Monday, September 22, 2008
Double the Stankeye
The difference between rooting a good team on in an extremely intense baseball game like yesterday's grind-a-thon and rooting on a bad team like this year's Giants is that with a bad team you have no confidence whatsoever that your guys are going to come through. I gotta be honest, I fully expected Rich Aurilia to pop out or something in the 11th inning and then me having to go to the emergency room after breaking my fist punching the wall. If we're talking the 2001 version of the Goateed One, then it's a no-brainer; he comes through. The past-his-prime Aurilia? Like I said, my fist was drawn back and rarin' to go through some brick.
Luckily, Aurilia lined a single and the Giants won. My fist shot up instead of forward and I yelled triumphantly in maybe the most exciting game the Giants have played in four years. It's fun to be able to watch games that mean something again, even if that consists of taking joy in pulling your team's mortal enemy down into the pit of baseball despair that we Giants fans have become so well-acquainted with the past few years.
Dodger-hating weekend #1 was a success. Now we wait for Round Two this coming Friday at Mays Field. I have my tickets for Sunday's game, and boy oh boy do I hope the Dodgers have the playoffs on the line for that game. Can you imagine the Giants spoiling LA's playoff hopes, then watching Manny Ramirez sulk off the field and Ned Colletti slump back defeated in his booth? I can see Colletti's mustache making it's own little frowny face as the Dodgers' season goes down the tubes. It's a joy I can only dream of.
To see more of my mini-take on the Giants and the big matchup this weekend, go here and read. That's right, I've taken on an assignment as the new Giants writer at Bugs and Cranks. That means I'll be pulling double duty, writing both here and at B&C. So if you're a regular and like reading here at the Stankeye don't hesitate to follow me on over there. It's double the dosage of Paulie and should be a lot of work but a lot of fun.
Luckily, Aurilia lined a single and the Giants won. My fist shot up instead of forward and I yelled triumphantly in maybe the most exciting game the Giants have played in four years. It's fun to be able to watch games that mean something again, even if that consists of taking joy in pulling your team's mortal enemy down into the pit of baseball despair that we Giants fans have become so well-acquainted with the past few years.
Dodger-hating weekend #1 was a success. Now we wait for Round Two this coming Friday at Mays Field. I have my tickets for Sunday's game, and boy oh boy do I hope the Dodgers have the playoffs on the line for that game. Can you imagine the Giants spoiling LA's playoff hopes, then watching Manny Ramirez sulk off the field and Ned Colletti slump back defeated in his booth? I can see Colletti's mustache making it's own little frowny face as the Dodgers' season goes down the tubes. It's a joy I can only dream of.
To see more of my mini-take on the Giants and the big matchup this weekend, go here and read. That's right, I've taken on an assignment as the new Giants writer at Bugs and Cranks. That means I'll be pulling double duty, writing both here and at B&C. So if you're a regular and like reading here at the Stankeye don't hesitate to follow me on over there. It's double the dosage of Paulie and should be a lot of work but a lot of fun.
Labels: dodger hating weekend, the goateed one
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Welcome to the Party, Pal
Scott McClain earned a well-deserved call-up when rosters expanded the other day, and he made the most of the opportunity by smacking his first major league home run in yesterday's game. For a feat accomplished by an obscure 36-year-old rookie, it's garnering plenty of headlines.
For those who don't know, McClain was drafted in 1990 by the Orioles, and since that point his career has been an odyssey of home run heroics through the farm systems of the Orioles, Mets, Devil Rays, Rockies, Cubs, A's, and Giants, and also through the Japanese leagues. He's smacked 362 home runs over the course of his professional career, making him sort of a, yes, as cliche as it sounds, real life Crash Davis. This season was his second with the Fresno Grizzlies, and he ripped to the tune of .300/.388/.553.
Why has McClain never been given an extended chance in the major leagues?
