Thursday, January 10, 2019

NYSE: ORCL

PhoneCo is no mo--Giants tap Big O. 

In the I'm-not-sure-it-matters-much Department, our ballpark will be getting a new name, its fourth. PacBell Park morphed into SBC Park and then into AT&T Park. Next up: Oracle Park. Time for a nickname contest!

--M.C.


17 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

MLBTR says the Giants are interested in DJ LeMahieu.

Zo said...

I don't know. PhoneCo Park had kind of a ring to it. Database Solutions Park? Integrated Cloud Applications Park? Just doesn't seem to do it.

M.C. O'Connor said...

CloudCo Park.

Ron said...

This are LeMahieu's line in Away Games over the last 3 years - I figured that that was way more important than his overall stats, given that he would be coming from Coors Field. While not overwhelming, they are better than anyone who we have seen lately:

.277 / .330 / .405

He had more HR's on the Road than at Home, but more RBI's at Home.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hard to know if they are serious on LeMahieu, those stories on MLBTR are just what they say they are: rumors. Always liked him as a player. He's consistently rated as an excellent defender but other than 2016 he's a league-average hitter at best. Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs has this profile on him which is an interesting read. And Kenny Kelly at Beyond the Box Score thinks he's under-appreciated and would be a good signing.

Ron said...

Giants maintain 100% record - don't obtain LeMahieu.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Two-year, $24M is the rumor. Can't see the Giants going there for a Joe Panik upgrade. Starting pitcher, maybe, or an outfielder. FZ is on the radio this morning (KNBR), if you are interested in what's going on with the FO. Or at least what they are willing to tell us!

M.C. O'Connor said...

FZ says the "moves will come" and the team will be "competitive" in 2019. He also says he appreciates the fans' impatience because he likes the passion behind it. He says he's a sports fan himself and he "gets it."

The interview is worth the listen. FZ has a relaxed, reassuring way about him, I'll give him that, and he seems to know how to say all the right things. All we can do is take the man at his word, I suppose. So, I will.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Here's the link.

He also talks about the constraints of the budget and the dearth of trade-able assets in the minors and how that "ties his hands" (the reporter's words) somewhat.

Zo said...

DJ Lemahieu is apparently going to become a Yankee.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Here's David Pinto's take on the LeMahieu acquisition. Sometimes signing a player isn't about the player, but his potential to be moved later for other assets. The Giants are more in the "one red paper clip" stage of team-building, by comparison! It doesn't seem like they are going to move their expensive core, mostly I think because there aren't any takers, and that they think they can still get value/production from the likes of Posey, the Brandons, Longoria, etc. There has been a lot of talk about moving the lefty relievers (Watson and Smith) but FZ said on the radio that he has not spoken to any of the national media about any potential trades, so the "rumors" are just that. He also said he has not shopped Bumgarner but that he has fielded calls about him, and is willing to take calls about "any player on the roster."

Zo said...

As to the question posed in the post, you can't use the big O, that was Oakland's O.co coliseum. But it is Oracle, so I'm going with Carnac Park. Or for short, Carpark.

M.C. O'Connor said...

The 'nac.

Ron said...

On one of our Latino Package Channels, I got see a few innings 'en vivo!' of Hunter Pence playing in the Dominican Winter League last night. While he looked great physically & all Hunter-ish, w/ his high stockings, he kind of clattered around a bit in RF (no errors, just a few missed attempts to pick the ball up off of the ground a la Juan Perez in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2014 World Series) & whiffed in the only at-bat that I got to see. (Unfortunately, the Game ended w/ Hunter on-deck. His Team got drubbed, 7-2.) His 'new-look' batting stance looked pretty much like the classic version. He's hitting in the low .220's, w/ 0 HR's, & 8 RBI's. Hope that he catches on somewhere, although I'm not sure that he's doing a lot for his chances right now.

M.C. O'Connor said...

He might get a minor-league offer somewhere, but it looks bleak, as you suggest. Obviously one of the most fun players ever, so glad we got to see him do all those great things. That catch in the 2014 playoffs off Werth, Vogelsong pitching. Man, that was something. So many great moments with that guy, not to mention all the goofiness. Fans will go nuts if he ever shows up in a big league uniform at The Orc. They'll have to hand out delay-of-game penalties!


Ron said...

We did something! And, it's something useful! We re-signed Derek Holland! $7M for 1-year ... seems about right.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Yeah, I saw that about the time you commented here. I think most folks wanted to see him come back.