Results tagged ‘ Dan Runzler ’
Notes from Scottsdale
? Here’s a sign that Tim Lincecum is not likely to change now that he has more money than he ever imagined. On his flight back to Phoenix after hammering out his new contract in St. Petersburg last week, Lincecum sat in coach – and in a middle seat.
? Rookie Dan Runzler attributes much of his success in the majors last season to fellow left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt. “I’d watch film with him. We’d go over the left-handed hitters. He’d show me guys he’s faced and say, ‘See? This is what this guy does with a 2-0 count. Here’s what he’s thinking.’ I followed Affledt around last season like a puppy dog.”
? Some might be surprised that Affeldt is helping a guy who might one day take his job as the set-up man. Affeldt shrugs. “I’m OK with that. There are 30 teams. I’ll find another job. It’s not my personality, man, to not help a kid like that. I had guys show me when I was a rookie. If they did that for me, why wouldn’t I do it for him? And he’s the kind of kid you really, really pull for.”
? Outfielder Fred Lewis spent the off-season in Mississippi working out under the direction of his now-retired father. After struggling last season, Lewis wanted to get back to basics, something he couldn’t do if he played winter ball. He bought a pitching machine like the one used by the Giants and hit a million balls. He used the pitching machine to shoot fly balls to him out on his old high school field, directing his father to change the angles and velocity to hone his skills. He ran sprints and ran the bases with the intention of stealing more this year. He arrived at camp early, too. Position players aren’t required to be in camp until Tuesday. “I’m in the best shape of my life,” Lewis said. “I couldn’t wait to get here.”
? There has been rain the past two days, though the players got some work in today. The forecast calls for more rain tomorrow.
The Giants – Back Together Again
Outside in the light drizzle, before they went on stage, the Giants players threw their arms around each other like brothers at a reunion. Many hadn’t seen each other since the 2009 season ended in October. Now they were together on Thursday night at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco for the first-ever “town hall meeting” for about 400 season-ticket holders who had won the chance to attend.
The guys caught up on each other’s news. Alex Hinshaw and Matt Cain married their longtime sweethearts. John Bowker got a “puggle,” half pug and half beagle, named Scout. Brian Wilson went to Australia with Brad Penny. Brandon Medders had Halloween and New Year’s Eve gigs with his band in Tuscaloosa. Alabama. Manny Burriss, rehabbing from his foot injury, spent time going to hockey and basketball games with his five-year-old son, Jamari. Kevin Frandsen, after playing winter ball, served as a groomsman at Hinshaw’s December wedding in Oregon.
Inside the theater, when the players had filed in and filled the first two rows of seats, Mike Krukow got everyone standing – fans and players alike – for a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
“Nice goin’!” he said after the final note. “It’s officially baseball season!”
Krukow and Duane Kuiper hosted the event, calling the players up to the stage in small groups by position. It was a rare opportunity to see and hear the players off the field and thus get a sense of who they are as men. General manager Brian Sabean watched from the back of the theater, among the standing-room-only crowd. He had planned to stay for just a few minutes. But, as he told his players at a team meeting the following morning at AT&T Park, the event “was so compelling I stayed for the whole thing.”
“I was very impressed with last night,” he told them. “In listening to everything you had to say, three themes emerged: You are humble. You are respectful. And you have passion. This team is in a great frame of mind going into the season.”
The two-hour event will air on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Here are some snippets:
? Jeremy Affeldt emerged, as he always does in these things, as a natural entertainer. He got everyone laughing with pointed barbs at manager Bruce Bochy for making him pitch to a guy “who hit about .900” off him. When, a few minutes later, Kuiper asked the relievers to name their all-time favorite player, Affeldt deadpanned, “Bruce Bochy.” (The next morning at the team meeting, Bochy said he was ready to name his Opening Day pitcher: Jeremy Affeldt.)
? Asked what position he would play if he got to choose, Pablo Sandoval didn’t hesitate. “Hitting!”
