Results tagged ‘ Buster Posey ’
GIFCap: They only come in wins, baby
I’m not doing these things in a loss unless the Giants get extremely unlucky and there’s stuff to calm myself down over. This was not one of those nights. The Giants did not lead until the game was over, and despite a pretty wide strike zone, they managed to be down by two or tied the whole way. Ryan Vogelsong was good enough to get through seven innings tonight, and Wade Miley nearly matched him in innings pitched. Here are some of Vogelsong’s strikeouts against Didi Gregorious, Cliff Pennington, and Miguel Montero.
Cody Ross made his return to AT&T Park, and there were reports that he was being booed? For shame, Giants fans. For shame. How have you forgotten the title he hath broughteth in 2010?
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vogelsong also played the part of a kick-save goalie tonight, proving baseball players can play any sport.
After pitcher Wade Miley and old man Eric Chavez homered (I know), it was time for the 2012 MVP to get to work.
A 2-R HR to straightaway CF to tie the game. Your thoughts, Buster Posey?
Yes.
Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Andres Torres singled, Brandon Crawford bunted him over, and then Brandon Belt saw three straight sliders and on the third one, he made Tony Sipp pay.
That hit went softly into LCF and Gerardo Parra knew he had no shot to get Andres Torres and there was much celebration.
Just the way we like it.
GQ Photos: Not sure what Buster Posey’s wearing and what Barry Zito’s doing
Buster Posey shot a photo for GQ magazine that you can see here
As much as I love BP, I’m not sure I love the $325 capri sweatpants.
then there’s Barry Zito…
I’m just not sure what’s going on in this picture. You can see the other athletes in the slideshow on GQ here.
GIFCap: #SFGiants dance and blast their way to a sweep of the Padres
Barry Zito delivered seven shutout innings to bring his home shutout streak to twenty-one consecutive innings to begin the regular season. The game began with a couple disputable plays thanks to instant replay, and these calls would go against the Giants. First, Marco Scutaro‘s tag on Chase Headley that was not ruled correctly, though a very difficult call.
And Angel Pagan‘s hit by a pitch on his toe that Bob Davidson ruled was just a ball.
Lucky for the Giants, the bottom of the order began to rally, with Andres Torres and Brandon Crawford getting on base, and then Angel Pagan delivered a double to RCF on a 3-0 pitch. The broadcast pointed out that he cheked the dugout after the 2-0 pitch to maybe see if he had the green light. If so, maybe Angel Pagan was acknowledging that trust.
Pablo Sandoval capped the three-run rally with a bad ball seeing-eye single up the middle on a pitch a little less than a foot off the ground.
Buster Posey would get his first homer of the season, a two-run shot that put the Giants up 5-0.
If you’re wondering how pitchers can keep their ERA down, a good defense behind you can really do the trick.
Joaquin Arias got pretty good contact on a ball later in the game, and Kyle Blanks made a great catch but crashed into the wall and this would ultimately take him out of the game.
We just hope he’s OK.
We also hope that there will be more dance lessons outside, because why not.
Today’s jump wasn’t all that awe-inspiring, but we’ll take the sweep.
Arizona comes in to begin a three-game series with the Giants tomorrow night.
Pulse Check: Sixteen games in for the #SFGiants
There being 162 games in the season, 16 games in seems like a fine place to check in with 10% of the regular season finding its box checked by the Giants. The Giants are 9-7 after getting swept by Milwaukee, but I can’t say that these last three games speak to what we’ve seen out of this team so far. They’ll be in second or third in the NL West depending on how Arizona does tonight against the Yankees tonight, and I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t concerned if they had the record of the Marlins (3-12), but the record you have today shouldn’t be a predictor of where you finish.
Baseball Reference won’t have all sixteen games until tomorrow, but this is what the Giants season has looked like so far:
More of the “W” than the “L,” and have swept the division leading Colorado Rockies (what year is this?). Sure, the Giants are suffering their longest losing streak since the end of July last year, but I think they just needed to get out of Miller Park. There may be some obvious stars and goats from this first ten percent of the season, but there are also some legitimate questions for each player we look forward to see being played out.
