San Francisco Giants

By Grant All things being equal, I would like Matt Holliday on the Giants. But if he's going to be paid like a elite hitter by a team with crazy-deep pockets, and the Giants aren't willing to pay elite money, I'm not going to blame them. Now, should the Giants really be a $100M payroll kind of team, or shou...

Can the Giants fix their issues on defense? The good news is that this is the healthiest they've been all season. There's even a chance that cornerback Aaron Ross finally returns to the field. The Giants have paid dearly for not having sufficient depth at safety. If Ross could actually move ov...

By E.L.M. But Baggs isn't making an argument for Carpenter's slight edge of sublimity. He's saying it's Lincecum's fault the Giants didn't win more of his starts, as if somehow he could have willed Aaron Rowand not to suck in the second half. Or Randy Winn to hit more than the occasional single. Or Ryan G...

By HMW By now you probably heard the news that Tim Lincecum edged out Carpenter and Wainwright for the NL Cy Young today. I have no problem with this, but a lot of Cardinal fans feel that their aces were done wrong. If I had a vote, it would have gone to Carpenter, with Lincecum close behind. I [...]

During his time away from football, Justice started showing up at Hollywood’s Wild Card Boxing Club, where he worked with famous trainer Freddie Roach. Justice knew that Roach had worked with Mike Tyson (he now has Manny Pacquiao) and he actually flirted with the idea of giving up on schoo...

By Andrew Baggarly On the conference call, Lincecum said he “almost jumped out the window” when he learned of his second Cy Young award. Late in the call, he made reference to the marijuana charges when he said, “Definitely, with what’s happening now, it makes me want to push to get better for the 2010 baseball...

According to Stats & Information, the Cowboys are fifth in the league in terms of Wildcat plays with seven. Tashard Choice had a touchdown run out of the Wildcat against the Eagles in Week 8. The Giants and Redskins didn't show up in the chart, in part, because they haven't used the Wildca...

By Grant And while Garko was a small sample size disaster after coming over, he still represents the best first baseman on the roster. As a right-handed guy with limited defensive skills, it'd be nice to have a lefty-swinging slick fielding complement to Garko. Like, oh, Travis Ishikawa. So there it...

By John Fennelly Well, Giants, it's that time of year.  There were no happy holidays for the Blue last season, but maybe this year will be different. With new defensive strategies and a return to the three-pronged running attack, the Giants can beat anyone.

By Grant If you missed the State of the Sabean, here you go. Some of the key points: Oh. All of these players are old and declining, a marginal upgrade with little upside, or they’re far too expensive for a team trying to pay Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. Maybe there’s another way.

By yoursfgiants In a large room a few doors down from the Giants clubhouse, Randy Winn, F.P. Santangelo and J.T. Snow sit behind a table on a riser, facing two dozen or so fresh-faced, athletic young men, some just out of high school. These are the Giants' top draft picks, gathered this week at AT&T Park for a w...

By Jeff Shull Carolina is improving every week which helped the Giants this time, but when they face off late in the season, the Giants better be prepared for a dog fight. The loss places the Giants and Falcons in a tie for the two Wild Card spots along with the Eagles. That makes this week's matchup with the F...

By Eric Stashin Larry Fitzgerald - Arizona Cardinals - at St. LouisAndre Johnson - Houston Texans - vs. TennesseeReggie Wayne - Indianapolis Colts - at BaltimoreRandy Moss - New England Patriots - vs. New York JetsRoddy White - Atlanta Falcons - at New York GiantsMarques Colston - New Orleans Saints - at Ta...

By Chris There’s a good chance the Giants could use the FA market this offseason to upgrade at first base. The good news for the Giants is that the 1B market is cram-packed with options. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a first baseman looking for work. The market is full of guys like: Carlos [...]

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...

By yoursfgiants SCOTTSDALE -- Pablo Sandoval strips down to his shorts and steps on the scale inside the gym at the Giants' minor-league complex. It is Wednesday, weigh-in day. "Five pounds!'' he says, his face lighting up. He high-fives Giants conditioning... SCOTTSDALE -- Pablo Sandoval strips down to his...

By Chris The price is right. Zaun would only cost the Giants $2-3M as compared to potentially $6M (or more) for someone like Bengie Molina. It doesn’t sound like a huge amount of money, but it’s $2-3M more that the Giants could spend on a more deserving free agent.

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) Giants Thoughts First off, thank you to Randy Winn for his many years of service to the Giants. Good luck in your future endeavors and hopefully you can make the playoffs with another team, though, of course, should you face the Giants in the playoffs, I hope you don't do so well.

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...

Coughlin 2. Tom Coughlin, Giants head coach: I started to single out defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, but Coughlin's the guy who has to be accountable for this three-game losing streak. The Giants have been a good bounce-back team under Coughlin, but they are reeling. There's no way in...

Related articles from Bleacher Report and more.

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 Leslie Monteiro We thought Manning's problems of being inconsistent is over after a great playoff run in 2008 and a fine season last year, but that's not the case. To quote Giants general manager Jerry Resse, the Giants quarterback looks skittish. Maybe it's time for all of us to realize the Giants are not th...

