“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.

On the bright side, ticket prices are down! Waiting for that to fucking happen already for the Jays

https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/sf-giants-slash-ticket-prices-22357844.php

In a promotion announced last week, the Giants are offering tickets as cheap as $8 in a back-to-school flash sale for games in July, August and September. The team notes the tickets are 40% cheaper than average, with prices starting at $8 to sit in the upper deck, $12 for bleacher seats and as low as $20 for club-level tickets.

The SF speakeasy where cellphones are outlawed

In a promotion announced last week, the Giants are offering tickets as cheap as $8 in a back-to-school flash sale for games in July, August and September. The team notes the tickets are 40% cheaper than average, with prices starting at $8 to sit in the upper deck, $12 for bleacher seats and as low as $20 for club-level tickets.

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The team is also turning to the most tried-and-true method to boost attendance: When all else fails, offer “free” alcohol. For the remaining July home games, the Giants are offering a ticket and a beer deal that starts at $19. All tickets sold through the promotion come with a $17 concession voucher, which can technically be used for any concession but which fans are encouraged to put toward a Coors Light, a team sponsor. Both promotions start when the team returns home on Friday night.

Even with their horrendous record and off-the-field issues, the Giants still boast one of MLB’s best attendance rates. Their 36,646 average attendance ranks sixth in the league. But those numbers are starting to dip.

At the end of June, the team’s average attendance was up at 37,212. But the average dropped to 33,413 fans per game during the team’s seven-game homestand to open July (and the stands looked notably emptier than that, too). The Giants drew 35,000 fans just once — on Saturday, July 11, when the team had an aloha shirt giveaway.

Would love to see those numbers to drop to 10k. Still not attending or watching this year. Go Valkyries!

i feel like 33k isn't horrendous?

Jeff Kent Hall of Fame, 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6VS-5EJIX0

He did start out with some integrity stuff, which considering Barry Bonds seems personal...

I moved to San Francisco in July 1995, so I missed the Steve Young era. Didn't care about sports until the 2000 Giants season, new stadium and Jeff Kent was a part of it.

He did later say Bonds was one of the greatest players to play this game or something like that

Sources have told SFist that the scooter crash actually occurred in the Cow Hollow area around closing time at the bars, around 1:50 am on Sunday, July 26, in the vicinity of Balboa Cafe at Greenwich and Fillmore streets. According to a witness, Harrison Bader's scooter crashed into the back of a San Francisco Fire Department fire engine (SFFD Station 16 is on that block) the wheel of which then rolled over his foot, causing major injury.

Imagine making $7.5M/yr to be a mid baseball player and then opting to take a scooter home after the bars close.

Alex Pavlovic mentioned Harrison Bader won’t return this season, according to Tony Vitello. Apparently that was the case because of the plantar fasciitis anyway. No new details on the new (scooter-related) injury. Vitello said the front office is sorting through that.

Lmao, what a horrible signing.

Casey Schmitt was the only thing worth watching this year. Maybe a blessing instead tho as now they can't trade him.

Sounds like they are going to go ahead and not pay Bader for the rest of the season

(for the record that was Gavin Newsom's bar in Cow Hollow he was leaving at 2am, but not the one the VU played a 2-week residency for immortalized on Live 1969, the other one that caters to more of an elite clientele lol)

story gets even wilder...

flashback to 2014:

https://www.gainesville.com/story/sports/college/baseball/2014/02/04/uf-baseball-suspends-outfielder-bader/31111769007/

Giants subtracting:

Heliot Ramos
Erik Miller
Luis Arraez
Caleb (k*l*an)
Robbie Ray
Tyler Mahle

Good job Buster Posey and got Jeff Kent's son from the Yankees.

I'm devastated:

https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/mlb/san-francisco-giants/mike-krukow-announces-retirement/1955030/

End of an era. I do wonder if Kuip will stick around.

(xpost) You mean about quoting Green Day--can't argue with that.

Lol

damn

gonna go full dropped trou, hog out on his last call

Lol

Yeah this sucks. His health was always an albatross but I do wonder if the org's vibes, pride night fiasco, etc was the last straw.

Does he call it if they're playoff bound with immaculate vibes? We may never know

Awful news. He and Kuip are eternal. I love when they show the booth and he’s practicing his grips on a ball.

bay area sports in a big hole right now in general.

the sharks on the rise is the only thing weve got going

Jeff Passan:

San Francisco Giants announcer Mike Krukow will retire after this season, ending a 36-year career in which he and he best friend and former teammate, Duane Kuiper, formed one of the best broadcasting duos in baseball. For generations of Giants fans, Kruk is their voice of summer.

Susan Slusser:

Duane Kuiper tells me he definitely wants to keep going, his own health willing. So that’s the good news on this day in which we celebrate Mike Krukow and his retirement at the end of the season but mourn the end of one of the great baseball broadcasting partnerships ever.

The Giants will celebrate Krukow the final day of the season, on Sept. 27.

"That can't be a sad day," Krukow's longtime broadcast partner and friend Duane Kuiper told the Chronicle. "Given that, I'm sure I'm going to cry.

Rangers Hall of Fame broadcaster Eric Nadel said via text Thursday, “Kruk is one of the best color analysts ever. I’m amazed he was never hired away by ESPN or FOX or the MLB Network. … I’ve voted for him to be on the Frick ballot every year he’s eligible. His intelligence, humor and powers of observation are second to none, and his personal warmth comes across in every broadcast. I will miss him dearly.”

