Tag: mlb

Bumgarner hit by line drive; Mad Bum possibly out six to eight weeks

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Photo credit: @Deadspin

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, March 23, 2018

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For the second time in two days, the San Francisco Giants’ pitching rotation was dealt a serious blow as spring training draws to a close.

Thursday, it was Jeff Samardzija finding his way to the shelf. Friday, it was ace Madison Bumgarner.

In the top of the third inning of the Giants’ Cactus League contest against the Kansas City split squad, Bumgarner was hit on his pitching hand trying to field a line drive by Royals’ second baseman Whit Merrifield.

After a brief discussion with the team trainer and Giants manager Bruce Bochy, Bumgarner was immediately pulled, replaced by right-hander Ryan Halstead, activated from the minor league camp.

Bochy said after the game that Bumgarner suffered a fracture on the side of his left hand, just below the knuckle on his little finger (fifth metacarpal).

Bumgarner will have pins inserted on Saturday, and is reportedly expected to miss six to eight weeks.

“There’s no way around that,” Bumgarner said. “They’ll put the pins in, and hopefully, it’ll heal the way it’s supposed to, and heal quickly.”

“I can’t give you any details until I get some more,” Bochy said, adding that it was too soon to determine any prognosis or timetable for Bumgarner to return. “They’ll let us know soon just how long this will take.

Asked about who will start on Opening Day, Bochy said, “I don’t know yet. We had guys set to go on certain days. It’s what we’ll talk about on the flight to San Francisco.

“Obviously, we’ll have to make some adjustments … It’s just a downer. This was (Bumgarner’s) short day. I really feel for him. Obviously, you know what he means to us … And how he was, the way he was throwing the ball all spring. Unfortunately, you have to deal with these things, but this was really a downer today.”

After a strong start in 2017, Bumgarner missed nearly three months after suffering a shoulder injury (Grade 2 left shoulder sprain and bruised ribs) while riding a dirt bike on April 20.

This was Bumgarner’s sixth and final scheduled spring training start. He’s 1-2 with a 3.43 earned run average in 21 innings. Bumgarner’s 30 strikeouts are second in the Cactus League to the 32 punch-outs by Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer.

Bad luck continues for the Giants’ rotation. San Francisco is already expected to place Jeff Samardzija on the disabled list to start the season, after an MRI revealed a strained pectoral muscle.

“And that’s never a good thing, but we have a lot more depth this year,” Bochy said. “So, we’ll get this thing figured out in the next couple of days on what we’re going to do with this rotation. There’s nothing we can do but push on.”

FIRST TIME
Brandon Belt played left field for the first time all spring for the Giants. Hitting third, Belt was 1-for-3 Friday.

Belt is hitting .396 this spring with three home runs and 11 RBIs.

THE GAME
Kansas City’s split squad surged ahead in the third inning and stayed there, holding off a late San Francisco rally to beat the Giants 9-6.

After Merrifield reached on the liner back to Bumgarner leading off the third, he went to second on Ryan O’Hearn’s base hit, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Chester Culbert single.

Culbert gave the Royals their first lead on a solo home run off Bumgarner in the second inning. Pablo Sandoval tied the game for San Francisco with a solo shot to right off KC starter Jakob Junis (2-0), leading off the bottom of the second.

It was Panda’s third homer and 15th RBI of the spring. Sandoval is hitting .313 in 18 CL games.

Culbert led the Royals split-squad offense, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

The Royals added three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.

Jerry Sands, sporting No. 98, hit his second CL homer for San Francisco on a towering drive to left in the eighth inning. The sellout crowd of 11,002 chanted “Jer-ry, Jer-ry” as he circled the bases.

Sands had major league stints with the Dodgers, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and the White Sox between 2011 and 2016.

San Francisco scored four runs in the ninth. Kelby Tomlinson and Dylan Davis had RBI singles in the rally.

Steven Duggar was 2-for-4 in the Giants’ 11-hit attack.

BARNEY NUGENT AWARD
Outfielder Chris Shaw was voted the 2018 Barney Nugent Award by the Giants’ players, coaches and training staff. The award is given in recognition of the player in his first big league camp “whose performance and dedication best exemplifies the Giants’ spirit, much like Nugent did.”

Nugent worked as an athletic trainer for the Giants from 1993 to 2003.

ON DECK
This was San Francisco’s final 2018 Cactus League game in Scottsdale. The Giants head to Sacramento to face their Triple-A affiliate River Cats at Raley Field (6:05 p.m.), then move on to Oakland for the first game of their annual three-game set with the Athletics at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.

The Monday-Tuesday games against the A’s are at AT&T Park, both starting at 7:15 pm PST.

