Tagged: White Sox

July 1, 2009

Trading Deadline Is Near…

With the trading deadline getting closer and closer. It seems like all you hear now is about different trade rumors that are swirling around. The early rumors was the Giants were interested in Dan Uggla and Nick Johnson. That’s still one that is still going around. The Giants are also linked to Jermaine Dye, Victor Martinez and Mark Teahen. The Giants really do have a lot of options when it comes to making a move. Our offense has a lot of holes that need to be filled.

The Giants offense actually has been coming around, but they can still use
another solid bat or two in their lineup. Dye is a decent bat with some good pop to add, but I wouldn’t give up any top prospects for him. Victor Martinez would be a decent pick up as well. They would have to play him at 1st base when Molina is catching. I’m not to big on making a trade for Teahen. He has a decent bat and can play multiple positions but I would only get him if everything else didn’t go through and I pretty much got him for nothing. I keep going back and forth with Uggla but he does have some pop. His avg is just way down right now, but that could make him a lot easier to trade for. I’m sure the Giants are wishing they made the trade Jonathan Sanchez for Jorge Cantu when the Marlins wanted to make that move.

I would love to see Holliday in a Giants uniform, but I wouldn’t make the trade since the Giants would have to part with some decent players and Holliday’s contract ends after this year, so there is no guarantee that he would sign with the Giants. I hear a lot of fans scared to make a trade cause they don’t want to give up the players that are up and coming. Don’t worry Giants fans they are not going to trade Posey or Bumgarner, but you do have to give up players to get players. That’s why some of these players are in our minors. They can help us with trade bait and then we have some that are untouchable.

~King of Cali

April 2, 2009

2007 Home Run Derby Pictures…

I have never posted a blog about this, but I did go to the Home Run Derby when it was at AT&T Park. I just wish I would have took more pictures. The battery died on the camera so I knew I only had a few pictures in it. It really was a cool experience to see all the booths and stuff they had set up outside of the stadium. Right when I walked in the stadium I went straight to the field. The National League team was having batting practice and the American League team was starting to stretch out in front of me. I got a couple pictures of some of them up close. It was just really cool to see all these players from different teams up close. These players seemed so loose and were just joking around. You knew they were all having a blast.

Here is a couple of pictures from my seat view. I never sat this high before but these were the only tickets I could find for the Home Run Derby.

The winner of the 2007 Home Rub Derby was big, bad Vladimir Guerrero from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

~ King of Cali

April 2, 2009

My 2nd Fantasy Baseball Team

Last Friday I did my 2nd Fantasy Draft. I had the 6th pick in the draft. My #1 pick of the draft was Josh Hamilton. I have never played Fantasy Baseball before so I’m still not to sure how everything works. I know I have two guys on this team that are injured. I decided to get Alex Rodriguez since I figured he would be back in May. I also got Troy Glaus. I had no idea he was injured. I think I seen on MLB. com today that he won’t be back till June. Grrrrrrreat (not Tony The Tiger Grrrrrrreat) now I need to figure something out. lol Well here is my 2nd Fantasy team. Let me know what you think and any suggestions would be nice. =)

Team – King of Cali

C                  Brian McCann

1B               Pablo Sandoval

2B                Howie Kendrick

3B               Alex Rodriguez

SS                 Rafael Furcal

OF                Josh Hamilton

OF                Alfonso Soriano

OF                Corey Hart

Util              Andre Ethier

Util              Jim Thome

BN                Delmon Young

BN                Orlando Hudson

BN                Troy Glaus

BN                Fred Lewis

SP                 Jon Lester

SP                 Matt Cain

RP                George Sherrill

RP                Chad Qualls

P                   John Danks

P                   Ryan Dempster

P                   Jered Weaver

~ King of Cali

March 20, 2009

Giants vs. White Sox 3/20 recap.. Today in Baseball History!