(looks around frantically for help)
Well, you're asking the wrong person, because I have no friggin' idea. Sure, McClain is a long-in-the-tooth 36 while destroying AAA pitching, but he was doing exactly the same thing when he was 24. While the Devil Rays were bumbling around with charred veteran corpses in the late-90's, McClain was bashing 30-plus home runs for their AAA affiliate. While the Giants have been busying themselves with a clothespin-over-nose parade of has-beens and never-will-bes at first base the past couple of years, McClain has been hitting 30-plus homers for their AAA team.
It sucks, but quite often a guy like McClain will get stuck with a Quad-A label and those are just not easy to shake. Just ask Jack Cust or Val Pascucci. Unfortunately, as often is the case, many teams simply mistake lack of opportunity as lack of skill. I mean, come on, McClain has had 50, count 'em, 50 major league at-bats. Does that constitute a true window for McClain to show off his ability? Hell no. In a world where Ross Gload and Miguel Cairo hold down starting first base jobs, how is this fair?
Anyway, raise a glass in honor of McClain and his long, arduous path to major league home run number one. Lefty Malo wonders whether the Giants will retain McClain as a corner-utility guy next season in lieu of re-signing Rich Aurilia. That would be awesome, and McClain has certainly earned a shot at this kind of role and he would probably hit better than The Goateed One, but I wouldn't bet on this happening. More likely, the Giants just go with their usual "evil we know" strategy and McClain continues to wither away in the minors, holding some flavor of the month's dick in the bus leagues, to quote the great Crash.
For those who don't know, McClain was drafted in 1990 by the Orioles, and since that point his career has been an odyssey of home run heroics through the farm systems of the Orioles, Mets, Devil Rays, Rockies, Cubs, A's, and Giants, and also through the Japanese leagues. He's smacked 362 home runs over the course of his professional career, making him sort of a, yes, as cliche as it sounds, real life Crash Davis. This season was his second with the Fresno Grizzlies, and he ripped to the tune of .300/.388/.553.
Why has McClain never been given an extended chance in the major leagues?
(looks around frantically for help)
Well, you're asking the wrong person, because I have no friggin' idea. Sure, McClain is a long-in-the-tooth 36 while destroying AAA pitching, but he was doing exactly the same thing when he was 24. While the Devil Rays were bumbling around with charred veteran corpses in the late-90's, McClain was bashing 30-plus home runs for their AAA affiliate. While the Giants have been busying themselves with a clothespin-over-nose parade of has-beens and never-will-bes at first base the past couple of years, McClain has been hitting 30-plus homers for their AAA team.
It sucks, but quite often a guy like McClain will get stuck with a Quad-A label and those are just not easy to shake. Just ask Jack Cust or Val Pascucci. Unfortunately, as often is the case, many teams simply mistake lack of opportunity as lack of skill. I mean, come on, McClain has had 50, count 'em, 50 major league at-bats. Does that constitute a true window for McClain to show off his ability? Hell no. In a world where Ross Gload and Miguel Cairo hold down starting first base jobs, how is this fair?
Anyway, raise a glass in honor of McClain and his long, arduous path to major league home run number one. Lefty Malo wonders whether the Giants will retain McClain as a corner-utility guy next season in lieu of re-signing Rich Aurilia. That would be awesome, and McClain has certainly earned a shot at this kind of role and he would probably hit better than The Goateed One, but I wouldn't bet on this happening. More likely, the Giants just go with their usual "evil we know" strategy and McClain continues to wither away in the minors, holding some flavor of the month's dick in the bus leagues, to quote the great Crash.
Labels: easily obtainable first base talent rant, scott mcclain, the goateed one
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Burning With the Fires of Ort
Let's flash back to the beginning of the 1959 season. The Giants were in a bit of a predicament. Just the season prior, a 20-year-old first baseman named Orlando Cepeda had come into the league and hit .312/.342 /.512. Obviously, stardom was in the cards for this kid, and the Giants looked to have their first base situation locked up for a decade or so.
