Sunday, March 1, 2015

Thoughts on Spring Training(So Far)

You know things are slow in spring training when the postponement of an intrasquad game is a huge disappointment.  Not a lot of hard news out of the Giants spring camp so far, which is a good thing, because this time of year, almost all hard news is bad!

I think Angel Pagan finally took batting practice yesterday, but I'm not sure.  His lower back seems to be fine, but he's had a stiff neck.  If you want something to worry about, the cervical spine supports the neck and head and is part of the spine.  We'll see.  Hopefully this is just a garden variety stiff neck from sleeping crooked on the plane flight and will resolve with rest and therapy.

Matt Cain's first spring start was pushed back by 10-14 days.  Apparently there has been no physical setback, just a recommendation from the training staff.  It is a bit disturbing that it's being announced now instead of from day one of camp or before.  We'll keep the faith, though.  Spring Training is too long anyway!

The pitchers are ahead of the hitters, except Buster Posey who smoked Madison Bumgarner in live batting practice yesterday, a rope down the LF line, a line drive up the alley in left-center and a drive that bounced off the base of the CF wall 430 feet away from home plate.  When Posey found out Bumgarner was pitching live BP, he changed his grouping so he could hit off him instead of catching him.  Posey seemed awfully confident about this, so you have to wonder what was up with that?  Maybe the reporters need to ask Romo what's up?  I will say if Buster Posey is smart, he will never bat against Madison Bumgarner again, in batting practice or a real game.  Remember, Bummy is the dude who once hit a batter in the minors because "he swung too hard."

Steven Okert was singled out by Bruce Bochy as having good looking stuff.  Bochy commented that his arm angle is particularly tough on LH hitters.

Apparently truck shaming is part of what still passes for rookie hazing.  I think it was Erik Cordier who came to camp last year with a Ram 1500 truck.  He took a lot of ribbing from the vets about how small his truck was so came in this year with a Ford 450 with dual wheels or something like that.  As Jeremy Affeldt said, "good luck parking THAT in San Francisco!"

Around the League:

BJ Upton announced he wants to be known by his real name, Melvin, from now on, then promptly got injured.  Sesamoiditis.  Now, what is that?  Man, that Braves lineup is going to be BAD, but not necessarily worse if Upton can't play.

Early reports on Yasmany Tomas' attempts to play 3B in the D'Backs camp are not good.  Now he's going to play both 3B and OF in spring training games.

Seems like we have at least one of these every year.  Michael Saunders, acquired in an offseason trade by the Toronto Blue Jays, stepped in a sprinkler hole and tore the meniscus in his knee.  Had to have 60% of it removed.  Man, that just stinks!  Now he has to play the rest of his career to say nothing of living the rest of his life with over half of the meniscus gone in one knee just because of a below ground sprinkler hole.  There has to be a better way of watering the grass!  Didn't Lance Niekro miss most of a season a long time ago after stepping in one of those?

ChiSox LHP Chris Sale suffered an avulsion fracture in his foot when he dropped something he was taking off a truck.  The word avulsion sounds terrible, but I'm pretty sure this is what we used to call a chip fracture.  He is expected to miss just 3 weeks.  Hey!  Spring training is too long anyway!  Again, ballplayers should not be driving and loading trucks anyway.  Also, the ChiSox might want to investigate and make sure he was not popping wheelies on his motorcycle!

Of course, I am sure you have all heard about Josh Hamilton's situation.  Hamilton reportedly had a relapse of his drug addiction, not really a hot news flash there.  The warning signals have been blaring for at least a couple of years now.  You had to be suspicious that the huge contract and move to southern California was not going to go well for someone with that history.  The situation has revived the disease vs moral failing arguments surrounding drug addiction, and whether "punishment" is a proper response.  I tend to lean toward the disease model myself, but I don't pretend to have the answers.  There is a fine line between not enabling and punishment.  I do know that Hamilton's first priority bas to be sobriety even if that means being out of baseball temporarily or even permanently, but he has to come to that decision himself.  Having it imposed by someone else probably only delays him taking responsibility for the decision and his own sobriety himself.  On the other hand, he is a member of an organization that negotiated those rules on his behalf and the last thing Josh Hamilton needs right now is to have an exception made just for him because his situation is somehow different or special.

There is a segment by David Laurilia in his Sunday Notes on Fangraphs with some interesting comments by Ellis Valentine, a former MLB player and a recovering addict.  Valentine talks about entourages and their role in enabling.  I wish he had talked about that in more general terms than in Hamilton's specific situation.  As is, it came out sounding more than just a bit self-serving on Valentine's part, almost like he wants to be part of the entourage himself!

17 comments:

  1. That Hamilton contract was an accident waiting to happen. Too much money, too long and in an area with too much temptation. I had always heard the wife and family kept him grounded but saw where his wife is now going to be on one of those "Real Housewives of " TV shows. Looks like she got sucked into the So Ca lifestyle as well. Soooo glad Sabean avoided that one. Personally I wish him the best but the odds are not in his or the Angels favor.

    Billy Baseball

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, when I saw the missus was signing up for RHOOC, I said to myself, "this can't be good!" Have you seen that show? OMG! They would WANT Josh to use drugs just so they could have drama on the show! Yes, it's that bad!

