Splash Hit Territory mailbag q’s: Nico Hoerner, Rafael Devers & more

00:00:06
Speaker 1: 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?

00:00:29
Speaker 2: Glad to have you today.

00:00:30
Speaker 3: Oh, it's so good to be here. Yeah. As a writer, I appreciate you being very careful with terminology and words.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: I think that's a very good thing.

00:00:40
Speaker 1: 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.

00:00:55
Speaker 2: Next goal is three thousand.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: We have two thousands right now, and all the feedback from you guys has been so flattered and overwhelming, and we're glad.

00:01:01
Speaker 2: That you're enjoying the podcast.

00:01:02
Speaker 1: 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.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: But today, Susan, it's the mail bag. Where do we start? What do we got?

00:01:16
Speaker 3: 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 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 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? 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 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 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 add something.

00:03:27
Speaker 4: He'd be the perfect guy for me.

00:03:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I've been thinking about him all off season.

00:03:32
Speaker 1: He's a perfect giant and he's a perfect guy for buster.

00:03:36
Speaker 2: Posey, scrappy guy, hits the.

00:03:37
Speaker 1: 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 And.

00:03:54
Speaker 4: That was what I told you.

00:03:55
Speaker 2: That well, I heard from my friends because it's right by this place, right here, So.

00:04:01
Speaker 1: 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 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.

00:04:45
Speaker 3: 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 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 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 him 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 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 baseman. 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 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 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.

00:06:42
Speaker 1: 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? 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 but dee's and cutoffs that you just have to 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 instinct rule. Because he did his whole life at third base to where he just knew where to be all the time and 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.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: But I think with Rafi at.

00:07:37
Speaker 1: 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. I think he's only going to get better.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if he's going to be an elite defensive first baseman ever, but he's going to be good enough.

00:07:54
Speaker 1: To Here's the thing is a former infielder, I want my first basement. I want to have 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 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.

00:08:18
Speaker 2: The ground ball?

00:08:19
Speaker 3: Now?

00:08:19
Speaker 1: It looked like a gang fight at times, but as far as picking like short hops, he was as good as anybody ever played with.

00:08:26
Speaker 2: And I had JT. Snow which speaks for itself when.

00:08:28
Speaker 1: I was in San Francisco and David SAGhE 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 the fly.

00:08:50
Speaker 2: Excuse me.

00:08:50
Speaker 1: 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 kid 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.

00:09:06
Speaker 2: Now you have a tendency to get off rhythm to.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: 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 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.

00:09:41
Speaker 3: 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, 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 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. How are you seeing it?

00:10:34
Speaker 1: 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 like you go hit and then you wait an hour and then you think about your last bat.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: When you're on defense, you're.

00:11:01
Speaker 1: Thinking about plays, you're talking to umpires, you're talking to base runners, you're in the flow of the game.

00:11:05
Speaker 2: You're getting a sweat going.

00:11:07
Speaker 1: It's like going from zero to sixty, stepping into that on deck circle, then in the batter's box.

00:11:11
Speaker 2: And I always admire guys that could do that.

00:11:13
Speaker 1: I really did, because there's an art to pinch hitting four times a game as a DH essentially.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: What it is.

00:11:19
Speaker 1: So I think if Eldridge shows a that he can make the team, I still think he has.

00:11:26
Speaker 2: To prove that, like he's a part of this.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: At his age, I don't 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 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.

00:11:58
Speaker 3: Yeahestion 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 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 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. I kind of am 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.

00:13:09
Speaker 4: FP.

00:13:10
Speaker 1: Tyler Fitzgerald, Well, I mean being utility players a lot of work.

00:13:14
Speaker 2: Every day.

00:13:15
Speaker 1: 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 see a five or six or a four by your name.

00:13:28
Speaker 2: They're not rating how you look.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: That's a position that you're going to play that night, So you have to be ready for all of them.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: And watching Tyler.

00:13:39
Speaker 1: 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.

00:13:48
Speaker 2: He could be more aggressive. I guess that's the way to put it.

00:13:51
Speaker 1: 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 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, choke up, shorten up, bunt more, he's pretty good bunter. He doesn't do it a whole lot. 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.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: I think you either have that or you don't have that. So I'm a.

00:14:48
Speaker 1: Big fan of the human being the nicest kid in that whole clubhouse.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: But I think if Tyler Fitzgerald wasn't nice, he had a little more fu in him, which he does, but just a little more.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: 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. But it just needs that intangible I think, just to turn up a notch or two or three or four and that he would be a star major leaguer with the ability he has.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: 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.

00:15:30
Speaker 4: He's a little on the older side. He's kind of moved out of prospect territory.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: 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 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 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 wid. There are a few guys who are extremely good based runners who even once in a while fumble.

00:16:33
Speaker 4: That's going to happen.

00:16:34
Speaker 3: But Tyler Fitzgerald has to get the mistakes out of his game.

00:16:37
Speaker 1: If if Nico Horner becomes a giant, 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.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: You'd have to use the bleep button awful lot, you really would, though it would be very well.

00:17:00
Speaker 2: We both love Ron Washington.

00:17:02
Speaker 1: That's that's been chronicled down here and it's one of the better ads for the Giants this offseason.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: 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 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.

00:17:40
Speaker 4: That helps him.

00:17:41
Speaker 3: 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. If he's throwing strikes. What happened to MFP is that? I mean that's Has anybody figured that out?

00:17:57
Speaker 4: What do you think?

00:17:58
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:17:58
Speaker 1: 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 Fiderich, 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.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: He's like, ooh, that was nasty.

00:18:18
Speaker 1: 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 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 Vitello is going to have a huge impact on and already had in his career, is Drew Gilbert. He energized that team last year. I don't know if he's.

