San Francisco Giants

Since your reading this blog, you're probably no stranger to the fact that Ryan Vogelsong, one of the Giants steadiest starters the last 2 seasons before his slow start to 2013, will be shelved for the next 6 weeks with a fracture on his throwing hand. The question now for a team who's pitching staff was already working it's way out of a funk before this injury, is what do they do know? Wouldn't you know it, Vogey had been the Giants worst starter heading into his start Monday night, but coincidentally was turning in his best effort to date with a 5 inning, 3-hit taming of the powerful Washington Nationals. He was starting to look like the pre-2013 Vogey, hitting his spot with his low-90's fastball and showing complete command with that curve and change. Who knows if this was the first step towards him regaining his form or not, but nevertheless, we'll have to wait until July to see what kind of pitcher he'll be after this surgery. For a pitcher to have a fracture like that in his throwing hand than come back in be successful within a month or so seems a little optimistic, but Vogey is one guy I'm not counting out. This does leave, however, the question as to what the Giants will do with Vogey's rotation spot until he is ready to return to the team. Chad Gaudin will be the immediate replacement, and the Giants may give him a few starts to see if he can hold that down, but he's done such a good job in the bullpen that they may have a hard time finding an adequate replacement for him there. Especially now with Santiago Casilla on the shelf as well.Not only is this injury causing a big hole in the starting rotation, but it could end up taking away arguably the Giants best reliever (not named Romo), to date. Now, the Giants have two upcoming off-days, including Thursday, and may not need a 5th starter for another couple of weeks, but eventually they're going to need someone to step in and take 5+ starts (assuming the timeline is correct). If they do decide to keep Gaudin in the pen, which is what I'm hoping will be the choice, the top couple names down in Fresno are hardly banging the door down to the big leagues. We talked a bit about Michael Kickham and Chris Heston as fall-backs a week ago after the Giants starters had that pitiful roadie in Toronto and Colorado, but again, those two just aren't pitching up to expectations in Fresno, so I have a hard time seeing either get brought up to San Francisco right this moment. Kickham, however, could have a leg up as he's gone 2-1 with a 1.66 ERA and 25 K's in 25 innings of work over his last 4 starts. The issue with him is that he's not on the 40-man and the Giants would have to make an ensuing move in order to make him ML-roster eligible. Again, they do have a few weeks to see how things shake out, but a decision will eventually need to be made, and my money would be on Kickham if his has another couple solid outings during that span.

