SB Nation User Blog: redhornet78

Hometown Discount

redhornet78 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:58:50 -0000

I've been thinking for a while about how much a free agent's home city affects where they want to sign. I bring this up because of our discussion concerning Nick Johnson.

I sense not too many of us would be too distraught if we were to sign Johnson to a reasonable contract, and since he's a local guy (Sacramento) and I'm trying to figure out if a homecoming would give us the "hometown discount" that would appease all parties involved (and most importantly us). It seemed to work with last year's Johnson signing and may give us a bit of a discount this year as well. Even if it's a slight advantage and it saves us a million or two that is money that can go to signing more international talent or towards an additional impact player.

For added help I looked up where the top free agents are from to see if we have any advantage:

Matt Holliday - Stillwater, Oklahoma
John Lackey - Abeline, Texas
Jason Bay - Trail, British Columbia
Chone Figgins - born in Georgia, grew up in Florida
Randy Wolf - Los Angeles, California
Andy Pettitte - born in Louisiana, grew up in Texas
Jose Valverde - Dominican Republic
Marco Scutaro - Venezuela
Adrian Beltre - Dominican Republic
Rich Harden - Victoria, British Columbia
Mike Cameron - LaGrange, Georgia
Johnny Damon - born in Kansas, raised in Florida

If there is anything to being near your hometown then the only slight advantage might be offering the BC guys a shorter flight to go home, but that's stretching it. It looks like Johnson is the only impact player that might fit my idea but I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on the matter and if anyone can remember a free agent taking less money to go home again.

OT: Why is your icon picture your icon picture?

redhornet78 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:41:14 -0000

Since we've had a flood of newbies to the site (welcome all, try the shellfish) i'd like to hear how everyone chose their icon picture.

i am, in fact, not a bald pedo-clown, but i found that image on the internet and it blew my mindgrapes. i'm pretty sure i just GIS "clown" for an evite and this was one of the results. i have thought about changing it to something giants related, or even a pic of myself, but i just can't give up on my pants-shittingly terrifying image.

so Mccovenites, what up with the scared tiger heads, men in banana outfits, and batboy carrying little batboy?

Rockies pissed off the umps on Monday

redhornet78 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:20:57 -0000

Rockies pissed off the umps on Monday

Looks like the Rockies aren't gaining any friends behind the plate. I hope this somehow comes back to bite them in the ass.

Interesting NYT article on APBA

redhornet78 — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:03:23 -0000

Interesting NYT article on APBA

This is an interesting NY Times read on the game and the annual championship.

I'm into Baseball Mogul but was wondering what else is out there. Anyone play any of the dice-based baseball simulators?

Hey fellow McCoven, it's been a few weeks since i've posted because i've decided quit my job in...

redhornet78 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:22:28 -0000

Hey fellow McCoven, it's been a few weeks since i've posted because i've decided quit my job in santa monica and move to new york. why? because every now and then a man needs to do something insane.

anyhow, as i'm going through all of my stuff i found a christmas gift i got one or two years ago that was all giants goodness. since i've recently sold/given away almost everything i own to start anew, i thought this would be an appropriate place for these items.

this move is a crazy idea and i'm trying to get some good vibes, so i was originally just going to give them away to the funniest commenter below, but i have a better idea now. my roommate just did a fundraiser for 826LA, which has two southern california branches. she fell short of her pledge goal and i said i'd see what i can do to help. so if anyone wants to pick up these great, unused items all of the money is going to the 826LA Center. more info on this awesome non-profit here.

The items are two fitted hats (sized 7 1/2), one adjustable white hat with a mesh back, a beanie, and a giants christmas stocking. None of the items have been used, but there is a little dust on them from just sitting in the back of my closet. i can take paypal for a payment, and i'll give my roommate the payment once i get it.

as for the price, i have no idea. $25? $40? less? more? i've never done this before, so i'll just say the highest donation offer by Wednesday, July 29th at the end of the game gets it. the game is at 12:45p, so that afternoon.

If you have any questions let me know, and i'm looking forward to seeing the giants at Citi Field in a few weeks!

Fun with Wikipedia

redhornet78 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:28:34 -0000

I have about an hour to kill at work and wanted to see in what town Timmy was born (Bellevue), and i realized there are some fun facts about our boys in the wacky pages of Wikipedia. Here is a list of our 25 man roster with whatever's the funnest fact i could find about them from just their Wiki entry. I tried to avoid the obvious stuff, but how many of these are new to you?

in order by jersey number, because, um...

