December 18, 2025 • 32 mins
F.P. Santangelo and Susan Slusser address some of the most pressing questions about the Giants offseason as submitted by listeners. Who is the team pursuing at second base (and why?) and what does the future hold for a number of SF's youngsters, including Bryce Eldridge, Hayden Birdsong and Tyler Fitzgerald. Drew Gilbert features in one serious question and a silly one!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
All right, it's another episode of splash Hit, and I
have to separate the two because my son pointed out
to me in the Buck Showalter episode that I ran
it together a little too fast and that would be
a really messy podcast if that were the name of this.
So welcome to another episode of splash Hit. We are
joined by our freaking contributor, Susan Selser. Susan, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Glad to have you today.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Oh, it's so good to be here. Yeah. As a writer,
I appreciate you being very careful with terminology and words.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I think that's a very good thing.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You just got to go slow and separate him. So
we got a fun show today. It's a mail bag show.
We're gonna answer questions from fans, and we're real thankful
for all the fans that we have so far. We're
trying to get some more subscribers, so subscribe to splash
Hit Territory.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Next goal is three thousand.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We have two thousands right now, and all the feedback
from you guys has been so flattery and overwhelming, and we're.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Glad that you're enjoying the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We're just here having fun talking giants baseball during the
off season, and we're gonna do three shows a week
during the season. We're break down some games and stuff
and that'll be fun for us too.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But today, Susan, it's the mail bag. Where do we start?
What do we got?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, let's we had so many good ones, which is
really exciting because there's a lot, you know, there's a
lot to talk about at this time of year with
the Giants. But one I was really glad to see
pop up, and you and I both kind of went
through the questions and picked out some. But this one,
I think it's a very timely because I actually was
(01:37):
writing a story about this when I saw this pop up.
Could the Giants? It's talking giants, which is what we're doing.
Who knew could the Giants go after Nico Horner via
trade from the Cubs? Well, my story in the Chronicle
today and that was online yesterday. The Giants have called
on Nico Horner. Now we've talked a lot fp about
(02:00):
the fact that the Giants have called on almost everybody,
you know, any of the spots that they think they
need some help. They're you know, starting pitchers, relievers, apparently
zeg and Basement because they've been calling and the agent's
were telling me all during the winter meetings, Hey, did
you know the Giants are actually calling on second basement too?
(02:21):
And of course outfielders, so nice to know Nico Horner
is among those. But there are other you know. They've
been linked to Katel Marte, they have been linked to
Brandon Lowe, all sorts of possibilities, and of course Brennan
Donovan is a guy who I think they were described
as front runners for. I'm not sure I would go
that far, and I don't see this as really their
(02:44):
top priority. Unless they cannot get a big outfield bat,
like a real offensive bat, the place you could add
some offense might be second. And if you got somebody
like Nico Horner, let's talk about him really specifically. He's
got one year left on his deal with the Cubs.
He actually led them in war last year and what
(03:05):
terrific season, and since moving to second base he's won
two Gold Gloves. This is a guy for me. Maybe
you do pony up a little bit in a trade
because he's also potentially a really good candidate for a
contract extension. Because he's local, he's from Oakland, he played
at Stanford. I think that he would be if that
is the spot they really feel like they want to
(03:26):
add something.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
He'd be the perfect guy for me.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, And I've been thinking about him all off season.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
He's a perfect giant and he's a perfect guy for buster.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Posey, scrappy guy.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Hits the ball to all fields, plays plus defense, like
you're saying, doesn't love to strike out. But he's intense
and he brings energy every single day. And I don't
know if this is breaking news or not, but I
heard this, and I don't know exactly where it is,
but he bought a home in the city of San Francisco,
in kW Hollow.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And that was what I told you.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That well, I heard from my friends because it's right
by this place, right here, So.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I was like, I might get a beat him. I
love the way he plays. He's scrappy man, and he's
a good player. And when you talk about Chapman a
Damas Horner endeavors in your infield, that's a solid, solid infield.
And if it's Ktel Marte, I don't know if that's
going to happen, but if you even had a guy
like him, and now you got Chapman a Damas Marte
(04:23):
endeavors that would be one of the best infields in
the National League. But I think what Buster Posey's looking for,
Susan is these type of players, winning players that can bunk,
guys over, can hit behind, runners that don't like to
strike out, that put the ball and play to all
fields that are scrappy. I mean, when you think of
Giants baseball, a guy like Nico Horner would be like
the poster kid for what Buster Posey wants to do well.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And here's another way look at it too, and it
brings us into some of this week's moves. If you
have an infield of essentially above average and a couple
goal glove glovers in the infield, and you add someone
like Adrian Houser, who a pretty sinker heavy guy, you've
already got Logan Webb who's sinker heavy. You know, when
(05:06):
you're talking about a team that missed the postseason by
two games right there, that could be you know, the
difference of another win or two, maybe even more with
a really solid infield defense. And this is going to
bring I love how these things work. This is our
next question, and I think this is appropriate from Drew
(05:28):
Gilbert stan and I've got you know what, I'm gonna
surprise you because I got a Drew Drew Gilbert question
for you later specifically, but I read last year at
first base the first time Devers posted a positive war defensively.
I saw a couple of plays from Hi at the
end that looked very intuitive, like you've been playing there
his whole career. Do you think he supplants Eldridge? Does
that make Eldridge expendable? I think there are a few
(05:51):
things that we can talk about here FP. First of all, yes,
Devers Devors looks really good to me. Defensively, I think
he could be an elite first basement. If you take
a sort of average to maybe slightly below average big
league third basement and move them to first oftentimes that
can be the case. So I and then we're working
(06:13):
with Ron Washington. Oh my gosh, I mean, he really
could be among the better first basemen in the league
really quickly, because look how look how fast it was
last year, just a couple of months, and Drew Gilbert
stan who's also Matt Chapman's talk, He's got a lot
going on there. He really improves so quickly in just
(06:34):
those two months, and by the end of the season
really really did look right, very good there. So what
are your thoughts there? And then and then we'll talk
about Eldridge.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There's a lot of nuances at first base that the
only thing that is going to make you better is
game experience. So he could work with Wash, and Wash
is amazing and that'll help definitely. But there's all kinds
of game situations that pop up. And when I talked
to Ryan Zimmerman when I was in DC, who moved
from third to first, his biggest challenge was how far
to his right towards second base he goes for a ball?
(07:03):
When do I hit the brakes and peel back to
first or how far do I go for a baseball?
