Madison Bumgarner's quiet strength

MadBum just might be quietly building a strong case to be considered the Giants staff ace. He always seems to show up big in big games.

from Yahoo Sports:
Puig returns, but Giants beat Dodgers 7-2 - Yahoo Sports:

Bumgarner has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.65, which is better than that of All-Star teammates Tim Lincecum (2.77) and Matt Cain (2.48). Last season, he came within one strikeout of becoming only the second Giants lefty since Ray Sadecki in 1968 to finish a season with 200 or more.

''You don't want to give guys free passes at any time. You have to make them earn it of you can,'' Bumgarner said. ''But at the same time, you don't want to just give in and just throw a meatball up there. You've got to make pitches and work on command and get ahead of guys.''

Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA in his last five starts at Chavez Ravine.

''He was commanding both sides of the plate and locating,'' Gonzalez said. ''He's just like anybody else. If he can command down and away, down and in, up and away and up and in, and crisscross the strike zone, it makes it tough.''

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He is the strength of the pitching staff and has been for some time now. This 2012 article from Bruce Jenkins gives a glimpse of where his quiet strength may come from.

from SFGate.com
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Finding-a-nickname-for-Madison-Bumgarner-3500734.php

Astros SS Correa is the hitter of the day

Carlos Correa is another prospect, much like the Cardinals Tim Cooney, who will not be kept down in the minors for too long. This kid is only 19 years old, but he may head the list of top young SS in the bigs very soon. The Astros could us some excitement. He has to cut down on his strikeouts somewhat, (what prospect doesn't?), but he sure puts a charge into it when he hits it.

It's good to see Panik and Brown off to good starts at AAA. Especially Brown, who has mostly disappointed and under achieved. Panik appears to be quietly posting numbers that indicate he is the most major league ready prospect as  a hitter that the Giants may have. From the looks of things, he may be the only hitter that you can say that about.

Roger Kieschnick joins the spare parts list of ex-Giants along with Nate Schierholtz and Conor Gilaspie as he moves on to the D-Backs organization. Kieschnick was given a small chance to show what he could do late last year and, like Gilaspie and Schierholtz before him, did not show the brass enough.

From an organizational standpoint as far as hitters go, this has been a consistent theme that needs to be addressed. I know some want to give credit for Posey, Sandoval, Belt and Crawford, but I'm not sure I give too much credit for Posey to the organization. He was pretty much a finished product as a hitter on Draft Day. Sandoval is an anomaly. Which leaves Craford and Belt. Not much to show for all that BP and hitting instruction.

Baseball America Prospect Report
Compiled by Baseball America   April 07, 2014

HITTER OF THE DAY: Carlos Correa, ss — high Class A Lancaster (Astros)
Several players had outstanding days at the plate Sunday, as you'll see in the chart below, including C Gary Sanchez at Double-A Trenton (Yankees), who homered and knocked in four runs. But Correa, Houston's No. 1 prospect and No. 7 overall, continued his blazing start in the California League with his first home run in a 3-for-4 night. He's now hitting .533/.556/.800 

SF		AA		Villalona, Angel DH		4		0		1		2		.294
SF		AAA		Brown, Gary CF		5		3		3		0		.368		2B (2), 3B (1), SB (1)
SF		AAA		Panik, Joe SS		5		1		3		1		.313
SF		LoA		Arroyo, Christian 2B		4		0		1		0		.125

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from Bleacher Report:
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dcP48?

CSN Bay Area’s Andrew Baggarly reports that the Diamondbacks have claimed outfielder Roger Kieschnick off of waivers from the Giants. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the D-Backs placed pitcher Patrick Corbin on the 60-day disabled list, then assigned Kieschnick to Triple-A Reno.

The Giants had designated Kieschnick for assignment on Saturday after he posted a meager .172/.294/.172 line in 29 at-bats during spring training. Kieschnick, 27, didn’t hit much in his first season in the big leagues last season, either. In 95 plate appearances, he posted a .202/.295/.226 line.

