Pitchers Park Podcast - A San Francisco Giants Podcast

A quick tour of the NL West compels Bryan and Doug to state their fears about each team before diving into a segment on predictions about the 2023 Giants: who will be the best hitter? Best pitcher? Which reliever will suddenly turn rotten? Will the Giants trade Marco Luciano? Will Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto combine to play in 200 games? Finally, and most importantly, what will the Giants' record be? Giants Chroncast is a part of the all-new Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN on Twitter)! Our new theme mysic is by Alex Kizenkov via Pixabay (track: "Epic Heroic Dubstep Trailer"). You can still follow us on Twitter @GiantsChroncast -- send us your questions and we might answer them in a future episode! We'll be back on April 3rd to talk the opening series versus the Yankees. Go Giants! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah yes, Baseball. The noble 162-game quest that spans spring, summer, and fall. One team stands above the fray if for no other reason than its name: the Giants. Bryan Murphy and Doug Bruzzone are just two humble observers of the San Francisco Giants, moving through the Baseball landscape, sometimes terrifying their opponents, sometimes scaring their own fans. This week, in what is the first episode of an entirely new podcast, we talk Spring Training injuries, Spring Training surprises, the World Baseball Classic, and the national mood regarding the Giants. We are now a part of the all-new Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN on Twitter)! Our new theme music is by Alex Kizenkov via Pixabay (track: "Epic Heroic Dubstep Trailer"). You can still follow us on Twitter @GiantsChroncast We'll be back on Thursday with an NL West Preview and our predictions for the 2023 Giants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was quite a lot of news on the first day of Spring Training for the 2023 Giants, starting with some injury concerns but then followed up by some surprise position player news. That's right, in this podcast finale, Bryan & Doug go through the news and talk about what they're excited to see in the new season before delving into your mail questions for the final time. This will be the second finale for the Chroncast, and we wouldn't have come this far if not for all you dedicated listeners over the years. Thank you for indulging in our rants and raves over the years. We hope you'll stay subscribed to this feed in the event there becomes a platform for us to talk about our obsession with the only baseball team that matters: the San Francisco Giants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What didn't happen for the Giants this past offseason got the headlines, but the team still managed to make some moves that were a part of their master plan. Do they add up to a much better team than last season? Do the new players recreate the lost players in the aggregate? Do these moves and the way everything shook out help or hinder the team next offseason? And, what did Bryan and Doug learn from the Correa Imbroglio? Meanwhile, the pair look back on the Brian Sabean era, which included the most famous years of Jeff Kent and Brandon Belt, both headliners in their own right within the past month. Then, they share some big news about the future of the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like Carlos Rodon and Kevin Gausman before him, the San Francisco Giants allowed Carlos Correa to walk. The publicly stated reason was over a difference of opinion on his medical report. The publicly public fallout doesn’t have such a simple reason. Why did the Giants let the situation get so chaotic? The Giants maybe don’t owe anybody — the fans, the press, their own players — anything, but don’t we owe it to ourselves to wonder why they’re comfortable with that arrangement? And just because it’s being dictated to us doesn’t mean we have to like it. The Giants’ behavior surrounding the situation is as irrational as walking away from a $350 million deal might be rational. Torching the team’s reputation in the industry, with their own fans, their own players is a risk, and it feels a lot like one with no calculation. In this final Chroncast of 2022, Doug and I go through all the particulars and come to a vaguely logical conclusion about what happened. None of that changes the fact that the Giants backing out of a massive free agent deal is a supreme embarrassment. It might not wind up being a failure on the field, but the knock-on effects seem like they’ll be numerous and long-lasting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all due respect to Mitch Haniger, the Giants just added the most impactful player of the offseason in Carlos Correa, and all it cost them was $350 million spread out over 13 years. It's almost a bargain in the modern baseball market. Bryan and Doug go full fanatic in their conversation about all the plusses of the deal and how much he impacts the Giants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who knows how the Giants offseason will wind up, but all Bryan and Doug can talk about is where it is now. Six weeks or so ago, so much hope. Now, no hope and no Aaron Judge. Or Brandon Nimmo. Or Kodai Senga. Who's to blame (Bryan and Doug have a firm answer). And does it really matter whose fault it is (yes and no)? Judge's denial isn't the first time the Giants missed out on somebody and it disappointed fans. Bryan and Doug recount missed opportunities of yore before getting into possible moves that might be on the horizon. This episode was recorded hours before news broke of the Giants signing LHP Sean Manea to a 2-year, $25 million deal, which you can read more about on McCovey Chronicles. Does the signing move the needle for fans? What about moving the needle for next season? Doug posits that the Giants need to be active now if they have any hopes of making a play for Shohei Ohtani next season. Do you agree? Let us know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The return of Doug’s Bullpen Trust Power Rankings coincided with an historic yet confounding season that saw the Giants’ bullpen pitch a franchise-record 650 innings, besting their previous record of 623.2 innings pitched, which they hit last year. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to the pre-pandemic days to find any other season in which the Giants’ bullpen pitched at least 600 innings in a single season, and that season was 2019. So, the relievers keep getting more and more run. By now, they’re household names. Camilo Doval, John Brebbia, Zack Littell. These are the guys whose performances combined for a -1.4 Win Probability Added. At the very least, they combined to cost the Giants 1-2 games over the course of the season. Seem like they’d be involved in more pain? Well, they weren’t all bad, and the Giants’ defense was pretty bad, too. So, it was a group effort. In the final Chroncast before we switch over to a monthly release schedule for the offseason, Doug and I hand out awards to all the obvious and not so obvious dudes who tested our patience more often than not, and caused the Giants to lose more often than they helped the Giants win, though, they did still do that — at least some of them, anyway. We’re calling it The Bullpy Awards, because why not? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the penultimate episode of the Chroncast's sixth season, McCovey Chronicles' managing editor, Brady Klopfer, takes time out of his busy schedule to discuss the season that was and the breaking baseball news that is. The Bruce Bochy era in San Francisco had run its course -- is there still a chance for him to have a positive new experience in Texas a la Dusty Baker in Houston? And does the Pete Putila hire do anything to alleviate concerns about the team's targeting of major league personnel figures involved in scandals or prove something more? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Bryan, Doug, and Brady make some B-O-L-D predictions about the offseason. And one wish. Also, Doug comes up with a tremendous idea for either 1) a whole new TV show or 2) the perfect idea for a Ray Donovan spinoff series. You've simply got to hear it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a two and a half year hiatus, this podcast returned just in time for the Giants to have what Bryan calls an "oatmeal season." As bland as it was, Doug manages to point out some of the raisins for the raisin-lovers out there while Bryan calls into question why it even has to be oatmeal. And now to ditch this sweaty metaphor. There were certainly things to like about the year and some of things beyond the record and defense to dislike -- what would you add to Bryan and Doug's list? Listener questions are asked and answered, too. What will the Giants do in free agency? What makes the most sense? What will be the most rational course of action in the marketplace? Has the league already caught up to the Giants' creativity and cutting edge modeling or are they smart enough to remain just ahead of the curve? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most difficult part of the Giants' fart season of 2022 has been the developing story of the farm system's lack of star power development in the upper minors. This week, Bryan and Doug are joined by former McCovey Chronicles contributor, Roger Munter, who now runs his own site about the Giants minor leagues, and he has a lot to say about the state of the farm, that both is and isn't consistent with the season-long story we've been tracking. Who are the surprises that might contribute at some point next season? Who are the disappointments, if any? What does Gabe Kapler have to do with player development? The answer will surprise you! Next week is our season finale, and we need YOUR questions. The easiest way to get them to us is on social media. You can @ the McCovey Chroncast on Twitter: @McChroncast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a 6-1 week that clinched the Sound Sabermetric Principles record of 75 wins, Bryan and Doug discuss what made those wins just so special: Brandon Crawford, defensive wizard. They also get into the slightly bigger news of the week: Buster Posey is a half billionaire and bought into the Giants' ownership group. Their GM also departed for Detroit, which you already knew, but the discussion veers into speculating just what Harris' departure / arrival means. And then there's the news that the Giants' organizational pitching genius has opted out of COVID vaccine protocols and has been doing his very important job remotely all season. How much of an effect did this have on the farm system and the major league team and just how much of someone's personal preference is a Major League Baseball team supposed to abide before it creates unintended consequences? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Giants sure did have a lot of off-field news this past week on their way to clinching their worst record against the Dodgers in a season since moving to San Francisco. Zack Littell v. Gabe Kapler seems like so long ago! The Giants actually won two out of three games to start the week, even. But it's hard to look at the good when the Dodgers are there to remind you that even when things seem good, they're not good enough. Does the Wilmer Flores signing mean anything beyond a continuation of a sound process? Nah. Does that mean the sound process is all that's required for the team going forward? No! And then there's the matter of next year's rule changes and how that could impact a certain up and coming Giant. But is the future only grim? No again! There's still something really cool to look forward to: Carlos Rodón and the MLB strikeout leader. Think he can do it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just to get this out of the way up top: Bryan and Doug make NO MENTION of Barry Zito's pitch count in our 109th episode of the show, mainly because it's unclear to Bryan if this even is the 109th episode, what with all the wonderful Happy Hours Sami did or the Untitled Prospects Podcast with Roger that were done, so, please just be aware of that. But if you can stomach that omission, strap yourself in, because Bryan and Doug opine about the new rule changes, minor league unionization, and the Evan Longoria-J.D. Davis-David Villar intrigue for next season all before introducing a new segment: The Wheel of Random! What's the Wheel of Random? You'll just have to listen to find out. Like what you hear? Be sure to rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show, and if you'd like to participate, send us your questions for