Shawn Estes Returns?
Written on 13 May 2008 by AneelI don’t believe Giants fans would boo Santa Clause, but we can certainly be unreasonably harsh towards players who’ve hurt us. The boo-birds were out for Jose Cruz Jr. last night, probably because of his drop of a routine fly-ball in a game-3 post season loss against the Marlins in 1997. Giants fans also mercilessly boo Salomon Torres, because of his stinker on the final game of the 103-win-no-division-title 1993 season.
Later this month, one of my favorite Giants may be suiting up for the Padres at Mays Field. And if he does take the mound in San Francisco, I hope fans remember the good times and give Shawn Estes the standing ovation he deserves.
Anyone who followed the Giants in the late-90’s was both thrilled and mystified by Estes’ seemingly infinite upside. When his slow, sweeping curve-ball was working, Estes was unhittable. In Estes’ best season, 1997, he was 12-2 with a 2.51 ERA in his first 17 starts. In those first 17 games, Estes had three complete games, including two different 2-hit, complete game shutouts. He finished the season 19-5, and the team was 23-9 in his 32 starts.
Best Team Record When Pitcher Starts - Giants Since 1958
(Min 20 GS)
| Pitcher | Season | Record | Win% |
| Jason Schmidt | 2003 | 24-5 | .828 |
| Bill Swift | 1992 | 17-5 | .773 |
| Juan Marichal | 1964 | 25-8 | .758 |
| Kirk Rueter | 2002 | 25-8 | .758 |
| John Burkett | 1993 | 25-9 | .735 |
| Bob Shaw | 1965 | 24-9 | .727 |
| Juan Marichal | 1966 | 26-10 | .722 |
| Shawn Estes | 1997 | 23-9 | .719 |
I hope Estes does pitch at Mays field when the Padres are in town… and I hope you stand and thank a good Giant and a good guy.
The Beginning of the End?
Written on 6 May 2008 by AneelMany of the youngsters have performed well above their heads thus far in ‘08, and to me, tonight’s loss in Pittsburgh feels like the beginning of the end. No evidence, no analytical support… just a feeling.
* Barry Zito never made an appearance during his time in the bullpen… does anyone actually expect him to be better tomorrow?
* A-Rod is a pansy. Kidding, of course… this is actually the most humanizing story I’ve heard about A-Rod. I heard he fainted after someone ran into the delivery room and screamed “Mine!”.
* Time to move Countrywide to the top of the evil corporations list… unbelievable.
* Speaking of lists, this one made me laugh.
Brian Wilson likes eggs
Written on 4 May 2008 by AneelThere’s a really weird, but interesting piece about Brian Wilson’s diet in ESPN the Magazine. The more I read about Brian Wilson, the more he intrigues me. I generally respect people with strong convictions… in Wilson’s case, it’s his faith (and apparently his diet).
Bissinger… and catching up on some links
Written on 2 May 2008 by AneelI don’t live in my parents’ basement, and I maintain this site only because I enjoy the outlet. If in some small way, my existence makes life a little harder for sports journalists, so be it. I try to be fair, but this site is mine and I’m free to say what I feel. With that in mind, let me just say this: Buzz Bissinger was a huge jerk on Bob Costas’ show. Joe Posnanski recaps the circus quite well.
* ESPN The Magazine has written an open letter to Barry Zito. Pretty funny stuff. But Max Klinger is significantly more optimistic than I am about Zito’s chances of rediscovering his confidence.
* The NY Daily News reports that Mindy McCready confirms the alleged affair with Roger Clemens. That a professional athlete was unfaithful to his wife is hardly news, but her age (15) at the time the affair began makes this a huge story.
* I’ve been mentioned in two more Jayson Stark columns, here and here.
* And finally, this guy imitating 1980’s players batting stances may be the best thing I’ve seen in a long time…
The 3-0 Pujols Strikeout
Written on 21 April 2008 by AneelHow many of you have watched a game in which a player hit for the cycle? My guess is that if you have, you remember who did it, when it was, and who it was against. Why? Because it’s a baseball rarity! Since 2001, a player has hit for the cycle only 28 times in more than 17,000 MLB games, making your chance of seeing a cycle in any one game somewhere around 0.16%
Well, if you watched Tim Lincecum face Albert Pujols on Saturday, you witnessed something even more rare: Albert Pujols struck out after seeing a 3-0 count. How rare is that? When Lincecum struck out Pujols after starting him 3-0, it was just the fifth time anyone had done it. And with Pujols having more than 4,800 PA in his career, that makes your chances of seeing the feat in any one Pujols PA just 0.10%.
So, enjoy what you can in this rough season for Giants fans… if you watched on Saturday, you witnessed something rare, and something worth remembering.
