King of Cali thoughts: I did this video as a test, and figured I would put it up on the site. Just my thoughts about Pablo Sandoval and Barry Zito. Sandoval did make $401,750 last year, and Zito made $18,500,000. Nice to see what they should have made and what they actually did make. Things that make you go hmmmmm…
King of Cali thoughts: I know what you’re thinking. What’s up with that face before you hit play? I know, it’s pretty crazy looking. I guess when I shot the quick video that’s how my face looked when I first hit record. I will be sure to not let that happen again.
These are just my thoughts on Lewis and Posey. I look forward to reading your comments on these two players.
Chris Haft of MLB.com reports that Muhammad Ali visited the Giants Camp yesterday. Ali appeared to help promote Athletes for Hope, an organization created to educate athletes about the importance of community service and connect them to the charity of their choice.
After the 40-minute presentation, nearly every Giant took turns sitting next to Ali and posing for photos with him.
Haft gives some insights on yesterdays game in another article. The Giants were victorious in another Cactus League game today (Giants 6, White Sox 2).
Matt Cain pitched three innings and allowing one run.
The big noise came in the bottom of the 8th inning. The Giants were down 2-1, and then they had a break out inning. It was capped off with back-to-back homers by Fred Lewis and Buster Posey.
King of Cali thoughts: I must say I’m impressed with the Giants. Everyone seems to be stepping it up. I think it’s the battle for the few spots on the roster that are still available. I have received emails from fans saying I hope the Giants aren’t peaking too soon. I know those are just jokes, but it’s nice to see what some of these players are capable of doing.
I know I have said before that I’m done with the Lewis experiment, and it’s time for the Giants to move on. Are you done with it, or do you think their might be something there? He has the potential, but I feel like I’m always left disappointed. The Giants may just be putting him on display, so they can move him in a trade. Things that make you go hmmmmm.
It’s nice to see Posey play yard ball yesterday. This guy may start down in Fresno, but it won’t be long before he gets the call. All it takes is for a slumping Bengie Molina, or a hurt Molina. Then the Posey era will start to creep it’s way with a little bit of playing time here and there.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Bobby Evans told him that he and Pablo Sandoval’s agent are negotiating only a one-year deal for the Panda. The Giants are not ready to buy out any of Sandoval’s future arbitration years.
The Giants use precedent as a guideline for negotiating and setting salaries with their younger players, but there is no recent precedent for the Giants position player hitting .330 with 25 homers and 90 RBI’s in his first full season.
Tim Lincecum (last spring) and the Giants agreed to a $650,000 deal, but he had a few more months of service time than Sandoval. Schulman thinks Sandoval might get less than that for 2010.
King of Cali thoughts: Giants fans have nothing to worry about. Sandoval is in the same boat as Lincecum. Which means he’s not going anywhere for a while. He’s still under the Giants control, and I’m sure the Giants will definitely try to lock him up long term as he gets closer to becoming a free agent.
I did some due diligence of my own today. I wanted to check his (Sandoval) value for his last season’s performance. Sandoval was worth $23.3 million, better than I even expected. I’m sure the Giants are happy to get that kind of production from someone that made less than a million.
Okay since I did the research on Sandoval to see how much his numbers actually should have paid him. I figured I would have to do the same for Barry Zito. Everyone know’s he’s overpaid for the production he’s giving the Giants at this point of his contract. Well with that said. He should have made $10 million last year by going 10-13 wit ha 4.03 ERA. All of his numbers factor in to this, but those are the main stats I wanted to add in this post.
B.J. Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat chimes in with some Brad Penny insights. Rains says Penny choose the Cardinals over the San Francisco Giants, wanting to fulfill a life-long goal of playing in St. Louis.
He also picked the Cardinals for another reason.
“I think St. Louis has a better chance of winning to be honest with you,” Penny said. “It should be a lot of fun. That’s the reason I signed here, the reason you put the uniform on – to play in October.”
Emmanuel Burriss X-rays did not reveal a fracture to his foot.
