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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 17, 2024 18:54:43 GMT -5
Okay. I like to guess and speculate.
Firstly, we are due for a healthy...ish...ier season.
Secondly, IF we stay reasonably healthy I believe we can attain these HR numbers:
Lee 5-10 Estrada 13-18 Conforto 18-25 Soler 25-30 Wade 17-20 Chapman 18-23 Bailey 10-15 Yaz 12-18 SS 7-10
Flores 12-14 Slater 5-9
Just my guess. Now we'll see how close I get.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 18, 2024 13:06:15 GMT -5
Half of those guys have been getting hurt more frequently so I’m expecting low end expectations.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 18, 2024 15:44:23 GMT -5
Half of those guys have been getting hurt more frequently so I’m expecting low end expectations. Reed, please refer to my second line in the post
Firstly, we are due for a healthy...ish...ier season.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 18, 2024 19:06:52 GMT -5
I get what you are saying that by the law of averages, we are "due" for a healthier season. I don't think that's going to happen. The is a combination of things that would suggest that they will have the same number of injuries or more than the past few years and I think it is built into the processes of FZ and GK.
Zaidi signs injury prone players because they can be had at a relative discount or they will go for prove-it contracts. This goes for Cobb, Conforto, Haniger, Joc, Rodon, and Wood. Unfortunately, this also would apply to Soler, Chapman, and maybe Lee. I remember it was a definitely a concern when they were considering Rodon and they really did not expect him to go every fifth day all season. Remember, the best predictor of future injury history is past injury history so guys like Yaz, Slater, Conforto, Luciano, and Soler are expected to spend some time on the IL. Thank goodness they did not bite on Bellinger.
I think another contributor might be in the warm up and training but this would be harder to pin down. I suspect the players are not warming up properly and being instructed to do something that is unnatural for them, such as uppercut more on swing to achieve launch angle. I don't have any hard evidence or correlation but these would show up as oblique, side strain, or possibly hamstring. Boly always mentions an "injury bug" but I have a feeling that part of the injury bug might have been due to the fitness guru manager possibly meddling in the regular training or players feeling that they can't be less ripped than their manager (so they push harder - Kapler used to bench press at the same time as players). They used to mention that there was an army of coaches under Kapler and it might have been a case of too many cooks in the same kitchen. Kapler is gone but some of DUMBledore's Army is still there so I'm not optimistic that there will be less injuries. Furthermore, I think a lot of the soft tissue injuries happened during the cold weather or after short spring training due to Covid and lockout and they did not seem to account for that.
I did read the second line in your post and this might improve under Bob Melvin but a lot of the injury prone guys are a year older and still there and they added a couple more. I would have preferred that they had jettisoned the entire coaching staff but I think they wanted some continuity. As long as FZ is still president of baseball operations, I think this will continue to be a problem area. When it happens one season, its bad luck. If injury bug lasts for many seasons, there might be a problem with methodology somewhere along the line. That is why I estimate low end.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 18, 2024 19:31:23 GMT -5
The team just announced that Renel Brooks-Moon, the PA announcer since 2000, will not be coming back for 2024. Brooks wanted to come back but the team could not come to an agreement with her. I'm not a fan of hers but this seems like another example of the team's callousness. It is weird that the Giants named the announcer booth in Oracle Park after her but did not want to renew her contract. She was helpful in helping the black players like Lamonte Wade Jr feel more welcome. Brooks has spoken out in the past about Charles Johnson's right wing contributions so this is probably payback. This is what you get after working there for 24 years.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 19, 2024 9:40:36 GMT -5
I get what you are saying that by the law of averages, we are "due" for a healthier season. I don't think that's going to happen. The is a combination of things that would suggest that they will have the same number of injuries or more than the past few years and I think it is built into the processes of FZ and GK. Zaidi signs injury prone players because they can be had at a relative discount or they will go for prove-it contracts. This goes for Cobb, Conforto, Haniger, Joc, Rodon, and Wood. Unfortunately, this also would apply to Soler, Chapman, and maybe Lee. I remember it was a definitely a concern when they were considering Rodon and they really did not expect him to go every fifth day all season. Remember, the best predictor of future injury history is past injury history so guys like Yaz, Slater, Conforto, Luciano, and Soler are expected to spend some time on the IL. Thank goodness they did not bite on Bellinger. I think another contributor might be in the warm up and training but this would be harder to pin down. I suspect the players are not warming up properly and being instructed to do something that is unnatural for them, such as uppercut more on swing to achieve launch angle. I don't have any hard evidence or correlation but these would show up as oblique, side strain, or possibly hamstring. Boly always mentions an "injury bug" but I have a feeling that part of the injury bug might have been due to the fitness guru manager possibly meddling in the regular training or players feeling that they can't be less ripped than their manager (so they push harder - Kapler used to bench press at the same time as players). They used to mention that there was an army of coaches under Kapler and it might have been a case of too many cooks in the same kitchen. Kapler is gone but some of DUMBledore's Army is still there so I'm not optimistic that there will be less injuries. Furthermore, I think a lot of the soft tissue injuries happened during the cold weather or after short spring training due to Covid and lockout and they did not seem to account for that. I did read the second line in your post and this might improve under Bob Melvin but a lot of the injury prone guys are a year older and still there and they added a couple more. I would have preferred that they had jettisoned the entire coaching staff but I think they wanted some continuity. As long as FZ is still president of baseball operations, I think this will continue to be a problem area. When it happens one season, its bad luck. If injury bug lasts for many seasons, there might be a problem with methodology somewhere along the line. That is why I estimate low end. I'm with you on the Kapler regime being the likely culprit for the injuries.