TAGS
San Francisco Giants, Cactus League, Madison Bumgarner, Sports Radio Service

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Samardzija on DL for right pectoral muscle; Giants go with four-man rotation

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 The big news is that Jeff Samardzija goes on the D.L. after giving up three home runs in back-to-back starts. Did that send up a red flag for you that something was wrong with Samardzija?

#2 Samardzija underwent an MRI and it revealed he had a strained right pectoral muscle in his chest.

#3 The MRI came after Samardzija gave up two home runs in an inning of a Triple-A game. He hit the next hitter and then he was removed.

#4 How will Samardzija’s absence impact the Giants’ rotation?

#5 Michael’s favorite spring training moments in Giants camp during the exhibition sesaon.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Dcua at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s Jharel Cotton undergoes successful Tommy John surgery; A’s lose fourth game in a row

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Photo credit: @rockies_fanly

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, March 22, 2018

MESA, Ariz. – Following through on a previously reported diagnosis, Oakland Athletics’ right-hander Jharel Cotton underwent successful ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (Tommy John) surgery at a hospital in Arlington, Tex.

The A’s said Cotton will remain in Arlington until Saturday, then return to Oakland on Sunday to begin the rehabilitation process.

Cotton was projected to be in the A’s rotation in 2018. He was 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in four Cactus League games, while holding opponents to a .195 batting average.

Cotton was 9-10 in 24 starts over two stints with the A’s last season.

Elsewhere, the A’s optioned catcher Dustin Garneau to Triple-A Nashville. This leaves the Athletics with 35 active players in camp, including 32 on the 40-man roster and three non-roster invitees.

THE GAME
Colorado led early and hung on to beat Oakland 4-2 in the Athletics’ next-to-last Cactus League game before a crowd of 7,356 at Hohokam Stadium. It was the A’s fourth Cactus League loss in a row.

Charlie Blackmon liked what he saw in the game’s first at-bat, belting a home run off A’s starter Andrew Triggs. In the second inning, Ian Desmond’s RBI single made it 2-0. Desmond drove in Trevor Story, who reached on an error and stole second.

Chris Iannetta hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth off Triggs, extending the Rockies’ lead to 3-0. Oakland’s Marcus Siemen hit a two-run shot off Chad Bettis, pulling the Athletics to within 3-2.

Iannetta’s RBI double in the seventh – after Gerardo Parra – put the Rox up 4-2.

Triggs surrendered six hits and two earned runs – both on home runs – while striking out three in 5 1/3 innings. Emilio Pagan, Frankie Montas and Trevor Cahill – the free agent who was recently signed to a one-year contract – threw in relief for Oakland.

Bettis was the winning pitcher (2-0), logging four strikeouts, two walks and two earned runs. Austin House worked a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his second CL save.

Siemen wound up 2-for-4. Jed Lowrie, Stephen Piscotty, Matt Chapman and Bruce Maxwell had the other Oakland hits.

The Athletics host Milwaukee on Saturday before heading back to Oakland on March 25 for the opening game of the annual Bay Bridge Series.

TAGS
Oakland Athletics,Cactus League,Sports Radio Service

Sports Headlines podcast with Tony Renteria: How Tony did with his March Madness brackets; With four big injuries, how that worked for Warriors; Giants’ Samardzija struggling this spring and more

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Photo credit: @marchmadness

On the Sports Headlines podcast with Tony:

#1 Are all of Tony’s brackets broken? Tony talks about his prediction in the Sweet 16 and who’ll be the last team standing.

#2 What benefits do you see to having injuries to Golden State Warriors? Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Green and Curry are expected to come back on Friday against the Atlanta Hawks.

#3 Pitcher Jeff Samardzija has given up three homers in one inning twice in two games and is struggling to have a decent spring outing. He’ll be in the rotation for the regular season, but what is happening with Samardzija and giving up the long ball?

#4 A’s pitcher AJ Puk has gone down with biceps soreness and has no major structural damage. He’s listed as day-to-day.

#5 The Giants certainly have the offense coming into the season with big boppers like Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen, Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, and Pablo Sandoval, just to name a few. But the Giants’ pitching staff is still a concern coming into the season.

Tony Renteria does the Sports Headlines podcast each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Pagan will be an effective reliever; Mengden will be in A’s rotation; plus more A’s news

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Jerry:

#1 Emillio Pagan, who came to the A’s in the Ryon Healy deal from the Seattle Mariners, has been effective in the Cactus League and A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said that Pagan has the passion. Emerson also likes his work ethic and says Pagan is not afraid to try new things and it’s proving to work out.

#2 Pagan’s numbers were impressive with 50 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings last season. He’s the A’s best kept secret and they gave up a lot, trading Healy to Seattle to get Pagan.