Except for one problem. They also had this kid named Willie McCovey, who was the same age as Cepeda, who also played first base, and who just might have been an even better hitter. McCovey had nothing to prove in the minors, so the Giants were faced with the not-so-simple task of getting both of these guys in the lineup on an everyday basis. McCovey would actually only get into 52 games that season, and in the games that he played, Cepeda moved to left field in a bit of inspired lineup juggling (although he wasn't any good out there). In his limited playing time in 1959, McCovey absolutely murdered National League pitching, ending the season with a ridiculous .354/.429/.656 line. As you well know, both of these guys went on to have Hall of Fame careers.
But it doesn't end there. On top of all this, the Giants had another young first baseman who, while not quite the prospect that Willie Mac and the Baby Bull were, was still considered to have a bright future ahead. Bill White had hit 22 home runs in his rookie season in 1956, but he missed almost all of the next two seasons due to military service and by the time he returned, he was one of three first baseman fighting for one position. As talented as he was (he went on to have a fine career with the Cardinals), he couldn't hold a candle to Cepeda and McCovey and he was traded away in the spring of '59 for Sad Sam Jones.
What's the point of this little history lesson? Well, I think any Giants fan would kill for the team to have this problem right now. The Giants' inability to find adequate production at first base has gone on so long now that it is bordering on the absurd. Around the league, guys like Carlos Pena and Chris Shelton keep getting swept up by other teams for cheap while the Giants putz around with the Mark Sweeneys and Lance Neikros of the world. It really does make one yearn for the Cepeda/McCovey/White conundrum days of yore.
Right now, the Giants don't really seem to be out there looking for somebody good, they just appear to be engaged in a quest to find the least reprehensible in-house option. The latest news on that front has Rich Aurilia, he of the . 252/.304/.368 line in 2007, winning the starting first base job by default because Dan Ortmeier is having a miserable spring. I'll just express my disgust by quoting John Shea from the article in the above link: "...The organization's thinking is beginning to change, and the stated preference is a youth movement, though it's not exactly playing out before our eyes."
Ya think? Instead of Fred Lewis, we get to watch Dave Roberts. Instead of Kevin Frandsen, it's Ray Durham. Now, based on a ridiculously small sample size of bad Ortmeier at-bats, Aurilia gets another chance to show us that he's washed up. Yay!
Look, I love Richie, I really do. He's probably my favorite Giant of all time. I even grew a (terrible-looking) goatee when I was a senior in high school just to honor him. He'll go down in the annals of beloved Giants players, and rightfully so.
The problem is, this isn't 2001. Based on his age and the fact that he's had one good season since 2003, we can safely assume that he's going to be just miserable as an everyday player, especially at first base. He just can't hit anymore, and it pains me to say it. His defense is solid, yes, but he's better used in a utility role if you have to use him at all, not as a starter at the easiest position to put offense at.
It's also reasonable to assume that Ortmeier won't be great because he was never too far above average in the minor leagues, and average in the minors usually translates into stinky in the majors. However, 45 spring at-bats just is not enough to gauge whether he belongs or not. In 157 at-bats last season, which is a considerably larger sample, his walk rate was miserable but he also slugged .497. Hey, it's a start, and doesn't he get bonus points for hitting a game-ending bomb off of Dodger behemoth Jonathan Broxton?
I'm a senior member of the Board of Dan Ortmeier Skeptics, but that's sort of beside the point. The point is, if the Giants are really committed to rebuilding, it means giving young guys like the Ort a real, no foolin' shot at sticking. That doesn't entail having Giants management watch him suck for 45 at-bats and then throw up their hands and say, "Welp, we tried! Let's go back to old, reliable Richie!" It means giving him until at least June to prove he isn't better than Aurilia. If he can't hang, then yeah, send him off and try something else. Until this happens with Ortmeier and some of the other young guys, this so-called youth movement will be more like a farce than an actual strategy.
