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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Bay City Ball</title> <atom:link href="http://www.baycityball.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>http://www.baycityball.com</link> <description>Infrequent baseball musings</description> <lastBuildDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2019 01:12:26 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3</generator> <item> <title>Giants trade for center fielder</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/04/02/giants-trade-for-center-fielder/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/04/02/giants-trade-for-center-fielder/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2019 01:12:26 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Trades]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2019 season]]></category> <category><![CDATA[derek law]]></category> <category><![CDATA[kevin pillar]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=268</guid> <description><![CDATA[Five games into the season and the Giants have made a trade to bolster their outfield, trading for Kevin Pillar from the Blue Jays. The Giants and Blue Jays have announced a trade that will send outfielder Kevin Pillar to San Francisco. Heading back to Toronto in return are righty Derek Law, recently designated infielder Alen Hanson, and righty Juan... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2019/04/02/giants-trade-for-center-fielder/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Five games into the season and the Giants have made a trade to bolster their outfield, trading for Kevin Pillar from the Blue Jays.</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Giants and Blue Jays have announced a trade that will send outfielder Kevin Pillar to San Francisco. Heading back to Toronto in return are righty Derek Law, recently designated infielder Alen Hanson, and righty Juan De Paula.</p><cite><a href="https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/04/giants-acquire-kevin-pillar-from-blue-jays-in-four-player-swap.html">MLBTR</a></cite></blockquote> <p>Pillar, 30, is known for being something of a human highlight reel. From 2015-2017, he was worth +14, +21, and +15 runs by defensive runs saved (DRS). In 2018, he dropped to -2 runs. UZR likes Pillar a touch more in 2018 and has him at 7.9 runs above average per 150 games in CF over his career. He might have lost a step, but he’s still an average-ish defender in the OF. </p> <p>What Pillar isn’t going to do is walk much. Among all active players since 2015, when he became a full-time player, Pillar’s walk percentage of 4.3 percent ranks as the 11th lowest percentage among 287 qualified batters. His OBP of .282 in 2018 was the 9th lowest among qualified batters. His career 86 wRC+ means he’s essentially Austin Slater (87 career wRC+) at the plate. </p> <p>He’s a league average batter against LHP (100 wRC+) and he should see ample time against lefties for the Giants. In the early going, the Giants have looked all too susceptible to LHP. Pillar will give them something resembling a major-leaguer most days when a lefty takes the mound. I would anticipate that Duggar will remain in CF when he’s starting and Pillar, one would assume, will move into RF. </p> <p>The Giants get an OBP-challenged player who, for a few seasons, looked like an elite defender in CF. In effect, the Giants picked up a player that will improve their team for practically nothing. Law and Hanson didn’t have much of a chance to play on this year’s team and both had already been designated for assignment. Juan De Paula — acquired in the Andrew McCutchen trade with New York last season — is a lottery ticket for Toronto, the traditional low-level arm with stuff. </p> <p>Personally, I’ll be rooting for Law to make it back to the majors. He looked every bit the bullpen ace in 2016 when he threw 55 innings of 2.53 FIP (190 ERA+) baseball; however, since then, Law has struggled to a 4.58 FIP (74 ERA+) over 50.2 innings. He’s still just 28, so there’s time to get back on track, and I hope he does so.</p> <p>Overall, this isn’t a bad move. It’s not a move that will get the Giants back into contention, but with the state of the outfield, it’s a move that had to be made. Pillar might tack on an additional win or two to the 2019 Giants season while making a few highlight grabs. </p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/04/02/giants-trade-for-center-fielder/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>The outfield might be OK but probably not</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/31/the-outfield-might-be-ok-but-probably-not/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/31/the-outfield-might-be-ok-but-probably-not/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2019 02:33:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2019 season]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=239</guid> <description><![CDATA[There isn’t anything you can gleam from four games in a season. Baseball, as you might have heard, is an exceedingly long process. There are literally (literally!) 162 games in a season and we’ve seen all of four of them . For you math nerds, that’s 2.4 percent of the entire season. So while I... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/31/the-outfield-might-be-ok-but-probably-not/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There isn’t anything you can gleam from four games in a season. Baseball, as you might have heard, is an exceedingly long process. There are literally (<em>literally!</em>) 162 games in a season and we’ve seen all of four of them . For you math nerds, that’s 2.4 percent of the entire season. So while I find Connor Joe’s minor league numbers intriguing, and his early season struggles disheartening, I’m not quite ready to shoot him into the sun after eight plate appearances. </p> <p>Sure, the arm looks … bad?