Nightengale's Notebook: 107 wins wasn't enough? San Francisco Giants must prove themselves all over again

Show Caption

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The San Francisco Giants aren’t taking it personally, but it's amusing.

What in the world do they have to do prove they're for real?

A year ago, they were projected by Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA calculations to go 75-87 and finish fourth in their own division.

They won a franchise-record 107 games, ending the Los Angeles’ Dodgers’ eight-year run atop the NL West.

You’d think all of the analytics, calculations, Las Vegas books and media prognosticators would learn their lesson, right?

Nope.

The Giants are predicted by PECOTA to not even be a .500 team this year at 78-84, 29 fewer victories than the Giant won a year ago.

"It’s a little weird, isn’t it?" says veteran Giants reliever Jake McGee. "We win the most games in the major leagues last year, and we’re projected to win the same amount they projected us to win last year.

"I don’t know if we’re going to win 107 games again, but I feel like we’re going to compete with everyone every single day."

STAY UP-T0-DATE: Subscribe to our Sports newsletter now!

There’s only one way to shut everyone up again: proving last year was no fluke.

"They can think what they want," Giants starter Logan Webb said. "It’s our job to go out there and prove them wrong. All they’re doing it adding fuel to the fire.

"It’s unbelievable no one is even giving us a chance."

Says Darin Ruf: "It’s like last year. No one believed in us all year. Everyone kept waiting for us to collapse."

Sure, the Giants no longer have former MVP and All-Star catcher Buster Posey, who retired after having his greatest all-around season since 2012. There are questions about whether veteran infielders Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria can once again put up big numbers. They lost starter Kevin Gausman in free agency, but picked up Carlos Rodón.

But if you think they're going to have an epic drop-off, you don’t know these Giants.

"We’ve got such a quiet confidence in here," says lefty Alex Wood, who returned to the team signing a two-year, $25 million contract. "It’s the most consistent team I’ve ever been on, and we have a lot of those pieces back.

"Obviously, we’re missing a big one with Buster, but the talent we got in here, and the culture we developed, is really great. It’s just a unique environment."

The Giants became the first team since the 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers to have at least a .600 winning percentage each month of the season, sitting in first place in 121 of the season’s final 122 days.

They hit a franchise-record 241 home runs, the most by any National League team. They had a 3.24 ERA, second-best in baseball. They had a league-leading 2.99 bullpen ERA. And, of course, there were those 107 victories.

So, at what juncture did the Giants actually make believers out of everyone?

"Probably not until the last day of the season," Ruf said. "Not until we clinched that last day. When you win 107 games, you should be 10 or 15 games up in September, but we had to win just about every single day because of the Dodgers."

The Dodgers won 106 games and of course, just got better with the free-agent signing of former MVP and All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman.

"Getting Freddie over there, oh, man," said Wood, Freeman’s former teammate in Atlanta. "Freddie’s a hell of a player. He’s probably one of the top three hitters I’ve ever played with or against. He’s just a special player, man and a great friend."

Well, maybe not such a close friend considering he didn’t take Wood’s advice.

Wood was on a January hunting trip with his buddies and their fathers in LaGrange, Georgia when they asked him where he thought Freeman was going. Wood, inspired by a couple of adult beverages, decided to text Freeman himself.

Wood: "Hey, you going to LA next year?"

Freeman: "I don’t know, we had a pretty good meeting before the lockout."

Wood: "Hey, just don’t go to LA."

Freeman still is laughing.

"Look at that lineup with all of those MVPs and All-Stars," Wood said, "I’ve got to keep telling myself he’s (Corey) Seager’s replacement. I’m so glad Seager’s not there with him."

The Giants aren’t scared. The Dodgers had four MVPs on their team last year, too, with Albert Pujols on the roster. Their payroll dwarfed the Giants, just like this year, with the Dodgers sitting around $280 million and the Giants about $150 million.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall or something like that, the Giants tell themselves.

"It will be fun to compete against that," Webb said. "If you want to face the best, why not do it in your division. Four MVPs. A lineup full of All-Stars. It’s pretty crazy.

