Results tagged ‘ brian sabean ’
These Are the Things I Will Have Achieved by the Time MadBum’s Contract is Up
If my life plan goes according to schedule. What is my life plan, you ask? Let me fill you in. I will have:
- Graduated from my Ivy League uni of choice, summa cum laude
- Met Mr. Right who has a surprising resemblance to the theoretical child of Sean Bean/Ewan McGregor/Michael Fassbender
- Gotten large (large) diamond ring from aforementioned Mr. Right. Hey, this blog is called Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend. Need I really say more?
- Won an Academy Award for strange acting performance in strange indie film
- Won a Pulitzer for amazing reporting skills on Watergate 2.0
- Won a Newberry Award for my heartwrenching novel skills
- Win a Nobel Peace Prize for… TBD
- Had a super-dramatic photo of my fish featured on the cover of Time
- Had my futuristic yet trendy designs shown at New York Fashion Week
- Been at the Olympics for something at some point
- Met Will and Kate. ‘Nuff said.
- Switched places with Kate for the day, if only for that fantastic Alexander McQueen wardrobe
- Probably met Sean Bean/Ewan McGregor/Michael Fassbender and professed my undying love for them (this is not required, but hoped for)
- Gone the moon and made footprints there and stuff
- Found a cure to cancer
Whew! I have a busy seven years ahead of me. But this is all just to put a little context on the amount on time in the new Madison Bumgarner contract (which is actually five years, with options for the last two). I love Bumgarner, but that’s still a long long time. Brian Sabean, you understand the magnitude of what you have undertaken, right? Okay. Good.
Diamond Girl
p.s. For the record, I am a hipster blogger with no life plan. Do not take any of that seriously. Thanks, darlings.
Brandon Belt’s Not-So-Subtle Message of Mayhem
As those of you who have been reading this blog for a year or more know (if you are one of those, well, thank you!), the beginning of Spring Training can be a jittery time for me. It’s just like seeing someone you haven’t seen in a long while and wondering, Will we still like each other? I mean, I’m completely in touch with my Giants over the offseason, but that moment of the first pitch is still another whole ballgame. No pun intended, believe it or not.
That’s why I was pleasantly surprised this year to find that my usual jitters had disappeared in a poof! of orange and black smoke.
It probably helped that my first game was actually the second game overall. Blame the people over at Little League ump training who are quite probably A’s fans. (Just kidding, people at ump training! Sorta.) I thought I would get to hear some of the first game, but the clock was not on my side and I ended up clean missing it. I came back to a nasty sunburn and no ballgame. Talk about buzzkill.
Upside? When I settled in with my Giants fleece blanket- in the 80 degree weather. Yeah.- for today’s game, I wasn’t scared in the least. I was just so completely ready to get this game started that my nerves flew out the window and instead I ended up grinning like the crazy fish lady that I am and whooping my heart out when Joe Martinez came in to pitch. Yeah, I know he was pitching for the Diamondbacks and all, but in my mind, he’s a Giant forever and always. I hope he does smashingly well this year, against everyone but us and most especially against the Dodgers.
I also whooped my heart out for, well, everyone on the Giants, in case you’re wondering. Even the ones who I wasn’t sure I’d heard of. Hey, as long as they claim to be Giants I’m down to be a fan of theirs. Such is the way of the Kool-Aid we call Spring Training.
And, oh, can we talk bees for a second? If you haven’t heard the story yet, I’ll clue you in quickly: a swarm of bees decided to make the field their new home for a cool 45 minutes or so and left pretty much everyone at the stadium in either the get-me-out-of-here camp or the get-them-out-of-here camp. United we stand and divided we fall. So we fell for a while. A boatload of people and fire departments later then, they were disposed of. We stood again. It did, though, take multiple attempts to goad the pesky bees with lemonade and cotton candy. No joke. I told you Spring Training is weird.
Angel Pagan also got me as a fan for life with this quote (quote and photo from MLB.com): “I didn’t know what to do. If I get stung by one, that means I’m going to get stung by a million. I was right next to the bathroom in case I had to lock myself in.”
I. Love. This. Guy.
Personally, I am of the opinion that those killer bees were none other than our own killer B, Brandon Belt, who is obviously a werebee and is sending not-so-subtle messages to Sabes and Boch that if he doesn’t get more play time during the season, mayhem will follow.
