2016 Play Ball magazine by Bay Area News Group

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE A’S, THE GIANTS AND THE LEAGUE

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PREVIEW 2016

A BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PREMIUM EDITION

Bay Area News Group $4.95

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THE GIANTS

THE A’S

Pitch perfect

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Breaking down the throwing mechanics behind the Giants’ flamboyant new arm, Johnny Cueto.

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The new box score Understanding baseball today can seem to necessitate 4 an advanced mathematics degree. We explain the latest metrics and how they are changing the game. 3

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PLUS: AN INTERVIEW WITH M AT T D U F F Y, PA G E 3 6

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Closing time

How the A’s have completely remade their bullpen around their one remaining stalwart, former All-Star Sean Doolittle. PA G E 4 8

PLUS: AN INTERVIEW WITH S T E P H E N V O G T, PA G E 5 4

P L U S : M A R K P U R DY ’ S B A S E B A L L B U C K E T L I S T, PA G E 4 Pitcher Plate

Pitcher

C O V E R I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y B R I A N S TA U F F E R

JOSIE LEPE

Section editors: Mark Conley, Mike Lefkow Art director: Tiffany Grandstaff Copy editors: Kristen Crowe, Tor Haugan, Jaime Welton

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A baseball fan’s bucket list

GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE: DOUG DURAN

aseball and the Bay Area go together like sour and dough. Joe DiMaggio was the first person to say that, I believe. Or maybe it was Rickey Henderson. Or Charlie Brown. Doesn’t matter, really. All three were horsehide immortals with ties to our glorious region of gloves and bats and garlic fries. (All right, so Charlie was a cartoon character. But his owner and general manager, Charles Schulz, lived in Santa Rosa.) I will argue this point with anyone: Northern California is one of the best baseball places on Earth. The weather is divine for the sport. Kids still play the game in fairly large numbers — and that’s not always true elsewhere. DiMaggio and Henderson are just two of the Hall of Famers who grew up in these parts. And, of course, we live in one of only five metro-opolis-plexes that possess two major league teams. The other four are New York, Chicago, Washington-Baltimore and the Los Angeles area. And none of those places have a McCovey Cove! Or a tarp! Sometimes, I think we are a little too cool about all that, don’t appreciate it as deeply as we should. It occurred to me, with the new season nigh, that someone should catalog all of the experiences that can make a baseball spring — and summer and autumn — so sublime around here. So I wrote my name in the leadoff spot to be that someone. No one can be considered a real Bay Area baseball fan unless he or she has checked off every item on the following to-do list. And I presume that if you have read this far, you are a Bay Area baseball fan. Thus, I hereby command you to: ATTEND AT LEAST ONE

Giants and A’s home game: This is the obvious one. Think you can’t afford it? Look online in the secondary ticket market for those Monday night games against the

Brewers or the Twins. Probably will be cheaper than a movie.

diamonds have their charms. Enthusiasm in the dugouts is never absent and always is a joy to witness.

TAKE YOUR PICTURE IN

front of all AT&T Park statues: This includes the Gaylord Perry sculpture that’s coming online all year. For extra fun, mimic the poses of McCovey, Mays, Marichal and Cepeda — and bring along Vaseline for the Perry photo.

MAKE A ROAD TRIP TO

Sacramento: Make sure you pick one of the summer’s hottest days so that the cold beer is even more refreshing at a River Cats game. Just make sure to stay sober enough for the drive back to the bay.

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front of the visitors’ dugout in Oakland: You know, before the annual sewage flooding begins.

WEAR A BASEBALL CAP

CHEER LOUDLY AT A RANDOM

STOP AND REFLECT

Little League game: I guarantee that you’ll drive the crazy parents even crazier as they wonder what your angle is.

win more money than either duo.)

WATCH A GIANTS GAME FROM

ATTEND A SAN JOSE GIANTS

the left-field bleachers: This will demonstrate the truth of former White Sox owner Bill Veeck’s contention that the knowledge of baseball fans about the sport is in inverse proportion to the distance they sit from home plate. GRAB A LEATHER GLOVE AT

a sporting goods store, put it to your face, and breathe deeply: Sure, people might give you weird looks, but the smell will not fail to bring back memories and improve your overall mood. SIT IN THE RIGHT-FIELD SEATS

at O.co Coliseum: That’s where the noisy, flag-waving Oakland fans who beat drums and develop cheers are always holding forth. Getting tired of it after a few innings? You can always find a vacant seat in another section. That’s seldom an issue at A’s games. GET IN A KRUK-KUIP VS. Baseball fans should take in the statues at AT&T Park and attend a game at O.co Coliseum.

to a soccer game: Just to be jingoistic.

Fosse-Kuip “Who would win at ‘Jeopardy!’?” debate: You know, just because it’s always fun to argue about pointless stuff at a ballgame. (Personally, I’d take the position that the Spanish-language radio broadcasters might

game: The charms of Municipal Stadium include bleacher seats from 1942, barbecue from Turkey Mike and kid-friendly foul ball areas. Anyone who hates any of these probably is a communist. SNAG A FOUL BALL, AND GIVE

it to a kid: Anyone who does not follow this rule definitely is a communist. READ A NOVEL BY T.T.

Monday: That’s the pen name of Nick Taylor, a San Jose State professor who doubles as a fiction mystery writer. His protagonist is a veteran major league relief pitcher who also works as a private investigator. I know, sounds loopy. But it’s fun. After the well-received “The Setup Man” in 2014, Monday’s latest effort is “Double Switch.” Either one is perfect for reading on a BART or Caltrain ride to an A’s or Giants game. ROOT FOR TIM LINCECUM

to join the A’s: Because how groovy would that be? It would be, like, the reverse Zito, man.

at the Candlestick site: Soon, the spot where Tony Phillips (RIP) tossed the ball to Dennis Eckersley for the final out of the Giants-A’s World Series in 1989 will be a condo laundry room or a Jamba Juice. VISIT SEALS STADIUM

and Oaks Park locations: That’s where San Francisco and Oakland’s minor league teams (and the Giants, for two seasons) played back in days of yore. Maybe I am a hopeless history geek, but I love stopping at both places now and then, trying to imagine what it must have been like when players such as DiMaggio were patrolling those outfields. Seals Stadium’s footprint in the Mission district now is a Petco and Office Depot (although the funky Double Play bar across the street still stands). The Oaks Park site in Emeryville now is part of the Pixar complex (which, I guess, is more hip than a Jamba Juice). PLAY A GAME OF CATCH

on a sunny day: With your best pal? Your kid? Spouse? Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Neighbor? Doesn’t matter. Can be a softball or a whiffle ball. Also doesn’t matter. It will make you feel better about life in general, especially in an election year. Enjoy the 2016 season.

TAKE IN A COLLEGE GAME:

Take your pick. All of the home

MPURDY@MERCURYNEWS.COM

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THE NEW

ADVANCED METRICS ARE CHANGING BASEBALL’S NUMBERS GAME

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“A

box score is more than a capsule archive. It is a precisely etched miniature of the sport itself, for baseball, in spite of its grassy spaciousness and apparent unpredictability, is the most intensely and satisfyingly mathematical of all our outdoor sports.” — ROGER ANGELL, THE NEW YORKER

Angell penned those lines for The New Yorker in the 1960s, when the promise of a new spring made him increasingly eager for his morning paper. There, over a half a cup of coffee, he could review the stat lines of Ferguson Jenkins, Al Kaline, Juan Marichal, Tony Oliva and “other ballplayers — favorites and knaves — whose fortunes I follow from April to October.” Reconstructing a ballgame took some imagination in those days, even for someone adept at interpreting a hitter’s stat line like 4-1-2-2. In contrast, anyone currently gearing up to follow the exploits of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper or Clayton Kershaw will find that the “precisely etched miniature” of yore has exploded into a sweeping, 3-D panorama. It’s like opening Pandora’s batter’s box. The double play might go 6-4-3 if you’re scoring at home, but MLB’s Statcast is capturing that same play with radar technology that also has been used to track space shuttles — seriously — and recording each pitch at 40,000 frames per second. Statcast will use optical tracking technology to follow base runners up the line at 25 frames per second, while also capturing

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the distance a fielder ran to make a catch and the velocity of the relay throw to first. The modern-day box score might require trips to websites such as FanGraphs, The Hardball Times, Baseball Prospectus and BrooksBaseball, but it is possible to now know, for example, that A’s ace Sonny Gray was throwing curveballs that swerved with a 9.10-inch horizontal break. And that Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins bashed a ball that left his bat at 120.3 mph. And that a curveball from Collin McHugh of the Houston Astros twirled in with a spin rate of 2,538, far better than the league average of 2,307. You might not be ready to embrace all those numbers, but start brushing up. Advanced metrics — the source of tired jokes about nerds in their mothers’ basements — are a now regular part of major league clubhouses, as common as sunflower seeds and pine tar. “The information that we have available to us is ‘everything,’ ” Giants reliever George Kontos said. “Every pitch is documented: That’s any pitcher throwing to any hitter of any game in the major leagues. If there is something that’s not available to us in the packets, we can ask for it, and we can have it in 10 minutes.” The silly debate over Scouting vs. Stats is over. The answer is unequivocally both. Almost every major league team has some sort of analytics department; no team is shuttering its traditional scouting department. Consider the example of the Giants’ three World Series championship teams. In advance of every series, coaches provided players with a scouting report that blended the comprehensive observations of a real human with

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selected statistical data that goes as deep as a player needs. “Yeah, whew,” second baseman Joe Panik said, smiling wide. “Let’s say we enter a series with the Dodgers: We have a book of all the pitchers and their stats that show the percentages of what they throw in what counts. It really is amazing. Location charts. Velocity charts. “There is so much available to us that you kind of have to pick and choose. What’s your game plan against certain guys?” And to think: As baseball blossoms anew in 2016, the game is on the cusp of breakthroughs that could change our understanding of it.

“T

his encompassing neatness permits the baseball fan, aided by experience and memory, to extract from a box score the same joy, the same hallucinatory reality, that prickles the scalp of a musician when he glances at a page of his score of ‘Don Giovanni’ and actually hears bassos and sopranos, woodwinds and violins.” Dave Cameron, 35, grew up without a television in his Seattle-area home. He listened to Mariners games on the radio as a kid but eventually wanted to know what the players looked like. So Cameron bought pack after pack of baseball cards at his local 7-Eleven. Putting faces with the names had a flip side: The backs of the baseball cards were chock-full of numbers — averages, home runs, steals and RBIs. “I just kind of fell in love with the statistics of baseball that way,” Cameron said. He grew up to become an influential writer for FanGraphs.com.

Three-time AllStar Buster Posey studies video and stats prior to each game. “You have to pick and choose what stats you are going to look at,” Posey said. “I think it’s great. I think it’s very beneficial. But at the same time, you have to use your instincts.” Posey bats at left in this photo taken with a tilt-shift lens.

Take a number If you’re ready to dive into the modern stats, here’s a look of some key metrics, with help from the glossary section of FanGraphs.com: WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT (WAR) An attempt to summarize a player’s total contributions. The goal for position players is to measure factors such as batting, base running and fielding in one spot. For pitchers, WAR uses Fielding Independent Pitching (see below), adjusted for park and scaled to how many innings the pitcher threw. The resulting number means the number of wins Player X is worth to their team over a freely available minor leaguer. An MVP-caliber player will be 6 or higher, while a role player will be 1-2. Best: Bryce Harper, Nationals, 9.5 Worst: Pablo Sandoval, Red Sox, -2.0 WEIGHTED ON-BASE AVERAGE (WOBA) The stat is based on the concept that not all hits are created equal. Slugging percentage accounts for this, too, but imprecisely. And slugging percentage doesn’t account for other ways of reaching base. The wOBA calculation is complicated, but context is easy because the scale looks a bit like on-base percentage, where .400 is excellent and .300 is poor. Best: Bryce Harper, Nationals, .461 Worst: Chris Owings, Diamondbacks, .255 FIELDING INDEPENDENT PITCHING (FIP) This estimates pitchers’ run prevention independent of the defense behind them. It’s based on strikeouts, walks, hit by pitches and home runs allowed — i.e., the things most in a pitcher’s control. It strips out the role of defense and luck. A league average FIP is 3.80. Best: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, 1.99 Worst: Aaron Harang, Phillies, 4.83 ULTIMATE ZONE RATING (UZR) This stat uses play-by-play data recorded by Baseball Info Solutions to estimate each fielder’s defensive contribution. UZR estimates the difficulty of each defensive play, and it gives more credit to a fielder who handles tougher chances. Best: Kevin Kiermaier, Rays CF, 30.0 Worst: Matt Kemp, Padres RF, -17.2

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Sabermetrics sources Afraid of advanced analytics? Yeah, us too. But even the most in-depth websites offer training wheels. These are some of our favorites. Come on in; the WAR is fine. FANGRAPHS.COM This is a good place to start because the FanGraphs Library offers an introductory glossary of terms such as UZR, BABIP and wOBA but also puts them in context for those just catching up. Once you’re oriented, FanGraphs provides staggeringly detailed snapshots of every player in the big leagues. So you can see that, say, Billy Butler’s line drive rate sank to 17.7 percent last year, his lowest mark since 2008. Enjoy! BROOKSBASEBALL.NET Want to trace Tim Lincecum’s career arc? This astonishing site documented all 26,655 of his pitches from 2007 to 2015. That’s the type of pitch, the velocity, the movement (horizontal and vertical) and the location. So you can learn that The Freak threw his four-seamer at 95.06 mph in July 2007, the first month for which data is available, and by the month of his final start, in June 2015, it was 88.32 mph. We also know that Lincecum threw 17 cutters in his Giants career, and they averaged horizontal movement of 3.15 inches. All that data and more exists for EVERY SINGLE PITCHER IN EVERY SINGLE GAME. BASEBALLPROSPECTUS.COM Editor-in-chief Sam Miller likes to joke that this is the “liberal arts wing” of sabermetrics. The site is loaded with entertaining deepdiving essays, as well as projections for 2016. BASEBALL-REFERENCE.COM BR is so addictive it should come with a warning label. This is the hefty old Baseball Encyclopedia of yore but with a rabbit hole of links taking you to leaders (annual, career and active), award winners, postseason recaps and box scores. The smart use of advanced metrics makes you see old players in a new light. For example, Willie Mays won only two MVP awards, but his WAR suggests he was the best player in the league nine times.

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“I don’t think there’s any question that this new tracking data has the potential to revolutionize how we understand and how we see baseball,” said Dave Cameron, writer for FanGraphs. com. “But we’re probably five or 10 years away from making really big sweeping conclusions.”

A’s executives Billy Beane and David Forst are among his fans. FanGraphs, launched in 2005, found its niche by featuring advanced info — fly ball rates, line drive percentages, strikeout rates, etc. — that provided data that made it easier to understand and predict performance. It also created its own version of wins above replacement (WAR) and fielding independent pitching (FIP). The site was an immediate boon to fantasy players and MLB front offices alike. The Washington Post, which recently detailed FanGraphs’ evolution, reported that in 2015, the site had roughly 1 million unique users per month — including regular visits from front office members of nearly every major league club. “I like to think of FanGraphs as kind of the pinnacle of the online sabermetric community,” Josh Weinstock, an analyst in the Nationals’ baseball research and development department, told Post writer Barry Svrluga. “I really view it as the focal point through which people can more rigorously study baseball in a more quantitative way.” Now, technology is making it possible to dive deeper. The radar-tracking data from MLB’s Statcast and Baseball Info Solutions make the info on the back of Cameron’s old baseball cards look like cave drawings. They just need to figure out what it means. “I don’t think there’s any question that this new tracking data has the potential to revolutionize how we understand and how we see baseball,” Cameron said by phone from his home in North Carolina. “But we’re probably five or 10 years away from making really big sweeping conclusions.” Cameron used the example of

pitch framing. PITCHf/x began compiling precise pitch location in 2006. But it wasn’t until 2011 that Mike Fast, then an analyst for Baseball Prospectus, was able to isolate the value of a savvy catcher working his glove behind the plate. He concluded that a receiver adept at framing pitches — catching a ball in a way that makes it look like a strike — could have a major effect on the game. Jose Molina, who was good at it, was worth 35 runs above average over 120 games; Ryan Doumit, who wasn’t, was worth 26 runs below average. “That took five years before we got a real tangible metric that changed the way we saw the game,” Cameron said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something similar with Statcast, where we have a treasure trove of data and really no idea how to use it. “People are quoting exit velocity all the time” — that is, how fast a ball leaves a hitter’s bat — “but we don’t really know how well that ages. We have one year of data. “If you hit the ball 97 mph when you’re 24, what does that mean when you’re 27? We have no idea.”

“E

very player in every game is subjected to a cold and ceaseless accounting; no ball is thrown and no base is gained without an instant responding judgment — ball or strike, hit or error, yea or nay — and an ensuing statistic.” A handful of notable players, such as Zack Greinke of the Diamondbacks, Brandon McCarthy of the Dodgers and Glen Perkins of the Twins, are outspoken advocates of the new wave of statistics. Others are still finding their way.

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is well aware of his BABIP — batting average on balls put in play — as well he should be. Belt’s .363 mark last season ranked 11th in the majors, just a few ticks below MVP Bryce Harper (.369). FanGraphs.com also notes that Belt’s 39.5 percent hard hit rate was barely behind Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout, good for ninth in the league. Belt also is coming off a career-high line drive rate of almost 29 percent. But as someone open to looking at the stats in the scouting report, Belt said it’s tricky to balance the benefits of information with the perils of overthinking. “I had a tough time with it early on in my career,” he said. “It’s taken a while to get that out of my head and just go play baseball.” Panik, who made the All-Star team last year in his first full season, said his daily ritual includes studying some stats — then pushing them to the back of his mind. He will study the percentages of an opposing pitcher’s pitch sequencing (“What do they throw in what counts? What pitch does he go to when he’s in trouble?” Panik said). He does this work before batting practice, then slowly makes his transformation back from scholar to ballplayer. “Once you get in the batter’s box, you clear your mind, and you go to work,” he said. “When you’re in the box, you don’t want to be thinking those things. You just want to see the ball, hit the ball.” But no one, teammates say, handles the balance better than catcher Buster Posey. The threetime All-Star prepares meticulously before the game, inhaling massive quantities of video and statistical information. Then he will spit it all out like a bad wad of gum if the situation

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Can I get your number?

dictates. “You have to pick and choose what stats you are going to look at,” Posey said. “I think it’s great. I think it’s very beneficial. But at the same time, you have to use your instincts.”

