Giants’ Beede makes fans Down Under
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The day had not gone well. Tyler Beede got cuffed around in his first spring training start for the Giants on Monday, giving up four hits and three runs in two innings, featuring some hard-hit balls by the Royals. But he wasn’t the slightest bit concerned — and, wow, did he prove that in the clubhouse after he left the mound. First, he conducted a smiling, civil interview with the Bay Area media, exuding a breezy confidence. Then came an invasion from Down Under.
Brad Blanks, an especially earnest fellow representing ESPN Australia, approached Beede with a series of hilariously naive questions, showing that he didn’t know much about baseball, but sure wanted to learn. Beede could
not have been more cooperative, giving cheerful, expansive answers to help the poor guy.
“All right,” said Blanks, really getting excited now. “Tell me, what is a locker? Talk me through it. This is the magic stuff.”
“Well,” said Beede, pointing out the details by hand, “We have hats, sliders (sliding pants), boxers, shirts, long sleeves, we got the pants, the uniforms, peanut-butter sandwiches, for sure, shoes, cleats, everything you may need. Sweaty hats — basically that’s about it.”
“And those boots!” Blanks marveled.
Turning to the camera, “The man’s got it all worked out,” Blanks said. “Great boots, and smells good. Australians, this could be the first guy you cheer for when you follow the San Francisco Giants.”
There will be more starts for Beede, the Vanderbilt alum trying to work his way into the Giants’ rotation. Now he has had a postgame interview against which all others will be measured.
Notes from the Cactus League:
The Angels are planning a six-man rotation to accommodate Shohei Ohtani, who started just once a week in Japan. Imagine running that plan past a workhorse like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw or Madison Bumgarner, who sounds as if he’s up for making three starts over a ninegame stretch for the Giants (thanks to off-days) when the regular season begins. “Do what you want,” one imagines Bumgarner saying, “but I’m pitching every fifth day.”
In his Sunday Boston Globe column, Nick Cafardo listed ex-Giants infielder Christian Arroyo in a group of future stars alongside Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna (Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect), Boston third baseman Rafael Devers and Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres. The Rays’ depth chart lists Arroyo as the No. 1 backup to another familiar face, Matt Duffy, at third base. Arroyo is unlikely to play shortstop with Adeiny Hechavarria and the team’s top position-player prospect, Willy Adames, on the scene.
Let’s get one thing straight about “tanking,” a popular subject these days with a number of clubs cutting back on salary, fielding younger players and basically casting aside the current season. Whatever happens with management, the players aren’t tanking. Everybody’s out there trying to keep a job or make an impression; they wouldn’t dream of intentionally screwing up. Truthfully, it’s not so bad watching a team’s younger prospects develop. Worked pretty well for the Cubs and Astros.
The A’s aren’t tanking, because that’s not Billy Beane’s way. Their regrettable policy is to unload attractive players around the trade deadline, and that has to stop. This year’s Oakland crop looks especially good. Skeptical A’s fans won’t believe the reported shift in philosophy, though, until the proof comes forth.
Once again, personable ex-Giants pitchers Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez will split the assignments on NBC Sports Bay Area when Mike Krukow is at home (missing 40 games). And for those wondering about spring training telecasts, they’re scheduled for Sunday against the Dodgers, March 22 against the Cubs and March 26-27 against the A’s.
The case of the Invisible Dodger Telecast continues. For the fifth season, SportsNet LA will not be linked with DirecTV, shutting out a majority of fans in that market. The Dodgers have arranged for five free telecasts in the first month of the season on KTLA (Channel 5), but that hardly rectifies the situation. What a disgrace.
Maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s a thing: Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, who couldn’t throw without pain down the stretch last year, opted against offseason elbow surgery but still isn’t right; he’s not scheduled to play in the field until the end of March.
Annoying and unnecessary: Batters calling “time” and stepping out of the box just as the pitcher has started his windup or come to a set position. Too often this is a shoddy bit of gamesmanship, and there’s an existing rule stating that umpires can deny that request. Why isn’t it enforced? Perhaps because umpires seldom enforce any pace-ofplay directives. “They’ve just never done it very often,” Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper said. “And after a while, they’re just tired of tickin’ off people. Like parents. Are we gonna yell at our kids over everything? Can’t we just let some stuff slide?”
The wit and wisdom of Tim Flannery: “Being an MLB man and a musician, if you want to speed games up, cut the walkup songs down to 10 seconds. Have the boys get right to the hook of the song. It’s a ballgame, not a musical.”