? Sergio Romo showed off the T-shirt he had bought earlier in the day. It was pure Sergio who, besides Pablo, is the most playful guy on the team. The design on the front of the shirt lit up whenever he talked, which meant – as his teammates will tell you – it blazed all night.
? Dan Runzler, who played at every minor-league level last year before making it to San Francisco in September, was asked what it was like to pitch to players he had only seen on TV. “I was in more shock going into the locker room (of the Giants),” he said. “I had never been to a major-league spring training, so I was completely star-struck.”
? When the pitchers were asked when they knew they wanted to be pitchers, Runzler said, ”I knew I wanted to be a pitcher when they took the bat out of my hands and told me to pitch.”
? New second baseman Mark DeRosa made an impression with his down-to-earth style. “To me,” he said, “it’s all about trying to win championships. When you have a starting rotation like we have, and a bullpen and closer like we have, we’ve got a great chance.”
? Tim Lincecum, the one player to prompt a standing ovation, was asked what he could do to top his accomplishment of winning two Cy Young Awards in two years: “Hit a home run for the first time in my life.”
? Barry Zito was asked what musician he’d like to jam with. Because he’s been into drums lately, he said, he would choose drummer Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band.
See you tomorrow at FanFest!
Shots from the Town Hall Meeting:
Brandon Medders and Tim Lincecum
Players calling lucky Season Ticketholders today from the front office at AT&T Park:
Jeremy Affledt:
Mark DeRosa:
Buster Posey:
Sergio Romo:
Eli Whiteside:
Brandon Medders:
Sabean’s Update on Lincecum, Etc.
Just got off the phone with Giants GM Brian Sabean, who has been trying to hammer out a contract with Tim Lincecum.
“The bottom line is we worked in earnest to negotiate a two-year deal but it looks like it’s not going to happen,” he said from the Giants complex in Scottsdale, where Buster Posey, Eugenio Velez, Dan Runzler, Manny Burriss and others are attending a conditioning camp in preparation for spring training.
“It looks like we’ll be going to arbitration on a one-year deal.”
The salary this season for Lincecum, the 25-year-old, two-time Cy Young winner, will be decided later this month by a panel of three professional arbitrators. Lincecum and his agent are asking for $13 million. The Giants offered $8 million.
Players must spend six years in the major leagues before they can become free agents. So the Giants have Lincecum through the 2013 season – four more years. Thus, Sabean explained, there is no urgency in locking Lincecum in to a multi-year contract.
As for the rest of the team, Sabean said the additions of outfielder Mark DeRosa and first baseman Aubrey Huff, plus a full season from second-baseman Freddie Sanchez (after he rehabs from off-season shoulder surgery), bolster an offense that already has proven talent.
“With this lineup, I think we can springboard off the 88 wins from last year and get into playoff contention,” he said
The reasons?
“Number One,” Sabean said, “we’ll have more experience on the field. Number Two, guys will be able to hit in the order where they have traditionally hit.”
Meaning, among other things, that catcher Bengie Molina no longer has to fill the clean-up spot. He likely will hit sixth.
And speaking of Bengie and Sabean’s comment in December that “that ship has sailed” only to sign him a month later . . .
“That ship had sailed,” he said. “As it turned out, he didn’t want to go to New York and we’re thankful. He is back in place to help the pitching staff and take the pressure off Buster Posey.”
Posey, he said, could spend most of the season in Triple A or be the backup in San Francisco. “We’ll know more after spring training,” Sabean said. “We’re keeping an open mind.”
In the meantime, the players are looking forward to seeing each other at FanFest this weekend at AT&T Park.
“You get everybody together in the same room,” Sabean said, “and there’s always a great vibe as they meet and greet each other after going their separate ways in the off-season. Although there really isn’t an off-season. Everybody’s working out or playing winter ball. So it’s fun to be together again and starting a new season.”
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