The alphabet soup of modern metrics makes it hard to know what a player might value. So we put the question to some Giants this spring: What numbers matter to you? BRANDON BELT, FIRST BASEMAN Batting average on balls put in play. “That tells me a lot. If my BABIP is good, I feel like I’m having a lot of line drives. That’s important for me. If I can have a lot of line drives, especially in our park, I’m going to be more successful than not.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS; OPENING SPREAD: NHAT V. MEYER

THIS IS A STATISTICAL

evolution, not a revolution. Stats are as interwoven with the game as the stitches on a baseball. The writer Alan Schwarz opens his book “The Numbers Game” about the history of baseball stats with a box score from 1858. He also recounts the story of Allan Roth, the first full-time statistician ever hired by a major league club. Branch Rickey hired Roth after the 1947 season. And it was Roth who helped persuade the Brooklyn Dodgers to trade Dixie Walker, even though the right fielder hit .306. Why? Roth had kept diagrams of where each batter’s hits went — the first “spray chart” — and noticed that Walker was no longer pulling the ball, a sign that his bat speed was trending downward. (Yep: Walker was out of the league two years later.) “Baseball is a game of percentages,” Roth once explained. “I try to find the actual percentage.” The timeline is filled with luminaries from Bill James to John Dewan to Rob Neyer and Brian Kenny. And, for the younger generation, there is Brad Pitt. “ ‘Moneyball’ was the moment,” said Sam Miller, the editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus. “Before that, there were smart guys who knew each other on the Internet. But that was about it. And they clearly felt like an outsider culture.” In his book “Moneyball,” writer Michael Lewis chronicled how

GEORGE KONTOS, RELIEVER Inherited runners scored percentage. “It’s a big one for any reliever. You want to come in the game, and you want to leave those guys on base.” KELBY TOMLINSON, UTILITY PLAYER Nothing. “Stats are helpful, but a lot of times they don’t show a lot of what players do to help win a game. That’s ultimately what you’re trying to do — to win as many games as possible. I don’t think there’s one stat out there that accurately portrays how valuable a player can be.”

Beane used statistical analysis to help make the small-payroll A’s a regular-season powerhouse. The book came out in 2003 and the movie, starring Pitt, in 2011. “After ‘Moneyball,’ there was a huge boom in business at Baseball Prospectus, and there was a huge change in the prestige and in the number of people who identified as fans of sabermetrics,” said Miller, who lives in San Carlos. It was a movement that launched a thousand WHIPs (walks plus hits per innings pitched). After “Moneyball,” more and more fans started to look at stats to win their fantasy leagues,

realizing that traditional stats such as RBIs were often deceptive measures of a player’s value. But as a measure of how rapidly things are changing, Miller points to how quaint even “Moneyball” looks by comparison. Beane’s most memorable coup in those days? He recognized the under-market value of on-base percentage. “What Billy Beane was doing was supposedly radical and revolutionary,” Miller said. “And he had access to probably less data than you can pull up on your cellphone in the next 30 seconds.” DBROWN@MERCURYNEWS.COM

Roger Angell’s baseball essays were featured in The New Yorker.

JOSH OSICH, LEFT-HANDED RELIEVER Holds. “I don’t really look at stats. But when you go out there — even if you give up a run — you’re out there to keep the lead. As long as you keep your lead, you’ve done the job.” GREGOR BLANCO, OUTFIELDER Runs. “Runs. Runs. Runs. Because they represent the kind of player I should be — I don’t worry about average too much. I just worry about runs and stolen bases. I just need to be on base and score runs.” ROBERTO KELLY, THIRD BASE COACH The old ones. “RBIs, home runs and average. Those are the only ones we had. We didn’t have WAR. We didn’t have OPS+. A player comes to bat now, and they show his WAR, his WAR-plus and his WAR-minus. … I played the game for a long time, and those are stats I don’t understand. I’m looking at it and thinking, ‘What does that mean?’ ”

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hile striving to maintain many of baseball’s cherished traditions, guardians of the game understand they can’t stay too much in the past if they expect to keep the national pastime rich and relevant. Major League Baseball is currently doing well at the gate and at the bank. With two decades of labor peace, MLB has consistently drawn nearly 75 million in attendance over the past several years despite escalating ticket prices. National TV ratings continue to languish, but regional telecasts are flourishing in prime time against their summer competition. Franchise values continue to mushroom. Forbes estimates that MLB clubs are worth an average of $1.2 billion per club. Even the A’s, a budget-conscious team with an antiquated facility, have soared in value. Purchased by John Fisher and Lew Wolff in 2005 for $180 million, the club was estimated by Forbes last March to be worth $725 million. A $545 million jump in 10 years? Phenomenal. The enormous growth that has benefited owners and players is a function of transition — the consistent changes and recognition of audience trends that will serve to make the game better and more attractive to hard-core and casual fans alike. Cleaning up the game’s performance-enhancing drug problem is one example. Fans are starting to feel like the game is genuine again. However, some red flags still can be found out there. Kids aren’t watching baseball like they used to, and they aren’t playing it, either. Games are too long. Despite rule changes that shaved six minutes off the average game time in 2015, games still averaged an operatic 2 hours, 56 minutes. In a world of Twitter attention spans, that won’t do. Baseball’s efforts to bring more African-Americans back to the sport haven’t borne much fruit.

A baseball sits on a Bay Area Little League field. The number of kids ages 6-12 playing baseball has dropped from 5.4 million to 4.3 million since 2007, according to data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.

Even with interleague play, the American and National leagues still play a quite different game, largely as a result of the designated hitter, which needs to be fully adopted or undergo significant alterations just for the sake of fairness. Finally, compared with the NFL, NBA and NHL, the average fan still asserts that baseball doesn’t offer enough action. Why do the pitchers have to hit? What’s with all the defensive shifting? Why are collisions being eliminated? Hey, we love collisions. And though we hated the drugs, we loved the long ball. Batter up (and please stay in the box) … IF KIDS AREN’T WATCHING

or playing baseball as often, where will the next generation of fans come from? It’s a complicated question because kids aren’t watching or playing other sports as much, either. They’re also watching less TV and spending more time on the Internet. Baseball may be the hardest hit of the major sports. The most recent Nielsen ratings put the average age of viewers of MLB games on TV at 55. In 2009, it was over 50. Less than 5 percent of viewers were calculated to be those ages 6-17. That issue appears to stem from the dwindling youth baseball population. Data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, or SFIA, show that the number of youngsters ages 6-12 playing baseball has dropped from 5.4 million to 4.3 million since 2007. Among young teens, the proliferation of travel teams has made playing baseball more expensive, exclusive and time-consuming. One common complaint is that games aren’t played unsupervised anymore. Adults are too involved, applying pressure that ultimately drives away many youths. It’s gone on long enough that parents

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Aging viewers While the median viewer age of people watching baseball and football on ESPN continues to increase, basketball keeps attracting a relatively young audience. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Median viewer age in 2004: 46 Median viewer age in 2014: 53 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2004: 43 2014: 47 NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION 2004: 37 2014: 37 Sources: Baseball Almanac, ESPN, Washington Post

Shifting fan base When Nielsen measures market penetration, it’s the percentage of adults in a team’s home market who either watched, attended or listened to at least one game in the past year. Here’s a look at baseball teams with the most and the fewest local fans.* TOP FIVE 1. St. Louis Cardinals: 76 percent 2. Detroit Tigers: 71 percent 3. Cincinnati Reds: 69 percent 4. Boston Red Sox: 68 percent 5. Pittsburgh Pirates: 63 percent BOTTOM FIVE 25. Chicago White Sox: 36 percent 26. A’s: 33 percent 27. Los Angeles Dodgers: 32 percent 28. New York Mets: 28 percent 29. Los Angeles Angels: 24 percent *Nielsen monitors U.S. markets only. Sources: Nielsen, Washington Post. Based on 2014 season.

who abandoned baseball as kids aren’t introducing the game to their own children, even in the form of backyard catch. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to understand the problem, telling the Washington Post last year, “Those are the sorts of issues we need to address.” Manfred also told the paper that playing as a kid will produce a desire to be involved in the game as you get older. Manfred has made it a priority to win back kids. This past summer, in conjunction with USA Baseball, MLB launched the Play Ball initiative, which seeks to connect youngsters to baseball through low-pressure educational clinics, informational and tutorial websites, kid-friendly mobile apps, and a wealth of organized events for youngsters to have fun with balls, bats and gloves. MLB is throwing big money and big-name players at the project, with numerous current and former major leaguers taking active roles. Manfred thinks if more kids play baseball, more will watch it again. It’ll take time to reverse the current trend, but it’s an encouraging start. And it really does start at the earliest stages of exposure to the sport. “We’ve enjoyed a successful relationship with MLB for many years, decades really,” Stephen Keener, Little League president and CEO, told SportsBusiness Journal last year. “But what Rob has done is really turn up the intensity around this issue, and made it a central piece of his administration. To be a healthy sport and a healthy operation at the major league level, kids need to be engaged. Baseball looks at Little League as one of the best farm systems for fan development.” ISN’T IT TIME FOR THE

designated hitter rule to become uniform? Short answer: Yes. The question is how hard players and owners

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“To be a healthy sport and a healthy operation at the major league level, kids need to be engaged. Baseball looks at Little League as one of the best farm systems for fan development,” explains Stephen Keener, Little League president and CEO.

push for it in the next collective bargaining negotiations. Pitchers face enough injury risk with their arms alone. They also are the most vulnerable to being struck by line drives. When you’re paying a starting pitcher $20 million-plus per season, why expose one of your biggest investments to being plunked at the plate or being hurt on the bases? Onetime Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright tore an Achilles tendon batting last year, and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka strained a hamstring running to first on a bunt. Tough, say National League traditionalists. Many pledge to fight the adoption of the DH in the National League. Giants manager Bruce Bochy is one of them. He doesn’t even want a modified DH rule implemented only during all interleague games and the World Series. “No, absolutely not,” he said. “I’ll be adamant not to have a DH in the National League.” A’s manager Bob Melvin has a suggestion that is a bit outside the box. “If it was up to me,” he said, “in interleague play I’d do it the reverse of how they do it now. I’d use the DH in the NL city and not in the AL city. It would be a way to give the fans a different look than the one they usually get.” Manfred noted in January that ownership changes in the NL might have made the league more receptive to the DH. He has since toned down his comments that it appeared to be an inevitability. “The most likely result for the foreseeable future is the status quo,” he said. “I think the vast majority of clubs in the National League want to stay where they are.” ARE INFIELD SHIFTS HAVING

a dramatic effect on offense? According to data compiled by The Bill James Handbook, teams love infield shifts. In 2010, there were 2,464 infield shifts. By 2014, the number had jumped to 13,296.

Complete data isn’t available for 2015, but shifts almost certainly went up — there were more than 10,000 by the All-Star break. Some teams do it more than others, but they all employ it to some degree. The Houston Astros are the undisputed kings. They implemented 1,341 infield shifts in 2014. The upshot is that all this shifting is having a minimal effect on decreasing runs. It’s been calculated that in those 13,296 shifts, the 30 major league clubs saved 195 runs. Total. The Astros saved 27. As data has become more available on every ball put in play by every hitter, teams play the percentages. Dead-pull power hitters are the most susceptible to shifts. “The shift is in a period of evolution,” Melvin said. “I think you’ll see more of it, maybe pitch to pitch or on specific counts as opposed to just batter-pitcher. “We’re definitely going to keep doing it more and more. We see the need to expand with it. We were in the upper three-quarters in using it last year, and we were better than that in the amount of times we used it successfully.” Manfred was so alarmed at first by the increasing number of infield shifts that he suggested some sort of “illegal defense” rule might have to be put in place. But the numbers regarding its benefits say it’s probably not necessary. BASEBALL APPEARS TO HAVE

cleaned up its act on PEDs, but hasn’t that killed the home run? At the height of the steroid era — roughly 1998 to 2006 — more than 5,000 home runs were hit every year in major league baseball. Since 2007, 5,000 was topped once (in 2009), and it dipped to 4,186 homers in 2014, the lowest total since 1995. There was a dramatic upswing in homers last season — 723 more homers were hit in 2015 for a total of 4,909. Every team in the league hit at least 100, and the league av-

THE GAME

Fewer kids playing Baseball and outdoor soccer take the biggest hits in participation as kids grow older. Here’s a look at the number of kids playing by age. BASEBALL 6- to 12-year-olds: Approximately 34 percent 13-17: Just over 15 percent 18-24: Less than 10 percent TACKLE FOOTBALL 6-12: Just over 20 percent 13-17: Over 30 percent 18-24: Slightly over 15 percent BASKETBALL 6-12: Slightly under 25 percent 13-17: Approximately 17 percent 18-24: Almost 15 percent OUTDOOR SOCCER 6-12: Almost 40 percent 13-17: About 20 percent 18-24: About 12 percent LACROSSE 6-12: About 15 percent 13-17: Over 25 percent 18-24: Between 20 and 25 percent

erage was more than 163 per club. Home runs aren’t necessary to win games, however. The Royals were dead last in homers in 2014 and made it to the seventh game of the World Series. Last year, they were 24th and won it all. The Giants won the Fall Classic in 2012 while hitting the fewest homers in the majors (103).

JOSIE LEPE; PREVIOUS SPREAD: DAI SUGANO

WILL NEW RULES REGARDING

second base slides and the “neighborhood play” decrease the injuries affecting middle infielders? This will be played out over the course of the 2016 season — and perhaps a few seasons after. Replay technology almost demands that baseball not use the neighborhood play, an unwritten rule in which umpires called out base runners sliding into second as long as the infielder was in the vicinity of the bag when he

A’s fan Hayley McClendon holds son Quinton, 2, as he kisses a bat from Billy Butler at spring training.

received the ball on the front end of a double play. But something had to change to protect middle infielders after shortstops Jung Ho Kang of the Pirates and Ruben Tejada of the Mets suffered season-ending injuries last season when they were “taken out” by Chris Coghlan and Chase Utley, respectively, trying to break up double plays. Those slides were an accepted part of the game in the past. But they are dangerous, too. Some players and managers have said the new rules may not protect infielders well enough if the neighborhood play is eliminated, but that will be determined over the course of a season or two. WILL THE AFRICAN-

American athlete ever come back to baseball? The percentage of African-

Americans in MLB peaked in 1981, according to a study by the Society for American Baseball Research, which has charted racial demographics back to 1947, the season Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Since 1981, the numbers have dwindled steadily. But black participation on opening day increased from 8.2 percent in 2014 to 8.3 percent in 2015. It’s confounding since 41.2 percent of all major leaguers in 2015 were nonwhite, including a robust 29.3 percent Latino representation on opening day rosters. Moreover, MLB received an A-plus rating for it racial hiring practices in the first year under Manfred. The problem is on the field, where African-Americans aren’t playing.

FIELD HOCKEY 6-12: Slightly over 15 percent 13-17: Between 12 and 13 percent 18-24: Nearly 20 percent Sources: Nielsen Scarborough, ESPN, Baseball Almanac, Sports and Fitness Industry Association, Washington Post (April 5, 2015)

CSTEWARD@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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ME AND MY SCOUT B Y A N D R E W BAG G A R LY I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y PA U L B L O W

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irst impressions are everything to baseball scouts. They watch and evaluate thousands of players every year. They are always looking for something that stands out. But scouts can make their own strong initial impressions on players, too. And Matt Cain has a clear recollection of the first time Giants scout Lee Elder walked into his suburban Memphis home. “I remember staring at that big-ass Yankee World Series ring on your hand,” Cain often tells him. “Now I own a couple more of those bigass World Series rings, thanks to you,” Elder shoots back. Cain and Elder are a rare pair. It’s not too often that a pitcher can walk onto the field in spring training, still in the same organization 14 years after being drafted, see the scout that signed him leaning against the dugout rail, his mouth wadded up with sunflower seeds, and wave.

Matt Cain joined the Giants franchise after Lee Elder, above, discovered him on a scouting trip. “After three innings I called up (Giants vice president Dick) Tidrow and said, ‘I just saw the quickest arm I’ve seen on a high school kid yet,’ ” said Elder. Cain was drafted out of high school by San Francisco in the first round in 2002.

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The scout-player relationship isn’t what it once was. Scouts still beat the bushes and unearth gems, but they don’t carry fat billfolds in their back pockets and sign players on the spot. The number of showcases, tournaments, scouts and cross-checkers makes it impossible to keep a talented hitter or power arm submerged for long. And the decision to draft a player is now an organizationwide affair. Teams still list “signing scouts,” but that amounts to a symbolic tip of the wide-brimmed hat. If Texas is your region, and your organization takes a kid out of Abilene Christian, then you’re the signing scout — even if you weren’t in the room when the ink hit the contract. Even in the rare instance when a scout and player maintain their relationship, there are trades and free agency and nontendered contracts. The days of Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn, who played their entire careers for one team, are long gone. There aren’t many scouts who become titans like George Genovese, who counted Bobby Bonds, Gary Matthews, Garry Maddox, George Foster, Jack Clark, Chili Davis, Dave Kingman, Royce Clayton and Matt Williams among the 44 players he signed to reach the major leagues. Genovese, who died in November at the age of 93, organized travel ball teams before they became widespread, and furnished equipment to players who didn’t have any of their own. Matthews told MLB.com that Genovese gave him his first pair of spikes, and he stayed in touch with him throughout their lives. “I don’t know if we have enough time to go over all the stuff that George Genovese has done, not just for me, but also for a lot of players, from George Foster to Dave Kingman,” Matthews told MLB.com. “He’s a big reason why I was in the major leagues, to be quite frank. He’d stick by you and work out with you. He has a

Cain made his major league pitching debut in August 2005 in San Francisco. He was the youngest player in the National League that year.

special place in my heart.” The amateur ranks are a different world now. Most scouts will write up players and advocate for the ones they like. They might even stand up and passionately campaign, as Giants cross-checker Doug Mapson once did for a closed-stanced first baseman with an aluminum-bat swing out of the University of Texas named Brandon Belt. But once the players sign, the scouts scatter to the next showcase or high school game. They aren’t there to see the stalk break through or the fruit set. For many players, though, there is no forgetting that tingle of anticipation the first time they heard that a professional baseball scout had come to watch them, or the first time they shook someone’s hand and bumped a knuckle against one of those big-ass rings. There is no forgetting the first person in baseball who believed in your talent. Especially when nobody else did. FORMER GIANTS CATCHER

Bengie Molina was one of those players. Scouts passed him over twice in the draft. At Arizona Western College, he was a pitcher, outfield-

er and occasional shortstop who had a quick bat, but his foot speed could be timed with a sundial instead of a stopwatch. After returning home to Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, and playing in a few semipro games for a local club, he quit the sport he loved with one symbolic act. He knotted the laces of his cleats together and flung them high in the tangled power lines. But a scout from the Angels, Ray Poitevint, happened to see Molina line a base hit during that last semipro game. And Poitevint happened to be sitting next to Gladys Matta, Bengie’s mother and the family matriarch. Poitevint had come to Vega Alta to work out Bengie’s younger brother, Jose, a catcher with a strong throwing arm. He agreed to take a look at Bengie, too. Poitevint had seen enough players overcome marginal tools. The old scout once signed a Hall of Famer, Eddie Murray, but he was much prouder of another signee, Enos Cabell, who made it to the big leagues through force of will and fashioned a respectable career. “Scouts are trained to look for flaws, and when they see one, they’ll just pass and go to the next guy,” Poitevint said. “We’re always looking for perfection.” So Bengie borrowed a pair of Jose’s cleats. He put on a tremendous round of batting practice. And when Poitevint asked him to get into a crouch and make a few throws to second base, he did so without hesitation — even though he’d never caught before. Four days later, he was on a plane to the Angels’ minor league complex in Arizona. His bonus check, after taxes, was less than $800. He ended up playing a dozen seasons in the big leagues, winning two Gold Gloves, playing in two World Series and winning one with the 2002 Angels while counting Jose as one of his teammates. He also became the first of the three Molina brothers to reach the majors. The siblings,

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including Yadier, who is a fixture with the St. Louis Cardinals, are the only trio of brothers in major league history to each own a World Series ring. It wouldn’t have gotten started without a pair of borrowed cleats and a scout who was willing to look past a flaw. “I would have signed for nothing,” Bengie Molina said. “I would have signed for nothing.” While Bengie and Jose Molina prepared to play in that 2002 World Series, a skinny 11-year-old kid was hand-painting signs in the Anaheim parking lot and couldn’t believe that he would get to see his Angels in the Fall Classic. MATT DUFFY LIVED AND

breathed baseball, and he worked hard at it. He played at Long Beach State, where he hit .244 as a freshman, .266 as a sophomore and .244 in a miserable junior year that began with an intestinal ailment, causing him to shed 20 pounds that he couldn’t afford to lose. Of his 129 collegiate hits, 116 were singles. Over three collegiate seasons and 501 at-bats, he didn’t hit a single home run. The Angels didn’t even bother to send him a draft questionnaire. Scouts knew about him because he had taken what was supposed to be a temporary assignment with Orleans in the Cape Cod League and ran with it, hitting everything in sight after clicking with batting coach Benny Craig. Giants scout Brad Cameron knew Duffy long before that. He had reports on him going back to Lakewood High School, and he knew the kid had the arm, strength and range to play shortstop. “All four of our scouts who saw him in the Cape knew what he could do,” Cameron said. “I had him even a little higher than where we took him, in the 18th round (in 2012). We all agreed he could play shortstop, he had good actions and he squared up fastballs. He never missed a fastball, and that was the truth.”