There's little things like bunt de's and cutoffs that you
just you just have to play enough where it's second
nature and you're not actually thinking every pitch like I
have to be here on this and it's instinctual, because
he did his whole life at third base to where
he just knew where to be all the time and
(07:24):
it was just like secondhand. And I think he got
a bad rap devers at third base. I think he
was a lot better than people said he was, you know,
the whole bragmant thing, and we don't have to get
back into that.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But I think with Rafi at.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
First base, I don't know if gold gloves in the
mix for him, but definitely definitely inadequatey. He's a good
athlete and he picked things up really quickly, So yeah,
I'm a big fan of his at first base.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I think he's only going to get better.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I don't know if he's going to be an elite
defensive first baseman ever, but he's going to be good
enough to Here's the thing is a former infielder, I
want my first baseman. I want to confidence in my
first basement where I just let the ball go and
I know he's gonna pick it. I know he's gonna
make the play once I release the baseball. When you
have a below average first basement over there, now I
(08:10):
start to press as an infielder that I know I
have to be perfect with my throws. Jason Giambi never
got enough credit at first base, like could he feel.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
The ground ball?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
It looked like a gang fight at times, but as
far as picking like short hops, he was as good
as anybody ever played.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
With and I had JT. Snow which speaks for itself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
When I was in San Francisco and David Seghie in
Montreal was as good as anybody I've ever seen at
first base. So what that does is relaxes me as
a first baseman. And if you watched Willie a Damas
over this past season, he has a little short arm
in his delivery sometimes where the ball doesn't always get
to first base in the air and it's not on
(08:49):
the fly.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Where you're gonna need a first baseman with a Damas
as your shortstop where he does the pat on the
glove and maybe wash fixes the pat because when you
feel the ground ball for your younger kids listening to this,
and I know there's tons of them, when you pat
your glove once you feel the ball and you go
like this before you throw.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Now, you have a tendency to get off rhythm to.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Where your feet aren't underneath you, and your release point
can get a little bit different, almost like a pitcher.
And if that's off because of this timing thing. Number one,
the runner is getting a step on you when you
do this. Number two, you don't know where you're going
to release it and it can go low. And Willi
does that lot. Well, He's a great shortstop. He made
some fantastic plays, but I think the confidence Chapman hits
you in the chest, you don't care. But with Willy
(09:30):
at shortstop, I think if Devers can show that he
can pick baseballs cleanly on the rag, then that gives
Adamis more confidence. And what happens is you start hitting
the guy in the chest because you're not thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Well, the second half of this was do you think
he suppliants Eldridge? Does that make Eldridge expendable? You know,
this is a topic that we've kind of discussed a
lot this offseason. Is price Eldridge? Is he available via trade?
Certainly teams would have interest. I wouldn't do it for
one year somebody so much as I love Nico Horner,
(10:02):
for instance, I wouldn't consider that. And as we talked before,
I like, I think like a hunter green level guy,
three more years of service, maybe somebody like that. But
I do think that Devers is the first baseman flat out.
You know, the front office, coaching staff, they've all sort
(10:22):
of mentioned that here since since Devers started playing first,
that he's the first baseman. So to me, Eldridge is
occasionally maybe a bill in there, but mostly a DH.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
How are you seeing it?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, I think Eldridge has to take the job from
Devers eventually, right when that is because Rafi said like
publicly that he'd rather be out in the field, that
he felt like he was a part of it. That
DH was weird for him because he just thought about
his at bats the small times IDHD in the minor leagues,
it was like pinch hitting four times, where you just
(10:56):
like you go hit and then you wait an hour
and then you think about your last bat.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
When you're on defense, you're.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Thinking about plays, you're talking to umpires, you're talking to
base runners, you're in the flow of the game, you're
getting a sweat going. It's like going from zero to sixty,
stepping into that on deck circle, then in the batter's box.
And I always admire guys that could do that. I
really did, because there's an art to pinch hitting four
times a game as a DH essentially what it is.
So I think if Eldridge shows a that he can
(11:24):
make the team, I still thinks he has to prove that,
Like he's a part of this.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
At his age, I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Think there's a rush with a twenty one year old.
And I was all for rushing him last year, like
let's see, let's see, let's see. But now you have
Dever's there, and I don't know what kind of progress
Bryce Eldridge makes as a DH defensively. So that's that's
a conundrum, a good conundrum to have. But I don't
think you trade Bryce. I really don't. I think you
keep him unless unless there's just a package that knocks
(11:51):
your socks off and you just can't say no to
it and it helps the organization for not just next year,
but a number of years.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, is that Eldridge is more comfortable at DH than Devers?
Is he DHD in high school? He didn't play a
position in the field. It was a two way guy,
pitcher and a hitter. But as a DH. So you know,
I've said numerous times you don't really want to make
(12:18):
a twenty one year old essentially a permanent DH. But
you know there's dhs in both leagues now every game
has a DH. I'm not necessarily sure that that's a
terrible thing when you do have a pretty quality guy
playing the one position you might put Rice at, but
he needs to be able to fill in adequately at
(12:40):
the very least. Let's go to another question about another
one of the young players. And I was very happy
to see this question because I like Tyler Fitzgerald a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I kind of am.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Wondering what's going on with him too. You were a
guy I really am interested to hearing your impressions at
Tyler Fitzgerald, because you know this role so well. It
seems like potential speed on the base pass is a
utility guy filling at second base or potential trade piece.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
FP Tyler Fitzgerald, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Mean being utility players a lot of work. Every day.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
You got to take ground balls in every position. I
used to just shag in the outfield at one position,
and so there's a lot of work involved in being
a utility player. Because when you walk into that clubhouse
and you.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
See a five or six or a four by your name,
they're not rating how you look.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That's a position that you're going to play that night,
So you have to be ready for all of them.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
And watching Tyler.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Over the last couple of years, there's flashes of brilliance.
But I think with Tyler Fitzgerald's game. And I got
to be careful with what I say right here because
he's he's he could be more aggressive.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I guess that's the way to put it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Like on the basis, a little more swagger to his game,
a little more confidence, and just his approach in with
his speed, he has to put the ball in play
more often. Like there was a saying back in the day,
down and run. Mean, he hit the ball on the
ground with two strikes and then see what happens. He
(14:11):
puts so much pressure on infield when he just simply
hits a ground ball with two strikes. So there's a
lot of swing and miss in his game. For a
guy with so much speed. If he could spread out.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Choke up, shorten up, bunt more, he's pretty good bunder.
He doesn't do it a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
When Buster Posey says meat on the bone, and we've
talked about this on this show before, there's so much
more meat on the bone. But in my experiences in
coaching and my experiences in playing, I don't know if
you can teach the things that Tyler Fitzgerald needs to
improve on.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think you either have that or you don't have that.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So I'm a big fan of the human being the
nicest kid in that whole clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
But I think if if Tyler Fitzgerald wasn't nice, he
had a little more fu in him, which he does,
but just a little more. I think, God, he's got
so much. He's got more talent on his pinky finger
than I ever had, with his size, his pop, his speed,
everything about his game.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
But it just needs that intangible I think, just to
turn up a notch or two or three or four,
and that he.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Would be a star major leaguer with the ability he has.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah, the confidence, to me, that's the real key. We
saw him play and spurt so well, and certainly the pop.