Contreras gets the start for the White Sox and Zito for the Giants. Torres starts the game off for the Giants with a lead off walk. Emmanuel Burriss then gets a single to set up runners at 1st and 3rd with no outs for Schierholtz. The bases get loaded up by a wild pitch. Schierholtz gets hit in the back. The hot hitting Jesus Guzman cools off in this at bat as he grounds into a run scoring double play. Ishikawa grounds out to end the top of the first. Zito has an easy first inning. He gets the White Sox in order. After 1 inning it’s the Giants 1 and the White Sox 0. Rowand starts the 2nd inning with a ground rule double as the ball bounces over the fence. Rowand didn’t play in yesterday’s game against his former team. Rowand moves up to 3rd base on a pass ball. Juan Uribe gets a RBI single to score Rowand. Uribe would then score on a RBI single by Burriss. Torres and Burriss attempt a double steal but the throw down goes to the shortstop and he throws out Torres at the plate to end the inning. Zito gets Dye to hit a ground ball to 3rd and Guzman makes the play but air mails his throw to first. Thome then gets hit by the pitch to set up runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs for Paul Konerko. White Sox score on a RBI stand up double by Konerko. Thome scores on a RBI single up the middle. Stewart grounds into a double play but Konerko does score on the play. After 2 innings its the tied at 3. No runs for either team in the 3rd inning.

The Giants get on the board in the top of the 4th. Uribe and Frandsen steal 3rd and 2nd. The catcher throws the ball away so Uribe scores on the error. Burriss then gets his 3rd hit of the game with a RBI single scoring Frandsen. After 3 1/2 innings it’s the Giants 5 and the White Sox 3. The Giants and White Sox are held scoreless in the 5th inning. The Giants do score again in the top of the 6th inning. Frandsen scores on a RBI single by Torres. The Giants now have 10 hits and a 6-3 lead over the White Sox. The Giants get 2 runs in the top of the 7th by a Velez hit. Billy Sadler comes in to pitch a scoreless 7th inning. Buster Posey starts the 8th off with a single, but that’s the only action the Giants get in the top of the 8th. White Sox have bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th inning, but still do not manage to get a run across. The Giants score a couple more runs in the top of the 9th. McBryde and Bowker score on a hit by McClain. Brian Wilson is now in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. He is yet to allow a run this spring and he throws up another 0 on the board to continue his perfect spring.

The final totals are Giants 10 runs, 17 hits and 1 error. The White Sox have 3 runs, 7 hits and 2 errors.

Highlights

The Giants have 3 players who have a multi hit game. Emmanuel Burriss went 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. Juan Uribe went 2-4 with 1 RBI and scored 2 runs. Kevin Frandsen went 2-3 and scored 2 runs.

Zito pitched 6 innings gave up 6 Hits, 3 Runs, 1 ER, 1 BB and 3 SO. Brian Wilson pitched 1 inning and gave up 0 runs on 0 hits and got 1 strike out.

Today in Baseball History

1989– The office of baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth announces MLB is conducting an inquiry into “serious allegations” concerning Reds’ manager Pete Rose and gambling.

~ King of Cali

March 19, 2009

White Sox vs. Giants recap.. Today in Baseball History!