the end of season mailbag either in the comments below or at the show's Twitter account: @McChroncast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chroncast returns from the Labor Day Weekend to find the Giants having ended their seven-game losing streak with a four-game winning streak, which may or may not have continued heading into the recording of this episode (an hour before first pitch of last night's Giants-Dodgers game). Bryan and Doug both express their hopes for the rest of the season now that the Giants have demonstrated a version of themselves that had been planned since the offseason. And then they tackle those gnarly bullpen trust power rankings for the last month, when the Giants bullpen was superficially not terrible (a 3.46 ERA -- but how?). This month, though, rather than try to peg the order of trust, they use a three-tier system and assign the bullpenners accordingly. Which Giants reliever would you trust (albeit begrudgingly) with a lead? Which would you not trust with a lead of any kind? And, which reliever would you not trust even if the Giants were trailing by 3+ runs? Here’s the xml link to our feed. You can check out the show page right here. We’re also on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify. Our intro/outro music is by Lesfm. You can find all new episodes and our archive on all feeds and listen to everything in the embedded show player down below. If you like our show, give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts or like/thumbs up us anywhere you listen to podcasts. And we are looking for a transcription service to begin offering transcripts to our audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No reasonable person expected the Giants to radically change direction after their historic 2021 season, but no reasonable person should be expected to consider this year anything other than frustrating and disappointing. And since Farhan Zaidi is a reasonable person, he agrees! In a recent interview with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Zaidi went through some of his thoughts on this year's team and what their process last offseason could mean for this year's. This is all during a time when the Giants' 2022 season has fallen into a ditch that is already being filled with concrete. It would be a criminal act to stick a fork in the actual players, but metaphorically, they're done. They're toast. They're not going anywhere. A lot of these guys have written their seasons, even with a few dozen games left. The mathematical possibility of still being in contention for a playoff spot is just that -- math. In the hearts and minds of reasonable people, there's nothing worthwhile or competitive about the remainder of this Giants season. But this Kawakami interview suggests maybe next year might also be a forgettable one, too. Bryan and Doug discuss. Do you agree? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2012 World Series team reunion this past weekend got Bryan and Doug thinking: was this actually the best team of the Giants' early 10s dynasty? So many memories from start to finish and a series of redemptive stories throughout the postseason -- maybe it has been unfairly minimized as the dynasty's middle child. Meanwhile, in the present day, Bryan brings to Doug's attention Melissa Lockard's interview with Grant Brisbee at The Athletic that gave him a modicum of hope for the farm system over the next couple of years. Maybe the Giants aren't quite as far behind as it looked like they were heading into the All-Star Break. Still far away -- but not 2026 or 2027 far. Maybe! And then, Doug wrote about what the Giants need to do the rest of the way to have a shot at the postseason. Do your numbers match up with his? What about Bryan's shot in the dark prediction about the team's final record? 48 games to go! These next two weeks will be critical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First off, hat tip to Crazy Crabbers (and Duane Kuiper) for inspiring this episode's title, which tracks the moves the Giants made at the 2022 deadline. Did they do enough to make the final two months of this season more interesting and/or set themselves up to be more interesting in the next couple of seasons? Bryan and Doug have answers to both! Do you agree? They also discuss the big trade of the day and what that means for the Giants going forward. Does the Padres acquisition of Juan Soto mean that Giants fans should go mad, break each other's heads open, and feast on the goo inside? Some sources say yes, but we're Bryan and Doug aren't so sure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years Bryan has said that the Giants have reached the end of the line with a core group of players. Is this finally the year when he's right? The Giants don't seem to be firmly in the buy or sell camp, but given the dismaying results from the farm system, surely, obviously, they must be sellers looking to add some near-ML talent, right? RIGHT? RIIIIIIGHT? In other news, it's clear that the Giants bullpen is a place where hope goes to die and so it's difficult to say that anyone in the bullpen is trustworthy; therefore, before getting into their player rankings, Doug and Bryan rank the five things in their worldview that they trust more than the Giants bullpen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's ignore for the moment that the Giants are 16.5 games and $100+ million in payroll behind the Dodgers and focus on the clearer fact that they're just 48-47 with 67 to play. Oh sure, they could definitely go 37-30 and hope that 85-77 is enough to get into the playoffs, but does that seem probable even if it's plausible? Bryan thinks that with Carlos Rodon's obvious departure after the season and the team's average performance and NO hope of getting better on defense over the final 67 games it's the perfect time to be sellers at the trade deadline. Doug thinks ownership isn't going to like that, even if last year's success has in no way boosted this year's bottom line. They also talk about the Giants' week of transactions, from the All-Star Game, the Futures Game and, of course, the draft, where the team opted to get a little weird with their drafting formula. There's also some Juan Soto talk, because he's noteworthy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices