“Managing in MLB, it’s not that hard. Tell him, Wash.” YOUR 2026 San Francisco Giants!

WASH IS READY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImfFRzFUwA

Really nice Baggs piece about Luis Arraez, Marco Scutaro and their connection:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7077856/2026/02/28/sf-giants-luis-arraez-marco-scutaro-venezuela-connection/?source=user_shared_article

Scutaro’s nickname in Venezuela, El Pulpo, came from a broadcaster who liked his intelligent style of play and considered the octopus one of the world’s most intelligent creatures. Arraez’s nickname, La Regadera, was coined by his sister, Normelis, to describe the way her brother seemingly deposited baseballs off every blade of outfield grass. Arraez wore the name on the back of his jersey during players’ weekend over the past few seasons. It’s the Spanish term for a watering can or sprinkler.

When it rains, sometimes all you can do is embrace it.

Harrison Bader, his muscles, crop top and…aesthetic…are going to be popular
https://i.postimg.cc/sDRKk15S/IMG-0211.png

In an early-morning outfield drill, he was the one with the long, dirty-blond hair, linebacker body, and moves that oozed with the flair and finesse of a Gold Glove center fielder.

https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/16/harrison-bader-sf-giants-outfield/

Scutaro’s nickname in Venezuela, El Pulpo, came from a broadcaster who liked his intelligent style of play and considered the octopus one of the world’s most intelligent creatures.

that is some temu-tier stolen ass valor, may i introduce:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Alfonseca

His nicknames are El Pulpo ("The Octopus"), The Dragonslayer, and Six-Fingers. He has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, a condition known as polydactyly. His grandfather also had this trait. Alfonseca regards it with pride, as a kind of family emblem.

Six fingers on each hand must make the grip combos crazy. In any case, the Venezuelan commentator was right about the humble octopus

Captive octopuses appear to be aware of their captivity; they adapt to it but also resist it. When they try to escape, which is often, they tend to wait for a moment they aren’t being watched. Octopuses have flooded laboratories by deliberately plugging valves in their tanks with their arms. At the University of Otago, an octopus short-circuited the electricity supply – by shooting jets of water at the aquarium lightbulbs – so often that it had to be released back into the wild. Jean Boal, a cephalopod researcher at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, reported feeding octopuses in a row of tanks with thawed squid, not an octopus’s favourite food. Returning to the first tank, Boal found that the octopus in it hadn’t eaten the squid, but was instead holding it out in its arm; watching Boal, it slowly made its way across the tank and shoved the squid down the drain. (The third-century Roman rhetorician Claudius Aelianus, a more sympathetic observer than Aristotle, identified the octopus’s main characteristic as ‘mischief and craft’.)

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n17/amia-srinivasan/the-sucker-the-sucker

Hayden Birdsong To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

This is terrible news but you're going to lose pitchers to this, nature's beast.

I wanted to take a step back from baseball this year because this team looks average as average as can be. But I'm itching for baseball so they'll have me to start off.

Hopefully I won't annoy too much.

so far I have tix to a Marlins game and a Nats game (I'll be wearing Nats City Connect <3)

The cherry blossom one? Pure gorgeous. Kind of wish I’d bought one in NYC now

Yes, you know me too well, ha!

The Giants are planning to designate outfielder Luis Matos for assignment, reports Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle. She adds that minor league signee Jared Oliva is expected to break camp in a bench role, so he’ll take Matos’ spot on the active and 40-man rosters.

Bart, Luciano and now Matos are all gone. The Zaidi era feels officially over.

Oliva seemed to do really well but that’s a shock…but I guess doing it right now when rosters are set means they hope he’ll get through waivers and stay on triple A

i sense another 81 win season.

Arson Judge

ugh that was a slaughter last night

giants get a hit challenge

four hits in 18 innings

Lol, will they ever score?

A double with no outs, is this the moment?

Celebrate good times come on

It's going to be a long season

LFG

One run in three games

Giants Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment

He was so good in 2024. Got the job in 2025 but lost it with strikeouts. Good luck to him.

