One last shot at the southland before the end of 2011.
Happy New Year…unless you’re one of us who doesn’t really celebrate the New Year until April 4th…even if the Giants won’t get the New Year underway until the 6th.
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On Tuesday, Tim Lincecum asked for $21.5 million from the San Francisco Giants in arbitration. The Giants asked for a far more reasonable $17 million. That’s still more than any other non-free agent player in arbitration. Heck, it’s more than Pablo Sandoval will make in three years.
Boy, remember when a player’s arbitration years were supposed to be the cheap years?
But that’s not what this is about.
On Monday, before the arbitration numbers came up, Hank Schulman tweeted this:
Lincecum issue is complex. He wants 2 years for FA flexibility or 8 years for lifetime security. Makes more sense for Gs to go 4-5 yrs if…
It should be noted that Hank quickly said that he doesn’t think there’s actually been an eight-year proposal by Tim’s agent. But still.
Now, it’s easy to think “Lock him up!” And Cain, and Wilson. And MadBum, in a few years. That’s a pitching core. That’s a dominating (and somehow still underrated) pitching staff. That’s the heart of a team, the draw for free agent hitters who want to know they’ll be on a World Series contender. Pay ‘em. For as long as they want.
But then…two words.
Barry. Zito.
If you don’t know what I mean, you haven’t been a fan of baseball for very long. Zito’s 7-year+option contract is the albatross of albatrosses. 7 year, $126 million, with an eighth year that will pay him a $7 million buyout to not play in 2014.
And as Zito approaches make the most money per year in said contract, the realization starts to sink in: Tim Lincecum could make more money in arbitration than Zito in his albatross of a contract.
But, you say, Lincecum is not Zito.
After all, it’s not like Lincecum has had a serious drop in velocity even before he’s become a free agent. Oh, except for a couple of times in 2010. Or that, after having an average 94 MPH fastball in 2008, he was at 92 in 2011, and even lower in 2010. (Zito, as a comparison, dropped from about 88 in 2002 to 85.7 in 2010.*)
But, you say, Lincecum won Cy Young awards ridiculously early in his career. It’s not like Zito won two Cy Young awards in his first two full seasons in the majors. No, Zito only did it in his second full season.
Okay, what I can’t argue myself out of is that Lincecum at 80% is a better pitcher than Zito at 80%. And when Zito got his ridiculous contract, he was already sliding badly. Lincecum’s slide, if you can call it that, is still giving him sub-3.00 ERAs and votes for Cy Young awards.
But at some point, Lincecum will slide. Maybe it will be injury. Maybe it will be ego. Maybe it will be too many speeding tickets while high (which, frankly, makes me worry more about non-pitching injuries). But a slide is likely to happen before the end of a deal that lasts until 2020.
And how much will Lincecum be costing at that point? Seriously, if he’s making Zito money now, where will he be at the end of a back-loaded contract? And how will that affect other signings, be it Cain, Wilson, Posey, or stealing away some Dodger star prospect via free agency.
Eight years for a pitcher is insane. For any pitcher. Even a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Lincecum.
Eight years will be overpaying for past accomplishments. Part of it will be for over Cy Young awards like Barry Zito. Part will be for a World Series win, like with Aubrey Huff.
…
And I’d do it. If we’re going to overpay for someone, it might as well be one of our own. And it might as well be for one of the bonafide superstars of the team.
There are days where I know I’ll eventually regret eating a certain meal. But that meal just tastes so damn good going down. I know what’ll happen, I know I’ll feel terrible later. But I go in with eyes wide open. And it’s still worth it.
Get ‘er Done, Sabes. Negotiate it down as best as you can. Play hardball like Lincecum’s 2008 velocity. But Get ‘er Done.
* – I’m not comparing to 2011 because Zito had all sorts of injury issues that obvious had an impact in his velocity to a career low.
It’s just plain wrong. It also puts our Giants vs. Raiders comic into a different context. Is it bad that when I wrote that, I just never thought about the New York Giants? That’s how little Eli matters to me.
As if that weren’t enough, Joe Biden made a fool of himself in San Francisco on Wednesday…and that was before he ruined my commute home on the peninsula just by being there. At a fundraiser, he said that “The Giants are on the way to the Super Bowl.”
It almost would’ve been better if he were actually representing as a fan of the New York-Football Giants. But no, he not only mixed up teams and sports, but let his attempt at a cheap pop from the hometown crowd make it look like he was rooting for the other guys.
