Posts Tagged ‘Aubrey Huff’

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How Bad Could It Be?

by Kevin on June 27, 2011 at 12:01 am
Could it? No, it couldn't.

I don’t know how far in advance All-Star Ballots have to be printed, but they are always good for a laugh in June.  Sure, there’s no way they could predict a late-May injury to Buster Posey.  But the Huff-as-outfielder experiment ended barely weeks after it had begun.  Couldn’t those sort of adjustments be made?

It’s not like Huff, as he’s playing this season, was a big threat to get voted in, but I don’t think anyone outside of a fan who’d seen Manny Ramirez play the outfield would want Huff out there.  And, well, no Dodgers fan would’ve voted for Huff.

On that note, have you voted?  Go vote, already! Let’s be honest, there isn’t a current position player on this team who will be starting the All-Star Game, especially with Posey injured.  But, maybe there can be a symbolic vote-in of the team’s missing leader.

Then again, there’s a lot of very deserving pitchers, who fans don’t get to vote on.  But, then, that’s the Giants of this generation.

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Sticking Out By Being Normal

by Kevin on July 1, 2011 at 12:01 am
Is there really a normal in this clubhouse?

There are different ways of standing out.

Hopefully, he can stop standing out by being the worst pitcher on the staff.  The last start was encouraging.

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Who Wins With Beltran?

by Kevin on July 15, 2011 at 12:01 am
That makes it a win for the fans, too.

I can’t think of anyone else who would be happier about adding to the surplus of outfielders than Huff.

Generally, I like the idea of Huff.  But where does he play?  Whose spot does he take?  Rowand and Burrell aren’t starting.  He won’t take Torres’ spot in center field at his age.  So he either plays right and takes Schierholtz’s spot, or he goes to left and takes Cody Ross.

Can the Giants really afford to sit Schierholtz, who has been red-hot, and more importantly, clutch with the big hits?  Hell, he had two home runs get Petco’d last night.  Sure, it’s a hot streak on a career of mediocrity, but right now, his .795 OPS is second-highest on the team.  And that’s before you talk about his defense.  Ross has the team’s third-best OPS at .778, despite an injury-riddled season.  Right now he’s not exactly winning any LCS MVP awards, but he’s not the problem.

I like Beltran, I do.  I know the Giants like him.  But let’s face it, the problem with this team lies in the middle infield and catching.  How about trading with the Twins for Michael Cuddyer?  He can play second or first, as well as in the outfield, and he’s batting .296/.372/.471 with 13 home runs in a park that is more favorable to pitchers than any place not named Petco.

Right now, Cuddyer isn’t getting the same sort of attention as Beltran on the trade market.  Get him while he’s under the radar!

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The Big Le-Beard-Ski

by Kevin on January 9, 2012 at 12:01 am
The Beard Abides

That’s right, Giants fans.  Coming soon to the location formerly known as Borders right across from AT&T Park, is a new upscale Bowling Alley called Lucky Strike.

By the way, if you don’t get this strip, but down the internet right now.  Go do whatever it is that you do to watch older movies, and go get The Big Lebowski.  Just trust me.  No less than six underrated actors of our era in hilarious roles.  Oh, and Tara Reid’s in it, too.  (Sorry, Tara.)  And just look for John Turturro.  A couple of times.

Those more-traveled us may know the place from several high-profile locations, such as Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Hollywood, and Bellevue, Washington.  (Wait, Bellevue got one before San Francisco did? That’s just not right.)  It’s meant to be an upscale answer to bowling alleys the same way that Dave & Buster’s is supposed to be an upscale arcade for adults, complete with fancy food menus.

(Sure, referencing the Big Lebowski doesn’t exactly bring up a ‘high-class’ bowling establishment…but does anything make bowling look high-class?)

It also apparently has a ban on ‘athletic wear of any kind including….jerseys…and hoodies’.  It does indicate that there are ‘Game Day exceptions’ that should be called ahead for, but seriously.  If they don’t want jerseys or sportswear there, they had better be prepared for empty lanes from April through October.  On game nights, King Street is pretty much exclusively there for Giants fans, who love to wear their gear.  Despite their reputation, Giants fans don’t wear hipster clothing to games…

I’m sure Lucky Strike will be reasonable.  There’s no way they’re coming into this without knowing just what this particular corner of San Francisco brings.  Still, this may be an entirely different kind of crowd than they’re used to.

