The heart of the strike zone

[klaiggeb]

Well, with McCutchen gone, we now have a new player who continually takes pictures right down the center of the stinking plate. Austin Slater. Way to keep the tradition alive.

[sfgdood]

I'm trying to understand why you're so upset, Boly...we are going NOWHERE this season. We might as well embrace losses which will improve our draft position.

[rog]

Boly is a purist, so I understand his frustration.

The one thing I wonder though is if hitting major league pitching isn't so much tougher than any of us has hit against that we may be judging from different viewpoint.

Boly is a fundamentalist, so he knows the way it SHOULD be done. But I just wonder if the problems aren't far more complicated than we think.

[klaiggeb]

I am all of those things, Rog, that's true.

Hey, fooled once, twice, I get it. It happens.

But now it's reached ridiculous proportions.

I don't care what the situation, what the time of year, hitters CANNOT continue to take pitches right down the middle of the plate the way McCutchen did (16 straight games), and now Slater is doing, 8 straight games.


These guys are supposed to be professional hitters. Start acting like one.


But no. They don't.


We're out of the race, no question.

But at least act like you know what you're doing.

OUr hitters do not.


How many times did we K against Gio yesterday?

8?

Against a guy with an ERA of over 8 for August?

That's ridiculous!

Play the game hard, play the game right, or don't play it at all.

[sfgdood]

I get all of that Boly...I do. But why does it bother you so much? Nothing could be better for the future and our draft position than a nice losing streak.

Bright side...silver lining...smile, Boly. This is a good thing.

[klaiggeb]

with nothing to play for, I'm anxious to watch the kids play.

Their goal is to improve.

But in Slator's case, he's not.

He's regressing.

Again today, took a called third strike.

That happens to much for a guy like him ESPECIALLY when facing thud/duds like Gio and Davis.

Get better, or at least work at it.



Then again, I'm leaving on Tuesday for a 12 day cruise to Alaska celebrating Candee and My 49th anniversary so I won't have to watch these clods bumble and stumble their way through much of the remainder of the season.

[sfgdood]

I suggest you not put too much stock and energy into what we see--or you might not see--in the coming weeks. The important part is the kids get a taste of the big leagues...sure a bit of success would be nice but come March it will be pretty meaningless

[rxmeister]

Players are human. Trading Cutch whether you liked him or not was certainly a sign to the players that management was throwing in the towel. I’m not surprised the players are going through the motions now. Better questions are why is Blanco starting over Shaw like he was on Sunday? Why is Blanco pinch hitting for Avellino just called up in his first major league game? How is that going to help the kid’s confidence? Why is Blanco even on the team when the year is over? Why is Pence playing? Why does Hundley get more starts than Aramis Garcia? This team SHOULD lose every game because it’s mass confusion over there. You have a manager throwing washed up veterans out there when they should be looking at younger players. Also, why can’t the manager control Bumgarner’s childish temper tantrums? Cost them the game yesterday, not that it matters. Thanks for the memories, Boch, now take a hike along with your precious veterans.

[rog]

Mark brings up some good points regarding Bochy. Here might be a couple more:

. The losing -- especially last season -- has got to be hurting Bruce. Coupled with is health problems, he might well decide to retire after this season, or it might be something of a joint decision.

. On the other hand, Bruce may wish to reach 2000 wins, and he's just 79 away. Even if the Giants are horrible through the end of next season, he will likely get there. Including the postseason, he has to be very close to 2000 wins.

. Amazing as it seems, Bruce hasn't been quite a .500 manager, losing 10 more games than he's won. He'll probly make the Hall of Fame, but has a sub-.500 manager ever made it to the Hall as a manager before?

[rog]

If the season ended now, the Giants would have the 11th draft pick. They've fared exceptionally well the past 13 years with their five picks in the top 10. I'm including Joey Bart and assuming he's going to be a good one. The others are Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey and Zach Weaver.

During that time, the Giants have done pretty well with first round pick Joe Panik and have high hopes with Heliot Ramos. Chris Stratton has become a major league factor. In 2016 the Giants had no draft pick (the Johnny Cueto signing?). The others were Gary Brown, Christian Arroyo, Tyler Beede and Phil Bickford.

[rog]

The Giants are three wins out of the #10, #9 or #8 pick.

[rog]

On July 1st the Giants were on a hot streak that had seen them win 10 of 12. Since then they've gone 23-36. They're beginning to play like 2017 and the second half of 2016 again. Now they've dropped eight in a row.

[klaiggeb]

Bochy has answered all of those questions, Mark, a number of times.

They've also explained it on the pre game show.

The Giants FEEL an obligation to put out their best players vs teams in the hunt.

As such, Bochy says he cannot just run out the kids.

I don't like it either, but that's the reason they are giving.

