Draymond Green: “Last year, we had an awful team as far as chemistry goes.”
“Last year was horse shit. Hard to come to work. Not fun. This year, you see the joy on guys’ face when they come in the building…this is a group that likes being together.”
Moses Moody said he wasn’t in the rotation last night before the Kings game. Steve Kerr went with him when the Warriors fell behind, and Moody scored 16 points in 15 minutes.
He’s routinely played well when given a chance, but those opportunities have been scattershot.
Steph Curry hasn't attempted a free throw in his last 48 minutes played. His FT totals in his past 5 games entering tonight:
0
2
1
2
0
It's not like he's not going to the cup. He's been affected by the midseason officiating emphasis.
Add Red Sox speedster Jarren Duran to the list of players Patrick Bailey has caught stealing. Duran was 30/33 in attempts. Marco Luciano applied the tag.
Bailey has cut down Mookie Betts, Elly De La Cruz, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Starling Marte; he’s 17/45.
News: Oracle Park workers have reached an agreement with food service contractor Bon Appetit. $3/hour wage increases, hazard pay bonus and health care through 2024 included in the deal. Strike called off
Wade Meckler is starting in CF and hitting 2nd for the Giants tonight.
He's making his MLB debut a year after getting drafted in the 8th round, signing for $97,500. He walked on at Oregon State and refused to leave when the coaching staff told him there wasn't a role for him.
Thairo Estrada made a big pregame speech in the Giants clubhouse. The message was positive: compete with every pitch, the talent is there, need to play team baseball.
Tristan Beck: “When he speaks, it carries a lot of weight.”
People have been searching for the secret sauce behind the Giants’ 107-win season all year. Over and over again, Gabe Kapler insisted they weren’t reinventing the wheel.
But there was one thing SF did differently: take mental health seriously. For
@KNBR
:
Mike Murphy is retiring after 65 years in the Giants clubhouse. “Murph” has been a fixture with the organization since it moved to San Francisco.
Heartfelt note from Abe Silvestri, SFG’s senior director of team operations. What a run.
The Giants are...
15-5 in "opener" games
44-23 in games decided by 3 or fewer runs (T-1st)
17-13 in one-run games
29-19 in comeback wins (games they've fallen behind in)
It's almost as if they're a well-managed team.
In talking with Gabe Kapler and players, it’s clear the Giants are united in defiance of “unwritten rules.” They’re going to play hard regardless of score/situation — it forces teams to use more pitchers which can be a big advantage when trying to win series
Thrilled to announce I’m joining
@mercnews
, where I’ll be covering a bit of everything for the sports section. I’m so excited for the opportunity and can’t wait to work with such a talented team.
Zack Littell is scheduled to start for the Rays against the Giants tomorrow. He caught up with some former teammates and coaches on the Oracle Park field pregame today.
Here’s how his Giants tenure ended last year:
Lots of interesting, thoughtful reflections from Buster Posey on the Ohtani pursuit via
@extrabaggs
. The section on the city stood out to me…echoes Farhan Zaidi’s “idiosyncratic market” quote from a year ago.
Full story from The Athletic:
Buster Posey will be inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame this May.
Also in the 2023 class: Patrick Willis, Gary Payton, Julie Foudy, and Andre Ward.
Patrick Bailey has now thrown out 10 runners. His 37% caught stealing rate is almost double the league average of 20.3%. The bat has been a huge bonus, but Bailey is already a weapon behind the dish.
News: Ron Wotus will be back with the Giants in 2024 for his 37th year in the organization. He'll serve for a third straight season as special assistant to baseball operations.
"I’m just looking forward to it. How could you not?”
Story:
Since throwing his glove in the trash on April 12, Taylor Rogers has pitched 12 scoreless appearances.
“Created a narrative, and I knew that wasn’t me. Grabbed a new Rawlings and started over.”
Wilmer Flores won the Willie Mac Award and signed a 2 year, $13 million extension (w/ $3.5M player option in 2025).
SFG signed him to bench bat money. He's been their best hitter.
Flores now has 18 HR. He's reached safely in 47 of his last 53 games. Only Giant with .900 OPS.