Yeah, that sort of mayhem. Pre-cise-ly.
Lastly! Kevin of www.westsideculture.mlblogs.com sent in this photo to me from Saturday’s Spring Training opener for the Giants. I could not, obviously, pass up a chance to talk about Chris Stewart, so here ‘tis. Chris Stewart rocks, mais non?
Diamond Girl
The Hypothetical Game of Tigers vs. Giants
Let’s do a little hypothetical game here called, “Tigers vs. Giants”. Now, this never happens, except in times like last year’s Interleague Play, but that’s no matter because I’m not talking about a game game between the two. I’m talking about the rosters, lined up next to each other and Dave Dombrokswi and Brian Sabean, nose to nose.
First off, I’m a Giants fan, not a Tigers fan. (Well, duh.) So I am slanted to believe that the Giants are the absolute best team ever and all that. But like many San Fran’ers at the moment, I think, I’m a little frustrated and not completely believing that despite myself. Make that mucho frustrated, Los Gigantes.
The two big MLB deals that went down yesterday were interesting juxtapositions, in that sense. In case you missed ‘em or just like my fabulous recaps:
The Tigers signed first baseman Prince Fielder to a nine year deal, worth $214 million dollars. Close your mouth. I know that’s a big deal, but it doesn’t suit your face shape.
The Giants, meanwhile, reportedly reached a two-year deal with our resident oddball (one of many, that is) Tim Lincecum, worth $40.5 million, which sets him as the highest paid Giant ever, per year’s salary. The Giants could very well still lock up Lincecum for many more years, before he becomes a free agent, but for now, it’s two years.
The deals are obviously different, in that Prince was a free agent and Timmy was not, Prince is a hitter and Timmy is not. (No, really, he’s not. Have you seen the clips of him trying to hit?) But all the talk about the Fielder deal- from both the supporters of t and the people who think Dombrowski is more than a little nuts- has raised some interesting questions.
Some people say this kind of move by the Tigers is a statement that the organization is in it to win it and has a strong commitment to the team and the fans. Just about everyone says this makes the Tigers a whole lot better.
I don’t believe that teams should make moves to mollify fans or make it seem like they’re committed- sometimes the best commitment management can make is to sit back and let things evolve. But there is still something there, in the Giants management, that reads distinctly like, “We have no plan,” to me, myself and I. And no plan = no good.
I know that a big part of the Timmy deal is that he doesn’t want a long-term contract and there’s nothing we can all do about that. (Except make him cupcakes. That might work, actually.) But maybe, just maybe, that has something to do with the dragon that cannot spit fire that is the San Francisco Giants right now. Not to say the Giants should sign a hitter for $214 million. I don’t think they should, in fact. But if they’re not going to do that they might, er, explore other options?
And I’m not talking about breaking Orlando Cabrera out of retirement here.
In the end, it’s not really Tigers vs. Giants. More one philosophy vs. no perceived philosophy. You can guess who wins.
Dear January 24th in Giants history: you may now go disappear. Thanks. xoxo.
Diamond Girl
p.s. Not to be all downer on you today, but Posada retirement? Sniff-sniff. That is all.
Revealing the Real Reason Behind Sabean’s Splurges
I am now going to say something I don’t think I’ve been able to say all offseason. So this is, like, history. Ready? Okay. Here ‘tis:
There is lots to talk about!
I know, completely gasp-worthy.
But with the arbitration deadline looming, Spring Training sneaking closer and today being Official Obsess About Yu Darvish Day (that is, Darvish Signing Deadline Day) it’s actually true.
It would also probably explain why I am in a very smiley mood right this second. People have actually quit talking about some madness they call “49ers” and are discussing our darling Giants.
Among a lot of people I have never heard of, some guy named Pablo Sandoval settled a three year extension with SF coming out to three years for $17.15 million as well as Nate Schierholtz and $1.3 million, Santiago Casilla at $2.2 million and Melky Cabrera at $6 million.
There was a study a while back that I am having no luck finding (probably because, yes, half the internet is blacked out and pretending to be censored) about how people spend more in the first few months of the year because they’re depressed by the cold weather and therefore reaching for their wallets for some impulse buys.
