Monday, April 21, 2014

Vogelwrong

I switched to the season finale of Archer at seven o'clock. And my lovely bride insisted on Bones at eight. Ryan Vogelsong, total-recalling his very bad self, was done in the 2nd and the Giants never recovered. It was another feeble performance by the lineup as well--the only runs scored were on a double-play grounder by Posey in the 3rd and a wild pitch-passed ball-throwing error sequence in the 9th. I know anything can happen in 100 PAs, but this is getting tiresome. Giants: get some damn hits and score some some damn runs.

Let's hope things turn around tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


7 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

And David Huff injured himself running out his first hit! He goes to the DL.

It was a bad night for the ballclub.

Brother Bob said...

A starter should certainly get more outs than runs allowed. I switched to "Jeopardy" at 7.

Trevor Fisher said...

Vogelsong got his ass crushed. I don't know what happened there. Maybe the Rockies were just having a hot game. Hopefully we do better today.

obsessivegiantscompulsive said...

I was thinking about Runzler, didn't he get hurt on his first hit too (or was it first swing?).

It was just one of those wacky Coors games, but it didn't help the Giants that the umpire's strike zone was wacky too, this is like the 3rd or 4th game already this season where the umpire's strike zone drew the Giants ire. Do they want to get replaced with machines that soon?

Ron said...

Signing Vogelsong &, basically, telling the world that, no matter what, he was going to be our 5th starter was a huge mistake. I thought so & said so at the time & still think so. There was no evidence to suggest that he had a good chance of turning things around. By not even providing token competition during Spring Training, we have set ourselves up for a season-long problem. In the early part of Calendar Year 2014, there were various reasonable options available. Now, there is probably no one. If this continues much longer, we will either have to give Petit a try, or prematurely promote one of our prospects.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Vogie had a good start in LA.

So, are we betting he can't be Zito? That's what he has to do--be Barry Z but for 1/5 the price. I think he's still got enough to do that. Obviously he can't give up 3 HR in 1-1/3, but just as obviously it is still April. The Giants have Petit, but no one in the minors seems quite ready. And if you go with Petit does Vogie go to the 'pen and become the mop-up man?

I'm willing to wait. Just like I'm willing to wait on the bats because I think the talent is there and things will improve.

obsessivegiantscompulsive said...

I basically agree with M.C. stance.

Vogelsong was a calculated risk signing, which I was and still am in favor of.

The Giants from 2009-2012 had a bad starter in the mix of the 5 starters and yet the team still had a top 5 RA ranking in the majors. Vogelsong fit that profile of risk and reward: at worse, if he's like 2013, we have a bunch of OK replacements, starting with Petit, then Escobar, Blackburn, Crick, Blach, Mejia and others. On the upside, if Vogelsong rights his ship, there is the upside of 2011-2012.

There was no evidence to us. But the Giants work with him everyday and saw him upclose and know what he was dealing with day to day, and perhaps have a better understanding of what to expect. Already proving that fans missed something about Vogelsong, the announcers have noted that his velocity is bad to where it was when he was going good. So now it's a matter of him figuring out his mechanics, which probably got messed up badly last season, getting that consistent.

To balance that bad last starter, we have three good starters: Bumgarner, Cain, and Hudson.

And playing the role of Zito, average starter around 4 ERA, we have Lincecum in 2014, but who, like Vogelsong, could have huge upside if he figures things out.

I like that mix of risk/reward plus I personally like holding onto our stars long-term. So I don't mind giving Timmy a big contract, we lived large on his Cy Youngs before for pennies on the dollar, we can afford to give him this last contract to see if he can make the transition while still a Giant.

Lastly, I don't know why people have problems with Petit. Yes, some have seen him throw and don't like it. All I know is I like the results in the box score that he has done in a Giants uni. And we don't need much in the last spot in the rotation, as I noted above, we mostly need a body who can do OK there, or better.

That's something I like about Bochy that many fans don't seem to like. He has a ying-and-yang with vets, he trusts past results, past performances, but don't hold the past against players either, yet once he gives them that chance, hold their current performances against them. So if you have performed before, he'll give you that due, even if you recent performances is not good, if he likes what he sees (if you read comments, he evaluates players with his eyes and video). But if you are not performing now, he somehow is able to dance gingerly on that player's ego by not playing them, and yet gaining their respect enough that he can give them opportunity to play and they will perform. Zito and Lincecum are huge examples of that.

Before, I thought that Vogie would get the long relief role if they made the move to Petit, but with Huff doing well, I suspect they will go with Huff instead and demote Vogie to AAA (who is going to take his contract?) where he hopefully can figure things out again without the pressure of MLB starts.

Of course, that depends on whether we can hold onto Huff, not sure what happens once he's ready again. Though I would note that Kontos appears to have learned his lesson and is working hard to get back to the majors, Runzler too, and he can go long relief.