</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My favorite part is Brandon Craword standing there clearly thinking "what the fuuuuuck." <a href="https://t.co/lS2oRSZCpF">pic.twitter.com/lS2oRSZCpF</a></p>— baycityball (@baycityball) <a href="https://twitter.com/baycityball/status/1111824131492925445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></figure> <p>But that’s just part of the charm. That’s how you need to look at the outfield — really, the entire team — this season. Things are going to be weird and probably bad. I can live with weird. When a major league left fielder throws a ball that spends more time on the ground than in the air? Well, that’s just nifty and it doesn’t get more San Francisco Giants than that. </p> <p>The bigger issue, even in the infancy of the season, is that the outfield <em>could maybe</em> be OK in the end, but the Giants haven’t bought themselves much credit lately when it comes to building an outfield.</p> <p>A graph:</p> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="649" height="370" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WAROF-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-248" srcset="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WAROF-1.png 649w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WAROF-1-300x171.png 300w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WAROF-1-526x300.png 526w" sizes="(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px" /></figure> <p>Since 1960, if you took all the WAR totals from the outfield, and ranked the bottom five, you would get this: 2018 (0.1 WAR), 2017 (0.6 WAR), 1992 (3.9 WAR), 1966 (4.3 WAR), and 2016 (4.3 WAR). The Giants have been downright terrible lately. Three of the worst five outfields of all time have happened in the past three years. </p> <p>The 2019 outfield is basically a gifted defensive center fielder with questions about how much he’ll hit and whatever Farhan Zaidi picked up off the waiver wire. The team even <a href="https://www.mlb.com/gameday/giants-vs-padres/2019/03/31/566278#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=566278">played Yangervis Solarte</a> in left field today, which if you’re gifted with the power of sight, also isn’t ideal. There is some truth to say that if Connor Joe or Michael Reed had been in the Giants’ farm system last year, fans would be clamoring to give them a shot. However, that’s not so much of a resoundingly positive player assessment on either, but rather one of the farm and its lack of talent output in the past few seasons. </p> <p>There are overwhelming odds that the Giants are in fact a bad baseball team in 2019. Maybe even a really bad baseball team. This is a team in a rebuild without saying it’s in a rebuild. If there ever was a time to see if Connor Joe can give the team something at the major league level or if Michael Reed can be an asset, well, this is the time. It’s not going to be pretty, but bad teams rarely are. </p> <p>And no matter what, one day thirty years in the future, you can tell your grandchildren about the time you saw Connor Joe throw — ahem, roll — a ball to second base from the outfield. <br></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/31/the-outfield-might-be-ok-but-probably-not/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Sizing up the outfield</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/23/sizing-up-the-outfield/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/23/sizing-up-the-outfield/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 23 Mar 2019 16:33:38 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2019 season]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=221</guid> <description><![CDATA[As spring training winds down, the Giants are still trying to piece together a roster. Namely, what to do with the outfield and rounding out depth. It’s hard to imagine an infield unit with more experience than what the Giants should roll out on most days in 2019; the Longoria-Crawford-Panik-Belt-Posey squad have amassed 5,276 career... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/23/sizing-up-the-outfield/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As spring training winds down, the Giants are still trying to piece together a roster. Namely, what to do with the outfield and rounding out depth. It’s hard to imagine an infield unit with more experience than what the Giants should roll out on most days in 2019; the Longoria-Crawford-Panik-Belt-Posey squad have amassed 5,276 career games in the major leagues. That’s as steady as a group of big leaguers that you’ll ever find. </p> <p>The outfielder, however, is something else entirely. At the time of this post, with real games nearly a week out, the Giants’ outfield configuration has yet to take shape. Center field duties will be manned by Steven Duggar and right field will be Gerardo Parra’s job, but with the <a href="https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/giants-release-cameron-maybin.html">recent release of Cameron Maybin</a> and the acquisition of players like Connor Joe and Matt Joyce, it’s clear that the team is still trying to get a feel for what it has and what it needs on the outfield font as the season approaches. </p> <p>The release of Cameron, in particular, is interesting because he was essentially what the Giants have needed all spring: a right-handed backup that was capable of spelling Duggar in CF. However, the DUI combined with his lack of a productive spring made him an easy cut. Most believe that the Giants will take a 13-man pitching staff into the season, which means that we are probably looking at a four man outfield to start the year.</p> <p>It’s possible that the Giants will try something wacky like playing Connor Joe or Yangervis Solarte in a corner OF spot to start the season — positional flexibility seems to be a Zaidi hallmark — and using Parra as an occasional CF, but even that seems like a stretch. Solarte has only played 40 career innings in LF and that was all back in 2014 with the Padres. He’s clearly not a CF and Parra, while playing a little over 1,400 innings in CF, hasn’t really done so since 2012-2013 when he was 25 and 26; at 32, he’s probably not a realistic option there in 2019.</p> <p>I think realistically we have two groups — players on the roster currently and those that aren’t — to fill out the outfield.</p> <p><strong>Players on the roster (chance of making the team):</strong></p> <ol><li>Mac Williamson (60 percent) – He’s on the roster and he <em>should</em> be in LF on opening day but I’ve got this eerie feeling that he might be a late spring causality. He’s a right-handed hitter with power. He’s a corner outfielder that’s more suited to LF. I feel like his chances should be higher, but who really knows at this point.