Spring Training 2013 Edition

[tzill]

This has been the best week, weather wise, I have experienced here. Lots of good Giants fans to connect with, too. The love of the Giants runs deep in Northern California, and elsewhere.

Going home this morning.

BTW, Salt River Fields is the nicest ballpark in the area. It is drop dead gorgeous. Enjoy!

I just came back from the Timmy fiasco at Scottsdale Stadium; off to see Padres now. I've been to SRF before and I agree -- it's the nicest.

Not much to report other than that Noonan and Belt looked really good and Timmy looked like he was really struggling to repeat his arm slot. All over the fucking place....worried.

 

[MarcoPolo]

I just came back from the Timmy fiasco at Scottsdale Stadium; off to see Padres now. I've been to SRF before and I agree -- it's the nicest.

Not much to report other than that Noonan and Belt looked really good and Timmy looked like he was really struggling to repeat his arm slot. All over the fucking place....worried.

It may turn out to be a very good thing that Timmy refused to sign a long-term contract before the 2012 season. Timmy signed through 2017 for $150M could have been a nightmare of Zito-esque proportions.

 

[msgkings322]

It may turn out to be a very good thing that Timmy refused to sign a long-term contract before the 2012 season. Timmy signed through 2017 for $150M could have been a nightmare of Zito-esque proportions.

I think we sort of covered this before. Definitely dodged a bullet on the long term deal with him. This year will be really interesting...if he totally sucks again as a starter (and we have to assume he might, just because we won a ring last year doesn't magically fix Timmy. He stunk last year) I have said he needs to be convinced to go the Eckersley route and become an elite bullpen weapon like he was in the playoffs.

If he doesn't want to, let some other team sign him to be a shitty starter. If he does go with that, we can re-sign him for less.

 

[the_broom]

I think we sort of covered this before. Definitely dodged a bullet on the long term deal with him. This year will be really interesting...if he totally sucks again as a starter (and we have to assume he might, just because we won a ring last year doesn't magically fix Timmy. He stunk last year) I have said he needs to be convinced to go the Eckersley route and become an elite bullpen weapon like he was in the playoffs.

If he doesn't want to, let some other team sign him to be a shitty starter. If he does go with that, we can re-sign him for less.

While he looked fantastic out of the pen in the playoffs...let's not forget Timmy was getting lit up in the 1st/2nd innings most of last year. Were the playoffs the real Timmy...or fluke Timmy?

 

[tzill]

Notes from Tempe Diablo stadium:

1. Susac!! Came in the last two innings and generally looked in charge behind the dish.
2. Oropeza has power; should be an interesting minor league campaign for him.
3. Scoots looked just fine moving around and magical on a 1-4-3 kick save/glove toss for an out.
4. Crawford with two hits off lefties looked like he wants to play 150+ this year.
5. Kobe looked good at 3b AND at 1b...nice 5th IF there.
6. Oxy failed to catch two that he wouldn't miss except in an AZ high sun. His wheels are there.
7. Twitchy is an absolute SHOW on the bases. Dude cannot stop adjusting his pants, rubbing shit, etc. Hilarious. Also, he's locked in. Expecting a big year from him.
8. MVP had a quiet game, and STILL went 2-4. Dude is fucking amazing.
9. Zeets looked gritty and confident, but still allowed his only run after bases loaded with two outs, on an 0-2 fastball. His yacker was working; don't understand the FB choice.
10. Mijares looks fine. Bad day, but his velo was great and he just couldn't get the ball down.
11. Gaudin is going to be a very nice Mota 2.0.
12. Hembree will be up this year, count on it.
13. Also, SUSAC!!

Flying home tonight. Man, I could stay down here another week.

 

[Stokes1931]

Notes from Tempe Diablo stadium:

1. Susac!! Came in the last two innings and generally looked in charge behind the dish.
2. Oropeza has power; should be an interesting minor league campaign for him.
3. Scoots looked just fine moving around and magical on a 1-4-3 kick save/glove toss for an out.
4. Crawford with two hits off lefties looked like he wants to play 150+ this year.
5. Kobe looked good at 3b AND at 1b...nice 5th IF there.
6. Oxy failed to catch two that he wouldn't miss except in an AZ high sun. His wheels are there.
7. Twitchy is an absolute SHOW on the bases. Dude cannot stop adjusting his pants, rubbing shit, etc. Hilarious. Also, he's locked in. Expecting a big year from him.
8. MVP had a quiet game, and STILL went 2-4. Dude is fucking amazing.
9. Zeets looked gritty and confident, but still allowed his only run after bases loaded with two outs, on an 0-2 fastball. His yacker was working; don't understand the FB choice.
10. Mijares looks fine. Bad day, but his velo was great and he just couldn't get the ball down.
11. Gaudin is going to be a very nice Mota 2.0.
12. Hembree will be up this year, count on it.
13. Also, SUSAC!!

Flying home tonight. Man, I could stay down here another week.

It is nice down there! Glad to see Susac do well. He hit the game winner earlier in the week (we were there). I was not impressed when I saw him with San Jose last summer, but hopefully he will show he is better than that.

 

[SFGRTB]

Just arrived here today! Had a fantastic dinner at Rustler's Rooste, it was quite a hefty meal so better go with an empty stomach. Just what I expect from here.

Heading off to a couple games this week, not sure what I'll see, but I'm excited to get a look at Noonan. I've got a good feeling about this kid.

Of course, I'll post a report here post-game.

 

[Stokes1931]

Just arrived here today! Had a fantastic dinner at Rustler's Rooste, it was quite a hefty meal so better go with an empty stomach. Just what I expect from here.

Heading off to a couple games this week, not sure what I'll see, but I'm excited to get a look at Noonan. I've got a good feeling about this kid.

Of course, I'll post a report here post-game.

Hope you can see the Giants.

Most Giants games, home or away, are sold out. StubHub usually has tix, though.

Salt River Fields is really nice and worth seeing a game there.

Camelback (Dodger ballpark) is also really nice.

The Reds ballpark isn't too bad, either.

Have a great time this week!

 

[tzill]

Just arrived here today! Had a fantastic dinner at Rustler's Rooste, it was quite a hefty meal so better go with an empty stomach. Just what I expect from here.

Heading off to a couple games this week, not sure what I'll see, but I'm excited to get a look at Noonan. I've got a good feeling about this kid.

Of course, I'll post a report here post-game.

I think the final home game is Tuesday; they're at Salt River on Wednesday. Choro Lodge is amazing.

Have fun!

 

[ColinCoby]

Who grabs the 5th outfielder spot: Gillespie and Peguero?

 

[calsnowskier]

Who grabs the 5th outfielder spot: Gillespie and Peguero?

I am hoping for Gillespie to take it out of camp. I want Frankie to get the consistant PT. Barring trade, I expect Pegs to own LF before the end of the season.

 

[Robotech]

Forgive my ignorance, but who is Twitchy?

 

[calsnowskier]

Forgive my ignorance, but who is Twitchy?

Rev
Herk
UnderPants

 

[Stokes1931]

Rev
Herk
UnderPants

Just watch his AB's. The man has so many moving parts, a Rube Goldberg machine would be jealous.

 

[SFGRTB]

Here's what I saw today at Hohokam.

1) Volgy looks like he's in mid-season form. He was lights out the first 5 innings, locating all of his pitches. Unfortunately, there is no radar at the park so I did not know hoe his velocity was. But he looked real good. The sixth inning, he gave up a bloop double to Nate Schierholtz then made his only mistake of the day, hung one up to Navarro, who made him pay. He looked a bit tired in the 6th, but he did have to run the bases twice and even scored a run. Plus, it was really friggen hot (maybe that's just me being used to the cold for the last 5 months)

2) Noonan is really making his case for the big club lately. He had to line-drive doubles and made a bases loaded, run saving play at 3rd. He had to dive to his left on a one hop liner that was scorched, but he handled it perfectly and completed the play at first. It was a big league play at 3rd.

3) Arias had a few nice ABs and missed a homer by about 5 feet, but bounced of the wall.

4) Travis Wood was throwing junk up there as usual, he's basically a young Jamie Moyer. He walked Volgy twice!

5) Shawon Dunston Jr. played for about 4 innings. When he was announced, he got a real nice round of applause, from everybody. Understandable.

6) Joe Panik had a swinging bunt for his only hit, but he made a real nice play going to his left on a tricky hop while playing second base. It was the first ball hit that inning, and he had just entered the game. Then the very next pitch, he had another ball hit his way, it was a routine play. The ball will find you... It was encouraging to see that he handled second comfortably.

7) Posey played every inning. I just thought that was different, for a spring game and up 6 runs.

8) Kontos, Lopez and Romo all looked good. Romo is still searching for his slot IMO, but he still looked OK. Lopez came in and faced 2 righties but got them both out.

9) Pagan missed another ball in the sun. Today was real tough though. There was just enough haze to lose track of the ball and the sun travels directly in the line of sight. A Cubs player missed a ball too.

10) Scott Hariston is still AUTOMATIC against the Giants. He didn't hit a homer, at least, but he hit a bullet into LF for a double. When he was announced, there was a collective groan from the Giants fans, followed by everybody telling Cubs fans that "this guy is only good against us". Made us look right in that spot.

Heading to Scottsdale tomorrow afternoon. Not really looking forward to Petit, saw him last year in the Spring and we got killed. Hopefully this time it will be different.

 

[calsnowskier]

https://twitter.com/CSNBaggs/statuses/316590747187036160

Gaudin officially wins the BP battle...

Gillespie v Pegs and Noonan v ??? are the only remaining non-injury-related roster questions.

 

[calsnowskier]

https://twitter.com/msanserino/statuses/316526337085038595

Sanchez is a Durty Pirate Hooker!!

 

[calsnowskier]

https://twitter.com/CSNBaggs/statuses/316610827417436160

To make room for Gaudin...

 

[SFGRTB]

Observations from today in Scottsdale:

1) First inning of the game, Posey made an error. I couldn't tell if he miss-played it off the bat or took a tricky hop, but the error came on the throw. He rushed it and made a bad throw, but he had plenty of time. Didn't get much opportunity after that.

2) Belt had a great AB against a very tough lefty Thatcher (basically the Pads version of Javy Lopez). He worked the count and got a RBI single to left. He also played left field, look OK out there in the limited opportunities he got.

3) Panik made another great play, this time to his right (and at second). He crossed the second base bag on a chopper, threw across his body and made a perfect throw to 1st. SSS, but the last 2 days he's look real comfortable over at second.

4) Scot Proctor was all over the place, he almost hit Kyle Blanks in the face twice! Then threw a pitch in the dirt right after! Lucky he got out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed. Of course, Chad making the team makes this irrelevant.

5) My guy Noonan continues to look solid. I hope he makes the team. He was caught on the bases today, the Pads fielder dropped a popup but Noonan was caught trying to advance.

 

[calsnowskier]

I am listening to the Giants / DBacks game on MLB atbat right now, and I realized how wierd the broadcasting team is.

Greenwald is the play-by-play guy for the Fresno Grizzlies (SF AAA). Shawn Estes is the play-by-play guy for the Reno Aces (Arz AAA). Why doesnt Estes do more work with the DBack org, if he is a full time employee of theirs?