Yardbarker: Dave Roberts

Report: Sabean, Bochy To Return, Payroll To Increase

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:34:53 -0500

The San Francisco Giants will bring both General Manager Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy back for the 2010 season, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.Sabean is completing his thirteenth season at the helm, while Bochy has been skipper for three seasons. Both have been the subject of rumors, but the unexpected challenge by the Giants for the Wild Card has likely been their savior.Giants' Managing General Partner Bill Neukom also said he expected San Francisco's ...

The Oakland A's Light at the End of the Tunnel: Run, Rajai, Run

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:53:22 -0500

"Everyone I know, everywhere I go/People need some reason to believe/I don't know about anyone but me." —Jackson Browne If the Oakland Athletics' season were compressed into a single game, this would be point that is often affectionately referred to as garbage time. Kuip and Foss would be at least three-deep into the Dibs, with the latter undoubtedly regaling the audience with old war stories from his playing days in the '70s, anything to distract viewers fro...

Your 2010 SF Giants: It's Almost All About the Money, Baby

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:27:57 -0500

In the middle of their September 2009 battle for the National League Wild Card title, the San Francisco Giants have little time to ponder next season. But that unsolicited opportunity could come quickly in the next several weeks as the Giants arm wrestle Colorado and the Dodgers three more times with 21/2 games to make up in the Wild Card race. Oddly, San Francisco has a last gasp opportunity the final nine games of the season, when they meet the Arizona Diamondbacks five times, and the Chi...

Quest for 27

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:55:24 -0500

Hello NYSS readers! It's been a while since the Yankees got some attention on this site. Let's face it with the Mets being eliminated by "Who's Your Daddy" & the Giants, and Jets getting off to good starts, now is as good a time as any to talk about the Yankees Post-Season chances (Not getting in but winning the whole-damned thing) Today, I'm going to tell you the things that excite me for October & November, and some of the obstacles that I am sure wil...

With Bochy's Contract Ending Soon, Does He Fit Into the Giants' Plans?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:06:12 -0500

With Giants general manager Brian Sabean, and skipper Bruce Bochy in their last years of their contract, many Giants fans have wondered if new owner Bill Neukom will keep both guys in the San Francisco organization next year. Sabean, who has been with the Giants as GM since 1997, can be credited for turning around the Giants after inheriting a miserable team that was coming off a last place finish in the NL West in 1996. However, Sabean had been widely criticized for overpaying for veteran pl...

Rich Aurilia, Dave Roberts Look to Become Big-League Winemakers

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:30:00 -0500

by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Giants, FanHouse ExclusiveSAN FRANCISCO -- Rich Aurilia and Dave Roberts turned their first passion (baseball) into a career, and now they're trying to do it again with their newest passion.Aurilia, a veteran Giants infielder, and Roberts, a recently-retired outfielder, are soon going to be bottling the first vintage of their own wine.No, Aurilia and Roberts aren't stepping on the grapes themselves, but neither are they simply slapping their name on someon...

Minor Issues: Scrappers Kick Off Season, Updates All Around

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:46:00 -0500

WHAT'S THE NEWS

Wow we got a lot of stuff to go over..

I'm going to make it real easy though.

There are two Minor League Happenings at IPI. For the update on who's signed deals as draft picks, go here. I've updated the board to reflect all the signings and even noted all the Draft and Follows with "DF" where the $ sign would be. Draft and Follows are expected to sign before the deadline for the most part, but the Indians are going to watch them play their Summer Leagues. That link lists who the DFs are and where they are playing.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have started their season up and I've got the roster as it stands right now. But we know by now the MV roster can undergo constant changes, so who knows.

The Arizona League is getting underway tomorrow and as soon as there is a more concrete roster, I'll have something up. A lot of last year's DSL and draft picks should make up that team.

The DSL is the Dominican Summer League, which has been going on for awhile now. I've got the roster up and as you can see some of last year's team is still there with some new faces. Sandy Mendez was one of them until he was released. Agustin Avila moved to the outfield.

Okay the other link from IPI is the other part of Minor League Happenings and I think it's important we note a few players because their whereabouts have been unknown for awhile.

Josh Rodriguez, Stephen Head, and Wes Hodges have all been injured and as you can see Head is on the rehab trail with Mahoning Valley. Hodges could soon make that move as well while Rodriguez might be out for a little longer. Wonder how that will affect Andy Marte's time now that he's starting to cool off.

Jeremie Tice is out indefinitely after surgery.

Good to see Rob Bryson making good progress with his return. He and De La Cruz could both be in Kinston by the end of July.

Some transactions to note, mostly revolving around Kinston. Nate Recknagel is back in Lake County, taking his place is someone named Ole Sheldon. Now I don't know much about this Ole Sheldon character or where he came from, but apparently he has his own following.

The following is not a kind one though. Now here are Ole Sheldon's stats, he's apparantely made it as high as Double-A in the Astros organization.

None of this is really important if you ask me though. He's in his late 20's and in Single-A Kinston at this point. What really matters is his cool name.

I only know of two other Sheldon's in the world and they both have Sheldon as their first name. One is very cool and the other is.. meh...

I think we all pretty much know the first one.

BAM

None other than Sheldon Ocker, ABJ's own. You will know that I've banned all Sheldon Ocker columns and news notes from this blog because of his ridiculous ideas that he's proposed, the most notable: Make Paul Byrd the Closer.

The other is a more likable one. He's evil, but he's a likable evil because he always fails. He may be evil, but I like him better than Sheldon Ocker, who I'm convinced is evil in old-man form as far as bad ideas go.

That didn't make any sense..

The other Sheldon is none other than Sheldon Plankton!

We just call him Plankton though. So let's review.

