Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
We have a wide range of Giants guests as spring training continues in the Cactus League. Austin Jackson joins us (while getting some ribbing from Pablo Sandoval when talking about the 2012 World Series), as well as Tyler Beede and Mark Melancon from Scottsdale Stadium. Mac Williamson and Austin Slater were interviewed at media day in San Francisco prior to Fan Fest.
Mac Williamson is off to a great start in Cactus League play with a .412 batting average, 4 HR, 13 RBIs in his first 15 games, but he is realistic about the meaning of those numbers: …“I don’t think it’s super important to look at the numbers in spring. Everybody is trying to work on something and get in the rhythm and that includes the opposing pitchers. They’re not immune to making mistakes in spring that they’re not going to make during the season…I’ve had ok springs in the past and it hasn’t always translated to the season…For the most part it’s important to remain healthy.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Hensley Meulens is making the move from Giants hitting coach to bench coach, Steven Duggar is vying for a spot in the SF outfield and Gregor Blanco returns to his favorite team. All 3 men joined us from Scottsdale Stadium last week.
Blanco is hoping to bring a spark back to the Giants: …“I really saw that they were missing the extra fight that you always need to win games (in 2017). Extra energy. It was hard to find that, that’s the way I saw it from the outside (while with the Diamondbacks)…Now coming here in spring training and I see Pablo Sandoval and all of those guys who have a really good connection with each other, we are starting to have fun again.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants General Manager Bobby Evans joins us to talk about the changes the club made during the off season and what to expect in spring training.
We also chat in the Giants Scottsdale Stadium dugout with new 3B Evan Longoria, one of San Francisco’s key 2018 acquisitions.
Longoria talked to The Sports Virus about the being a Giants newcomer: …“I’m just trying to find my role, see where I fit in…It’s a different feeling. You’ve got to kind of feel the guys out, see how the personalties are and how the clubhouse vibe is. All of that has been pretty seamless. It’s been great. The clubhouse is loose. I think everybody has fun playing the game and playing together and that kind of makes it easy for me.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea joins us for our final Giants podcast of 2017. We look ahead to the 2018 draft (the Giants will have the #2 overall pick) and what SF needs to do to improve. Plus, a little MLB post-season forecast.
Shea gave The Sports Virus a scouting report on Seth Beer from Clemson, whom the Giants will probably consider for the #2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft: “…He’s the real deal. He’s probably a first baseman, maybe somebody like (Brandon) Belt would move to LF…He’s a legitimate power guy. 6’2,” 200-plus (pounds) and he hits the ball a long way…He’s not a real great athlete. He’s not going to be a great outfielder if you put him in left. He’s probably more equipped for first base. He’s not fast, he’s not going to have much range, but he hits the ball and (Bruce) Bochy was telling us lately and he’s saying it multiple times, hey we’ve been talking behind the scenes about getting these guys. Maybe not necessarily contact guys, but power guys. If they strike out, they strike out. They’re kind of behind the curve on that. Every other team seems to be getting these guys.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
In advance of the final weekend of the Giants 2017 season, SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea joins us to talk about Matt Cain’s retirement announcement and the emotions that might take place when he takes the mound one final time on Saturday at AT&T Park. In Part 1 of a 2-part conversation, we also talk about whether or not it’s necessary for the Giants to make some drastic changes to the roster this upcoming off-season.
Shea told The Sports Virus about Matt Cain’s good attitude toward the end of his career: “…Cain was sent to the bullpen last September, he was sent to the bullpen two or three times this year. Each time he said fine, I’ll do what it takes. (Bruce) Bochy wants me to go, I’ll go. That’s pretty classy stuff that other pitchers might not do…It’s going to be an emotional day (on Saturday). It’s well deserved.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
John Shea rejoins us for part 2 of our conversation and we talk about the feature he wrote with Henry Shulman in the SF Chronicle about Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
Shea talked to The Sports Virus about the possibility of Bruce Bochy retiring soon: …“As he said, a lot of guys want to retire because they want to do the things they enjoy. Bochy tells me the thing I enjoy the most is managing. So, if I retired I would want to manage…He wants to come back, he’s healthy, he’s feeling good. He said absolutely this team can contend again next year. He doesn’t want to oversee a rebuild.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea joins us for a final month evaluation of the Giants and a glance at the Dodgers, who host San Francisco for three games over the weekend.