#3 Daniel Mengden passed the audition during spring training, allowing five hits, a walk, two runs in 6 1/3 innings of work and struck out three. Also, Mengden threw 85 pitches this spring.

#4 Section 332 will be the A’s charity section every Wednesday starting April 4th, where fans can pay from $1 and up. All proceeds go to an A’s charity.

#5 The A’s signed right-handed pitcher Trevor Cahill. Brett Anderson is signed to a minor league deal. Anderson formerly pitched for the A’s.

Jerry Feitelberg does the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: Can A’s pitching hold up?; With Cotton out, AJ Puk being sent down won’t fill Puk’s roster spot

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Photo credit: @EndowPhoto

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 A lot of stuff was expected for A’s pitcher AJ Puk. He started spring without giving up a run in 10 innings, but on Wednesday gave up four runs and was reassigned to their minor league camp and will not likely replace A’s pitcher, Jharel Cotton, who is being placed on the DL for the rest of the season for Tommy John surgery.

#2 Puk, at one time, was being considered as the opening day starter but will be relegated to try and work his way back to the big club at the A’s Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds.

#3  Cotton, who tore his UCL Monday, will be preparing for surgery and his absence from the rotation will be felt by the pitching staff.

#4 A’s pitcher Sean Manaea is looking to having a great 2018. That’s all it takes is for someone to get going and maybe the others can follow.

#5 The A’s are looking at former Athletic pitchers Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill to make the club and help with some badly-needed pitching.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish play-by-play voice for Oakland A’s radio and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

San Francisco Giants Podcast with Morris Phillips: Can SF get off to a strong start this season?; With Longoria, McCutchen, and Jackson, expect an improve offense; MadBum says first month doesn’t determine a season

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Can the Giants get off to a fast start to begin the 2018 campaign and considering how much the pitching had issues last season is that rear viewed, but the question is–how is the pitching coming along this spring?

#2 Manager Bruce Bochy is hoping for a strong beginning after San Francisco improved its lineup with Evan Longoria, Andy McCutchen, and utility outfielder Austin Jackson.

#3 Pitcher Madison Bumgarner is realistic about the beginning of the regular season saying that the first month doesn’t determine how a season is going to go and the pitching this spring has been spotty, but who knows? They can come out firing on all cylinders.

#4 Is one of the other concerns that the Giants got a little older rather than got younger or do the experienced guys have it in this line up to take them to postseason?

#5 The Giants are ten days away from getting ready for opening day at Dodger Stadium on the 29th of next week. What are some of the takeaways going into opening day that will make a difference?

Morris Phillips does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum: It’s decision time for SF Giants’ 40-man roster; Cotton out for season with Tommy John for A’s; Will new rule changes work for MLB?

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Photo credit: @MLB_Commentary

On the MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 Giants: Decision time for three players on 40-man roster that are out of options.

2 A’s: Jharel Cotton is having Tommy John surgery and will be out for the season. He was originally diagnosed with a sprained elbow.

3 Will the new MLB rules actually work?

4 Should Angels’ phenom Shohei Ohtani start the season in the minors?

#5 Former Kansas City Athletic and New York Met Ed Charles 84 a tribute to Charles who passed away earlier this week

Daniel Dullum does the MLB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Spring training: While A’s bats come alive, Giants have interesting roster decisions

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Photo credit: baseballinthebay.com

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, March 17, 2018

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Every team faces this dilemma at some point during spring training–what to do when a valued prospect runs out of options? The San Francisco Giants are no exception.

The Giants have three players on their 40-man roster who are in that predicament: outfielders Gorkys Hernandez and Jarrett Parker along with right-handed pitcher Cory Gearrin.

Parker has bounced back-and-forth between Triple-A Sacramento and the Giants since 2015, hitting .257 in parts of three seasons with San Francisco. The left-handed hitting outfielder has hit 103 homers in seven minor league campaigns. So far, this spring, Parker is hitting .235 with two homers and five RBIs.

Since 2012, Hernandez has had big league shots with Pittsburgh, Miami and the Giants. He’s a .255 career hitter, valued more for defense (two errors out of 328 chances in four seasons). In 13 Cactus League games, Hernandez is hitting .188 after going 2-for-2 in San Francisco’s split-squad game Saturday against Cincinnati in Goodyear.

In three seasons with Atlanta and three with the Giants, Gearrin is 10-8 with a 3.47 earned run average, mostly in relief. This spring, the 32-year-old hurler has a 1.29 ERA in seven appearances.

Though spring training is nearing the end, Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said it’s still too soon to make any final decisions, not just on the aforementioned, but other areas of the team.

“We’re looking at our options to see what we can do,” Bochy said. “We’ve got some time, still. But nothing’s been decided.”