Let me tell you, we are having some seriously depressing weather in the Bay Area right now. Blue Monday was two days ago. It’s no wonder Sabes wants to do some retail therapy.
While he’s at it? He should, for pity’s sake, give Timmy what he wants.
Okay, fine. Just kidding. (Not about Timmy, about the other stuff.) I know he needed to sign these people. And aside from Casilla who I am no way shape or form sold on, I’m pretty good with all of the deals. There is, of course, the fact that the 2012 squad is liable to look a good deal like the 2011 squad, Andres Torres look-alike and possible act-alike (that is, Angel Pagan) in CF and all but it… could be worse than 2011, I suppose.
On the bright side, maybe the Diamondbacks will be terrible!
(Yes, I am being depressing. I know. Blame the weather, yo.)
As for Darvish, Jon Daniels announced that the Rangers and Yu have made a deal for six years, worth $60 million, and although JD basically looked like death warmed over (blame the late night negotiations, not the weather for that one) I was seriously stoked. For one, that’s a lot of boxes of pasta/BMWs Darvish can buy, right there. And also, I mean, there’s the little fact that the Rangers have a fabulous new pitcher for their rotation. Which is kind of good news. To brighten up the depressingness.
Diamond Girl
p.s. In case you were left at the edge of your seat from my last post, I will put you out of your misery now and inform you that I am indeed boycotting the Golden Globes for the next hundred years. Definitely. Probably. Maybe. We’ll see, actually. No matter what, Howard Shore is still God and still should have won.
And Diogenes of Sinope Thought He Was a Cynic…
Well, he probably was. He lived in a tub on the streets of Athens, for goodness’ sake. That should probably be enough to earn him the title of Certified Cynic.
But the Ultimate Certified Cynic? (Who is, perhaps by coincidence, also the Ultimate Tim Lincecum Fan?)
No, she came about 2397 years later. Her name was Diamond Girl. And she had a dual personality, part of which was very optimistic and nice and rooted for Joey Martinez to have a huge comeback and win a Cy Young Award and the other part of which was… skeptical of Ryan Vogelsong. Very skeptical. You can lynch me now, Giants fans.
It’s not that I don’t want to root for Vogelsong. He’s a completely root-worthy guy and a darn good pitcher, too, but I can’t help wondering if the terrible baseball word “fluke” is at play here (that would be, fluke). Which is awfully cynical of me, but there you have it.
And that’s why when I heard about the two year, $8.3 million the Giants gave him earlier this week, I felt torn. Vogelsong has earned that security fair and square and I don’t doubt that he deserves the deal. I think I just feel that, in some way, this is a sentimental deal on the part of Sabes et al. Good stories only go so far and that’s not very far at all, when we’re talking about the actual playing field.
But you know what? I hope that he comes out over the next two years and completely proves my skepticism wrong and tears it up. Because that would be a good story. And I am rooting for it, in truth.
Forget it, Diogenes of Sinope can have the Ultimate Cynic title back. I am softie at heart.
Diamond Girl
p.s. You should still sign my petition to help me become the new commish of Major League Baseball. And make all your friends, too. Tempt them with chocolate fudge. Trust me, it works.
Why I Am Stoked About the Dodgers
I am stoked about the Dodgers! Which is weird, seeing as me + Dodgers = extremely bad match.
But this news that Torre may be making an attempt at buying the Dodgers? That is more than enough to be stoked about. Fantastic news, my friends.
I mean, it means we won’t get to see him every five seconds doing interviews during postseason rain delays as a rep for MLB (which was completely fun) but it does mean that we may have a very villainous, loathe-worthy Dodger owner in the foreseeable future!
Loathing McCourt doesn’t feel right, because even hardcore Dodger fans mostly loathe him. Not an arguing piece.
Torre?
Absolutely dripping with Dodger blue terribleness.
In addition to which, it would make the rivalry more fun again and all that because we’d actually (hopefully) have a driven organization to compete against. Assuming we are actually competing. Which, with Baer the Evil Usurper in charge, is vaguely doubtful.
Speaking of which… has the offseason gotten eerily quiet lately or has the offseason gotten eerily quiet lately? Sabean has either pricked his finger on a spindle and fallen asleep for 100 years (that is, until Spring Training) or Baer has a knife to his back and is all, “Do not make any moves, my young Padawan!”