Except for one problem. They also had this kid named Willie McCovey, who was the same age as Cepeda, who also played first base, and who just might have been an even better hitter. McCovey had nothing to prove in the minors, so the Giants were faced with the not-so-simple task of getting both of these guys in the lineup on an everyday basis. McCovey would actually only get into 52 games that season, and in the games that he played, Cepeda moved to left field in a bit of inspired lineup juggling (although he wasn't any good out there). In his limited playing time in 1959, McCovey absolutely murdered National League pitching, ending the season with a ridiculous .354/.429/.656 line. As you well know, both of these guys went on to have Hall of Fame careers.
But it doesn't end there. On top of all this, the Giants had another young first baseman who, while not quite the prospect that Willie Mac and the Baby Bull were, was still considered to have a bright future ahead. Bill White had hit 22 home runs in his rookie season in 1956, but he missed almost all of the next two seasons due to military service and by the time he returned, he was one of three first baseman fighting for one position. As talented as he was (he went on to have a fine career with the Cardinals), he couldn't hold a candle to Cepeda and McCovey and he was traded away in the spring of '59 for Sad Sam Jones.
What's the point of this little history lesson? Well, I think any Giants fan would kill for the team to have this problem right now. The Giants' inability to find adequate production at first base has gone on so long now that it is bordering on the absurd. Around the league, guys like Carlos Pena and Chris Shelton keep getting swept up by other teams for cheap while the Giants putz around with the Mark Sweeneys and Lance Neikros of the world. It really does make one yearn for the Cepeda/McCovey/White conundrum days of yore.
Right now, the Giants don't really seem to be out there looking for somebody good, they just appear to be engaged in a quest to find the least reprehensible in-house option. The latest news on that front has Rich Aurilia, he of the . 252/.304/.368 line in 2007, winning the starting first base job by default because Dan Ortmeier is having a miserable spring. I'll just express my disgust by quoting John Shea from the article in the above link: "...The organization's thinking is beginning to change, and the stated preference is a youth movement, though it's not exactly playing out before our eyes."
Ya think? Instead of Fred Lewis, we get to watch Dave Roberts. Instead of Kevin Frandsen, it's Ray Durham. Now, based on a ridiculously small sample size of bad Ortmeier at-bats, Aurilia gets another chance to show us that he's washed up. Yay!
Look, I love Richie, I really do. He's probably my favorite Giant of all time. I even grew a (terrible-looking) goatee when I was a senior in high school just to honor him. He'll go down in the annals of beloved Giants players, and rightfully so.
The problem is, this isn't 2001. Based on his age and the fact that he's had one good season since 2003, we can safely assume that he's going to be just miserable as an everyday player, especially at first base. He just can't hit anymore, and it pains me to say it. His defense is solid, yes, but he's better used in a utility role if you have to use him at all, not as a starter at the easiest position to put offense at.
It's also reasonable to assume that Ortmeier won't be great because he was never too far above average in the minor leagues, and average in the minors usually translates into stinky in the majors. However, 45 spring at-bats just is not enough to gauge whether he belongs or not. In 157 at-bats last season, which is a considerably larger sample, his walk rate was miserable but he also slugged .497. Hey, it's a start, and doesn't he get bonus points for hitting a game-ending bomb off of Dodger behemoth Jonathan Broxton?
I'm a senior member of the Board of Dan Ortmeier Skeptics, but that's sort of beside the point. The point is, if the Giants are really committed to rebuilding, it means giving young guys like the Ort a real, no foolin' shot at sticking. That doesn't entail having Giants management watch him suck for 45 at-bats and then throw up their hands and say, "Welp, we tried! Let's go back to old, reliable Richie!" It means giving him until at least June to prove he isn't better than Aurilia. If he can't hang, then yeah, send him off and try something else. Until this happens with Ortmeier and some of the other young guys, this so-called youth movement will be more like a farce than an actual strategy.
Labels: blast from the past, easily obtainable first base talent rant, the goateed one, the ort