They always happen, but, IMHO, NOT at the rate that they happened under captain ego. (he doesn't deserve capital letters)
I'm usually a pessimist, but this season, now, I'm not.
We'll know soon enough, that's for sure.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 19, 2024 9:43:03 GMT -5
The team just announced that Renel Brooks-Moon, the PA announcer since 2000, will not be coming back for 2024. Brooks wanted to come back but the team could not come to an agreement with her. I'm not a fan of hers but this seems like another example of the team's callousness. It is weird that the Giants named the announcer booth in Oracle Park after her but did not want to renew her contract. She was helpful in helping the black players like Lamonte Wade Jr feel more welcome. Brooks has spoken out in the past about Charles Johnson's right wing contributions so this is probably payback. This is what you get after working there for 24 years. I'm guessing what she said about Charles was not flatering.
What else should you/I/we expect from a Liberal.
I saw yesterday that some reporter, I think it was Obermann, (sp?) made overtures that Trump being assassinated would be a good thing.
Liberals can get away with that where as anyone else implying that would be strung up faster than a tinker-toy building.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 19, 2024 11:09:35 GMT -5
KNBR thought the timing of the Brooks announcement and the Snell announcement was suspicious. Both decisions were made earlier but they were trying to hide the Brooks firing by piggybacking onto the Snell signing.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 20, 2024 8:10:15 GMT -5
Kapler Bench pressing at the same time as players might have led the players to overextend themselves in an effort to compete with the manager or if the old man can do it, the player could do it. What Kapler was trying to do was become an influencer and he likes to show off, especially his physique. The problem is when players try to put on muscle too fast and become more susceptible to various muscle pulls. Hopefully players had enough sense not to compete with Kapler in the weight room but it's tempting to put on more muscle to add distance to batted balls. Kapler was not much of a player himself so that should be a red flag right there.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 20, 2024 9:37:24 GMT -5
I think back to how competitive I WAS at that age, what you are suggesting isn't far fetched at all, Reed.
At their age I wanted to beat EVERYONE AT EVERY THING!!
Can't believe they are any different.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 20, 2024 15:17:20 GMT -5
That actually might have been a big problem with Kapler. Now that I think of it, he is an influencer. He runs his own website and loads it up with pictures of himself and blogs about his various pet causes. It actually came to a head with the national anthem antics because Steve Kerr was getting a lot of media praise after Ulvalde and the influencer in Kapler felt he could not be outdone by Kerr. I get why Kerr made a heartfelt speech that day because his father was killed by a gun and he does nave a platform as a championship coach and his voice is almost as influential as Popovich's. I don't agree 100% with Kerr all the time but I do respect what he has to say.
When Kapler was making his own statement, he felt that his own status as a bay area coach should be added on to Kerr's. In essence, he was piggybacking his stance on the national anthem onto Kerr's speech. The problem was that Kerr is a championship coach and he made his statement about the time of the Celtics series and it deserved attention at the time. Kapler's statement was a "me too" statement and was a futile attempt to copy Colin Kaepernick. In the bay area, the worst thing happened for Kapler is the worst thing that can happen to any influencer: he was ignored. In bay area sports, most people were paying attention to the Warriors' playoff run at the time. No one was paying attention to the Giants and few really noticed Kapler. Also, it was at this point where the team tuned him out. The main impression of Kapler at that time was "who cares?" and I don't know of anyone personally who said it was a great thing. San Franciscans have this reputation of being crazy liberal but the average grunts in the workforce are more balanced and can smell insincerity a mile away.
I'm not sure if Bob Melvin is the answer or the anti-Kapler but I like that he will require the players to come out for the national anthem, regardless of politics. They need to show the other team (and themselves) that they came to play. It will be refreshing to have a manager who treats baseball as the main job. Kapler may or may not have taken his job seriously but I kept getting the feeling his main goal to show everyone how smart and cutting edge he was (promoting his own brand is what influencers would call it) and that the way he managed felt like a side gig to me. Maybe Kapler will be happy now because he can spend all of his newfound free time promoting himself and not have to worry about baseball. In my opinion, firing Kapler was the best thing they did for the offseason.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 20, 2024 19:10:43 GMT -5
I'm betting Kapler took his job seriously, but the problem...other than his need to talk about MEMEMEME, his BIGGEST problem, I contend, is that he's a massive woke progressive.