Pablo Sandoval is a gift. A jolly, jolly gift. His home run on Tuesday night was the longest home run by a Giant this year, and … aw, heck, let's watch that again: Your browser does not support iframes. That home run proves my long-held thesis of "Don't pitch Pablo Sandoval there." For example ... Don't pitch Pablo Sandoval there! That is a very bad place for a changeup against Pablo Sandoval. Of course, there isn't really a great place to pitch Pablo Sandoval. CSN Bay Area put together a side-by-side shot of two at-bats he had against the Padres last September, and it looked like this: The one on the left was a dinger. The right was a double. Neither one should have been hit well. So, smart guy, where should teams pitch him? The Internet has answers. And these answers provide me with the Five Greatest Things About Pablo Sandoval-Related Pitch Data. 1. The greatest heat map in the history of heat maps Courtesy of Baseball Prospectus, here is Pablo Sandoval's average against right-handed pitchers when the outcome of his at-bat is decided: I can't … It's just … that is so beautiful and hilarious. Again, that's batting-average against from the catcher's perspective, so picture a lefty-swinging Sandoval with his back to you over on the right side of your screen. The place you go in the strike zone is in on his hands but, for goodness sake, don't go too far in! If you miss outside the zone and come close to hitting him, he kind of rakes those pitches. Which doesn't make sense. But, hey, neither does Sandoval. This leads us to #2 … 2. That same chart, but by slugging percentage So Sandoval can't really catch up to the Benard-high fastball … but when he does, he hits them 400 feet. And look at the numbers by his ankles. That's an .838 slugging percentage just under the strike zone, and an .821 slugging on the shoe tops. This next one might be my favorite, though: 3. Those charts don't include the ones that are really outside The charts are "outside edges to scale," and if you futz with the drop-down menu, you get an option that reads "outside edges infinite." I asked BP's Ian Miller what that meant: To scale: outer edges are 1/3 the width of the plate/strike zone Infinite: those pitches PLUS the ones that would've hit the Durham Bull And if you adjust the chart to infinite … The average in the two bottom-left corner squares goes up. 4. Over the last two years, left-handed Pablo Sandoval swung at curveballs that bounced on the mound This is from the catcher's perspective again You can tell it's from the catcher's perspective because it reads "Catcher's perspective." Here, let me get a screen shot: Those blue dots must be umlauts or something. I think the guy who runs TexasLeaguers is from Slovakia. Yeah, that's it. Because there's no way those are swings. Now go back up to those heat maps and look where Pablo has most of his success. Low pitches. It makes absolutely no sense. 5. Pitchers still pitch Sandoval low One last chart. This one has the frequency of the different pitches Sandoval sees: You're supposed to get him to chase up, but the only pitches he'll get up are fastballs. And you can't throw Sandoval fastballs only, so you have to set those up with waste pitches in the dirt. Except Sandoval swings at those and hits them for a high average. So then you get him to chase up, but the only pitches you'll throw him up are fastballs. The circle of life! I've been playing around with this data all morning, and I feel like there's something even more ridiculous that I'm not seeing, right under my nose. Until I figure out what those things are, though, here are five ridiculous things about Pablo Sandoval. Turns out he's kind of a freak.

By the time Dave Righetti's active Major League playing career ended in 1995, closers usually pitched only a ballgame's final inning. But Righetti routinely was asked to do much more than that as the New York Yankees' bullpen ace from 1984-90. It was common for him to work as many as three innings, occasionally longer, in pursuit of a save.

Mock drafts in baseball just aren't the same as they are in other sports. "Say, here's a player you've never heard of. He plays a position your team may or may not need right now, but, whatever, that might not be the case when he's ready for the majors. Which might be never. And these mock drafts are rarely accurate because it's hard to predict what 30 scouting departments are really thinking. Enjoy." Still, I'm a sucker for them. And some new ones are out, so let's see what the Giants are expected to do when the Draft rolls around in a couple weeks. First, MLB.com and Jonathan Mayo: 25. San Francisco Giants: Hunter Harvey, RHP, Bandys HS (N.C.) The son of former big league pitcher Bryan Harvey has size and stuff, and it's clear he wants to enter pro ball. That could add up to him going before the Giants pick, but San Francisco knows how to develop young pitching. Sounds enticing. Some video: Your browser does not support iframes. By golly, that fresh face makes rookie Tim Lincecum look like Vicente Padilla. But almost every other mock draft I've seen has Harvey going just a little higher (with Sickels being the lone holdout), so this might be something of an unlikely pick. SI.com has a mock draft up, and it has the Giants taking Ole Miss righty Bobby Wahl. The defending World Series champions are built around pitching, and typically so are their drafts. A comfortable fit at this pick would be Wahl, a mature, a close-to-the-majors hurler with a drop-and-drive delivery and a wide range of pitch offerings. He has a 93 mph fastball but his out-pitch is a quality slider, which would fit right in in San Francisco. This sounds like a double-down on the Chris Stratton strategy of getting a mature slider-tosser from a big program. Your browser does not support iframes. The MLB.com video doesn't mention a slider, but you can see it around :30 of it. Looks good from here. Keith Law's mock draft (Insider subscription required) has the Giants going for Eric Jagielo, a third baseman from Notre Dame with projectable power and defense that shouldn't push him off the position. The ESPN summary says he's … … agile enough to stay at the position even though he's going to be among the bigger third basemen in pro ball. But not the biggest! Maybe the Giants can move Sandoval to short and put Crawford in right field when the time comes. Also "Jagielo" sounds like "Juggalo", and that's good enough for me. Wearing animal hats is so last year. Spraying Cotton Candy Faygo on your seatmates after a home run? Probably the new thing. Your browser does not support iframes. I'm a little wary of a left-handed power guy in the first round, though. When fourth- or fifth-rounders like, say, Brandon Belt come around, that's great. But a first-round pick is expected to make the majors, so you have to factor in the ballpark just a little. I'd rather go power arm and hope the Giants can mold him in the tradition of first-rounders past. While the odds are the Giants don't get a starter from the #25 pick, the odds are at least decent that one of these names will be a big deal in five years. Which one? That's the point. Good luck, Giants.