Sheldon Plankton > Ole Plankton > Used Socks > Sheldon Ocker

Oh and Roman Pena is off the DL, but Heath Taylor is now on it. Let's get to the game reviews.

COLUMBUS

I'm not going to review one day for most of these, but rather since I've been not updating.

The Clippers lost the series to Rochester 3-1, the lone win coming with Chuck Lofgren on the mound. He went seven solid, giving up three runs, seven hits, four walks with two strike outs. Not bad, it wins right? We might be a little too used to his awesome Akron pitching though.

The Clippers have been skidding, winning just two of their last nine games. They are in the middle of a four gamer with Syracuse before they meet up with Rochester again, this time on the road.

One bright spot has been Michael Brantley though, he's been making up for lost time. He's had 3-3 hit games in his last 10 games. He's got his average up to .268 and he's stolen 21 bases on the season so far.

Matt LaPorta has 11 hits total, but hits in 8 of his last 10 games. He's only homered once and knocked in three RBI, but he's no doubt doing what he can.

AKRON

The Aeros took the first three games in a four game series against New Hampshire, they dropped the fourth and last night got rained out in their second series against Portland in as many weeks.

Josh Tomlin and Jeanmar Gomez picked up wins in their games. Tomlin piggy backed on Scott Lewis who was making a rehab start. Vinnie Pestano is now up to 18 saves on the year and Zach Putnam picked up his first save as an Aero with two innings in the second game of the double-header earlier this week.

Since his little break, Matt McBride has knocked in eight runs in six games, he's also had three multi-hit games.

Beau Mills had a hit-streak going that was snapped on Thursday when he went 0-4.

KINSTON

Kinston continues to slide as they've not won a game since June 10th, ten days ago.

They've now lost eight straight and four straight to Lynchburg after their latest loss last night. They are also 3-14 in the month of June.

Their last four losses have been by two runs or less, making things even worse.

I think I've spent enough time on Ole Sheldon.

LAKE COUNTY

The Captains had a four game win streak and two mini sweeps over Delmarva and Hagerstown this week.

They beat Hagerstown twice with Alex Perez and Trey Haley picking up wins. Both went six innings and got six combined innings of scoreless relief from the bullpen, speficially TJ McFarland, Dave Roberts, and Steve Smith. Abner Abreu had four hits, three of them doubles in that series.

The pitching was even better against Delmarva as they held them scoreless in both games. TJ House threw seven innings of two-hit baseball as Chris Jones and Eddie Burns combined for six innings of three-hit baseball in the other game.

Donnie Webb and Abner Abreu homered in the first game and it was Karexon Sanchez and Adam White who knocked in two runs each in the other one.

Lakewood did defeat the Captains last night in extra innings by one run with a walk-off.

MAHONING VALLEY

The Scrap is Back!

Mahoning Valley kicked things off Friday night with their first game of the season and it was Kaimi Mead on the mound for the Scrappers.

They survived two late runs in the ninth to pick up the win over Jamestown.

John Allman got the job done with three hits and three RBI, including two doubles.

Bo Greenwell and Jason Smit both had two hits and two RBI. Smit is now in the outfield, specifically center field. He was an infielder last year with the GCL team.

ARIZONA LEAGUE

Season Starts Sunday... Fausto Carmona is there, and the only other known name is Jose Camargo, an infielder. There are probably some draft picks that have been mentioned, but it's easier to just wait till Sunday.

DOMINICAN LEAGUE

The DSL has been underway since the start of June and the Indians are 7-11 on the season.

Best Pitcher: How about Ramon Cespedes, who's appeared in 6 games, has pitched 13.1 innings with a 0.68 ERA and 9 strikeouts.

Best Hitter: Toss up between Joly Fermin who's the leading hitter with a .405 average and 8 RBI in 11 Games and Jesus Aguilar who's hitting .347 with 11 RBI in 15 games. Giovanny Urshela leads the team with 12 RBI.

Fantasy Preview: San Francisco Giants

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:46:29 -0500

The San Francisco Giants have a putrid offense, and an emerging pitching staff with depth. But as with all bad teams, there are some nuggets of gold to find by the bay. This mix of young sleepers and undervalued veterans might actually produce more late-round draft value than any other team. More after the jump.

SF Giants Offseason Report Card

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:11:58 -0500

Apparently the Giants idea of a bridge is more like a pair of aqua sox and swimming trunks; they get you across the river, but you're not expected to look good afterwards.

Sizzlers and Fizzlers, Week 3

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:51:27 -0500

Who's hot, who's not in Major League Baseball? We'll get you started with a sizzler, Travis Buck (OF, Oakland Athletics): After a tumultuous first 22 AB's, Buck broke out. He has gone 8-28 (.285 BA), 4 RBI, 5 R, and has recorded a 3B and 6 2B. This is what expert projected out of the young A's outfielder, and now that he's producing, he's worth a look in AL-only leagues, and deeper mixed leagues.

NL Wild West Preview: 4 Way Battle for 1st

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:24:16 -0500

Last season the NL West division race came down to the last day of the season, and we expect this year to be no different. Here a preview of all five teams, their projected starting lineups, rotations, fantasy impact players, and overall outlook.

Money When It Mattered: The Most Clutch In a Pinch...Ever

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:48:19 -0500

The national pastime has been rich with innumerable men who, rather than cower, embraced fear when called upon late in games. After innings and hours on the bench, these players found a way to make it happen when opportunity presented itself. From Francisco Cabrera to Kirk Gibson, these five have provided baseball with its best performances in the pinch.

Breaking Down The Top 100 Fantasy Players : 50-59

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:40:00 -0500

At the Half-Point of the countdown. It only gets better from here. With players like Robinson Cano, Billy Wagner, and Johnny Damon, the list is bound to hot!!