Cardinals LHP Tim Cooney is the pitcher of the day

According to Baseball America anyway. He had a decent chance to stick with the Cardinals after an impressive spring. It doesn't look like he will be in the minors for too long. Maybe just long enough to drop a year from his free agent time.

Just what the Cardinals need, more pitching!! The rich get richer.

His K/BB ratio has been getting better as he rises up the ranks:
High A: 5.75
AA: 6.94
AAA 9.00

Those are eye-popping, jaw-dropping numbers by themselves. To be rising as he encounters better competition is pretty unusual. My guess is this guy knows how to pitch.

Baseball America Prospect Report
Compiled by Baseball America   April 06, 2014

PITCHER OF THE DAY: Tim Cooney, lhp — MEM
There were several excellent outings Saturday night, including Jake deGrom (NYM) at Las Vegas and Jimmy Nelson (MIL) at Nashville, but lefthander Cooney—who's the No. 6 prospect in a very deep Cardinals system, struck out nine in six strong innings in his Triple-A debut. Cooney threw just 88 pitches in an 11-1 win over Iowa, which had Top 100 prospects Javier Baez and Arismendy Alcantara in the lineup.

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Giants look to draft a difference maker

I've heard a D-lineman or two, maybe one of the top O-lineman, but this is the guy I would like to see the G-men go after. I get that you have to keep Eli off his back, but with multiple targets criss-crossing the field, he doesn't have to hold onto the ball too long.  This guy looks like he can stretch the middle of the field.



Drafting in the 12 spot, you need to find a difference maker. This guy fits the bill.



from the New York Post:

Serby unveils first projection of upcoming NFL Draft | New York Post:

12- GIANTS: TE ERIC EBRON, North Carolina
A 6-foot-4, 245-pound Vernon Davis clone who helps new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo fix Eli Manning. Victor Cruz receives permission to hand in the card and salsa at Radio City.

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from Yahoo Sports:



NFL  draft: Two-round mock draft has Bridgewater, Bortles ahead of Manziel | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo Sports:

12. New York Giants — North Carolina TE Eric Ebron

Prediction: A month from now, I will have Ebron going even higher. Ebron has Vernon Davis-like athleticism, and Davis, you might remember, was a fast riser in 2006, all the way up to No. 6. Ebron could go as high seventh. But if he falls here, he would be the perfect inside weapon for Eli Manning. The Giants have fallen back on a rent-a-TE approach that has produced OK results, but zero continuity at the position. This could change that, and new coordinator Ben McAdoo could do the same things with Ebron that the Packers did with Jermichael Finley.

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The big club starts out 4-1, and the Poco Gigantes strut their stuff

SF Giants No. 20 prospect Kendry Flores | 1st start of 2014

 connerglennpenfold

It's good to be a Giants fans. This ConnorGlennPenfold has a nice YouTube channel going on there. His clips last longer than some of my MiLB streaming games, and I paid for those.....but anyway, thanks CGP for an extended look at the Poco Gigantes.

This kid Flores has had a small, but growing, number of advocates for what seems like years now. I can see why. He has a nice mix of pitches, what appears to be a smooth, low-stress, repeatable delivery, which means he will throw strike after strike after strike and he will likely do it for year after year after year. 

He is twenty-two year old, and begins the year in High-A San Jose, so he's likely a couple of years away. But you throw this guy in there with Clayton Blackburn (also at High-A) and Kyle Crick (AA - Richmond) and the Giants will have solid pitching for some time. This kid seems to have a good feel for pitching and his advanced stats reflect that, Flores sports a career 5.0 K/BB ratio and it was 8.0+ at Augusta (Low-A) last year. 

Blach and Blackburn have similar stat lines to Flores which to me indicates they are very advanced as pitchers rather than just simply throwers. Some things about the flame-throwers like Hembree and Crick, mainly a high level of walks, pose some red flags as far as whether you can put the label of "future-closer" or "top of the rotation starter" on them. In other words, Crick and Hembree are beginning to worry me just a wee bit. 