Matt Cain gets the start for the San Francisco Giants. Cain was the #1 pick by the Giants in 2002. Owens gets the game started for the White Sox with a lead off walk and then steals 2nd base. Jermaine Dye hits a RBI double. Nate Schierholtz tried to make a diving catch in left field but didn’t come up with the ball. Paul Konerko follows up Dye and also hits a RBI double. Giving the White Sox a 2-0 leading going into the bottom of the 1st. John Danks gets the start for the White Sox. He does give up a lead off single to Randy Winn. Danks gets himself out of the inning by striking out Edgar Renteria and getting Aurilia to ground into a inning ending double play. The White Sox do not score in the top of the 2nd. Giants go 3 up and 3 down in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Carlos Quentin hit his first home run of the spring in the top of the 3rd inning off Cain. After 2 1/2 innings it’s White Sox 3 and the Giants 0. No offense for either team since the White Sox scored their 3 runs. Heading into the 6th it’s the White Sox 3 and the Giants 0. Paul Konerko hits a home run off of Cain in the 6th inning to give the White Sox a 4 run lead. Nate Schierholtz hits a RBI double to get the Giants on the scoreboard. Emmanuel Burriss scores on the hit. Giants now have runners on 3rd and 2nd with 2 outs. The Giants only get the 1 run. The Giants do score again in the bottom of the 7th on a RBI double by Velez. After 7 innings it’s the White Sox 4 and the Giants 2. Merkin Valdez gets the White Sox 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 8th inning. Giants continue to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the 8th. Scott McClain gets a RBI single scoring Ryan Rohlinger. The Giants now have bases loaded with 1 out. Jesus Guzman hits a ground ball to the 3rd baseman but he throws the ball away trying to turn a double play. The Giants score 2 runs on the play. The White Sox do get Frandsen out at 2nd base. Guzman does get 1 RBI out of the play. The Giants take a 6-4 lead over the White Sox. The Giants once again get bases loaded after Burriss getting hit by a pitch. Rohlinger does strike out with bases loaded to end the inning. The visiting White Sox are now down to their final 3 outs. Jeremy Affeldt comes in to try to close out the game. Jesus Guzman makes a diving play at first base to end the game. If the ball would have got by him the White Sox would have tied the game. Final score is White Sox 4 and the Giants 6.

White Sox score 4 runs on 8 hits and 1 error. Giants score 6 runs on 11 hits and 0 errors.

There is only 1 Giants player with a multi hit game. Randy Winn went 2-3 with 0 RBI’s and 0 runs scored.

Side Notes

Barry Zito will pitch tomorrow for the Giants against the White Sox. Yes the Giants and White Sox play again tomorrow. They have a home and home series these two days.

Today in Baseball History

1989 – Hoping to replace the injured Dave Winfield, the Yankees trade catcher Joel Skinner and a minor leaguer to the Indians for outfielder Mel Hall. The future Hall of Fame outfielder will miss the entire season due to back surgery.

~ King of Cali

March 13, 2009

Who would you build around?

This is just something I have been thinking about and I’m curious as to what other bloggers think about this. If you could start your with one player. Who would be the guy you would build your team around? Would you start off with a young Ace like Tim Lincecum. Somebody that can start every five days and shut the other team down. Maybe you want a star shortstop like Derek Jeter. Someone that can hit and give you a 100% day in and day out. Maybe you want a centerfielder like Aaron Rowand that goes balls out on defense. You can even go with a monster swinger like Ryan Howard. He can spark your offense and get a ton of RBI’s. There is so many ways you can go with this. I’m just curious to see what bloggers would go with what guys to start a team and build around them. I look forward to your comments.

~King of Cali

March 4, 2009

Quick thoughts on Manny signing

It’s finally over. Manny is going to be a Dodger. I’m sure most of us already knew that’s where he would end up. The Dodgers couldn’t afford to lose Manny. Manny did sign a 2 year contract but can opt out of it and become a
free agent after 1 year. This does make the Dodgers the favorite to win the NL West, but I wouldn’t say it’s going to be easy for them. They still don’t have the starting rotation that is going to blow teams away. They do need to score some runs to win some games, but they do have some good bats in their lineup.

I honestly think the Giants never wanted to sign Manny. Yeah if he fell on their lap they would have done it. The Giants feel good with what they have going into this season. I think some of the best moves the Giants made this season were the moves they didn’t make. I don’t mean Manny either. That would have been a great move. I think not signing Joe Crede was a good move. This means Pablo Sandoval would play 3rd base, and Travis Ishikawa would get his chance to play 1st base. Ishikawa has had a very nice start this spring training. He’s hitting .400 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s in 5 games.