Some of the Heroes
Brandon Crawford is always known for his defense, but have you noticed his productive start at the dish? How about a very handsome .352/.435/.593 line, tied for first in fWAR with Justin Upton at 1.3, so his value isn’t only coming with the glove. Crawford’s fWAR last season? 1.7.
Barry Zito didn’t have a very productive third start in Milwaukee, but then again, anyone who pitched there wished their day went a little bit better. Being a contributor with his pitch hand and his bat, Zito was a welcome surprise, continuing his postseason success with two straight starts with his defense helping him to two victories.
Sergio Romo had been called on to work in a eight of twelve game stretch, which is plenty of games for any reliever and wouldn’t bode well if that’s the rate at which he was being used when worrying bout fatigue. A 41.4% strikeout rate with no walks is pretty incredible work so far, and to have the guy that comes into the 9th inning not walk anybody saves all of us a few years of our lives.
Some of the Goats
Brandon Belt is the obvious choice for the guy that’s having the slowest start. His .214 BABIP has kept his hit count low, despite the line drives we’ve seen him hit. His nine hits in fifty-nine plate appearances don’t look stomach pleasing, and Nick Noonan is actually catching up to him in hits since the rookie already has seven himself. The ropes Belt’s hitting right now aren’t finding the ground, maybe it’s me being an apologist for him, but I gotta believe he’s close.
Tim Lincecum‘s struggles continue, and while Hector Sanchez did cost Lincecum strikes in his first start with his framing abilities, Timmy has not been helping his batterymate out with his lack of control. It’s amazing that a) he has gone at least five innings in each start, and b) the team has won each of the three games he’s started. His walk count in his three starts have gone from 7 to 4 to 1, so that is encouraging.
George Kontos is my choice from the reliever corps, though it’s not like it’s a runaway. His 15.2% left on base rate is pre-tttty low, and that will go up as the season goes, and his Opening Day homer to Clayton Kershaw still burns in my brain. He is not a question mark for me, just not a hot start.
Some of the Questions
How real is this personal catcher situation? Last year, we experienced the Hector Sanchez-Tim Lincecum experiment with Buster Posey at 1B. With Guillermo Quiroz getting a hit today, now the question is if he is being auditioned to take Sanchez’s spot. Also of note, since Posey got a day off today in a day game after a night game, might that set him up for catching #55 on Saturday? While Hector has given the team a better walk rate recently, his bat is not the answer.
Speaking of Posey, what the heck’s going on with the 2012 MVP? One more hit than Belt, and a slash line that you’d expect more out of 2011 Brandon Crawford than 2013 Posey. Articles on him suggest it’s just a slow start, that he’s feeling fine. If he’s feeling fine, I’m not worried about him catching back on. Same goes for Matt Cain.
When does Heath Hembree get the call-up? I believe it was Pavs that said when the Giants call him up, the Giants want it to be for good. When it comes to that, you’ll see MLB teams calling their prospects up in June so that they may hold on to their players for an extra year.
What the Chad Gaudin? I know, right? He’s been surprisingly better than decent, but has been used in more low leverage situations than in a situation you might see Santiago Casilla or Kontos showing up in. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Giants are with Gaudin as the year goes on, especially when Gaudin regresses.
What to look forward to
How about five straight series with NL West opponents? Padres, D-Backs, @ Padres, @ D-Backs, Dodgers that will carry us into May, all of these sets lasting three games a piece. Arizona gets to have six straight series with NL West opponents, so that should be fun for them.
The Giants, students of the comeback for some of their victories, are indeed lucky to be where they are, but the record is probably around what you might have expected out of them. You cannot win the division in April, but so far, they are not losing it.
Looking forward to more of those.