"Let’s do it again."

'It’s not a job but a way of life'

It has been a brutal past four years in the life of Boston Red Sox clubhouse attendant Joe Cochran.

Cochran suffered a stroke in 2018, requiring a pacemaker.

He was standing outside the Red Sox clubhouse during spring training in 2019 when beloved Boston Globe baseball columnist Nick Cafardo dropped to the ground unconscious, and died.

Cochran’s beautiful wife Marcy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer later that year, and died in November 2020.

Legendary Red Sox scout Gary Hughes, whom Cochran often dined with at their favorite pizza joint, was diagnosed with liver cancer in the summer of 2020, and died three months later.

Cochran was in a horrific snowmobile accident in January 2021, suffering 10 broken ribs, a broken clavicle, requiring a two-week stint in the ICU.

Close friend and treasured Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy died of lung cancer last October.

"I had a tough run," Cochran said, his voice cracking on the telephone, "a real tough run. So many deaths and I nearly was killed myself."

Then, there was Saturday night in Sarasota, Florida, where Cochran was honored for his services after 38 years with the Red Sox. He was presented a beautiful ring from the Yankees’ Lou Cucuzza Jr., president of the Baseball Clubhouse Managers Association.

It was originally supposed to be presented during the winter meetings in Orlando, Florida, last December, but they were cancelled because of the MLB lockout.

Now, at a small dinner ceremony in Sarasota, Florida, Cochran, 58, was honored for his accomplishments by baseball’s underappreciated and unsung heroes.

"This award, I can’t tell you what it means to me," Cochran said. "It means everything. I’ve had a rough go in recent years, but I’ve truly been blessed.

"It was a summer job that I never left, waking up every morning and spending your day at Fenway Park."

Cochran made an indelible impact on virtually every ballplayer who has gone through Boston, either playing for the Red Sox or coming through as a visiting player.

If you knew him, you loved him, and he’d love your right back.

"He’s awesome, such a great friend who just loves the game of baseball," said New York Yankees vice president Tim Naehring, who spent his entire 10-year professional career with the Red Sox. "When I first made it to the big leagues, I was one of the younger guys, and he treated me so well. He just had such a tremendous passion for the game of baseball."

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler spent four years in the Red Sox organization, and he’ll never forget the times he simply sat back in the side room off the Red Sox clubhouse, listening to Cochran’s stories.

Cochran grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, joined the Fenway Park grounds crew run by Joe Mooney in 1984, became the personal driver for Jean Yawkey, wife of Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey for two years, became the visiting clubhouse attendant in 1990, switched to the home side, and then back the visitor’s side again. He has been a part of four World Series championships.

"I have the greatest memories of the clubhouse there," Kapler said. "There was a little back room at Fenway where he’d just sit there, chilling, and was willing to talk with anybody at any time. He treated me with the highest level of respect.

"He’s very old-school baseball, what you’d imagine what the clubhouse manager to be if you were raised in the '50s in the clubhouse. In a lot of ways, these guys are the glue of baseball."

Times, of course, are different now. Gone are the days players would arrive early, sit in the clubhouse playing cards, and staying until the early morning hours drinking beer and talking ball. They still arrive early, but instead of playing cards, pore over video and scouting reports, play the game and take off almost immediately after showering, rushing back to play video games in their hotel rooms.

The clubhouse attendants in Arizona reminisced and celebrated Steve Vucinich’s 54-year career in baseball last week as the Oakland A’s clubhouse attendant. Tony Migliaccio, head of the clubhouse operations for the Milwaukee Brewers, hosted the dinner party with about 30 clubhouse attendants.

"It’s such a close-knit fraternity and brotherhood," Migliaccio said. "It’s just the love of baseball, and being part of the team, doing anything you can to help you get to the next level."

It was Zack Minasian, the longtime legendary clubhouse attendant for the Texas Rangers, who came up with the idea of a ring to commemorate meritorious service time for clubhouse attendants. Minasian has three sons in the game, Angels GM Perry Minasian, Zack, scouting director of the Giants; and Calvin, Atlanta’s head clubhouse attendant, who all worked for their dad as kids in the Rangers clubhouse.

