SB Nation Blog: Grant

Open Gameday Thread: ID3

Grant — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:04:05 -0000

Oh, Osiris....

Open Gameday Thread: Independence Day II

Grant — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:53:50 -0000

Love them bases loaded walks....

Open Gameday Thread, 7/4

Grant — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:08:45 -0000

I am Jonathan Sanchez. I pitch for the San Francisco Giants.

Come with me on a journey through time.

Open Gameday Thread, 7/3

Grant — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:16:12 -0000

Tim Lincecum days make me feel like the Beggin' Strips dog in front of a plate full of actual bacon. Shawn Estes in 1997 was the Beggin' Strips; Lincecum is the bacon. You don't think there's much of a difference until you get the real thing.

It's Lincecum!

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Tim Lincecum	9-1	17	16	0	0	0	0	109.2	93	33	29	5	43	114	2.38	1.24

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Sean Marshall	0-2	15	2	0	0	1	0	20.1	20	11	11	4	9	17	4.87	1.43

Lineup

Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants

07/03/08 4:05 PM PDT

Chicago Cubs	San Francisco Giants
Reed Johnson - LF	Fred Lewis - LF
Kosuke Fukudome - RF	Ray Durham - 2B
Derrek Lee - 1B	Randy Winn - RF
Aramis Ramirez - 3B	Bengie Molina - C
Jim Edmonds - CF	Aaron Rowand - CF
Geovany Soto - C	John Bowker - 1B
Mark DeRosa - 2B	Jose Castillo - 3B
Ryan Theriot - SS	Omar Vizquel - SS
Sean Gallagher - P	Tim Lincecum - P

Extension and fame....

Grant — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:54:00 -0000

Kevin Correia:

…is going to be 28 in August.

…has a career ERA+ of 105, though most of his best work has come out of the bullpen.

…like most pitchers, has a much better strikeout rate as a reliever than a starter. For Correia, it’s the difference between an average and above-average strikeout rate.

…is already in his arbitration years. He’s only making a little over $1M this season, but he’ll probably be in line to make somewhere between $5M and $8M combined over the next two seasons.

…has Cory Bailey as one of his Baseball Reference comparables. Cory Bailey! I totally forgot about that guy. Bailey was supposed to be John Johnstone before John Johnstone was John Johnstone, but then he wasn’t. But I digress....

Last night was within the range of expected Correia starts. He pitched good, but not great, and got through six innings. You could say that Correia is the very model of a modern average innings-eater (of repertoire slider, change, and hittable-yet-decent heater). He has value to a team when he’s healthy, but he’ll never make the All-Star team. If he’s your ace, you’re in trouble. If he’s your fifth starter, you’re doing quite well for yourself. In cereal terms, Correia is a bowl of Corn Flakes. Tim Lincecum is a bowl of magic Cap'n Crunch that doesn't cut the roof of your mouth all to hell, but I digress....

Correia will never bring back fair value in a trade. Another organization wouldn’t give up a decent and young position player, especially one who is ready to start, for Correia. But if the Giants don’t get a player back who fits that description, why would it be worthwhile to trade Correia at all? He has more value to the Giants than would a utility player or questionable prospect. Not that the Giants should be looking to trade Correia right now, of course. This is all theoryland stuff.

My crazy idea, then: What about a three- or four-year extension for Correia? Buy out his arbitration years, and give him some instant security. A three-year deal shouldn’t cost more than $10M total, and perhaps the Giants could include a fourth-year option. Consider it overpriced mediocrity insurance. The premiums might cost a bit more than the team had planned for, but it could prevent a Carlos Silva-type deal in the future. If Correia never throws another pitch, the contract wouldn’t make a huge difference against future roster building efforts, but if he pitches at a league-average level, he’ll be very cost efficient.

Just a thought. He's a handy guy to have around, but maybe it's a little silly to talk extension with a pitcher who has thrown all of 50 innings after returning from injury.

Open Gameday Thread, Too

Grant — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:07:54 -0000

There's an extra seat on my couch, but I sold it to a Cubs fan. Now he's heckling me. I regret my decision.

John Bowker: Great first baseman prospect, or the greatest first baseman prospect?

Open Gameday Thread, 7/2

Grant — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:15:05 -0000

My hopes for the game:

The Giants score ten runs.
Kevin Correia goes seven strong innings.
Sergio Romo pitches the eighth.
Osiris Matos pitches the ninth.