Andrew Wiggins: "Steph is GOATed. Greatest shooter of all time. Today just stamps that. To get that assist, it means a lot. It's special. It's something I will cherish and remember for the rest of my life."
On a personal level, I really enjoyed covering Gabe Kapler. At the very least, he's a fascinating human — and a captivating choice to lead a baseball team. He was generous with his time, thoughtful and genuine in wanting to work with the media.
Poole on the jersey swap:
"This goes wayyy back. Way back. My freshman year, I played against Loon. He gave us 40. He's been my right-hand man ever since then. He's the person I'm closest with. He's always had my back. I love that guy...That relationship means a lot to me."
Giants manager win percentage (SF era)
Al Dark (1961-64): .569
Herman Franks (1965-68): .567
KAPLER: .543
Dusty Baker (1993-2002): .540
Clyde King (1969-70): .534
Felipe Alou (2003-06): .529
Charlie Fox (1970-74): .516
Roger Craig (1985-92): .509
Bruce Bochy (2007-19): .500
Joc Pederson just jacked three home runs in a row during batting practice. One landed in the upper deck of the Scottsdale Stadium right field bleaches. Looked effortless.
Bailey turns 24 on Monday. By the time Posey turned 24, he'd won ROY, got MVP votes and guided a staff to a World Series title.
Not to diminish Bailey, but he has 6 games of "wow look at how he framed that one." He was stuck in High-A at 23. Let's settle down a bit.
Before tonight, the closest Alex Cobb got to a no-hitter was on Sept. 11, 2014, when he lost it in the 8th inning in Yankee Stadium.
His bid got broken up in almost the exact same way as it did tonight.
Andrew Luck in Maples Pavilion for the Stanford game tonight as Tara VanDerveer is 10 minutes from matching Coach K for the most college basketball wins of all time.
"She's a titan," Luck told me at halftime.
📸:
@karlmondon
Spencer Torkelson is thrilled to play his first game at Oracle Park. The Petaluma native was at Game 7 of the 2012 NLCS and remembers going down the Coca Cola slide as a kid. His childhood bedroom has Pac Bell Park painted on a wall. Expects 500 friends/family here tonight.
Giants chairman Greg Johnson: "Hopefully our goal is to somewhat break even."
Nobody wants to hear billionaire sports franchise owners, whose team valuations have only ever always increased, call this a challenging business.
The Giants organization is worth $3.5 billion — fifth highest in MLB — per Forbes' 2022 valuations. Up 10% from last year. The current ownership group bought the team in 1993 for $100m.
1. NYY ($6B)
2. LAD ($4.075B)
3. BOS ($3.9B)
4. CHC ($3.8B)
5. SFG ($3.5B)
Madison Bumgarner got the Crawford family tickets to tonight's Diamondbacks-Dodgers game. Brandon's wife and kids cheered on as the D-Backs beat LAD. Cool stuff.
(via
@JalynneC35
/ jalynnecrawford IG)
Bailey turns 24 on Monday. By the time Posey turned 24, he'd won ROY, got MVP votes and guided a staff to a World Series title.
Not to diminish Bailey, but he has 6 games of "wow look at how he framed that one." He was stuck in High-A at 23. Let's settle down a bit.
Giants record vs...
OAK: 2-2
KC: 1-2
DET: 0-3
WAS: 1-5
Alex Cobb: "To get where you want to be, you have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat...Letting 2 games go like that -- hopefully it's not going to cost us at the end of the year, but definitely has the potential to."
Gabe Kapler said Joey Bart’s message to the coaching staff was that he’ll put his head down, keep grinding to help the team whenever they might need him. There’s not a spot for him on the roster right now. Bart “absolutely” has a future in the franchise, Kapler said.
Cat’s out of the bag: Starting next week, I’m joining
@KNBR
as their SF Giants beat writer. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to cover the team leading MLB’s most competitive division with the best record in baseball. I’m flying out tomorrow and can’t wait to explore the Bay
Luke Jackson fanned three of the five batters he faced.
Giants traditional relievers this season:
Camilo Doval: 2.52 ERA
Tyler Rogers: 2.43 ERA
Taylor Rogers: 2.65 ERA
Scott Alexander: 3.03 ERA
John Brebbia: 3.14 ERA
Jackson: 1.38 ERA
That's an elite group.