"I think we’d all tell you, it’s not a job but a way of life," Cochran says. "None of us would be doing this if we didn’t love the game like we do."

Around the basepaths ...

– Now that pitcher Andrew Miller officially announced his retirement after a 16-year career, no one would be surprised if he winds up working for the Major League Baseball Players Association. He was influential, a powerful voice, and well-respected by both sides in the labor negotiations.

– Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who just signed a three-year contract extension through 2025, celebrated his new deal with a loud proclamation:

"We are winning the World Series in 2022," Roberts told Dan Patrick on his national show. "I’m putting it out there. I’m putting it in the universe."

– Agent Scott Boras, knowing the Houston Astros refused to budge from their original five-year, $160 million offer to Carlos Correa before the lockout, says he pounced on the Minnesota Twins the moment they traded third baseman Josh Donaldson to the New York Yankees, saving about $50 million.

Just a few days later, Carlos Correa was a Twin, signing a three-year, $105.3 million contract with two opt-out clauses.

"When they traded Donaldson, I knew the Twins were viable," Boras said. "We knew they had the flexibility. That started the discussions, there was mutual interest, and flexibility was needed. …

"Everybody wanted one year deal, but the clubs wanted a short-term deal without the opt out. We had to have the opt-out. This is what I call a flex contract. Carlos can go out and flex his muscle at a place where he can hit, and then flex his flexibility.

"Instead of having one season to do it, he can now play in a very relaxed setting, and still have financial security."

– The man who recruited Trevor Story harder than anyone to come to Boston was shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

"He’s definitely one of my favorite shortstops at both ends," Bogaerts told Boston reporters. "He can do everything. Him being here, I think that’s a game-changer. He has game-changing type of ability. It’s crazy that he’s a part of our team right now."

The epitome of unselfishness.

– Three years ago, the Miami Marlins traded prized All-Star outfielder Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers for a package of four prospects: Outfielders Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison, second baseman Isan Diaz and pitcher Jordan Yamamoto.

Today, those four players no longer are in the Marlins’ organization.

Ouch.

– So, how do the Giants replace Buster Posey?

Well, you spread the wealth, manager Gabe Kapler says, without relying solely on one player to replace his talent and leadership.

"The natural question is how do you replace that leadership, how do you replace his production between the lines, his quality at-bats, the way he works the pitchers," Kapler says. "You don’t. There’s no Buster in our system. There’s no Buster out there in free agency. That player isn’t available. So it’s not a one- for-one-replacement."

– Wonderful moment last week with a monument dedication at Lake Lorna Doone Park in Orlando this week, the site of the first integrated Little League game in the South on Aug. 9, 1955.

Florida Citrus Sports and the City of Orlando renovated the park over the past several years and the monument was created by late former NFL running back George Nock, honoring the 1955 "Barrier Breakers" Little League teams from Pensacola and Orlando.

– The average value of MLB franchises grew by 9%, according to Forbes, with the average now at $2.07 billion. There are 12 franchises worth at least $2 billion, and the only franchise worth less than $1 billion are the Miami Marlins at $900 million.

The top 5:

Yankees – $6 billion.

Dodgers – $4.075 billion.

Red Sox – $3.9 billion.

Cubs – $3.8 billion

Giants: $3.5 billion.

– Atlanta has the top-selling ticket in the resale market, according to StubHub, following by the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants and Cardinals.

The highest average ticket sale price for the 2022 season-opener is $221 for the Yankees-Red Sox opener at Yankee Stadium.

– It will be fascinating to see how the 99-day lockout impacts attendance this season because the crowds have been awful the first week of spring-training games in Arizona.

There hasn’t been a single sellout, with six of the 15 teams averaging less than 5,000 fans per game. There were only three games that eclipsed 10,000 in attendance, with 18 games with crowds under 5,000.

– Yes, that’s 40-year-old Oliver Perez in the Diamondbacks camp. He was all set to play this year in Mexico, but the D-backs called and invited him to camp on a minor-league contract.