Tag Archives: SF giants

by | May 15, 2015 · 4:12 PM

Hunter Pence is back

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

 

The long nightmare is over. Hunter Pence is returning to right field fo the San Francisco Giants. This Andrew Baggarly tweet rolled across the ol’ Twitter timeline Friday afternoon.

That is great news for all of us. The world is just a better place with Hunter Pence in the starting lineup. His hustle helps the Giants get through soe rough times. It will be great to see him charging hard through first base and sliding around the outfield.

Hunter Pence is back.

The Giants did a great job of fighting to have a .500ish record while he was injured. Having him back for 2 in Cincinnatti and then a home series with the Dodgers could be a launching point for this team. Or it could not. But he’s such a positive force on that field and in the clubhouse that it has to be a boost for the team. Hunter Pence is back. So who gets sent down to make room for Pence on the roster? John Shea says it’s going to be a catcher.

If I had a vote. It be fun to have a vote, wouldn’t it? I’d send down Hector Sanchez. The addition of Andrew Susac catching to give Buster Posey some days at first is working out just fine. There’s no need to carry 3 catchers anymore. The bullpen is set right now so shuffling around isn’t needed. The real shuffle happens when “It’s Travis Ishikawa” comes back to the team. But that’s another day.

With Pence returning to the lineup Saturday night here’s the batting order I’d love to see on a regular basis. Brandon Belt has been in a funk with a lot of the swing and miss lately. Maybe moving to 6th and lenghtening the Giants lineup will get him going again. Make it happen Boch.

Aoki LF
Panik 2B
Pagan CF
Posey C
Pence RF
Belt 1B
Duffy 3B
Crawford SS
Pitcher

On Posey first base days you can just slot Susac in for Belt. You’ll also note that I have Matt Duffy in the lineup. He should be playing everyday. But that’s a whole other post I don’t have in me right now. Today’s news is all sunshine and roses.

Hunter Pence is back.

-Eric
@2outhits

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by | April 13, 2015 · 1:21 AM

The Good, The Bad, & What’s Next?

Nori Aoki of the San Francisco Giants. TortureCast.com

Ezra Shaw/ Getty Images

Week one of the 2015 season is in the books and the San Francisco Giants are coming home after 7 games on the road to start it all up. They are limping back to AT&T Park after dropping their 3rd straight game to the San Diego Padres under the bright sunshine at Petco Park. They sit at 3-4 and are last in the division, but remember it’s early and they only sit 1.5 games back. This is no repeat of the torrid start from last season.

Each week I’m going to take a look back at the good and the not so good of the previous week. Don’t worry though, I won’t leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. I’ll always look ahead to the upcoming week ahead for the Giants. So let’s roll this baby out and bring you my new weekly look at the Giants. Continue reading →

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by | April 10, 2015 · 5:33 PM

Rivalry Renewed

(Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

(Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

This isn’t a post about gum. Well, I guess it kind of is but I’ll get to that in a minute. Last night the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres renewed acquaintances for the first of nineteen meetings between the two clubs this season. During the offseason, and right up until the day before the season opened, the Padres overhauled their roster. There’s new faces everywhere. Matt Kemp came from LA, they added Wil Myers and Justin Upton. The new catcher is Derek Norris, you may remember him from his days across the bay.

It seems the Padres have gotten tired of Giants fans invading Petco Park and turing it in to “AT&T South”. I didn’t mind, neither did you I’m guessing. They’ve decided to try and win some games for the first time since 2010. That’s what last night felt like, 2010. This first game between the clubs was a nail-biter. The Giants finally won 1-0 in the 12th inning on a Justin Maxwell pinch-hit that drove home Brandon Crawford with the winning run. Continue reading →

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by | April 5, 2015 · 2:10 PM

SF Giants preview: The other guys

Matt Duffy of the San Francisco Giants

Photo via USA TODAY Sports

Well here we are. The 2015 San Francisco Giants season is upon us. I thought I’d take this time to preview the season and throw out some predictions. I’m sure you’ve read the “big boy” publications and what they forecast for the season so I’m not going to even mention the fact that none of them are giving the Giants a chance to do big things this season.

Nope. Won’t mention it at all. That whole odd year thing? I won’t mention that either.

I’ve already previewed the starting rotation and the regulars. Here are some links.