Recently inducted Hall of Famer Jeff Kent said what he always appreciated most about Krukow is his ability to provide the players' side sensitively.

"His loyalty to being a player and how he was able to translate that to the fans is special," the former Giants second baseman said. "He and Kuiper do a great job of almost being one of us - that's why the players like him so much. He's delivering something is real - that's the biggest talent that he has. he makes it real, gives you the players' perspective, how they're feeling, a player's visual on what happened. He was loyal to us and I think the players gave that back to him. That's why we all like him so much."

“Nothing against Jon and Dave because they’re obviously great also, but when I think of a Giants broadcast, I think of Kruk & Kuip.” said former Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who grew up in Pleasanton. “I was lucky enough to grow up listening to them and got to continue listening to them on the highlights after my games with the Giants. They’re the best combo in baseball.”

"There's no greater gift for a broadcaster than to have a connection and Kruk and Kuip have an amazing connection," said A's radio play-by-play man Ken Korach, who called Krukow "an inspiration."

"He's a great broadcaster and maybe a better human being," Korach said.

Grant Brisbee:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7497638/2026/08/06/mike-krukow-sf-giants-retirement-fan-reaction/

Krukow is, of course, more of a regional treasure than an international one, but he is still in that invitation-only class of the universally beloved. The common connection and through line for everyone mentioned up there is that they radiate joy with everything they do. They somehow found exactly what they wanted to do on this planet and, guess what, it’s exactly what we want them to be doing. It becomes a positive feedback loop that never ends, and there’s never a downside, never a hidden cost. All they put out into the world is something that makes your life better, and in return, all they ask is for the ability to keep doing it. They should get a pass from the physical realities of the world...

This is the one that will get folks in a way they weren’t expecting. This is the one that will make fans feel something move deep inside them. You’ve seen retirements before from players and managers, who gave final tips of the cap to a teary-eyed crowd, but the bond between fans and announcers is on another level. The best way to put it is this: I’ve almost certainly heard Krukow’s voice more in my life than my father’s. That’s not to put ol’ Pops down — he was a very hands-on father who spent a lot of time with me. It’s just a mathematical reality. My father didn’t talk at me for three hours a day, 150 days out of the year, over the past several decades. And if he had tried to, I would have hit him with a mallet.

There’s no easy way to describe the symbiotic relationship between a fan and a favorite announcer, then, because you can’t reasonably grapple with just how much time you’ve spent with this person in your life, in your home, in your danged head. It’s a lot. It’s so much more than you might have ever contemplated until this moment. This isn’t just a retirement of a single person in an entertainment-related business, but a foundational shift in how you interact with the world...

Krukow’s broadcasting career will always remain a gift, though, and it’s the kind that doesn’t have to show up for every organization or fan base just because it’s their turn. The Giants got lucky. So did their fans. So did Krukow himself. Everybody knew it the entire time it was happening, and nobody will forget about it when it’s over.

Kruk can make even a shitty game semi-enjoyable. He has so much knowledge. He could definitely have been a pitching coach. <3

This is such an event, on the same level as ilx. The difference is Kruk is going away, ilx is going to continue.

The Grant Brisbee piece made me cry. Sorry, this is just painful and I'm still in shock. I will absolutely watch every last game this year just to soak in what is left. (Sort of like ilx 2.0)

btw this is incredible

https://i.postimg.cc/023rRdkh/kuip.jpg

God I love them. Not going to be the same without that duo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXJykV6Qzg0

Still grieving

No Bob Gibson thread. No Reggie Jackson thread. No oldtimers thread. No knockdown-pitch thread. So putting this here--great if you can access it.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1481421014003776

(Gibson knocking down Reggie at an oldtimers game.)

Sorry, Giants fans...thought I was posting to the general thread there.

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman will undergo season-ending surgery Tuesday for an abdominal strain.

dodgers and brewers matching up for their final regular season series tonight. should be good!

Grant Bisbee bids adieu after 20 years of SFG online beat:

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/san-francisco-giants-discussion/110323/mlb-2026-san-francisco-giants-pride-night-lgbtqia-response-resignation

that post is written by someone else and it appears that grant is still actively covering the giants for the athletic

Shows you how much I pay attention haha. Yeesh.

...and it was TIL that TheAthletic was folded into the NYT! holy cow. i have some deep dirt on theathletic founders through uhh maybe i shouldn't speak of it but yeah, wow. good for them i guess? bottom line, i need to pay more attention to "media movers".

lol that happened like 5 years ago

Deep dirt... SPICY! kinda want to know but it would probably dox/bring unwanted attention to the site so... Alas

👀👀👀👀

Sami is hurt and don't blame him for telling the team to go fuck yourself. I also thought that writer was a woman.

I'm going to miss this so much.

Colorado pitcher throws ball to his doughnut:

Kruk hey, hey, hey, hey throw that baseball to the other side pal

Kip that's right

Kruk believe it or not that used to be an issue home team buys the baseballs

Play

There was a time, back in the 70s , you were a visiting team and you threw a baseball to Your doughnut! They called you on it

Kip God forbid you threw it into the stands

Kruk (excitedly) oh you threw it into the stands. There was a guy from the front office who sat during batting practice and if you threw a ball into the stands, he'd note it down and you would be fined five bucks a ball. Take it out of your paycheck...

Nothing else like it. San Francisco Giants have been truly blessed with their crew.