Below are some San Francisco Giants related posts around the web. We try to gather some articles from Giants blogs that we know you will like! If you come across a post on the web that you think would be a good fit for this feature, please send an email to support@sfgiantsbaseball.net. A look at Ryan Vogelsong‘s struggles from Scott Willis via Bay Area Sports Guy (prior to Vogelsong’s injury): In Defense of Vogelsong, from El Lefty Malo: Speculating on how the Giants will replace Vogelsong in the rotation featured at MiracleAtCoogansBluff.com: An examination of Matt Cain‘s release point from Chris Quick at Bay City Ball: ~Paul Ghiglieri ———-——–—-——-——––———————-—————————————————- You can follow SF Giants Rumors Facebook page for more Giants updates! Want an email alert when there’s a new post? Click the “Contact Us” tab and request to be added to the email list. You can also follow on Twitter @SFGiants_Rumors, Google+ and SportStreet! // // Technorati Tags: Giants Hot Stove, Giants Trade Rumors, Matt Cain, MLB Rumors Giants, Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants News, SF Giants Rumors, SFG Rumors

Off day. Pfffttttt…. At the racetrack they’re called *dark days*. Dark indeed. Voggy went down. Then Crabtree REALLY went down. It’s always interesting to see how different people handle a player from their favorite team getting injured, getting traded or retiring suddenly. Will Clark was probably the last player to leave one of my teams where I was truly bummed–I don’t think I ever got over it. I’ve always thought that my love of horse racing allows me to tolerate players suddenly leaving or getting injured easier than most fans. Your favorite horse can be gone in a single bad step on the racetrack. Happens all the time. Can’t dwell on it. And the sport is bigger than any individual so….you just move on. Still, even as I type this I’ve got 3 Will Clark baseball cards taped to my monitor– nobody else, just Will. Voggy and Crabs will be back so the only thing I’m feeling is a slight bit of frustration about who and how they will be replaced…… What player leaving (either through injury, retirement or trade) hit you the hardest?

AAA Oklahoma City Redhawks defeated the Fresno Grizzlies 7-3:Francisco Peguero(LF)- 0 for 2, 2 BB, SB(2). BA= .355.Carter Jurica(SS)- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .293.Shane Loux(RHP)- 5 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.75.Brett Bochy(RHP)- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 6.23.2 walks in one game for Pegs? Stop the presses! If the Giants are currently evaluating potential replacements for Vogie, I'd say Loux failed his audition here.AA Richmond Flying Squirrels squeaked past the Trenton Thunder 5-4:Joe Panik(2B)- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .287.Adam Duvall(3B)- 2 for 4, 3B, BB. BA= .356.Andrew Susac(C)- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .250.Brett Krill(RF)- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .265.Fabio Castillo(RHP)- 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.21.Fred Lewis(RHP, Thunder)- 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.57.Duvall comes back from the DL and keeps hitting, but makes 2 errors. Very nice 4 innings from Castillo. I really liked this minor league Rule 5 pickup. I think it's great that they are stretching him out. Very intriguing prospect. No, not THAT Fred Lewis! Had you going there for a minute, didn't I?High A High Desert Mavericks gored the San Jose Giants 11-6:Angel Villalona(1B)- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .220.Jeff Arnold(C)- 1 for 3, HR(8), BB. BA= .268.Low A Augusta Greenjackets out hit the Rome Braves 12-6:Andrew Cain(CF-LF)- 2 for 5, 2 HR(3), BB, SB(6). BA= .234.Matt Duffy(SS)- 3 for 5, 2B, SB(13). BA= .299.Mitch Delfino(DH)- 2 for 5. BA= .253.Trevor Brown(2B)- 1 for 3, HR(2), BB, SF. BA= .234.Eric Sim(C)- 2 for 4, 2B, BB, SB(2). BA= .250.Chuckie Jones(RF)- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .199.Andrew Cain is hitting .367/.441/.733 over his last 10 games and .320/.404/.580 in the month of May.