Part 1: The rotation

Part 2: The regulars

For the part 3 I’m going to take a pass at the other guys. It’s time to take a look at the Giants bullpen and bench players.

The bullpen

It’s been reported over many Giants outlets that the team will carry 13 pitchers to start the season. If that is the case, here’s the guys that will be in the pen. Continue reading →

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by | April 3, 2015 · 7:43 PM

SF Giants preview: The regulars

Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants

Photo via AP Images

Well here we are. The 2015 San Francisco Giants season is upon us. I thought I’d take this time to preview the season and throw out some predictions. I’m sure you’ve read the “big boy” publications and what they forecast for the season so I’m not going to even mention the fact that none of them are giving the Giants a chance to do big things this season.

Nope. Won’t mention it at all. That whole odd year thing? I won’t mention that either.

I previewed the starting rotation yesterday. Today I’m looking at the starting 8. Well, truthfully, it’s the starting 9. Even though Hunter Pence is out until sometime during April, I’m going to include him here. It’s not like he won’t be back and frankly we all love him.

So here are the starters. I’m not going to go by batting order because Bruce Bochy has already said that he will mix it up. Some days Angel Pagan will hit 3rd, others he’ll hit 5th. I’m going to go around the diamond starting with LF and ending with the catcher position. I’m choosing which stats from last season I want to highlight with each player because, well, I can do that. So sit back and enjoy a look at this year’s Giants starters. All slash lines are batting average, on base percentage, and then slugging percentage.

Nori Aoki

2014 (w/ Royals): .285/.349/.360, 132 G, 549 PA, 22 2B, 6 3B, 1 HR, 63 R, 43 BB, 17 SB

It looks like Aoki is the new leadoff man. He’s entering his 4th year in the league. Nori is 1 of 2 new starts for the Giants this season. If he’s going to be in that role I’d love to see those walks improve. After 2 years with the Brewers he was on the AL champion Royals last season. You may remember them. I’m not sold on his arm out in LF. In fact, “noodle arm” is a term I’ve used to describe him on multiple occasions throughout spring training. But he’s not here for his defense. Aoki rarely strikes out and can be a key if he shoots the gap towards triples alley. If he does that, he made lead the league in triples this season. Continue reading →

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by | April 2, 2015 · 9:00 PM

SF Giants preview: The starting rotation

Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants

Photo credit: NBC

Well here we are. The 2015 San Francisco Giants season is upon us. I thought I’d take this time to preview the season and throw out some predictions. I’m sure you’ve read the “big boy” publications and what they forecast for the season so I’m not going to even mention the fact that none of them are giving the Giants a chance to do big things this season.

Nope. Won’t mention it at all. That whole odd year thing? I won’t mention that either.

Since I tend to get wordy and long-winded I’m going to break this up in to 3 different parts. This one is all about the starting rotation, next will be the regular lineup, and finally I’ll close with the bullpen/bench players. I’m cheating a little bit because I’m trying to give the Giants some time to make their final roster decisions. The longer I put off the bench/bullpen, the better chance there is that we will actually know who’s made the cut.

I also want to note that I don’t have 2015 projections up for the guys. I’m sure Ben Lee or Chad King may have something like that, but not me. It’s not that I hate all the new stats, I’m just not the guy that’s going to give them to you. Think of me as the scout type that is holding on to the eye test, even if it’s to my own detriment. Also, I’m throwing out all the spring stats because frankly, they are ugly.

So without further ado, I present part 1, the starting rotation.

Madison Bumgarner

2014: 18-10, 2.98 ERA, 33 Starts, 4 CG, 2 SHO, 43 BB, 219 K, 217.1 IP

The ace of the staff. What more can be said about the job he did for the Giants in 2014? Well, probably volumes of work, but that’s not what I’m here for today. The biggest question mark is how Bumgarner will respond this season after compiling 270 total innings between the regular season and playoffs a year ago. His previous high was 2012 when he tossed 223.1 innings. He followed that with just over 200 innings in 2013 while posting his lowest career ERA (2.77) in 31 starts. Continue reading →

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by | March 11, 2015 · 7:26 PM

Pablo hates us all

Pablo Sandoval

Photo Credit: Bleacher Report

Pablo Sandoval doesn’t like any of us. Unless you’re Hunter Pence or Bruce Bochy. If one of those is you and you’re reading this, thanks for all of those titles. Otherwise, Pablo doesn’t like any of us. Not the fans. Not his teammates, not the San Francisco Giants front office. None of us.

