Tuesday, November 30, 2004

 

My Kingdom For A Real Closer!

According to the Chronicle, the Giants are going to sign Armando Benitez today to a 3-year, $21 million contract. Benitez will become the Giants' closer, and will be a gigantic upgrade over the Herges/Hermanson combo from last year.

People are going to bitch that the contract is for too many years and too much money, and that the Giants need a bat more than they need a closer. The first complaint I think is only relevant if it keeps the Giants from signing Steve Finley or someone like him. I don't think that will be the case. Furthermore, free agents salaries are up across the board this year, so one should be careful about using last year's salaries as a guide.

The second complaint I will acknowledge, but I remind everyone that the main problems with the Giants last year were relief pitching and defense. If Benitez was our closer last year, the Giants would have won the division, flat out.

More statistically oriented people will point to Benitez's declining strikeout rate, which I will counter by pointing at his walk rate, which is declining even faster, and his hits allowed, which were miniscule. He allowed less than one baserunner per inning for the entire season, which is excellent by any measure.

The next step is to sign Steve Finley, and then take our rightful place as favorites in the National League West.

This post has been brought to you by the Eternal Optimists Society.

Jefferson 8:32 AM

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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

 

Sneak Peek Into Sabean's Brain

Marty over at Across the Seams got to attend a private chat with Giants GM Brian Sabean and owner Peter Macgowan the other day. Go check out his report for an outstanding look at what the Giants are looking to achieve this offseason, and what mistakes Sabean wishes he hadn't made in 2004.

Jefferson 8:35 AM

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Monday, November 15, 2004

 

Omar, Barry, Hot Stove!

First off, this just in...Barry Bonds, Seven-Time National League MVP. Congratulations to Barry Bonds, and best wishes for an eighth award in 2005.

I didn't post about the Omar Vizquel signing last night because my immediate reaction was unprintable. My wife told me we'd signed "Omar," and I wanted to say "you mean Nomar, right?" But she explained it was Omar Vizquel, and my heart sank.

"How many years?" I asked her.

"Three years."

"Nooo! He's already a million years old! Well, maybe they're not paying that much...?"

"$12.25 million."

"NOOOOO! If that's $4 million for 2005, that's a big chunk of their budget right there! He's not that great a hitter! NOOOOOO!"

Anyway, I resisted the urge to post that rant, and decided to wait to see how the money was distributed. I did some digging, and like a chickenshit, I waited for the other bloggers to weigh in before I made up my mind.

I've decided I like this deal. First, the Giants are paying only $2.5 million for 2005. That's not bad at all. Second, Visquel is, or should be, a much better defender than Deivi Cruz. Third, while Cruz and Vizquel's hitting numbers look similar from last season, Cruz was having a banner year. Visquel was about average.

Fourth, we don't really care about the length of the contract. The Giants live from year to year the way a college student lives from paycheck to paycheck. All that matters is the next season, really. We're going to be paying Visquel millions to play shortstop when he's 40? Eh, that's 2007. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. In 2005, Vizquel should be a significant improvement over the Perez/Cruz combo.

There are still some things to worry about in this deal. The Giants once again sacrificed their first-round pick next year in order to sign Vizquel quickly. Also, they signed him so fast, you have to wonder if any other shortstops were given serious consideration. It looks from here like Vizquel was the Giants' #1 priority, and they went after him with laser-like focus. This is not necessarily a bad thing, except that there are quite a few free agent shortstops available.

All in all, I will give this signing my stamp of approval. I am sure this will allow Brian Sabean to sleep better tonight, because he really worries about what we say. Really.

Jefferson 11:14 AM

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Monday, November 08, 2004

 

A Night In The Desert

Sometimes I forget why I sink so many hours into Final Fantasy XI. I've averaged about 100 hours per month for the last year. (That's considered below average for FF XI players, by the way. Most of the players I know double that total routinely.) In 100 hours, I could play any of the single-player editions of Final Fantasy all the way to the end.

So why, why do I keep coming back? Because of nights like one we had a week ago.

My friend Hugo got his character Riloth to 43rd level about five months ago. Since then, he hasn't been able to level Riloth further for a variety of reasons. Now that my character has caught up with him, Hugo's been very eager to get Riloth higher in level. In FF XI, you can't level your character by yourself after about 15th level. You have to get a group of characters together, preferably six, that are all within one or two levels of each other. It can take a couple of hours to assemble such a group. During those couple of hours, it's easy to think, "if I were playing Final Fantasy X on my PlayStation 2, I wouldn't have to wait like this."

So we spent the usual two hours waiting that night, assembling a team so Riloth could go up in level some more (along with the rest of us). Finally, we headed out to the Altepa Desert to fight giant beetles. The first few battles, we fought a bit clunkily. We weren't sure what each other was capable of, or what everyone liked to do in a fight. Sometimes a party never figures it out, and no one gets much experience. This time, though, we quickly found out that these guys knew their stuff. Even better, our individual styles complemented each other. Within 20 minutes we were on a roll that would last for hours. No one said anything about it for a couple of hours, but we all understood that we had an outstanding team. Bedtime came and went, and no one said anything about the time, because we didn't want the team to split up.

As we mowed through beetle after beetle, with every person meshing perfectly, I was reminded of what keeps bringing us back to these online games. Basically, it's the difference between being a good tennis player and a member of, say, the Boston Red Sox. Playing alone, you can excel, and you might even have an audience, but there's not much to say afterwards. Playing with a team, you can receive the recognition of your peers. All those hours you've spent honing your skills pay off when your party tells you "good job." You know that they realize just how much work you've put in, and just how difficult it is to get that good.

There's a real camaraderie there, and in the best cases a mutual respect that is often lacking in real-life relationships. The respect may be based on a seemingly trivial thing--skill at a mere game--but it still valuable. I work on computer systems and networks at my job. It's a very solitary pursuit, and one that goes unremarked on unless I'm completely failing in my job. If I do a good job, no one notices. It's the nature of the beast. At times, that can be frustrating. So it's nice to be able to go online and do something that garners some small recognition.

Jefferson 10:07 PM

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