Rule 5 backup catcher Daniel Susac debut tonight line:

3-3 1BB

Had a night he will never forget with his family in the stands.

He actually relieved Bailey last night in the 7th. So really his first start in the majors.

Brother of former Giant Andrew Susac!

Ahhh I was wondering why I was confused when I heard "Susac's first game" - I was thinking of Andrew. Hell of a night - hope he can keep it up and bat 1.000 for the entire season

I knew this schedule was tough out of the gate but this is embarrassing. Lucky I haven't been able to watch and seems like i haven't missed anything.

Up next:

3X PHI
3@ BAL
3@ CIN
3@ WAS
3X LA
3X MAI
3@ PIL
3@ TB
3X PIT
4@ LA

I don't see many wins there and think they will be buried.

3 "clubhouse incidents" so far this year. Vitello just casually mentioning that there were a few they managed to hide from the media, thus negating any benefit of having hidden the incidents from the media.
i'm going to guess chapman yelling to "just catch the ball" and then proceeding to not catch a ball and also getting thrown out was not a help in that matter

That’s hardly the ideal time for a manager to draw an ejection, isn’t it?

After the game, Vitello didn’t even contend that plate umpire Edwin Jiménez made the wrong call when he ruled that Jerar Encarnacion, by running on the grass up the first-base line, impeded a throw from Mets pitcher Huascar Brazobán. Vitello said the play merely triggered him because he lost two games in college — one at the University of Tennessee, and the Big 12 championship as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri — because of similar rulings.

“I’m sure he got it exactly technically right,” said Vitello, who might have taken issue with the fact the throw, which didn’t hit Encarnacion, glanced off the glove of Mets first baseman Mark Vientos. “It’s just a play I’ve got a lot of history for. … Lost a game to Lipscomb on that play, lost the game to (Oklahoma State coach) Frank Anderson and a Big 12 championship on that play. The difference between the two that I’m talking about, and I can talk about others, is the runner. In Frank’s instance — and I’ve called his team cheaters — (the runner) completely interfered with the throwing lane for the pitcher. So again, umpires are held accountable by what the rules are, and they enforce those rules.
“And again, I don’t want to replay. I’m sure they did it 100 percent to the tee, but you know, from my perspective, for plays between the mound and the third-base line, you know, the runner’s not going to have much to do with it.

“I said one last thing, just out of frustration or being all fired up. It was complete nonsense. I think it was misinterpreted a little bit, but (if) you’re on the field that long and you’re not a player, you’re probably out of place a little bit.”

imagine being a big league manager and mentioning your experiences battling lipscomb and oklahoma state

over/under on how many of those involved devers?

matt chapman also doesn't seem like the most level headed of dudes based on what i saw in the series with the mets

chappy can gtfo for yelling at my boy casey :/

Susac’s single in the fifth gave him a 5-for-5 start to his major league career, the best career start in the majors since Ted Cox of the Boston Red Sox started 6-for-6 in 1977. Susac popped out in the sixth to end his streak but added a two-run triple in the eighth for his second straight three-hit game.

looking bleak out here

It’s still pretty early but yeah it’s ben ugly. They need Devers to get going, he’s started slow due to that hamstring strain but when he’s going the lineup will look quite different.

I turned out because of Coachella and haven't watched the Reds series either.

This lineup leaves a lot to be desired, looking at you Lee, Ramos and Bailey mostly. Speaking of Bailey, I read our gold glove catcher got pitched hit for in the ninth. I wonder how long it will be before Susac knocks down the door and demands more playing time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUEjgxM1hJc

even in victory they are brutally shitty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkJR0mxOXU

Per usual you don't know what actually happened. The teams were going about it all game, Adames was hit too and was alluded to this going on for this series. What happened at the end with Eric Miller was a nothing burger.

was kinda happy to see them get into it. they need something to wake them up

Seriously, this is such a listless and empty start - we're edging into sample sizes being meaningful territory as we inch toward May

https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/sf-giants-ceo-spending-22210512.php

Thank God for the Washington Nationals.