You love the pop and the speed. I don't think
he's a guy you give up on. He's a little
on the older side.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
He's kind of moved out of prospect territory.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That's one caveat, and for that reason, he might not
necessarily bring back a ton in a trade. They did
use him in the outfield at Sacramento in the second
half last year, trying to make him into more of
a full utility player. I like that idea, the confidence,
and then also he was one of the guys last
(15:54):
year who was prone to making base running mistakes, defensive mistakes,
mental mistakes. Some of that's confidence, some of that is
just experience. I think he needs to iron that out
of his game. Somebody like Ron Washington, I think is
going to help there a lot. I certainly hope he
gets a lot of opportunities to work with Wash because
(16:15):
I think that that could really take care of of
some of those things. And then, of course the base
running with Jase Tinler, I there were so many unwarranted
base running mistakes almost team wise. There are a few
guys who are extremely good based runners who even once
in a while fumble.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
That's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
But Tyler Fitzgerald has to get the mistakes out of
his game.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
If if Nico Horner becomes a giant.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Casey Schmid is your utility guy, and that's going to
affect Tyler Fitzgerald. And I'm wondering, based on what you say,
if Ron Washington can make me a better broadcaster, because
I mean, it sounds like this guy.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
You'd have to use the bleep button awful lot. You
really would, though it would be very under well.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
We both love Ron Washington.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
That's that's been chronicled down here and it's one of
the better ads for the Giants this offseason.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Well, let's talk about you know, we're in the young
player portion of I guess this mail bag, But who
do you think will take the next step up? This
is from Benjamin Contraras. I think Birdsong is a chance
to make a big impact on the team, great stuff,
chance to grow under by Tello and this coaching staff. Yes,
I think that's that's definitely the case. But it's going
(17:32):
to be the strike throwing. If he is not consistently
throwing strikes I've mentioned on here. I think potentially a
move to the bullpen could be something that helps him. Oh,
the talent, I feel like I'm talking about Fitzgerald again,
but especially we gosh, bird Song the first half last
year was just spectacular. I mean, the stuff is outstanding.
(17:52):
If he's throwing strikes. What happened to MFP is that?
I mean that's Has anybody figured that out?
Speaker 4 (17:57):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I wouldn't know from experience, but the mound is a
lonely place where you can't throw strikes. And we saw
him with swagger and confidence and cockiness, a little like
Mark Fiterich where he was talking to himself after every
pitch shot on the broadcast last year, he threw a
curveball that was nasty and they zoomed on his face.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
He's like, oooh, that was nasty.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So like when he had that, he was unhittable that
all of a sudden that left And there were some
weird quotes. I forget what they were about after a
game one time where he could just tell he was
deep in his own head. So again in Tangibles, in
a game where we have so many measurements analytically with
a lot of math involved, it comes down to confidence
and believing in yourself and you start overthinking things, you
(18:40):
start tinkering. Then you forget where he started because you're
so far different with your mechanics, and his release point
was off confidence waiver. There's tons of meat on that bone,
whether he's a starter or re leieve. I'm a big
Hayden Bird Sog fan. But the young player I'm really
excited about, and I think that Tony Vaiitello is going
to have a huge impact on and already has in
his career, is Drew Gilbert. He energized that team last
(19:03):
year I don't know if he's an everyday right fielder yet,
but I just love the kids so much.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I love the energy he brings, I love the swagger
he brings.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Back to our last podcast where or a few ago,
where I said, I hope the Giants are the most
hated team in baseball, I really do. Drew Gilbert would
be a big reason. And there was some things behind
the scenes last year that I heard that were yelled
by Drew on the top step in the heat of
battle that may or may not got the attention of
the other team. But those guys, to their credit, the
veterans on that team just let him go.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
They let him be himself, like dude, you do you?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And he energized that ball club for a long time,
and he gave him a confidence and a cockiness and
a swagger that I don't think as a group that
they necessarily had at times with those lulls last year.
So while energy guys are good and they're fun, you
still have to perform. And if you walk the talk
and you start to put up numbers, and then you're
(19:57):
that guy. You know, Garrison in Vader's a guy A
lot like that. Guys that can add something to a
club with their attitude. But the attitude has to match
the performance.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
So for Drew it.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Can get a little it can it can get a
little old if you're not performing and you can and
then and then you see a guy kind of get
back into a shell. So I think the sky's the
limit for Drew Man. I'm just rooting for the kid
I compared him and on the field I got so
criticized on this on as for saying he reminded me
of Lenny Dykstra, but he does as a player, not
(20:31):
about car washes and all this stuff Lenny Dykster cut
into after his career.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
But but he has a little Lenny Dykster in him.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, you know what. The young player I'm most
excited about, uh, and I do have more I'm going
to bring up to you again as I said, But
the young player I'm most interested in this spring and
I hope during the season is Hey sus Rodriguez the catcher.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
He looks like.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Potentially certainly a good hitting catcher, which the would make
such a nice compliment with Patrick Bailey, but potentially as
he gets experience and learns how to catch a little
bit more, he was a convert in the in the minors.
I think, you know, the hope is that he will
(21:16):
be a very good two way catcher. I think he
could be pretty special. So I'm really looking forward to
seeing him. I when Buster Posey says this was a
kid we really really wanted and it's a catcher that
that makes me take notice. So yeah, that makes me
pretty excited about that we got. Hey, everyone, work with everyone.
(21:41):
All the questions so far put up were from Twitter
or x or whatever you want to call it. I
still say Twitter. There here's b K Adventures on YouTube.
The YouTube comments asked a bunch of questions, so let's
go through some of them kind of quickly. And uh,
I miss Wade. I'm not sure which way this is.
(22:03):
Uh is Lamont? Is it Wade Meckler.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's the Mechlinator for sure, because it's talking about.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
I mean Lamont was briefly in the outfield, but yeah,
I Wade Meckler is another one. I do think he
could be a decent big league hitter. It hasn't really,
you know, between health things and just not really having
the opportunity. I don't know if we'll how much we'll
see him in a Giant's uniform at the big league level.
(22:33):
What were your impressions. I know that coaching staff really
has liked him a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I think he was a blow up average outfielder.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And when I think of Wade Meckler, I mean and
being a utility player myself, like I think of him
running after balls on the warning track and inside the
park home runs is my first take. He's a decent
enough hitter. But you know, Susan, you get your day
in the sun, you gotta shine man. You get a
chance at the major league level, you got to take
advantage of that opportunity in every way as a complete
(23:00):
baseball player. So, if I'm being honest, he's not even
on my radar. Not that I want to say that
he's a bad player, but I just think that it
would have happened by now if it was going to happen.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I think you're probably right.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Anyword on when the Giants will announce their coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Why the delay? This is a great question we've all
been asking.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
We thought the first day of the Winter meetings, there
was thought that they would announce the coaching staff, and
it's more than a week later. We have yet to hear.
