Jeff Fletcher | May 31, 2010

My FanHouse story on the big duel between Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez is here, but wanted to point out what a scout who was at the game told me about Lincecum.

“I think there is something going on,” a major league scout said. “The velocity is down. He’s relying on his changeup a lot, throwing his curve ball a lot. He doesn’t have command of the strike zone and from the start of the year I haven’t seen that.

“I didn’t see anything that would indicate pitching with an injury. I think he’s got a dead arm. Or he’s not trusting his stuff. That’s not the Tim Lincecum the National League is accustomed to seeing.”

(more…)

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Jeff Fletcher | May 31, 2010

Some things I’ve learned this morning at the ballpark about the Giants view of Buster Posey.

• They don’t care, at the moment, about his development as a catcher. He is here to hit, and to help them score runs, so he’s the everyday first baseman. When Bengie Molina needs a day off, Eli Whiteside will do the catching. That’s because…
• Buster isn’t ready to call a big league game. If Posey were to catch, he’d need a lot of help from the dugout. Pitchers are pretty choosy about their catchers, and they’d prefer to have a catcher back there who knows what he’s doing, even if it means getting a little less run-support.
• If the Giants need a shortstop to back up Uribe, don’t be surprised if it’s Posey. He was a shortstop in college before he moved to catcher. With Ryan Rohlinger hurt and Matt Downs up to take his place, and with Edgar Renteria still on the DL, the Giants don’t have a true shortstop other than Uribe.

OK, time to enjoy Lincecum-Jimenez.

We can get carried away sometimes in the media with these pitching matchups, but I think this one actually is different. One of the guys who works in the visitors clubhouse here today told me he got a feeling from the Rockies players that they were jacked up for this game.

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Jeff Fletcher | May 29, 2010

Andy Baggarly got wind of it first late last night and this morning (while we were sleeping on the West Coast) it was confirmed by my FanHouse colleague Ed Price.

I think it’ll be interesting. Now you Giants fans can quit yammering for him. Just don’t be surprised if he doesn’t make a big difference. It ain’t easy to step right into the big leagues and hit .300.

I’m guessing he plays first three or four days a week and catches one or two.

(UPDATE: I have since added into Ed’s story some of the reasons why the Posey move is a bit risky for the Giants, so please check it out, if you haven’t already.)

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Jeff Fletcher | May 27, 2010

Just got it confirmed that the Giants are working on a minor-league deal with Pat Burrell. It’s not done yet, but the Giants are looking to have him play in the minors and then bring him up once they see if he can help them. Read more at FanHouse.

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Jeff Fletcher | May 26, 2010

There was a little mystery tonight because Tim Lincecum’s lousy outing followed a CSNBA report that he had been dealing with a blister. When we asked Lincecum about it after the game, he said it was nothing. He said he’s had blisters occasionally over the past four years, and it didn’t impact his performance tonight. (Of course, he also didn’t take his hands out of his pockets to show us.) Manager Bruce Bochy also called it a “non-issue” and said that Lincecum would make his next start.

The thing that seemed to disturb Bochy and Lincecum the most was the way he let the Nationals run wild on him. They stole stole four bases against him.

It was such a bad day that even Lincecum’s dog was bummed.

Oh by the way, Lincecum had better figure it out, because his next start is against the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez on Memorial Day. Don’t count on the Giants scoring much that day.

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Jeff Fletcher | May 26, 2010

Talked to Brian Sabean before the game and asked him about adding pitching instead of hitting, specifically Oswalt. Sabean said, just as I wrote the other day, that Madison Bumgarner’s development would make it pretty tough to imagine adding that kind of starting pitcher. Sabean seemed pretty happy with how well Bumgarner has come along since that rough start to his season. I assume we’ll be seeing him at some point.

In general, Sabean said the trade talk has been very quiet. GMs are pretty focused on the draft now. It starts June 7.

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Jeff Fletcher | May 25, 2010

Well, the good news is that the Giants don’t have to worry about finding a way to shoehorn Juan Uribe into the lineup now. (By the way, how bad is it if Juan Uribe is the indispensible player in your lineup?) Anyway, Uribe can now go back to shortstop because Edgar Renteria aggravated his right hamstring injury running down to first in the seventh inning.

Renteria, who was playing just his third game since he got off the DL, did not seem too happy after the game.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said.

Renteria will have an MRI exam on Wednesday. That’ll determine the severity. Just based on Renteria’s reaction and manager Bruce Bochy’s (“He could be down for a little while”), don’t be surprised if Renteria winds up back on the DL.

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