Susac was the catcher for Logan Webb tonight, so it begins

those phillies jerseys

The Giants have taken the first two games against the Dodgers. 3-run homer by, check notes, Patrick Bailey!

They beat Yamamoto and Ohtani, they both started but Ohtani didn't get the loss. His on-base streak did come to an end.

Huge. They didn't win a series against the Dodgers at all last year. Last time they even just took 2 of 3 was late June 2024.

They've won 4 series against the Dodgers (including this one) since the beginning of the 2022 season (yikes). Since that magical 2021 season they've had an absolutely putrid record against them (20-40, including the two wins so far this season). Historically they play .500 ball against each other even when one of the two are bad, but the trend absolutely bucked during Zaidi's tenure. Was he a rogue agent? hmm

Let's see if they can win more than a single series this year. Maybe Vitello has some juice.

Devers missed most of spring training with a sore hammy and it looks like he’s starting to get going now. Honestly I’m shocked they won this series but it’s huge for them. Let’s hope they can build off this.

loved webb's smirk when asked about beaning rushing

Brandon Belt day at the ballpark today, it was a delight. He made me laugh several times.

We don’t need your live-blogging and mood swings btw. Just kills any urge to discuss this team, at least for me

What can and can't do on ILB, since you want to be my mom.

What a weird reply.

In tonight's game Jen Pawol was umpire behind the plate. Good for her!

I see she made her debut late last year but I just noticed.

I'm at the park wearing WSH city connect hat/shirsey (#4 Lile) and just watched my sweet prince James Wood take Robbie Ray 400 feet deep to the CF bleachers on a beautiful day... life is good!

unless you're a Giants fan, that is... *sigh*

OMG

we are so back babyyyyy

Steve Shasta bringing the good vibes😃

10 runs in the last two innings. Bryce Eldridge walks it off with a grand slam.

Bryce Eldridge is a stud

I'm at the park wearing WSH city connect hat/shirsey (#4 Lile) and just watched my sweet prince James Wood take Robbie Ray 400 feet deep to the CF bleachers on a beautiful day... life is good!

lmao

>:-O

lol

heard the slam live on the radio, sick jon miller call

Jon Miller is a stud.

Holy wtf shit balls. 10 runs in the 8th and 9th to come from behind and win a game they were down 9-1 at the bottom of the 8th? Are you kidding me?

What the hell is with this team?

sorry not sorry Steve

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZdOPfRPN01/

“Time to drop trou, hog out”
(Essential Instagram account follow for Giants fans)

i’m told that three giants players defaced their pride night caps tonight and a fourth refused to wear one at all

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/san-francisco-giants-analysis/107734/giants-pride-night-bigotry-landen-roupp-jt-brubaker

Fucking disgraceful

Yep. From a franchise that was the first to do It Gets Better as well. Cunts.

Trash organization from top to bottom. They should have moved to Tampa in 1990 where players like these inbred zealots would have thrived.

from reddit:

Maybe if they spent more time practicing pitching and less time being bigots culture warriors they wouldn't be the third worst team in the entire fucking sport.

Paul Atreides-Nuts
‪
In a world with too many of those kinds of assholes, let’s remember the work of the late, great Rod Beck.

Giants closer Rod Beck was a terror on the mound. But when the AIDS crisis grew, he was all heart

featuring barry bonds *not* being a dick!

Timmy also did the Until There’s A Cure campaign at the peak of his fame and ability

Past and present Giants players, including Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Rich Aurilia, Matt Cain, Brandon Crawford, Hunter Pence and Joe Panik, have appeared in public service advertisements wearing Until There’s A Cure bracelets to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

https://sfgiants.mlblogs.com/until-theres-a-cure-day-267874a08af?gi=e01e54df28dc

Was about to come here and post the same link mookieproof did. No doubt there were bigoted players on the team in the past, but management would have squashed this kind of passive aggressive insecure vandalism of the uniform before it would ever have made it to the field. More to the point of the article however, there were a number of players in the past who happily chose to be the face of acceptance. Failure of the org, top to bottom. I'm done this year. Cancelled my mlb.tv subscription today. Get fucked Giants.