I mean, all the names are out there. I reported
a couple more last week. The Giants have made a
lot of internal promotions, which I love that, but any
any day now, I guess I thought that they would
(23:43):
announce the coaching staff before we got some moves, And
of course they've added Houser and Jason Foley in the
last week, so that came before the coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Anything anything to other.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I do know if I was a free agent, I
would want to know as a player, right, yeah, I
think you know who the skipper is, you know the
pitching coaches, you know the hitting coaches well.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
And they know everybody, so if they're talking to free agents,
they can say like, look, this is our staff. What
the Buster and Tony Vaitello indicated during the winter meetings
is that there's still some of the rules and I'm
guessing this means just first and third maybe are still
kind of being hashed out, so they want to make
sure that's all. Hey, but by the time some people
(24:31):
are listening to this show, it might have been announced.
So let's not spend too much time. But let's see,
what was this last question? Do you see Smith sticking
with the Giants. I hear he's been practicing in the outfield.
Could he transition to a utility role? Dom Smith, of course,
is who were discussing. I'm a huge John dom Smith fan.
I love the way play it played it first, I think,
(24:54):
you know, guys like that are probably ones who sign
a little bit later in the winter, talking to various
different agents. They want to wait and see what the
opportunities are. But certainly, I think all things being equal,
I think Dom Smith would really welcome I returned to
the Giants. His career got completely rejuvenated playing for the Giants,
(25:14):
and he was just a nice bit And what a
great guy. Eddie could hit, Eddie could field. That's what
the kind of guys the Giants are looking for, right.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, he's still good a defense.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
He could teach Ron Washington a thing or two about
how the coach defense. No, I'll tell you what, just
getting to know the guy amazing, But what a pleasant surprise. Defensively,
had no idea that Dom Smith was that smooth around
the bag. I mean all the plays he made and
I watched him play as a met and that's just
never you know, you can see him maybe fifteen times
(25:45):
a year, and I don't remember that part of his game.
My favorite part about Tom Smith was his defense number one,
but the two strike approach where he'd spread out Gono's
tried and.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Just try to put the ball in play.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
He and Wilmer Flores, to me, were the two guys
in the lineup that that really cared about putting the
ball in play with two strikes. Wilmer would spread out
and choke up too, but Dom had a knack for
just throwing the hands at the baseball while he was
choked up with two strikes. And he got a bunch
of big hits with two strikes this year. And to
have a guy that I forget what game it was,
but somebody got thrown out, he came in the game
(26:17):
and then he got a big hit late. To have
a guy that's a veteran guy on the bench that
knows how to be ready at a moment's notice and
put the barrel on the baseball consistently, and to play
plus defense. When you have a guy like Rafael Devers
at first base, you're gonna need a guy in the
eighth and ninth ending with a.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Two run lead as a defensive replacement.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Now, that would be a tough thing for Tony Vtello
to take that big bat out of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But I was raised with the game with.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Felipe and Dusty that you always had your best defense
on the field with a lead late in the game,
you know, big lead, no, but like three runs a
save opportunity. You know, you put somebody in left for Ramos,
maybe you put somebody at first for Devs. And to me,
he played left field in the minor leagues, so he
is versatile.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I could do this whole show about Tom Smith.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I would love if the Giants signed him back because
he's a winning player, and the Giants did lots of
winning players.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I agree, And just a great dude. Here's one that's
specifically for UFP. I really like this because I'm interested
in it too. Did your preparation change here to year?
When did you start to ramp up after the previous season,
and what advice would you give to the young or
older Giants players as they prepare. I really liked that
one a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, I mean it depended if I was driving or
flying to spring training. If I was driving to spring training,
I would sit on the couch with a steering wheel
in my hand for a couple of days to get
in shape for the drive.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
But I'll tell you this seriously about preparing for spring training.
It changes every year. Man.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It depends on your age, it depends on your contract status.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
You know, it was always hit in the off season.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I would ramp up right after the holidays, but the
weightlifting started in November. You would take October off and
try to decompress and let your body heal, and then
in November you really started lifting the weights and getting
in the weight room. December came around, you start getting
a little bit antsy, maybe you start throwing and hitting
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
But after the new year, you know you got a
good month.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And some change is when you start hitting in the
cage and take a ground balls.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
But there was always training involved.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I mean for a guy that was married at the
time with kids, you know, the off season is supposed
to be for family. But when you were the twenty
fifth guy on the roster every year, I had to
always I was always tinkering. I was always tinkering. I
never had the same routine. It would have been so
nice mentally to know that I had the same routine
every year.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
But it's like, do I want to be bigger and
bulkier this year? Do I want to be leaner and
faster this year?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Do I want to work on this part of my game?
What position am I playing?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Who? Did I sign a contract yet? Am I trying
to make a team in spring training? So?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Do I have to go in ready to make that team?
Do I have a contract where I could ramp up
in spring training and take a deep breath?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So long answer to that is just like it just
varied every year for me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, And I guess that giving advice to any Giants players,
it seems like the off season now is such an
individual thing. I don't even know how necessarily you would
go about doing that. But this is a WBC year too,
Does that change things in terms of preparation?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, these guys got to be ready to play games
that matter right out of the gate. And that's been
my only contention with the WBC, Like we're creatures of habit,
and we're used to getting ramped up for end of March,
early April for opening Day, and all of a sudden,
you're putting forty thousand people in a stadium and adrenalines
taken over, and you have to get hit the gas
pedal when you're not ready to hit the gas pedal.
So yeah, those guys are probably starting a lot earlier
(29:37):
than I did. I would imagine the guys that in
the WBC started locking in maybe early December or right now,
or I won't say November, but maybe early December.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Well, I love this one so much. I jumped again
a little bit. But putting it back up, I put
in the whole conversation here, f because this made me laugh.
You might be anticipating it because you know, you had
a little photo about Drew Gilbert and this is your son,
Frank Paul Junior. Would you rather fight a thousand duck
sized Drew Gilberts or one elephant sized Drew Gilbert. People
(30:13):
really seem to like this question. I don't know where
I weigh in, but obviously you're kind of thinking advanced
stuff here. I just worry that one elephant sized Drew
Gilbert would really create some havoc in the dugout.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It would and it probably wouldn't run very fast, and
that's a big part of.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Drew Gilbert's game.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So and then I asked if, like do the thousand
ducks or whatever it is fly, And my son said, yeah,
so a thousand Drew Gilberts that fly beat one elephant.
That's gonna just clog up the base pass if I'm
being honest, Like, how many base hits does it take an.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Elephant to score from first? I'm going to say like
seven or eight? I mean, what is the.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Strike zone for a duck sized Drew Gilbert?
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Though?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I but then he'd be walking, which by which it
would be waddling. I don't know. I feel as if
perhaps just one Drew Gilbert size Drew Gilbert is absolutely perfect.
That's my answer. I refuse to ask the question.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well I should have.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
My answer should have been layoff the gummies, kid, because
that was obviously my son after taking a few gummies.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Legal in California. Everyone well, is that.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, we're going out on top with a thousand duck
sized Drew Gilberts.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
We can't top that one. Another great episode, Susan, Thanks
a lot. Happy Holidays to everybody out there. Like and subscribe.
We love when you guys in the comments. We read
them all. You guys are the best, and we're having
a blast.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And like I said, we're gonna do this three times
a week during the season, so we'll break down some
games for you. But right now it's the holidays and
we're just enjoyed talking to you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Susan, have a great holiday. I will see you soon,
all right.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Thanks a thanks everyone for all your questions to We
really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yes, Swingharten in case you hit it.
