MLB 2020

The Hall of Fame announced they would postpone their induction ceremony this summer and make it part of the 2021 event. It was scheduled for July 24-26. Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, and Ted Simmons will have to wait for their moment. (The late Marvin Miller is also on the docket.)

Wimbledon, scheduled for June 29 to July 12, will be played next summer.

The Olympics, scheduled for July 24 to August 9, will take place next summer.

The Indy 500, a American Memorial Day Weekend fixture, has been re-scheduled for August 23rd.

The Masters, originally scheduled for April 9-12, is now set to take place November 9-15.

What's going to happen to Major League Baseball? We've seen some ideas floating around about a possible re-start to the season but nothing is firm. I'm not convinced that any of the things I've heard about are practical, and in fact I would not be surprised if MLB, at some point, just pulls the plug on 2020. That would be unfortunate but probably for the best. I like that people are being creative and trying to imagine how to get the season going, though. When confronted with new problems you have to generate new solutions, and I appreciate the optimism and enthusiasm of the folks involved.

I suppose my main concern is the re-direction of health care resources. As we know testing for COVID-19 is still an issue (although LA just announced all its citizens can get tested for free) in many places and I'd hate to see ballplayers and MLB folks get prioritized over ordinary citizens. If entertainment venues and industries can implement the strategies needed to hold events without taking people and supplies away from hospitals and other care facilities then I could go along with it. Obviously there can't be any fans, at least at first, which seems silly to me. Fans are part of the game! I have little interest in "lab rat" sports. Perhaps limited audiences with strict social distancing might work, but everyone will still use the same entrances, same toilets and washrooms, etc. Doesn't sound very appealing to me. If baseball does re-start, I think eliminating sports-casters would be a useful improvement. They are pointless. I'd rather have a raucous audience than a goddamn talking head.

I feel for the stadium workers, the concessionaires, and all the seasonal and ancillary businesses (the pubs and restaurants near the parks, for example) that are getting hit hard by the closures. MLB will survive this--some of those folks will not. For their sake alone I'd like to see baseball come back. Don't get me wrong, I miss baseball too, but I don't NEED baseball. No one "needs" sports, fer chrissakes! I really hate all that "we need sports more than ever now" nonsense. People found ways to entertain each other long before professional sporting events took over the public consciousness.

Will the Indy 500 really run in August? We'll see. And if that looks like it will work, maybe MLB will resume in August as well. I miss my Giants, that's for sure, but I'll survive. I'm happy that the lights are on, the water is flowing, the grocery stores are open, and I can Zoom with friends and family. I'm fortunate to be in a position where the crisis has not hurt me much but I am certainly aware of the impacts it has made on many people and their families, and I hope it gets better soon. Lots of things will likely be very different when we "get to the other side" of this mess.

So, readers--what do you think?

--M.C.

Blast from the Past

Here's what we are doing in lieu of real baseball:

Last night we watched "The Texas Cainsaw Massacre" which featured a very young Derek Holland having a really rough relief outing for the Rangers. Matt Cain was awesome, of course.

Two games in the set are from that epic LCS against the Phillies. Game Four was incredible--here's my game story from that night--and Game Six was the clincher.

We've got the 2012 and 2014 DVD sets as well. Good times!

--M.C.

Opening Day . . . Not!

Today was supposed to be Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The Giants were to open against the Dodgers in LA this afternoon. Opening Day has been marked in my calendar since I knew the date. I remember more than once, back when I was a working stiff, calling in sick in order to attend the Home Opener. I'm sure many of you have done the same!

This extraordinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic has robbed me of my favorite pastime--following the San Francisco Giants. That's a real bummer! At the same time I am encouraged by my fellow humans. People are really trying to do the right thing and fight off this virus. I'm not often proud of the human race, but lately I've been impressed. Folks are taking this thing seriously and doing what needs doing. Look past the callous shortsightedness and the vainglorious posturing of our so-called leaders in this crisis. Look to your neighbors, friends, and families. Listen to people who actually know something about diseases**. Communities will take care of business, all we can hope is that the apparatus of government will help and not hinder those efforts. (Don't forget to give a shout out to all those folks who have to leave home every day and go to work in order to provide us with essential services. They have to risk infection so we that we can be safe. I gave my mail carrier a big thumbs up and hearty thank you yesterday. From ten feet away, naturally.)