Giants vs. Dodgers 12:05 pacific time.

~King of Cali

February 13, 2009

Q&A with radio host Damon Bruce from KNBR

I would like to introduce all of you to Damon Bruce. You can hear Damon on KNBR, the Giants flagship station. Where he is the nightly host of “Sportsphone 680”, which is heard from 7-10pm Pacific Time. You can also stream his show online at www.knbr.com. You gamers out there might recognize his voice, he does the play-by-play for the video game “The Bigs”. One thing I love about Damon is that he’s very passionate about the Giants and what they should be doing to improve the team. Damon was born in Chicago. You would never know it from hearing him on the radio, but he’s a Chicago Cubs fan! I know that his second favorite team is the Giants! Damon does a “Giants Hot Stove League Show” where he interviews players, coaches and broadcasters.

I recently contacted Damon, told him about my blog and asked him if I could
interview him for it. He agreed to let me interview him via email. I did get a chance to meet Damon when I was at the Giants Fan Fest. I walked up and introduced myself to him. Not only did he know who I was, but he obviously reads his own emails! He told me he would have all the answers to me by early in the week. It was great to finally meet the man behind the voice. (Picture to the right is Zito, Frandsen and Bruce at Giants Fan Fest.)

Here is a Q & A with sports host Damon Bruce from KNBR.

King: Since it’s known you’re a Chicago Cubs fan and you cover the Giants. Who would you want to win in the NLCS if they played each other?

Damon B: Cubs vs Giants – Lets hope, and it’s a sfe bet… that’s not going to be a problem for me. Personally, I would love to see the Cubs in the World Series in my lifetime, but not at the expense of me getting to cover a World Series in my lifetime. I would likely have to take the series off, and just start drinking heavily.

King: Who is your favorite player current and all time?

Damon B: Favorite Player All Time – Mark Grace… if we’re talking current Giants: Lincecum or Cain

King: What’s your best Giants memory?

Damon B: Covering Bonds the night he tied Hank Aaron in San Diego. It was surreal to watch him do that in another team’s ball park. Padres fans didn’t want to applaud, but they couldn’t stop themselves. It’s covered in scandal, but it was quite a moment in time.

King: What’s your opinion on Manny Ramirez possibly being a Giant?

Damon B: Sign him before the Dodgers do… are you even serious with this question? This guy is a proven winner, and the best post-season performer in ML history. I can’t belive the Giants are just watching the Dodgers take their time with this guy.

King: I like adding Renteria and Johnson if they add a clean up hitter. If they don’t then I don’t see a point if they aren’t trying to win. What do you think about those signings?

Damon B: Both are stop gaps… Renteria will be an offensive upgrade over Omar, but not 1/2 the defender. It really show’s they don’t have a player in their minor league system ready to go at SS. It’s a C-plus signing, maybe a B-minus… lets see how he plays and adjusts to NL pitching again. Johnson is a sub-plot to the season which will be cool to cover. 300 wins is special, and hopefully it gives the Giants incentive to deal some pitching for a bat.

King: If you were the Giants GM what moves would you have made this off-season?

Damon B: Manny… Manny… Manny… trade some pitching for a real bat if he didn’t sign. I like the Affeldt signing, would have tried to deal for Holliday instead of letting the A’s do it. Would have never inked Zito for that cash… I could go on & on… but I’ll spare you. Oh, I would have made a move on Dan Uggla.

King: Has there been a recent move by a team this off-season that you’re impressed with and didn’t see coming?

Damon B: I think every off-season needs to be spent addressing major issues… there is a major lack of major league bat in the middle of this line-up, and until that’s fixed, they’re just painting a rusty car, not treating the rust.

King: What’s your prediction for the NL West?

Damon B: D-Backs, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres.

King: What’s your take on the Barry Bonds issue?

Damon B: Should have come clean a-la A-Rod and this would have been over years ago. His ego was his greatest asset and worst enemy at the same time.

