SB Nation User Blog: joebirdie3

Poll: Rays or Giants?

joebirdie3 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:32:12 -0000

With all this talk regarding our pitchers and the rumors of potential trades, it seems like the D-Rays seem to be the most coveted trading partners. They just traded Delmon Young, but in addition they have other young hitters like Crawford, Baldelli, Upton, Longoria, Iwamura and even Carlos Pena who all seem available for the right price. Yet with all this promise, they still can't manage to lose fewer than 90 games a season.

My question is this, whose situation would you rather be in? Is it better to have a stockpile of young stud hitting position players like the D-Rays, or to have an anemic offense and a surplus of stud arms like the Giants have?

Poll

Whose situation would you rather have?

Neither - Who cares they're both gonna suck for the rest of the decade

25 votes

D-Rays - I love me some offense!

44 votes

Giants - Good pitching always beats good hitting!

54 votes

123 votes | Poll has closed

Down or not?

joebirdie3 — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:23:45 -0000

What is the rule these days about how you are ruled down, and the "ground cannot cause a fumble" myth. I cant remember them all, but I can think of many instances in the past few seasons where a guy catches the ball, maintains possession, hits the ground and the ball pops out. The refs rule it a fumble and the other team runs it the other way.

I've heard also that "an elbow equals a knee". Is this also still true? In regards to the Davis play, the ref said he "barely got two feet down before he got hit" then the ball was dislodged when he hit the ground. If he barely got two feet down, then he got two feet down right? The ball popped out when his elbow hit the ground, not when the ball hit the ground, so he's down right? He was not able to make a "football move", but if that play happened on the sideline and the ball goes out of bounds, do they still call it incomplete?

I'd just like to know from someone more knowledgeable of the rules than me, are the statements "the ground cannot cause a fumble" and "an elbow equals a knee" still accurate in the NFL? Thanks

Open Ray Durham Venting Forum

joebirdie3 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:49:55 -0000

I have been saying this since the All-Star Break that Ray Durham has been the worst player for the Giants this year and yet he keeps coming up in crucial situations with the game on the line. Here is a sampling of the huge pile of suck that is Ray-Ray's batting splits coming into today's game:

Overall: 401 AB .224/.303/.359 60 RBI
Post All-Star: 119 AB .160/.261/.252 14 RBI
Runners on: 211 AB .246/.320/.403 57 RBI
RISP: 127 AB .213/.297/.346 48 RBI

There are 76 players with 400 plate appearances in the league and Ray ranks 74th with a total of 42.7 runs created (only Omar and Marcus Giles are worse). A team full of Ray Durhams would score 3.41 runs per game. Randy Winn ranks 38th in that category with 68.4 runs created and a team of Winns would score 5.29 RPG.

The Giants currently average just over 4 runs per game. If we had a lineup full of Randy Winns and could score an extra run per game, those 17 extra inning games we have played would all be victories, and the 12 9-inning 1-run losses we have would all go to extra innings, so you figure we'd get at least 5 wins out of that as well. That makes 16 additional victories this season, which coincidently would give us the exact same record as the D'Backs in first place.

I vote to DFA Ray immediately. I'd rather see Frandsen play every day and bat 7th or 8th, so his suckitude wouldn't hurt the team in key situations as much. I want to see Ortmeier at 1B every time we face a lefty and for Rajai to play every day in CF and have Roberts spell Bonds on his days off.

Let the hate flow!

Correia = the new Blownitez!?

joebirdie3 — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:40:42 -0000

It seems like every time he comes into a game late with the score tied or protecting a slim lead, Mr. Correia gives up the go ahead homer, or the critical walk or hit to help lose the game. He is now 1-6 and I would not be surprised if he gets to 10 losses this year. What is the record for most losses in a season by a late inning reliever? He has good stuff but ZERO command and is definitely a headcase. Can we PLEEEAAASE get rid of him get some draft picks or low level prospects? I cringe every time he comes in the game trying to hold the lead and usually bad things happen. He needs to go away along with all the oldies

Dukes

joebirdie3 — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 07:41:11 -0000

Sabes should follow Kevin Towers to trade for a talented player while their stock is low.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2913605

D-Rays seem willing to let go of Dukes, and we could probably get him for pretty cheap. Maybe watching a classy veteran like Bonds will inspire him to keep his act in line. Travis Blackley (Jason Ellison) for Elijah Dukes!