</li><li>Matt Joyce (25 percent) – I think Joyce’s chances would be higher if the Giants couldn’t send him to the minors to start the season. As a minor league addition, the team can do just exactly that. However, if the Giants can find him a suitable platoon-mate, he’d be a pretty good corner OF option — he’s a career 121 wRC+ hitter against right-handers. He wasn’t good in 2018 (89 wRC+) but he’s only a couple of years removed from being pretty good (116 wRC+ in ’17). Defensively, he looks average-ish to a tick below. </li></ol> <p><strong>Players not on the roster (chance of making the team):</strong></p> <ol><li>Brandon Guyer (75 percent) – Guyer, 33, who was recently cut by the White Sox would appear to be an ideal outfielder. He’s a right-handed batter that has hit LHP well in his career (130 wRC+), has played some CF (356 career innings), has been average to above in the corners, and is essentially free. A Guyer/Joyce platoon should be productive, if not very exciting. </li><li>Rajai Davis (15 percent) – Davis, 38, hasn’t been much of hitter since 2015. He still possesses some amazing foot-speed (<a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sprint_speed_leaderboard">ranked 33rd</a> in baseball in 2018) and probably enough defense to fake it in CF for short periods. </li><li>Carlos Gomez (20 percent) – Gomez, 33, like Davis, is <a href="https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1741823">another Mets castoff</a>. He was nearly a league average player in 2017 for Texas but, like most of the guys on this list, fell on hard times in 2018. I’ll give him the nudge over Davis because of age and recent success. </li></ol> <p>If there’s one thing that this exercise proves to me is that the team does seem dangerously thin on depth at CF and SS. If there’s one thing that could really throw a wrench into the 2019 season it would be injures to either CF or SS.</p> <p>The more you look at the available players out there, the more I really like Guyer. He certainly fits the bill of a right-handed batter that can be effectively platooned and play all over the outfield. He’s going to be stretched in CF, but the Giants appear ready to roll with Duggar for most of the time and, as long as an injury doesn’t occur, he shouldn’t see much time there. </p> <p>Final guess for a four man outfield: Williamson-Duggar-Parra-Guyer. </p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <p>UPDATE: And just like that, after this post, the Giants made a move to acquire another OF.</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Reed, 26, was in camp with the Twins after an outstanding AAA performance in the Atlanta system last year. A career .269/.382/.395 hitter in the minors, Reed took it up a notch last season, slashing a ridiculous .363/.459/.539 in 229 plate appearances for AAA-Gwinnett. Scouts were never too bullish on the longtime Brewer – his highest ever rank in the Milwaukee system per Baseball America was 14th, following the 2014 season – but the recent performance has been too enticing to ignore.</p><cite><a href="https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/giants-acquire-michael-reed-from-twins.html">MLB Trade Rumors</a></cite></blockquote> <p>Reed checks all the boxes for a guy that could break with the team. He’s a right-handed batter, should be able to play all three OF positions, and is coming off a positive AAA campaign. </p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/23/sizing-up-the-outfield/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Enjoying the 2019 Giants</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/21/enjoying-the-2019-giants/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/21/enjoying-the-2019-giants/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:56:02 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2019 season]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=211</guid> <description><![CDATA[The 2016 Giants won 87 games. That’s hard to believe. When I think about it, it still seems like a distant memory. The kind of memory that sits on the outer reaches of your mind, fuzzy and misshapen. Did the Giants really win 87 games? I think so. The win total from 2016 only really... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/21/enjoying-the-2019-giants/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The 2016 Giants won 87 games. That’s hard to believe. When I think about it, it still seems like a distant memory. The kind of memory that sits on the outer reaches of your mind, fuzzy and misshapen. Did the Giants really win 87 games? I think so. The win total from 2016 only really tells half the story. It was the season that marked the beginning of the decline for the San Francisco Giants. The baseball season is split into two halves. It seems arbitrary, as splits sometimes do, but the second half of the 2016 season marked the start of the precipitous decline for the Giants. The team would only win 30 games in the second half that year (.417 winning percentage). In 2017, the Giants topped out at 64 wins (.395 W-L%); 2018, 73 total wins (.451 W-L%).</p> <p><a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21826902/tampa-bay-rays-trade-evan-longoria-san-francisco-giants">Bad-to-awful trades</a> were made; <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Giants-fire-Bobby-Evans-as-GM-Bochy-Sabean-will-13255135.php">folks lost their jobs</a>; and an organizational shakeup occurred. </p> <p>The Giants are saddled with an aging roster of declining veterans, a farm system that seems to be perpetually stuck in the bottom of rankings, and will surely play most of their home games in the coming season in front of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPra_ZfwanU">more seagulls</a> than fans in the seats. It’s a weird, transitional time for Giants’ baseball and — I kind of love it. </p> <p>The previous regime seemed inclined to reload the roster with veterans while the core team — the one that won three titles in five years — gradually declined. While there is some room for rebound (Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey come to my immediate mind) there is no ignoring that the Giants are an older team. In 2018, they were the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/236223/major-league-baseball-clubs-by-average-age-of-players/">third oldest team</a> in baseball. Right now, heading into 2019, the only sub-30-year-old starters are Mac Williamson (28), Steven Duggar (25), and Joe Panik (28). Again, the Giants will mostly be a baseball club composed of old dudes. </p> <p>With that said, then, why do the 2019 Giants have a chance to be interesting? One reason: the removal of winning expectations gives them a chance to get weird. You want to try openers? Go for it. Platooning the lineup to maximize every bit of talent? Why not. Letting Madison Bumgarner hit cleanup on the days he’s not pitching? Absolutely. All ideas and solutions, no matter how weird, should be on the table.