March 2007 Archives

Just announced after today's game: Down to Fresno are Brian Wilson, Scott Munter. Wow, Sabean wasn't messing around with the harsh assessment on the radio. To minor-league camp go Tomas De La Rosa, Sun-Woo Kim, Scott Atchinson. That leaves a...
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The old softshoe is back, Mr. Talkin' Much and Sayin' Little, just give 'em the old razz-ull dazz-ull but in that monotone New England way, though I should say that as I caught the season's first "Brian Sabean Show" on...
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I'm on assignment Thursday and Friday with little time to write, so you'll have to amuse yourselves elsewhere. I recommend here. And here. And going against my initial instincts, here. If you don't vote for me, I'll get a dolphin...
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If luck and health and planets and tarot cards all line up in the Giants' favor this year, yes, they could make the playoffs and then, as Joaquin Andujar liked to say, youneverknow. More realistically, though, this is a rebuilding...
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Player A this spring: .359 BA / .405 OBP / .692 SLG / 3 HR / 39 ABsPlayer B this spring: .262 BA / .324 OBP / .415 SLG / 1 HR / 65 ABsBoth are right-handed hitting first basemen....
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According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, the Giants have placed Mark Sweeney on waivers. If spring rules follow regular-season rules, Sweeney is now exposed to all major-league teams. If none claim him, the Giants either keep him or release him outright...
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After a year and a half wandering through the sodden woods of the Pacific Northwest, straining to hear the call of the marbeled murrelet, his once-powerful right arm slowly regaining strength after.....the accident....the prodigal son has returned. An insignificant contract,...
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Good gosh a'mighty, these are a few of my favorite things: Flanderin' mayors, supermarket checkout boys, solar power, and ugly-ass ties. Have at it. ...
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We finish up the Q&A today with Merc beat writer Andy Baggarly by taking on a few big issues: media responsibility, Barry Bonds's image, Cal Ripken's double standard, and Pete Rose's gambling problem. Big thanks to Andy for his participation....
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* One question the Giants must answer is whether to start the season with 11 pitchers or 12. The latter seems more likely, what with only two days off in April. Food for thought, however: the LA Times reports the...
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The Rangers are changing the name of their ballpark from "Ameriquest Field" (Ameriquest is a mortgage company) to yet another corporate moniker. Take a guess -- Pfizer Pfield? Halliburton Park? ExxonMobil Greens? The answer is their own: "Rangers Ballpark in...
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...I cannot kick a man when he's down, not for very long at least, unless his name is Neifi, and even then, come on, he is one of the top 1,000 or so baseball players in the world, let's give...
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Over at McCovey Chronicles, Grant encapsulates the boredom of spring training, or as Sartre once wrote, l'inexprimable ennui de l'entrainement du printemps, with this post. As the famous rap song says, "Self-deconstruction, you're headed for self-deconstruction." No less existential is...
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Grant and Lefty down by the schoolyard: our SFist conversation, part 3. Please note that the editor of the SFist picked the Dodgers to win the division. I think he's angling for a promotion to run the LAist. Also please...
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I've never been to spring training, though much of what it's about -- the leisurely pace, the re-emergence of grass and sun, the loose camaraderie of players not yet under eye-popping pressure -- is what I love most about baseball....
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Grant and Lefty parley-voo Giants, Part 2. The more time I spend on SFist, the more I get aggravated after reading the Zipcar ad that says, "350 hours a year having sex," because, really, come on, that's an hour a...
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Road trip to Fresno, anyone? Not to see the Bulldogs, sorry. But it's quite possible that the triple-A Fresno Grizzlies could start the year as entertaining as their big-league affiliate and provide a sneak peek at the Giants a year...
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Part one of a preseason discussion with me, El Lefty Malo, and the handsome, mysterious Grant Macronico, is now available to download for your eyeballs on SFist.com. And no, neither one of us is Gavin Newsom's new girlfriend....
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[Ed. Note: I've made a few changes to the following post. Thanks to A. Baggarly for the gentle corrections.] Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News [not Oakland Trib, though because of corporate ownership, his work appears there, too]...
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We're getting close to seeing some of the open roster spots nailed down. Brad Hennessey not only thinks Russ Ortiz has "pretty much locked up" the fifth-starter job, he also wants to be traded. Jason Ellison is forcing his consideration...
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Steve Goldman, who writes a Yankees blog for the Yes Network, takes up the debate I highlighted a couple days ago: should phenom pitchers be forced to hone their craft in the minors even if they're pretty damn good already?...
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According to reports from Arizona this morning, Bruce Bochy is testing a lineup with Barry Bonds in the third slot, somwhere Bonds hasn't been since 2002. Bochy's reasons are sound: get Bonds up in the first inning and get him...
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No, we're not talking about a remote islet in the Dutch Antilles. For those of you not familiar with the acronym TINSTAAPP -- There Is No Such Thing As a Pitching Prospect -- it was coined by Baseball Prospectus writer...
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A couple years ago Oakland Trib beat writer Andrew Baggarly broke the news that AJ Pierzynski was a jerk-face. OK, maybe not "broke," but certainly "reinforced." Baggarly took some heat at the time -- by the typical fandoids who say...
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The Matt Cain contract is 4 years, $9 million, plus a mysterious 5th year option that includes "escalators." For some reason whenever I hear that word in relation to baseball contracts I think of the shoes David Bowie wore in...
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Since people are finally playing baseball today, the first day of spring-training games, I thought I'd start off by quoting the New York Times resident curmudgeon Murray Chass, who railed two days ago against "new-age" things such as certain baseball...
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