The vibes are repugnant at this stage; it's as if some foreign body has usurped my baseball team and squeezed out its beauty slowly and deliberately. From the enshittification of the catering service (moving from Bon Appetit to Aramark) to the firing of Renel Brooks-Moon, this org is revealing itself to be something closer to the desiccated husk an entity sucked dry by private equity every day. Posey is doing a fantastic job of diminishing his legacy. The team sucking is one thing, but this is a whole other level of retrograde.

one time ILB poster GB in the NYTimes (I think it's unlocked):

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7358121/2026/06/13/sf-giants-pride-night-bible-verses-caps/?unlocked_article_code=1.qFA.1BRo.pVAHiCVFAlmd

we've been doing this for decades now, but reporters still just unquestioningly give these guys a platform to say 'oh it's not about hate, just faith'

idk what the rules on altering MLB uniforms are, but a beat writer should. perhaps a reporter might have asked, 'no giant has ever done this (shit) before -- were you given permission by management to alter or completely change your uniform?' for all his faults, gabe kapler was adamant about supporting pride night; is vitello more permissible re: bigotry?

maybe the next time they wear the camo hats someone should stencil THE PRINCE OF PEACE all over their uniforms

how many of luther's theses can you fit on a hat

https://www.outsports.com/2026/6/15/24136606/san-francisco-giants-pride-night-cap-bible-verse-mlb-response/

one time ILB poster GB in the NYTimes (I think it's unlocked):

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7358121/2026/06/13/sf-giants-pride-night-bible-verses-caps/?unlocked_article_code=1.qFA.1BRo.pVAHiCVFAlmd🕸

I appreciated his anger on the subject so much. Especially because his views on the subject are quite aligned with mine.

Ann Killion also scathing

To recap, on Pride Night last Friday at Oracle Park, four pitchers on this woebegone team opted to either deface the official uniform or ignore it altogether. Landen Roupp, who got rocked for four earned runs in 4⅔ innings, JT Brubaker, whose scrawl on his cap resembled bathroom-stall graffiti, and deposed closer Ryan Walker, who shouldn’t try to draw any more ire, all wrote a Bible verse on their official game cap. Sam Hentges opted not to wear the hat at all.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/giants-pitchers-alienate-fans-san-francisco-22306122.php

Kruk has my heart guys

“I think that you have the right as a player to believe and say whatever you want,” said the team’s beloved broadcaster Mike Krukow. “But you have to take a broader look at the city you’re playing in. What makes San Francisco so great is the acceptance of others — ethnicities, opinions, cultures — and that extends to the gay community.

“I would just hope they would understand the demographic of San Francisco and respect people for who they are. What you do to your uniform, that has weight to it. You can offend people. And why would you do that?”

Pride is an issue close to Krukow’s heart. His son Wes is gay and is married to his partner, Ted. Wes, a dancer, is currently performing in Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum.

“I’m so proud of him,” Krukow said. “I’ve seen gay life through my son’s eyes. The culture and the community is so beautiful.”

And a third one:

https://giantsdoug.substack.com/p/sunk-costs

Those choices do actually change your organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all. It only takes one asshole to ruin a party, and you’ve got five. When you show up somewhere and get the impression you’re not wanted, it’s not because literally everyone there told you that. It’s because a few people told you that, and no one spoke up to tell them they were wrong. There’s a reason the complete phrase is “One bad apple spoils the barrel.”

Had no idea GB was a poster here! damn

All these articles are 1000% OTM. Especially the last one, Doug's substack, and how it ended. I have actually started looking at my own Giants gear with an eye to box it up due to this shit; certainly not going to wear it any time soon. It's utterly heartbreaking in ways I didn't foresee with this team, and it's hard to process just how dramatic a turn it feels this team has taken.

