2026 San Francisco Giants Season Thread

man, I know the shift is a product of data and is probably the smartest addition to baseball, but I hate it. lol. Every time I see a base hit up the middle that gets turned into a routine out, I get bummed. You grow up your whole life thinking that's a hit, only for it not to be now. Or when the 2nd basemen is playing rover in middle RF and takes a hit away and throws the guy out at first. So many HOFers didn't have to face and those were hits for them. Its like the greatest and worst thing to happen to baseball.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
man, I know the shift is a product of data and is probably the smartest addition to baseball, but I hate it. lol. Every time I see a base hit up the middle that gets turned into a routine out, I get bummed. You grow up your whole life thinking that's a hit, only for it not to be now. Or when the 2nd basemen is playing rover in middle RF and takes a hit away and throws the guy out at first. So many HOFers didn't have to face and those were hits for them. Its like the greatest and worst thing to happen to baseball.

Sounds like the commish has plans on eliminating it, I think it needs to go.

Originally posted by PRIMETIME21:

Originally posted by FredFlintstone:
I'm gonna get the feeling Dodgers going to go all out and get Scherzer especially if they lose at least 2-3 in this series add the fact Bauer may be done. Just my feeling SD or LA is going to get him

Most likely yea, I don't get why people on sherzers nuts tho , I see a 37 year old over the hill rental ? What's the allure?

He's 37 but he's definitely not over the hill, he's one of those rare exceptions like Verlander that have not dropped off in their later stages of their career. For this year at least he's definitely someone that can take you over the top. I wouldn't resign him for nothing more than 2 years

Originally posted by FredFlintstone:
He's 37 but he's definitely not over the hill, he's one of those rare exceptions like Verlander that have not dropped off in their later stages of their career. For this year at least he's definitely someone that can take you over the top. I wouldn't resign him for nothing more than 2 years

Scherzer is def still a stud. And he def makes this team a legit contender with 3 stud SPs.

I would be happy to land Max, Kimbrel and Bryant. But I don't want to give up the studs that John listed a page or so ago. Its a tough spot to be in...you know the team is 2-3 players away from actually competing for the WS, but a bad trade sets the org back a decade.

If I had to prioritize one position for this year's team to compete it would be a closer. The SP has been great, and the giants have hit fine all year, but the closer position has cost them big.

My priority list
1. Closer
2. SP
3. OF

This is why I don't like trade talks. Its too hard to guess and it ends up just being chatter.

Originally posted by mayo49:

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
man, I know the shift is a product of data and is probably the smartest addition to baseball, but I hate it. lol. Every time I see a base hit up the middle that gets turned into a routine out, I get bummed. You grow up your whole life thinking that's a hit, only for it not to be now. Or when the 2nd basemen is playing rover in middle RF and takes a hit away and throws the guy out at first. So many HOFers didn't have to face and those were hits for them. Its like the greatest and worst thing to happen to baseball.

Sounds like the commish has plans on eliminating it, I think it needs to go.

How could you ever eliminate where a player stands on the field? Little colored boxes they need to stand in? What about a bunt situation. Does that mean the 3b can't creep in before the pitch. IMO eliminating shifts could never happen without making the game a joke. How about putting the onus on the batter to work to overcome their tendencies, or bunt down the baseline if the player vacates his normal position?

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
How could you ever eliminate where a player stands on the field? Little colored boxes they need to stand in? What about a bunt situation. Does that mean the 3b can't creep in before the pitch. IMO eliminating shifts could never happen without making the game a joke. How about putting the onus on the batter to work to overcome their tendencies, or bunt down the baseline if the player vacates his normal position?

yeah, I agree. Especially in the bunting down the line or pushing a grounder to third situation. Its the actual hits that go away that bother me. And even though I can't stand it, I wouldn't get rid of it either. Just sucks and makes it a little less interesting to watch.

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:
So I watched the throw again (and again) and I guess Bellinger sailed it because Muncy initially blocked his view.

good observation, I missed that initially.

Damn. That crowd was electric. I miss those days.

July 28: Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets that the Giants are "backing off" any proposals from the Cubs which center around Bart.

Originally posted by TheXFactor:
July 28: Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets that the Giants are "backing off" any proposals from the Cubs which center around Bart.

Originally posted by boast:

Originally posted by TheXFactor:
July 28: Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets that the Giants are "backing off" any proposals from the Cubs which center around Bart.

There's a lot of media chatter about Joey Bart for Kris Bryant today, but I have this on good authority: the Giants are backing off any trade proposal with the Cubs in which they insist on Joey Bart.