      Delete
  2. Read a couple of good article about Arroyo being in camp to learn from mature major league veterans...how they prepare and take care of themselves, before, during and after a game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a feeling 2015 is going to be a breakout for Arroyo and we will see him on some national prospect rankings this time next year.

      Delete
  3. I think Pagan easily tops the Red Flag list for me. Next year's FA class for pitchers is great and everyone who reads the blog knows your thoughts on signing a pitcher to a long term contract. What are your feelings though on signing a hitter to a long term contract? I know the Giants don't have a need, but with Heyward, Gordon(possible opt out), and Upton available next summer. What hitter would you feel comfortable giving a long term deal too? Also, disregard the Giants inability to get a deal done. Who personally would you Dr. B. like to get if the opportunity presented itself. I say this in that manner because I know that you are going to say Mac Williamson is going to be ready and we don't need to waste time and money on FA outfielder!!!! It's a theoretical question. I know everyone is signed for next two yrs in OF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are going to invest in a player for the long term, Jason Heyward looks like as good a bet as any. I mean, he doesn't turn 26 until August of this year! The last two years have been a bit down on offense, but he is such a terrific defender, he still put up 5.1 fWAR last year. I think the offense will come back as he hits his prime years and is farther away from the beaning he suffered 2 years ago. Jason Heyward looks like a great long term investment to me.

      Delete
    2. I wonder if Heyward will test the market, or if STL will throw big money down and extend him this year. They would be very wise to keep him around. I know the odds are incredibly slim, but how cool would it be to have Posey AND Heyward, old high school foes, on the same club?!

      Delete
    3. I would think Heyward would want to try to raise his stock with a big season this year then test the market, but if he finds he loves it in St. Louis, he might be willing to do a Hunter Pence deal that is good for both sides in the exclusive negotiating window at the end of the season. He's from Georgia, so I'm thinking he thought he was going to be a Brave for life, so this all has to be a mental and emotional adjustment for him.

      What would it take to sign Heyward assuming he has a good, but maybe not great season? Wow! There just aren't many guys that good and that young on the market anymore! I'm thinking you have make the full commitment and make him a Giant for life: 12 year contract which gets him to age 38 with some vesting options for his age 39 and 40 seasons. Then, in view of the Scherzer contract, some type of long term pension type thing like $1 M/year for life? Make the whole package worth about $300 M. That is a big time commitment, but in light of the Scherzer/Stanton contracts, I think it's going to take something like that. Heyward is the one guy on next year's market who just might be worth it.

      Delete
  4. Hey Doc here's that video of the hit off the wall.

    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152656891366828

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounded like a rifle shot when he hit it.

      Delete
  5. Read a couple of encouraging articles on Timmy throwing well so far. Not taking too much away from it this early in Spring, but if this is his last season with the Giants, I'd like to see him have a comeback season, and leave on a positive note after all the great accomplishments as a Giant.

    LG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If he has a good season, I would not bet on this being Timmy's last season as a Giant. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

      Delete
    2. I'm having a hard time not getting my hopes up... I'd love it if he solved his problems and came back to the Giants. I don't expect the old Cy Young Timmy, but I just like him and would like to see him do well for the Giants.

      Delete
    3. I've been very down on Timmy myself. The steady erosion of his velocity is a bad prognostic sign. On the other hand, how far off is he? He pitched a no-hitter just last year and had a very good run mid-season before the wheels came off after Hector Sanchez went on the DL. If he was able to find some mechanical things working with his dad this winter, I could see him putting together a pretty good season. He doesn't have to be back in the mid-90's with the FB. 90-91 with improved command and his secondary stuff would make him a formidable pitcher. I'm just saying that it will be hard for the Giants to let a player who means so much to the franchise go if he puts up a solid season.

      Delete
  6. Hey DrB,

    Wasn't sure where to post this. Brandon Crawford posted on the "Brandon's" blog a couple days ago. He talked about getting to know Aoki and McGehee before bringing up his overall plan for 2015... avoiding the prolonged offensive slump. Here's his description. I don't remember exactly how you worded it, but this sounds so similar to what you mentioned about his hands "drifting." Sounds like you were dead on! Anyway, here's the clip from Craw's post.

    "So how do I do that? That’s the big question, right? I have to recognize more quickly when there’s something I need to change. I went through two bad months last season — July and August — before I realized I my hands were all over the place. I don’t know if I was getting tired or trying to do too much, but I would kind of lose track of where I was holding them from at-bat to at-bat. They’d get too high. Too far back. And I’d get trapped. I wasn’t as direct to the ball.

    So in September, I began again to do that little tap on my shoulder, which I did throughout 2013. It reminds me where my hands need to be — lower and closer to my body. And I had a great September."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for remembering my long ago musings. Yeah, If you watch Crawford closely when he is in one if his slumps, it's all because he doesn't have his hands in the right place at the right time and he ends up late on the swing. Maybe a mechanism like the "shoulder tap" will give him a point of reference to help him repeat his mechanics. I definitely will be watching for that.

      Delete
    2. But, if I recall correctly, Crawford had some slumps in 2013 too, so I'm not sure something he did all season that year is the answer either.

      Delete