Travis Ishikawa is no longer wearing a walking boot and has started to take batting practice.
Mark DeRosa said his wrist becomes fatigued, but if the season opener were today, he’d be able to play
King of Cali thoughts: It was obvious why Penny didn’t re-sign with the Giants, and opted for St. Louis. They are a team that is on the brink of something great. I would be willing to wager the farm (I do not have a farm) that his numbers will not be as good as when he was in San Francisco. AT&T Park is a pitcher’s park. There is so much space to track down balls that would be homers in other parks.
I never was a Penny fan, and when he came to San Francisco I loved him! He’s a player that you only root for when he’s on your team. At least that’s just my opinion on him.
I’m not sure if anyone cares, but the Giants are looking like they could be the Spring Training Champions, and might not lose a came in Arizona. I’m only kidding, so please save the hate emails.
Chris Haft of MLB.com reports that the Giants finally get revenge on Milwaukee slugger Prince Fielder. He was plunked in the back by left-hander Barry Zito. This is the first time the Giants have seen the Brewers since Sept. 6, when Fielder upset the Giants with a choreographed home-plate celebration after homering to end a 12-inning, 2-1 Brewers victory at Milwaukee. His teammates fell as if they were bowling pins, as Fielder reached home plate.
King of Cali thoughts: Justice is finally served! I must say, I have a little more respect for Zito now. I honestly didn’t see it coming from him. I’m sure it’s best that it was him, since there was not guarantee that Fielder would still be in the game later when a new Giants pitcher took the mound.
I have been going back and forth on this stunt since it happened in September. I didn’t like it cause it was done to the Giants. I’m sure I would have loved it if the Giants did it to them. I would have probably justified it and said they are just a team that is having fun out there!
I have received emails from Giants fans saying how happy they are that Zito plunked Fielder, and he got what he deserved. Yes, Fielder did get what he deserved. Any guy that pulls a stunt like that is going to get payback sooner or later. I just don’t know if I’m set on saying it should have never happened. These guys are entertainers/athletes and they do whatever is going to keep the money flowing in their pockets. Do you think this stunt was something that should have no place in baseball?
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle gave some insights on the game today. Schulman said first baseman Aubrey Huff summed up his entire reputation by hitting a monster homer to right-center on his first pitch as a Giant. Then, in the bottom of the first, he dropped his first throw from an infielder, allowing Ichiro Suzuki to reach on an error.
Tim Lincecum threw 33 pitches in his lone inning and said he is having the same balance issues he has every spring.
“First game, excuses aside, I felt a little more amped up,” he said. “My arm was ahead of my body, I wasn’t using my legs and my front side was leaking out, and the ball was riding into the right-handed box.”
As Lincecum was talking to reporters, Ken Griffey Jr walked in, introduced himself and shook hands with Lincecum, who rooted for Griffey as a kid.
King of Cali thoughts: I know this is just Spring Training, so you can take the games as just practice. It seems like anything a player does in spring is just taken in a positive way. Like if Lincecum doesn’t have a good outing. People may say it’s because he’s working on something. If someone has a good game it’s because they are hot and ready for the season.
In all honesty no one knows what each player is working on when they are playing these games. I know some guys pretend their is a runner on first and try to hit to the right side, so I hope no one takes their favorite players performances to seriously in these games. The players that are trying to win spots on the team are a different story. I’m sure Madison Bumgarner isn’t going to go out there and try to look bad. He’s going to try to dominate and show he should be the 5th man in the rotation.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says when asked about easing into taking swings. Will you take dry swings or using a tee, the Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez said..
“Nah, I think I’ll just start swinging for the fences, hitting bombs.”
In reality Sanchez doesn’t anticipate picking up a bat for at least another week, perhaps two. A few days ago Sanchez status was changed to doubtful for opening day.
“I’d go with very doubtful,” Bochy said. “As much as he’s moving along, that would be rushing him. We’d have concerns about that. And besides, we’re covered. We have experienced guys to help out there.”