Yes, I think Baer totally speaks Star Wars talk.
And no, I do not know if Sabes is actually younger than Baer, so the “young Padawan” thing is probably a little weird.
Yes, I could just Google it and be Creepy Stalker Diamond Girl and find both their birthdates, but you wouldn’t want to make me do that and keep me from the delicious coffee ice cream I am about to eat, now would you?
I thought not.
Diamond Girl
Peace and Love and Antlers to All + My Resolutions for 2012
I’m sitting here, realizing this is my second New Year’s on my blog (you can see last year’s here, if you are morbidly or otherwise interested), which seems completely bizarre but pretty great at the same time. Sifting through all this year’s posts yesterday, I realized how much has really gone down here and I’ve loved every moment of it.
So, yes. Sappiness. I very much appreciate you all reading (aka, tolerating) my stuff and wish you a very happy new year and hope your tortur—I mean, team of choice does well in 2012. Provided their name is not Dodgers or Angels or Red Sox or Phillies or Cardinals. (Just kidding, guys. I will attempt- and perhaps fail, but attempt all the same- to love your team no matter who they are.)
Okay. Now that that’s out of the way! Let do the whole resolution thing.
First, last year’s resolutions:
1. I resolve to visit my grandparents in Los Angeles without fighting over whether Wilson or Broxton is a better closer. (DID NOT SUCCEED. ALSO, UNFORTUNATELY, STARTED LOATHING WILSON.)
2. I resolve to dissolve my life savings and go to Citi Field or Yankee Stadium. (DID NOT SUCCEED.)
3. I resolve to carry a sign to an A’s vs. Rangers game and get the object of my sign to autograph it. (DO NOT SUCCEED. BUT DID GET A C.J. WILSON AUTOGRAPH, ON THE UPSIDE, THAT PROMPTLY RUBBED OFF, AS SOON AS HE WALKED AWAY.)
4. I resolve to crash the 2011 GM Meetings. (DID NOT SUCCEED.)
5. I resolve to repeat my feat of walking over every inch of AT&T Park in stilettos. (DID NOT SUCCEED.)
Huh. Apparently those didn’t go so well.
No matter! I have a whole new slightly more reasonable batch now and a whole new year (well, whole assuming the world doesn’t, you know, end, seeing as it’s 2012) to get them done. Here we go:
1. I will follow Joey Martinez’s career with eagle eyes and be his #1 cheerleader.
2. I will go to sleep 10+ times to the sound of Jon Miller and Dave Flemming’s voice.
3. I will paint portraits of all the Giants. (Okay, fine. Probably not.)
4. I will finally, completely, actually finish A Band of Misfits. Yes, I got it after the 2010 season. Yes, I have not finished it. Yes, it’s still sitting on top of my bookshelf. Yes, I am not exactly motivated.
5. I will covert my fish into a baseball fan. It can be done. I have faith.
See? Are those awesome or are those awesome? And kinda-sorta potentially achievable, too. I am also going to try to call Brian Sabean until his phone message quota cracks, but I’m trying to make this list mega-achievable and all that so I left that one off.
On another note, I have to warn you that I will probably post an enormous number of posts next year if I continue on my current track record, which is 71 in 2010 and 245 this year. Forewarned is forearmed.
Anyhow, Happy New Year once more! Let’s all make 2012 fabulous, shall we?
Diamond Girl
Wrapping Up the Winter Meetings
I am already going into post-Winter-Meetings-depression mode. That means dried apricots with whipped cream (very good) and staring dismally at the wall and pondering the meaning of life (not good at all). As I’ve said before, the Winter Meetings are pretty much my favorite time of the year so I’m always sad when they come to a close. But I can’t lie, right now I’m also a teensy bit happy. Because all that drama is a little unsustainable, you know? Which would explain the endless revolving door of reality shows on TV.
Anyhow, now all the GMs can go back to their cool offices and hang out in sporty-wanna-be-sunglasses, communicating by phone and email and all that. Probably for the best.
Today was obviously a big one, because both Pujols and C.J. have settled on the Angels of Anaheim and signed ten and five year deals respectively this morning.