King: Is there anything you want to let people know about you that they might not know?

Damon B: I’ve written a book about Bay Area Sports Lists… will be out near the beginning of baseball season. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, so I’m excited, and hope people dig it.

I hoped you guys really enjoyed getting to know a little about Damon Bruce.
Thanks again Damon for taking the time to answer these questions and it was really nice to meet you at the Giants FanFest. Here is a picture of Damon and I at the Giants Fan Fest.

~King of Cali

February 9, 2009

Update on Crede and Aurilia’s status with the Giants

Henry Schulman from the San Francisco Chronicle has said that he was told the
Giants are not counting on a deal with Crede and expect to move forward with Travis Ishikawa or John Bowker at first base and Pablo Sandoval at third. He also said that Brian Sabean was exploring some trades last week but they didn’t go anywhere.

With the recent signings of Juan Uribe and Rich Aurilia. The Giants have a lot of infielders. Which has me to believe that Sabean must really be trying to work a trade somewhere. I just cant see how they can have Frandsen, Velez and Burriss trying to win the 2nd base job. Then already having Uribe and Aurilia coming off the bench. That’s not even counting the back up outfielders. Schulman doesn’t think the Giants expect to make a deal with Joe Crede.

Schulman also said that if the Giants do get another infielder, Aurilia’s deal contains an “out” clause that would allow him to find another job before spring training is over.

~King of Cali

February 8, 2009

This weekends Hot Stove

A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez is the only name to be released from the ’03 steroid testing. He is on a list of
104 players to have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. A-Rod was approached by an SI reporter on Thursday. A-Rod did not want to discuss the test results. He would not say if he tested positive or not for performance enhancing drugs. A-Rod said “You’ll have to talk to the union.” He was asked if there was an expanation for his positive test, and he said “I’m not saying anything.” There were no penalties for positive tests in 2003. I’m sure we will get a lot more information on this in the next couple of days. I will try to keep you updated with information as I get it.

Gordon signs a 1 year contract with the D-Backs

Tom Gordon has signed a 1 year contract with the Arizona. It’s reported that he will earn $500,000 and with bonuses can earn him up to $2.5 million. Gordon hasn’t pitched in a game since July 5th of last season with the Phillies.

Andruw Jones hopes to resurrect his career with the Rangers

SI.com has confirmed that Andruw Jones has signed a 1 year minor league contract with the Rangers. Jones was released by the Dodgers this offseason. He worked out a deal so the Dodgers will release him and still pay him his contract over time. The Rangers signed him for $500,000 plus $1 million in incentives. I really like Jones and hope he has a bounce back year. He’s to young to be on that big of a decline.

Ryan Howard signs a 3 year contract with the Phillies

Well now the Phillies and Ryan Howard can stop all the arbitration stuff. I think this is a great move for the Phillies. They have a legit power hitter locked up with a contract he’s going to be happy with. If he can cut down a lot of his strike out’s, he’s going to be an even better player. He will earn $15 million this season, $19 million next year and $20 million in 2011.

Giants have an offer on the table for Crede and Aurilia

It’s been reported that CBS television on Saturday that the Giants have made an offer to Joe Crede. No specifics on the contract offer have been reported. Crede isn’t that big bat that the Giants need but he’s a good 3rd baseman and has a little pop. It’s just a question if he can stay healthy or not. Maybe that’s what the Giants signed Juan Uribe to back him up like he did last year for the White Sox. The only other team that has been talking about trying to sign Crede has been the Twins.

The Giants have also made an offer to Rich Aurilia for a minor league contract. Aurilia has spent 10 of his 13 big league seasons with the Giants. Brian Sabea said “I think he’s taking the weekend to decide. We hope he comes back.”

I did go to the Giants Fan Fest this weekend and will be blogging about it this week. I also will have pictures of the event in the Fan Fest blog.

~King of Cali