00:19:05
Speaker 2: An everyday right fielder yet, but I just love the kids so much. I love the energy he brings. I love the swagger he brings.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: Back to our last podcast where or a few ago, where I said, I hope the Giants are the most hated team in baseball.

00:19:17
Speaker 2: I really do. Drew Gilbert would be a big reason. And there were some things behind the scenes last year that.

00:19:23
Speaker 1: 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.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: They let him be himself, like dude, you do you?

00:19:36
Speaker 1: 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 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.

00:20:08
Speaker 2: So for Drew it can get a.

00:20:10
Speaker 1: 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 about car washes and all this stuff Lenny Dykster cut into after his career.

00:20:35
Speaker 2: But but he has a little Lenny Dykster in him.

00:20:38
Speaker 3: 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.

00:20:52
Speaker 4: Hey Sus Rodriguez. The catcher.

00:20:55
Speaker 3: He looks like 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 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. All the questions so far put up were from Twitter or x or whatever you want to call it.

00:21:45
Speaker 4: I still say Twitter.

00:21:47
Speaker 3: There here's a 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, uh I miss Wade. I'm not sure which way this is? Uh is Lamont? Is it Wade Meckler.

00:22:06
Speaker 2: It's the Mechlinator for sure, because it's talking about.

00:22:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think so.

00:22:11
Speaker 3: 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 well, how much we'll see him in a Giant's uniform at the big league level. What were your impressions. I know that coaching staff really has liked him a lot.

00:22:36
Speaker 2: I think he was a blow up average outfielder.

00:22:40
Speaker 1: 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 baseball player. So, if I'm being honest, he's not even on my radar.

00:23:05
Speaker 2: Not that I want to.

00:23:07
Speaker 1: Say that he's a bad player, but I just think that it would have happened by now if it was going to happen.

00:23:13
Speaker 4: I think you're probably right.

00:23:14
Speaker 3: Anyword on when the Giants will announce their coaching staff.

00:23:17
Speaker 4: Why the delay? This is a great question we've all been asking.

00:23:22
Speaker 3: 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 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.

00:23:57
Speaker 4: Anything anything to other.

00:24:00
Speaker 2: I have no idea.

00:24:01
Speaker 1: 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.

00:24:10
Speaker 3: Well, 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 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, 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, 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.

00:25:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still good at defense. He could teach Ron Washington a thing or two about how the coach defense.

00:25:28
Speaker 1: 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.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: I mean all the plays he made and.

00:25:41
Speaker 1: I watched him play as a met and that's just never you know, you can see him me fifteen times 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.

00:25:54
Speaker 2: Just try to put the ball in play.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: 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 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.

00:26:35
Speaker 2: Two run lead as a defensive replacement.

00:26:38
Speaker 1: Now, that would be a tough thing for Tony Vattello to take that big bat out of the lineup. But I was raised with the game with 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.

00:26:51
Speaker 2: But like three runs a save opportunity.

00:26:53
Speaker 1: 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.

00:27:02
Speaker 2: I could do this whole show about Tom Smith.

00:27:04
Speaker 1: I would love if the Giants signed him back because he's a winning player, and the Giants did lots of winning players.

00:27:10
Speaker 3: 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.

00:27:27
Speaker 1: 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.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you this seriously about preparing for spring training. It changes every year. Man.

00:27:43
Speaker 1: It depends on your age, it depends on your contract status.

00:27:47
Speaker 2: You know, it was always hitt in the off season.

00:27:49
Speaker 1: 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.

00:28:06
Speaker 2: And hitting a little bit. But after the new year, you know you got a good month.

00:28:10
Speaker 1: And some change is when you start hitting in the cage and take a ground balls.

00:28:13
Speaker 2: But there was always training involved.

00:28:16
Speaker 1: 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. But it's like, do I want to be bigger and bulkier this year? Do I want to be leaner and faster this year? Do I want to work on this part of my game? What position am I playing?

00:28:44
Speaker 2: Who?

00:28:44
Speaker 1: Did I sign a contract yet? Am I trying to make a team in spring training? So 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?

00:28:55
Speaker 2: So long answer to that is just like it just varied every year for me.

00:28:58
Speaker 3: 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?

00:29:15
Speaker 1: 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 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.

00:29:48
Speaker 3: 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 foto 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 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.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: It would and it probably wouldn't run very fast, and that's a big part of Drew Gilbert's game.

00:30:32
Speaker 1: 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.

00:30:48
Speaker 2: An elephant to score from first? I'm going to say like seven or eight?

00:30:52
Speaker 3: I mean, what is the strike zone for a duck sized Drew Gilbert?

00:30:56
Speaker 2: Though?

00:30:57
Speaker 3: I but then he'd be walked, 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.

00:31:13
Speaker 2: Well I should have.

00:31:14
Speaker 1: My answer should have been layof the gummies, kid, because that was obviously my son after taking a few gummies.

00:31:22
Speaker 3: Legal in California. Everyone well, is that.

00:31:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going out on top with a thousand duck sized Drew Gilberts.

00:31:34
Speaker 2: We can't top that one. Another great episode, Susan, Thanks a lot.

00:31:38
Speaker 1: Happy Holidays to everybody out there like and subscribe.

00:31:42
Speaker 2: We love when you guys in the comments. We read them all.

00:31:46
Speaker 1: You guys are the best and we're having a blast 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.

00:31:56
Speaker 2: Susan, have a great holiday. I will see you soon, all right.

00:32:00
Speaker 3: Thanks a thanks everyone for all your questions to We really appreciate it.

00:32:03
Speaker 2: Yes, Swingharten in case you hit it.