I'm no logimagician, but I think this scenario breaks down right around point #1. A fella can dream, though.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Kevin Correia	1-5	8	8	0	0	0	0	41.1	42	22	22	5	19	26	4.79	1.48

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Ryan Dempster	9-3	17	17	1	0	0	0	105.0	83	45	38	10	41	86	3.26	1.18

Keeping My Religion

Grant — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:22:16 -0000

Warning: The following post is a ponderous and pretentious mess that aspires to be one of those crappy "Why Do We Like Them Sports?"-essays. As such, I've condensed the entire post into two sentences at the very end. Please go straight to the end of the post if you know what's good for you.

Every year that I've followed the Giants, the season has ended in agony. Sometimes its a dull cocktail of apathy and disgust (the last three seasons), and sometimes its a sudden drop of a toaster in the bathtub of hope (1997-2004). Yet every year, I come back. I pin my hopes on teenagers in Oregon and Georgia to help in five years, and I pin them on twenty-somethings in San Francisco to help immediately. It never works. It always ends in disappointment. But I keep returning. I'm stupid like that.

The reason for this maudlin tone: Baron Davis. The roster machinations of a basketball franchise are much different than those of a baseball franchise, so it isn't as if there's some grand point to make that relates to the Giants losing Barry Bonds or something. It's just another example of a franchise I love emerging from the muck, almost achieving something amazing, and unceremoniously tumbling back down to join the rest of the unwashed heathens. It's like when Icarus kept pushing that big ball of wax up a hill, only to have the ball roll back down to the bottom, where the minotaur, who used a ball of twine to follow him, is waiting to eat him for all of eternity because he stole fire from the gods. It will never end.

Then Matt Cain throws a great game. He had a hopping fastball...disappearing change...tight slider...it was fantastic. And I realize that I'm a weenie for thinking that anything that doesn't result in a championship isn't valid. I'll always have Cain's game last night, or Lincecum's game against Oakland. I'll always have Baron Davis going nutty against Dallas, which was directly responsible for me hopping around my apartment like some sort of coked up gibbon.

Sometimes I get too caught up with the whole championship thing. The Giants are probably a few years from ever getting those hopes up again. The Warriors probably are too. So it makes absolutely no sense to dwell on championships right now, if ever. In the meantime: huzzah for Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Monta Ellis, Fred Lewis, Brandan Wright, Andris Biedrins, Jonathan Sanchez, Anthony Randolph, Madison Bumgarner, et al. I'll be thrilled to watch them about 40% of the time in a bad year, and thrilled to watch them about 60% of the time in a good year. And the odds are excellent that the season will end in agony every time. I just have to be less of a weenie about it.

So to sum up: Baron Davis made me sad, but then Matt Cain made me happy! I like Matt Cain.

Open Letter

Grant — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:12:46 -0000

Dear Brian Wilson,

Please stop doing that.

Sincerely,
My Underpants

Open Gameday Thread, 7/1

Grant — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:27:58 -0000

Visiting our sister site, Bleed Cubbie Blue, I'm struck by a couple of things:

1. Cubs fans pity us. They know our pain, and they pity that pain. I'm not sure how that should make me feel.

2. The blogger for Bleed Cubbie Blue uses a lot more widgets for his gamethreads than I do. There is a widget gap. Therefore, I'm going to try out some widgets for this gamethread.

Next Game

Chicago Cubs
@ San Francisco Giants

Tuesday, Jul 1, 2008, 7:15 PM PDT
AT&T Park

Jason Marquis vs Matt Cain

Mostly clear. Winds blowing out to center field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 60.

Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Matt Cain	4-6	17	17	0	0	0	0	105.1	99	54	52	12	44	97	4.44	1.36

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Jason Marquis	6-4	15	15	0	0	0	0	85.1	96	50	47	8	34	44	4.96	1.52

Matt Cain

#18 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-3

Weight: 246

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 01, 1984

NL West Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Arizona	42	41	.506	0	Won 1
Los Angeles	38	44	.463	3.5	Lost 2
San Francisco	36	47	.433	6	Lost 1
San Diego	33	51	.392	9.5	Won 1
Colorado	32	51	.385	10	Lost 8

(updated 7.1.2008 at 6:10 PM PDT)

Widgets!