Matt Cain is good -- Bay City Ball
Because I can't get enough of Matt-Cain-is-good articles, here's one that investigates the possibility that Matt Cain might be good. There should be Federal money coming for more of this research any day now.
Baseball Prospectus | Punk Hits: 2012 Baseball Upfronts
Real talk? Real talk. This link goes to Baseball Prospectus. You can read a paragraph of it or so, and if you're not a subscriber, they'll ask you to pay to read the rest. This bugs some people.
I'm not sure what your relationship is with BP. Maybe you were OG and reading back when Davenport Translations were the rage. Maybe you don't know much about them. Maybe you let your subscription lapse a few years ago because you didn't recognize any of the authors.
This link goes to a piece that Ian Miller wrote. It's hilarious. You might know him as delorean here, but he's Ian in the real world, and he's now with BP. You know who else is with BP now? Sam Miller, who is quite possibly the best baseball writer on the Internet. Better than that guy. Also better than that guy. The ship is run by Ben Lindbergh, who is also an amazing writer -- one of the few who makes me punch things because he gives me writer's block.
That's before you get to Kevin Goldstein, who might be abrasive to some with his Twitter stylings, but who knows his stuff like few others. I can go on. Does this read like a commercial for Baseball Prospectus? Sure. But it's unsolicited and completely honest. They are accumulating a ridiculous amount of talent over there. Ridiculous. If you're going to pay for one baseball site, make it that one, and pretend you get the rest of the Internet as a package deal.
I'd much rather you send the money directly to me, of course. Either way.
Tim Lincecum And The Most Important Stats In The Land - Baseball Nation
If you get a BP subscription, you get a Baseball Nation subscription for free! This has to do with Tim Lincecum's freaky-high BABIP. Pro tip: The conclusion is the real point of the article.
Righetti diagnoses Lincecum: 'He’s just not defeating challenges'
Here's Righetti being candid about Lincecum's struggles. Have we had an I ♥ Righetti article in a while around here? It's long overdue. He's quietly one of the more respected coaches in baseball.
Brock Bond Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com
If you don't already read "minor lines", there's something wrong with you. But in case you don't, please note that Brock Bond is going off in AAA. The Giants accidentally drafted Bond -- seriously -- and he's been a high-OBP monster ever since. His defense is supposed to be rough -- Gillaspie rough -- so I'm not sure if we'll ever see him. I'm ready to try, though.
Plate Discipline Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball
Not that Bond is an absolute necessity now with the New Giants. They're moving on up in the plate-discipline stats. They're now 28th in MLB on swings out of the strike zone. Baby steps. The change came after this post I wrote. Coincidence? Uh, of course. But the Giants' are slowly getting better. I hope it isn't a mirage.
I've actually had people e-mail me and ask if I think that post made a difference. Seeing as how if I ran the Giants, we'd have John Bowker in right, Schierholtz in center, and Nick Johnson or some crap at first, I sure hope not.
Mock Draft: Projecting the first 20 picks
Draft time! Which isn't that exciting when you don't have a top-ten pick, but that's the tradeoff for winning at the major-league level, which is the whole point. This mock draft has the Giants taking some kid I've never heard of. But I hope you will all be angry when they take him! It's a tradition. (Also, check out what the Giants have to spend this year under the new rules.)