The Giants hired a new pitching coach. Southpaw Curt Young played 11 years in the bigs (1983-1993) and was both a starter and a reliever. He'll be 58 in April. Dave Righetti, the man he replaces, played 16 seasons (1979-1995) as a lefty starter and reliever. He'll be 59 in a couple of weeks. Interestingly, Young was on the Yankees when Righetti was on the Giants! The two men are contemporaries, and complementary, as Young was in Oakland as the pitching coach for much of Righetti's tenure across the Bay. Rags is of course a Bay Area boy (San Jose) while Young is from Saginaw, Michigan, immortalized by Lefty Frizell's song.
The Giants hired a new hitting coach, Alonzo Powell, whose professional career spanned the years 1983-2001 with MLB time in 1987 and 1991. He'll be 53 next month, and was originally a Giants prospect who was part of the Bill Laskey trade. Hensley Meulens played pro ball from 1986 to 2002 with MLB stints in 1989-1993 and 1997-1998. Both men played in Japan, Powell from 1992-1998 and Meulens from 1994-1996. He'll be 51 in June. Powell is San Francisco native; Bam-Bam is perhaps Aruba's most famous citizen (with the possible exception of Xander Bogaerts!). He becomes the bench coach, bumping Ron Wotus back to third base.
So, make of that what you will. I've no idea how much of an impact coaches make on individual performances or team-wide philosophies. I imagine the Giants only made these changes because they lost 98 games. If they had won 98, do you think they'd have shuffled the deck? Regardless, we've some new faces in the fold and we have to hope they are part of the upgrade the team needs. But it is weird that the new guys are so much like the old guys!
Brandon Crawford earned his third straight Gold Glove Award. We know that guy is a wizard, and I'm happy that baseball knows it, too. He really is an exceptional fielder and we are lucky we get to see him every day. I saw Ozzie Smith quite a bit back in the day (he came up with the Padres before he made his name in St. Louis) and we all got to see Omar Vizquel in orange-and-black not long ago. Those guys are my standards for judging shortstops, and I can say without hesitation that BCraw can do everything those guys could do, and he's bigger and stronger to boot, with a cannon for an arm. We'll see if he has their longevity.
Johnny Cueto decides to stay with the Giants for four more years and I'm happy about that. I think last season was a blip and that he will return to form and the team will get more than its money's worth when all is said and done.
RIP Roy Halladay, one of the great pitchers of his time. Here's the thing: from 2002 to 2011 he threw almost 2200 innings over 303 starts. That's 7+ IP per start! Who does that? Extraordinary ballplayer, to be sure, and also he seemed well-loved by his peers. He embodied both "ace" and "workhorse." Giants fans will never forget Cody Ross clubbing two homers off Halladay in the 2010 NLCS when he pitched for the Phillies. He had two memorable matchups with Tim Lincecum in that series, losing one and winning one. His 64.7 bWAR puts him between Juan Marichal (63.1) and Luis Tiant (66.7).
--M.C.
7 comments:
Can Brandon Crawford do a standing (or running) backflip?
Well, he can do shit on the playing field that is WAY HARDER than a goddamn fookin' backflip, so yeah, I'm saying he can do a backflip alright, and probably not spill his drink at the same time.
Matt Herges, bullpen coach.
Rick Schu, asst. hitting coach.
Alguacil stays at 1B.
Young, Powell, Meulens in a new role, Wotus in a new role.
That's the coaches for next year.
(Dunston remains in his replay analyst role.)
The Giants have announced that Rick Schu is their new assistant hitting coach. Really, this all seems very much like we-have-to-do-something-so-let's-shuffle-coaches. Note that the existing coaches were reassigned, not fired. I guess the Giants had to do something but couldn't really hang the blame for a lousy year on the coaching staff.
I disagree. They are getting fresh perspectives from hitting coaches from highly successful offensive teams in 2017, a player development coach from a typically shrewd drafting team, and well-qualified pitching coaches from outside the Giants organization. They broke with the parochialism that has in the past kept them from conceptualizing why a team that was the best in baseball thru the first half of 2016 became the worst, or close to it, in the second half; and then violated general expectations by being deplorable for a full season in 2017. If for good reasons they aren’t embarking on a general rebuild, they can’t simply take the alternative of patching in a few new players and crossing their fingers into magic macrame. Getting the new points of view, prior to the trading season and then operationally during the actual season, seems to me a necessity. Following through on those new points of view is still more a necessity, and we’ll see how they do. But depending on the same old, in-house voices on and on?—that would have been bankruptcy.
Mattingly worked a full afternoon with the marlin's first baseman and he took off, and hit well for the rest of the season. Sometimes, a coach can really help a player meet his potential. I don't think the giants should panik. One very good outfielder added to the mix, and perhaps a power hitter. We have the possibility of Sandoval or Arroyo at third, one of them could be the starting option and the other utility. Slater if healthy could be an every day player. Adding a significant hitting and fielding upgrade to the outfield and the lineup could be a big winner. A healthy Melancon, and what looked like a solid developing bullpen should be much better in 2018. If the starting 5 can stay healthy it will add a lot of wins from last years.
Campanari, I really can't argue with any of your points. I think you have a healthier attitude than I. Buster Posey has deservedly won the Silver Slugger award.
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