I tried to let this blow over when Scott Miller’s article about Pablo came out on Bleacher Report this past Monday. Yes I was pissed at Pablo. But so what? He’s not here anymore and this is a new season. If he wants to burn bridges he can do that.

Today a follow up to that came out after Sandoval talked to reporters. He didn’t back down.

It’s a shame really. All of it. From Pablo opening his yapper to all of us talking about him. We weren’t supposed to remember him this way. It sucks that he’s the guy that caught the last out of Game 7. It really does. Now when I see that clip all I’m going to think is “what a jerk”. It’s inevitable. A shame.

On the podcast Chad King has talked about how he was at Game 1 of the 2012 World Series. That was a night the Panda probably heard his biggest roars from the crowd in his entire time as a Giant. He did something only a few MLB players have done in the World Series by hitting those 3 home runs. We loved him for it. The Giants were on their way to a title and he was finally a part of it. He soaked it up.

But Pablo doesn’t love us. Or maybe I’m reading too much in to it. You decide.

“Only Bochy,” Sandoval said of Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “I love Boch. He’s like my dad. He’s the only guy that I miss. And Hunter Pence. Just those guys.

“But now, I feel like I’m home.”

I guess the place you win 3 championships isn’t a good enough home.

He mentioned in the article on NESN.com that the Red Sox treat all 25 guys the same. Sounds to me like a shot at the Giants front office and their wanting him to stay in shape. I’m sure he was asked to run on a treadmill more than say Buster Posey or Madison Bumgarner. Of course they don’t eat themselves out of shape.

What did he expect from the Giants? To just be happy that he played well seemingly whenever he felt like it? He never lived up to that potential we all saw back in 2009. He set his career highs in batting average, runs, home runs, doubles, triples, walks, total bases and on base percentage.

Back in 2009. That’s six full years ago. Where did that guy go? And he wonders why the team would treat players differently. None of the other guys have struggled so much but shown such sustained flashes of brilliance. If he wanted to be treated like certain other guys, maybe he should have shown up on a regular basis.

There’s absolutely no reason for Sandoval to make these remarks about the Giants now that he’s with the Red Sox. I’m in the midst of the new season of House of Cards and Frank Underwood recently said “You know what takes real courage? Keeping your mouth shut no matter what you may be feeling.”

I guess Pablo doesn’t have any. So you can burn your Panda hats or choose to remember just the good times. Me? I don’t own a Panda hat so I’ll just be pissed off on here.

-Eric

@2outhits

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by | January 22, 2015 · 2:55 PM

Should I stay or should i go?

Ryan Vogelsong is back with the San Francisco Giant

(Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)

It looks like Ryan Vogelsong will remain with the San Francisco Giants for another year. This is according to Hank Schulman who’s tweet rolled across the timeline this afternoon. It’s possible that we have more details later tonight or tomorrow.

There had been reports over the last few days that linked Vogelsong to both the Rangers and Astros. He was rumored to being close to a deal with Houston before we heard of any talks with the Giants. Suddenly it seems as if he’s coming aboard for another run.

The main concern I’ve seen and heard from fans is why a move like this gets made if the rotation is already set. The most common themes have been…

  • Matt Cain and Tim Hudson are both recovering from a surgery.
  • Tim Lincecum has been shaky as a starter the last 3 seasons
  • Will Jake Peavy find a renaissance under Bruce Bochy and Dave Righetti
  • Madison Bumgarner is coming off a long, wonderful season and postseason
  • Also, can’t Yusmeiro Petit start some games?

It sounds crazy but I thought more pitching was a good thing. To think that Vogey chose to come back to San Francisco and give what he has left as a pitcher without the promise of being a starter. Those Texas teams would have put him in the rotation right away. He has no idea how many starts he’s gonna get this year.

That’s 7 starters for 5 spots. I don’t see that as a bad thing.

The Giants are going to need some good pitching this season. There’s considerably less thump in the lineup than in year’s past. It looks like Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, and Hunter Pence will be asked to carry the bulk of the load.

Nori Aoki signed earlier this week for $4 million. He has incentives to bump that to $5.5 if he has more than 600 plate appearances. He’s averaged 604 in his 3 seasons in the majors. He’s a contact hitter that can take over at the top of the lineup if (when) Angel Pagan goes down.