[sfgdood]

I'm curious why Rx wants to see more of Shaw after basically telling us how awful Chris is and incapable of improvement.

[Islandboagie]

Because he hates Gregor Blanco.

[rog]

I don't think Mark is sold on Shaw, but he figures it would benefit the Giants' future to find out his strengths and weaknesses at the major league level. I think Boagie was joking with the "hates Blanco" remark.

[sfgdood]

No...his post did not say he "is not completely sold" on Shaw. It said "Shaw sucks and he will always suck."

[rxmeister]

I’m glad you think my opinions of the Giants are infallible, but I actually have been wrong in the past. Just because I think Chris Shaw isn’t a legit major leaguer the Giants should play Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence every day? The Giants need to look at Chris Shaw every day before they can come to the conclusion that I have already come to. That’s what a major league team is supposed to do. And Boly I have no doubt that Bochy spoke the stupidity you said he spoke and all I can do is shake my head in disgust. A team has to look at their young players this time of year to help them make important off season decisions. They shouldn’t give a crap about playoff races they’re not good enough to be in. No other team does this. And what makes it even more ludicrous is that THE TEAM HAS LOST EIGHT GAMES IN A ROW!!! How’s that spoiler thing working out? And I don’t hate Blanco, I just know he’s not a part of the future, just like Pence and shouldn’t be out there. Thanks for the memories. Do the Giants have to spend millions on a corner outfielder or can Slater or Shaw get it done and enable the Giants to spend money elsewhere? They’re not going to know, are they? Do they have to spend a couple of million to bring up Hundley as a backup yet again, or can Aramis Garcia be a backup making the major league minimum? They’re not going to know that either, are they? Do they have to spend millions on below average relievers like Dyson and Strickland or can Ray Black and Jorge Moronta handle late game pressurized situations? Who the hell knows? But again, guys, thanks for the complete faith in me and my opinions. Maybe you can mention it to Sabean and he might make me the GM.

[klaiggeb]

I agree with everything you said, Mark.

I'm disgusted with Bochy, management, the players... especially the vets who, in my opinion, are phoning it in.

See ya'all in 12 days.

[rog]

We were pretty critical of the Giants' play before the McCutchen trade. Are we seeing now that for as good/bad as they are, they were playing quite well?

[klaiggeb]

even though I'm not back home and watching the games on TV, Rodger, I'm still disgusted with their play.

[rog]

The Giants just aren't that good. They've had a ton of injuries, but the pitching has rallied pretty well from theirs. The hitting is just terrible.

Two and a half seasons ago we mentioned that the Giants were the best in San Francisco history. In the 2 1/2 seasons since, they may have been the worst in SF history over that time frame.

[rog]

We wanted Sir Hensley Meulens fired because he couldn't fix the Giants' hitters. So the Giants kicked him upstairs, brought in some new coaches and so better hitters. And indeed they've improved ..... pretty much none.

As Mark posted recently, sometimes it's the hitters.

A few things to make us feel better (and, boy, do we need to feel better!):

. Mac Williamson showed tremendous power potential before suffering a concussion. If he comes back full force, he could make a large impact.

. Brandon Belt was hitting quite well until his appendectomy. Perhaps that threw him off, and he's not really the hitless, powerless hitter we've seen since. Certainly we hadn't seen it before for this type of protracted period.

. Joe Panik almost certainly hit in bad luck and should be expected to bounce back. He might be only a .280 hitter, but he hit the ball plenty hard enough this season to have wound up there.

. Evan Longoria hit in a little tough times as well. On the other hand, he'll be a year older and another year away from his prime. He's half a decade away now.

[klaiggeb]

I made this same statement over 3 weeks ago... and got blasted for saying it.

Sheesh!

[rog]

If the season ended today -- and, man, are we getting close -- the Giants would have the #10 pick. They seem almost certain to wind up with #9, #10 or #11.

The last time the Giants had the 10th pick, they chose Madison Bumgarner. A good pick next June, and the Giants would have three good prospects from consecutive drafts. I can't remember when the Giants had three good prospects in the minor leagues at one time.

In 2008 and 2009 they had two in Bumgarner and Buster Posey. They came close to having three in 2009 with the drafting of Zack Wheeler, but Zack didn't play in the minors until 2010. I guess the Giants did have three good prospects briefly before Buster and Madison were called up that season.

Heliot Ramos isn't yet a top prospect due to his downside risk, but his potential is considered to be very high despite a down year in Low A ball. At just 18, he may have been the youngest player at that level.

[klaiggeb]

After watching them phone it in against the WORST stater in baseball last night, looks to me as if they are gearing up to get a higher pick.

I'm only half tongue-in-cheek, because they are EMBARRASSINGLY disgusting!