All right, it's another episode of splash Hit, and I
have to separate the two because my son pointed out
to me in the Buck Showalter episode that I ran
it together a little too fast and that would be
a really messy podcast if that were the name of this.
So welcome to another episode of splash Hit. We are
joined by our freaking contributor, Susan Selser. Susan, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Glad to have you today.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Oh, it's so good to be here. Yeah. As a writer,
I appreciate you being very careful with terminology and words.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I think that's a very good thing.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You just got to go slow and separate him. So
we got a fun show today. It's a mail bag show.
We're gonna answer questions from fans, and we're real thankful
for all the fans that we have so far. We're
trying to get some more subscribers, so subscribe to splash
Hit Territory.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Next goal is three thousand.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We have two thousands right now, and all the feedback
from you guys has been so flattery and overwhelming, and we're.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Glad that you're enjoying the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We're just here having fun talking giants baseball during the
off season, and we're gonna do three shows a week
during the season. We're break down some games and stuff
and that'll be fun for us too.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But today, Susan, it's the mail bag. Where do we start?
What do we got?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, let's we had so many good ones, which is
really exciting because there's a lot, you know, there's a
lot to talk about at this time of year with
the Giants. But one I was really glad to see
pop up, and you and I both kind of went
through the questions and picked out some. But this one,
I think it's a very timely because I actually was
(01:37):
writing a story about this when I saw this pop up.
Could the Giants? It's talking giants, which is what we're doing.
Who knew could the Giants go after Nico Horner via
trade from the Cubs? Well, my story in the Chronicle
today and that was online yesterday. The Giants have called
on Nico Horner. Now we've talked a lot fp about
(02:00):
the fact that the Giants have called on almost everybody,
you know, any of the spots that they think they
need some help. They're you know, starting pitchers, relievers, apparently
zeg and Basement because they've been calling and the agent's
were telling me all during the winter meetings, Hey, did
you know the Giants are actually calling on second basement too?
(02:21):
And of course outfielders, so nice to know Nico Horner
is among those. But there are other you know. They've
been linked to Katel Marte, they have been linked to
Brandon Lowe, all sorts of possibilities, and of course Brennan
Donovan is a guy who I think they were described
as front runners for. I'm not sure I would go
that far, and I don't see this as really their
(02:44):
top priority. Unless they cannot get a big outfield bat,
like a real offensive bat, the place you could add
some offense might be second. And if you got somebody
like Nico Horner, let's talk about him really specifically. He's
got one year left on his deal with the Cubs.
He actually led them in war last year and what
(03:05):
terrific season, and since moving to second base he's won
two Gold Gloves. This is a guy for me. Maybe
you do pony up a little bit in a trade
because he's also potentially a really good candidate for a
contract extension. Because he's local, he's from Oakland, he played
at Stanford. I think that he would be if that
is the spot they really feel like they want to
(03:26):
add something.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
He'd be the perfect guy for me.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, And I've been thinking about him all off season.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
He's a perfect giant and he's a perfect guy for buster.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Posey, scrappy guy.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Hits the ball to all fields, plays plus defense, like
you're saying, doesn't love to strike out. But he's intense
and he brings energy every single day. And I don't
know if this is breaking news or not, but I
heard this, and I don't know exactly where it is,
but he bought a home in the city of San Francisco,
in kW Hollow.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And that was what I told you.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That well, I heard from my friends because it's right
by this place, right here, So.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I was like, I might get a beat him. I
love the way he plays. He's scrappy man, and he's
a good player. And when you talk about Chapman a
Damas Horner endeavors in your infield, that's a solid, solid infield.
And if it's Ktel Marte, I don't know if that's
going to happen, but if you even had a guy
like him, and now you got Chapman a Damas Marte
(04:23):
endeavors that would be one of the best infields in
the National League. But I think what Buster Posey's looking for,
Susan is these type of players, winning players that can bunk,
guys over, can hit behind, runners that don't like to
strike out, that put the ball and play to all
fields that are scrappy. I mean, when you think of
Giants baseball, a guy like Nico Horner would be like
the poster kid for what Buster Posey wants to do well.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And here's another way look at it too, and it
brings us into some of this week's moves. If you
have an infield of essentially above average and a couple
goal glove glovers in the infield, and you add someone
like Adrian Houser, who a pretty sinker heavy guy, you've
already got Logan Webb who's sinker heavy. You know, when
(05:06):
you're talking about a team that missed the postseason by
two games right there, that could be you know, the
difference of another win or two, maybe even more with
a really solid infield defense. And this is going to
bring I love how these things work. This is our
next question, and I think this is appropriate from Drew
(05:28):
Gilbert stan and I've got you know what, I'm gonna
surprise you because I got a Drew Drew Gilbert question
for you later specifically, but I read last year at
first base the first time Devers posted a positive war defensively.
I saw a couple of plays from Hi at the
end that looked very intuitive, like you've been playing there
his whole career. Do you think he supplants Eldridge? Does
that make Eldridge expendable? I think there are a few
(05:51):
things that we can talk about here FP. First of all, yes,
Devers Devors looks really good to me. Defensively, I think
he could be an elite first basement. If you take
a sort of average to maybe slightly below average big
league third basement and move them to first oftentimes that
can be the case. So I and then we're working
(06:13):
with Ron Washington. Oh my gosh, I mean, he really
could be among the better first basemen in the league
really quickly, because look how look how fast it was
last year, just a couple of months, and Drew Gilbert
stan who's also Matt Chapman's talk, He's got a lot
going on there. He really improves so quickly in just
(06:34):
those two months, and by the end of the season
really really did look right, very good there. So what
are your thoughts there? And then and then we'll talk
about Eldridge.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There's a lot of nuances at first base that the
only thing that is going to make you better is
game experience. So he could work with Wash, and Wash
is amazing and that'll help definitely. But there's all kinds
of game situations that pop up. And when I talked
to Ryan Zimmerman when I was in DC, who moved
from third to first, his biggest challenge was how far
to his right towards second base he goes for a ball?
(07:03):
When do I hit the brakes and peel back to
first or how far do I go for a baseball?