I keep talking myself in to really liking this signing because the way the lineup could be constructed he would be like another leadoff guy in the middle. Brandon Crawford could have a field day driving Aoki in.

Here’s how I’d draw it up right now.

  1. Angel Pagan
  2. Joe Panik
  3. Buster Posey
  4. Hunter Pence
  5. Brandon Belt
  6. Casey McGehee
  7. Nori Aoki
  8. Brandon Crawford
  9. Madison Bumgarner

Last season McGehee and Aoki hit 5 HR’s combined in over 1200 combined plate appearances. That’s a far cry from when Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse used to drop bombs during some really great hot streaks.

That’s where we are with about a month to go until Spring Training. We’re focused on Ryan Vogelsong coming back to help the Giants defend their title. It’s not sexy or shiny, but it’s a move to help the ball club compete for a playoff spot. After that, as we well know, anything can happen.

Remember, you can follow us on Twitter @TortureCast and like us on Facebook. All of our podcasts, video and audio San Francisco Giants player interviews can be found on our Youtube Channel or here at TortureCast.com.

–Eric

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by | December 30, 2014 · 10:37 PM

Top 14 SF Giants moments from 2014 part 2

SF Giants win 2014 World Series

Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports

If you missed it, I covered the San Francisco Giants regular season in Part 1. Time for the good stuff.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are no ground rules for this list and everything is listed in chronological order. Moments can stick out for different reasons. The rough draft was literally me sitting on my front porch drinking coffee and just thinking about the playoffs. I really miss baseball.

At least 10 different things jumped out at me. For instance, I thought the Hunter Pence homer in Game 1 of the World Series was a huge moment. Then as I kept adding things to the list it got bumped down. So it gets an honorable mention. Others that just missed the cut were Hunter Strickland striking out Ian Desmond in Game 1 of the NLDS and Randy Choate throwing it away in Game 3 of the NLCS.

After some more beard scratching and coffee drinking on the front porch, here’s my 7 best moments of the Giants 2014 championship run.

October 1 – Crawford’s grand slam of silence and Bumgarner’s first shutout

Were you as nervous as I was heading in to this game? I hate coin-flip games. Anything can happen. Randomness can determine a ball game. So when the top of the 4th inning of the NL Wild Card game began to unfold we were all unsure of what would happen.  Continue reading →

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by | December 29, 2014 · 4:01 PM

Top 14 SF Giants moments from 2014

Photo: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Photo: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

As a San Francisco Giants fan, 2014 was a great freaking year. They won the World Series for the 3rd time in 5 years and cemented a dynasty in the modern game. There was a fast start to the season, a rut in the middle, and then a Fall surge to the title. We got to watch it all. Whether you saw them in Scottsdale, spent time on the shores of McCovey Cove, or just watched from the couch at home, all Giants fans will remember this past year as something special.

Here’s where I get to be corny. I’m going with the original idea of the 14 best moments from 2014. I know, I had to stretch far for that one. Someone else may have already beaten me to it, I don’t care. I want to relive what happened and I suspect you’ll enjoy reliving it too.

I have no ground rules for this list. A moment can be anything I want to shoehorn in just for the fun of it. It was just that kind of crazy, wonderful year. This will be split in to 2 parts. Today will be the regular season, Tuesday will be the playoffs. Everything will be in chronological order. All clips courtesy MLB and /or Youtube.

Click here for Part 2: The Posteseason.

March 31 – Opening Day comeback

The Giants wasted no time making the 2014 season exciting. Right away the team put together a comeback victory. After falling behind 6-2 and 7-3 to Arizona they put together a couple of rallys and started the year on a positive note. You didn’t want to look too much in to one game, but it felt like this team knew how to win right out of the gate.

Madison Bumgarner started and only lasted 4 innings. He allowed 4 runs but amazingly none of them were earned because of 2 errors by the infield to start the bottom of the 4th inning. The comeback started in the top of the 7th as Michael Morse singled off Brandon McCarthy to lead off the inning. Five pitches later McCarthy had 2 quick outs and Joaquin Arias was on 1st after a fielder’s choice. Ehire Adrianza then pinch hit and hooked a 3-2 pitch into the RF corner to score Arias. It  began a streak of 5 consecutive hits with 2 outs. Continue reading →

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