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Famed scout George Genovese signed 44 players that reached the major leagues, including Bobby Bonds, Gary Matthews, Garry Maddox, George Foster, Jack Clark, Chili Davis, Dave Kingman, Royce Clayton and Matt Williams. Genovese died in November at the age of 93.

Cameron laughed when he considered Duffy’s amazing season in 2015, when he had the most RBIs (77) by a Giants rookie since Dave Kingman in 1972 and the most extra-base hits by a Giants rookie since Chili Davis in 1982. If not for the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, Duffy would’ve been the NL Rookie of the Year. “If you think about it, we kind of whiffed, too,” Cameron said. “I mean, based on what he’s doing now. … I didn’t evaluate him as a plus hitter and average power guy. We had him as a utility player.” At the time, what most struck Cameron about Duffy was his extreme eagerness to sign — as eager as any draftee he could remember. Duffy signed two days after the draft, only because that’s how long it took Cameron to drive over a contract. Their relationship didn’t end there. Duffy and Cameron will meet up at least once every offseason for lunch or dinner. And Duffy was a surprise guest when Cameron celebrated his 50th birthday with a party in San Francisco in September. “I really appreciated his faith in me and fighting for me,” Duffy said. “Because at that point in the draft, it’s about, ‘How adamant is a scout about their guy?’ I know with the year I had my junior year, he didn’t have to stick to his guns, but he did.” Said Cameron: “I’m so proud of him and happy for his family. To be able to walk into a house and give them the opportunity to fulfill someone’s dreams, one they’ve had since they were 5 years old, is an awesome feeling, and I love it.” THOSE ARE THE MOMENTS

that make up for so many others: the long drives and rainouts, the two-star hotel rooms with scratchy blankets, making dinner from the offerings at a gas station. Back in 2001, Elder had the ample Southern territory that included Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. An-

other scout had been reassigned, and GM Brian Sabean asked him to take on Tennessee, too. Elder hadn’t the first idea about draft prospects in the state, so he asked another scout with the Reds to toss him a couple of names. He got one, a high school pitcher at Houston High, outside Memphis, who was committed to attend South Carolina but was worth a look. His name was Conor Lalor. And Collierville happened to be playing in a tournament in Mountain Brook, Alabama, a twohour drive away. “Oh, thank you, thank you,” said Elder, who hustled to his car. “So I get there and talk to the coach, and Lalor has the flu — didn’t make the trip.” Elder asked for other names. The coach told him he had a shortstop and a catcher. Elder asked if he had any other pitchers. “And he says to me, ‘Well, the guy going tonight is a 17-year-old, but he’s a senior, and he’s got a partial ride to Memphis State,’ ” Elder said. “That was Cain, and I was the only one there. I was the only scout in the stands. “And, shoot, after three innings I called up (Giants vice president Dick) Tidrow and said, ‘I just saw the quickest arm I’ve seen on a high school kid yet.’ ” Cain threw 88 mph that day. But every time he took the mound in his senior year, his velocity ticked up. When the draft arrived, he was a known commodity, and evaluators expected him to go in the first couple of rounds. The Giants had more reports on him than anyone else. He lasted until their selection at 25th overall. Fourteen years later, Elder and Cain are lasting together still. “Usually you don’t stumble onto guys like that, someone who turns out to be a bulldog of your staff,” Elder said. “It’s great that both of us have been together the whole time. It’s been a great relationship.” ABAGGARLY@MERCURYNEWS.COM

‘BATS ARE COOL,

AREN’T THEY?’ WHAT MAKES A BASEBALL BAT SO BELOVED? BAY AREA STARS EXPLAIN ASH, MAPLE, FUNGO AND HITTING THE SWEET SPOT. B Y A N D R E W BAG G A R LY A N D J O H N H I C K E Y PHOTOGR APHS BY JOSIE LEPE

MARK CANHA

BILL Y BU RN

MARCUS SEMIEN

JED

DA N N

Y VAL ENC

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ISP

JOSH REDDICK

BILLY BUTLER

THE GAME

NOW BATTING FOR THE A’S . . . Billy Butler

Danny Valencia

Mark Canha

Billy Burns

A’S DESIGNATED HITTER

A’S THIRD BASEMAN

A’S FIRST BASEMAN/LEFT FIELDER

A’S CENTER FIELDER

Model: Mizuno personal model Vitals: 34 inches, 32 ounces, shaves handle only to keep pine tar from building up, maple Why it feels right: “I like the rounded knob because I can put my hand over it, and it has a thinner handle so that it’s a little top-heavy. I like the feel with the extra weight down at the end.” Upper cuts: “I used a Phoenix B455 bat when I was a kid. It was my only wooden bat. I used it for a long time.”

Model: Marucci model DV Vitals: 34 inches, 32 ½ ounces. “I use ash and would always use it in a perfect world. But it flakes, so in BP, I use the same model, but maple, which doesn’t flake as much.” Why it feels right: “I need to have the bat feel perfectly balanced when I swing. When the swing feels right and the bat feels right, it’s like you can’t even feel the ball when it hits the sweet spot.” Upper cuts: “It was an Easton. Those bats were all aluminum, and I loved them. I’d use aluminum now, if they let me.”

Model: Victus MR99. “It’s a version of the Louisville Slugger S318 that I like.” Vitals: 34 inches, 32 ounces, maple Why it feels right: “It feels right when I can’t really feel the ball coming off the bat. Maple is hard and doesn’t shatter the way ash does. I moved to this one after I picked up a bat of Josh Phegley’s, and it just felt right.” Upper cuts: “We had a group of players we called the Neighborhood Children in San Jose. We all used the same metal bat, a white-andblack Louisville TPX. We called it the yardstick. It actually belonged to two brothers, A.J. and Austin Ghiossi, but we all used it. I hit a lot of homers with that thing.”

Model: Louisville Slugger B427 Vitals: 33 ½ inches, 31 ounces, maple. “I don’t shave the handle, but I put tape around the knob up to 1 ½ inches. It helps when I choke up on the bat that there’s no gap, and my hand can sit right on top of the knob.” Why it feels right: “I want to feel a little oomph when I make contact, so there’s a little extra weight down at the barrel.” Upper cuts: “I had a Louisville Slugger with a big barrel, 28 inches and 20 ounces. I’m telling you, that thing had a lot of pop.”

Josh Reddick

Marcus Semien

Coco Crisp

Jed Lowrie

A’S RIGHT FIELDER

A’S SHORTSTOP

A’S OUTFIELDER

A’S SECOND BASEMAN

Model: Old Hickory personalized model Vitals: 34 inches, 32 ounces, flared knob, maple Why it feels right: “I’ve always been a maple guy — never really took to ash because of the way it chips. I like the balance I get with the bat, the way it feels through the zone.” Upper cuts: “I never really had my own bat when I was a kid — we couldn’t afford it — so I just used whatever bat the team had. It seemed to work OK.”

Model: Marucci JM Vitals: 34 inches, 31 ½ ounces, shaves the handle a little, maple and ash. “I’ll mix it up with a 33 ½ to 31 ½ when the 34-inch bat feels too heavy.” Why it feels right: “Ash flakes too much, and you go through too many bats. But I like how hard it is, and it feels right when you swing it. It’s a good feeling when you make solid contact.” Upper cuts: “Every year from the time I was about 7-12 or 13, my grandmother Carol Phillips would take me out shopping and let me pick out a bat for Christmas. I loved to look forward to that. The only thing was that she made me pretend to be surprised for the rest of the family when I opened the package on Christmas.”

Model: Louisville Slugger M301S Vitals: 33 ½ inches, 31 ounces, doesn’t shave handle, maple Why it feels right: “I like the size of the barrel and the balance it has. I use a thinner handle and smaller knob. If it feels like you’re not swinging anything heavy, that’s when it’s right. I will switch size from time to time just to change things up.” Upper cuts: “I just used whatever bat my dad bought me. All I remember about them now is that they were all aluminum.”

Model: Tucci JL-8 Vitals: 33 ½ inches, 31 ounces, maple Why it feels right: “I want my swings from both sides of the plate to be consistent, and for that I need to have the right balance in the bat. This one has it.” Upper cuts: “I had an Easton Redline forever when I was a kid. I didn’t carry that bat to bed or anything, but it went just about everywhere I went. ”

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MATT DUFFY MADISON BUMGARNER

TU WO

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JOE PANIK

BUSTER POSEY

DENARD SPAN

HUNTER PENCE

THE GAME

NOW BATTING FOR THE GIANTS . . . Matt Duffy

Joe Panik

Brandon Crawford

Buster Posey

GIANTS THIRD BASEMAN

GIANTS SECOND BASEMAN

GIANTS SHORTSTOP

GIANTS CATCHER

Model: MaxBat I13L Dimensions: 33.5 inches, 31 ounces, maple, “Duffman” cartoon logo on knob Why it feels right: “I feel I have better bat control and I still have a good-sized barrel. It’s not always easy to control a big barrel. I put some liquid pine tar just below the label and put rosin on top of that. I’ll use that on my top hand so it’s tacky, not sticky. I used to put it on my helmet. A lot of guys do, like Pablo (Sandoval). I did it in high school and thought it looked really cool. But then you’re putting it in your bag, and it makes a real big mess.” Upper cuts: “Some guys like a really end-weighted bat or one that feels really light. I try to keep balanced in baseball. And in life, too.”

Model: Louisville Slugger T141 Dimensions: 33.5 inches, 31 ounces, maple, cupped end Why it feels right: “I’ve tried different models. My brother, Paul, gave me this one in college to use in the Cape. It was one of his leftover bats. I had a good summer, and I still use it. It’s funny how things circle around. In 2013, in the low minors, I experimented with some other models. But once I started to understand my game, I went back to that bat and stuck with it.” Upper cuts: “I start the season with 24 bats, and I’ll retire one when the pine tar starts to cake or it’s a rainy day and the rain soaks into the wood … or if it doesn’t have any hits left in it.”

Model: MaxBat B21 Dimensions: 33.5 inches, 31 ounces, maple, Lizard Skin grip Why it feels right: “I like the Lizard Skin. It makes it feel like an aluminum bat used to feel. It’s a little squishy. I only have to use a little pine tar. You probably won’t see me throwing the bat.” Upper cuts: “This model is a little more end-weighted. I used C243s from Louisville Slugger, and they had less top-heaviness, and I think that’s a new word I just made up. Yes, the label is silver. It was silver last year, too.”

Model: Marucci BP28-LDM Dimensions: 34 inches, 31.5 to 32 ounces, maple, customized for Posey Why it feels right: “I had a bat I used previously and sent it to them. They made it for me and tweaked it for me. We hit so much that you can pick up a bat and know if the specs are right. But I don’t really have to worry about that. With as detailed as they are and the quality of the wood they use, they’re just the best out there. ... It’s kind of funny because it’s been eight years since I used an aluminum bat. But I still want to re-create that same kind of feel.” Upper cuts: “I picked up (Andrew) McCutchen’s bat at the All-Star Game, and it’s similar to mine. Bats are cool, aren’t they?”

Hunter Pence

Denard Span

Madison Bumgarner

Ron Wotus

GIANTS RIGHT FIELDER

GIANTS CENTER FIELDER

GIANTS PITCHER

GIANTS BENCH COACH

Model: MaxBat HP9 Dimensions: 34.5 inches, 32 to 32.5 ounces, maple, high-gloss finish Why it feels right: “Every year I try to stay open to what’s going to be the best bat for me this year. Because every year you change. I’ve been on the same MaxBat for three years now. It’s stood the test of time. There might be a week or two that I try a different bat, but I always come back to it. This has been the longeststanding bat I’ve used.” Upper cuts: “No, no, I don’t name them anymore. Once they started zooming in with the cameras on the names I was putting on them, I stopped because I didn’t want all that attention. It was for me, and then it became a thing.”

Model: Chandler CB491 Dimensions: 33.5 inches, 31 ounces, maple. Chandler bats have a 50-hit guarantee. Why it feels right: “In batting practice, I swing a 34-32. So when I use the lighter bat in a game, I feel like I can whip it around.” Upper cuts: “I think it was 2012, they told me I was top five in the league for most broken bats. I’m not proud of that. You can’t take those numbers to arbitration.”

Model: Marucci BN44-LDM Dimensions: 34.5 inches, 33.5 ounces, maple, matte black finish Why it feels right: “Michael Morse used it. It was originally Adam Dunn’s model. I tried it and just really liked it. It’s a bigger bat, but it’s really balanced. It doesn’t feel like a big bat. ... Big handle, big knob. Everything about it is big. It all fits together.” Upper cuts: “I only wear one batting glove. That’s so I don’t get tar on my pitching hand.”

Model: Old Hickory PRO F3 Dimensions: 36 inches, 29 ounces, maple. It’s a fungo! Why it feels right: “I prefer a longer one for fly balls and a shorter one for infield. You don’t want it too short. It needs a little leverage. But mostly it needs to be light because you’re swinging it over and over.” Upper cuts: “Can’t go without the fungo! You know, I’m not sure how they got their name. I think it was in the Italian league. ... Typically they don’t really break. But I’ll lean it against the screen in center field, and a (batted) ball will hit it off the handle and break it. Oh, yeah, it’s happened. I want to say at least twice. ... No, we’re not allowed to sign fungo bat contracts.”

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THE GIANTS

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ohnny Cueto, one of the Giants’ pricey new starters, sometimes uses an absurdly twisting delivery. He’ll rotate so dramatically during his windup that hitters will glimpse the back of his No. 47 jersey just before he uncoils and releases the pitch. When Cueto does that, he looks just like … “Yeah, he reminds me of me a little,” said Luis Tiant, the Boston Red Sox legend. “But he doesn’t do it as much as I did. He needs to do it more.” Tiant, like Cueto, was part pitcher, part roulette wheel. Hitters not only had to guess what pitch was coming, but also from which angle and which release point. And in case that was too simple for hitters to decode, both Tiant and Cueto have been known to employ a mid-delivery pause. El Tiante and Johnny Beisbol are so stylistically similar that when writer Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports set out this past summer to catalog Cueto’s many windups, he narrowed the list to four: The Traditional, The Quick Pitch, The Rocking Chair — and The Tiant. Not surprisingly, Tiant thinks Cueto should use The Tiant more often. “He can do it every pitch,” said the right-hander who pitched from 1964 to ’82. “The more he does it, the better control he’ll have, and I think he’s going to fool the hitter more. “He has to be more consistent with it. You can’t do it once in a while — here and there. When you do it that way, you’re losing your point of release, and that’s a problem.” Tiant, 75, went 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA over his 19 seasons in the majors. The Cuba native twice led the American League in ERA and eight times ranked among the league leaders in strikeout-towalk ratio. Tiant knows Cueto well enough to call him “my friend.” He said he’s chatted with his delivery doppelganger a few times over the

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years and has plans to track him down again soon. When we called Tiant this spring, he still had plenty of advice to pass along to the Giants’ pricey new addition. Tiant’s continued admiration for Cueto’s twisting delivery could make for a compelling saga — “As the Whirled Turns.” “I think he’s going to have a good year there in San Francisco,” Tiant said. “Hopefully, he wins 20 games for them. I know he can.” THE GIANTS SIGNED CUETO

to a six-year, $130 million freeagent contract in December in hopes of re-establishing a championship-caliber rotation just in time for an even year. Cueto, 30, throws a low-90 mph fastball, a cutter, a slider, a change-up and the occasional curveball, according to PITCHf/x. The repertoire has served him well. Cueto has a 3.30 career ERA. Among active players with at least 1,000 career innings, the only pitchers better are Clayton Kershaw (2.43), Adam Wainwright (2.98), Madison Bumgarner (3.04), David Price (3.09) and Felix Hernandez (3.11). Cueto’s final start last season was a beauty — a 7-1 triumph over the New York Mets in Game 2 of the World Series. It was the first complete game by an AL pitcher in the Fall Classic since Jack Morris in 1991. Before that, Cueto was mostly a disappointment for the Kansas City Royals. After they acquired him in a trade-deadline deal, opponents hammered him for a 4.76 ERA, and he struck out only 56 batters in 81.1 innings. Royals manager Ned Yost, when asked this spring to reflect on Cueto’s slump, said there was a simple fix all along. They discovered the glitch just in time: Catcher Salvador Perez was providing too high a target. “Johnny his whole career was used to throwing to a very low target. And Salvy is a huge

Johnny Cueto, pictured pitching for the Royals in the 2015 World Series, employs an exaggerated, twisted delivery, much like that of Red Sox legend Luis Tiant. Tiant, pictured pitching against the A’s in 1979, says Cueto “can do it every pitch. ... The more he does it, the better control he’ll have, and I think he’s going to fool the hitter more.”

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THE GIANTS

guy,” Yost said of his 6-foot-3, 240-pound backstop. “It took some time for Salvy to get down to where Johnny was comfortable throwing his pitches. “We had a side session, and (Perez) said, ‘Show me what you want. I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Just show me.’ And Johnny told him, ‘If I miss, I want to miss down.’ “And from that point they had success together.”