Seriously, Joe Biden, must you be the Democratic party’s answer to Dan Quayle?
The only way out of this with dignity is to, when the 49ers reach the Super Bowl, be photographed rooting the 49ers on while wearing all San Francisco Giants gear.
When a player’s injured, you get hurt by the difference in quality between said player and his backup.
Boy, that was a big drop off from Ted Ginn Jr. to Kyle Williams.
I’m sure we’ll see a few knee-jerk reactions throw some blame on Alex Smith, but this isn’t his fault. This is what not having effective wide receivers does to a team. For instance, there was only one catch by a wide receiver for the 49ers. And I honestly can’t remember that three-yard catch by Michael Crabtree. I can’t blame Crabtree too much. He was barely thrown at, and a few of those passes were at his feet. But everyone knew who Smith’s target was going to be. So the Giants double-covered Vernon Davis, and the single coverage on the wide receivers was enough.
If the 49ers had a true big-play wide receiver, everything changes. Crabtree wouldn’t be covered by the top defensive back on the other team. The other team won’t be able to give so much safety help on covering Davis. The offense opens up.
Instead, there was second-year man Williams, taking the spot of Ginn. Ginn was already a slot receiver playing the role of #2 on a short team. A lot of people are coming out to defend Williams, including his teammates, but I won’t be one of them.
But not for what you think. That overtime fumble is hard to throw blame at. He was covering it up right, and trying to make a play the 49ers needed. Strips happen, that’s the game. It was well-played by the Giants. It’s harder than we think to carry a ball through a crowd in the NFL. Just like it’s harder than we think to catch a wet football (That first quarter drop by Williams was more the fault of a bad lateral by Hunter, anyway). Or throw the ball. Or kick the ball. (That’s for you, Billy Cundiff)
But you know what’s not hard to do? To get out of the damn way of a football.
That’s what truly cost the 49ers, Williams’ stupid special teams play. And the botched punt return was not his only offense. In the third quarter, Williams tried to make a diving catch on a punt. Dude, if you can’t catch it on the fly, let it go! I haven’t come close to a football game since high school, but that’s a basic rule, a black & white one.
I can’t blame a player for hard play that doesn’t work out. I absolutely can blame him for stupid play. No one would fault him for letting more punts hit the ground than normal in a windy, rainy game. But make the decision and then get the hell out of Dodge.
Of course, some people are taking it too far. Don’t threaten violence on a player, much less on his family. Come on, 49er fans, are we really taking classlessness down to a Philadelphian level?
But this game is a loss that does hang on Kyle Williams. And it’s a loss that I hope the 49ers take to mean that they need to get a top-rated receiver (Or two, with one to replace Williams) to support the quarterback they now believe in so much.
What, you were expecting some commentary on a football game? If a Bay Area team wasn’t involved, those commentaries can be left to, you know, everyone else.
That said, it’s funny how so many people start to say, once the Super Bowl is over, that now it’s baseball season. It also tells you just what many sports fans think about hockey and basketball.
In other news, we’re one week away from the drawing for free Bobbleheads! Make sure you get following by using the buttons to the left to get entered for those drawings!
Happy 1st Birthday to The Lunatic Fringe! A year ago today, we posted our first comic. Thank you to all of you fans. It’s been a heck of a year, and here’s to another one (with a World Series win again, too boot).
Winners of our 1st Birthday Drawing will be announced later today.
As far as predictions go, they’re meaningless. They always have been. And yet, every year, I look to see who is picking the Giants to win. I don’t really look at the other teams or divisions, I just want to see who’s picking us. But when I saw Pantone’s new Color of the Year, I couldn’t resist.
We like predictions in this country. Whether it’s Mayans or Sports Illustrated writers (I don’t know who’s less reliable), we read them religiously. It doesn’t matter if we really believe they’ll happen, we just like seeing them done. One of these days, maybe we’ll hold the writers accountable for being consistently wrong year after year, but until then, keep picking.
Just remember, in 2010, every writer on ESPN and SI picked the Phillies to win the NLCS. Nope. Only one picked the Giants to beat Texas. Good job.
Has Pantone ever picked any winners? Well, for the most part, no. Since Pantone started this promotion in 2000, there’s only two correlations that are even close. And you’re going to hate this. In 2002, they picked ‘True Red‘, which is honestly a bit darker than the Los Angeles Anaheim Angels, but it fits. In 2003, they had “Aqua Sky“, which is pretty damn close to the Marlins. When the Giants won in 2010, they had picked “Turquoise“, not to be confused with 2005′s Color of the Year “Turquoise Blue“.
