San Francisco Giants Link Dump, 4/29

Let's all hope that Mac Williamson has a speedy and full recovery, and he's back healthy and throwing in 2015.

Let's also hope that I find a way to segue from that into jokes.

How much does a team's early-season record inform their playoff odds?
The bad news is that the Giants' decent record so far is not yet remotely predictive. The good news is that the end of this sentence is coming up soon, so there's bound to be good news there because that was the promise inherent at the beginning of the sentence.

That worked, right?

Baseball's Many Physical Dimensions
Infographic time! If you wanted to see all the ballpark dimensions in one graphic, with the most interesting fences clearly labeled, this is a good link for you. The only flaw in it is that it doesn't show the stupid hill in center in Houston, with an arrow pointing to it, labeled as "Stupid hill," and maybe with a dunce cap on top of it to represent the flagpole.

Robinson Cano Surprises Yankees Fans While They're Booing Him
But if Yankees fans are going to be all cordial to Cano when he's right in front of them, how am I supposed to hate them? I wish just one of them had kept up the booing when he was right in front of them instead of going for the handshake, because then I could have justified my negative opinion of Yankees fans which is based entirely on stereotypes and not personal experience, AND I could have laughed at the hypocrisy of a Yankees fan hating a player for going somewhere for the money.

I mean, I could hate them for the hypocrisy of only booing a player when he's not standing right in front of them, but it's not really the same.

Teams Wield Advance Consent Hammer
If you weren't paying attention to all the hot Randy Wolf news during spring training - and if not I hardly see how you can call yourself a baseball fan - he made the Mariners out of camp, but they insisted on a clause in his contract that he found unacceptable, so he ended up signing with the Diamondbacks. So when he Gorzelannies an inexplicably great start against the Giants later this year, that's one more sports-related catastrophe we can throw at Seattle's feet. Fans of San Francisco sports have really been lacking those this year.

Donald Sterling Thinks He Owns His Players; He's Not Alone
We all agree that Donald Sterling is a despicable person who deserves whatever invective we can throw at him. But since we have the example of the one sports owner who is the lowest of the low, it becomes easier to pretend that other owners in major sports, including the ones in baseball, including the ones who own the Giants, haven't been perpetrating a terrible system too.

The alternative to thinking about these issues is to watch highlights of Hank The Brewers Puppy, dressed in a hot dog costume, competing in the sausage race. Which, damn, I don't even remember what issues are anymore.

Swinging Out of the Zone and Really Swinging Out of the Zone
Jeff Sullivan takes a look at what kinds of pitches outside the strike zone hitters have been swinging at - borderline balls or pitches in the dirt. The plus side is that Brandon Belt comes out pretty well in the study, swinging at fewer obvious balls than almost anyone. The other plus side is that Yasiel Puig and Juan Uribe make a habit of flailing at pitches in the dirt. Hey, there's that good news I was looking for! Phew! I didn't think you'd show up, buddy.