Lineups Posted: Maybe someone will issue a walk today
The series finale in Chicago happens today as the Cubs look to split the series with the Champs and the Giants look forward to a day off tomorrow after playing ten straight games. It’s early in the season, so I’m sure the players are looking forward to it.
After three straight games with a total of no hits, a couple walks, and a HBP, Buster Posey gets a day off today on a Tim Lincecum start.
Giants vs. Jackson: Pagan CF, Scutaro 2B, Sandoval 3B, Pence RF, Belt 1B, Blanco LF, Sanchez C, Crawford SS, Lincecum RHP
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) April 14, 2013
Lincecum has walked 20.8% of the batters he’s faced so far, so every fifth guy in the order here in the Cubs lineup will probably be looking forward to a walk:
#Cubs lineup vs. #SFGiants 4/14: DeJesus CF, Castro SS, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Schierholtz RF, Navarro C, Valbuena 3B, Gonzalez 2B, Jackson P
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 14, 2013
Of course, Edwin Jackson (12% BB%) is also known for his ability to walk players, and although his percentage isn’t the one-in-five Lincecum’s is, it’s still higher than the single digit percentage he’s put out over his career, and single digits is what you’d like to hit anyway. Lincecum’s career walk rate is 9.4%, so he’s way above that right now.
A lot of the talk that comes with Tim Lincecum goes to why can’t Posey catch him and Hector Sanchez always being his unsaid “personal catcher?” It looks like this is just the way it’s going to be, and we have to hope Sanchez is always improving with his ability to receive pitches and keep himself disciplined at the plate. Looking at the pitch log from Lincecum’s two starts (where Hector also caught), maybe there’s reason for hope in a small sample size:
vs. Dodgers
Look at all the balls called well inside the strike zone. While the umpire needs to recognize the strike zone, the catcher needs to help his pitcher out as well in receiving and framing, even if Lincecum has the off-the-wall command he does. Sanchez said he reviewed some tape and changed his footing so that he may better receive the pitches from Timmy before his second start. The pitches from the last game against Colorado:
Lincecum really misses high and inside a lot to RHH (these are from the umpire’s point of view), which is kind of scary. But in this plot, there are four balls just inside the zone that were missed, and one touching the zone that was called a ball. That could be a little Hector and a little umpire, but it is progress in the right direction for Timmy not suffering as much in missing strikes. The anti-personal catcher crowd tends to put Hector under a microscope, so look for how Hector catches and tries to frame pitches today. For me, that’s the most important thing. I expect a couple of strikeouts on pitches out of the zone, and maybe a base hit if he’s in the lineup. We’ll see how it goes today… but I advise you not to take a drink today every time a batter is walked by the starting pitcher. This would not be a good day to do it.
Game time is 11:20PM PST.
Happy Buster Posey Gets His NL MVP Award Day
Yesterday was Flag (Raising) Day, tomorrow is Rings Day, but today is NL MVP Day. Much like in 2011 when the Giants spent the first half of the season doing pre-game ceremonies to celebrate everything, the Giants are spending this weekend honoring the achievements of last year in 2013. Buster Posey will be joined by some former MVPs of Giants past like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Kevin Mitchell, and Jeff Kent. Barry Bonds was reportedly invited, but never RSVP’d to the event. Yesterday, CSNBayArea.com was live-streaming the flag ceremony, so I’m guessing if you don’t subscribe to that channel in some form, check the internet stream to see if they’re streaming the NL MVP ceremony there.
If you’re trying to remember Posey’s stats, the Giants official account gave a good review of the streamlined stats
2012 Stats: .336 (178-for-530) with 78 Runs, 39 Doubles, 24 HRs, 103 RBI, .408 OBP, .549 Slugging %, .957 OPS #MVPosey
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 6, 2013
This also included an excellent .406 wOBA, 162 wRC+, and 7.6 fWAR, all within the Top 4 marks of the Majors in 2012 for those with enough plate appearances to qualify.