JOSIE LEPE; PREVIOUS SPREAD: GETTY IMAGES, ASSOCIATED PRESS

IN HIS LONE WORLD SERIES

start, Cueto was back to his unpredictable best. He allowed only two hits, with three walks and four strikeouts. Cueto also threw 122 snowflakes, none of them quite alike. The pitcher was so wildly creative in that game that August Fagerstrom of FanGraphs.com was inspired to retroactively put Cueto’s deliveries on a spreadsheet. Using Passan’s four categories, he came up with this: ■ The Quick Pitch: 48 percent ■ The Tiant: 25 percent ■ The Traditional: 20 percent ■ The Rocking Chair: 7 percent In being unpredictable, Cueto sometimes can look unhinged. The Rocking Chair delivery, in particular, can look like a goof. For that windup, Cueto does a Tiant-style turn, then pauses as he comes back around to face the plate. His right shoulder dips, then his left, then he shakes his right shoulder one more time before releasing the pitch. But Bryan Price, who served as Cueto’s pitching coach and later manager in Cincinnati, grew to know better than anyone that there was a thought process behind each pitch. Price said this spring that Cueto is attacking, not ad-libbing. “Being a great pitcher, especially a great starter, is being able to read swings,” Price said. “He sees where a hitter is in the box and sees how the hitter approaches a pitch — down and away, inside, up, down. He understands what

The Giants’ Cueto reacts after pitching during spring training workouts in February. “I just admire that he laughed every time he wasn’t pitching,” said Royals manager Ned Yost when asked to reflect on Cueto’s time with the team.

pitch in what area at what speed in what shape it needs to be thrown to get the result that he wants.” CUETO BROKE INTO THE BIG

leagues as a fairly conventional pitcher in 2008. He began toying with a hip turn in spring training two years later as a way of keeping the left side of his body from flying open. Cueto cut his walks per nine innings from 3.2 to 2.7 that season and hasn’t been over 3.0 since. “Once he started getting into that Luis Tiant turn, he just started to get more creative,” Price said this spring. “The thing about Johnny, he knows how to pitch. … He’ll see something that someone else does, and he’ll just incorporate it into his game. “A lot of times it would catch us off guard because you see him with this huge turn, and he thinks he’s Luis Tiant. But he ends up being able to execute the pitch. He just finds a way to beat you.” Cueto keeps a wide variety of windups for the same reason other pitchers keep an assortment of pitches — to keep the hitters off-balance. But Tiant — the man, not the windup — insisted that Cueto would be better off using the full turn every time. He said Cueto can save his creativity for his arm slots but said it’s the back turn that maximizes the deception. “When you do that kind of delivery, you hide the ball more from the hitter. You can fool them,” Tiant said. “By the time the batter is picking up the ball, it’s by him. It’s too late.” What does Cueto have to say about his windups? Well, that’s about as secret as his next pitch. He prefers not to discuss his approach in the media, figuring that the less hitters understand about his methods, the better. HIS TEAMMATES HEAR HIM

talk plenty, though. “Johnny Cueto was a blast to be around,” Yost said. “He’s fun in the clubhouse

When Cueto pitches using a Tiant-style turn, he twists so that his back almost faces the batter during windup. Then, he releases the ball with a flourish. ILLUSTRATIONS BY JEFF DURHAM

every single day. “I just admire that he laughed every time he wasn’t pitching. He was at the end of the bench and really rooting his tail off. ‘Let’s go guys. Gogogogo! Let’s go!’ You can hear him from one end of the dugout to the other.” Yost said he most admires Cueto for his ability to handle pressure, which is something the pitcher has been doing from the start. Even Cueto’s first professional tryout came with high stakes. In March 2004, Reds scout Johnny Almaraz had an early-morning flight to catch. But a local tipster warned him that he’d be making a mistake if he left the Dominican Republic without at least looking at a power-armed 18-year-old. The scout agreed to give this Cueto kid a shot, but he wasn’t about to change his travel plans. So they met just after sunrise on an otherwise empty diamond in San Pedro de Macoris. The tryout lasted all of 15 pitches. “His delivery. His arm action. His ability to throw the ball downhill,” Almaraz said by phone, recalling what jumped out at him. “But the most impressive thing is that he was able to command every single pitch inside the strike zone.” The Reds promptly signed Cueto for $35,000. And Almaraz made his flight. Now, it’s the Giants’ turn for first impressions — albeit at a significantly higher price. In base salary alone, Cueto will earn $15 million this season and $21 million each year from 2017 to 2021. His job description is simple. The Giants bought this expensive new windup for the sole purpose of winning another World Series. Tiant will be watching, of course. How can he turn away? Staff writer Andrew Baggarly contributed to this report. DBROWN@MERCURYNEWS.COM

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D R I TH E S A B R E POW G N I T T I H A D AN S U O M R O N I T G A C Y B B TA DUFF T T A M WITH N O I S AT NVER O C A LY GGAR W BA E R AMIS D N MC BY AN Y R YA ION B

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Skeeter is a 30-pound tabby cat. “A lot of people think I keep him in my baseball bag,” Matt Duffy said.

THE GIANTS

rom the Duffman cartoon logos on the knobs of his bats to his family’s enormous 30-pound tabby, Matt Duffy garnered his share of quirky attention as a major league rookie last season. But even Skeeter the cat could not obscure the real significance of Duffy’s season. What other team, in the span of five months, had a player who went from utility man to becoming the National League’s active leader in consecutive games played? Who hit a dozen homers in the big leagues after failing to go deep once in three years with an aluminum bat at Long Beach State? Who finished with the most RBIs (77) by a Giants rookie since Dave Kingman in 1972, and the most extra-base hits (46) by a Giants rookie since Chili Davis in 1982? And who became the first rookie in Giants history to be elected by his fellow teammates as the Willie Mac Award winner, bestowed on the player who best exemplified heart, spirit and leadership? Duffy’s remarkable emergence allowed the Giants to cross off what should’ve been a franchise quandary: finding a long-term replacement at third base for World Series hero Pablo Sandoval. It was quite the fancy feast. Now Duffy is hungry for seconds. Of all the numbers you put up and accolades you received, including a second-place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting, what meant the most to you? My progression at third base. Learning a new position on the fly, the amount of work we put in — I was proud of that. And then the Willie Mac Award. … Anything that is voted on by your teammates means a lot more. They’re the ones who spend the most time with you. You’re in a confined space with the same people for eight months

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above his potential.’ They’re always going to say it. This is how I try to take it: People who say that are people who don’t know me on a personal level, don’t know what drives me, don’t know what goes on in my head in the box or on defense. They don’t know my type of mental game or my approach. They think I’m just getting lucky. To those people, I say, ‘That’s OK — I don’t necessarily take it personal.’ But it does put a chip on your shoulder. Duffy hits a home run against the Nationals in August. Duffy hit 12 homers last season after a three-year drought at Long Beach State.

at a time. So for that group, who knows you the best, to think highly enough to vote for you, that was something I was really proud of. The Willie Mac Award has never been given to a rookie before. Were you aware of that when they told you that you were the recipient? I didn’t know that. I figured there were so many guys who had a strong argument. I mean, Brandon Crawford had a breakout year. Buster Posey had won it before, but he had another great year. Javy Lopez had an unbelievable year out of the bullpen. Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Hudson were retiring. And there were more beyond those. None of those names would have surprised me. While you seem to enjoy proving people wrong, I don’t get the sense that you’re driven by that. Is that a fair characterization? Yeah. Um … yeah. It’s definitely something that puts a chip on my shoulder. But whether somebody says I can or can’t do something, I’m going to go about my work in the same way. Yeah, it’s not a driving force, but it does definitely make it a little more satisfying. There’s always going to be people who say, ‘He can’t sustain this level of production’ or, ‘He’s playing

You did hit .313 in May, .313 in June, .316 in July and .301 in August. Lucky people usually aren’t that consistent, are they? I take pride in that. I think a consistent mindset yields consistent results, whether it’s a consistently bad mindset and bad results or a good mindset and good results. That’s something I’ve put a lot of work into. I take a lot of pride in it, and that’s where the consistency comes from. Most people probably know by now that you didn’t hit a single home run in three years swinging an aluminum bat at Long Beach State. You hit 12 home runs off big league pitching last year. I suppose you’ll say you focus on having good at-bats and hitting the ball hard, but how has power emerged as part of your game, and could there be more in there? I think the power came from playing a little heavier than I played in the past. At Long Beach, I was in the low 160s. When I was in Double-A, every time I’d hit a double to the wall, Clayton Blackburn would shake his head and say, ‘Man, 20 more pounds, and it’s a homer.’ Last year, I played 10 to 12 pounds heavier. I came into spring training almost 20 pounds heavier. And the other big part of it was working with Bam

THE GIANTS

Bam (Meulens, the Giants’ hitting coach) on staying in my legs the entire swing and being aggressive with my hips. That translated to home runs. Being more consistent with those things, maybe you’ll see more home runs and maybe not. It’s not my game. I’m trying to hit line drives off the barrel. So if I hit a home run, you could almost say I missed. How much third base had you played before last season, when struggling veteran Casey McGehee more or less tutored you to replace him? My freshman year in college I played maybe 10 games and then played a little more my sophomore year, maybe 20 more. Then in the minors it was three games, which came right before I got called up. I’d played the whole year at shortstop. I did take a lot of ground balls at third, so I was familiar with the angles. I understood we had a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop and understood the position wasn’t really my ticket as long as he was there. I’d say it wasn’t until three or four weeks of being the everyday third baseman last year when I started feeling comfortable there. Did you see that McGehee signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers?

You didn’t own a stuffed rally monkey, did you? I did. Probably a few, actually. And a bunch of thundersticks. I hear rally monkeys make excellent cat toys.

Duffy tags out Diamondbacks Ender Inciarte as he attempts to steal third. Duffy won the Giants’ starting third base job in May 2015.

way. I really appreciate what he actually taught me and also what I gained from him just seeing how he handled the whole situation. When you were on the 2014 playoff roster, it wasn’t the first time you’ve seen a Giants World Series game in person, was it? No it wasn’t. That was the third time. I was at Game 1 of the 2002 World Series in Anaheim, which the Giants won. I saw Barry Bonds’ home run off Jarrod Washburn. It went right over our heads in the right field pavilion. I was 11 years old. My dad and I tailgated. We barbecued. We were so excited to be there. And then Bonds just crushes that home run in his first at-bat. He was so far away. He looked like an ant to me way over at home plate. And then boom! It was amazing that he could hit a ball so far. And then … well, we were at Game 6. And it was funny because for Scott Spiezio’s home run, I had to be the only one in the ballpark who didn’t see it actually go over the fence. I was standing up in my seat, and he hit it, and from my angle, I thought it was a pop-up. I put my head in my hands, and everybody started going nuts. The next thing anyone knew, Troy Glaus hit a two-run double, and the Angels took the lead, and then you knew how

Yeah, I’m sure they got ripped up. We probably ripped all of them up when I signed with the Giants. Nah, actually, they’re probably still in storage. My dad keeps everything. Speaking of that, the photo collage that your dad published on The Players’ Tribune really captured what the journey is like to become a pro ballplayer and how early you began to commit yourself. What does it mean to have that kind of pictorial history to remind you of that journey? You know, I always gave my dad crap — I still give him crap — for taking pictures of everything. Like, I ask him the other day, ‘Hey, do you mind helping me pack up my truck for spring training?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So I’m loading boxes up and look back and he’s taking pictures of me. And I’m like, ‘Dad! I need help! Put the phone down, and stop taking pictures!’ But it is cool because you can go back and remember. We had dinner with some of my old travel ball and high school teammates before I left for this spring, and it’s great to bring up the pictures and tell stories. I suppose we should ask how Skeeter is doing. He’s still fat. He’s a family cat, so I don’t see him during the season. It’s funny. A lot of people think I keep him in my baseball bag. ABAGGARLY@MERCURYNEWS.COM

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Yes, and I shot him a text: ‘Hey, man. Hope you’re doing well. Just wanted to check in. Just relax and have fun. See the ball, and hit it. Be aggressive. Good luck this year.’ Just basic stuff. And then I said, ‘Go take a job.’ And he texted back and told me to call whenever I needed anything. I was really happy for him because he’s such a good dude and works so hard. Through all his struggles, he was still able to coach me and help me and not resent me. He handled it like a friend and in a respectful

Game 7 was going to go.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE THE PANIK-CRAWFORD COMBO WILL THREATEN GIANTS FOES

BY A N D R E W BAG G A R LY

THE GIANTS

his is how you know you have a talented middle-infield combination: Ask Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik about the most creative double play they’ve turned, and they don’t mention one from during an actual game. They don’t even pick their all-timer from Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, its graceful exchange and high degree of difficulty matched only by the moment’s vast importance. “With you?” Panik said. With some prodding from Crawford, Panik nodded in agreement: It was a practice double play before a game in Colorado. On the last ground ball from bench coach Ron Wotus, Crawford stuck out his foot and “basically redirected (the ball). Like in hockey,” Panik said. “Like a chip shot,” Crawford added. “It went right to him. It was actually a good feed. I’m not kidding. And we’ll probably never, ever do that in a game.” It resulted in the trifecta: Wotus throwing his hat to the ground, putting hands on his hips and then pinching his nose in disapproval. Crawford and Panik revel in those moments when they get all three reactions. “Sometimes he’ll throw his fungo bat, too,” Crawford said. CRAWFORD AND PANIK BOTH

stress that they are serious about their work, only turning those last practice grounders or two into pieces of flair. They have a bit of fun at the end because they’re still kids playing a game, and kids like to test the limits of authority. But they’re also testing the realm of possibility. And when your territory spans the entire middle infield, there are times when a baseball is hit in a certain way that demands more than range, arm strength, surehandedness, trust and timing to spin one grounder into two outs. Panache and creativity are important, too.

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Joe Panik throws to Brandon Crawford for a double play during Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. Previous page: Panik hurdles Padres' Yonder Alonso to complete a double play, which started on a diving stop by Crawford, right.

“What are you calling them? The six pillars?” said Crawford, shown a list of attributes found only in the finest double-play combinations. “Surehandedness isn’t a word. You made that up. And I’d say that timing and trust are the same thing.” “Ah, Craw’ll just say creativity is the most important, anyway,” Panik said. However many pillars you count, the beauty of having Crawford and Panik in the Giants’ middle infield is that they score well across the board. Crawford is coming off his first season as a Gold Glove shortstop. Panik might have been the Gold Glove winner ahead of Miami second baseman Dee Gordon, or at least a finalist, if he hadn’t missed two months with a stress fracture in his lower back. CRAWFORD AND PANIK

might not play together for two decades, as Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker did in Detroit. It’s a different game nowadays. But it stands to reason that the Giants won’t have to worry about their middle infield for a long time. Crawford just signed a six-year, $75 million contract. Panik will remain under club control for five seasons. It’s not a stretch to envision them becoming the first middle-infield combination to win NL Gold Gloves in the same season since the wins of Fernando Viña and Edgar Renteria of the Cardinals in 2002. Prior to that, you have to go back to 1974-77 when Joe Morgan and Davey Concepcion formed a Gold Glove tandem for the Big Red Machine. “It is so weird that it’s been so long — especially in the NL, where it’s so important to be strong up the middle,” said Omar Vizquel, a former shortstop and current member of the Detroit Tigers’ coaching staff who won the last two of his 11 Gold Gloves as a Giant in 2005-06. “I like the way they turn double plays. Crawford is unbelievable. In the last three years, he has improved in every

aspect of the game.” Count another former Giants shortstop among those who admire Crawford and Panik. Rich Aurilia, now serving as a special instructor with the club in spring training, agreed that the Giants’ middle-infield combo is as golden as it gets. “We all know what Craw can do, and now he’s on a national level,” Aurilia said. “And Joe, I mean, in all reality, he probably would’ve won a Gold Glove if he played all last season, and don’t forget that he’s a shortstop who’s still learning second base. “So it’s two young guys who are athletic, who have good range, they’re surehanded. I mean, every pillar you’ve got on there, they have it. And the way they play the game is fundamentally sound. They complement each other very well. “Plus we all know the best athletes on the field are shortstops.” What position did Aurilia play, again? “Um, until I got too old?” he said, grinning. “Shortstop.” So what attribute is the most important in forming a seamless double-play combination? Aurilia went with range, because “we had to know how far we could play from the bag and how quick we could get to the bag. The more range we had, the better we could be.” Yet ask Aurilia to list his best double-play partner, and he bypasses Bret Boone — who had plenty of range for a second baseman — and picks Jeff Kent. Was it because Kent played with more panache and creativity? “C’mon, you watched Jeff play for a long time,” said Aurilia, leaning against the wall in a cinder block hallway. “Jeff played with as much panache as this wall here. But he was very surehanded, and we worked well together. We always knew where the other would be.” That goes to teamwork and trust. Vizquel has turned more double plays than any shortstop in major league history. He said

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Crawford completes a double play. “We all know what Craw can do, and now he’s on a national level,” says Rich Aurilia, a special instructor with the Giants in spring training.

when he tutors young Tigers infielders on the art, he stresses the importance of continuity. Even though your instincts are to be as quick as possible, it’s often worth taking that extra fraction of a second to make sure your feed is in the same place every time. “That’s why I’d say timing and trust kind of go hand in hand,” Panik said. “Because when you have trust in one another, the timing’s going to be there. If you don’t have trust, you’re going to be a little more passive. It’s, ‘OK, if he’s inaccurate, I’ve got to be worried about catching the ball and securing it first instead of getting ready to throw.’ ” CRAWFORD SAID IT DOESN’T

take long to become accustomed to a new double-play partner because the differences are subtle. He noted that former Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro liked double-play feeds to be led to his left side, maybe so he could come across the bag and clear himself a little better from onrushing base runners. Whether he is breaking in a new double-play partner or not,

Crawford said he will spend the first weeks of spring training concentrating on his footwork. He’ll refresh his instincts in terms of positioning and angles. That way, the next time he goes deep to his right and has to make one of those blind, whirling throws to second base, it’ll be right on target. Panik marvels at Crawford’s spatial awareness. Come to think of it, that could be the seventh pillar. “It’s off the charts,” Panik said. “And as someone who came up as a shortstop, I appreciate what a gift that is. I’ll be honest with you, there hasn’t been one time he couldn’t get to a ball that I felt I would’ve gotten. Even last year when he was banged up.” Vizquel doesn’t get to see enough NL baseball to make a definitive statement on the best double-play combo in the league. He admires his own guys in Detroit, Ian Kinsler and Jose Iglesias, and also mentioned the Rangers’ duo of Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus. But all-time, it probably doesn’t get better than those three seasons (1999-2001) when Vizquel overlapped in Cleveland with Hall

of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar. “What was so good about that combination is that we didn’t take ground balls together too much,” Vizquel said. “We hit in different groups. We did our work at different times. But all it took was a week or two in spring training. The creativity from both sides took over. He was so quick that basically whatever throw he gave me, we were going to turn the double play. “And we killed a lot of rallies. When you turn two, you’re getting your pitcher out of a big inning. When you go to the playoffs and the World Series, to have a defense like that, you’ve got the game half won.” And when you dive on your stomach, smother a grounder up the middle, creatively flip with your glove as Panik did, and start one of the most important double plays in World Series history? Well, you can add this to the Ron Wotus trifecta: enthusiastic applause. ABAGGARLY@MERCURYNEWS.COM

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO; PREVIOUS SPREAD: JOSIE LEPE; OPENING SPREAD: ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE GIANTS

Season will bridge past and future greatness

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO

verything extraordinary started for the Giants during the 2010 season, when Buster Posey and then Madison Bumgarner arrived for good. Everything great. Everything lasting. Everything loud. Everything that led to World Series championships in that season, 2012 and 2014 … and the advancing power of the Giants’ brand. But 2010 was a long time ago. Posey and Bumgarner aren’t in their early 20s anymore, and things can’t stay exactly the same for too long, even at AT&T Park. So where are the Giants now, in spring 2016? Well, Posey (the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year and 2012 NL MVP) and Bumgarner (the 2014 World Series MVP) are right in the middle of their primes, of course. They’re the dual cornerstones of this franchise and presumably will be for many years. Also the same from 2010: Bruce Bochy is locked in place as the manager, Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans are running the front office, and the Giants will count on many familiar arms in the bullpen. But just about every other original piece of that 2010 magic is either gone or showing signs of some serious wear and tear. And you could see that this past offseason, when Giants management realized that major adjustments and upgrades were in order for this roster. The Giants signaled it in a very serious way — by spending a combined $220 million on two free-agent starting pitchers, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, to prop up a flagging rotation. The Giants didn’t have to make that kind of long-term capital outlay in the previous six seasons because the starting rotation was relatively set for so long, largely with homegrown talent. That fell apart last season. Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong are no longer Giants, Tim Hudson is retired, and Matt Cain is trying to come back from injury — giving

Tim Kawakami

Giants Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey celebrate the team’s 2014 World Series win.

this Giants team a different and transitory feel. If 2015 was a sign of the end of the main run, the 2016 season is a bridge between the 2010-14 glories and whatever comes next. Just to go through the nine players who were a part of all three World Series teams: ■ Third baseman Pablo Sandoval left as a free agent after the 2014 season. ■ Reliever Jeremy Affeldt retired after last season. ■ Lincecum is an unsigned free agent. ■ Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla and Javier Lopez remain vital members of the Giants’ bullpen. ■ Cain (who was hurt for the 2014 playoffs), Bumgarner and Posey, obviously, are also still on the roster. That leaves six of the Original Nine still around, if you’re counting.