By thomas moreland The Pittsburgh Steelers defense saved the day, with two interceptions for touchdowns against Brett Favre and the Vikings. Pittsburgh 27 Minnesota 17. The Giants will win at home and Philadelphia will take care of business to keep me at 10-3 this week.

By giantsbaseballblog@yahoo.com (Trevor Cole) It's no secret that Sabean has made big time mistakes over the past couple of years through free-agency. He signed Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito to multi-year deals that will ultimately pay the two under-achievers nearly 200 million dollars before their time in San Francisco is up. Then capp...

By Will Osgood RB  Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, Reggie Bush, & Heath Evans—B To hold Steve Smith to 44 yards, when the Giants' only chance is to throw the ball, is just incredible. No doubt, this secondary has grown up and improved from a season ago. And it's done it in a hurry.

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 Ari Kramer Adios, Cain. I was a firm advocate of that statement until I calculated how many runs the Giants score when Lincecum takes the mound. In 30 Lincecum starts, the Giants have produced an average of 4.57 runs per game, which is 0.14 runs better than the NL average of 4.43 rpg. Lincecum, hit the showers.

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 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 E.L.M. So that means, come August, the Giants will either have to trade second-tier non-40–man guys (Thomas Neal, Scott Barnes, Kevin Pucetas) or major league veterans whose contracts no one wants. That’s not the recipe for bringing back an impact bat, and Sabean probably knows it.

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 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 obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) Madison BumgarnerBuster PoseyTim AldersonAngel VillalonaConor GillaspieThey also profiled Nick Noonan as an honorable mention, probably because they think he is a breakout candidate for 2009. They also mentioned Travis Ishikawa, Wendell Fairley, and Rafael Rodriguez as honorab...

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 (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 Grant Barr also went out of his way on KNBR (the .mp3 is here) to bring up Matusz. This leads me to think the Giants’ draft board looks something like this: 1. Tim Beckham or Pedro Alvarez 2. Tim Beckham or Pedro Alvarez 3. Buster Posey 4. Just one of Justin Smoak, Yonder Alonso, or Gordon Beckham

Only Baseball Matters author John Perricone thinks so. In an unexpected chat with The Pitch’s go-to Giants aficionado, Perricone puts the spotlight on the gaping holes in the team’s ‘08 lineup and track record for managing payroll ineffectively. Even with the freedom from the Barry Bond...

By Jeff Kallman Besides, asked teammate Omar Vizquel, after saying what a treat it was to watch Bonds chase the bomb squad, how many guys could say they’d showered with Barry Bonds? Pedro Feliz is hitting eighteen points better but with no home runs all August. Rich Aurilia can’t keep from getting injured.

By Dave Powers When They Might Be Giants released their first children’s album No! in 2002, it wasn’t such a surprising career move. After all, their brand of oddball indie pop had always been pretty playful, silly and sometimes even educational. The band released a more traditional album in 2004, but re...

By John Ryder This weekend the Giants set a record by having the oldest starting outfield ever. As good as Bonds/Finley/Alou might be, do we really want to be associated with this kind of thing? Think of the jokes. When the Giants go into opposing ballparks, they'll be fodder for fans yelling out On Golden...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Regardless of the Giants sitting at 13 games below .500 going into play Tuesday, they still have a shot at in the beleaguered NL West. Join Lance Williams in the latest edition of 1954 and Counting as he discusses the last few series against the Dodgers and the Cubs. Things haven’t gone the Gian...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Also, Lance talks about the huge upcoming series’ with the Dodgers and Padres. the Giants are going to need the young starters (Kevin Corriea, Brad Hennessey, Matt Cain) to step it up like Noah Lowry has. These next 2 weeks will decide the season.

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) He’s gone and done it now– Larry Kreuger, a voice on KNBR, the flagship station of the Giants, was quoted as saying on the air that the Giants are a bunch of “brain dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly.” He also directed a personal comment at manager Felipe Alou, comparing his mind t...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Although Lance refuses to dance naked ballets for his wife (though he does love her very much!!!), he has no problem in evaluating the myriad of stories concerning Barry’s return to baseball. Barry says he won’t play for the rest of the season, but Lance gives his take on when/ if Barry will p...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Settle in, baseball fans, for a marathon edition of 1954 & Counting! The Rafeal Palmeiro steroids bust garners much attention; hear Lance and David Pinto of baseballmusings.com break it down Raffi and the MLB trade deadline. Is Raffi’s legacy tainted forever? Thoughts of Randy Winn...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Whether you’re at a bar mitzvah, eating a piece of cake, or listening to 50 Cent, any time is the right time to listen to 1954 & Counting, My Sports Radio’s PODCAST OF THE WEEK. Join Lance as he discusses the Giants series Vs. the Marlins, and unloads this week’s Power Rankings. Find out what...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) After commenting on the “red hot & cooking” New York Yankee lineup (VOTE PULSE!), Lance launches into a segment on Moises Alou and reveals Moises’ secret to keeping his hands rough for play. (Hint: You might want to wear a glove if you plan on shaking hands with him.)

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) A Top 5 Finalist for best sports podcast at the People’s Choice Podcast Awards, 1954 & Counting brings you the latest information and commentary on the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball. Right now, everyone’s talking about Barry Bonds: will he be back this season? Will h...