A cool note on catchers to win the MVP, also from the Giants
Just the 5th Catcher to win the NL MVP Award, joiningJohnny Bench, Roy Campanella, Ernie Lombardi, Gabby Hartnett – #MVPosey
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 6, 2013
Good company right there.
Today’s lineup for the Cardinals:
Today’s #sfgiants #cardinals lineupslockerz.com/s/289067223
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) April 6, 2013
Here’s a quick scouting report from Baseball Prospectus on today’s starting pitcher Shelby Miller, whom we got to see pitch a little bit in relief during the 2012 NLCS.
Like it said above, he had a slow start in 2012, so we’ll see if he repeats that in 2013, or he’s able to more consistently flash those pitches that have made him a top prospect in the majors.
For the Giants (same soup):
Saturday’s #SFGiants lineup: Pagan CF, Scutaro 2B, Sandoval 3B, Posey C, Pence RF, Belt 1B, Blanco LF, Crawford SS, Vogelsong RHP.
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) April 6, 2013
You’ll remember that Ryan Vogelsong worked to keep the Cardinals bats as quiet as possible, allowing one run in each of his starts in Game 2 and Game 6, and I’m sure the Red Birds haven’t forgotten that Vogey was responsible for keeping a good lineup like theirs quiet for half of the Giants wins in that series. Interesting note: Shelby Miller pitched in relief of both those games Ryan Vogelsong started, and were also the only games Miller appeared in during the NLCS.
Game time is 1:05PM PST on FOX as the Giants go for their fourth consecutive victory, and the Cardinals try to avoid losing three in a row.
Highlights: What I Liked from the Second Opening Day
While I was workin on the railroad all the live-long day (or like, about a third of it), MLB was celebrating its second of three Opening Day, and things were happening. Baseball things. I didn’t get to watch the team I support most play its game, but they’ll have 161 games left that I might get to watch in parts or in its entirety, so it’s not all that bad. If it seems like I’m biased towards good pitching and home runs, and Buster Posey, well… you’d be right.
We’ll start off with Bryce Harper hitting multiple dingers against the Marlins
Really, this kid is so incredibly good. He is someone that has brought himself into the game so young, baseball enthusiasts will talk about this kid for years to come, no matter what happens with his career.
Justin Upton begins his Atlanta tenure with a bang
Did I mention I have him tabbed to be my NL MVP this year?
Collin Cowgill had an Opening Day salami
Gave the projected bottom-half of the division Mets beat the projected bottom-half of the division Padres
Speaking of not projecting to win, the Chicago Cubs had a huge blast from Anthony Rizzo
I wanted to link more from this game and the other Chicago game, but nothing else was embeddable 
Give credit where credit is due, Clayton Kershaw kept the Giants bats quiet, and his complete game shutout of the Champs reminded everybody that he never minds squaring off against his NorCal rivals, and if you can keep an open mind if you’re a Giants fan, he is an amazing pitcher to watch
Also, Kershaw said he didn’t want to discuss a contract extension during the season, and it sure didn’t get done, so how will that affect his price tag going forward? To those yelling that it won’t matter, we don’t know it can’t keep them from getting a decent set-up reliever in the future.
Baseball has only had one walk-off this season, and it comes courtesy of the Milwaukee Brewers
Too bad I couldn’t embed Dexter Fowler‘s game-tying homer vs. John Axford. I’ll just link you.
MLB’s being a little slow to embed a lot of different videos, so hopefully they’ll speed that up in the future, because who doesn’t like embedding stuff to their website to generate site hits let people watch over and over!