The new Billy Beane

joebirdie3 — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:11:42 -0000

Kevin Towers of the Padres is looking like the new Billy Beane of the NL. First he trades Adam Eaton to Texas for Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young, then he trades Josh Barfield to Cleveland for another hitting prospect in Kevin Kouzmanoff, then signs Greg Maddux, David Wells and Marcus Giles, and now he trades for disgruntled catcher Michael Barrett!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2910079

Now Barrett may be a better fantasy catcher than real life catcher, but he still has hit 48 homers and batted .290 over the past 3 seasons, including .307 last year. He is also the hero who punched out Pierzynski. The Padres gave up their backup catcher and a minor league outfielder who was a first round compensation pick last year. That's not that expensive! The Fathers will now boast the best hitting catching duo in the league with Josh Bard and Barrett. If we could have traded Yorvit Torrealba (backup catcher at the time) and Brad Hennessey (late first round pick in 2001) to get Pierzynski we might have had a World Series title by now.

Padres win the West

Scary stats

joebirdie3 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 07:24:42 -0000

Remember when the Giants were 12-8 and riding an 8-game winning streak? We were in first place and loving life, and winning the close games as well. Here are some statistics:

On April 26,

Overall record: 12-8
1-run game record: 5-2
2-run game record: 4-2
9-4 in games decided by 2 runs or less

Post April 26,

Overall record: 16-24
1-run game record: 2-9
2-run game record: 2-9
4-18 record in games decided by 2 runs or less
12-6 RECORD IN GAMES DECIDED BY 2 RUNS OR MORE!!!!

I don't really know what to make of this, but it is clear that the Giants have a problem winning close games. From tonight and this past week it is obvious that we keep making mistakes in the clutch when there is an opportunity to put the game out of reach. Making outs on the basepaths, striking out or popping up with runners on 3rd and less than 2 outs, going 0-1000 with the bases loaded...And all it does is put more pressure on the pitching staff and especially the bullpen. Everyone knows the Giants can't score runs late in ballgames when it matters, so its just a matter of time for when the bullpen will give up the run to win the game. Is there any solution to this?!!?

Hard luck Cain

joebirdie3 — Sat, 26 May 2007 07:49:44 -0000

I am not a major stat genius, merely a novice amateur with a significant interest in them. Someone more experienced than me should do some analysis on the ineptitude of the bullpen as well as the offense to support Matt Cain in his starts this year. He currently owns a 3.23 ERA, but the Giants are 2-8 in his starts! How can this be possible!?

So here is my amateur analysis of his starts so far, highlighting his performance, bullpen ERA and team run support (although I am not sure exactly how this one is calculated).

Cain
IP 64 ER 23 Hits 45 ERA 3.23

Bullpen (in his starts)
IP 23 ER 18 Hits 28 ERA 7.04

Run Support (I calculated as runs scored through the last inning that he was in the game)
2.9 runs per game

In those 3 categories there are also obvious outliers. Cain's start vs the Phillies where he lasted only 3 innings yielding 7 runs and 8 hits also is an outlier for the bullpen as it pitched 6 innings and only allowed 2 runs. The obvious outlier for the offense is the 15-3 drubbing of the Rockies where they scored 9 runs during his 6 innings of work. Taking those into account the numbers turn into this:

Cain
61 IP 16 ER 37 Hits ERA 2.36 (Team record still only 2-7 with these numbers!)

Bullpen
17 IP 16 ER 23 Hits ERA 8.47

Run Support: 20 runs in 9 starts or 2.22 runs per game

Someone more experienced could probably clean up these stats and make them more accurate and detailed, but I assume you all get the message. Even though sample size is fairly limited, we are almost 1/3 of the way through the season. Gallup polls and preliminary election projections are based on a smaller sample size than that. Either Cain is going to get victimized my incredible bad luck the whole entire season, or the entire team expects him to throw a complete game shutout every time out there so they are unprepared to score more than 1 run on offense and to enter the game from the bullpen if he cant last all 9 innings.

I would be very upset right now if I were Matt, especially with all the hubbub about Lincecum the newest phenom. Wasnt it just a month ago we were touting Cain as a Cy Young candidate for years to come and debating whether he or King Felix was better? Now he's almost forgotten. Poor Matty!

Niners new OC

joebirdie3 — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 04:41:23 -0000

I got the privilege to play golf with Trent Dilfer today and he told me the Niners will be hiring Quarterbacks coach Jim Hostler as the new offensive coordinator. It's sweet to scoop all the fancy reporters! I dont know when the announcement will be, but that's the information that I have.

Dilfer is an awesome guy and a pretty good golfer too though not as good as I am ;-) Alex Smith is in good hands as long as Trent is still backing him up.

Spring Training Advice

joebirdie3 — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:34:53 -0000

I have never been to Spring Training yet and am considering making the trek out to the desert this year. What do I need to know about making the trip? When is the best time to go? Where do I get tickets? Where is the best place to stay? What is a typical day like out there? Any and all advice is welcome so I can think about planning my trip. Thanks