Joc Pederson: "It's a great organization and I think we definitely underperformed last year. It's a good group of guys and we're going to add some more pieces. I'm pretty srue that we're going to get back to winning ballgames and back to the playoffs."
Blake Sabol credited his pregame work with Barry Bonds for his 2 HR night. Joc Pederson jabbed at him postgame that he hit 3 HR after working with Barry last year (true story)
Bochy: "Man, Timmy, he's the one you don't hear from as much. For him to send one, like I said, it's overwhelming. All the texts I got from the Bay and from teammates back there. Those three, I thanked them all. That's pretty cool."
Gabe Kapler on Kyle Harrison’s home debut: “That was about as electric a performance by a pitcher as we’ve seen since I’ve been here in San Francisco.”
If you'd told me preseason that Webb kept dominating, Estrada ranked as one of the best second basemen, Doval's stuff stayed nasty, Bart improved and Schmitt immediately broke out, I'd think SFG would be in a good spot.
They're 18-23 at the 1/4 mark. Huh?
Carlos Rodón said the hugs with teammates after he exited were normal. He said this was a well-played, important win for the Giants. He’s worried about winning tomorrow. Impressed with how he’s blocked out the noise.
Logan Webb shared that in the recent team meeting, Ron Wotus spoke up. The message: You show up every spring training to get to this position (in playoff hunt) so why fold now?
Webb: “You’re not part of 3 World Series teams by coincidence. Every time he speaks, you listen.”
Padres manager Bob Melvin was 1 of so many people who supported Michael Wagaman through his recovery from a traumatic brain injury. A year after diagnosis, Wags is back at the ballpark, and today he got to see Melvin for 1st time since surgeries.
Story:
Note from yesterday’s call: Giants plan to keep pouring resources into mental health support staff, which was a big emphasis under Gabe Kapler.
Director of mental health/wellness Shana Alexander, advocate Drew Robinson, human performance coach Harvey Martin each expected back.
You’re not going to want to miss today’s Gabe Kapler Show on KNBR before first pitch.
Today’s interview from Jon Miller stars Gabe Kapler, John Brebbia, and John Brebbia as Gabe Kapler.
Playing the Opening Day Lineup Guessing Game for the Giants, vs. Yankees SP Gerrit Cole:
CF - Yastrzemski
LF - Conforto
1B - Wade Jr.
DH - Pederson
RF - Haniger
SS - Crawford
3B - Villar
2B - Estrada
C - Bart
Madison Bumgarner, who won the Willie Mac Award in 2014, is on the infield now along with Mike Yastrzemski (2020), Brandon Crawford (2016), and LaMonte Wade Jr. (2022). Pretty cool that Bumgarner will be part of this ceremony.
Farhan Zaidi: "In a lot of ways, this offseason is an endorsement of the fact that there are a lot of players who want to play for the Giants. That want to be in California, that want to be in the Bay Area, that want to play for Kap, that want to be part of the organization."
The Giants needed a center fielder in August, and they rushed up Wade Meckler. Hindsight is 20/20, but that looks like an even rougher decision with how Tyler Fitzgerald has played.
Fitzgerald's second HR in his first 9 games comes off a Clayton Kershaw curveball.
Farhan Zaidi on Carlos Correa: "One thing I want to make clear, and I think it's really important for us as an organization and that our fans hear it from me — and hopefully believe it is — our organization was totally unified every step of the way as this unfolded...
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi on if manager Gabe Kapler will be back in 2024, as has been the public plan:
“I think we all just have to look at how we can improve across the board.”
Full quote from his interview on KNBR with Tolbert & Copes.
The Giants finished 79-83, 2 games worse than last year.
A campaign that began with high expectations spiraled in the 2nd half. Gabe Kapler didn't make it through the year. Franchise record in strikeouts. Veteran disappointments. Led MLB in errors. Lot of changes coming.
Brandon Crawford leading off at shortstop in possibly his last game
Brandon Crawford - SS
LaMonte Wade - 1B
Thairo Estrada - 2B
Michael Conforto - LF
Joc Pederson - DH
Mike Yastrzemski - RF
Tyler Fitzgerald - CF
Blake Sabol - C
Casey Schmitt - 3B
Kyle Harrison - P