San Francisco Giants

By Chris He excelled in the minor leaguesHis velo drop could be the result of his workload and not any physical issuesThe Giants think he’s ready and I’ll trust their judgment. If it’s one thing I trust the Giants on, it’s pitching The nays respond:

By Kyle Langan It's time the Giants got creative. Sam Swank, K/P-   Who in the world is Sam Swank? Well, as soon as the season ended, Swank was signed by the Giants. After a solid career at Wake Forest, Swank never really found a home in the NFL. I hope he has one with the Giants.

By Andy Bensch Combine that with a solid glove but minimal range from Pablo Sandoval at third base and average speed in center field with Aaron Rowand and the Giants are projected to be in the bottom third in the National League defensively. 4. Pablo Sandoval 1B 7. Bengie Molina C 8. Buster Posey 3B

By Grant Bengie Molina handles a pitching staff well. (That’s what everyone says, anyways.) He gets a lot of RBI. (That must mean the horrible offense would be even worse without him.) An inexperienced catcher would really hurt the team’s chances to contend. (It’s just science.) His penchant for makin...

By Matthew Carruth The Rockies high rating came as a result of their pitching staff, which graded out by WAR as the best in baseball, just barely ahead of the Red Sox. The Giants also had a strong pitching staff and were generally great at the whole run prevention deal with really good defenders as well. It’s a goo...

By David Geller So let’s not harp on “what ifs.” In shootouts, the team that makes more big plays wins. The Eagles did, and now they are in prime position to take their first division title since 2006. The Giants simply have no one in their secondary to match up with him. And the current zone scheme that is employe...

3. Bill Sheridan, Giants defensive coordinator: I don't see how this man will keep his job after this season. The Giants' pass rush has been anemic, and the secondary can't cover anyone. DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek had the time of their lives carving up this unit. Safety Michael Johnson app...

By Paulie(p_rice41@hotmail.com) Kevin Kouzmanoff. The rumor had the Giants offering Kevin Frandsen and Fred Lewis for the Kouz, but apparently the Pads turned it down. Kouzmanoff is a bad fielding, hacktastic slugger who would push Pablo Sandoval to first base, thus making him less of an asset. He's probably not worth both...

By Grant If the Giants somehow repeat their 2009 win total without Posey in 2010, the burning question in 2011 will be, "Gee, can we afford to start a rookie catcher with this pitching staff keeping us in contention?" This would also happen if the pitching staff implodes, mind you. It would probably...

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!

By Jim McLennan The bottom of the seventh saw Randy Johnson take the field, in his first relief appearance in our park since Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. He got a warm reaction from the crowd, perhaps sensing that it might be the last appearance ever in Phoenix for the 46-year old. He struck out the side, alb...

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 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 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). 2006 2007 2008 2009 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 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 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 noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Fletcher) Looking long range it seems to me that the Giants would be best off if Pablo Sandoval can indeed handle the defensive requirements of 3B on a full-time basis at an acceptable level. This would mean that Buster Posey would not be blocked at C and Angel Villalona would not be blocked at 1B. Is this...

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) I know many Giants fans would say that Bumgarner succeeding would free the Giants to trade off one of their best starting pitchers to get another offensive player added to the mix, but I would rather add him to the mix and see what our rotation could do with Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito, and...

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) Last week we kicked things off in the Season Review by going over the things that went well, or things the Giants figured out in 2008, albeit there wasn't much. Today we will get into why the Giants lost 92 games as we examine the things that didn't go so well.

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. I was right. The Giants ended up on the short side of three relatively low-scoring games. But I realize upon review the results don’t bother me so much. We knew the Giants would go through stretches like this all season. That it hasn’t happened more is testament to some surprising offense from...

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...