KENDRY FLORES  A   San Francisco Giants 

Born: November 24, 1991  (22.133)

PlaceAzua, Dominican Republic

Ht/Wt 6-2 / 175

Bats/Throws Right / Right

Drafted:Signed as UDFA 2010 by SF

Richmond might be the rotation to watch this year for Giants prospect watchers, much like San Jose was last year.  

This is a look at the top pitching prospects in the Giants organization. I have to admit, Stratton and Agosta in High-A is a concern as well. Given there age and experience, AA seems like more the spot for them, but WDIK......?

AAA - Fresno

Edwin Escobar LHP 

Heath Hembree RHP 

Mike Kickham LHP

Jake Dunning RHP

Dan Runzler LHP

AA - Richmond 

Kyle Crick RHP

Clayton Blackburn RHP 

Ty Blach  LHP

Aldaberto Mejia LHP

Derek Law RHP

Josh Osich LHP

Cody Hall RHP


High-A  San Jose 

Kendry Flores RHP 

Chris Stratton RHP

Martin Agosta RHP

Any way you look at it, that's a lot of pitching and nicely split up between LHP / RHP, starters and relievers, and HS pitchers versus college pitchers. 

Baseball Prospectus | BP Unfiltered: The Whole Ball Player

I wish I was smart enough to have sold mine for $141. I read some stories in the SABR newletter about this (cult) classic baseball book selling for $89-$99 bucks a pop. I waited until the price was down to $39.99 before I put my original copy for sale on Amazon.com. Oh well, it's only money....c'est la vie.

from Baseball Prospectus:
Baseball Prospectus | BP Unfiltered: The Whole Ball Player:

"A new paperback copy of Kevin Kerrane’s Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting costs $141.12 on Amazon. A new hardcover copy will run you $284.94. That’s a shame, since it’s worth reading. Not many people have upwards of $100 to drop on a baseball book, especially after buying copies of BP2012 and Extra Innings for all of their friends, family members, and co-workers.*"

*In 2008, I bought one online for $5. If I'd known the market for books about scouting from the 1980s was about to explode, I would have stockpiled many more. Bad scouting by me.

The book includes a chart devised by Jim McLaughlin, the first scouting director of the Orioles, who later held the same position with the Reds. You know that scene in Moneyball where Billy Beane gets fed up with the stereotypical scouts who are telling him how each player’s face and girlfriend look instead of what he wants to know? McLaughlin was Billy Beane in that scene, 50 years before Billy Beane was. McLaughlin rarely left the office to see players in person. Instead, he concentrated on making scouting a more scientific process: in his own words, he “scouted scouts.” According to Kerrane:

...he brought baseball scouting into the modern era by exercising rigorous bureaucratic control. He began employing cross-checkers in 1955, ten years before the draft, to provide multiple, layered views of top prospects. He reorganized scouting territories for more extensive fishing where the fish were biting. He held scouting seminars, staged mock signings, and barraged his staff with memos on the difference between skills and talents, or between performance and tools. And when possible, he got rid of the old-fashioned individualists.

Alex Belth wrote more about McLaughlin here. Basically, he’s the patron saint of scouting for anyone who believes in an objective approach to baseball. As part of his efforts to make scouts more efficient, McLaughlin created a chart to capture all the qualities of a player, separating them into tangibles and intangibles. This is that chart. You can tell it’s old, because when McLaughlin created it, people still hadn’t discovered that they could save themselves some time by making “Ball Player” one word. (Click to expand.)

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Replay rules fail the Giants, hand win to D-Backs

Well, it was a pivotal point in the game and a bit of a momentum turner. But the Giants helped out a little bit and I sure hope this isn't a preview of coming attractions from this years bullpen.

from sbnation.com:
http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/4/2/5574402/instant-replay-baseball-mlb-giants-diamondbacks

Looking forward to the human element going away? It's standing behind you with a mallet.