But Cain is a question mark, and the 33-year-old Romo, 35-year-old Casilla and 38-yearold Lopez are all only under contract for this season. Certainly, the Giants have a rich talent base, from their homegrown infield of Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy to their veteran outfield of Hunter Pence, Denard Span and Angel Pagan to young relievers Hunter Strickland and Josh Osich. Also, the Giants have shown they can win a title while doing roster restructuring, which is exactly what they did in 2010. Back then, the Giants were still adjusting to the end of the Barry Bonds era, had an influx of young talent (at that point, mostly pitchers) and were putting together that bullpen core. But to get things just right, they had to move aside several starters, including Bengie Molina, Emman-

uel Burriss and Aaron Rowand. Sabean filled in the weak spots with veterans such as Aubrey Huff, Cody Ross and Juan Uribe, all key and vibrant parts of the 2010 drive but not destined to stay very long. And the Giants called up Posey and Bumgarner from the minors, and then everything took off. Now in 2015-16 the Giants are undergoing another adjustment period, this time building around the homegrown core of position players. Sandoval, Affeldt and Lincecum have moved on; the team is built around Bumgarner and Posey, and it operates under their steelier countenances. They were the young guys back in 2010. They’re the standard-bearers now, surrounded by mostly new faces, moving forward into a new Giants era. TKAWAKAMI@MERCURYNEWS.COM

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THE GIANTS

Regular-season schedule APRIL MON

TUES

WED

THU

FRI

SAT 1

MIL 11:10

LAD 1:05

4 CSNBA

CSNBA

LAD

5:05

ESPN

MIA 1:05

24 CSNBA

MIL 5:10

COL 5:40

ARI 7:15

18 CSNBA

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5 CSNBA 12 CSNBA

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19 CSNBA

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MIL 10:40

6 CSNBA

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13 CSNBA

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20 CSNBA

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7 CSNBA

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21 CSNBA 28

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8 NBCBA

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29 CSNBA

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9:35

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6:10

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20 NBCBA

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All times Pacific and subject to change Home games All games broadcast on 680 AM

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JULY

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4:15

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12 ESPN

10:10

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1:05

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26 CSNBA

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4 ESPN 11

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NYY TBD

24 CSNBA

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COL 7:15 ALL STAR GAME

7:15

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26 CSNBA

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27 CSNBA

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2 CSNBA

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5:40

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NBCBA

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8 CSNBA

7:40

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CIN

5 CSNBA

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AUGUST SUN

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1:05

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15 CSNBA

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WED 2

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9 CSNBA

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16 CSNBA

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MIL 7:15

PIT 4:05

OAK 7:15

13 NBCBA 20 CSNBA 27 NBCBA

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OAK 7:15

7 CSNBA 14 CSNBA 21 CSNBA 28 CSNBA

BOS 7:15

MIL 12:45

PIT 4:05

OAK 7:05

THU 1

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CSNBA 9

CSNBA 15

29 CSNBA

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PIT 9:35

OAK 7:05

23 CSNBA 30 CSNBA

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STL

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30 CSNBA

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PHI 10:05

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17 CSNBA

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24 CSNBA

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NYM 7:15

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12 CSNBA

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26 NBCBA

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13 CSNBA

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27 CSNBA

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4:15

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TB 1:10

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5:05

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BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

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During the overlap of Giants, A’s, Sharks and Warriors games in April (and beyond, depending on NBA and NHL playoffs), Comcast SportsNet shuffles games between CSNBA, CSNCA and CSN+. Be sure to check the listings with your cable or satellite provider for changes.

MON

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COL 1:10

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LAD 7:10

COL 7:15

FRI 1

CSNBA 8

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CHC 11:20

ARI 6:40

STL 7:15

SD 7:10

COL 7:15

15 CSNBA 22 CSNBA 29 CSNBA

STL 7:15

SD 7:40

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SAT 2

CSNBA 9 CSNBA 16

CHC 11:20

ARI 5:10

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NBCBA

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THE GIANTS

Players to watch + projected opening day roster B Y A N D R E W B A G G A R LY

Johnny Cueto

MOST TRADABLE

Johnny Cueto represented the Giants’ most important investment of the winter, and the first two seasons of his six-year, $130 million contract will be especially important. That’s because Cueto has the right to opt out of the deal after 2017. So the Giants are absorbing all the risk if he becomes injured or ineffective in these early stages. If the Giants get the smart, cocksure improvisation artist who starred for the Cincinnati Reds, they will have a legitimate co-ace to pair with Madison Bumgarner, a formidable presence in a playoff rotation — and an awfully fun show to entertain their fans. The Giants spent $220 million on Cueto and Jeff Samardzija because they are durable innings

Although the Giants began the spring with no major roster holes, you never stop listening when the phone rings. The club shopped Angel Pagan at various points last year, but officials were encouraged at his fitness and mobility when he reported to camp, and they planned for him to begin the season as their left fielder. His $10 million salary wouldn’t be easy to move anyway.

PITCHERS No. 40 18 46 47 62 53 70 49 61 22 54 29 60

Name Madison Bumgarner Matt Cain Santiago Casilla Johnny Cueto Cory Gearrin Chris Heston George Kontos Javier Lopez Josh Osich Jake Peavy Sergio Romo Jeff Samardzija Hunter Strickland

B/T R-L R-R R-R R-R R-R R-R R-R L-L L-L R-R R-R R-R R-R

Ht/Wt 6-5/250 6-3/230 6-0/210 5-11/220 6-3/200 6-3/195 6-3/215 6-4/220 6-2/230 6-1/195 5-11/185 6-5/225 6-4/220

eaters who promise to stabilize a rotation that struggled to pitch deep into games and ended up taxing a talented bullpen. Their presence will lighten the load on Matt Cain as he seeks to re-establish himself as a healthy and effective starting pitcher. It’s a great plan on paper. But Cueto has to do his part.

Buster Posey Buster Posey remains the best and most important player on the field. He quietly found a way to become an even better hitter last season, drawing more walks than strikeouts for the first time. The Giants don’t need him to elevate his game. But they need him to be Buster Posey — and there’s no reason to doubt he will be.

IP 218.1 60.2 58.0 212.0 3.2 177.2 73.1 39.1 28.2 110.2 57.1 214.0 51.1

W-L 18-9 2-4 4-2 11-13 0-0 12-11 4-4 1-0 2-0 8-6 0-5 11-13 3-3

SV 0 0 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0

ERA 2.93 5.79 2.79 3.44 4.91 3.95 2.33 1.60 2.20 3.58 2.98 4.96 2.45

WHIP 1.01 1.50 1.28 1.13 0.55 1.31 0.94 0.89 1.12 1.12 1.06 1.29 0.86

Hunter Pence Hunter Pence had baseball’s longest streak for consecutive games played (383) before missing 110 games last year due to injuries. The Giants need Pence to be an iron man again, since he’s one of three 30-something outfielders — and the other two, Denard Span and Angel Pagan, are coming off surgeries. The Giants will have trouble striking a right-handed balance in their lineup if Pence is absent for any reason, and he began the spring with a sore Achilles tendon.

Jake Peavy Jake Peavy isn’t accustomed to beginning the season as a back-end starter. He continues to have high expectations and wants to prove to

WAR 4.8 -0.7 1.1 3.9 0.0 1.5 1.6 1.4 0.2 1.5 0.8 0.2 1.3

manager Bruce Bochy that he can pitch deep into games. A deeper rotation means that the Giants can absorb shorter outings from Peavy. But they’re still relying on those outings to be effective, and for his chronic hip and back issues to remain manageable.

Josh Osich Josh Osich will be relied upon to take over Jeremy Affeldt’s vital swingman role as a left-hander who can navigate a full inning. Osich has the power stuff to get lefties and right-handers out, but he does not have a long track record for staying healthy. If Osich can handle the task, it will be so much easier for Bochy to play matchups with Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo. ABAGGARLY@MERCURYNEWS.COM

Comment Unquestioned rotation leader 3rd straight year; still only 26 Seeks bounce-back year, but cyst slowed him in spring At 35, one of baseball’s oldest closers Huge investment for one of game’s top starters Out of options, Giants have to keep him or lose him New role as long relief man; serves as rotation insurance Turned into high-quality, late-inning setup man in 2015 Now 38, still relied on to get the big lefty bats out late in games Hard thrower a surprise bullpen contributor from left side last season Veteran battler who just needs to stay healthy Had some blips but still the valued 8th-inning man Innings-eater seeks to regain top form with stable home Could be future closer if Casilla falters; electric stuff

CATCHERS No. Name 28 Buster Posey 34 Andrew Susac

B/T Ht/Wt R-R 6-1/215 R-R 6-1/215

HR 19 3

RBI SB AVG OBP/SLG WAR BABIP Comment 95 2 .318 .379/.470 6.1 .320 Just shy of 5,000 innings for his career as future HOF catcher 14 0 .218 .297/.368 0.1 .299 Slowed by injuries in second season; healthy again

INFIELDERS No. Name 9 Brandon Belt 35 Brandon Crawford 5 Matt Duffy 12 Joe Panik 37 Kelby Tomlinson

B/T Ht/Wt L-L 6-5/220 L-R 6-2/215 R-R 6-2/170 L-R 6-1/190 R-R 6-3/180

HR 18 21 12 8 2

RBI SB AVG 68 9 .280 84 6 .256 77 12 .295 37 3 .312 20 5 .303

OBP/SLG .356/.478 .321/.462 .334/.428 .378/.455 .358/.404

WAR 3.9 5.6 4.9 3.3 1.0

BABIP .363 .294 .336 .330 .382

Comment Solid numbers but looking for that really big year Became an elite player in 2015; can he duplicate it? Nobody missed Sandoval when he took over at third If the back holds up, could be one of baseball’s best at 2B Fast, versatile, heady player should supplant Adrianza

OUTFIELDERS No. Name 7 Gregor Blanco 16 Angel Pagan 6 Jarrett Parker 8 Hunter Pence 2 Denard Span

B/T Ht/Wt L-L 5-11/175 S-R 6-2/200 L-L 6-4/210 R-R 6-4/220 L-L 6-0/210

HR 5 3 6 9 5

RBI SB AVG 26 13 .291 37 12 .262 14 1 .347 40 4 .275 22 11 .301

OBP/SLG .368/.413 .303/.332 .407/.755 .327/.478 .365/.431

WAR 1.1 -1.9 0.5 1.0 0.8

BABIP .338 .310 .500 .320 .318

Comment Terrific in 2015; a savior for injured outfield; contract year Resigned to LF; may be pressured by Mac Williamson Could spell aging outfielders; good LH pop off bench Once ultra-durable, injuries worrisome; will soon be 33 If he stays healthy, will solve CF, leadoff issues

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T H E A’ S

RELIEF WITH A HEALTHY SEAN DOOLITTLE AND A SHINY, NEW BULLPEN, CAN THE A’S CLOSE THIS SEASON?

BY J O H N H I C K E Y PORTR AIT BY JOSIE LEPE

T H E A’ S

or the A’s to know their bullpen needed to be reconstructed after last year’s disaster was a little like White Star Line knowing it needed to replace the Titanic after its waltz with the iceberg. Three consecutive Oakland postseason appearances dissolved in the wreckage of the 2015 bullpen. The numbers were frightening. The bullpen’s 4.56 ERA was the highest for the team in almost two decades. The 28 saves were the lowest total in the American League. Oakland’s relievers gave up 74 homers and 109 doubles, both second-worst in the big leagues. The A’s bullpen couldn’t get a strikeout when it needed one, and it wasn’t particularly adept at getting a ground ball that could turn one out into two. Injuries kept the bullpen off-balance for 162 games. That led to the Oakland bullpen having the third-most losses and the third-fewest wins. The relievers didn’t give themselves — or the A’s — a chance. On 19 occasions, A’s relievers gave up homers to the first batter they faced. That hadn’t happened in four decades. The front office scoured baseball for replacements, but they found mostly flotsam and jetsam — and not much help. So when it came time to rebuild the bullpen, executive vice president Billy Beane and general manager David Forst looked for fresh arms to fit around what the club hopes will be a healthy closer in Sean Doolittle. LET GO WERE MOST OF

Doolittle’s compadres from last year: Tyler Clippard, Dan Otero, Jesse Chavez, Edward Mujica, Evan Scribner and Fernando Abad. Instead, the A’s decided to follow the Kansas City model, going for as many power arms as they could find. John Axford has topped out at 99 mph and Ryan Madson at 98. Liam Hendriks, in a bit of a career renaissance, is now in the 96 mph range after To-

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T H E A’ S

Clockwise from top left: The A’s boosted their bullpen with power pitchers Ryan Madson, 98 mph; Liam Hendriks, 96 mph; and John Axford, 99 mph.

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T H E A’ S

ronto changed him from a starter to a reliever. Even Marc Rzepczynski, the lefty brought in for situational work, can throw 95. With Doolittle hurt, last year’s bullpen didn’t have much velocity behind its offerings. That won’t be a problem this season. Doolittle, limited to the 89-90 mph range during an injury-plagued 2015, is back up in the mid-90s. His command of the strike zone also seems to have returned. Beane and Forst took a proactive approach in the offseason. They traded Chavez for Hendriks on Nov. 20, and while they didn’t officially sign Madson and Axford until after the winter meetings, they had both pitchers locked down before they began. There was no way the A’s wanted to get into a bidding war at the meetings. “We can’t spend at the level of some of the clubs in our division,” Forst said. “That’s just the way it is. That doesn’t mean we can’t try to be smart about it.” FORST SAID THE MOST

difficult position to evaluate is the bullpen. “But the bullpen was the first thing we knew we had to address,” he said. So the team traded for Hendriks and agreed to terms with Madson and Axford before a huge market could develop. “You could tell they had a plan — and a good one,” Axford said. Axford, who served as the closer with the Colorado Rockies last year, knew Madson was coming aboard in Oakland at the same time he was and that Hendriks already had been acquired. “They were putting all the pieces in place, and they were going about it the right way for a team that wants to be a success,” Axford said. “They’ve got some guys with good velo (velocity) here now, and that’s what they were going for. And we have three guys who have closed, so the experience is there if it’s needed.” Madson saved 32 games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011,

five-year deal that ties him to the club through 2018, with options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Beane and Forst are hoping they’ve put together a bullpen that will be a force for a few years. THE ROYALS WERE THE

Sean Doolittle, left and above, is expected to lead the A’s bullpen this season after an injury-plagued 2015. “Doo is healthy again and throwing as hard as ever,” said manager Bob Melvin. “He’ll be the anchor, and once again I think we have the bridge to get from our starters to Doo, which we had trouble doing last year.”

and Axford had 25 saves for the Rockies last year. The A’s are hopeful they won’t need them in the ninth, but knowing they are available if needed is leading to optimism that last year’s disaster won’t have a sequel. “We have the potential to have a very deep bullpen,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We knew that we didn’t have the velocity we wanted, so the front office went out and got it. There were too many times last year when we needed a big strikeout late in the game, and we didn’t have someone who could get it. “We have options now that we didn’t have last season. And we have health. Doo is healthy again and throwing as hard as ever. He’ll be the anchor, and once again I think we have the bridge to get from our starters to Doo, which we had trouble doing last year.” Added Forst: “We went into offseason focused on upgrading the bullpen. There were a lot of games that got away from us at the end last year, and we needed to rectify that.” This is not a quick fix, either. Hendriks has four years of club control. Madson has a three-year contract. Axford signed for two seasons. With Doolittle signed to a

LEFT: RAY CHAVEZ; TOP: JOSIE LEPE; PREVIOUS SPREAD: ASSOCIATED PRESS, GETTY IMAGES

blueprint. The best team in the American League the past two seasons, as well as the World Series champs in 2015, Kansas City had many weapons. None was more potent than the bullpen of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, three top-flight, back-end performers, though Holland wasn’t tendered a contract for 2016 after having Tommy John surgery near the end of last season. When Holland went down, Madson stepped into a setup role after serving most of the season as a middle reliever. In 13 regular-season games in September and October, he contributed an 0.75 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. Until joining the Royals, Madson missed the previous three seasons, the first two while recovering from Tommy John surgery and 2014 because he retired after being unable to get a minor league contract. But the 6-foot-6 righty showed durability and skill, pitching in 68 regular-season games and nine more in the playoffs, compiling a 2.13 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. Madson and Axford also bring World Series experience: Madson earned rings with the Phillies in 2008 and the Royals last year, while Axford pitched for the Cardinals when St. Louis lost to Boston in the 2013 Fall Classic. “I think it’s great,” Axford said. “We have guys who have had opportunities at the end of the bullpen. Having guys who have been in the heat of it before and who have done it in the playoffs, and have won a World Series, that bodes well for the season.” The A’s seriously hope so. JHICKEY@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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Stephen Vogtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fans love him on the field and online. Vogtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impersonation of a referee became a YouTube classic.

TOM MY BOY YOU TUB E AND THE GAM E HE L OVE S MOS T

A CO NVER S AT I O N

ILLUS

BY JO HN

T R AT

WITH

STEPH

HICK

EY ION B Y R YA N MC AMI

E N VO GT

T H E A’ S

atcher Stephen Vogt was a 2015 All-Star for the A’s with a monster first half in which he had 14 homers, 56 RBIs and a slash line of .287/.374/.498. He has legions of fans who delight in chanting, “I believe in Stephen Vogt” during each of his at-bats at the Coliseum. Pitchers love his pitch calling and the way he frames strikes. Manager Bob Melvin likes to have him at the plate with men on base. The media is quick to find him in the postgame scrum. He is more than a baseball player, though. While he is thoughtful and introspective about baseball and wants to coach or manage someday, Vogt also is a gifted mimic and comedian whose impersonation of a referee is a YouTube classic. Vogt has lesser-known skills. He’s a gifted singer and onetime actor who may get back to both of those pursuits once his time on the diamond is over. At one point he believed his career was over. He was ready to take a minor league coaching job just to stay in the game, but the A’s bought his contract from Tampa Bay at the beginning of the 2013 season; not too much longer after that, he was an All-Star. For you, which came first: baseball or comedy? Baseball came first. From a young age I loved baseball, and that was kind of my thing. Comedy came in about 12 or 13, when you are able to watch movies and start to quote movies and Chris Farley and “Tommy Boy.” That was really the beginning of it for me. Is Chris Farley sort of your hero? Yeah. I loved him. He was a big part of our childhood. His movies were those right when you turn 13, and your parents let you start

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I was talking to a teammate the other day, and it blows me away how many songs and movie lines I actually remember. It’s not like I study those things. I don’t look up lyrics online to try and remember songs. It’s just a gift that I have that I remember those things. It’s probably thousands of songs I can sing and hundreds and hundreds of movie lines I can quote. So in high school, it was baseball for you, but your parents wanted more than that from you? Vogt, right, smiles during spring training. While Vogt is dedicated to and thoughtful about baseball, he also loves music, acting and comedy.

watching PG-13 movies and “Tommy Boy” and “Black Sheep.” When did you first realize you could entertain and hold an audience in the palm of your hand? I think from soon around middle school and high school. I was always in church musicals, and I remember being in one in sixth grade, and I had a solo. It was kind of like a doo-wop-type song. And I remember watching the video, and it was, ‘Wow, I really got into that part.’ I really felt that, and that kind of acting/ singing thing was always a thing I liked to do. But then the comedy part starts coming in when you get a little bit older, and you are around adults, and when even they are laughing at you, that’s when you know you have a real good aptitude for comedy.