Tonight we are firing up the DVD player and putting in the Matt Cain Perfect Game disc! That was a special night, one of the greatest moments ever for all Giants fans.

Stay safe. Stay home. Stay positive.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


** WHO, CDC, HSPH, UCSF, for example

Welcome, Javier!

The newest (and youngest) member of the Giants is Javier Alexander Francisco Estrella. He's a 16-year old shortstop from the Dominican Republic. Here's the rule governing eligibility:

Foreign-born players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and other countries are free agents. They may sign with any Major League club during the international signing period, which begins July 2 and runs through mid-June the next year. To be eligible to sign a contract, a player must be 16 years old at the time of signing and turn 17 years old by either 1) September 1 or 2) the end of his first professional season, whichever is later. Players also must register with the MLB Scouting Bureau.

That's from Cot's Contracts, a site all baseball fans should be familiar with! Note that this does not cover Japanese players, the NPB has a special arrangement ("posting system") that determines if a player can sign with MLB. Residents of the USA (and its territories like Puerto Rico) and Canada are subject to the draft. They have to be high school graduates, too.

I'm not sure why kids from foreign countries have more freedom than kids from the States, but that's our system! I think it is stupid. There should be the same rules for everyone. In fact, I would get rid of the draft entirely, and make all ballplayers free agents as soon as they stop playing amateur ball. Ideally they would not be able to sign contracts until they were legal adults, but I guess that's what agents, scouts, and parents are for. (Not to mention the notorious buscones.) Some wag called all that jockeying in foreign countries to find baseball talent a "field of schemes." Indeed.

Regardless, the Giants have a new international prospect. He's been compared to Fernando Tatis, Jr. That fellow made the majors last season with the Padres at age 20 and kicked ass.

Interestingly, MLB has considered skipping the 2020 amateur draft. After all, no one is playing ball so scouting isn't happening and if you can't scout you can't evaluate talent. What a great time to get rid of this anachronism.

--M.C.

Coronavirus

The Giants have announced that the exhibition game scheduled against the A's for Tuesday, March 24th will not be played in San Francisco at Oracle Park. It is likely the teams will stay in Arizona and play the Bay Bridge Series games there.

San Francisco mayor London Breed has announced recommendations to halt the spread of COVID-19. They include cancelling or postponing all "non-essential" large (over 1000 people) gatherings.

The KBO has already postponed the season openers, so has the NPB. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has issued a statewide ban on large gatherings which includes the Seattle Mariners and their opening series at T-Mobile Park. So far MLB has not made any general announcements about the schedule but teams are taking steps such as limiting clubhouse access and cancelling fan events. Here's the official statement from MLB.

We'll see how this unfolds. Stay safe out there, my friends!

--M.C.


update: the River Cats have cancelled the exhibition against the Giants in Sacramento that was scheduled for March 22nd. I also learned that the Giants AAA team's home field is now called Sutter Health Park. It was Raley Field for its first twenty years. The River Cats became a Giants affiliate in 2015, taking over for the A's who moved their AAA affiliation to the Nashville Sounds. The A's are now back in the west with the Las Vegas Aviators.

update two: the NCAA announced that its post-season basketball tournaments (aka March Madness) will be played with only "essential staff and limited family attendance."

update three: the President suspends all travel from Europe for 30 days. I suppose this means it is not a hoax anymore but a real health threat. Anyway, the UK is exempted. And so are cargo ships and flights--just a passenger ban.




***You might want to read this post by DrBGiantsFan who blogs at "When the Giants Come to Town." He's a doctor in real life and has a detailed and thoughtful take on the COVID-19 situation.