Trivia Question: Who was the last pitcher to strike out Pujols after starting him with 3 straight balls?
Country Fastball
Written on 13 April 2008 by AneelAaron Rowand is Country Fastball’s guest tonight.
Sunk Costs
Written on 10 April 2008 by AneelI knew business school would come in handy someday. Let’s talk Finance!
One of my favorite professors spoke often about sunk costs, a concept with which I was familiar, but never really comprehended. As defined by Econterm:
“Sunk costs are unrecoverable past expenditures. These should not normally be taken into account when determining whether to continue a project or abandon it, because they cannot be recovered either way. It is a common instinct to count them, however.”
Consider a business that purchased a 100 million dollar piece of equipment that promised to drastically cut costs and improve efficiency. Now imagine the equipment didn’t work… should the company continue to use the equipment just because of the significant investment? What if the old equipment was actually more efficient? The principle of sunk costs states that the $100 million already spent should not be considered in future business decisions. If the company can sell off the equipment as scrap for 1 million, it should do so and consider it a 1 million dollar gain, not a 99 million dollar loss. The loss occurred when the bad decision to purchase the equipment was made initially.
In my opinion, baseball teams need to begin understanding and applying the concept of sunk costs. A player’s salary, because it is agreed upon upfront in a contract, is a sunk cost and should not be considered when deciding to continue or abandon a project.
Let’s start with the Dodgers’ Juan Pierre. He’s obviously the fourth (or fifth) best outfielder on their roster, but ownership (and Torre) feel the need to use him because of his bloated salary. The money is gone… the Dodgers are only hurting themselves by benching a superior player (like Eithier or Kemp).
So now, let’s talk about Barry Zito, shall we? Instead of talking about the 126 million dollar LOSS the Giants must endure, let’s talk about how best the Giants can utilize this asset. If Zito continues to feature a low 80’s-MPH fastball and poor control, should the Giants trot him out there every fifth game? If the Giants have five pitchers better than Zito, shouldn’t he, at best, move to the ‘pen? If Sabes’ can eat most of Zito’s salary and get a couple mid-level prospects from a team that is willing to take a chance on him… doesn’t he have to do that? That 126 million is gone. Long gone. No point hurting the team further.
… they’re realizing what we knew
Written on 8 April 2008 by AneelThe Giants are bad. Really, really bad.
It seems more and more people are realizing how historically awful this team is:
* Tim Kawakami of the Merc recognizes how hopeless San Francisco looks.
* Rob Neyer has these adjectives for the Giants: “Bad, abominable, atrocious, awful, crappy, crummy, deficient, dreadful, god-awful, gross, inferior, lousy, stinking, substandard and the pits.”
* Michael Barnett at the Bleacher Report does a nice comparison with the ‘85 Giants squad.
And I have this to say: The Giants have a -24 run differential in the first five innings… 2 runs scored, 26 allowed. Yes, you read that correctly, -24 after just seven games… and there’s no hope in sight.
Someone needs to be held responsible.
Miller Park… and Friday links
Written on 4 April 2008 by AneelI’ll get my first look at Miller Park as I travel to see the Giants play the Brewers in Milwaukee tomorrow. I’m both excited, and a little bit sad. I’ll always enjoy heading out to a game, but the season thus far has been exactly as predicted: very little offense, decent starting pitching, and terrible work from the ‘pen. Today’s loss was particularly embarrassing. The Giants’ team OBP and SLG and both under .300, and they’ve struck out 30 times in four games. Yikes.
* For a laugh, and a completely unbelievable take on the two bay area GMs, look no further than The Press Democrat’s Lowell Cohn. Be sure to tune in for future columns from Lowell like “Why Neifi Perez is a better player than A-Rod”.
* John Ryan has recently discovered a unique analytical tool the Giants use to evaluate talent: outing percentage.
* Adding insult to injury, does anyone remember who Milwaukee’s winning pitcher Carlos Villanueva is? That’s right, the same Carlos Villanueva who pitched in the Giants organization and Brian Sabean traded to Milwaukee for.. wait for it… wait for it… Wayne Franklin. Even worse, there’s a story here that suggests Brian Sabean didn’t even know who Villanueva was.
* In this article, Henry Schulman suggests that the Giants are relying on Randy Winn not for his bat, but for his experiences with the Devil Rays. Who said the Giants weren’t creative? Most other teams value experience on winners… not losers.
a quote from rob neyer
Written on 1 April 2008 by Aneel“Seriously, is there ANY way to defend Sabean’s performance? I don’t mean to be snarky; I really want to know. They’ve finished well below .500 in each of the last three seasons, and seem primed for another such season this year. How many years like this does Sabean get? I’m just asking.”