So you have a system that doesn't have the right angle to overturn the prior pick-off play at first base: http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/63817564/v31752091

Which leads to this play at the plate (same runner):



HE'S OUT!!!! But alas he's not, so "We've got to get the call right" is held hostage to the silly rules.

NEWS FLASH: Olney adopts my fifth monkey in the booth proposal. 

Think about how this could be streamlined: There could be a fifth umpire or other approved official sitting in the same seat where Dunston and others are being asked to review calls, on site — and then if there’s a call that needs to be reviewed, that fifth umpire can signal to the crew on the field for a brief pause. The crew chief can call time, and when the correct call is determined, that can be relayed to the umpires on the field. Bada bing, bada boom, just as all scoring plays and plays in the last three innings are subject to review.

Better late than never. Actually it is too late to help salvage the Giants unbeaten season.

Oh well, the new MLB replay system, crating new ways to make major league umpires look like screw-ups.
Thanks Bud.

Posey's home run caps Giant rally in 9-8 victory - Yahoo Sports

Good start for my Giants - Rays World Series prediction for the year. Posey just golfed this ball off the D-Backs scoreboard, one of the best RH swings in baseball right now.

MLB.com replay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgx61QTErkE

from Yahoo Sports:
Posey's home run caps Giant rally in 9-8 victory - Yahoo Sports:

Posey's star turn didn't surprise Giants starter Madison Bumgarner, who left after giving up four unearned runs in four innings.

''He's on a different level, man,'' Bumgarner said. ''He's so good and he's been that good since day one. It's fun to watch him play every day.''

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Martin St. Louis traded to New York Rangers from Tampa Bay Lightning - ESPN New York

This is going to take some getting used to, seeing Martin St. Louis in a uniform other than the Tampa Bay Lightning. This seems like an even trade, captain for captain, but just looking at the player for player trade, a net loss for the heart Lightning. St. Louis was the heart and soul of this club for years and years. His play recently shows he seemingly has not missed a step. His relentless hustle is a great influence throughout the organization. Top to bottom.



from ESPN New York:

Martin St. Louis traded to New York Rangers from Tampa Bay Lightning - ESPN New York:

The New York Rangers have acquired six-time All-Star Martin St. Louis from the Tampa Bay Lightning for captain Ryan Callahan and two draft picks. The Rangers sent a first-round pick in 2015 and a second-round pick in 2014 to Tampa Bay in the deal, which was completed in the final hours before Wednesday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. 

There are two picks-related conditions in the trade. If the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference finals this season, the 2014 pick headed to Tampa Bay would become a first-round selection. If Callahan, a pending unrestricted free agent, re-signs with the Lightning, New York would receive a second-round pick in 2015 and Tampa Bay would get an additional seventh-round pick in 2015.

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You don't do a heart transplant and replace a strong heart with a weaker heart. The patient suffers. The draft picks may seem like some sort of panacea, but the Lightning better hope that the patient survives once the replacement heart walks away in free-agency. Then where are you?



What a bad move for the Lightning and a turbo boost for the Rangers playoff hopes. Bad move by the Lightning. That's all I can say. Horribly bad.

Baseball: Kaneland grad Casey Crosby moving to bullpen for Detrot Tigers - Aurora Beacon News

This was also  body. confirmed in a recent Baseball America article. This could be a very positive development for Casey and turn out to be a role that will allow him to make a positive impact on the Tigers. You can pitch in the bigs for a long time with a live arm attached to the left side of your body.

from the Aurora Beacon news:
Baseball: Kaneland grad Casey Crosby moving to bullpen for Detrot Tigers - Aurora Beacon News:

When he comes in to spring training, our first look will be at him in the bullpen,” club president/general manager Dave Dombrowski was quoted in a mlb.com report.

“We can always switch him back if we think it’s best, but we think right now he’s in a spot where he’s developed some. A lot of our people think he’s cut out for a bullpen role, and so that’s how we’ll bring him in.”

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