There's little things like bunt de's and cutoffs that you
just you just have to play enough where it's second
nature and you're not actually thinking every pitch like I
have to be here on this and it's instinctual, because
he did his whole life at third base to where
he just knew where to be all the time and
(07:24):
it was just like secondhand. And I think he got
a bad rap devers at third base. I think he
was a lot better than people said he was, you know,
the whole bragmant thing, and we don't have to get
back into that.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But I think with Rafi at.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
First base, I don't know if gold gloves in the
mix for him, but definitely definitely inadequatey. He's a good
athlete and he picked things up really quickly, So yeah,
I'm a big fan of his at first base.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I think he's only going to get better.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I don't know if he's going to be an elite
defensive first baseman ever, but he's going to be good
enough to Here's the thing is a former infielder, I
want my first baseman. I want to confidence in my
first basement where I just let the ball go and
I know he's gonna pick it. I know he's gonna
make the play once I release the baseball. When you
have a below average first basement over there, now I
(08:10):
start to press as an infielder that I know I
have to be perfect with my throws. Jason Giambi never
got enough credit at first base, like could he feel.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
The ground ball?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
It looked like a gang fight at times, but as
far as picking like short hops, he was as good
as anybody ever played.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
With and I had JT. Snow which speaks for itself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
When I was in San Francisco and David Seghie in
Montreal was as good as anybody I've ever seen at
first base. So what that does is relaxes me as
a first baseman. And if you watched Willie a Damas
over this past season, he has a little short arm
in his delivery sometimes where the ball doesn't always get
to first base in the air and it's not on
(08:49):
the fly.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Where you're gonna need a first baseman with a Damas
as your shortstop where he does the pat on the
glove and maybe wash fixes the pat because when you
feel the ground ball for your younger kids listening to this,
and I know there's tons of them, when you pat
your glove once you feel the ball and you go
like this before you throw.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Now, you have a tendency to get off rhythm to.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Where your feet aren't underneath you, and your release point
can get a little bit different, almost like a pitcher.
And if that's off because of this timing thing. Number one,
the runner is getting a step on you when you
do this. Number two, you don't know where you're going
to release it and it can go low. And Willi
does that lot. Well, He's a great shortstop. He made
some fantastic plays, but I think the confidence Chapman hits
you in the chest, you don't care. But with Willy
(09:30):
at shortstop, I think if Devers can show that he
can pick baseballs cleanly on the rag, then that gives
Adamis more confidence. And what happens is you start hitting
the guy in the chest because you're not thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Well, the second half of this was do you think
he suppliants Eldridge? Does that make Eldridge expendable? You know,
this is a topic that we've kind of discussed a
lot this offseason. Is price Eldridge? Is he available via trade?
Certainly teams would have interest. I wouldn't do it for
one year somebody so much as I love Nico Horner,
(10:02):
for instance, I wouldn't consider that. And as we talked before,
I like, I think like a hunter green level guy,
three more years of service, maybe somebody like that. But
I do think that Devers is the first baseman flat out.
You know, the front office, coaching staff, they've all sort
(10:22):
of mentioned that here since since Devers started playing first,
that he's the first baseman. So to me, Eldridge is
occasionally maybe a bill in there, but mostly a DH.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
How are you seeing it?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, I think Eldridge has to take the job from
Devers eventually, right when that is because Rafi said like
publicly that he'd rather be out in the field, that
he felt like he was a part of it. That
DH was weird for him because he just thought about
his at bats the small times IDHD in the minor leagues,
it was like pinch hitting four times, where you just
(10:56):
like you go hit and then you wait an hour
and then you think about your last bat.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
When you're on defense, you're.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Thinking about plays, you're talking to umpires, you're talking to
base runners, you're in the flow of the game, you're
getting a sweat going. It's like going from zero to sixty,
stepping into that on deck circle, then in the batter's box.
And I always admire guys that could do that. I
really did, because there's an art to pinch hitting four
times a game as a DH essentially what it is.
So I think if Eldridge shows a that he can
(11:24):
make the team, I still thinks he has to prove that,
Like he's a part of this.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
At his age, I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Think there's a rush with a twenty one year old.
And I was all for rushing him last year, like
let's see, let's see, let's see. But now you have
Dever's there, and I don't know what kind of progress
Bryce Eldridge makes as a DH defensively. So that's that's
a conundrum, a good conundrum to have. But I don't
think you trade Bryce. I really don't. I think you
keep him unless unless there's just a package that knocks
(11:51):
your socks off and you just can't say no to
it and it helps the organization for not just next year,
but a number of years.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, is that Eldridge is more comfortable at DH than Devers?
Is he DHD in high school? He didn't play a
position in the field. It was a two way guy,
pitcher and a hitter. But as a DH. So you know,
I've said numerous times you don't really want to make
(12:18):
a twenty one year old essentially a permanent DH. But
you know there's dhs in both leagues now every game
has a DH. I'm not necessarily sure that that's a
terrible thing when you do have a pretty quality guy
playing the one position you might put Rice at, but
he needs to be able to fill in adequately at
(12:40):
the very least. Let's go to another question about another
one of the young players. And I was very happy
to see this question because I like Tyler Fitzgerald a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I kind of am.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Wondering what's going on with him too. You were a
guy I really am interested to hearing your impressions at
Tyler Fitzgerald, because you know this role so well. It
seems like potential speed on the base pass is a
utility guy filling at second base or potential trade piece.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
FP Tyler Fitzgerald, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Mean being utility players a lot of work. Every day.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
You got to take ground balls in every position. I
used to just shag in the outfield at one position,
and so there's a lot of work involved in being
a utility player. Because when you walk into that clubhouse
and you.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
See a five or six or a four by your name,
they're not rating how you look.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That's a position that you're going to play that night,
So you have to be ready for all of them.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
And watching Tyler.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Over the last couple of years, there's flashes of brilliance.
But I think with Tyler Fitzgerald's game. And I got
to be careful with what I say right here because
he's he's he could be more aggressive.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I guess that's the way to put it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Like on the basis, a little more swagger to his game,
a little more confidence, and just his approach in with
his speed, he has to put the ball in play
more often. Like there was a saying back in the day,
down and run. Mean, he hit the ball on the
ground with two strikes and then see what happens. He
(14:11):
puts so much pressure on infield when he just simply
hits a ground ball with two strikes. So there's a
lot of swing and miss in his game. For a
guy with so much speed. If he could spread out.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Choke up, shorten up, bunt more, he's pretty good bunder.
He doesn't do it a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
When Buster Posey says meat on the bone, and we've
talked about this on this show before, there's so much
more meat on the bone. But in my experiences in
coaching and my experiences in playing, I don't know if
you can teach the things that Tyler Fitzgerald needs to
improve on.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think you either have that or you don't have that.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So I'm a big fan of the human being the
nicest kid in that whole clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
But I think if if Tyler Fitzgerald wasn't nice, he
had a little more fu in him, which he does,
but just a little more. I think, God, he's got
so much. He's got more talent on his pinky finger
than I ever had, with his size, his pop, his speed,
everything about his game.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
But it just needs that intangible I think, just to
turn up a notch or two or three or four,
and that he.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Would be a star major leaguer with the ability he has.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah, the confidence, to me, that's the real key. We
saw him play and spurt so well, and certainly the pop.
