Comments on: …. Talk talk

By: Jim Adams

Jim Adams — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:30:56 +0000

When they compile the list of the worst-hitting infields ever, I wonder where the 2007 Giants will rank? Vizquel and Durham were two of the worst hitters in baseball this year; Feliz was one of the worst-hitting 3Bs; Klesko was a below-average hitter for a 1B. Aurilia and Fransden, the back-ups, were bad hitters too (Fransden’s GDP rate was 50% higher than Jim Rice’s was, the year Rice set the single-season GDP record).

If you ever have a snoot full and start to think the 2008 Giants might be good, please consider the following three points:

1) Vizquel and Durham were two of the worst hitters in baseball this year.
2) Vizquel is 40 years old, Durham 35.
3) Both players will probably be back with the Giants in 2008, and they might even be regulars again.

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:26:40 +0000

Yeah – I just noticed myself that this is causing the stall.

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:25:01 +0000

“The fans pay for the players with higher ticket prices and more expensive beer.” — While it’s true that the money from tickets and beer, etc. does go towards salaries, the concept of what you’re saying has been proven as an economic myth. Ticket prices are set based on supply and demand as opposed to the team’s payroll in a given season. There was an extremely conclusive study on this about five years ago… I’m too lazy to search for it at the moment, though.

By: grega

grega — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:07:16 +0000

I think you’re right that TV money is bigger then the gate or concessions and you’re right he could pump 30 million of his own money into the payroll. But he won’t. He doesn’t have to. It’s the first rule of business. Never spend your own money when you can spend someone else’s.

None of the free agents the Giants have passed on have been too expensive, the Zito signing proves that. However the Giants didn’t overpay one cent for Zito. 126 was his price to play for the Giants. That doesn’t mean it would have cost 126 to play for the Mets. Vladimir Guerrero is another example, the rate for him to play for the Giants (and Alou) was probably much much higher then 11 mil per.

That’s why I believe that A-Rod’s price to play in SF is nowhere near as low as 30 mil per year.

By: hal

hal — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:54:31 +0000

John -

It seems to be the Top 100 Baseball Sites button that’s causing the slow downloads. Everything else loads quickly, but the download stalls when it gets to that button, as indicated in the status bar at the bottom of my browser.

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:46:48 +0000

The owners give us higher ticket prices and more expensive beer because they can, we’ll pay for it. When we won’t pay for it any longer, they won’t raise the prices. What’s more, while money from higher ticket prices and more expensive beer are certainly nice forms of revenue, I’d venture to guess that television money and money that owners have but usually refuse to spend are sizeably more. If Peter Magowan decided to pump $30 million of his own money into the payroll, he could certainly do so. The Giants plan worse than the goverment and usually (lately) fail to spend money wisely or with long-term stability in mind. Sadly, I don’t think that it’s going to be fixed any time soon, especially in light of the overall improvement of the other NL West franchises.

I didn’t then and I don’t now accept that, say, Carlos Beltran was too expensive for the Giants.

By: grega

grega — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:09:41 +0000

And we have no talent from within. The proof is on the field. It’s never a good sign when one of the call ups on a last place team is a 35 year old first basemen. It’s not a good sign when none of the call ups play shortstop or thirdbase.

Yes A-Rod would make the team somewhat better. They still won’t make the playoffs because they need a core of homegrown talent around a player like A-Rod, something they’ve never been able to do with Bonds.

And I totally disagree with you Kent on the funny money concept. There is no funny money in baseball. It’s not going to be Magowan’s money or any other Giants owners, it’s going to be yours and mine. The fans pay for the players with higher ticket prices and more expensive beer.

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:15:07 +0000

Yes, A-Rod alone wouldn’t make the Giants a good team… I don’t think ANYONE is proposing that we get A-Rod and do nothing else. The point is, he’d be a pretty darn good piece to build around and along with other improvements his presence would be significant. The idea of building from within is a nice, but to do that you actually need to have talent from within.

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:23:45 +0000

I’ll also add that arguments against the likes of ARod are rather dismissive of the Dodgers, Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers spend money (albeit stupidly), but they also have young talent. The Padres are smartly run and have two pitchers better than our top three. The Rockies are improving and also young. The Diamondbacks are stacked for the future. The Giants? The Giants are taking advantage of their fans, skimping, spending $ unwisely, and losing…and their doing all of these things while (here’s the biggest insult) hiring retreads (Bochy) and renewing contracts (Sabean).

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:22:07 +0000

My first thought was to agree with Kevin.

The second thought was that if he’s worth 8 more wins than Feliz, he’s worth 11 more than Vizquel.

Still wouldn’t make the Giants a good team. Excluding Velez and his 4 PA, Bonds is the only player who has an OPS above .800. And why would ARod want to get walked 150 times and be lucky to get up 4 times a game and lose more games than he wins? and how many fans would come to see it?