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) July 28, 2021

As they should for a possible rental

Originally posted by Bluesbro:

Originally posted by mayo49:

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
man, I know the shift is a product of data and is probably the smartest addition to baseball, but I hate it. lol. Every time I see a base hit up the middle that gets turned into a routine out, I get bummed. You grow up your whole life thinking that's a hit, only for it not to be now. Or when the 2nd basemen is playing rover in middle RF and takes a hit away and throws the guy out at first. So many HOFers didn't have to face and those were hits for them. Its like the greatest and worst thing to happen to baseball.

Sounds like the commish has plans on eliminating it, I think it needs to go.

How could you ever eliminate where a player stands on the field? Little colored boxes they need to stand in? What about a bunt situation. Does that mean the 3b can't creep in before the pitch. IMO eliminating shifts could never happen without making the game a joke. How about putting the onus on the batter to work to overcome their tendencies, or bunt down the baseline if the player vacates his normal position?

It would just mean that infielders can't laterally position themselves past a certain point or overlap the position next to them. Four short white lines would be the fix. Playing in or playing deep has nothing to do with the shift.

I agree that hitting it into the hole the defense gives you would kill the shift, but most players aren't good enough to make that adjustment and pepper the ball to that spot with what they're getting from the pitcher.

In football you can't line up wherever you want. There are restrictions. Not sure how its any different than telling a SS he cant play past 2B.

Originally posted by Niners99:
It would just mean that infielders can't laterally position themselves past a certain point or overlap the position next to them. Four short white lines would be the fix. Playing in or playing deep has nothing to do with the shift.

I agree that hitting it into the hole the defense gives you would kill the shift, but most players aren't good enough to make that adjustment and pepper the ball to that spot with what they're getting from the pitcher.

In football you can't line up wherever you want. There are restrictions. Not sure how its any different than telling a SS he cant play past 2B.

and to be fair on the most players comment, I think that goes to any generation.

The shift was first used in 2006. So many HOFers could have had a ton of hits taken away from them. And to be clear, I am not talking about the ball Solano took in short RF last night...its mainly the old time guaranteed base hits that are no longer base hits that bother me. Guys made HOF careers that could have been different. s**t, I see looping singles up the middle now being caught cause dude is standing there. lol

Big Papi's batting average dropped from .300 to .265 when teams employed it on him. That is the difference between HOF and average player. I'm far from a Ortiz fan, but that stats don't lie.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
How could you ever eliminate where a player stands on the field? Little colored boxes they need to stand in? What about a bunt situation. Does that mean the 3b can't creep in before the pitch. IMO eliminating shifts could never happen without making the game a joke. How about putting the onus on the batter to work to overcome their tendencies, or bunt down the baseline if the player vacates his normal position?

yeah, I agree. Especially in the bunting down the line or pushing a grounder to third situation. Its the actual hits that go away that bother me. And even though I can't stand it, I wouldn't get rid of it either. Just sucks and makes it a little less interesting to watch.

I think the easiest thing to do is say that you can't have more than 2 infielders on one side of 2nd base.

I used to be very against eliminating the shift because I truly believe if you are a good hitter, you learn to beat it. But a buddy asked me once why baseball is the only sport that didn't have illegal defense, and that little question in and of itself has gotten me to be ok with eliminating the shift.

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by Bluesbro:

Originally posted by mayo49:

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
man, I know the shift is a product of data and is probably the smartest addition to baseball, but I hate it. lol. Every time I see a base hit up the middle that gets turned into a routine out, I get bummed. You grow up your whole life thinking that's a hit, only for it not to be now. Or when the 2nd basemen is playing rover in middle RF and takes a hit away and throws the guy out at first. So many HOFers didn't have to face and those were hits for them. Its like the greatest and worst thing to happen to baseball.

Sounds like the commish has plans on eliminating it, I think it needs to go.

How could you ever eliminate where a player stands on the field? Little colored boxes they need to stand in? What about a bunt situation. Does that mean the 3b can't creep in before the pitch. IMO eliminating shifts could never happen without making the game a joke. How about putting the onus on the batter to work to overcome their tendencies, or bunt down the baseline if the player vacates his normal position?

It would just mean that infielders can't laterally position themselves past a certain point or overlap the position next to them. Four short white lines would be the fix. Playing in or playing deep has nothing to do with the shift.

I agree that hitting it into the hole the defense gives you would kill the shift, but most players aren't good enough to make that adjustment and pepper the ball to that spot with what they're getting from the pitcher.

In football you can't line up wherever you want. There are restrictions. Not sure how its any different than telling a SS he cant play past 2B.

I can see both sides of the argument. In the end, I'm for putting in some kind of restrictions as 99 mentions here. Maybe when it comes to baseball I'm too much of a traditionalist and need to loosen up.