Bengie - "played shortstop for Arizona Western College"
Dwight Winn - "On October 3, 1999, he hit an inside-the-park grand slam against the New York Yankees. No player has hit one since."
Juan "Scrunchy Face" Uribe - "Uribe has ... three children: Juan Luis, Juanny, and Janny"
Ishi - "person life married michelle" (this part is written just like this and hidden at the very bottom of his page)
Nate - "He is one of few baseball players to bat without batting gloves."
Flewis - "He is the cousin of former major league outfielder Matt Lawton."
Edgar R. - "is one of only three players to be the last hitter of two World Series"
Matty C - "graduated from Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee, where he earned the nickname Big Sugar"
Eli W- "MLB Debut: July 5, 2005 for the Baltimore Orioles"
Scott Rowand - "is the first cousin of Tampa Bay Rays pitcher James Shields."
Matt Downs - "born March 19, 1984 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama"
B. Wilson - "recorded saves in 24 consecutive save opportunities between May 2, 2008 and August 20, 2008"
Affeldt - "he had half of the nail surgically removed after the 2003 season"
Justin Miller - "in 2004, Major League Baseball established a rule that forced Miller to wear long sleeves whenever he played."..."I don't know," he laughed. "They just said it's the 'Justin Miller rule.'""
Howry - "is one of four pitchers who have pitched in at least 70 games each of the four seasons from 2004-08"
Snatchwig - "When Valdez was first traded to the Giants, he went by the name Manny Mateo. While in his first year with the organization, however, his real name and real age (nine months older than he previously claimed) were revealed"
Panda - "Sandoval himself characterized his approach as: "See ball, swing."
RJ - "During batting practice in 1988, the 6'10" Johnson, then with the Montreal Expos, collided head-first with outfielder Tim Raines, prompting his teammate to exclaim, "You're a big unit!""
Medders - "born January 26, 1980 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama"
Romo - "In 2005 he was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year."
Timmy - "Lance Berkman offered his view of Lincecum: "He's got as good of stuff as I've ever seen. ... He's got three almost unhittable pitches.""
Sadowski - Categories: Polish-American sportspeople
Dirty Sanchez - "becoming the 3rd player from Sabana Grande, PR to reach the Major Leagues and the 1st pitcher (Jose Vidro, Robinson Cancel)"
Torres - "On June 15th, 2009, Torres hit the 48th Splash Hit at AT&T Park."
Zito - "His uncle is TV's Patrick Duffy"
Bochy (Bonus) - "is known for having one of the largest cap sizes in Major League Baseball at 8 3/4. When he joined the Mets in 1982, they did not have a batting helmet that would fit him, and they had to send the ones he was using in the minors."

I was at the game last night and just have to vent

redhornet78 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:11:00 -0000

so here’s an idea of the dodgers fans there…

“giants suck”, “go back to the gay area”, “giants are fags”. all family friendly stuff when their team was up by five runs. and for every one “go dodgers” you hear five “giants suck” because they don’t seem to want pride in their home team, just contempt for another city.

i saw three fights break out and someone threw a full container of popcorn at a giants fan who was walking up the aisle; he went and told security so logically security threw HIM out.

one dodgers fan stood up, looked at the crowd around him and yelled “show some class guys, we’re representing the dodgers”…. he was booed and had bottles thrown at him until he gave up and walked away.

walking away from the game two drunks started yelling “any faggot giants fans here? i want to kick some ass”. there were six of us, but my most rowdy friend who is always ready to brawl just shrugged and said “eh, i’ve got work tomorrow and a future, so i’ll pass.”

i’ve been going to dodgers-giants games here in l.a. since 1998 and this was one of the worst crowds i’ve seen… each year they seem to get more vulgar and disrespectful.

man, i can’t wait to see a game up home next month with decent human beings.

OT: What was your first comment?

redhornet78 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:48:19 -0000

After reading Xathan's Open HAPPY Giants Images Thread (Yay!) I noticed some McCoven posting their first ever comment on the site and wanted to see what everyone else's was.

I would love to see a hodgepodge that old timers would understand and we'd have to explain to the new kids. so, post your "109!" followed by someone else's "garlic fries are the bestest."

Oh, If you have hundreds on comments I don't know how to go directly to your first one; I just looked at the date I joined then went to the MC archives and searched through a few threads after that date. Can someone post the non-dummy way of doing it?

Vernon Wells?

redhornet78 — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:11:39 -0000

Vernon Wells?

6 years, $100M left on the contract, can opt out after 2011.

if the blue jays are trying to shed payroll and want to get out from under this contract, is it worth it for us to pursue?

James has his 2009 projections looking like this:
23 hr
85rbi
.281
.817 OPS
.355 wOBA

of course this is in toronto... as far as i can read espn has the rogers centre park factor as favoring the pitcher even more than the big phone, but i'm not sure how that works.

anyhow, wells just turned 30 last week and played in only 108 games last year, but i'd still prefer him in center to scotty.

the jays definitely won't give him away, and would need to replace him in the outfield, so i'm thinking:

rowand, sosa and english for wells.

blue jays save $52M and rowand's deal is 2 years shorter than wells. they also pick up some good pitching prospects.

i REALLY want out of rowand's contract, and this gives us a middle of the order bat without having to give up too much.

i've always liked wells and wanted us to pursue him before his large extension was signed, so maybe i'm still all over 2005 wells.

Mets Interested in Pierre?

redhornet78 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:15:52 -0000

Mets Interested in Pierre?

for some reason the mets are interested in pierre, assuming the dodgers pick up a huge chunk of salary. if they are looking for a speedster, i do believe we have postseason hero who could fill the need for a stolen base threat.

although i think he's a great clubhouse guy, i really want to move roberts. i'd prefer the rotating 4 outfielders plus bowker as the backup. i really want to see what nate and bowker can do and feel any at-bats going to roberts aren't going to see what our future clubs are about.

what would it take to move roberts? $2.5M and roberts for a A/AA arm?