IMHO, that dominates his thinking.
He can't get away from it.
It causes him to do a lot of the nonsense he did because those hung up in woke progressivism always feel the need to 're define'...let's just call it... Stuff.
What we were doing was racist and wrong. Everything.
Remember, they wanted to de-fund the police...how did that turn out.
They wanted to re imagine a different future forgetting and ignoring what has worked for decades. And how did that turn out?
As a Viet Nam war veteran I have ZERO respect for those people.
None what so ever.
My father fought in the 2nd WW.
My wife's father fought in the 2nd WW
They would be screaming their heads off at morons like Kapler and AOC and Biden and Schumur and Schiff and the rest.
And they would be right to do so.
They put their lives where their mouths were.
I wish I had had their courage.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 20, 2024 19:42:01 GMT -5
Not to defend Kapler but I think a lot of it was his upbringing with both his parents involved in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and I heard his father talked about it a lot while he was growing up. He probably was influenced by his father and probably unable to see both sides. It is interesting that he grew up Jewish and has several tattoos honoring his Jewish heritage. The people who are promoting the woke agenda are heavily anti-Israel and anti-Jew. After working for Team Israel as a baseball coach, I'm wondering if he can really keep up the woke agenda and be true to the heritage he is so proud of. Oh well, that is his problem and he is gone and probably hiding his tattoos.
As a side note, Bob Melvin is also Jewish and he doesn't seem to be as conflicted.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 20, 2024 20:58:55 GMT -5
From my experience and Observations, Woke has become a religion, And it usually trumps what a person's religion actually is In the same way that oprah became a religion
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Post by reedonly on Mar 21, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -5
Kapler did post something on his blog about weight training back in 2015 and he is a big proponent of weight training. Kapler felt the bench press was not really dangerous for baseball players and felt there was a correlation between bench power and chest press with increased swing and throwing velocities. Kapler is such a big promoter of weight training and bench pressing that I cannot believe he would not stick his nose into this.
His blog states that old school trainers have players lock their shoulders when bench pressing and that is bad technique. Also, he favors the use of balls, barbells, and balance beams to keep the exercises from becoming too isolated.
My impressions of Kapler's blog is that he says a lot of the right things but is dismissive of old school thinking. Also, while he is ripped himself, training is not a one size fits all and Kapler himself is not a professional trainer. There were way too many injuries under his watch and I felt there was a tendency for Kapler to throw players under the bus.
One year, he said that he could not control what players do during lockout or Covid and that training facilities were closed. Maybe so, but I have experience with physical therapists and they are able to design exercise regimens tailored to the needs of patients and designed for them to do on their own. Nowadays, Medicare does not pay for a therapist to come in every day. The patient is their own therapist on the days the therapist does not come in. In the old days, players had side jobs like farming to help keep them in shape but today, playing toss with the kids isn't sufficient. The true professional athlete has to keep in shape for 365.
It was clear to me that some players did not do much during their time off. One player had problems gripping a bat when he got to spring training and then had to have surgery. This means he didn't pick up a bat from October to spring training. I think other players had knee or ankle problems that came up when they got to spring training. What was irritating was that these were problems that could have been dealt with in off season but ended up with lengthy IL stints during the season. Kapler could not force these players to keep in shape but it seems nothing was set up for players to do on their own or to rehab injuries.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 21, 2024 9:30:24 GMT -5
Reed, you said: " In the old days, players had side jobs like farming to help keep them in shape but today, playing toss with the kids isn't sufficient..."
And that absolutely NAILS it!
There is another aspect that NO ONE is paying attention to.
Up UNTIL the 1990's, kids played MANY sports.
Since then, and each year it gets worse, kids now SPECIALIZE, usually in just one.
As a High School teacher I saw this every year.
What is LOST is that different sports require the use of different muscles and balance techniques.
Stop playing those other sports and only ONE set of muscles is developed and that, often WAY tooooooo much.
Problem is, most of the parents I dealt with ALL believed THEIR child was going to play either big time college sports OR pro sports.
When the fact was, they were good in the little pond in which they played.
But the college pond... the PRO POND is huge!