My favorite was 2006′s “Sand Dollar“. My guess is that they were trying to pick the San Diego Padres road uniforms.
Yea, predictions are stupid. I still can’t wait to see them when they come out next month.
This Jeremy Lin thing has been great to watch…but with New York? Really?
Liking anything related to the Knickerbockers just feels unnatural, and I’m including that ‘Eddie’ movie by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990′s.
2008: I’m working at the Stonestown Giants Dugout Store, otherwise known as the runt of the Dugout litter. (Seriously, at that moment, we were in the second of five stores I worked at in a three-year career there.) I was still coming off the high from the 1997 season, believing that it was the first step in a long playoff run. But then we remembered the Brian Johnson had only one memorable hit in his career, J.T. had a down year, but Sabean had brought in Joe Carter to save the season (and he’d done well).
Then the Rockies continued their quest to supplant the Dodgers as the Giants’ rival by beating the Giants on the season’s final day, just like they tanked on the last day of 1993. So, the Giants faced a One-and-Done game with the Cubs.
I brought in homemade scores to tape up on the store window, to update fans on the score. Inside, someone brought in an old, portable, miniature TV (with a screen smaller than an iPod, the weight of a brick, and the reception of a 2011 Niners wide receiver in the playoffs. At any given time, half a dozen people would be trying to watch that game.
Suddenly, before you know it, Rod Beck was on the mound, against the Giants (Wait, WHAT?), and the Cubs were on their way to tank to the Braves in the playoffs. And Giants fans got through 162 games, got one more, and it was over.
So, yea, I know what’s at stake in the one-and-done playoff controversy that’s been brought up, again.
I’m over. It’s sports. It’s designed to break your heart. I don’t love a one-and-done game, but I don’t hate it, either. Hell, if it means that, every now and then, I can watch a 2nd-place Colorado Rockies team tank against…well, anybody, then I’m all for it.
&$*%ing Rockies.
A good friend of mine who occasionally serves as inspiration for Nyssa has been trying to get me to go to a Sharks game with her, but working out schedules has been hard. She told me, “No pressure, we have the playoffs, too.”
I think she was a little surprised to see the Sharks barely holding on to their spot.
I think Bay Area fans have gotten a little too used to the Sharks being a regular season machine. They’re like the Braves, except even less successful: the Braves made the playoffs every year for a decade, and only won the ring once. It looks like the Sharks have missed their window.
In separate news, Rog has opened up a new blog where you can see the sketches he does. Most recently, he did a Mothra sketch inspired by the Giants’ insect-related drama in Spring Training. You can find the link up top or just click here. If you’re a super-hero-comics fan, you’ll love his stuff.
A little break from baseball to talk a little Golden State Warriors basketball, if you can call it that.
Look, I’m not the biggest basketball fan, but when I was old enough to take an interest, it was in Run TMC. To this day, I still think that’s how a team should be run. Not a superstar like Kobe and a bunch of interchangeable role guys. Even Jordan had Pippen as a partner. And Chris Mullin has always, ALWAYS been my favorite basketball player. Hell, I picked up NBA Jam on my iPad just so I could play as him.
So a part of me was upset that his jersey retirement night was ruined and upstaged by all the boos.
But in all seriousness, Warrior fans have the right to boo like no others. Many agree that there is no more rabid fan base when the team is winning, and it’s still strong when it’s losing. (Hear that, Oakland Athletics? What are YOU guys doing wrong?)
But the tipping point for me was this eye-opening timeline by Bill Simmons on Grantland (an offshoot of ESPN.com). I know why, as a Warrior fan, I have no faith. But I’ve never seen it laid out in such detail as in this article.
And you know what? Good on Warrior fans. Even as much as I want Mullin to be the one who’s remembered, it’s about time Warrior fans made it clear they are tired of this middling-diddling crap.
And Lacob better be careful. Before he knows it, the guy he outbid for the Warriors might just make the Bay Area a two-NBA team market, and create the San Jose Grizzlies. (To be fair, that is a nickname more suited for anywhere in California rather than in Tennessee.)
Then again, I might be using the term ‘NBA Team’ just a little too lightly when it comes to discussing either the Warriors or the Grizzlies.