</p> <p>The 2019 Giants will be bad, but at least they <em>might</em> be interesting. After two-plus years of boring, bad baseball, that’s enough to make me tune in most nights. </p> <p><em>Brief side note: I’ve missed writing about baseball. It’s my goal to write more on this season. In particular, I think the team this year, while not “good,” has the chance to be quite interesting. And as a transitional time for the Giants, I think that’s all you can really ask for. I hope, occasionally, I’ll have something quasi-insightful to say. Thanks for reading. </em></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2019/03/21/enjoying-the-2019-giants/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Just how much of a hole have the Giants dug themselves?</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/05/07/just-how-much-of-a-hole-have-the-giants-dug-themselves/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 07 May 2017 16:48:50 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2017 season]]></category> <category><![CDATA[the outfield]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tire fire]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=163</guid> <description><![CDATA[After getting blown out in back-to-back games in Cincinnati, the Giants currently set — before today’s game — at a record of 11-20. That’s a .355 winning percentage and it’s the worst in the National League. (The Giants can’t claim the worst winning percentage in baseball because both the Blue Jays and Royals have been worse.)... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2017/05/07/just-how-much-of-a-hole-have-the-giants-dug-themselves/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After getting blown out in back-to-back games in Cincinnati, the Giants currently set — before today’s game — at a record of 11-20. That’s a .355 winning percentage and it’s the worst in the National League. (The Giants can’t claim the worst winning percentage in baseball because both the Blue Jays and Royals have been worse.) The Giants have been terrible in their own special and frustrating way: at -59 runs they have the <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings">worst run differential</a> in baseball.</p><p>The pitching has been “adequate” in the way that you could use a trash bag to fashion yourself a pair of pants and that would also be “adequate.” Sure, you would look insane but it would cover your legs and provide some kind of protection. Measuring the starting pitching and bullpen by retrodictors like FIP and xFIP results in the same conclusion: the Giants are around 15th in baseball in terms of pitching talent; that’s middle of the pack and even if it’s an underperformance, it hasn’t been the Achilles heal for this team.</p><p>That honor goes to the hitting. The Giants rank in the following offensive categories in all of baseball: (29th) team wRC+, (30th) isolated power, and (24th) walk-rate. This might be the worst outfield configuration that the team has used in recent history. Collectively, Giants’ outfielders have slashed .206/.287/.306. Going by weighted runs created (wRC+) the Giants have the worst outfield in baseball (64 wRC+). From the looks of it, the outfield got old in a hurry. Denard Span no longer looks like a starting major leaguer (he’s also old and hurt), Hunter Pence is 34-years-old and off to a slow start, and the Giants have tried to patch the outfield with a rotating cast of minor leaguers and warm bodies they have happened to come across. The team is so desperate to fill the outfield that it has resorted to shifting Brandon Belt to left field on most days. Brandon Belt is a first baseman in case you were wondering.</p><p>The Giants have seen <em>11 separate players </em>log at least one inning in the outfield so far this season.</p><p></p><p>When Gorkys Hernandez has played the second most in the outfield for your team, well, that might not be such a good thing for the ol’ playoff odds.</p><p>So, the Giants are kind of a tire fire right now. But, just how well does this team have to play over the remainder of the season to have any kind of playoff hopes?</p><p>A data table below for your sad perusal.</p><p></p><p>(rW = remainder wins; rL = remainder losses; tW = total wins; tL = total losses)</p><p>FanGraphs and their <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings">fancy projected standings</a> have the Giants at a .506 wining percentage over the remainder of the season. That works out to a final win-loss record of 77-85 — that would be the worst finish for a Giants team since 2013 when the team finished with a record of 76-86. The next worse finish after 2013 and you start wading into the muck that is/was the 2008 season. As currently projected, a 77 win season would place the Giants last in the NL West, which is something the team hasn’t done since 2007.</p><p>The Giants would have to play at a .575-600 winning percentage over the remainder of the season to have a chance in either the NL West or a potential Wild Card spot. Raise your hand if you think this team is capable of winning 60 percent of their games over the rest of the year? Anyone? Going down the table by winning percentage will give you an idea of where the team would finish if they played at said winning percentage.</p><p>I think the takeaway from this isn’t just oh-god-the-Giants-are-terrible-everything-sucks (which is true), but rather early season wins and losses count. I can’t remember how many times I heard the old phrase of: “It’s early!” from all directions when the team was doing so poorly in April. The point is that wins, and conversely the losses, count just as much now as they do in later months. Sadly, for the Giants, the hole that the team has dug has been so deep that they are unlikely to emerge from it anytime soon.