Tuesday, November 29, 2005

 

Killing Time

The World Series ended a month ago. That's a whole month without baseball to watch. Make that two months without Giants baseball.

Some things cannot be borne!

In my desperation over the lack of televised baseball, I have turned to video games to get my baseball fix. On Friday, I signed up for GameFly, a video game rental service like NetFlix. Click the link if you want all the details.

We got our first two games yesterday--MLB for the PSP and Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube. The latter was really for Dawn. The baseball game was for me.

I have a mixed relationship with sports video games. I like playing them. I just never do. Play them, that is. Going back to my first Playstation nearly ten years ago, I have bought half a dozen sports titles, at least. Each one cost about $50. Each one I played maybe four or five times before putting it away and never touching it again. A few years ago I finally learned my lesson and stopped buying the damn things. I think the last one I bought was the first Rugby title for Playstation2. I loved that game because of the hilarious British announcers, but I didn't play it much either.

When I bought Dawn a PSP for her birthday this year, my interest in sports games rose again. I liked the idea of not being tied to the TV to play baseball; the PSP is portable, so you can play anywhere comfortable. I decided I would have to get myself a baseball game.

That was eight months ago. I still haven't bought that game. I'm still afraid of spending $40 and either hating the game or getting bored with it quickly. (I have a long history of that, especially with baseball games; more on that tomorrow.) GameFly solves this problem. If MLB sucks, or if I get bored with it, I can just send it back and try MVP Baseball (starring Kruk and Kuip!). If I love it, I can just buy it from GameFly and we'll all be happy.

So how is MLB, you ask? Who knows? I've only played once, which isn't enough. I can say this: the animations and graphics are very good. The stadiums are rendered accurately, and look great. The announcers are accurate and not repetitive. Wow. I'm not used to baseball games looking and sounding that good.

All things considered, I am not happy. The Dodgers beat my Giants 8-3, mainly because it took me five innings to figure out how not to groove every pitch. I'll try again tomorrow; maybe Schmidt will be ready to go again on no rest...

Jefferson 7:57 PM

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Thursday, November 17, 2005

 

Arugula Out

Scotty Eyre is no longer a San Francisco Giant.

According to a story I just saw on my Blackberry, courtesy of CNN/Sports Illustrated, Scott Eyre has just signed a contract with Dusty Baker's Chicago Cubs. Two years, with Scotty getting a player option for the third year. Don't know how many dollars yet, but I imagine we'll find out soon.

Scott Eyre will be missed. He was one of the best relievers in the league last year, leading the league with 86 appearences. He posted an ERA+ of 157 (meaning his ERA was about 57% better than league average, when you account for stuff like park factors). He struck out more than twice as many batters as he walked. He owned both lefties and righties. He is able to say "arugula" without smiling.

Giants fans are going to be pissed that Eyre left. That is perfectly understandable, but the Giants had next to no chance of resigning him unless they simply blew him away with a ton of cash. Putting myself in Scott Eyre's shoes, I can see why the Giants had no chance:

Family. Eyre's public reason for moving east was to be closer to home. I'm sure this was on his mind. Chicago is a lot closer to Florida. Since he didn't sign with the Marlins, though, let's look at some other reasons.

Felipe Alou. Once again, Eyre led the league in appearances in 2005. In 2004, Eyre was 6th in the league. Felipe Alou burns through his relievers like they were some cheap part of a car that I don't understand. Eyre has watched a parade of good relievers get fried by Felipe Alou: Herges, Brower, Christiansen, Worrell, Hermanson. If you were him, wouldn't you want to work for a different manager?

Friends. The Giants clubhouse last year wasn't very cheery. It wasn't exactly a fun place (did anyone ever end up going out to dinner with Moises?), and by all accounts Scott Eyre is a fun-loving guy. He's pretty close to the Cubs bench coach Dick Pole (and seriously, I did not make that name up).

These are three solid reasons for anyone in any job to want a change of scenery. Do you remember a few years ago, when the conventional wisdom was that free agents wanted to come to the Giants, because they loved the manager and the atmosphere? Eyre's departure is a huge red flag that this is no longer true. I mean, he went to play for Dusty Baker--the manager guys loved to play for when he led the Giants.

There is, finally, a fourth and overwhelming reason why the Giants were not going to resign Scott Eyre:

Cost. Middle relievers simply cost more than they're worth. Eyre has earned a big paycheck for his outstanding work with the Giants. But given how much he's been overworked, and given how quickly a good reliever can lose it even in normal circumstances, how could the Giants justify cutting him the huge check he was bound to get? No matter what, Eyre was going to get overpaid. The safe angle was to let someone else do the overpaying.

I'm happy for Scott Eyre, and I wish him well in Chicago. Say hi to Dusty for me, dude.

Jefferson 6:35 PM

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

 

Collettidict Arnold

The defection of Ned Colletti to the Los Angeles Dodgers should be viewed by all right-thinking Giants fans with alarm and approbation.

Ahem. Sorry. I've been reading a lot of Churchill recently.

As shocking as Colletti's move is, it serves as an excellent reminder that baseball executives are different in a fundamental way from the rest of us. They aren't necessarily fans of the team they work for. Can you imagine a diehard Giants fan accepting any position in the Dodgers organization? You just can't. It is impossible. Ned Colletti is a different sort. He is a baseball professional. Baseball is not his recreation. It is his profession. It may be his avocation, but he is a fan of his career more than anything else.

This is not intended in any way as a criticism. Being a true fan of a team is an emotional state. A lack of objectivity is implicit in the definition of "fan." This is counter to the way a professional baseball executive must work. The executive must be dispassionate, objective, and willing to part ways with any of his players on short notice. Even Theo Epstein worked for another club before becoming general manager of his favorite team, the Red Sox.

So Colletti's departure is really not that shocking, as baseball moves go. Giants fans will be concerned about how this will affect the team. That's difficult to predict. Colletti's role with the front office was unclear to the fans, but undoubtedly important. The other factor is that we don't yet know who will replace Colletti. We only know that Brian Sabean will make that decision.

This points out, once again, why the general manager is perhaps the most important position in baseball. If Sabean chooses well, Colletti's departure will not harm the team at all. In fact, Sabean probably deserves credit for hiring Colletti, and recognizing a talent that was thought so highly worthy by the team's greatest rival. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then hiring away your rival's best talent is the high form of imitation. If Sabean can continue to choose his assistants well, then the Giants will continue to prosper.

Jefferson 6:55 PM

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