Swish is a bit surprised. So am I.
At first I was in mega-Diamond-Girl-rage state because, yes, Dipoto we know you are new and want to show off a bit, but that’s kinda-sorta extreme.
But after a little while I went into mega-Diamond-Girl-mellow state and decided that the Rangers still have the division in the bag. I am sure of it. Positive affirmations go far, you know.
I was never huge on C.J. in the confidence department anyway and they’re going to have Albert long after the Kardashian’s get pulled off air and skinny jeans go the way of shoulder pads. This is for the best, Diamond Girl, this is for the best. (Me talking to myself, right there.)
“Our goal is to win, but within a responsible business model,” says Jon Daniels.
Right.
Everything will be okay.
With the Giants, meanwhile, I can’t say I am sure about everything being okay. Sabes says they’re done for the offseason (no Christmas gifts for use long-ish suffering fans?!) and that puts more than a few question marks on my world view. There is, unfortunately, only one first base on the diamond so Huff/Pill/Belt will have to fight that one out in the boxing ring, I guess, and then I’m a wee bit skeptical of Crawford at short and of the Cabrera/Pagan/Schierholtz outfield. Basically the whole team. No biggie.
But I’m all into them positive affirmations today, so you know what? I think the NL West is up for grabs and the Giants could very well grab it.
There. We are all leaving the Winter Meetings as winners.
Winning.
Yeah.
That.
Diamond Girl
Eugenio Bitterness, Name Battles and a Little Joey News
I didn’t like Andres Torres, at first.
I saw him- perhaps a little irrationally- as Eugenio Velez’s rival and nothing more. Every game that Torres played was I game I wanted to see Velez in. After Rowand was hit by Padilla in Los Angeles (yes, I was there but no, I did not hear the cracking of his skull from where I was sitting) and Velez was slumping pretty impressively in his place, Torres got some more playing time and gradually, I started to fall in love with his game.
I still had a bit of lingering Eugenio-bitterness, but then things heated up and Andres became one of the big faces on the World Series winnin’ franchise and I basically forgot about the rest.
Just about every media source has said this, since the news of his trade last night: it’s hard not to fall in love with him and his game. He’s fun, magnetic and, sometimes, awfully good as well.
Then there’s Ramon Ramirez. Any buzz he might have created after his trade to the Giants from Sox Who Wear Red at the 2010 trade deadline was basically extinguished by SF’s other bullpen acquisition at the same time, Javi Lopez. Even though Ramirez ended that year with a- wait for it- .067 ERA and this year, his ERA was a respectable 2.62, he’s been largely anonymous to Giants fans. Partially, probably, because his hat sits low on his head so we can never see his face and partially because he’s just not a spotlight player. He threw me a ball at batting practice one day and struck out somebody I can’t stand, but that’s pretty much the extent of my distinct memories about him.
So that, to make a pretty long story pretty short, is why I met last night’s trade with mixed feelings. I don’t think Torres or Ramirez are extremely valuable to the Giants organization nor are they irreplaceable, but I’m not convinced Ángel Pagan is anything different. It seems ever so slightly pointless, a bit like Alderson and Sabes were either both played or both just going straight up, because I don’t think either side really got a whole lot. Except, of course, that New York filched a reliever along with a center fielder.
Then again, these are the mystical Winter Meetings where GMs are ninjas with secret superpowers, so maybe I have just missed the larger plan/magic at play here. Maybe it isn’t the moving-right-along-deal it appears to be.
I do have to say, though, that Pagan’s name probably tips out the scales in the Giants favor, as to who got the better end of the deal. It’ll be much more fun to say, “Ángel Pagan” in center field than “Andres Torres”. Sorry, Torres. I love you, just… Pagan has you beat in the name department.
Also! I have an admission to make: I have been sadly negligent in the whole monitoring-Joey-Martinez’s-career thing. I searched him last night and discovered that not only was he the MVP of the AAA championship this season, but he also signed a one year deal with the Diamondbacks yesterday.
The first part is very good news, the second part not so much. He now has joined the list of Pitchers I Like In Arizona, also including Armando Galarraga (last year- he’s a free agent now). This means he will be playing against the Giants far too much. Come on. Hands off my guys, Kevin Towers.
Diamond Girl
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