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>What the Madison Bumgarner injury means (in numbers)</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/21/what-the-madison-bumgarner-injury-means-in-numbers/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/21/what-the-madison-bumgarner-injury-means-in-numbers/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Apr 2017 02:09:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Graphs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2017 season]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Injury]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Madison Bumgarner]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=140</guid> <description><![CDATA[Earlier today, shocking news surfaced for the San Francisco Giants and their ace pitcher, Madison Bumgarner: The Giants’ left-handed ace sustained a sprained left shoulder and bruised ribs after being involved a dirt bike accident on the team’s day off in Colorado on Thursday, the club said. That’s from an Andrew Baggarly post. Losing Bumgarner... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/21/what-the-madison-bumgarner-injury-means-in-numbers/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Earlier today, shocking news surfaced for the San Francisco Giants and their ace pitcher, Madison Bumgarner:</p><blockquote><p>The Giants’ left-handed ace sustained a sprained left shoulder and bruised ribs after being involved a dirt bike accident on the team’s day off in Colorado on Thursday, the club said.</p></blockquote><p>That’s from an <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/21/breaking-giants-ace-madison-bumgarner-injures-shoulder-in-dirt-bike-accident/">Andrew Baggarly post</a>.</p><p>Losing Bumgarner for any amount of time is a crushing blow to the Giants’ playoff chances. Bumgarner has been the model for consistency and dominance since he became a full-time starter for the Giants in 2011. There are few pitchers in baseball that are a lock to throw 200 innings each year and post WAR totals of 4-5 wins; Bumgarner was among them. Not to mention the general attitude that Bumgarner plays the game with and it’s easy to see how much the Giants will miss him while he works on getting healthy.</p><p>But, the question is raised: “Just how much <em>will</em> the Giants miss Bumgarner?”</p><p>First, a few assumptions:</p><ol><li>The Giants, as <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings">projected by FanGraphs</a>, are currently on pace for an 83 win season. We’ll use this as our starting point.*</li><li>We’ll speculate that Bumgarner would be worth 5 wins over a full season in 2017; that’s pretty much in line with his projections and recent history.</li><li>We’ll assume that the Giants will have three methods to replace Bumgarner: (1) with a 0 WAR pitcher (purely replacement level production); (2) with a 0.5 WAR pitcher; and (3) with a 1 WAR pitcher.</li></ol><p>Using those as starting points, we can calculate the loss of Bumgarner’s value over those three levels (with 0 WAR, 0.5 WAR, and 1 WAR replacements). Then, subtract that from the remainder of the projected 83 wins and you get the following adjustments.</p><p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-144" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Bumgarner-WAR.png" alt="" width="609" height="398" srcset="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Bumgarner-WAR.png 609w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Bumgarner-WAR-300x196.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px" /></p><div class="wpsm_comptable_shortcode_echo"><p></p></div><p>You can plug in your preferred numbers and get an idea of what the team’s win record would look like. If Bumgarner misses 80 additional games on this season and the Giants get 0 WAR level production from Bumgarner’s replacement? That drops the Giants to an 80 win team. If he somehow misses just 60 games and the Giants get 1 WAR level production from his replacement, then the Giants would drop to an 82 win team.</p><p>Things really look bleak at the 120 games missed mark and beyond, essentially the rest of the season for Bumgarner. If Bumgarner were to miss the remainder of the season, or most of it, the Giants drop to a high 70s win total. That would put them much closer to the Diamondbacks and Rockies in terms of projected win totals for 2017.</p><p>5 WAR pitchers don’t grow on trees and the Giants’ replacements for Bumgarner — outside of Tyler Beede — aren’t exciting. Or, good, really. And while I’m a big fan of Beede, you can’t expect him to do what Bumgarner can do. He’s still working his way through AAA and he’s always projected as more of a mid-rotation guy than staff ace. It’s not a dig towards Beede but Bumgarner is just that good. Just that special.</p><p>Of course, things shift around if you play with our assumptions: What if the Giants are more like a 86 win team? What if they find better than 1 WAR production from Bumgarner’s replacement? What if Bumgarner somehow only misses a brief amount of time? You can adjust things where you’d like, but the math is still quite ugly.</p><p>* The Dodgers, by FanGraphs, are projected to finish the season at 93 wins. The Rockies at 80 wins. The Diamondbacks at 79 wins.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/21/what-the-madison-bumgarner-injury-means-in-numbers/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Wednesday Night Graph: Matt Cain and the two seam fastball</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/19/wednesday-night-graph-matt-cain-and-the-two-seam-fastball/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/19/wednesday-night-graph-matt-cain-and-the-two-seam-fastball/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2017 02:24:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Graphs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[matt cain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[two seam fastballs]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=112</guid> <description><![CDATA[Matt Cain, on the back of two consecutive successful starts, has quite a few people asking the annual question of: “Is Matt Cain good again?” This question almost always invariably gets raised every year when Cain, who hasn’t had an average or better season since 2012, manages a solid-to-good start. It’s become a tradition of sorts... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/19/wednesday-night-graph-matt-cain-and-the-two-seam-fastball/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Matt Cain, on the back of two consecutive successful starts, has quite a few people asking the annual question of: “Is Matt Cain good again?” This question almost always invariably gets raised every year when Cain, who hasn’t had an average or better season since 2012, manages a solid-to-good start. It’s become a tradition of sorts among the diehard fans waiting for the 2006-2012 version Cain to return.</p><p>On the surface of things, Cain’s current 3.31 ERA is a bright spot, but it’s common knowledge that ERA rarely tells the whole story of a pitcher’s success or failure. Cain’s pitching predictors like FIP or xFIP suggest he’s performed more like that of a mid-5.00 ERA pitcher. His strikeout rate as measured by strikeout percentage (16.7 percent) is nearly three points off his career (19.9 percent). His walk rate as measured by walk percentage (11.1 percent) is nearly three points off his career (8.2 percent). He’s given up 15 hits in 16.1 innings pitched and his strand percentage of 90.4 percent is scary as hell.</p><p>He’s not striking out hitters like he once did. He’s walking hitters more than ever and he’s been fortunate to leave a lot of runners on base. All of that is bad. Really bad, actually.</p><p>So, when people ask the “Is he good?” question I think they know the answer already; he’s not good. It’s probably not going to happen. Baseball players age and decline. It’s a cruel fact of baseball. The projection systems seem to think he’s a half-win pitcher and given his age and recent history, that seems reasonable.</p><p>However, that doesn’t mean that Cain’s mini-success to start 2017 isn’t interesting. In fact, I’ve been looking forward to his starts. That’s not something I would have typed last year or the year before. Why do I look forward to Cain’s starts? To the naked eye, it appears that he’s trying to do things differently. And I’ve always found it interesting when major leaguers <em>try</em> to do something different.</p><p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-120" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Cain-Fastball.gif" alt="" width="570" height="454" /></p><p>Cain is throwing a two seam fastball more this season. That sentence alone might not interest you, but it’s not a pitch, historically, that Cain has relied heavily on.</p><p>Here’s the obligatory graph:</p><p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-137" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Cain-Two-Seam-2.png" alt="" width="516" height="340" srcset="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Cain-Two-Seam-2.png 516w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Cain-Two-Seam-2-300x198.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px" /></p><p>I queried the rate of two seam fastballs among all Cain fastballs since 2008. In 2016, Cain threw just 47 pitches that PITCHf/x classified as a two seam fastball; in 2017, he’s already thrown <em>64 two seam fastballs. </em>The data from 2014-2016 is a little hinky since Cain was largely hurt and didn’t pitch all that much. When healthy, Cain threw the two seam fastball between 10-20 percent of the time.</p><p>Cain’s average heater is a career low 89.4 mph in 2017. It would seam that Cain is trying to focus more on movement than the traditional four seam fastball that he broke into the majors with. Years and injuries have seen Cain’s velocity drop from a high of low 90’s in from 2005-2007 to around 90 mph more recently. In that regard, it makes sense: if you are losing velocity on your fastball, might as well try to mix in some movement to compensate.</p><p>Our data table of Cain’s two seam usage rates:</p><div class="wpsm_comptable_shortcode_echo"></div><div class="wpsm_comptable_shortcode_echo"></div><div class="wpsm_comptable_shortcode_echo">There are a ton of caveats to throw out: we are really only talking about three starts and 15 innings of baseball. That’s beyond microscopic when talking about sample size. But intuitively it would make sense that Cain would want to try and use the two seam fastball more these days. A successful Matt Cain is going to be the crafty version. The days of him blowing fastballs up in the zone past hitters are gone. Who knows, maybe Cain can find some kind of resurgence as a pitcher by mastering a new pitch. It’s something to watch for, even if unlikely.</div>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/04/19/wednesday-night-graph-matt-cain-and-the-two-seam-fastball/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Giants sign Korean third baseman, Jae-gyu Hwang</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/23/giants-sign-korean-third-baseman-jae-gyu-hwang/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/23/giants-sign-korean-third-baseman-jae-gyu-hwang/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2017 02:44:47 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Graphs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2017]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jae-gyu Hwang]]></category> <category><![CDATA[signings]]></category> <category><![CDATA[spring training]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=95</guid> <description><![CDATA[Per Andrew Baggarly: The club has agreed to terms with Korean infielder Jae-gyun Hwang on a minor league contract that includes an invitation to major league spring training. Baggarly goes on to note that Hwang’s contract is for $1.5M if he makes the major league roster and he will be invited to spring training. Hwang,... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/23/giants-sign-korean-third-baseman-jae-gyu-hwang/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Per <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/23/giants-agree-to-terms-with-korean-third-baseman-jae-gyun-hwang/">Andrew Baggarly</a>:</p><blockquote><p>The club has agreed to terms with Korean infielder Jae-gyun Hwang on a minor league contract that includes an invitation to major league spring training.