Shea talked to The Sports Virus about Joe Panik’s September surge: “…Does that improve the Giants pursuit if they do want to trade him in the off-season to get more for him? Here’s the one guy in the lineup who has good numbers but doesn’t have a huge contract. So, he would be the first guy that a lot of teams would ask for when they’re giving up a player close to free agency or they’re giving up a prospect that the Giants like. To move Panik would be a huge deal, much bigger than moving Matt Duffy which was a huge deal. In a lot of way they haven’t recovered from that.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants hitting coach Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens has worked hard to help hitters improve this season. On Tuesday at AT&T Park in San Francisco he gave us an update on their progress.
Meulens talked to The Sports Virus about the MLB overall HR record that was broken this week and how that relates to the Giants: “…We don’t have 30-40 home run power and when you see home runs being hit at the record pace in other places and you’re not hitting them, you’re at the same level, you’re like, uh, I don’t know if it’s the ball, the ballpark or the players. In a lot of places the balls are carrying. When we go on the road we hit more home runs than we do at home …We’ve talked about it with some of our guys going into the off-season. I even put some ropes in the cage, where the angles are conducive to more balls in the air in this ballpark. We’re working on it. Hopefully it won’t take long so at least we’ll produce more extra base hits.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Tim Flannery, the former Giants 3B coach and current analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area and MLB Network joined us on Tuesday night to talk about the Giants season. We also hear SF manager Bruce Bochy’s thoughts on a record-breaking season for homers overall in MLB and chat with Rockies All-Star 3B Nolan Arenado.
Flannery told The Sports Virus about the importance of having energetic players on the roster: …“You gotta have it. Now if you have a superstar like a Nolan Arenado and he has that type of energy you’ve got a super, superstar who plays with an edge. Nolan is the nicest guy in the world off the field, but on the field he is just obsessed to do well and to play hard and to compete and to win…You look at the clubs we had winning here in San Francisco we had those types of misfits, whatever you want to call them. They might get kicked out of a restaurant once in awhile, but you know what, you’re gonna want them in your lineup every night.”
Arenado chatted with The Sports Virus about his September attitude last season compared to this season: …“It’s fun to come to the ballpark every day. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to go to the ballpark in the last 12 games. Last year I was like, I can’t wait to go to the beach and get this off season going. When you lose it’s just not fun baseball. Now we have a chance to do something special.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
With the Giants season winding down, Joe and Ray Woodson take inventory on the wreckage of a team near the bottom of the Major League baseball totem pole.
Woodson talked to The Sports Virus about LHP Matt Moore: “…The Giants have to be asking themselves, even with what seems to be a reasonable $9 million option for next year, do we want to go forward with this guy? …There are reasons to say yeah you can because the stuff is there and the contract isn’t terrible and the fact of the matter is the politics say you traded a popular player away (Matt Duffy) for him so you might want to give him a little more time. The guy is still in his 20’s, you would think that this is a guy that you could redeem. But, I don’t know, I don’t know if the Giants know, I don’t know if Matt Moore knows at this point.”
We have a wide range of Giants guests as spring training continues in the Cactus League. Austin Jackson joins us (while getting some ribbing from Pablo Sandoval when talking about the 2012 World Series), as well as Tyler Beede and Mark Melancon from Scottsdale Stadium. Mac Williamson and Austin Slater were interviewed at media day in San Francisco prior to Fan Fest.
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Hensley Meulens is making the move from Giants 
hitting coach to bench coach, Steven Duggar is vying for a spot in the SF outfield and Gregor Blanco returns to his favorite team. All 3 men joined us from Scottsdale Stadium last week.
Giants General Manager Bobby Evans joins us to talk about the changes the club made during the off season and what to expect in spring training.
