And I've been waiting my whole freakin' life for this to happen! :^)
As reported by the Mercury's intrepid Andy Baggarly, here and here, the Giants have scheduled a media conference call for tomorrow, January 28th, with Will Clark, who is expected to hold a special assistant position, much like JT Snow currently does. Will the Thrill will serve as instructor in spring training, as well as perhaps also doing front-office work and broadcasting. He had been in a similar position with the Arizona Diamondbacks where his former agent was serving as club president until he resigned to lead a group that is seeking to acquire the San Diego Padres. Bill Neukom will be on the conference call as well.
Giants Thoughts
It's about time!!! Nuschler should have been back with us ages ago, but perhaps it was a matter of pride (for either side) that it took Peter Magowan's retirement for this to happen. Hopefully this will last a long while, he really should be one of those celebrated because he helped the team finally get out from the malaise that enveloped the team from 1972 to 1985. He helped lead us, charging, out from the Dark Ages and into the light of his incandescent talents.
I was glad when the Giants didn't resign him because his health seemed to preclude the contract working out so well. However, Robby Thompson contract was even worse, and if I could chose in hindsight, I would have rather they signed him and not Thompson. But that's water under the bridge now.
I think it's interesting that they bring him in now, because we have a plethora of left-handed power hitters who could use some of that ol' Nuschler death stare and black eye paint at the plate: Fred Lewis, John Bowker, Travis Ishikawa, even Pablo Sandoval. One of the greatest hitters in San Francisco Giants history, he had that smooth swing that you just had to watch. That he could man up and hit homers on his first professional AB and his first MLB AB (was it also first pitch?), well, that is something special and hopefully he can impart some of that to our young hitters. As well, he was always a clutch hitter, delivering the big hit, time and again.
Now we just need to hire Jack "The Ripper" Clark to cover the the Dark Ages; I hated when he was the batting coach for the D-gers. He could also teach our hitters a thing or two about hitting in the clutch as well.
In describing Lewis, Ishikawa, Bowker & Sandoval, the term "left-handed power hitter" just never seems to mend there. Now, Thome, Howard, Griffey, etc. those are left-handed power hitters. Lewis, Ishi, etc......not so much.
ReplyDeletemend=come to mind
ReplyDeleteOne of these days, I'm going to learn how to type.......
Will you accept that it is all relative? :^)
ReplyDeleteWell, OK, if you want me to quantify it, I consider anyone capable of hitting 20+ homers (or roughly 30 AB/HR) to be a power hitter:
Ishikawa's MLE in 2008 was 18 HR. Plus the 3 he hit in the MLB, that means he hit the equivalent of 21 HR in 2008.
Bowker's MLE in 2007 was 20 HR in 537 AB.
Sandoval's MLE in 2008 was 15 HR plus the 3 he hit in the majors, that's 18 HR in 595 AB, which is short of the 20 HR mark, but he's only 21, and should get better.
Lewis's MLE in 2007 was 5 HR in 176 AB with MLB of 3 HR in 157 AB for a total of 8 HR in 333 AB or 42 AB/HR. OK, he fell short but when he was coming up, he was projected to be capable of being a 20/20 player. Also, I would have to think that a painful bunion had at least subconsciously affected his swing, because your feet are an important part of your swing.
Lastly, he apparently focused more on taking pitches and getting on base when he led off, but the Giants have told him to man up because he's going to be in the middle of the lineup, so he'll be swinging from the first pitch if it's good. Both Bochy and Lewis is aiming for him to hit 20 homers.
So I'll grant you that one, but we'll see who is right at the end of the 2009 season.
In my book, a power hitter is not defined by a 20 HR possibility. A power hitter is one who strikes fear in the opposition a la Bonds, Stargell, etc. A hitter that you don't really want to pitch to if you don't have to. The guys you mentioned are not in that category.
ReplyDeleteBack on Will.
ReplyDeleteThe Thrill back in town.....Excellent.
I wore 22 my whole life just because of him. As a kid I remember playing whiffle ball in the yard and batting LH and trying to imitate Clark/Jr.'s swings.
I would love to hear some of his stories on the telecasts. I hope he is better than JT is while on the air.
Do you know how old his kids are, and would their age limit the amount of time he spends with the organization? Any threads/reports on that?
Ryan, very nice post on Will and his family at Joan Ryan's Inside the Giants Clubhouse. A lot of human interest articles there if you like that stuff.
ReplyDeletehttp://sfgiants.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/01/will_clark_still_thrilled_and.html
Boof, I kinda thought you were headed in that direction. Stars like that are pretty rare, and if we can get a lineup of 6 20 HR hitters, with other chipping in, that's 150+ HR at least for the team.
In any case, I don't think we need a heck of a lot of power hitting to be competitive in the division, as is.