</p></blockquote><p>Baggarly goes on to note that Hwang’s contract is for $1.5M if he makes the major league roster and he will be invited to spring training. Hwang, 29, is coming off a .330/.391/.558 season for the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). He hit 22 doubles, 3 triples, 26 home runs, and walked 47 times to 64 strikeouts. That’s all fine and dandy, but this is the part where I tell you much of a crazy hitters league the KBO is.</p><p>Consider the following:</p><ul><li>Hwang’s .949 OPS placed him as the <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/leader.cgi?type=bat&id=8f7d6569">19th best hitter</a> in the KBO.</li><li>The KBO had six (six!) hitters with an OPS of 1.000 or greater. The majors had one (David Ortiz) in 2016.</li><li>Among all types of professional and independent baseball leagues, it’s hard to find a league that’s more <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?year=2016">offense-friendly</a> than the KBO.</li></ul><p>League context matters a good bit.</p><p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-99" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/leagueops.png" alt="" width="577" height="350" srcset="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/leagueops.png 577w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/leagueops-300x182.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px" /></p><p>And while Hwang’s spike in power is at least quasi-interesting, it appears more to be a reflection in the changes in the KBO’s high octane run-scoring. Consider this additional line graph of home runs per game in the KBO from 2010-2016.</p><p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-101" src="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/kbohr.png" alt="" width="577" height="350" srcset="http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/kbohr.png 577w, http://www.baycityball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/kbohr-300x182.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px" /></p><p>In 2016, the KBO averaged 1.04 home runs per game; for comparison in 1999 the average home runs per game in MLB was an even more ridiculous 1.14 per game. Ex-Giant, and former KBO pitcher, Ryan Sadowski, actually <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/186c14rtccLA8DljkAQZKvltGJ0s2VyLDK6p-A7h_Qac/edit">wrote a little bit</a> about his time in the KBO. It’s a good read for a guy that pitched in both the majors and the KBO for three years. (He talks about the changes in the ball and the decision to let more foreign-born players in the league as potential reasons for the influx of offense.)</p><p>So, this is all a long winded way of saying that you really can’t take KBO numbers at face value. As always, league context applies heavily. I am sure there are smarter people out there that have worked on translations between the leagues, and it would be very interesting to see. Hwang joins more Korean players as they make their way to the majors. The good news for Hwang and the Giants is that there really is no risk here. Hwang is young enough at 29 to not be too far past the 27-28 peak for ballplayers. Also, from what I can find, his defense seems passable. You really can’t write about Hwang and not bring up this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaMNvSyy6iM">legendary bat flip</a>. Dude has 80-grade bat flip ability.</p><p>It’s likely that he’ll be more of a bench piece/non-factor, but kudos to the Giants for being creative in trying to fill a team need. He’s going to be a spring training storyline that’s actually worth following.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/23/giants-sign-korean-third-baseman-jae-gyu-hwang/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Hunter Pence’s hidden skill</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/22/hunter-pences-hidden-skill/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/22/hunter-pences-hidden-skill/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2017 16:38:48 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hunter pence]]></category> <category><![CDATA[infield hits]]></category> <category><![CDATA[math]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=68</guid> <description><![CDATA[Despite appearances, Hunter Pence has been a well above average player since he debuted in 2007 with the Houston Astros. Since 2007, Pence has averaged 3.2 wins above replacement (Fangraphs method) per season. If you prorate his WAR to 162 games — he’s played just 52 and 106 games over the past two seasons — you... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/22/hunter-pences-hidden-skill/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Despite appearances, Hunter Pence has been a well above average player since he debuted in 2007 with the Houston Astros. Since 2007, Pence has averaged 3.2 wins above replacement (Fangraphs method) per season. If you prorate his WAR to 162 games — he’s played just 52 and 106 games over the past two seasons — you arrive at 3.8 WAR per 162 games played. Pence does it by being a well rounded player; he’s posted positive run totals over his career in hitting (141.4 runs), fielding (33.4), and base running (7.1).</p><p>This is nothing new, of course, but what else does the current San Francisco Giants right fielder bring to the table that might go unnoticed? The ability to get hits on infield balls in play. Consider the following table — it’s raw infield hit totals since 2007.</p><h3><strong>Infield Hit Totals, 2007-2016</strong></h3><p></p><p>When looking at Pence, only the masterful Ichiro has had more infield hits since 2007. While Ichiro’s infield hit totals are staggering, Pence’s 219 infield hits are the second most in the majors in this time frame and he is the only other player to break the 200-hit mark.</p><p>It’s clear that both Pence and Ichiro posses an infield hit skill. Ichiro’s historic bat control, speed, hitting stance, and left-handedness make him a prime candidate to rack up infield hits. Often times when Ichiro makes contact with the ball, he’s already moving out of the box. Pence, however, is a right handed hitter and thus has to take a couple of extra steps to get out of the box and head toward first base.</p><p>You’ll note that since we are just looking at raw totals, Ichiro has an obvious games played advantage — he appeared in nearly 200 more games than Pence over this time period. If we adjust the infield hit totals per game, and then prorate that to a 162 game season, we get the following table.