You love the pop and the speed. I don't think
he's a guy you give up on. He's a little
on the older side.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
He's kind of moved out of prospect territory.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That's one caveat, and for that reason, he might not
necessarily bring back a ton in a trade. They did
use him in the outfield at Sacramento in the second
half last year, trying to make him into more of
a full utility player. I like that idea, the confidence,
and then also he was one of the guys last
(15:54):
year who was prone to making base running mistakes, defensive mistakes,
mental mistakes. Some of that's confidence, some of that is
just experience. I think he needs to iron that out
of his game. Somebody like Ron Washington, I think is
going to help there a lot. I certainly hope he
gets a lot of opportunities to work with Wash because
(16:15):
I think that that could really take care of of
some of those things. And then, of course the base
running with Jase Tinler, I there were so many unwarranted
base running mistakes almost team wise. There are a few
guys who are extremely good based runners who even once
in a while fumble.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
That's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
But Tyler Fitzgerald has to get the mistakes out of
his game.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
If if Nico Horner becomes a giant.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Casey Schmid is your utility guy, and that's going to
affect Tyler Fitzgerald. And I'm wondering, based on what you say,
if Ron Washington can make me a better broadcaster, because
I mean, it sounds like this guy.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
You'd have to use the bleep button awful lot. You
really would, though it would be very under well.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
We both love Ron Washington.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
That's that's been chronicled down here and it's one of
the better ads for the Giants this offseason.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Well, let's talk about you know, we're in the young
player portion of I guess this mail bag, But who
do you think will take the next step up? This
is from Benjamin Contraras. I think Birdsong is a chance
to make a big impact on the team, great stuff,
chance to grow under by Tello and this coaching staff. Yes,
I think that's that's definitely the case. But it's going
(17:32):
to be the strike throwing. If he is not consistently
throwing strikes I've mentioned on here. I think potentially a
move to the bullpen could be something that helps him. Oh,
the talent, I feel like I'm talking about Fitzgerald again,
but especially we gosh, bird Song the first half last
year was just spectacular. I mean, the stuff is outstanding.
(17:52):
If he's throwing strikes. What happened to MFP is that?
I mean that's Has anybody figured that out?
Speaker 4 (17:57):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I wouldn't know from experience, but the mound is a
lonely place where you can't throw strikes. And we saw
him with swagger and confidence and cockiness, a little like
Mark Fiterich where he was talking to himself after every
pitch shot on the broadcast last year, he threw a
curveball that was nasty and they zoomed on his face.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
He's like, oooh, that was nasty.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So like when he had that, he was unhittable that
all of a sudden that left And there were some
weird quotes. I forget what they were about after a
game one time where he could just tell he was
deep in his own head. So again in Tangibles, in
a game where we have so many measurements analytically with
a lot of math involved, it comes down to confidence
and believing in yourself and you start overthinking things, you
(18:40):
start tinkering. Then you forget where he started because you're
so far different with your mechanics, and his release point
was off confidence waiver. There's tons of meat on that bone,
whether he's a starter or re leieve. I'm a big
Hayden Bird Sog fan. But the young player I'm really
excited about, and I think that Tony Vaiitello is going
to have a huge impact on and already has in
his career, is Drew Gilbert. He energized that team last
(19:03):
year I don't know if he's an everyday right fielder yet,
but I just love the kids so much.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I love the energy he brings, I love the swagger
he brings.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Back to our last podcast where or a few ago,
where I said, I hope the Giants are the most
hated team in baseball, I really do. Drew Gilbert would
be a big reason. And there was some things behind
the scenes last year that I heard that were yelled
by Drew on the top step in the heat of
battle that may or may not got the attention of
the other team. But those guys, to their credit, the
veterans on that team just let him go.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
They let him be himself, like dude, you do you?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And he energized that ball club for a long time,
and he gave him a confidence and a cockiness and
a swagger that I don't think as a group that
they necessarily had at times with those lulls last year.
So while energy guys are good and they're fun, you
still have to perform. And if you walk the talk
and you start to put up numbers, and then you're
(19:57):
that guy. You know, Garrison in Vader's a guy A
lot like that. Guys that can add something to a
club with their attitude. But the attitude has to match
the performance.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
So for Drew it.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Can get a little it can it can get a
little old if you're not performing and you can and
then and then you see a guy kind of get
back into a shell. So I think the sky's the
limit for Drew Man. I'm just rooting for the kid
I compared him and on the field I got so
criticized on this on as for saying he reminded me
of Lenny Dykstra, but he does as a player, not
(20:31):
about car washes and all this stuff Lenny Dykster cut
into after his career.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
But but he has a little Lenny Dykster in him.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, you know what. The young player I'm most
excited about, uh, and I do have more I'm going
to bring up to you again as I said, But
the young player I'm most interested in this spring and
I hope during the season is Hey sus Rodriguez the catcher.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
He looks like.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Potentially certainly a good hitting catcher, which the would make
such a nice compliment with Patrick Bailey, but potentially as
he gets experience and learns how to catch a little
bit more, he was a convert in the in the minors.
I think, you know, the hope is that he will
(21:16):
be a very good two way catcher. I think he
could be pretty special. So I'm really looking forward to
seeing him. I when Buster Posey says this was a
kid we really really wanted and it's a catcher that
that makes me take notice. So yeah, that makes me
pretty excited about that we got. Hey, everyone, work with everyone.
(21:41):
All the questions so far put up were from Twitter
or x or whatever you want to call it. I
still say Twitter. There here's b K Adventures on YouTube.
The YouTube comments asked a bunch of questions, so let's
go through some of them kind of quickly. And uh,
I miss Wade. I'm not sure which way this is.
(22:03):
Uh is Lamont? Is it Wade Meckler.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's the Mechlinator for sure, because it's talking about.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
I mean Lamont was briefly in the outfield, but yeah,
I Wade Meckler is another one. I do think he
could be a decent big league hitter. It hasn't really,
you know, between health things and just not really having
the opportunity. I don't know if we'll how much we'll
see him in a Giant's uniform at the big league level.
(22:33):
What were your impressions. I know that coaching staff really
has liked him a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I think he was a blow up average outfielder.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And when I think of Wade Meckler, I mean and
being a utility player myself, like I think of him
running after balls on the warning track and inside the
park home runs is my first take. He's a decent
enough hitter. But you know, Susan, you get your day
in the sun, you gotta shine man. You get a
chance at the major league level, you got to take
advantage of that opportunity in every way as a complete
(23:00):
baseball player. So, if I'm being honest, he's not even
on my radar. Not that I want to say that
he's a bad player, but I just think that it
would have happened by now if it was going to happen.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I think you're probably right.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Anyword on when the Giants will announce their coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Why the delay? This is a great question we've all
been asking.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
We thought the first day of the Winter meetings, there
was thought that they would announce the coaching staff, and
it's more than a week later. We have yet to hear.
I mean, all the names are out there. I reported
a couple more last week. The Giants have made a
lot of internal promotions, which I love that, but any
any day now, I guess I thought that they would
(23:43):
announce the coaching staff before we got some moves, And
of course they've added Houser and Jason Foley in the
last week, so that came before the coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Anything anything to other.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I do know if I was a free agent, I
would want to know as a player, right, yeah, I
think you know who the skipper is, you know the
pitching coaches, you know the hitting coaches well.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
And they know everybody, so if they're talking to free agents,
they can say like, look, this is our staff. What
the Buster and Tony Vaitello indicated during the winter meetings
is that there's still some of the rules and I'm
guessing this means just first and third maybe are still
kind of being hashed out, so they want to make
sure that's all. Hey, but by the time some people
(24:31):
are listening to this show, it might have been announced.