My parents’ rule was that we had to be involved in two sports and be involved in two activities, at least for my brother and I. So I played basketball and baseball. I was in ASB (Associated Student Body). I was in choir and honors choir. I was in band for one year and drama for three years. I couldn’t do all of them, so I gave up band for drama for my sophomore year. What instrument did you have to give up? I played the trumpet and the baritone horn. Every kid wants to play the trumpet. I played the trumpet from fifth, sixth grade, and then seventh, eighth and ninth grade I played the baritone horn because that’s what we needed. Have you ever been able to get back to it?

You seem to have a good memory for things around baseball. Do you have a good memory for music, comedy and drama — things like that?

I do still have my trumpet. I broke it out a couple of years ago. I had to oil the keys, or the valves, I guess they’re called. I played it a little bit. It came back to me.

Yeah. I’ve been gifted with kind of a, not a photographic memory, but if I write something down, it sticks. And when people speak, I actually listen. I think a lot of people kind of hear bits and pieces, but I listen to the whole thing.

Have you ever wanted to sing the national anthem before a game? Actually, I did. In college summer ball, I sang the national anthem before a game. Funny story. I was in Fort Collins, Colorado, and I

T H E A’ S

was warming up the pitcher to start the game. And up there we are playing at about 6,000 feet. So I ran down real quick, and when I got there, I was out of breath. And my national anthem was actually atrocious. I was trying to catch my breath the whole time in the middle of it. And I screwed it up pretty good. But then my buddy and I, he sang harmony and I sang the melody, and we sang it a couple of days later, and it was really good.

theater production and do some community theater. Those are things I really enjoy that I haven’t done for 13 years. I’d love to go back and do (them). Many people know you from your referee gig and other skits and impressions in a comical vein that have played on ESPN and MLB Network. Those started with doing them for teammates in the clubhouse. Have you ever thought about the next time crossing them up and breaking into singing?

What have you had to give up to play baseball? You give up a lot, actually. You give up your summers. I think that’s the main thing. Obviously we get time off, and it’s great. But you give up the Fourth of July. You give up family camping trips and some of the things people outside of the baseball world get on a day-to-day basis. Skiing, water skiing, a lot of those types of activities — the kind of things a regular nonbaseball person wouldn’t think twice about.

GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE: JOSIE LEPE

What makes it a good trade, and what makes it a bad trade? I think I’m still playing the game I love most on this planet, and getting to put on a uniform every single day is an honor. Any job you have, and I like to think of it as a job, because it puts it into perspective as what it is, because when you think of it as a game, it makes it into this fantasy world. And for three hours a day I get to feel like a Little Leaguer. I get to put on a uniform and go out on the field and play hard, and I play the same way I play when I was 10 years old. But for 21 hours a day, I’m a father, I’m a husband and I’m providing for my family. And when your job is baseball, obviously, you love what you do. Everybody’s goal is to love what they do. If they don’t love it,

Vogt is a power player for the A’s when at bat. Vogt started the first half of the 2015 season with an impressive 14 homers and 56 RBIs.

we’re going to be miserable and not want to come to work. I love putting my uniform on every day. I love the feeling of putting the catcher’s gear on, getting my hands dirty, sliding clean in the dirt. I’m 31 years old, but I feel like I’m still a 12-year-old kid who wants to get his uniform dirty. At one point, you did think of walking away. What would you have done if you had actually retired when you were with Tampa? If I had walked away early, I probably would have tried as hard as I could to get into the coaching world. Whether if it was at the professional level, college, high school, any of those, I don’t know, but it’s what I wanted to do. I love this game, and I feel like learning from so many great coaches in my life in this game, from my dad to my college coach to my brother — they taught me so much about the game and about giving back. It’s something I definitely want to do later on in life. The things you’ve talked about giving up — will you go back to them? I don’t know. I hope not for a while. But once I’m done playing, I’d love go and sing in the church choir and do the Christmas

Yeah, I’ve definitely thought of that. Everybody thinks you’re going to do comedy and to break out in something musical, sing some show tune or something, but we’ll have to see. I don’t want to give away all my tricks. The first time you did it for teammates, how did that go? We had a talent show with the Tampa Bay Rays in spring training of 2009. All of my buddies said, ‘You’ve got to do your impressions.’ I had impressions of everyone from farm director Mitch Lukevics down to coordinators, coaches, even teammates. I felt I had to ask Mitch, but he said, ‘Go for it,’ and he laughed as much as anybody. I did impersonations of eight or nine guys in the organization and actually won the talent show and had a great time. What did you win? I won it two years in a row, in 2009 and 2010. I won $4,200, and for an A-baller, that was an absurd amount of money. It still is an absurd amount of money, but especially when you’re in the low minor leagues, that’s about your yearly salary, and just like that you double up. That was pretty nice. JHICKEY@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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BUILDING AN ALL-STAR ROSTER OF A’S WHO MOVED ON TO GREENER PASTURES

B Y M I K E L E F KOW I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y D AV I D E B A R C O

THE A’S

ince Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson left town, trades have been a particularly sore subject among the Oakland A’s faithful. The A’s were 66-41 on the day they traded Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox on July 31, 2014, holding firmly to a 2 ½-game lead in the American League West. Since then? The A’s have gone 90-128. It’s not just that retaining Donaldson, the reigning AL MVP, and Cespedes would’ve made the A’s better — they were fan favorites, too. It seems all A’s fans can do these days is grab their favorite bobbleheads, hold them close and pray Billy Beane doesn’t use the trapdoor yet again. Since the A’s have made such good sport out of shipping too-rich-for-theirblood talent elsewhere, we couldn’t pass up a chance to make our own sport out of that predicament. Here’s our own hand-picked All-Star roster of former A’s. Take heart, Athletics Nation: In studying the details, we confirmed that not every deal made by Beane and his cabinet of decision-makers has been a failure. At least there is that!

C Derek Norris

OF Carlos Gonzalez

OF Andre Ethier

OF Yoenis Cespedes

SS Addison Russell

Traded: Dec. 18, 2014, to the Padres along with a minor leaguer and cash for pitchers Jesse Hahn and R.J. Alvarez. Aftermath: Norris had a nice first season for the Padres. His 14 homers, 49 extra-base hits and 62 RBIs were career-highs. He led the majors by throwing out 44 attempted base stealers. Lowdown: If Hahn stays healthy, the A’s should come out OK in this exchange. Hahn could go anywhere from No. 2 to No. 4 in the A’s rotation. And Oakland’s catching duo of Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley is just as good as Norris.

Traded: Nov. 10, 2008, to the Rockies along with pitchers Huston Street and Greg Smith for OF Matt Holliday. Aftermath: CarGo, when healthy, is one of the better players in the game. Last year he hit 40 homers. In 2010, he won the NL batting title with a .336 average. From 2010 to 2013, he stole at least 20 bases in each season. But he’s injury-prone. … Until last season, when closer Sean Doolittle missed most of the year with a shoulder injury, the A’s hadn’t missed Street. … Holliday played in 93 games for the A’s in 2009, then was sent to St. Louis in July for three players who never made an impact. Lowdown: If you’re going to imagine Donaldson and Cespedes in the same lineup, might as well stick CarGo in there, too. They combined for a staggering 234 extra-base hits and 116 homers last season.

Traded: Dec. 13, 2005 to the Dodgers for OF Milton Bradley and INF Antonio Perez. Aftermath: Ethier has had a nice career for the Dodgers — a .286/.359/.464 slash line, double digits in homers in all but one of his 10 big league seasons, and at least 130 games per year with the exception of his rookie campaign in 2006. … Bradley was a five-tool player, but his off-field demons wrecked his career. He managed 115 games over two seasons (2006-07) with Oakland. Batted .279 with 16 homers. Was traded midway through the 2007 season for pitcher Andrew Brown. … Perez hit .102 in 57 games for the A’s in 2006. Lowdown: A truly regrettable trade for Oakland. Ethier isn’t a star, but he’s been a fixture in the Dodgers’ outfield for a decade.

Traded: July 31, 2014, to the Red Sox for Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and cash. Aftermath: Should A’s fans feel any better now that Cespedes has been traded twice since he was dealt by Oakland? He was a monster after arriving in the Big Apple last season, belting 17 homers and driving in 44 runs for the World Series-bound Mets. … Fans can’t totally blame Lester for what happened after the trade. He was 6-4, 2.35 in his 11 starts for the A’s, and his only no-decision was an Oakland win. When Lester didn’t pitch, the A’s were 17-29 during his short stay. Lowdown: It’s hard to rake the A’s front office over the coals for this one. Oakland was going all-out to win a pennant and tried to make it happen with four stud pitchers — Gray, Kazmir, Samardzija, Lester — in the rotation. But the Royals were the AL champions, and the Giants won the World Series with one ace named Bum pitching practically every inning.

Traded: July 5, 2014 with RHP Dan Straily, minor league Billy McKinney and cash to the Cubs for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Aftermath: Samardzija was only 5-6 in 16 starts for the A’s, but his 3.14 ERA, 12 walks and 99 strikeouts in 111 2/3 innings indicate he pitched well. … Hammel was 2-6, and the A’s lost 10 of his 12 starts. … Russell looks like the real deal. He hit just .242 but had 29 doubles and 13 homers in 142 games last season, and is a potential Gold Glove winner on defense. … McKinney, an outfielder, is one of the Cubs’ top 10 prospects. Lowdown: Beane decided to go all-out for a World Series title, so Samardzija was added (along with Jon Lester in a subsequent deal) to bolster the rotation. The trade was costly, as the A’s gave up Russell and McKinney, both No. 1 picks.

GETTY IMAGES

Top row, from left: Derek Norris, Carlos Gonzalez, Andre Ethier. Middle row: Yoenis Cespedes, Addison Russell, Jeff Samardzija. Bottom row: Josh Donaldson, Ben Zobrist, Brandon Moss.

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SP Jeff Samardzija

3B Josh Donaldson

2B Ben Zobrist

1B Brandon Moss

Traded: Dec. 9, 2014, to the White Sox along with a minor leaguer for SS Marcus Semien, C Josh Phegley, RHP Chris Bassitt and a minor leaguer. Aftermath: Samardzija would have fit right in with the A’s last year, with his 11-13 record, 4.96 ERA and leagueleading 29 homers allowed. … Semien had his troubles, too, but his .283 average over the final two months of the season, and only seven errors in his last 63 games, are reasons for hope. … Phegley made a nice platoon with Stephen Vogt at catcher. … Bassitt needs to stay healthy, but his 3.56 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 78 hits allowed in 86 innings means he pitched considerably better than his 1-8 record. Lowdown: Don’t count on Samardzija having another bad season now that he’s with the Giants. But this trade works out well for the A’s if Semien and Bassitt continue to develop, and Phegley has another season like last year.

Traded: Nov. 28, 2014, to the Blue Jays for SS Franklin Barreto (minors), INF Brett Lawrie and pitchers Kendall Graveman and Sean Nolin. Aftermath: M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P! Donaldson indeed had a fantastic 2015 season for the Blue Jays. He led the league in runs scored (122) and RBIs (123), and drilled 41 homers. … Barreto is the A’s No. 1 prospect, and Graveman has a shot at the back end of the rotation. But Lawrie and Nolin are already gone. Lowdown: Ever play fantasy baseball? Trades are fun. But what were the A’s thinking on this one?

Traded: July 28, 2015, to Kansas City for pitchers Sean Manaea and Aaron Brooks. Aftermath: Zobrist played in only 67 games for the A’s before being traded. No way were the A’s going to keep him when they fell out of contention because he was going to be a free agent. He signed with the Cubs. … Manaea is one of the A’s best prospects, ranked No. 2 by MLB and Baseball America. … Brooks was traded to the Cubs last month for OF Chris Coghlan. Lowdown: Wouldn’t be a surprise if the A’s come out a winner in this swap. Zobrist was the perfect candidate to be traded because of his impending free agency, and the Royals got the perfect rental — Zobrist helped them win a World Series. But Manaea has a serious upside.

Traded: Dec. 8, 2014, to the Indians for minor leaguer 2B Joey Wendle. Aftermath: After back-to-back seasons with at least 25 homers and 81 RBIs for the A’s, Moss struggled in 2015, hitting a combined .226 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs for the Indians and St. Louis Cardinals, who picked him up in July for a minor leaguer. … Neither MLB.com nor Baseball America rates Wendle a top A’s prospect. Lowdown: It all depends on how A’s newcomer Yonder Alonso pans out, but Moss seemed a good fit in Oakland.

Yoenis Cespedes, now with the Mets, catches a fly ball against Oakland while playing for the Tigers.

THE A’S

Bad contract decisions could cost A’s

JOSIE LEPE; OPPOSITE: GETTY IMAGES

he A’s always find themselves in this situation. It’s about as predictable as an ill-timed Kanye West rant. They ship off the superstars, the ones fans flock to because of their obvious potential, then are left with a wad of money and choosing which average to above-average talent to spend it on. It would be so like the Athletics to sign Josh Reddick to a big, long-term contract extension. Which means they shouldn’t do it. Extend him? Sure. But it would take a bargain. A major bargain. And he’s probably still more valuable to the A’s as a trade piece. What the A’s can’t do is pay the last man standing like he’s the franchise. What they can’t do is be wrong, again, about the guy they choose to anchor the franchise. Sonny Gray is the guy you pay. Josh Donaldson was the guy you should’ve paid. Yoenis Cespedes was even more of that guy. Even Scott Kazmir was closer to that guy. (Instead, Coco Crisp and Billy Butler each will make $11 million this year!) Reddick is a good piece to have next to other franchise cornerstones. But he’s not the guy. This really isn’t a slight to Reddick. He is a solid hitter with a good glove — and one of the few players fans gravitate to. He seems like a good guy, the kind you want in your locker room. But he has been hampered by injuries and a penchant for ruts at the plate. He managed a good season in a contract year, but even that year wasn’t an anchor-the-franchise type of year. According to ESPN, he ranked No. 86 in wins above replacement, which tied him with Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich. That says plenty on its own. But also consider that tied for No. 84 on that list was Reddick’s teammate Stephen Vogt. Can Reddick make $12 million per season on the open market? Sure he can. And he’d be smart to take it. He’d be good on a team

Marcus Thompson II

Sonny Gray, second from right, is among the A’s whose performance warrants a bigmoney contract.

where he is padded by talent. This isn’t about him as much as it is about the A’s and their poor selection of the few guys they decide to spend on. In the grand scheme of baseball money, $12 million is pocket change. But for the A’s, who choose to operate with a small-market budget, paying a player that much is like putting the mortgage down on a trifecta. It’s hard to recover when they don’t hit. For perspective, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, 29, ranked 24th in WAR and got an average of $12.5 million per year. But he's the fourth- or fifth-best player on his team. If you make $12 million with the A’s, you’re the top dog. And giving Reddick that mantle is a setup for failure. Especially considering the players who didn’t

get such an anointing. The A’s didn’t keep Donaldson, who made $4.3 million last year as the AL MVP and will make more than $11 million this season. Cespedes was traded in 2014, the same year his salary hit double digits, when it was clear he would eventually command much, much more. The A’s didn’t pay Carlos Gonzales in 2008, who went on to finish third in MVP voting in 2010 and make two All-Star appearances for Colorado. Meanwhile, they paid Butler nearly $7 million last season, and he’s on the books for more than $11 million this year. Crisp earned $11 million last year and has another $11 million coming this year. This isn’t new. The A’s passed on locking up Miguel Tejada and Tim Hudson and instead kept Eric Chavez. He wasn’t a bad player, but he wasn’t the one to carry this

franchise. The A’s always seem to have a hard time identifying the right players to give their money to. That’s why they should be hesitant about overpaying for question marks. Stick with the “Moneyball” tactics, milking trade value and stockpiling prospects. When the no-doubters come along, that’s who you pay. And you know those guys when you see them. Everybody knows them because their presence and production is undeniable. Gray is that guy. Donaldson clearly would’ve been that guy. The A’s are sure to find a couple more such players in all of their wheeling and dealing. Until then, every player is just a cog in the Athletics machine. Including Reddick. MTHOMPS2@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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THE A’S

Regular-season schedule APRIL MON

TUES

WED

THU

FRI

SAT 1

CWS 7:05

SEA 1:10

10 CSNCA

CSNCA

LAA 7:05

11 CSNCA

1:05

CSNCA

TOR 10:07

24 CSNCA

CWS

4:10

25 CSNCA

CWS 7:05

LAA 7:05

12 CSNCA

NYY 4:05

DET

7:05

19 CSNCA

DET 4:10

26 CSNCA

ESPN2

LAA 12:35

CSNCA

20 CSNCA

DET 4:10

12:35

CSNCA

NYY 4:05

CWS

27 CSNCA

SEA 7:10

7:05

NYY 4:05

21 CSNCA

DET

10:10

8 CSNCA

CSNCA

TOR 4:07

22 CSNCA

HOU 7:05

29 CSNCA

SUN 2

SEA 6:10

9 CSNCA

1:05

CSNCA

TOR 10:07

SUN

MON

1:05

1 CSNCA

BAL 10:35

8 CSNCA

10:10

CSNCA

NYY 1:05

22 CSNCA

DET 1:05

29 CSNCA

SEA 7:05

TUES 2

CSNCA

BOS 4:10

9 CSNCA

TEX 7:05

16 CSNCA

SEA 7:10

23 CSNCA

MIN 1:05

30 ESPN

SEA 7:05

WED 3

CSNCA

BOS 4:10

10 CSNCA

TEX 7:05

17 CSNCA

SEA 7:10

24 CSNCA

MIN 7:05

SEA

THU

HOU 1:05

FRI 5

30 CSNCA

12:35

4:05

BOS 4:10

CSNCA

TEX

12:35

NYY

19 CSNCA

CSNCA

4:05

CSNCA

NYY 6:35

20 CSNCA

DET 7:05

BAL

CSNCA

TB 4:10

7:05

SEA 7:10

BAL

SAT 6

27 CSNCA

All times Pacific and subject to change Home games All games broadcast on 95.7 FM

