giants have either stopped the opposing back for a loss, or the back has hit the line only to get mobbed by Giants for no gain. The run defense has...

By noreply@blogger.com (obsessivegiantscompulsive) That's why we could leave Brian Wilson in as closer. Up to last season, the Giants were not sure whether they wanted him to start or relieve, though they kept him in relief because of his TJS history (I presume). If we didn't have Cain, then Lincecum, and now Sanchez, the Giants management prob...

By Giantfan9(noreply@blogger.com) There wasn't much to comment on in the offensive department.......because the Giants had no offense to speak of. The Giants only had 5 hits on the day.....all of them singles. In fact, Matt Cain had the first Giants hit of the day (bringing his average up to .400). Luckily the Giants bunched 3 of their singles...

By Grant Randy Winn, on the other hand, is blocking Nate Schierholtz. Winn’s horrible slump has left him at .276/.341/.385. Schierholtz’s MLE suggests his current minor league numbers would translate to .273/.306/.472. The Giants would likely take a hit on defense and on-base gettin’, but Schierholtz...

By Jim McLennan What genius was it who said, after the first inning, "I think our best hope is to take a lot of pitches, weather the storm, then plunder the Giants bullpen"? Oh, that was me. And the plan worked to perfection. After seven innings, San Francisco had the lead, and Lincecum was hit for in the bottom...

By noreply@blogger.com (obsessivegiantscompulsive) But that wasn't true in the Giants case. Few in the media (OK, none) noticed that the Giants totally rebuilt their pitching staff over the past few years. They didn't notice (or still haven't noticed) until this season when it is practically slapping you in the face with their youth. As I noted...

By E.L.M. Watching Friday’s game, in which the A’s took advantage of Barry Zito’s wildness and the Giants did absolutely nothing with the very charitable Greg Smith’s six walks, I had a bad feeling about the entire weekend. Matt Cain’s second straight strong outing. Perhaps he’s about to go on a tear....

By Grant I was tired enough to write it, but not tired enough to let the mangled syntax slip through without comment. That’s one ugly, ugly sentence. But danged if there isn’t a "sprinkle of giddy" regarding a sub-.500 team. The Giants are throwing money around in the Dominican Republic again, Keith La...

By noreply@blogger.com (obsessivegiantscompulsive) There is a new analyst of pitching mechanics on The Hardball Times, in the wake of Carlos Gomez getting a job with a major league team, and he publishes on the website Baseball-Intellect.com. However, he did not cover Posey yet, so I was disappointed.

By noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) Q: Many Giants fans wanted the team to draft a big time power hitter like Justin Smoak or Yonder Alonso. Gordon Beckham was another guy who was on Giants radar as well. Do you think Posey will end up being a better major league hitter than those guys? Q: How do you grade the Giants 2008 draft?

By Trevor Aaron Rowand takes Bonds spot in the lineup and in the outfield which helps this team's defense significantly, but losing Bonds' bat and not adequately replacing it will have this team struggling to score runs, even more so than last year. As for Feliz and Klesko, both are very replaceable...

By Jeff Martin You might imagine the song quality on The Else as a reverse bell curve, because after the first two tracks, the good quickly drops out. The band is known for its lyrical silliness, but their better songs have a good, discernable message beneath it all. From "Upside Down Frown" to "Careful Wha...

By Jeff Martin As a reviewer, I've never felt dwarfed by a band whose album I was about to critique. From Springsteen to the Shins, I've always been able to take a step back and listen to the music without feeling an attachment to the artist. But when They Might Be Giants' new album, The Else, arrived in my mail...