So let's not spend too much time. But let's see,
what was this last question? Do you see Smith sticking
with the Giants. I hear he's been practicing in the outfield.
Could he transition to a utility role? Dom Smith, of course,
is who were discussing. I'm a huge John dom Smith fan.
I love the way play it played it first, I think,
(24:54):
you know, guys like that are probably ones who sign
a little bit later in the winter, talking to various
different agents. They want to wait and see what the
opportunities are. But certainly, I think all things being equal,
I think Dom Smith would really welcome I returned to
the Giants. His career got completely rejuvenated playing for the Giants,
(25:14):
and he was just a nice bit And what a
great guy. Eddie could hit, Eddie could field. That's what
the kind of guys the Giants are looking for, right.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, he's still good a defense.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
He could teach Ron Washington a thing or two about
how the coach defense. No, I'll tell you what, just
getting to know the guy amazing, But what a pleasant surprise. Defensively,
had no idea that Dom Smith was that smooth around
the bag. I mean all the plays he made and
I watched him play as a met and that's just
never you know, you can see him maybe fifteen times
(25:45):
a year, and I don't remember that part of his game.
My favorite part about Tom Smith was his defense number one,
but the two strike approach where he'd spread out Gono's
tried and.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Just try to put the ball in play.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
He and Wilmer Flores, to me, were the two guys
in the lineup that that really cared about putting the
ball in play with two strikes. Wilmer would spread out
and choke up too, but Dom had a knack for
just throwing the hands at the baseball while he was
choked up with two strikes. And he got a bunch
of big hits with two strikes this year. And to
have a guy that I forget what game it was,
but somebody got thrown out, he came in the game
(26:17):
and then he got a big hit late. To have
a guy that's a veteran guy on the bench that
knows how to be ready at a moment's notice and
put the barrel on the baseball consistently, and to play
plus defense. When you have a guy like Rafael Devers
at first base, you're gonna need a guy in the
eighth and ninth ending with a.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Two run lead as a defensive replacement.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Now, that would be a tough thing for Tony Vtello
to take that big bat out of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But I was raised with the game with.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Felipe and Dusty that you always had your best defense
on the field with a lead late in the game,
you know, big lead, no, but like three runs a
save opportunity. You know, you put somebody in left for Ramos,
maybe you put somebody at first for Devs. And to me,
he played left field in the minor leagues, so he
is versatile.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I could do this whole show about Tom Smith.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I would love if the Giants signed him back because
he's a winning player, and the Giants did lots of
winning players.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I agree, And just a great dude. Here's one that's
specifically for UFP. I really like this because I'm interested
in it too. Did your preparation change here to year?
When did you start to ramp up after the previous season,
and what advice would you give to the young or
older Giants players as they prepare. I really liked that
one a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, I mean it depended if I was driving or
flying to spring training. If I was driving to spring training,
I would sit on the couch with a steering wheel
in my hand for a couple of days to get
in shape for the drive.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
But I'll tell you this seriously about preparing for spring training.
It changes every year. Man.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It depends on your age, it depends on your contract status.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
You know, it was always hit in the off season.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I would ramp up right after the holidays, but the
weightlifting started in November. You would take October off and
try to decompress and let your body heal, and then
in November you really started lifting the weights and getting
in the weight room. December came around, you start getting
a little bit antsy, maybe you start throwing and hitting
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
But after the new year, you know you got a
good month.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And some change is when you start hitting in the
cage and take a ground balls.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
But there was always training involved.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I mean for a guy that was married at the
time with kids, you know, the off season is supposed
to be for family. But when you were the twenty
fifth guy on the roster every year, I had to
always I was always tinkering. I was always tinkering. I
never had the same routine. It would have been so
nice mentally to know that I had the same routine
every year.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
But it's like, do I want to be bigger and
bulkier this year? Do I want to be leaner and
faster this year?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Do I want to work on this part of my game?
What position am I playing?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Who? Did I sign a contract yet? Am I trying
to make a team in spring training? So?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Do I have to go in ready to make that team?
Do I have a contract where I could ramp up
in spring training and take a deep breath?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So long answer to that is just like it just
varied every year for me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, And I guess that giving advice to any Giants players,
it seems like the off season now is such an
individual thing. I don't even know how necessarily you would
go about doing that. But this is a WBC year too,
Does that change things in terms of preparation?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, these guys got to be ready to play games
that matter right out of the gate. And that's been
my only contention with the WBC, Like we're creatures of habit,
and we're used to getting ramped up for end of March,
early April for opening Day, and all of a sudden,
you're putting forty thousand people in a stadium and adrenalines
taken over, and you have to get hit the gas
pedal when you're not ready to hit the gas pedal.
So yeah, those guys are probably starting a lot earlier
(29:37):
than I did. I would imagine the guys that in
the WBC started locking in maybe early December or right now,
or I won't say November, but maybe early December.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Well, I love this one so much. I jumped again
a little bit. But putting it back up, I put
in the whole conversation here, f because this made me laugh.
You might be anticipating it because you know, you had
a little photo about Drew Gilbert and this is your son,
Frank Paul Junior. Would you rather fight a thousand duck
sized Drew Gilberts or one elephant sized Drew Gilbert. People
(30:13):
really seem to like this question. I don't know where
I weigh in, but obviously you're kind of thinking advanced
stuff here. I just worry that one elephant sized Drew
Gilbert would really create some havoc in the dugout.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It would and it probably wouldn't run very fast, and
that's a big part of.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Drew Gilbert's game.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So and then I asked if, like do the thousand
ducks or whatever it is fly, And my son said, yeah,
so a thousand Drew Gilberts that fly beat one elephant.
That's gonna just clog up the base pass if I'm
being honest, Like, how many base hits does it take an.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Elephant to score from first? I'm going to say like
seven or eight? I mean, what is the.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Strike zone for a duck sized Drew Gilbert?
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Though?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I but then he'd be walking, which by which it
would be waddling. I don't know. I feel as if
perhaps just one Drew Gilbert size Drew Gilbert is absolutely perfect.
That's my answer. I refuse to ask the question.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well I should have.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
My answer should have been layoff the gummies, kid, because
that was obviously my son after taking a few gummies.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Legal in California. Everyone well, is that.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, we're going out on top with a thousand duck
sized Drew Gilberts.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
We can't top that one. Another great episode, Susan, Thanks
a lot. Happy Holidays to everybody out there. Like and subscribe.
We love when you guys in the comments. We read
them all. You guys are the best, and we're having
a blast.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And like I said, we're gonna do this three times
a week during the season, so we'll break down some
games for you. But right now it's the holidays and
we're just enjoyed talking to you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Susan, have a great holiday. I will see you soon,
all right.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Thanks a thanks everyone for all your questions to We
really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yes, Swingharten in case you hit it.
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