Category: San Francisco Giants

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–It will be wonderful to see what they’ve done with old yard in Mesa the Oakland A’s remodeled training facility. The way it used to be they used to have a huge long chain link fence at one time that went all the way down to the foul poles and a plywood pressbox where you felt like you were watching a game in a prison because everybody felt they were so fairly fenced off from the players.

This might not be better than the A’s clubhouse at the Coliseum, it’s still the A’s spring training your still going to have between 40-60 guys in there. It’s a different kind of situation, you have guys coming and going all spring long, there’s five different days when cuts are made and players move onto minor league camp.

You be assured that there will be a distinct improvement, the minor league facility is the one that has undergone a lot of changes at Ho Ho Kam Stadium and the Chicago Cubs worked out there in spring training for decades. The A’s have more than doubled the size of that facility and they have really turned it into quite a project.

The A’s with the City of Mesa along with a tax fund which is from all the folks who attend spring training are really the first to start the funding there. A lot of that money comes from the people who make the mistake of renting a car during the month of March down there when it’s non March date they’ll hit customers up for regular rental fee but not during spring training. The stadium itself hasn’t moved Ho Ho Kam Park you could say it’s in a quite neighborhood, it’s across the street from a 300 acre cemetery. It’s very quite a marble orchard.

Ex-Giant pitcher Charlie Williams who was traded to San Francisco from the New York Mets during spring training 1973 for Willie Mays passed away at the age of 67 on January 27th. There aren’t too many trades in baseball that make both teams unhappy and that was one of them. Giants fans during the early years never really super accepted Willie Mays in San Francisco they always loved Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda more because they started out as San Francisco players and neither were an import from New York.

The Giants fans really never really gave Williams a fair opportunity to earn a place in their heart, New York fans of course had already seen the miracle Mets of 1969 and the Mets were a pretty good team back then and what they got back in 1973 was just a shell of the real Willie Mays. I remember seeing Mays final base hit as a Met in the 1973 World Series in Oakland against the A’s, he got the hit late in the game and he did wind up on first base. He fell down on the way to first base, it was sad to watch because Mays stayed a year longer than his legacy deserved.

Williams for the Giants split the 1973 season between minor league Phoenix and San Francisco before making the big club for good in 1974 and stayed with the Giants until 1978. Williams passed away in January due to complications from heart surgery with clogged arteries. He was 67.

Michael Duca is covering the A’s and the Giants in Spring Training for http://www.sportsrsadioservice.com listen to his podcast below

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

TEMPE AZ–This week pitchers and catchers report to Arizona and Florida for 2015 Spring Training. Reading the reports for most teams optimism is running high, even Barry Zito is now joining the Athletics for the first time since he won the Cy Young for the green and gold, who says he has a new pitching style. That was a low risk pick-up for the A’s, if he comes back in the form as the good Zito, the A’s win, if he does not, they let him go, no harm no foul. Many things have changed in the game of baseball, but one thing that remains a constant is that you really never have enough pitching; so the Barry Zito signing in a way is a win-win for the A’s. And if Zito has nothing left? He might want to retire with the A’s, the A’s have a sellout at the Coliseum on Barry Zito Day and everybody is happy. Does anybody believes the Giants would have won last October without Madison Bumgarner?

Meanwhile half dozen teams still in pursuit of Cuban infielder Héctor Olivera, all dangling a $70 million multi-year contract on the rookie, with the Los Angeles Dodgers looking as the front runners as of today. Starting this week the Athletics will train at Hohokam Park, in Mesa, Arizona, with a capacity of 12,500. The Giants continue at Scottsdale, plus another 13 teams in the Phoenix area opening their camps. All California teams train now in Arizona, A’s(Mesa),Giants(Scottsdale),Angels(Tempe),Dodgers,(Glendale), and Padres(Peoria).

Having traveled to the Phoenix Area for Spring Training, every year for the past 30 years, I have seen the amazing transformation of the Valley of the Sun. For example, because a total of 15 teams have their training camps there, you must make accommodations no later than early January, if you want to have a good place to stay. Hotels are close to capacity at this time of the year. Spring is the perfect time for Arizona, an average of 75 to 80 degrees everyday and if you like baseball, this is heaven for you. Snowbirds drive down with their trailers and camp for weeks, many big baseball fans. One of the most favorite teams that train there are the Chicago Cubs, who will continue to train in Mesa, in a sensational new facility, (the biggest and the best I have seen so far). I visited that Cubs facility last spring, when they inaugurated a replica of historic Wrigley Field.

There is nothing wrong with Spring Training in Arizona, maybe the traffic is the biggest negative, but if you have the time, and you are a baseball fan, you can’t go wrong. You can hop from park to park on one day, or you can stay and watch one team all day. If you stay in the Phoenix Area, most teams are within 45 minutes by car.Thousands of people from all over California, plan their vacations this time of the year, others just fly for the weekends, it is a quick hour to hour and half flight from most places in California. You can drive it also, depends where you live, from the Bay Area, plan on an all day drive from sunrise to sunset.

Giants and Indians were the pioneers in Arizona. The now famous Cactus League, became a reality in 1947, when Horace Stoneham’s New York Giants and Bill Veeck’s Cleveland Indians began to open their camps in Phoenix and Tucson. For Bill Veeck’s Indians it was easy, since he owned ranches in the Tucson area. Other teams that previously have trained out west were the Chicago Cubs, who in 1905 training in Santa Monica(LA)California. The Cubs liked California so much back then, that between 1922 and 1942 they had their Spring Training camp in Catalina Island, and then again in 1950 and 1951.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio voice and the Los Angeles Angels Spanish TV voice and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

by Tony The Tiger Hayes

The jury is out on Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, Bosch was convicted by a federal judge on a conspiracy charge of illegal distribution of illegal drugs and was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Major League Baseball attorneys drew up a voucher for Bosch seeking leniency because Bosch had cooperated in revealing his sources of who he distributed to.