Here’s how it works: Once a player is put on the 40-man roster, a team has three option years on that player. When a player spends at least 20 days in the minors in any of those three seasons, that becomes an option year.

Then, if that player does not make the 25-man roster after using all of his options, he must be exposed to waivers before he can be sent outright to a minor league affiliate.

The trick is, if a player is valued enough, to try and sneak a prized prospect through waivers. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. General managers are watching more than just their own players this time of year.

TRANSACTIONS
San Francisco optioned infielder Ryder Jones to Triple-A Sacramento, leaving the Giants with 47 players in camp.

THE GAME
The battle of Bay Area split squads saw the Athletics strike early and defeated the Giants 8-3.

Oakland’s spiit-squadders opened the game with a four-run rally – all unearned – off Giants’ starter Ty Blach. After Franklin Barreto opened the game by reaching on an infield error, the big hits were an RBI double by Matt Joyce, and Jake Smolinski’s RBI double, which preceded a Sheldon Neuse home run to right-center.

The A’s built a 7-0 cushion until San Francisco scored two in the fourth and one in the fifth. Hunter Pence had an RBI single in the fourth, and Brandon Belt added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Oakland starter Andrew Triggs (2-0) threw 3 2/3 inning to get the win, giving up two earned runs on two hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked three. Chris Bassett, Eric Jokisch and Daniel Gossett gave up one run over the last 5 2/3 innings. Gossett threw four scoreless innings, scattered two hits, struck out five and picked up his first CL save.

Blach (1-1) worked the first five innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits – three earned – struck out four and issued no walks.

“(Oakland) took some good swings,” Blach said. “Getting a shut-down inning after we put up some runs, definitely some good things to build on.”

“It was a tough day for Blach,” Bochy said. “He was off with his location and left balls up. It’s not going to work in Arizona. But he got his work in, and I liked that fifth inning when we wanted to get him up over 80 pitches and he had a solid 1-2-3. It was a nice way to finish.”

With one start left in the Cactus League before heading north, Blach said he felt his spring has been a good one.

“I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of being in the strike zone for the most part, but I’d like to get back to commanding the ball a little bit better in the zone and get ahead a little more often,” Blach said. “I’m just kind of refining some things and I feel like the breaking ball is where I want it.

“I’m just taking it day by day, trying to get better.”

The announced attendance was 12,045 – a sellout.

OTHER GAMES
In other split-squad games, Seattle beat the A’s 4-1 in Mesa, while Cincinnati edged the Giants 5-4 in Goodyear.

After Saturday’s Cactus League play, Oakland is 11-8, San Francisco is 10-11.

UP NEXT
On Sunday, the Athletics host the Chicago White Sox at Hohokam Stadium, while the Giants head up the 101 to play Colorado. The final Arizona games for both teams are on Friday.

TAGS
Oakland A’s,San Francisco Giants,Cactus League,Sports Radio Service

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Oakland Coliseum Is Still in the Game

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Photo credit: @WestCoastTurf

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

OAKLAND, Calif. — Discussions are starting this month by the City of Oakland in order to buy the Coliseum and the adjacent Oracle Arena.

This is what Karen Boyd spokeswoman for the City Oakland said: “The city of Oakland and Alameda County are aligned in the view that development of the Coliseum property would be simplified and streamlined with a single owner that controls all aspects of the future development process,” City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said in a statement to The SF Chronicle. “To that end, the city and county are engaging in discussions on the terms of an agreement that will be mutually beneficial. We will publicly discuss the outcome of these negotiations at the appropriate time.”

This is very significant because if the Athletics cannot build their new park at Howard Terminal, the current location of the Oakland Coliseum will be the one waiting on deck.

The Oakland Raiders are moving to Las Vegas in 2020. Their stadium is under construction.

The Golden State Warriors are moving in 2019 to Chase Center. Their stadium is also under construction in San Francisco. It’s within walking distance from the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.

In September 2017, the Athletics officially announced that the Laney College location was their preferred location, but then in December, the A’s swung and missed strike one when the Peralta Community District Board of Trustees said no and added that they didn’t even want to start negotiating. Right now, the A’s management have their sights at the Howard Terminal, which BART doesn’t approve. but if they swing and miss strike two, they will have a count of 0-2 with one pitch remaining and that would be the place where they have been playing for over 60 years, the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.

Would the A’s even consider the rebuilding of the Coliseum to a much more baseball only, fan-friendly ballpark with a capacity of around 45.000? This will not be a face lift, but they will demolish the Coliseum, and rebuild a brand-new ballpark. If that materializes, the A’s will have to play their games in another park for the time being, while they build a new one at the current location. But that would be another show.

The saga of the new ballpark for the Oakland Athletics continues, which makes things look more like a Telemundo novela as the days go by.