#SFGiants Sign Buster Posey to a 8 Year, $159MM Extension
Oh, Justin Verlander, you think you’re going to be the big news of the day? Buster Posey has some thoughts on that:
Posey would never be so arrogant to another baseball player like that, but no one’s surprised the Tigers kept Verlander, although maybe the money was a bit high. Gerald Dempsey Posey III, entering his Age 26 season, will be a Giant for the foreseeable future (through 2021 at the very least, a club option for 2022). You might be wondering to yourself like I was how often the Giants win with Buster Posey in the lineup, well thanks to baseball reference, I can tell you that they win more often than not when Posey starts games. A graph:
Let’s say you won 58% of the games you started in 140 games, that’s still 81 wins with twenty-two games left to go. The fact that Posey has been an integral part of a winning club should not be lost on anybody. Has he had some good fortune that he’s had the chance to work with guys like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Vogelsong when they’ve got their stuff in check for the most part? Absolutely. Bengie Molina had to work with less, although still had a pretty awesome Timmy, Cainer, and MadBum was just making his presence known. Here’s a totally unfair graph of how the Giants did in Molina starts:
Even in 2010 when Posey came up, Molina saw half the games he started in being won, but 59% of Posey’s netting the Giants a W, and ultimately, Buster would be a part of a drought-ending team for the Giants.
In between 2010 and 2012, Buster has amassed 301 games at the catcher position, which is tied for 19th most in that timespan, yet he still has had the time to put up some pretty nice/interesting numbers. Among MLB Catchers:
HR: 6th (46)
BABIP: 2nd (.342) to Joe Mauer
AVG: T-1st (.317) with Victor Martinez
OBP: 3rd (.384) behind Mauer, and Carlos Ruiz
wOBA: 1st (.383)
wRC+: 1st (145)
fWAR: t-1st (13.2) with Yadier Molina
Consider that every player listed here and along with the HR peoples have played at least 60 more games at the C position than Posey with the exception of Martinez (272 G).
Other Notable Catcher Contracts
- Mauer with the Twins makes $23MM a year in a 2011-2018 deal.
- Molina has a 5 year/$74MM guaranteed deal that beings this year, with a $15MM option for 2018
- Miguel Montero ha a 5 year/$60MM deal that begins this year
- Brian McCann is making $12MM this year and will be a free agent in after this season unless the Braves sign him to an extension
I’d say most of these catchers are pretty important to their franchises, especially the top two, but I’m sure Buster Posey’s camp started talking about Mauer numbers from the get-go before Yadier’s name was brought up in conversation. Words such as “Two in Three,” ”MVP,” “Rookie of the Year,” “Face of the Franchise,” were probably all used in conversations between the two sides.
The Payroll
Well, now we definitely have money to keep track of beyond 2019. Madison Bumgarner has options that can take his contract out that far, with guaranteed money that he’s owed in those later years, Matt Cain’s contract “only” goes out through 2018. Here’s what my Excel spreadsheet said about the payroll before the signing:
2013 — $138.33MM
2014 — $67.55MM
2015 — $55.5MM
2016 — $42.83MM
2017 — $32.33MM
2018 — $32.83MM
2019 — $12MM
If you’re going to fill up the payroll though, wouldn’t you do it on Buster Posey (if anybody) too? Of course you should. Here’s the payout:
Signing bonus $7 million, $3M in 2013, $10.5M in 2014, $16.5M in 2015, $20M in 2016, $21.4M in 2017-2021. option 2022 22M with $3M buyout.
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 29, 2013
My opinion on the contract
A nine-year contract, eight-year extension worth $167 million all told, if you want the whole thing averaged out, it’s $18.5MM/year. If you just want the extension, it’s $19.875MM. The option year has reported to be worth $21.4MM-$22MM, which would push the contract up to $188.4MM over the course of ten years. $7MM signing bonus (ka-ching!), and a $3MM buyout in that option year if things go all Barry Zito. Posey gets a full no-trade clause, and that shouldn’t be anything the fans or front office worries about for a while anyway. I Love this contract with a capital “L,” and think Brian Sabean and his team did a great job locking up their catcher (would have liked six years, but many fans thought this would be a ten-twelve year deal in the end). Assuming good health, Buster can probably make good on the value of this possible ten-year deal in seven years through $5MM per one fWAR. However, he may make it up sooner after he wins the Giants four straight World Series titles *winky face*
It is a wonder whether the Giants will be keeping Posey at catcher throughout the life of his contract, especially as long as Joe Torre stalls to not implement any new catcher safety rules. Regardless of all that, Buster Posey will be a Giant throughout the prime of his career, and that should make Giants fans very happy to have both a leader, and a bat in their lineup for years to come.