And only 2 kids I coached in my 40+ years of teaching and coaching ever played big time college sports. And only 1 played in the pros.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 21, 2024 10:11:19 GMT -5
Krukow feels that Bob Melvin's influence will be huge. Having Melvin as a manager probably influenced Chapaman and Snell to come to San Francisco. Also, Kapler and staff tended to have a hands-off approach to discipline but Melvin provides structure and will not let things get out of hand like Kapler did.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 21, 2024 10:15:25 GMT -5
From my experience and Observations, Woke has become a religion, And it usually trumps what a person's religion actually is In the same way that oprah became a religion I think the "woke" has won out because there are less pictures of Kapler on his website (and less pictures of tattoos).
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 21, 2024 11:14:31 GMT -5
Krukow feels that Bob Melvin's influence will be huge. Having Melvin as a manager probably influenced Chapaman and Snell to come to San Francisco. Also, Kapler and staff tended to have a hands-off approach to discipline but Melvin provides structure and will not let things get out of hand like Kapler did. From all that I've read, I think Krukow is right on the money.
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 21, 2024 11:19:04 GMT -5
From my experience and Observations, Woke has become a religion, And it usually trumps what a person's religion actually is In the same way that oprah became a religion I think the "woke" has won out because there are less pictures of Kapler on his website (and less pictures of tattoos). Glen Beck was the first I heard to call it a "religion."
That was last year and many times since.
Since then I've heard Clay and Buck say it, as well.
Their altar is Climate change, and the kneel and bow before it as if it were god.
Small 'g'
Also, don't know if you heard, but last week the EPA released a report that said E-Vehicles emit more carbon emissions than gas cars.
Firstly, according to the report ALL Climate changers look at are tail pipe emissions.
BUT, they've improved car engines so much that now the TIRES emit more pollution than the motor.
E-Vehicles emit more than 100% more pollutants BECAUSE the cars are heavier and thus the carbons emitted from the tires are HUGELY more inefficient.
But regardless of how many times they say 'FOLLOW THE SCIENCE,' the left will only do so when it suits their agenda.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 21, 2024 11:55:29 GMT -5
Also, many of the electric chargers are run with fossil fuel
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 21, 2024 17:50:42 GMT -5
You gotta laugh at the idiots on the left.
Follow the Science, they preach, follow the science.
Then they don't.
Don't know about you guys but I HATE "STUPID."
I didn't tolerate in my classroom, and I don't tolerate it in my friends.
The left keeps showing me more and more STUPID.
Okay. done with political posts.
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Post by reedonly on Mar 22, 2024 10:34:50 GMT -5
Boly: Problem is, most of the parents I dealt with ALL believed THEIR child was going to play either big time college sports OR pro sports.
My dad used to always say that the problem is that kids want to make a living in things like music, athletics, and so forth. The truth ended up being that the greatest athletes in high school end up being average or less as they go up the system. I went to school at the same time as Claudell Washington, Gene Ransom, and Shooty Babbit. They were good athletes but hardly would cause a ripple on the professional level. In fact, Washington did not play baseball in high school but excelled at track. The law of attrition doesn't work that way and kids have to prep for careers after their fun job is over, anyway. All-league in high school translates to bench players in pro level. Kids should not be looked upon as lottery tickets for parents. Older players used to always talk about their other sport with pride like Vida Blue in football, Krukow in basketball, etc so they are probably more well rounded.
Its crazy to see all these kids trying to become musicians, athletes, influencers, and actors. I realize this is nothing new but parents and kids need to be more realistic about economics and numbers. Even the most famous influencer has said that becoming an influencer is not the way to go for most.
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Post by pachyderm on Mar 23, 2024 5:00:07 GMT -5
Okay. I like to guess and speculate.
Firstly, we are due for a healthy...ish...ier season.
Secondly, IF we stay reasonably healthy I believe we can attain these HR numbers:
Lee 5-10 Estrada 13-18 Conforto 18-25 Soler 25-30 Wade 17-20 Chapman 18-23 Bailey 10-15 Yaz 12-18 SS 7-10
Flores 12-14 Slater 5-9
Just my guess. Now we'll see how close I get. And Matos...?
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Post by klaiggeb on Mar 23, 2024 8:21:09 GMT -5
For me the vote is still out on him.
Last year they talked about how fast he was and I never saw it.
What I saw was a guy with above average speed.
They talked about what a good center fielder he was, But I saw bad routes and misjudged fly balls.
They talked about his elite bat to ball skills and I never saw it.
But he was a rookie and that has to be taken into consideration.
When you go back and look at Mike Schmidt's numbers.The first year they were not very good.
He just had not blossomed yet.
Matos Has had an outstanding Spring. And when I posted my speculations he wasn't even in the picture
But with austin's injury That all could change in a hurry
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Post by reedonly on Mar 23, 2024 8:40:44 GMT -5
I expect one or two of the outfielders to not make it to Opening Day. Slater can take all the time he wants on the IL. If Matos or one of the other youngsters want to play, so be it because they've earned it. This is what they get for re-signing Conforto, Yaz, and Slater.
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