Bosch outted Major League players the New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez and the Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun of the high profile players who were using performance enhancers. Bosch had been on bail until trial after pleading guilty to the distribution charge he was also in drug treatment for a cocaine addiction.

Bosch helped point out that A-Rod was a PED user after distributing to him, the deal was that he would rat out players that he distributed to in exchange for MLB lawyers to ask the courts to award Bosch leniency. MLB found that the information provided by Bosch crucial in finding out who is using banned substances after MLB had established policies for such infractions.

A-Rod was suspended for the entire 2014 season as a result of PED use, A-Rod was preparing to sue MLB for banning him but regrouped and dropped the lawsuit in exchange for baseball allowing A-Rod to return this season with the Yankees. MLB lawyers were so grateful for Bosch’s help that they drew up a ten page letter that outlined his testimony as a cooperating witnesses against it’s players.

U.S.Distict Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that Bosch was distributing illegal drugs and that he followed the gammit of the law by sentencing Bosch to four years in Federal prison. MLB lawyers had outlined that Bosch’s help was “critical” in outing the users in MLB also the attorneys said that what Bosch did was “important to public interest.”

Gayles disregarded MLB’s attempt to help Bosch and Gayles said that Bosch was “the mastermind of the operation” and that “a stiff sentence is appropriate”. Also the court told Bosch’s attorneys that Bosch had to return back to jail 60 days early before the trial. Bosch’s clients included high school students and that Bosch had passed himself off as a doctor in South Florida.

Tony The Tiger Hayes is a talk show host on Sportstalk on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

TEMPE–There is no doubt, for the past few years Cuban players have been the hottest commodity.There has been so much talk about the Cuban players and Cuba, that the Asian invasion of a few years ago has been all but forgotten. Remember when Japanese players were coming into the majors, and big press conferences were put together to announce the most recent import to the game? That has subsided, but at the same time the Cuban market has gone crazy.

The Oakland Athletics have shown interested, along with the Giants, Padres and Dodgers(among others)in 29-year old Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, who many scouts believe could be a middle of the order hitter in the Athletics lineup, and in a totally different infield this season for the A’s. He could be a good deal for the bargain-hunting Oakland A’s if they can land the free-agent -the A’s would not have to pay a luxury tax.

Not long ago(last eight years or so) you could count with the fingers on one hand the Cuban players in the major leagues. In 2014, between 25 to 30 Cubans players were in the majors, and there will be more playing in 2015. Red Sox speedster-outfielder Rusney Castillo, could make a big difference on top of the Boston Red Sox lineup, a Boston team that could go from last to first in their division this year. Yoenis Céspedes is now on his third team since he first played with the A’s. He has played in Boston and this season will be playing for the Detroit Tigers, and is poised to have his best season at Comerica Park, a great place for a right handed power hitter.

Meanwhile in Chicago, the Rookie of The Year, first baseman José Abreu will be on his second season with the Chicago White Sox, one of the most improved teams in baseball this winter. Yasiel Puig who is the poster child for the crop of talented Cuban players of recent memory, now feels more comfortable with the Dodgers, as he plays with the enthusiasm and the talent that puts him in a class by himself, an MVP waiting to happen, but like a precious stone that needs to be polished,he will bet better, he is one of those special players that people pay just to see.

So are Cuban players overrated? I do not think so. These Cuban players arriving today, are ready to play,at least at the Triple A, level, but most are major league caliber. After defecting from Cuba, these players usually make it to the Big Show in an average of two years. That’s very good, they know that the contract is awaiting, that teams are sending scouts all over the world to give them a look. The Cuban players, know that they are a very hot commodity in today’s very wealthy Major League Baseball. It is good to see that the pioneer Latin country when it came to players in the major leagues is coming back. Recently the Cuban team won their first Caribbean Baseball Series as the beat México 3-2 in the final game. It was the first win for Cuba in the tournament that they used to dominate since 1960.(First Caribbean Series was in La Habana, Cuba in 1949)

The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum at the Athletics Fanfest.

Oakland Athletics Cuban-born right hander reliever Dan Otero, sat with yours truly at The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame table, during the Oakland A’S 2015 Fanfest. Around 15,000 A’S fans showed up, during a stormy day to see their heroes. Otero signed for approximately 30 minutes at our table and he seemed to really enjoy it as he signed autographs and have his picture taken with fans of all ages. He told me “estoy listo para el entrenamiento” trans: “I am ready for Spring Training”.

President’s Day and Baseball:

America’s affinity baseball made its way to the White House during the Taft administration. President William Howard Taft was the first American president to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910. It was opening day for the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Since Taft, every U.S. President has thrown out at least one first pitch inaugurating a season. Richard Nixon was probably the most savvy of US Presidents, when it came to baseball. The great New York baseball writer Dick Young once wrote about President Nixon: “Richard Nixon would have to top the list of presidential baseball fans. “This isn’t a guy that shows up at season openers to take bows and get his picture in the paper and has to have his secretary of state tell him where first base is. This man knows baseball.”

Have a happy and safe President’s Day weekend.

Amaury Pi-González is on his 38th season as major league broadcaster, Spanish Voice for the Oakland A’S radio network, and also play by play for the LA Angels on Anaheim on the Fox Sports West/Español in southern California. Amaury also does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com