The influence of Hudson on Lincecum

[Band of Brothers]

I just heard that Lincecum is going to try and learn the sinker that Tim Hudson throws. Looks like Hudson is already having a influence on the Giants club. The Hudson move by Sabean is going to end up being his best of this 2014 season. Hudson is a bulldog and I always liked his approach on the mound plus his tremendous work ethic.

I think the Giants match up with any team in the majors with a strong starting staff. The question will be health like most years and if they stay healthy the Giants will have a good chance at the West and beyond. Hudson could end up being the key move of this off season. If Lincecum can add that sinker he will induce more ground balls , especially DP's that will get him out of jams and in turn keep him in games longer.

 

[msgkings322]

Totally agree that Hudson was a great get.

But while you're right that we have the pitching to be very competitive, the Dodgers' pitching is every bit as good, and their lineup is notably better. So on paper we are not as good, but as you point out health is the big x-factor so we have a very good shot at it. Just not quite as good as the Dogs.

Another x-factor is the Panda, if he has a monster year fueled by visions of huge chests full of money coming his way, then our lineup starts to get pretty close to LA's. Morse is another potential equalizer.

 

[tzill]

Totally agree that Hudson was a great get.

But while you're right that we have the pitching to be very competitive, the Dodgers' pitching is every bit as good, and their lineup is notably better. So on paper we are not as good, but as you point out health is the big x-factor so we have a very good shot at it. Just not quite as good as the Dogs.

Another x-factor is the Panda, if he has a monster year fueled by visions of huge chests full of money coming his way, then our lineup starts to get pretty close to LA's. Morse is another potential equalizer.

I don't know if I agree. Their SP is arguably better on paper. Their BP and ours look to be about even. I'd say we have a slight edge in the lineup. Consider:

Pagan/Scutaro/Posey/Sandoval/Pence/Belt/Morse/Crawford

and

Crawford/Guerrero/Gonzales/Ramirez/Kemp/Puig/Uribe/Ellis

Given relative health, I think we're better.

 

[msgkings322]

I don't know if I agree. Their SP is arguably better on paper. Their BP and ours look to be about even. I'd say we have a slight edge in the lineup. Consider:

Pagan/Scutaro/Posey/Sandoval/Pence/Belt/Morse/Crawford

and

Crawford/Guerrero/Gonzales/Ramirez/Kemp/Puig/Uribe/Ellis

Given relative health, I think we're better.

I guess it's a little closer than I thought, and a lot depends on which Panda we get, what we get from Morse, does Puig keep up the production, etc.

Do you really think Belt gets moved back to 6th? I thought batting 3rd agreed with him...

 

[calsnowskier]

I guess it's a little closer than I thought, and a lot depends on which Panda we get, what we get from Morse, does Puig keep up the production, etc.

Do you really think Belt gets moved back to 6th? I thought batting 3rd agreed with him...

I agree. I think Belt will hit 3 in 90% of the games he plays.

Also, I think Craw may formally make the transition to 2 this season. If we get 100 games out of Scoots, that will be a miracle. This also means that Arias/Adrianza/Panik/Noonan/Abreu will play a rather large role in the Giants chances this year.

 

[SFGRTB]

I might have to give the edge too to the Dodgers bullpen. Jansen, Wilson, Perez, League, Rodriguez (who I still can't figure out, must be his delivery) whew. I guess it depends about health and Heath for us, can Affeldt, Romo and Casilla stay healthy and will Hembree step up.

 

[msgkings322]

We're not winning the division, but we should make the playoffs. And with baseball that's kind of all you need to do.

 

[Stokes1931]

We're not winning the division, but we should make the playoffs. And with baseball that's kind of all you need to do.

Baseball seems to be going the way of hockey, playing a full season just to see which three teams are out of the playoffs. A Thanksgiving World Series might be in the future. The TV networks want their money's worth.

 

[MarcoPolo]

We're not winning the division, but we should make the playoffs. And with baseball that's kind of all you need to do.

These days, "making the playoffs" as a wild-card team is a very hard road to travel. If we manage to win most (>=60%) of our head-to-head games with the doggies, we have a decent chance to win the division.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Baseball seems to be going the way of hockey, playing a full season just to see which three teams are out of the playoffs. A Thanksgiving World Series might be in the future. The TV networks want their money's worth.

Sorry, I disagree. The business that is MLB want their money. The networks are just the facilitators, MLB is the pimp.

 

[tzill]

Until we get to 32 teams and 8, four team divisions we are going to have awkward playoff scenarios like the one game WC. NBA and NHL have ridiculous playoffs because they haven't reached 32 either. The NFL gets it right, with 12/32 making it. MLB, if it had 32 teams in 8 divisions, could also go to 12 playoff teams. The two best records in each League would get a bye while the other 8 teams played a best of 3 WC round. Then you'd have a 5 game DS and 7 game LCS and WS. It'd only add 2-3 days to the current schedule, which could be made up with a couple of planned DH.

 

[Band of Brothers]

Lincecum rented out a warehouse in Seattle and had a mound installed during the off season . He threw more this off season than ever before and looks serious about improving in spring training. He is working hard on keeping the ball down in the zone and is my pick for comeback player of the year.

 

[the_broom]

This is fantastic news..I hope you're right.

 

[moxie]

I read somewhere that Murph put Hudson's locker between Cain & Timmy. Well played!

 

[ColinCoby]

How different is Hudson's sinker to the change up Timmeh already throws? Timmeh's change/split is already his best pitch (especially when he's ahead in the count). Not sure how much Hudson's pitch would add.

 

[Heathbar012]

How different is Hudson's sinker to the change up Timmeh already throws? Timmeh's change/split is already his best pitch (especially when he's ahead in the count). Not sure how much Hudson's pitch would add.

Interesting thought. If Timmy is going to spend his entire career with the Giants, it might be beneficial for him to have a third pitch with downward movement (though, it seems he uses the change/splitter significantly more often than a more curve/slider-like pitch, which is probably better for his longevity). If he can learn that sinker and place it at a different velocity with a slight change in spin, it could be a very effective pitch. At the very least, it's something to play around with in Spring Training, and possibly unveil at opportune times during the season. For the time being, I cam comfortable with him focusing almost exclusively on location and using his fastball and splitter the majority of the time. For Lincecum to be successful (since he, reportedly, is back on top of his conditioning), most of his work needs to be done in the film room and breaking down hitters with Buster and the rest of the staff.