CSNCA

MAY

HOU

JULY

NOTES

SUN

7 CSNCA 14

3:10

CSNCA

NYY 1:05

21 CSNCA

DET 1:05

28 CSNCA

PIT 1:05

11:10

MON

TUES

WED

THU 1

FRI 2

12:35

10:10

1:05

12 CSNCA

TEX 7:05

26 CSNCA

MIL 5:10

13 CSNCA 20

CSNCA

LAA 12:35

CSNCA

LAA

11:10

4 CSNCA

TOR

17 CSNCA

1:05

CSNCA

CLE 10:10

FRI

HOU 7:05

18 CSNCA

TEX 5:05

25 CSNCA

MIN 5:10

5 CSNCA

ALL STAR GAME

6 CSNCA

HOU 5:10

7 CSNCA

CSNCA

HOU 5:10

TEX

26 CSNCA

HOU

12:35

7:05

TEX 5:05

CSNCA

8 CSNCA

TOR 7:05

CSNCA

5:05

10:10

HOU 7:05

MIN

SAT 1

15 CSNCA

TB 7:05

7:05

2 CSNCA

HOU 1:10

9 CSNCA

TOR 1:05

16 CSNCA

CSNCA

6:05

CSNCA

CLE 4:10

PIT

29 CSNCA

CLE 4:10

30 CSNCA

31 CSNCA

AUGUST SUN

MON

TUES 1

LAA 7:05

CHC 1:05

7 CSNCA

SEA 1:05

14 CSNCA

CWS 11:10

CSNCA 28 CSNCA

TEX 7:05

MIL 7:05

SF 7:15

27 CSNCA

SF 7:15

7 CSNCA 14 CSNCA 21

MIL 5:10

TEX 7:05

MIL

HOU 5:10

CSNCA 15 CSNCA 22

CIN 4:10

TEX

12:35

LAA 7:05

LAA 6:35

CSNCA

12:35

CSNCA

7:05

CSNCA

7:05

CSNCA

LAA 7:05

SAT 3

CSNCA 10 CSNCA 17 CSNCA 24 CSNCA

HOU

BAL 7:05

8 CSNCA

TEX 5:05

15 CSNCA

CLE 7:05

22 CSNCA

HOU 5:10

29 CSNCA

WED 2

CSNCA

BAL 7:05

9 CSNCA

TEX 5:05

16 CSNCA

CLE 7:05

23 CSNCA

HOU 5:10

30 CSNCA

LAA 7:05

THU 3

CSNCA

BAL 7:05

10 CSNCA

TEX 5:05

LAA 4:05

FRI 4

CSNCA

BAL

12:35 18

17 CSNCA

CLE

CHC 7:05

SEA

CWS

CSNCA

STL 5:15

HOU

12 CSNCA

5:10

12:35

SAT 5

CSNCA

7:05

26 CSNCA

CHC 1:05

6 CSNCA

SEA 6:05

13 CSNCA

CWS 4:10

CSNCA

STL 4:15

27 CSNCA

11:10

1:10

CIN 1:10

LAA 1:05

LAA 7:05

SUN

TUES

WED

THU

FRI 1

CSNCA 11 CSNCA 18 CSNCA 25 CSNCA

BOS 7:05

BOS 1:05

SEA 1:05

TEX 12:05

TEX 1:05

TBD

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

MON

SEA

64 PLAY BALL

MIN

CSNCA

11:15

MIN

CIN

THU

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

SUN

11:10

3 CSNCA

HOU

JUNE

HOU

WED

7:05

STL

31 CSNCA

TUES

PIT

1:05

MON

4 CSNCA 11 CSNCA 18 CSNCA 25 CSNCA 2 CSNCA

LAA 1:05

KC 4:15

HOU 7:05

LAA 7:05

5 CSNCA 12 CSNCA 19 CSNCA 26 CSNCA

LAA 7:05

KC 4:15

HOU 7:05

LAA 7:05

LAA

CSNCA

12:35

CSNCA 20 CSNCA 27 CSNCA

4:15

HOU

7:05 14 CSNCA

KC 4:15

15 CSNCA 22

12:35

LAA 7:05

SEA TEX 5:05

TEX 6:35

28 CSNCA

SEA 7:10

29 CSNCA

SEA 7:10

SAT 2

CSNCA 9 CSNCA 16 CSNCA 23 CSNCA 30 CSNCA

BOS 6:05

SEA 1:05

TEX 5:05

TEX 1:05

SEA 6:10

3 CSNCA 10 CSNCA 17 CSNCA 24 CSNCA 1 CSNCA

THE A’S

Players to watch + projected opening day roster BY JOHN HICKE Y

Sean Doolittle

MOST TRADABLE

The A’s spent 2015 mostly without Doolittle because of a shoulder injury, and his absence was a strain on the entire team. With the club forced to cut and paste to get through the ninth inning, one-run wins became one-run losses. And Oakland won back-to-back games only once in the first 44 games, by which time the season was effectively over. Oakland management brought in a flock of new bullpen arms in right-handers Ryan Madson, John Axford and Liam Hendriks, and left-hander Marc Rzepczynski. The idea was that if Doolittle can’t close, there are other options. But if Doolittle can’t close, the A’s game plan still is in trouble. The good news is that the lefthander is throwing hard without

Josh Reddick has patrolled right field for the A’s since 2012, bringing both a Gold Glove and home run potential to the club. However, this is his final season before heading to free agency, and he wants a contract extension. The A’s have talked a good game about getting him one, but if it doesn’t happen, Reddick likely will be dealt at the trade deadline if the A’s aren’t in the hunt.

PITCHERS No. 61 40 62 53 49 54 32 31 18 44 33 35

Name John Axford Chris Bassitt Sean Doolittle Felix Doubront Kendall Graveman Sonny Gray Jesse Hahn Liam Hendriks Rich Hill Ryan Madson Fernando Rodriguez Marc Rzepczynski

feeling any excess strain, and that indicates he will be ready for the ninth inning, leaving the seventh and eighth for the aforementioned group, plus holdover Fernando Rodriguez and long man Felix Doubront. That would take a load off a starting rotation that hasn’t proven beyond ace Sonny Gray that it’s capable of gobbling up lots of innings.

Danny Valencia The right-handed-hitting third baseman provided power with 11 homers in 47 games last year after coming over from Toronto in early August. The question now is whether or not it was a fluke. Valencia has been a journeyman player until now. Is he ready at 31 to fill a spot in the middle of the Oakland lineup for the next six months?

WHIP 1.58 1.26 1.24 1.50 1.42 1.08 1.17 1.08 0.66 0.96 1.14 1.54

Rich Hill Seldom has so much been asked from a pitcher who, briefly, was playing in an independent league last summer. But after a brilliant four-game stint with the Red Sox in September, Hill is being counted on to begin the season as the No. 2 starter behind Sonny Gray. Hill, 36, has experience and finally seems to have found the right combination by moving his takeoff foot to the right side of the rubber and adjusting his arm angle. He has yet to show he can have success over a full season.

Khris Davis If there was one position that was up for grabs last season in Oakland, it was left field. The addition of Davis was Oakland’s

WAR 0.8 1.2 0.1 -0.6 1.2 5.8 1.0 0.9 1.6 1.7 0.3 -0.8

major offseason move to address that. He’s a right-hander with power, although the Coliseum may drain some of that. Davis had 21 homers in the second half of the season last year with the Brewers.

Coco Crisp From the time he joined the A’s in 2010 through the 2013 season, the team had a .554 winning percentage (245-197) with Crisp in the starting lineup, the equivalent of 90 wins per season, which generally is enough for a team to make the postseason. But in the past two years, Crisp has started only 140 games combined because of injuries, and the A’s were 66-74 in those contests. JHICKEY@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

B/T Ht/Wt R-R 6-5/220 R-R 6-5/220 L-L 6-2/210 L-L 6-2/240 R-R 6-2/200 R-R 5-10/190 R-R 6-4/215 R-R 6-0/200 L-L 6-5/220 L-R 6-6/225 R-R 6-3/235 L-L 6-2/220

IP 55.2 86.0 13.2 75.1 115.2 208.0 96.2 64.2 29.0 63.1 58.2 35

W-L SV ERA 4-5 25 4.20 1-8 0 3.56 1-0 4 3.95 3-3 1 5.50 6-9 0 4.05 14-7 0 2.73 6-6 0 3.35 5-0 0 2.92 2-1 0 1.55 1-2 3 2.13 4-2 0 3.84 2-4 0 5.66

Comment Closer for Rockies last year; brings 99 mph fastball to back end of bullpen Luckless in terms of W-L in 2015; upside remains high Healthy again, he moves back into closer’s role with velocity intact He’ll be in the pen, but he can start in a pinch if needed Needs to put fewer men on base and stay healthy Three opening day rosters, three opening day starts; that says it all Has rebounded impressively from last year’s injury; velocity up to 96 mph in spring Has shown he can pitch in seventh and eighth with fastball adding velocity of late A new setup and delivery have him entering season as No. 2 starter With injury troubles behind, he’s a hard-throwing late-inning option A’s didn’t have in 2015 Tied for AL lead in effectiveness when pitching with inherited runners last year Situational lefty who can hold his own vs. RHs, too

CATCHERS No. Name 19 Josh Phegley 21 Stephen Vogt

B/T Ht/Wt R-R 5-10/230 L-R 6-0/225

HR 9 18

RBI SB AVG OBP/SLG WAR BABIP Comment 34 0 .249 .300/.449 1.6 .283 One of best-throwing catchers in AL; also provides much-needed power 71 0 .261 .341/.443 3.5 .290 Favorite target of A’s pitchers; had big first half, weak second half at plate

INFIELDERS No. Name 17 Yonder Alonso 16 Billy Butler 20 Mark Canha 8 Jed Lowrie 10 Marcus Semien 28 Eric Sogard 26 Danny Valencia

B/T Ht/Wt L-R 6-1/230 R-R 6-0/260 R-R 6-2/210 S-R 6-0/180 R-R 6-0/195 L-R 5-9/180 R-R 6-2/210

HR 5 15 16 9 15 1 18

RBI SB AVG 31 2 .282 65 0 .251 70 7 .254 30 1 .222 45 11 .257 37 6 .247 66 2 .290

OBP/SLG .361/.381 .323/.390 .315/.426 .312/.400 .310/.405 .294/.304 .345/.519

WAR 1.8 -0.9 1.1 1.0 2.7 0.8 1.7

BABIP .313 .282 .289 .233 .312 .283 .329

Comment One of AL’s top defenders, he doesn’t hit for power; high on-base pct. is his game Struggled for first five months last year; A’s can’t wait that long for him to produce Came out of nowhere to add power to middle of A’s lineup After a year away, he’s back to try and lock down second base, add punch to lineup Dramatically cut down on errors during second half of season He’s lost his starting job at second base, but he can back up second, third and short Valencia has bounced around plenty; he’d like to believe he’s found a home at third base

OUTFIELDERS No. Name 1 Billy Burns 3 Chris Coghlan 4 Coco Crisp 2 Khris Davis 22 Josh Reddick

B/T Ht/Wt S-R 5-9/170 L-R 6-0/195 S-R 5-10/185 R-R 5-10/195 L-R 6-2/195

HR 5 16 0 27 20

RBI SB AVG 42 26 .294 41 11 .250 6 2 .175 66 6 .247 77 10 .272

OBP/SLG .334/.392 .341/.443 .252/.222 .323/.505 .333/.449

WAR 2.8 1.9 -0.7 0.8 3.5

BABIP .339 .284 .218 .285 .278

Comment Came into his own as a rookie; center field belongs to him now Has some power; outfielder who can fill in on the infield Past two years have been filled with injuries, but he’s healthy and can play LF, CF, DH An infusion of right-handed power is what A’s offense needed Heading into his free agency year, Gold Glover poised for a big season

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Can A’s compete in deep division? BY JIMMY DURKIN

he A’s didn’t just regress in 2015 — they watched the perceived bottom half of the division rise up. The Rangers’ surprise division title and the Astros’ earlier-than-expected run to a wild-card spot put Oakland in a very tough position. Billy Beane is still the chief decisionmaker despite his new executive vice president title, and he and general manager David Forst constantly are in tinkering mode. Until last season, they had done a solid job of remaining competitive and delivered three straight playoff appearances. But the A’s now look up at four other teams in the division after finishing with the American League’s worst record last year. They addressed a major weakness by bolstering their bullpen, and perhaps that’s enough to make them competitive again. But the Astros are well-built for the future, the Rangers are potent when healthy, the Angels have the game’s top player in Mike Trout, and the Mariners could be ready to charge toward contention like they were expected to last season. The A’s have a history of contending when it’s least expected, but this division looks too deep to count on that in 2016.

Rating the AL West 1. Houston Astros

2. Texas Rangers

3. Los Angeles Angels

4. Seattle Mariners

5. Oakland Athletics

Last year: 86-76, second place (lost to Kansas City Royals in ALDS) Key losses: LHP Scott Kazmir, 2B Jed Lowrie, 1B Chris Carter, RHP Chad Qualls Key newcomers: RHP Doug Fister, RHP Ken Giles Best-case scenario: A full season of budding star SS Carlos Correa propels this team, considered a year ahead of schedule during last year’s run, to a division title and a shot at October glory. Worst-case scenario: Health looks like the only thing that can hold back a Houston team that’s geared to contend for the next several years. Hot prospect: 1B A.J. Reed may be pushing for an MLB roster spot soon after a dominant 2015 season in the minors (.340/.432/.612, 34 HR, 127 RBI).

Last year: 88-74, first place (lost to Toronto Blue Jays in ALDS) Key losses: 1B Mike Napoli, OF Leonys Martin Key newcomer: LF Ian Desmond, RHP Tom Wilhelmsen Best-case scenario: Yu Darvish’s expected May return from Tommy John surgery gives the rotation a one-two punch with Cole Hamels, and the Rangers return to full health as a major AL force. Worst-case scenario: The Rangers’ two-year run of being flooded with injuries stretches to three, and they don’t adapt as well as they did in 2015 and fall back in one of MLB’s toughest divisions. Hot prospect: 3B/OF Joey Gallo struggled in his cup of MLB coffee last year but remains a high-ceiling power-hitting prospect.

Last year: 85-77, third place Key losses: SS Erick Aybar, 3B David Freese, RHP Trevor Gott Key newcomers: SS Andrelton Simmons, 3B Yunel Escobar, OF Daniel Nava, OF Craig Gentry, C Geovany Soto Best-case scenario: A lineup that includes Mike Trout and Albert Pujols is in the upper half of the league in offense again, and the pitching is solid enough that a big-name midseason acquisition puts them over the top. Worst-case scenario: The offense, despite its collection of talent, is in the bottom half of baseball again, and the Angels can’t keep up with the Astros and Rangers. Hot prospect: RHP Victor Alcantara is the top arm in a farm system lacking much high-end talent.

Last year: 76-86, fourth place Key losses: 1B/DH Logan Morrison, 1B/ OF Mark Trumbo, RHP Carson Smith Key newcomers: RHP Steve Cishek, RHP Joaquin Benoit, LHP Wade Miley, 1B Adam Lind, LF Nori Aoki, CF Leonys Martin Best-case scenario: The heart of the batting order — Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager — continues to rake, and the Felix Hernandez-led pitching staff is boosted by a rebuilt bullpen. Worst-case scenario: The new pen performs as bad as the old one, and with little room for error in the division, the team ends up as sellers by the end of July. Hot prospect: OF Alex Jackson was the top high school pick in 2014. The converted catcher has struggled to adapt, but the 20-year-old still has promise.

Last year: 68-94, fifth place

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The Angels’ Mike Trout, above, is the league’s top player. Opposite, from left, the Tigers’ Andrew Romine and Miguel Cabrera celebrate; Yankee Masahiro Tanaka prepares to pitch; Edinson Volquez leads the Royals during the 2015 World Series.

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Rating the AL Central 1. Kansas City Royals

2. Cleveland Indians

3. Detroit Tigers

4. Minnesota Twins

5. Chicago White Sox

Last year: 95-67, first place (beat New York Mets in World Series) Key losses: RHP Johnny Cueto, INF/OF Ben Zobrist, RHP Ryan Madson, RHP Jeremy Guthrie, OF Alex Rios, RHP Greg Holland Key newcomers: RHP Joakim Soria, RHP Dillon Gee, C Tony Cruz Best-case scenario: The Royals ride a 2015 title, speed and a lockdown bullpen to the first repeat championship since the Yankees from 1998 through 2000. Worst-case scenario: The post-title departures hurt and Kansas City becomes the third straight champion to miss out on the playoffs the following year. Hot prospect: SS Raul Mondesi Jr. made his major league debut in the World Series, but the infielder might need more minor league grooming.

Last year: 81-80, third place Key losses: None Key newcomers: 1B Mike Napoli, RHP Joba Chamberlain, OF Rajai Davis, OF Collin Cowgill Best-case scenario: They continue to pitch their way into contention, and Michael Brantley returns early in the season from a shoulder injury to spark the offense to a playoff spot and fourth straight winning record. Worst-case scenario: Brantley, expected back in the first month of the season, struggles, and Napoli doesn’t provide the punch Cleveland needs, and the offense holds the Indians back. Hot prospect: OF Bradley Zimmer is a USF product and first-round pick from 2014 with a .281/.377/.459 slash line and 22 HR in 175 minor league games.

Last year: 74-87, fifth place Key losses: C Alex Avila, LHP Ian Krol Key newcomers: RHP Jordan Zimmermann, LF Justin Upton, RHP Mark Lowe, RHP Francisco Rodriguez, OF Cameron Maybin, LHP Justin Wilson Best-case scenario: A healthy Miguel Cabrera sees his power numbers return (just 18 HR in ’15), Justin Verlander builds on an improved season, and a revamped bullpen gets Detroit back in the mix. Worst-case scenario: The pitching, which ranked 28th in MLB last year, remains putrid, and the Tigers find themselves in or near the basement again. Hot prospect: RHP Michael Fulmer, acquired in the Yoenis Cespedes deal with the Mets, was the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and could be ready to help in the big leagues soon.

Last year: 83-79, second place Key losses: OF Torii Hunter, RHP Mike Pelfrey, OF Aaron Hicks Key newcomer: DH/1B Byung-ho Park Best-case scenario: Park, who hit 53 home runs in Korea last year, is a true power threat in the big leagues, Byron Buxton becomes the star he’s projected to be, and the Twins build on their surprising year of contention to do it again. Worst-case scenario: An average pitching staff and lineup prove to be just that — average — and Minnesota spends the year hovering around the .500 mark. Hot prospect: OF Buxton played in 46 games last year but maintained his rookie status by two at-bats. He’s been touted among MLB’s top prospects in recent years.

Last year: 76-86, fourth place Key losses: RHP Jeff Samardzija, INF Gordon Beckham, C Tyler Flowers Key newcomers: 3B Todd Frazier, 2B Brett Lawrie, C Dioner Navarro, C Alex Avila Best-case scenario: Frazier brings an All-Star bat to the lineup, Adam LaRoche and Melky Cabrera play more like the guys Chicago thought it signed last year, and the White Sox push for a winning record. Worst-case scenario: Those bounceback offensive seasons don’t come, and the team again possesses one of the AL’s worst offenses while barreling toward a fourth straight losing season. Hot prospect: SS Tim Anderson is a career .301 hitter in the minor leagues with speed and plays a position at which the Sox would welcome some help.

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Rating the AL East 1. Toronto Blue Jays

2. Boston Red Sox

3. New York Yankees

4. Baltimore Orioles

5. Tampa Bay Rays

Last year: 93-69, first place (lost to Kansas City Royals in ALCS) Key losses: LHP David Price, RHP Mark Lowe, RHP Liam Hendriks Key newcomers: RHP Drew Storen, LHP J.A. Happ, RHP Jesse Chavez Best-case scenario: Baseball’s most powerful lineup continues to thump behind 3B Josh Donaldson, RF Jose Bautista, DH Edwin Encarnacion and SS Troy Tulowitzki, and Toronto powers its way to the World Series. Worst-case scenario: The pitching staff’s lack of depth and front-end arms can’t be masked by the offensive firepower, and the Blue Jays come up short in the postseason again. Hot prospect: CF Anthony Alford batted .298 with 27 SB and 91 runs in Class A ball last year.