More cuts

The Giants sent Joey Bart (and infielder Chisthian Adames) to minor-league camp. Giants fans might be disappointed but it seems like they want Bart to have a little more seasoning. Kapler was explicit about what he wanted Bart to work on and FZ said that having Bart in the bigs this year was "a reasonable goal for him and us." They don't want him to sit. They want him to play, not be a backup. It's the right call.

RHP Enderson Franco and OF Joe McCarthy were optioned to AAA Sacramento. Aramis Garcia was put on the 60-day Injured List--he had hip surgery last month.

The Giants picked up another player off waivers, this time Jose Siri, he will report to minor-league camp and start the season at AA Richmond. He's a RH center fielder from the Dominican Republic who turns 25 in July. He was signed as a 17-year old by the Reds but never cracked a big-league roster. He was picked up by the Mariners earlier in the off-season and then released.

Johnny Cueto did not have a good outing today (9 H, 5 R in 1-2/3 IP). Oh, and you must watch Yapson Gomez! He's a lefty reliever with a crazy windup. I believe he's a minor-league free agent--he's not on the NRI list. Let's hope they find a spot for him in the system.

--M.C.

Mauricio

I saw this bit and it made me think of this guy:

"I can really, legitimately see him playing center field quite a bit," Kapler said Friday. "I think earlier in camp I was saying we're going to take more of a wait-and-see approach. I think at this point he has demonstrated he can play center field, he can play shortstop for us."

I'm sure all us old-timers remember Derrel Thomas (aka "The Bug"). He was the number one pick in the draft in 1969. The only other 1st-rounder from that group that made an impact in the majors was Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky. Thomas made a career out of being versatile. In 15 seasons (almost 1600 games) he logged over 4800 innings at second base, over 2400 in center field, and over 2300 at shortstop. He played for the Giants from 1975 (arguably his best season) through 1977. He came up with the Padres but was best known as a member of the Dodgers (getting a ring with them in 1981).

Speaking of the Dodgers, the super-utility player is something they've been featuring lately with both Chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez. Even their big sluggers (Muncy and Bellinger) move around and have two or three positions they can handle. Both Gabe Kapler and Farhan Zaidi worked in LA and it should not be a surprise that they'd like to have that kind of versatility on the roster.

Mauricio Dubon was not a #1 pick and was not in the majors at age 20 like Thomas. He was a nobody, really, a 26th round pick, and he has had to climb the ladder (with three organizations) for the last seven seasons. But the team seems high on his abilities and wants him to think about a different role, something more than a traditional infielder. There is a lot more pressure on an NL roster to have positional flexibility as the DH option is limited to inter-league play. Here's more from the article:

The concept is a simple one: Dubon has a chance to impact the Giants every single day, and they would like him to do it at different spots, allowing Kapler to mix and match with his veterans. Dubon has just over 100 big league at-bats and some organizations might prefer for a player like that to settle in at one position. But the Giants feel Dubon can mentally handle it, and there's little doubt that their best chance -- perhaps their only chance -- at having a competitive lineup is to get creative. They'll look a lot better against left-handed starters, for instance, if Dubon can play center, with Donovan Solano at short and Wilmer Flores at second. It'll be much easier, too, for Kapler to make mid-game double-switches if he's confident Dubon can slide from position to position and fill the gaps.

I like it. I think ballplayers can do lots of things and I like to see them get the chance to display not only their athleticism but their growth and learning. If that makes me sound like a teacher--well, guilty! It could be really fun watching Dubon this year. Plus he has a cool name. I mean, "Mauricio" lends itself well to chants (Mahhhhh-REEEEEEEE-see-ohhhhh) and I suspect he's the only one in the bigs with that moniker. Of course, he still has to hit. That's the thing. You want to stick, then make some noise with your stick!

Trevor Oaks is "opening" against the Indians this afternoon. Also, pay attention to righty masher Darin Ruf who is making a case to be the 26th man.

--M.C.