Making a pitch

[Rog]

Good news on the Matt Cain front:  Matt's MRI yesterday contraindicated a torn ligament and Tommy John surgery.

Bad news on Jake Peavy:  Jake looked really discouraged when interviewed after last night's game.  Unexpected back soreness in last night's bullpen session.

Small move that looks prescient:  The Giants re-signed Kevin Correia to a minor league contract, adding to rotational depth.

[sfgdood]

Oh joy of joys...time to plan the parade

[Rog]

Randy -- Oh joy of joys...time to plan the parade

Rog -- Right now I believe the parade includes only the Gamer Babes of Mountain View.




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[rxmeister]

And all these problems and they're 3-1. Quite a resilient bunch.

[Rog]

Mark -- And all these problems and they're 3-1. Quite a resilient bunch.

Rog -- The Giants have played a lot like the way they played in last year's postseason. Overcoming injuries to win games.




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[sfgdood]

We'll need to see a lot more than 4 games before we truly see how resilient they are

[Rog]

Randy -- We'll need to see a lot more than 4 games before we truly see how resilient they are

Rog -- Of course. But you might want to remember that you hadn't seen ANY games this season when you told us how bad the Giants were.

Not to like so far are the health issues of Jake Peavy, Matt Cain, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt -- plus the ongoing concern for Angel Pagan. As has been well detailed here, Ryan Vogelsong is off to a horrible start. Casey McGehee's defense has been iffy at best.

But to like?

McGehee and Nori Aoki have hit better than expected.

Pagan has stayed healthy.

Brandon Crawford is playing the best ball of his life.

The bullpen has remained a strong point.

Chris Heston has come out of nowhere to provide some initial depth for a rotation that needs it.

Matt Duffy in particular has sparked a good-looking bench.

Madison Bumgarner has showed no ill effects of his major league leading innings pitched last season and postseason.

The Giants keep finding a way to win. Even in their loss, they made a strong comeback.

Tim Lincecum has yet to make a single bad start.



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[sfgdood]

All of which means next to nothing after just 4 games...except for the injury concerns

[Rog]

Randy -- All of which means next to nothing after just 4 games...except for the injury concerns

Rog -- So how much did what you were posting over the winter mean before ANY games were played? Apparently four games fewer than next to nothing.

By the way, you're right here. We still don't really know much of anything. But that certainly didn't seem to stop your constant negativity over the winter.

To be honest, on balance I would take a negative view now. Three out of four is a great start, and the pitching has surpassed expectations so far.

But the injury situation is indeed concerning. We'll have to see how that sorts out.

One extremely bold prediction I'm going to go out on a limb and make right now. If the Giants continue to play at a .750 pace, I predict they'll make the playoffs!


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[Islandboagie]

Injuries are a concern, but I think the Giants strategy of focusing on depth is a good strategy at the moment. If we had unloaded a ton of money on Sandoval or Lester the injuries to two of our starting position players and two starting pitchers would be more worrisome.

[sfgdood]

Randy -- All of which means next to nothing after just 4 games...except for the injury concerns

Rog -- So how much did what you were posting over the winter mean before ANY games were played? Apparently four games fewer than next to nothing.

Dood - I have said for years that preseason prognostications mean nothing which is why I rarely give them. I have made no secret of my frustration at the poor offseason and my lack of confidence in the team...and even that means squat. We'll see what happens

[Rog]

Randy -- I have made no secret of my frustration at the poor offseason and my lack of confidence in the team...and even that means squat.

Rog -- Then why did you keep pounding on it and pounding on it?

Randy -- We'll see what happens

Rog -- Excellent idea! By the way, did you ever come up with a plan on how you would have better spent the money the Giants had to spend? Their payroll is up $20 million from $149 million to $169 million. That's a 13% increase, which I'm going to guess is a HIGHER increase than any of the three teams outspending them.

Looking it up, I'm wrong. The Yankees increased their payroll by 10% from $197 million to $217 million. But the Red Sox increased theirs by 18% from $156 million to $184 million. And the Dodgers increased theirs by 19% from $229 million to $271 million.

So two of the three raised their payroll by a bigger percentage than the Giants. It should be noted though that all three of those teams have bigger media contracts than the Giants. There is a significant correlation between the size of teams' media contracts and their payrolls.

That's likely not a coincidence.

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[sfgdood]

Dood it's called having an opinion. Unbunge your panties already. You feel differently. I get it. You pounded me for having my opinion and now you're upset because I admit that opinions mean squat...even yours, btw. Calm yourself

[Rog]

Randy -- You pounded me for having my opinion

Rog -- What I found upsetting about your opinion wasn't that you had one. It was that it was pointless.

Your opinion was kind of like saying, if I made more money, I could buy a better house. Clearly the Giants could have built a better team if they had spent more money. But you were unrealistic about how much they were going to spend even after we told you how much it would be.

Your plan was to spend more money, which meant in the real world, you had no plan.

I'd still like to see how you think they could better have spent the money they did spend. I'll give Boly credit. I'm not sure he had a complete plan, but at least he had a start to it -- moving Buster Posey to third base and catching Andrew Susac.

I agreed with his plan, by the way, but the Giants had already discarded it. Would it have worked out better? I don't know. The Giants spent only $5 million on Casey McGehee, so it wasn't as if moving Buster would have freed up vast sums of money.

But, again, Boly had the start of a plan, whereas all I can remember from you was spend, spend, spend. Your idea was good too, but it just wasn't going to happen.

It's kind of like having your wife go out grocdery shopping on a budget and telling you she can get what she can get more and better by spending more money. Of course she can, but the key to a good shopper is getting as much as she can and still stay ON budget.

Personally I thought the Giants did a nice job of that.

Randy -- and now you're upset because I admit that opinions mean squat.

Rog -- If opinions mean squat, why do we express them? Sadly we're not in position to affect much of anything with our opinions, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to express and discuss them.

And I for one would rather see a well-thought-out and well expressed opinion that disagrees with mine than an opinion that agrees with mine but has little substance to back it up. I've seen you formulate good opinions and express them well, which is why I am disappointed -- not that you disagree with me. Agreeing with me all the time wouldn't make it very exciting -- but that you seem to fly off the handle half cocked and often seem to use putting words into the mouths of others as your best and sometimes only argument.




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