For any Knicks fans reading this, imagine they win two more titles as underdogs, with players literally representing the vibe of your city. Then 10 years later JB becomes the GM/President and oversees the Knicks return to being the worst team in the league and a number of players decide to pull similar shit on a pride night in MSG or do something else to insult a minority community of NYC. That's what is happening here. 2010 for us was like what the Knicks did for NY just now. And that team felt like it represented us with all its kink (remember The Machine?), weirdness, eccentricity, charm and tenacity, just like this Knicks team represents the grit, intensity and heart of NYC.

Maybe it's why I've been loving this win for the Knicks - it's amazing to not only see your team win but also be a representation of your community win. Most sports teams are not like that, players come and go, many from other countries, let alone cities. But that's what 2010 felt like for us and no doubt what Knicks fans are feeling.

This is the damn opposite on all accounts and it's gutting.

york (pennsylvania) indy ball team is forfeiting tonight's game because several players refuse to wear pride night jerseys. the team seems to be handling it somewhat better than the giants did

https://www.wtae.com/article/york-revolution-cancels-pride-game-players-refuse-jerseys/71624915

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/18/professional-baseball-team-cancels-game-after-players-refuse-to-wear-pride-jerseys

i hope, since independent teams control their own rosters, they're looking into cutting those players just as soon as they can find replacements

Now the Trump administration is getting involved along with Florida? All teams except the Rangers had a Pride night this year.

Makes it all even worse.

Burn it all down:
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/49137001/rafael-devers-visibly-upset-giants-decide-pinch-run

https://aroundthefoghorn.com/rafael-devers-insubordinate-act-is-evidence-tony-vitello-is-losing-giants-clubhouse

Wow. gyac won't like this, but you just can't do that--pinch-running in the late innings is a fact of life, and looking at Devers' career box (didn't know anything about his speed), he's not exactly Rickey Henderson. Even if he were, that wouldn't look good.

I mean, I guess you could draw a parallel with Scherzer chasing away Schneider last year, but I'd say that 1) pitchers are different, and 2) that whole episode was orchestrated anyway--Schneider got exactly the response he wanted.

It's a horrible look but tracks with Rafael Devers. He threw a temper tantrum over the logical move.

"With the Giants down by one, it’s not hard to see the logic of the move. MLB’s Statcast tracking data has Cox ranked in the 89th percentile for sprint speed, with an average top speed of 28.8 feet per second. Devers, meanwhile, is in the 22nd percentile, with an average top speed of 26.2 feet per second. Devers hasn’t stolen a base yet this year, whereas Cox is 2-for-2 on his steal attempts, with far less playing time. For Devers to react so negatively is a horrible look."

I was open minded before, willing to give Vitello rope of at least a full season and then some. Now I think it's extremely clear he needs to be gone by the end of this year, if not sooner. He really should have declined the offer last fall. No doubt he's probably thinking that every night lately (though I'm sure he's appreciating whatever guaranteed money is coming his way)

Caught the tail end of Jeff Blair interviewing Jayson Stark about the Devers episode. Stark clearly is no fan of Vitello--told a story about some completely irrelevant answer Vitello gave him to a straightforward question. But he was dead-set against what Devers did: "You can do a lot of things, but you can't do that" (sounding very Meatloaf-ish there). He also dismissed any comparison to Scherzer last year.

I know it was a completely different player-manager dynamic in 1977, but I might compare it to Martin pulling Reggie mid-game on national TV. Conceding the different context, 1) in that case, Martin's move was purely a matter of impetuous anger--it was clearly unfair, and 2) Reggie was almost bigger than the sport itself at that point. And while he was obviously baffled when Paul Blair ran out to replace him, he didn't resist on the field. In the dugout, for sure--he and Martin almost fought--but not on the field; you can't do that.

Yeah it sucks for sure. Andrew Baggarly picked a terrible time to go on holiday. I would be shocked if Buster hasn’t read Devers the riot act but my sympathy for Vitello only goes so far seeing as he allowed several of his players to pull that stunt for Pride Night. Or did he? Maybe he has no control over any part of the team.