I've complained previously about Joe Torre's stubbornness in not even looking into changing the rules for base runners and catchers when there is the potential for collision at home plate: he said that it's how it's always been done, so he sees no reason to change. He echoes that stance in the latest quote that I found while reading my latest copy of SI: MLB executive Joe Torre suggested replay will expand, but one aspect of the game is off-limits: "Balls and strikes. From the time I started playing this game - and the game was alive long before me - that's always been something that the umpire's eye sees."ogc thoughtsAnd for a long time, the spitball was OK, gloves that barely covered the hand and was thin was OK, spiking base runners were OK, keeping non-whites out of the game was OK, and pitchers had to hit in the AL. And the game was alive for a long time when those changes were brought into baseball. Is he suggesting that these, and many other rules that has come into the game over the years, were wrong?In some cases, the technology was not there yet. Glove manufacturing got better over time. Batting helmets (then coaches' helmets, and soon pitchers' helmets, followed) probably was hard to manufacture in the early days, but eventually the MLB saw that protecting the talent was a better route to take. But if the technology is there, why not use it?Everyone is aware of the PitchF/X technology and how that system calls balls and strikes just as well as any umpire. While I agree that I would prefer to keep umpires around to call balls and strikes, I would much rather prefer that players - the talent - are not frustrated by the humanness of the umpires, which often come out of their inability to call strikes as defined by the rules of baseball. And I'm not even saying that homogeniety in strike zones is necessarily the goal, but even umpires have bad days where they can't keep it straight calling strikes, with the zone changing batter to batter, or worse, pitcher/team to pitcher/team. Maybe the MLB can modify the PitchF/X system to learn how any particular umpire calls his strikes, and duplicate that zone in the game? Or mabye if they call too many balls as strikes or vice-versa, they have to take remedial training with a PitchF/X system designed to tell him whether a pitch is really a strike or not? But unless there are consequences for them when they are not compliant with the rules of baseball, they will do whatever the hell they feel like doing. It's like the tail wagging the dog.For a long time, I've been sick and tired of umpires taking over games and thinking that they are the talent. That might have been true during World War II and before that they were part of the entertainment and ambiance of the game, but the game has changed a lot since those days and umpires do not need to be part of the entertainment anymore. We just need the calls to be called correctly. And they have certainly never been the talent that we fans go to see.The way some of them act reminds me of that Stanford experiment in the 60's where student volunteers were split into two groups, prisoners and guards, and the guards exposed the dark side of their nature because they were the authorities, they were in charge, much like the worse of the umpires. Most of them are OK, I think, but in this case, the bad apple does ruin the whole barrel. Games and wins are precious. You never know until the last day of the season what importance that game and win might have. In 2010, the Giants should have won a game against the Mets when Ishikawa scored the winning run. Only he was called out by the umpire, who said that the catcher made a good move to make the tag, so he called the runner out. And not because, as the rules of baseball states, the catcher tagged the runner before he scored, which photos showed without a doubt. Had the umpire called that Mets game correctly in the first place, the Giants would have won the division even

After last year's mega-choke in the NLDS to the Cards, I expect the Nats to lose tight games like Tuesday night. They managed to avoid that today even though they blew an 8th inning lead. Best part of today's game was Bumgarner pitching like an All Star If anyone is wondering about the specifics of the NLDS, it was an epic choke with 4 runs in the top of the 9th to give away a 2-run lead -- just like the dodgers in game 165 of 1962 As is so often the case, Buster Posey delivered in the clutch, per the SF Chronicle's blog post --The Giants tied the game, and got Bumgarner a no-decision, after Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro walked with one out in the eighth. Gonzalez walked Pagan. Scutaro took a walk from from Drew Storen knowing his 19-game hit streak might be doomed.Buster Posey then grounded a single through the hole to scoring Pagan and tie the game 1-1.