Last year: 78-84, fifth place Key loss: LHP Wade Miley Key newcomers: LHP David Price, RHP Craig Kimbrel, RHP Carson Smith, OF Chris Young Best-case scenario: DH David Ortiz has a big farewell season, 3B Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, who will shift to 1B, bounce back from their awful debut years in Boston, and Price anchors a rotation that returns the Sox to the playoffs. Worst-case scenario: Sandoval, whose belly pictures made the rounds at the start of spring training, duplicates his terrible 2015 (.245, 10 HR, 47 RBI), and he and Ramírez drag down the vibe of the team again in another subpar season. Hot prospect: 2B Yoan Moncada still needs seasoning after Boston invested $63 million in the Cuban.

Last year: 87-75, second place (lost to Houston Astros in AL wild card) Key losses: OF Chris Young, RHP Adam Warren, LHP Justin Wilson Key newcomers: 2B Starlin Castro, LHP Aroldis Chapman, OF Aaron Hicks Best-case scenario: If the starting pitching, headlined by RHP Masahiro Tanaka and featuring second-year starter Luis Severino, can stay healthy and deliver, this aging Yankees squad could make a run at the AL East title. Worst-case scenario: A lineup with 40-year-old Alex Rodriguez and soonto-be-39 Carlos Beltran can’t hold up all season, and New York misses the playoffs for the third time in four years. Hot prospect: SS Jorge Mateo is a speedster who stole 82 bases in 117 minor league games last year.

Last year: 81-81, third place Key loss: LHP Wei-Yin Chen Key newcomers: OF/1B Mark Trumbo, LF Hyun-soo Kim Best-case scenario: They stay in the hunt long enough and find a way to snag something resembling a No. 1 starter that can help get them into the postseason out of a tough division. Worst-case scenario: A rotation that posted a 4.53 ERA and hasn’t improved, at least on paper, prevents Baltimore from moving up the AL East food chain despite a potent and powerful offense. Hot prospect: RHP Dylan Bundy was drafted No. 4 overall in 2011, but Tommy John surgery has slowed his ascent.

Last year: 80-82, fourth place Key losses: SS Asdrubal Cabrera, RHP Nate Karns, C J.P. Arencibia Key newcomers: LF Corey Dickerson, 1B/DH Logan Morrison, C Hank Conger, RHP Danny Farquhar Best-case scenario: The pitching is there to stay competitive, and the team’s best hitter — 3B Evan Longoria — returns to All-Star form to boost the Rays’ offense. Worst-case scenario: If the pitching is anything less than stellar, Tampa Bay is in trouble and staring at 90-plus losses. Hot prospect: LHP Blake Snell is a potential phenom, and the Rays reportedly have talked about a long-term contract before he has even made his MLB debut.

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Giants could be a contender this season BY JIMMY DURKIN

he Giants will test their even-year success after revamping their rotation with the signings of Johnny Cueto (six years, $130 million) and Jeff Samardzija (five years, $90 million) in December. They added center fielder Denard Span in January for good measure. The goal, of course, is a return to the postseason, where they’ve yet to lose a series in manager Bruce Bochy’s tenure. The competition won’t just be the Dodgers. The three-time reigning National League West champions still figure to be in the mix but were weakened with the loss of co-ace Zack Greinke. Now they’ve also lost starting pitcher Brett Anderson for three to five months after back surgery. And the deep-pocketed Dodgers failed to make a big offseason move despite a third straight postseason failure. Greinke stayed in the division, and his move to the Diamondbacks makes them a threat, especially after they traded for Shelby Miller to be the No. 2 starter. Arizona already has one of the game’s premier sluggers in Paul Goldschmidt, and the improved pitching helps round them out. The Padres and Rockies figure to provide plenty of wins for their NL West foes.

Rating the NL West 1. San Francisco Giants

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

3. Arizona Diamondbacks

4. San Diego Padres

5. Colorado Rockies

Last year: 84-78, second place

Last year: 92-70, first place (lost to New York Mets in NLDS) Key losses: RHP Zack Greinke, SS Jimmy Rollins, RHP Juan Nicasio Key newcomers: LHP Scott Kazmir, RHP Kenta Maeda, OF Trayce Thompson Best-case scenario: The Dodgers, despite losing Greinke, stay in the West hunt and use their big bucks to make a deadline deal that not only pushes them to a fourth straight division title but finally leads to playoff success. Worst-case scenario: The lack of a big offseason move hurts them, and they fall behind the Giants, and also Arizona, and find themselves at home in October. Hot prospect: SS Corey Seager showed tons of potential in last season’s call-up (.337, 4 HR, 17 RBI in 98 AB) and is a strong Rookie of the Year candidate.

Last year: 79-83, third place Key losses: OF Ender Inciarte, RHP Jeremy Hellickson Key newcomers: RHP Zack Greinke, RHP Shelby Miller, SS Jean Segura Best-case scenario: Greinke remains an elite ace in the D-backs’ live ballpark and pairs with Miller to anchor a pitching staff that allows the potent offense to win games. Arizona contends not only for a playoff spot, but for the NL West title. Worst-case scenario: Despite an upgraded pitching staff and an offense led by one of the game’s best, Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona can’t overcome the Giants and Dodgers. Hot prospect: OF Socrates Brito rose up the organizational rankings after major prospects Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair were dealt for Miller.

Last year: 74-88, fourth place Key losses: RHP Craig Kimbrel, INF Jedd Gyorko, RHP Shawn Kelley, RHP Joaquin Benoit Key newcomers: SS Alexei Ramirez, LF Jon Jay, LHP Drew Pomeranz Best-case scenario: RHP James Shields and RF Matt Kemp have the impact that was expected a year ago, and the Padres surprise their way into being competitive in the NL West. Worst-case scenario: San Diego experiences its sixth straight losing season while second-year GM A.J. Preller attempts to rebuild the roster. Hot prospect: OF Manuel Margot is the best of the four prospects acquired from Boston in the Kimbrel trade but is unlikely to see the bigs this year.

Last year: 68-94, fifth place Key losses: OF Corey Dickerson, RHP John Axford, LHP Rex Brothers Key newcomers: RHP Jason Motte, RHP Chad Qualls, OF Gerardo Parra, 1B Mark Reynolds Best-case scenario: 3B Nolan Arenado continues his climb into stardom, and the Rockies find a way to avoid their fourth 90-plus loss season in the past five years. Worst-case scenario: A team that’s very much in rebuild mode — something true of 40 percent of the National League — experiences the first 100-loss season of its 24-year existence. Hot prospect: RHP Jon Gray, the team’s first-round pick in 2013, debuted last year and could start the year in the rotation.

The Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt, above, is one of the game’s top sluggers. Opposite, from left, the Cubs’ Addison Russell dives to toss the ball; the Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes tosses his helmet; the Nationals’ Bryce Harper hits a solo home run.

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Rating the NL Central 1. Chicago Cubs

2. Pittsburgh Pirates

3. St. Louis Cardinals

4. Milwaukee Brewers

5. Cincinnati Reds

Last year: 97-65, third place (lost to New York Mets in NLCS) Key losses: 2B Starlin Castro, RHP Jason Motte Key newcomers: OF Jason Heyward, RHP John Lackey, INF/OF Ben Zobrist, RHP Adam Warren Best-case scenario: The talented veteran additions fuse with a team loaded with young stars, and it all comes together for the Cubs’ first World Series title since 1908. Worst-case scenario: Heightened expectations lead to sophomore slumps for Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber, and 2016 turns into another letdown season on the North Side. Hot prospect: SS Gleyber Torres was signed out of Venezuela in 2013 and already has had minor league success.

Last year: 98-64, second place (lost to Chicago Cubs in NL wild-card game) Key losses: 2B Neil Walker, 3B Pedro Alvarez, RHP Joakim Soria, LHP J.A. Happ Key newcomers: LHP Jon Niese, RHP Ryan Vogelsong, RHP Juan Nicasio, 1B John Jaso Best-case scenario: A roster that’s still talented without Walker and Alvarez leans on the pitching staff (3.21 ERA in ’15) for a fourth straight playoff appearance. Worst-case scenario: The offense loses something without the WalkerAlvarez duo, and although the Central has plenty of wins available, thanks to the Reds and Brewers, Pittsburgh is on the outside of the wild-card hunt. Hot prospect: RHP Tyler Glasnow is a dominant starter with an imposing 6-foot-8, 225-pound mound presence.

Last year: 100-62, first place (lost to Chicago Cubs in NLDS) Key losses: RF Jason Heyward, RHP John Lackey Key newcomers: RHP Mike Leake, RHP Seung-hwan Oh, INF Jedd Gyorko, C Brayan Peña Best-case scenario: The team continues to show it knows how to win, and despite losing Heyward and Lackey to the rival Cubs, St. Louis keeps hold of the division. Worst-case scenario: C Yadier Molina, who injured his thumb in the playoffs, misses significant time or isn’t the same player, and the Cards miss the postseason for the first time since ’10. Hot prospect: RHP Alex Reyes has a fastball in the upper 90s, but he starts the year with a 50-game suspension for testing positive for marijuana.

Last year: 68-94, fourth place Key losses: RHP Francisco Rodriguez, 1B Adam Lind, LF Khris Davis, SS Jean Segura Key newcomers: 3B Aaron Hill, 1B Chris Carter Best-case scenario: It’s an all-out rebuild for the Brewers, so the best thing that could happen would be the emergence of any expendable players that could net value in a trade. Worst-case scenario: When you’re aiming to be bad, the only worst-case scenario is to be surprisingly mediocre. Hot prospect: SS Orlando Arcia is one of baseball’s top 10 prospects, and the Venezuelan should be an exciting piece sometime soon.

Last year: 64-98, fifth place Key losses: LHP Aroldis Chapman, 3B Todd Frazier Key newcomers: None Best-case scenario: There’s very little to hang their hat on for the Reds, who might be happy to simply avoid 100 losses. Worst-case scenario: In a topheavy division with three returning playoff teams, Cincinnati could easily finish with MLB’s worst record — but there’s competition for that with several other awful NL squads. Hot prospect: RHP Robert Stephenson, a graduate of Martinez’s Alhambra High, could make his ML debut in 2016.

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Rating the NL East 1. New York Mets

2. Washington Nationals

3. Miami Marlins

4. Philadelphia Phillies

5. Atlanta Braves

Last year: 90-72, first place (lost to Kansas City Royals in World Series) Key losses: 2B Daniel Murphy, RHP Jenrry Mejia (lifetime PED suspension) Key newcomers: 2B Neil Walker, SS Asdrubal Cabrera Best-case scenario: The Mets get 162 games of spark from Yoenis Cespedes after he re-signed, and the game’s best pitching rotation returns New York to the World Series. Worst-case scenario: October hero Murphy’s absence is felt, with Walker not able to handle the Big Apple spotlight, and even with the great pitching, the Mets are overtaken by the Nationals. Hot prospect: LHP Steven Matz went 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in six regularseason MLB starts last year, giving this staff another ridiculously good arm.

Last year: 83-79, second place Key losses: RHP Jordan Zimmermann, RHP Drew Storen, 3B Yunel Escobar Key newcomers: 2B Daniel Murphy, OF Ben Revere, RHP Shawn Kelley, LHP Oliver Perez, RHP Yusmeiro Petit Best-case scenario: New manager Dusty Baker repairs the clubhouse that became unraveled under Matt Williams and rides the NL’s best player (Bryce Harper) back to the playoffs. Worst-case scenario: Baker struggles in his return to the bench, and Washington lets another year slip by without winning a playoff series. Hot prospect: RHP Lucas Giolito is back to full strength after Tommy John surgery cost him 2012-13, and the former first-round pick is one of baseball’s best pitching prospects.

Last year: 71-91, third place Key loss: RHP Henderson Alvarez Key newcomer: LHP Wei-Yin Chen Best-case scenario: Manager Don Mattingly proves the right fit in Miami, which welcomes having a full season of ace Jose Fernandez and slugger Giancarlo Stanton to stay in the hunt in the East. Worst-case scenario: A more stable season — one that doesn’t include your GM taking over as manager — doesn’t lead to more wins, and the gap between the good East teams and the bad ones continues. Hot prospect: RHP Tyler Kolek has a heater in the high 90s but needs better control of it before he’s ready for Miami.

Last year: 63-99, fifth place Key loss: RHP Ken Giles Key newcomers: RHP Jeremy Hellickson, RHP David Hernandez, RHP Charlie Morton Best-case scenario: Ryan Howard can show enough to allow the Phillies to trade him to the AL and turn first base over to Darin Ruf and continue their full rebuild. Worst-case scenario: The Phillies win enough games to deny them a top-three pick in the draft, throwing a wrench in their plans to tear the team apart and start over again. Hot prospect: SS J.P. Crawford is considered a future building block of the franchise, but the Phillies won’t rush him for a team that won’t contend this year.

Last year: 67-95, fourth place Key losses: SS Andrelton Simmons, RHP Shelby Miller, OF Cameron Maybin Key newcomers: CF Ender Inciarte, SS Erick Aybar, 3B Gordon Beckham Best-case scenario: Atlanta starts to see something from the high-end prospects it acquired in trades the past two offseasons, and some momentum builds for the move to a new stadium in 2017. Worst-case scenario: See Phillies. Tanking is in vogue, and this roster is built to accomplish that. Anything less is probably disappointing for the long-term success. Hot prospect: SS Dansby Swanson was the No. 1 overall pick in 2015 and acquired from Arizona in the Miller trade.

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Baseball’s big storylines BY JIMMY DURKIN

aseball’s all-time home run leader — however he accomplished it — is back in the game with Barry Bonds’ hiring as the Miami Marlins hitting coach. There’s no question Bonds has a wealth of knowledge on the art of hitting that no connection to steroids can take away. But the interesting side will be watching Bonds share that knowledge and put in the hours of grunt work required to be an effective hitting coach. One thing Bonds shouldn’t expect is for this new job to have much of an effect on his Hall of Fame chances. It didn’t work for Mark McGwire, who is now off the ballot after 10 years of failing to generate anywhere close to enough votes. Bonds has made some Hall of Fame progress, rising to 44.3 percent of the vote last year (he needs 75 percent). But this job serves as his indoctrination back into the game, not Cooperstown. Bonds had spring training roles with the Giants, but he wanted a full-time gig he wasn’t going to get in San Francisco. Now he will have to put in the work.

The art of tanking The Astros were lambasted for several years of attempting to lose, which netted them three straight No. 1 overall picks. They got the last laugh in 2015, when they meshed a year ahead of time to capture an American League wild-card spot. It worked so well for Houston that plenty of others are giving it a try. Nowhere is that strategy more popular than the National League, where one could reasonably argue that six teams — 40 percent of the league — are in total rebuild mode. That includes two per division (Colorado and San Diego in the West, Milwaukee and Cincinnati in the Central and 70 PLAY BALL

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Philadelphia and Atlanta in the East). Plenty of wins will be available for the rest of the league, and the battle for the first overall pick may never be more fierce.

Big Papi’s farewell

Barry Bonds has traded the orange and black of the Giants for the orange and black of the Marlins. Miami’s new hitting coach will share his knowledge with the team’s young lineup.

The farewell tour isn’t just for rock bands anymore. It’d be a stretch to say it has become the norm across baseball — unless, of course, you follow baseball only as ESPN would suggest and watch just the Yankees and Red Sox. For the third time in four years, the American League East will experience a farewell tour, with Boston designated hitter David Ortiz’s announced plans to retire following this season. Ortiz follows up Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in 2013 and shortstop Derek Jeter in 2014 by announcing his plans well in advance. (Ortiz announced it last November, on his 40th birthday.) The Red Sox slugger and New England folk hero, who, by the way, got an extremely warm reception in Oakland in 2012 after hitting his 400th home run, might not be revered on his goodbye tour as much as Jeter and Rivera. After all, he has connections to performance-enhancing drug use from a 2003 failed drug test, before rules were in place to crack down. But he still will collect his share of gifts and cheers along the way.

Mariners on the clock The past two seasons have seen lengthy postseason droughts end with the Toronto Blue Jays making it last year to stop a 21-year skid and the Kansas City Royals knocking down a 28-year gap the year before. Those come after the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a 20-year absence in 2013. All are among the longest postseason droughts from

the expanded postseason era. The Seattle Mariners now hold the indignity of baseball’s longest playoff drought, which sits at 14 years. The Pacific Northwest hasn’t experienced the postseason since the magical year of 2001, when the Mariners won an American League record 116 games, then lost the ALCS in five games to the New York Yankees. The Miami Marlins have the next longest drought, at 12 seasons, dating to the 2003 World Series title. It has been a good run in baseball for seeing new teams find their way into the playoffs. It would be a little bit of a surprise for Seattle or Miami to reach October this season, but that’s why they play the game.

Dusty in the dugout Dusty Baker wasn’t ready to call it a career. Despite two years out of the game, the 66-year-old is returning to the dugout in 2016 with the Washington Nationals. He will be the second-oldest manager in the majors, behind fellow 66-yearold Terry Collins of the New York Mets, and will try to manage his fourth franchise to the playoffs. Baker certainly doesn’t fit the new mold of hiring young former players fairly fresh out of the game, but he has experience. Of current skippers, only the Giants’ Bruce Bochy has managed more games than Baker’s 3,176. He takes over the Nationals, one of baseball’s most disappointing teams from 2015, which simply cratered under former manager Matt Williams. Washington has owned one of the game’s most talented rosters since 2012 but hasn’t won a playoff series. Perhaps Baker’s player-friendly style will get them over the top and bring some October glory to the nation’s capital. JDURKIN@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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Milestones within reach BY JIMMY DURKIN

AL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE: ROB FOLDY/GETTY IMAGES

Home runs New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez needs 13 home runs to become the fourth player to reach 700. He is 27 behind Babe Ruth’s mark of 714, the third-highest in MLB history. Two other Yankees are well within reach of notching 400 homers. Mark Teixeira enters the year with 394, and Carlos Beltrán has 392.

Yankee Alex Rodriguez needs 27 home runs to reach 714, which would tie him with Babe Ruth for third on the all-time list.

Crisp remains one stolen base shy of 300 after an injury-riddled season limited him to two last year. A’s designated hitter Billy Butler is eight home runs away from 150 in his career and 92 hits shy of 1,500.

RBIs

Giants outfielder Hunter Pence needs six home runs to reach 200 for his career, and he’s 94 hits away from 1,500.

Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre enters the year 33 RBIs shy of the 1,500 career mark. The soon-to-be 37-year-old also is 233 hits shy of 3,000, an honor that likely will have to wait until at least 2017.

A’s outfielder Josh Reddick is 14 home runs away from 100 in his career. Fellow outfielder Coco

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is 55 RBIs away from reaching 1,500.

Saves

Hits

Detroit Tigers reliever Francisco Rodriguez is 14 saves away from becoming the sixth player to reach 400. He needs five to pull ahead of Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley into sixth on baseball’s all-time list.

Miami Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki needs 65 hits to reach 3,000 for his major league career. If you were to add his 1,278 hits from his nine seasons playing in Japan, he’s only 43 behind Pete Rose’s all-time MLB mark of 4,256. Ichiro also is two stolen bases shy of 500.

Wins Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner enters his sixth full season as a big league starter needing 15 wins to reach 100. He’s averaged 15.6 victories the past five years. Matt Cain enters the year three wins from 100, new Giant Johnny Cueto is four wins away, and Jake Peavy is three shy of 150.

A healthy Buster Posey stands a good chance to reach 1,000 career hits this season, as he is 150 away (he’s never had fewer than 153 in a full season). The Giants catcher also is 53 RBIs away from 500. JDURKIN@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

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