Monday, December 15, 2003

 

Sabes Went To The Big Easy, And All I Got Was Another Crappy Outfielder.

The Giants made a, er, trade today. They picked up an outfielder named Dustan Mohr from the Minnesota Twins, for a player to be named later.

Here's a look at Mr. Mohr's line from last year:

121 G, 348 AB, 50 R, 87 H, 22 2B, 0 3B, 10 HR, 36 RBI, 33 BB, 106 SO, .250 BA, .314 OBP, .399 SLG.

Good lord, that's pretty bad. And he played half his games in the Metrodome. But wait--he's 27, so he's in the theoretical, er, prime.

We don't know who the PTBNL is here. I mean, what would be appropriate to exchange for such a quality hitter? Shawon Dunston? Neifi Perez? An old fruitcake?

You might be able to sense that I'm starting to panic, just a little. This team doesn't thrill me nearly as much as 2003's version did, that's for sure. The rest of the division is getting worse faster than the Giants are, and therein lies hope.

Sometime later in the week, I'll take a look at the Diamond Mind ZiPS projections for the squad as it stands, and see how it stands up to recent Giants squads. Or, I'll get completely sidetracked by The Return of the King and not be heard from until January. I figure it's a coin flip.

Jefferson 1:03 PM

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Tuesday, December 09, 2003

 

Painting Update

Really, I'm going to borrow Amy's camera when these are done, because writing about painted miniatures is like dancing in the dark. Not the Springsteen album, but the futility of the concept. Not that I am a championship caliber painter by any means, but I don't think I suck either.

I am 90% finished with the mounted Eomer figure and the four Rohirrim foot with spear I've been painting. That'll give me a total of a dozen cavalry, plus Eomer, plus 16 foot. A nice start on that army.

Tomorrow, my favorite comics store, Maximum Monkey, will receive my order of the new Games Workshop Return of the King miniatures. This will add, oh, another 50 or 60 Mordor Orcs and Warriors of Gondor to my immense "to be painted" pile.

I hope I get to actually play with the damn things sometime soon....

Jefferson 12:59 PM

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Monday, December 08, 2003

 

Farewell to Old Friends

Yesterday was the deadline for Major League Baseball clubs to offer salary arbitration to their unsigned free agents. If a club did not offer arbitration, then they could not sign that free agent until May 1, 2004--effectively cutting them loose for good. The Giants cut loose all of their free agents except for J.T. Snow, whom they signed to a new one-year deal (with a vesting club option for 2005). (A move I heartily applaud, by the way...at least, since the Sexson deal didn't happen, or the Lee deal, or the Choi deal...)

Among the castaways are longtime Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia. He will be missed, and not just because his likely replacement is the rancid Neifi Perez. There are some guys you look at and you just know--that's a San Francisco Giant. Richie is one of those guys. For years, you knew that when you looked up the middle of the diamond, you'd see Richie and Jeff Kent holding down the middle of the field, and you felt good about that. Richie's bat hasn't been as potent the last couple of years, but his defense has always been pretty solid, if unspectacular. Rich was also one of the most public faces of the team--a confident, professional, and congenial guy who you wouldn't mind having a drink with. Solid, trustworthy, a leader. If it weren't for Neifi's contract, I get the feeling Richie would've been offered arbitration. That's another reason to dislike El Malo. Best of luck to you, Richie--you will be missed.

Also gone--Andres Galarraga. I cannot be at all objective about this--I love the guy. How can you not love this guy? The Giants declined arbitration on him after the 2001 season, too, and I was crushed then. I know the Giants want to give Pedro Feliz more time at first (though I'm not sure why, in a rational universe, you'd want that). But really, I want Andres on my team, any time. He's going to come back and have another solid season for someone in 2004, playing about 80 games, hitting 10 homers and putting up a fine OBP and SLG. And he'll be a great source of positive energy for whatever clubhouse he ends up in. Any time the Big Cat was on the Giants, the team looked like it was having more fun. Even though he only spent a season and a couple of months in the orange and black, he'll be a Giant to me forever.

Tim Worrell is gone too. The guy drove me nuts last year, especially towards the end. Overall, he did a good job, but he always brought with him a sense of impending doom. Getting the save with a 1-2-3 inning wasn't his thing. Putting a couple of guys on, making you sweat, and then pulling a double play out of his ass--that was Timmy. But in Game 4 of the NLDS against Florida, when his defense was crumbling behind him, he reached back and found a fire inside that was truly impressive. Kick-saves on the mound, bearing down to get almost every out single-handedly--he came up short, but it was a performance seeming inspired by the Valkyries. Worrell will be someone's closer next year, and a rich man. Good luck to him.

Sidney Ponson--we hardly knew you. We'll find out soon if your stay was a fluke, or a measure of the real Sir Sidney.

Eric Young--bad time to have a bad couple of months.

No surprise that Benito Santiago wasn't offered arbitration. His first year or two here, he was amazing. Inspirational. Given a second chance at a career he nearly lost after that car wreck, he played his ass off. Sadly, his defensive skills deteriorated badly in the second half of the season last year, and his pride wouldn't let him see that it was time to move to the bench. He's a great teacher of pitchers, and we'll miss that, as well as his competitive fire. No one in the game is better at making a point under his breath.

Jose Cruz Jr. was a foregone conclusion--the Giants declined his option, and that was a pretty big hint they didn't want him back. I'm among the few who wanted him back, and I'll be rooting for him wherever he goes after this. Amazing glove, amazing arm, and when his bat is hot, he's something else. Too bad his worst week at work came during the playoffs.

Marvin Benard, the last of the "fighting hydrants." He may not surface on a major league roster again due to his injuries and declining skills. At one time, the guy was a pretty decent outfielder. Not great, but not the horrible hitter he turned into after the age of 30. A longtime Giant; only Barry Bonds has been with the team longer. I'll remember him more for his tenacity and his 1998 and 1999 peak than I will for his defense, that's for sure. For better or for worse, he was one of the guys--one of our guys. I never knew his middle name was "Larry," though.

But, I hear you scream, what does it all mean? Is this all there is? Isn't there more to our existence than a bench of Michael Tuckers and Alberto Castillos? It's too early to say, but I do know this--Brian Sabean has never finished assembling his roster this early in December.

There is more to come.

Jefferson 12:37 PM

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Wednesday, December 03, 2003

 

If you can read this...

Then you're looking at the new home of Skaldheim.

Jefferson 10:07 PM

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Administrivia: Moving Web Hosts, Outages Possible

Like the San Francisco Giants, I am looking to cut my expenses for the 2004 season. Therefore, I will soon be parting ways with my ISP of the last 7 years, NetWizards, in favor of pair.com. Since I don't use NetWizards' dial-up service any-more, this move will cut my web hosting costs by about 75%.

Because of the DNS changes required for this move, this site may be unavailable over the next few days. But don't fear, I will return to babble again!

Jefferson 8:45 PM

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