Wednesday highlight from the Giants' farm: Andrew Cain homered twice.AAA: Fresno lost to Oklahoma City 7-3Fresno: LF Francisco Peguero: 0 for 2, 2 BB, SO, SBFresno: SS Carter Jurica: 3 for 4, 2B, SO, EFresno: SP Shane Loux: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K--2 HR, 1 HBOklahoma City: RP Jason Stoffel: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 3 KWith three of the Grizzlies' seven hits, Jurica raised his AVG to .293. His 8th double was their lone XBH. With two of the Grizzlies' three walks, Peguero was the only other Grizzly to reach base twice. He had walked only twice previously this year among 107 AB.Loux's start with a season-high 7 ER and 0 K did not deliver a strong statement for his potential to fill Ryan Vogelsong's spot in the Giants' rotation. After 3 ER in the 3rd inning and 4 ER in the 5th inning, his ERA rose to 4.75. Stoffel, whom the Giants drafted in the fourth round four years ago before trading him to the Astros for Jeff Keppinger, struck out three of his seven batters in the 7th and 8th innings. So far this year his component stats are 15 H, 6 BB and 17 K in 18.1 IP.AA: Richmond defeated Trenton 5-4Richmond: 3B Adam Duvall: 2 for 4, 3B, BB, 2 ERichmond: 1B Mark Minicozzi: 2 for 3, BB, HBPRichmond: RF Brett Krill: 3 for 4, 2 2BRichmond: SP Fabio Castillo: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 KPacing the Flying Squirrels' twelve-hit attack, Krill pounded out three hits, including his 4th and 5th doubles. Minicozzi reached base four times, raising his OBP to .409. Playing his second game after spending more than five weeks on the DL, Duvall was one of three other Squirrels to reach base three times. He had his 2nd triple but also committed his 3rd and 4th errors.Pitching on two days rest, Castillo made his first start after a dozen relief appearances. He struck out 7 of 17 batters while throwing 72 pitches (47 strikes). He has a 3.21 ERA.A+: San Jose lost to High Desert 11-6(after allowing seven runs in the 6th inning)San Jose: 1B Angel Villalona: 2 for 4, 2BSan Jose: C Jeff Arnold: 1 for 3, HR, BB, SOSan Jose: SP Jason Forjet: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K--1 HRWith his 12th double and a single, Villalona was the lone Giant with two hits, raising his AVG to .220. Arnold homered for the second straight day, giving him 8 HRs this year. He had just 12 HRs in his previous three minor league seasons combined.Forjet, who had one start among seven appearances last summer in the AZL, allowed nearly half (7 of 16) his batters to reach base in his 2013 season debut.A-: Augusta defeated Rome 12-6(scoring at least one run in seven of nine innings)Augusta: CF-LF Andrew Cain: 2 for 5, 2 HR, BB, SOAugusta: SS Matthew Duffy: 3 for 5, 2B, SB, EAugusta: 2B Trevor Brown: 1 for 3, HR, BB, SF, EAugusta: SP Kendry Flores: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K--1 HRCain led off the game with his 2nd HR and added his 3rd HR in the 8th inning. He has now had five multi-hit performances in his last seven games, raising his OPS above .700 through 94 AB. In the 9th inning, Brown hit his 2nd HR. Duffy's three hits, including his 8th double, paced the GreenJackets' sixteen-hit attack and raised his AVG to .299.Coming off his longest start of the year (8.1 IP), Flores allowed more than 1 ER for just the second time in his last seven starts. His ERA remains below comfortably below 3.00, though.