</p><h3><strong>Infield Hit Totals Per 162 games adjusted, 2007-2016</strong></h3><p></p><p>Ichiro, expectedly, keeps his title as the infield hit king. There’s a little jockeying when you adjust things (Jeter moves up to #2 and Pence falls to #3) but it’s still an interesting list.</p><p>The other question that I think we should ask is: Infield hits are obviously a good thing, but how much value does it add to the player? Using linear weights we can get a rough idea of how much value Pence is gaining from his annual 20-plus infield hits a year. I am using a simple equation based on Tom Tango’s <a href="http://www.tangotiger.net/bsrexpl.html">base run values</a>. Essentially, a single, which all infield hits should be, are worth .46 runs. So, our basic equation is (IFH*.46 = run value). (I am open to debate on whether or not this is the best way to do this, but for now, it’s where I am headed.)</p><p>Doing so, we get the following table.</p><h3><strong>Infield Hit Total Run Values per 162 games adjusted, 2007-2016</strong></h3><p></p><p>Per 162 games, Pence is adding nearly 12 runs of value. Thinking of it in terms of WAR, that’s one win of value based on <em>just</em> infield hits. That’s an amazing amount of value added. As stated above, Pence does nearly everything well, but if you took away his ability to reach base on infield hits, he moves from a four-win player to a three-win player; he would still be a worthwhile addition to the team, but not nearly as impactful.</p><p>It’s easy to say that’s the beauty of baseball — players excelling in weird and unexpected ways — but, honestly, that’s the beauty of baseball and one of the reasons why I love the game so much.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2017/01/22/hunter-pences-hidden-skill/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Giants add potential bench depth with newly signed trio</title> <link>http://www.baycityball.com/2016/12/26/giants-add-bench-depth-with-newly-signed-trio/</link> <comments>http://www.baycityball.com/2016/12/26/giants-add-bench-depth-with-newly-signed-trio/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Quick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:36:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Minor League Deals]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Josmil Pinto]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Justin Ruggiano]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michael Morse]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baycityball.com/?p=43</guid> <description><![CDATA[Per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, the Giants have signed 1B Michael Morse, OF Justin Ruggiano, and C/1B Josmil Pinto to minor league deals. Morse, who turns 35 in March, is well known to Giants fans for his successful one year run with the team in 2014. (Also, for this home run which resulted in me nearly jumping through... <div class="link-more"><a href="http://www.baycityball.com/2016/12/26/giants-add-bench-depth-with-newly-signed-trio/">Read More</a></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, the <a href="https://twitter.com/MattEddyBA/status/812507508464041984">Giants have signed</a> 1B Michael Morse, OF Justin Ruggiano, and C/1B Josmil Pinto to minor league deals.</p><p>Morse, who turns 35 in March, is well known to Giants fans for his successful one year run with the team in 2014. (Also, for this <a href="http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/94788780/v36821563/must-c-clutch-morses-solo-shot-ties-it-in-the-8th">home run</a> which resulted in me nearly jumping through the roof.) The Giant signed Morse to a one-year, $6M deal heading into 2014 and were rewarded with a .279/.336/.475 slash. In 2014, Morse appeared in 131 games for the Giants — the 2nd most games appeared for the slugger in his career. With Morse, that’s the rub; he’s normally hurt. However, what Morse does bring to the Giants is some sweet, sweet memories and the ability to really hit baseballs far. He’s a large human that, when healthy, is an above average hitter. Positionally, Morse is below average wherever he plays, but in a scenario with the Giants in which he made the team, he would fill the role of <a href="http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2014/5/2/5663026/michael-morse-home-runs-giants-dingers-statz">Huge Person That Hits Home Runs Off The Bench</a>.</p><p>Ruggiano, who turns 35 in April, profiles, in some ways, like Michael Morse; he’s a talented ballplayer that has had issues staying healthy. He appeared in just nine games in 2016 due to shoulder and hamstring issues. Teams have been rewarded when Ruggiano has managed to stay on the field. His average WAR per 162 games played is a respectable 1.8 wins. He also fills a need on the Giants in that he crushes LHP (137 career wRC+). He’s played some centerfield in his career but these days he’s more of a left fielder.</p><p>Pinto, 28 in March, has appeared in the majors with the Twins and Brewers. In 286 career plate appearances in the majors, Pinto has hit well with a slash of .252/.336/.436 (116 wRC+). Pinto, like Morse and Ruggiano, is a right-handed hitter. You can listen to a <a href="http://m.mlb.com/pit/video/topic/26271672/v32320497">scouting take</a> from 2014 on Pinto. Short version: he’s a bat-first catcher. It’s an interesting pick-up for the Giants, but it’s unlikely he’ll see time at the major league level in 2017.</p><p>All three players should be viewed as bench options. Ruggiano is probably the most interesting player of the three. He’s a better defender than Morse and he hits LHP quite well which should be the main consideration for a bench position. Morse and Ruggiano both profile as talented but chronically injured players and, at 35 years old, both aren’t great bets to suddenly find good health. Pinto is interesting because of his age and former prospect pedigree. He’s a good addition, if unlikely to see any at-bats with the Giants in the upcoming year.</p><p>Depth signings aren’t sexy, but they are needed as teams look to fill out rosters at the upper levels. And, who knows, maybe we’ll see a couple of mashed dingers along the way.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.baycityball.com/2016/12/26/giants-add-bench-depth-with-newly-signed-trio/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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