What’s next
Luckily, Posey has given us an exclusive look at that in this commercial:
Time to get to work.
Giants Notes for Wednesday
The blog’s been quiet for about a week, a combination of the celebration of my wife’s birthday, and some happenings that have demanded I take things seriously outside of the blog (nothing bad). People still check out the site despite the lack of news, and for that, I’m grateful that people give me the benefit of the doubt that I’ve been working on writing up this and that.
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It’s been speculated on in quieter times, and now there appears to be talking going on:
Giants broach mega deal w/ MVP Posey. word is, decent-sized gap exists. but they are working on it. cbsprt.co/ZdST2E
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) March 20, 2013
Heyman wants 10 years, and I’m sure the Posey camp does as well. Different starting points have been suggested, whether it’s Derek Jeter‘s contract, or Joey Votto‘s, you can be sure that this will be a contract that factors into the Giants spending plans from now through the early part of the roaring (20)20′s. Posey’s reps are no fools, and they know the Giants will have money available, if not money freed up due to some not-so-minor details:
When discussing Posey extension, remember this: #SFGiants are done paying Bonds deferred $, and debt service on ballpark ends in 2017.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) March 20, 2013
“You don’t have to pay money on that anymore, you say? Well, my client will humbly accept your paying him that money,” his agent will say. With Posey guaranteed to be with the Giants through 2016, I’m not sure either party has to do this contract now, and how much money this will save just yet. If Buster keeps having MVP-caliber seasons, the Giants will save money. If Posey starts developing an injury problem, it will cost the money, but all long-term contracts come with risks, as evidenced by guys like Mike Hampton, and local favorite Barry Zito. Beat writers from the Giants know that this talking has been going on for a little bit of time, so the national media getting wind of this just makes it common knowledge now. My personal preference for the soon-to-be 26-year old: six to eight years, any amount of money the parties agree on I trust ownership to own up to. It will likely be nowhere near 6, and closer to 8-9, because 10 is, as my NorCal brethren would say, a hella long time.
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We thought he had fallen off the planet. The Texas Rangers had found him? The Cleveland Indians were talking to him? We wanted full-time work? No one was able to talk to him. Then, Henry Schulman caught up with him…
Ryan Theriot speaks: Why the #sfgiants World Series hero is home in Louisiana. A Chronicle interview: blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/03…
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) March 21, 2013
… and Ryan Theriot, the scorer of the winning run in the World Series, is perfectly content with staying at home with his family watching his kids grow up, even at the ripe age of 33. His demands are simple, yet probably unattainable: regular playing time (starter’s role) for a major league baseball team. I encourage you to read the article because I always like it when the athletes we follow sound like good people, and Theriot sounds like good people.
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Not so Wednesday-y news, but the Giants bench has looked bad, but could be looking better: Andres Torres is getting healthy, Gregor Blanco is reverting back to his old batting ways, Brett Pill is feeling better, but the Giants still are hoping Hector Sanchez is feeling better. Former Arizona Diamondback and now Pittsburgh Pirate John McDonald might have been a target of the Giants considering Kensuke Tanaka is not doing it in the infield, and nobody’s really been blowing away the field on the infield so far on the Giants roster. He would’ve been a solid defender to add, but oh well, no use sulking about it now.
My thoughts on the depth chart are this: While the bench may not look good in April-May, it will not look the same when the Giants are making their stretch run. Not that who’s on the bench doesn’t matter, but the stress that we can put into it might not be what it should be unless you’re managing this club.
Buster Posey in front of an American flag
When I search the internet for “Buster Posey in front of an American flag,” I want to find a picture of Buster Posey in front of an American flag. Now, thanks to my novice photoshop abilities, I will never have to search again.
