Yardbarker: Shea Hillenbrand

Offseason Priorities for the Giants, Part II: First Base

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:44:06 -0500

Supposedly, the easiest position at which to find a hitter is first base. Alas, we are Giants fans. It's a little disingenuous to say there's a post-Will curse on the organization -- J.T. Snow did provide a couple of fantastic years to bookend the meh -- but there hasn't been a lot of offense from first base since Will Clark left. The Sabean-led Giants are the kind of organization that can look at Shea Hillenbrand and Ryan Garko, and say, man, now those guys are clearly better...

Picking Your Poison

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:05:00 -0500

Our pal Lisa over at Subway Squawkers asked me to participate in a brief Q&A session at her blog. One of the questions asked was, "What would upset you more: seeing Manny win a World Series with the Dodgers or seeing the Yankees win the World Series."With the Phillies holding a 3-1 series edge, the former seems increasingly unlikely. But, honestly, this question is a no brainer.First of all, I just don't harbor the ill will toward Manny that a lot of Sox fans seem to. The du...

With Hillenbrand DFA'd (again), let's take a look at his track record

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:43:33 -0500

For those of you youngsters who are thinking about playing professional baseball, you can learn from such a player's follies. Here is how you punch your ticket out of a major league job, despite an undeniable ability to see a baseball and hit it: * Demand to be traded from the team that brought you up * Tell the GM from said team to "trade me, faggot" on the radio * After being traded twice, adopt a baby girl, then get mad at the team for not congratulating you, even though you were probably an insufferable ass to them all season * Refuse to sit in the dugout on day in which you were benched * Write "This is a sinking ship" on the team chalkboard * Fight thy manager * Reportedly rip off the Canadian flag patch from your hat after being taken out of the game on Canada Day * Don't take walks (Hillenbrand has taken a whopping five this year, which brings his career total to, like, fourteen) * Get designated for assignment, traded to a team who hates you, and then signed by a new team (who also hates you) * Tell new team that "if I'm not going to play here, give me enough respect to trade me or get rid of me." * Get designated for assignment again

Latest Trade Rumors from Around MLB and the Wire

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:35:09 -0500

It's that time of year already. GM's are locked away in their holes trying to figure out how they can make a splash in the trade market. With a little over a month to go before the trade deadline, teams are already positioning themselves to make a move. Here are the latest trade rumors from around the wire:

Yanks Could Shea Hey to Hillenbrand

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:16:27 -0500

Theoretically, Hillenbrand would be an upgrade over the Miguel Cairo/ Josh Phelps experiment, however the 31-year-old veteran has seen his playing time decrease in Anaheim this season with the emergence of the Angels' Casey Kotchman. Shea is batting .246 with three homers and 18 RBIs in a paltry 175 at-bats.

The Gatorade Commercial

Thu, 03 May 2007 17:22:40 -0500

Have you seen the Gatorade commercial I'm in? I finally saw it a few days ago. The whole thing was set up through our front office. It's not like I tried out for the part. I'm on the mound and Derek Jeter's on first trying to steal. Garrett Anderson is playing first base, Howie Kendrick is at second and Shea Hillenbrand is in there too. Derek is a great guy. I've hung out with him a few times. He's fun to be around. I met Harvey Keitel right before the shoot. He was the big time guy with the big trailer. We never saw him between takes. He was chillin' in the trailer while we all just hung out. He had a double when they were lining up each shot so he literally came out only when it was time to shoot. It was a great opportunity to be in a national commercial like that, but it took forever to shoot. We did it over two nights and the shoots were 4-5 hours each. I definitely had no idea how much work goes into making a 45 second commercial. You would literally do something for a few seconds and then they'd move all the lights and the people in the stands. They had to shoot from every angle so you were always stopping and setting up. I don't think acting is going to become a second career for me, but that's probably ok with everyone.

Manny Already Being Manny

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 02:28:55 -0500

*Manny Ramirez has already begun his antics. Excuses or not. *An old HOFer pulled a hit-and-run in Arkansas. *Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons got himself a one year extension. No word on whether GM JP Ricciardi was forced as fist-point.