But we’re San Francisco.  Deal with it.

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Huff’s On First

by Kevin on March 16, 2012 at 12:01 am
I Don't Know's making the lineups, apparently. Why? Left Field!

I like Huff.  I really do.

But Brandon Belt is the future.  Pretty much everyone agrees with that.  There’s just no place to play him.  He doesn’t need more Fresno time.  He’s done all he can there.

There’s three legitimate first base options (Huff, Belt and Brett Pill), and that’s before you mention that Buster Posey might be used at first on days they want to rest his ankle and not take him out of the lineup.  Pill makes a nice platoon option for either of the lefties…but three first basemen aren’t a great way to build a lineup.

What about the outfield?  Well, that hurts the team as well.  Right now, none of the outfielders are playing like they don’t deserve a job.  Nate Schierholtz has the toughest numbers from a corner spot (.292/.320/.333), but they aren’t too terrible for spring and his defense out there is a plus.

And this is all about the future.  You’ve got three huge pitchers coming into free agency in the next 19 months.  How do you convince a pitcher to stick around in San Francisco?  I’ve got a two-step process:

• Give them a Gold Glove caliber defense in the outfield, of which the Belt/Huff choices don’t qualify, but a Cabrera-Pagan-Schierholtz outfield would, and a Peguero-Brown-Schierholtz outfield down the line also would.

• Give them a core of young hitters that they know the team can be built around to help the offense.  Like Belt.

The Giants aren’t in a team-building zone right now.  They are in a dynasty-building zone.  They need to go for it this year, but they also need to go for the next half-dozen years of pitching contracts.

Belt fills both need.  Get it done

P.S. – Either you’re too young to remember this reference, or you’re old enough to which means you have memory issues and can’t remember it. Either way, here’s a video version of the classic routine.

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Too Many Options, And Yet, Not Enough Options

by Kevin on March 21, 2012 at 12:01 am
The way Freddy Sanchez is 'recovering', that second base job won't be as a backup.

There’s practically no starting jobs up for grabs this year, other than injury issues like Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Vogelsong.  But that leaves a lot of room on the benches.

This year’s battles are a bit more intense than bench contests should be.  And it’s all because of emotion.

• Catcher – Obviously, whoever gets this job is all about the guy who backs up the star of Buster Posey, whose recovery from injury isn’t completely convincing yet.  In addition, you’ve got Eli Whiteside as one of the two, a somewhat popular guy for being the backup from the World Series run (that’ll be a running theme).  There was some early drama that the Royals might be interested in either Whiteside or Stewart after they lost their starting catcher Salvy Perez to injury for half the season.  However, the Royals made a trade on Tuesday to fix that hole.

• Middle Infield – Mike Fontenot was one of those World Series clutch run guys.  Ryan Theriot is his longtime teammate/foil.  How many silent ‘T’s are there in baseball?  Then there’s Emmanuel Burriss, the guy who was drafted just a couple of dozen picks after Tim Lincecum.  And Burriss is the one who’s playing the best.

• First Base/Outfield – Why are these two connected?  Because there’s no where else to put the non-first basemen.  Sure, the Giants claim that they are fine with Melky in left, Angel in center and Nate in right.  But lately, Hank Schulman has been picking on Nate’s ticky-tacky injuries like a wife of 20 years on an imperfect husband.  Would the Giants sit their defensive specialist just to allow Aubrey Huff or Brandon Belt or Brett Pill to play out there in left?  Sure they would.  And it’ll be a train wreck.  The Giants need to figure out first base, for good.  That won’t happen for months, at least.

And again, these are all pretty much backups.  But these backups, possible platoons and more will probably play a big part in the Giants’ fortunes.  Too many players got injured last year, and are going into this season imperfect.  And at least one of these guys, and probably two, may be regular starters by the end of the season.

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