King of Cali thoughts: It would be nice if Sanchez was ready for opening day, but it’s not going to make or break the opening day lineup. The Giants have plenty of options. They can have Juan Uribe play second base, and that can add some pop to the lineup. They can also have Eugenio Velez start and second, and that would add some speed to the lineup.
They can really go with whoever is hot. Mark DeRosa is also capable of playing there as well. That would only happen if the Giants had some hot guys going into the start of the season to play in left and right field. I know, not very likely. Let’s just hope they give Sanchez all the time he needs to full recover, so this doesn’t turn into a nagging injury throughout the season.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has some Spring Notes on his blog. He has some notes about the intrasquad game. He also has a link to his youtube channel. Looks like he’s starting to add some pretty cool videos. I did see one of Freddy Sanchez taking some ground balls.
King of Cali thoughts: The San Francisco Giants are taking the day off before the Cactus League opener tomorrow. They did have an intrasquad game yesterday. John Bowker hit a ball that hasn’t landed yet (home run) in the first inning off of lefty Clayton Tanner.
It’s really nice to see Bowker get off to a hot start. This is a guy who’s proved he’s got what it takes to make that next step to join the Giants in San Francisco. It’s just when he get’s there. He hasn’t been able to prove that he belongs. Who knows what it really is. Maybe he just like’s the life he has in Fresno better than San Francisco (just kidding). Let’s just hope this is the year he shows the Giants he’s going to be here to stay!
Side Notes
Madison Bumgarner has returned back to Arizona to join the Giants camp. He left the team to go to North Carolina to bury his half-sister. She died suddenly at the age of 36.
“I wanted to be with my family, of course, but I was anxious to get back to work,” Bumgarner said. “Because when I’m on the mound, I don’t think about anything else but the game.”
Murph and Mac of KNBR the Giants Flagship Station. Did a phone interview this morning with Pablo Sandoval. He says feels great so far this spring.
Pablo says he’s going to stay a free swinger, but he will take some pitches this year. He’s still going to be aggressive, but when guys are on base and he’s trying to drive in runs. He will look for better pitches to hit.
Sandoval says he will be wearing new prescription glasses this year. He will be using them for defense and at the plate. They are sporty glasses (Oakley’s), so no goggles. He says he can see the ball better now with these glasses.
Brian Murphy asked Sandoval if he’s okay with whatever weight he’s at or if he wants to change his body. Sandoval said he does want to change his body, so he can prolong his career.
When asked about the new (team) socks. Sandoval said he’s going keep his pant legs down, and not sport the high pants to show the socks.
He thinks this year is going to be different. He believes they have a stronger team. They have the good pitching staff and now they have the offense. The Panda says everyone has to be-careful of the Giants this year.
Chris Haft of MLB.com reports that Muhammad Ali visited the Giants Camp yesterday. Ali appeared to help promote Athletes for Hope, an organization created to educate athletes about the importance of community service and connect them to the charity of their choice.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Bobby Evans told him that he and Pablo Sandoval’s agent are negotiating only a one-year deal for the Panda. The Giants are not ready to buy out any of Sandoval’s future arbitration years.
B.J. Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat chimes in with some Brad Penny insights. Rains says Penny choose the Cardinals over the San Francisco Giants, wanting to fulfill a life-long goal of playing in St. Louis. 
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle gave some insights on the game today. Schulman said first baseman Aubrey Huff summed up his entire reputation by hitting a monster homer to right-center on his first pitch as a Giant. Then, in the bottom of the first, he dropped his first throw from an infielder, allowing Ichiro Suzuki to reach on an error.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says when asked about easing into taking swings. Will you take dry swings or using a tee, the Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez said..
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has some Spring Notes on his blog. He has some notes about the intrasquad game. He also has a link to his youtube channel. Looks like he’s starting to add some pretty cool videos. I did see one of Freddy Sanchez taking some ground balls.
Murph and Mac of KNBR the Giants Flagship Station. Did a phone interview this morning with Pablo Sandoval. He says feels great so far this spring.