January 2007 Archives

My favorite supermarket stockboy sent me a love letter last night. It arrived late in the evening, like all heartfelt love letters do, and with resoluteness and seriousness of purpose it spelled out all the reasons I should love him,...
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Jeff Weaver is getting a raise. (If you count incentives.) Not everyone thinks it's such a bad idea. Meanwhile, Todd Helton could soon be a Red Stocking, which at least in the short-term would make me feel a lot better....
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Yesterday I asked: "Do the Giants have a plan, is it good, and are they sticking to it?" I forgot to answer the middle part. Remember, my working theory is that the team has made younger, healthier pitching the most...
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With one major off-season question left to answer -- Will He or Won't He? -- the '07 Giants are close to set. Once the Bonds contract is signed and sealed (and, according to the press coverage that follows, notarized by...
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Did you know that Baseball Prospectus has a radio show? Now you do. It's weekly, and it's also podcast. You can subscribe to it through iTunes and download it here. No, it's not all wonky statistics. The most recent was...
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With a slippery slope of a season staring Giants fans in the face, the one main crampon of hope is the Giants young pitching. (If you prefer the ever-popular train wreck metaphor, I won't protest. For crampon, please substitute wrist...
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Today's New York Times has a chilling story about links between repeated concussions and depression, Alzheimer's-like symptoms, and suicide. It centers on the story of Andre Waters, a former Philadelphia Eagle defensive back who committed suicide last year at the...
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Of Draper, that is. Our favorite MLB.com hack comes up with such ridiculous turns of phrase I cannot help but document them. He's an easy target, sure, but I take perverse pleasure in highlighting the malapropisms, the tortured analogies, the...
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Yes indeed, the 2007 PECOTA projections are here. These are the numbers the propellorheads at Baseball Prospectus crunch to predict -- or more accurately, to estimate within a range of likely outcomes -- how both major and minor leaguers will...
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Before we jump into the details, I have to say this: The Dodgers will suck this year, even if they [*biting tongue*] finish ahead of the Giants, even if they [*flagellating self with red-hot electric cables*] win the World Series....
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I just had a craving for Jon Miller. His voice, that is. On my radio. El Papa Malo reports from the freezing north that L'il Flemm said on KNBR that Tim Lincecum is as good as Cain right now. Remember,...
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BP's Will Carroll publishes his first take on the Bonds amphetamine test. It's worth reading. If you don't have a subscription, I'll excerpt a couple paragraphs -- perhaps more than I should but Carroll's perspective is important to keep the...
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The New York Daily News has a scoop today that Barry Bonds failed a test last year for amphetamines and blamed it on something he got from Mark Sweeney. That's the jist of the News report. Shitstorm to follow. What...
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Now we know who Russ Ortiz will replace on the 40-man roster. Tim Worrell today announced he's retiring. No word exactly why, but no doubt the injuries took their toll. It had to be bad for him to leave $2...
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Believe it or not, the Giants have just signed Russ Ortiz. Not David Ortiz. Not Manny Ortez. Russ Ortiz. The guy who's been historically bad for two years running. Not satisfied in bringing the washed-up former Giant to spring training...
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In my last post I got some flack for a) not evaluating benches and defenses and b) giving too much credit to the Rockies with my prediction of an 11-7 record against the Giants. The author responds: First, Coors Field...
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Now that most of the free-agent dust has settled, we can start comparing the Giants to their NL West competitors. No doubt there will be a few more signings around the division (David Wells? Jeff Weaver?) and trades, perhaps not...
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Busy today, but not too busy to giggle sophomorically at the possible captions for this. **** P.M. UPDATE: Reports say the Yankees have reached a deal to send Randy Johnson back to Arizona. Good, I say. The Unit is...
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The contract details are out (thanks to Martin for passing along the link in yesterday's comments). Zito gets $10 M this year, $14.5 M in '08, $18.5 M from '09 to '11, then $19 M and $20 M in the...
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Happy New Year, everyone! A couple weeks ago I asked you for your best guesses on the details of Barry Zito's upcoming contract. Here's what he's getting from the Giants: 7 years $126 guaranteed 1 yr club option/$18 mil. full...
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