Posts tagged RyanKlesko at FanHouse

I heart Batting Stance Guy -- his ability to accurately portray nearly every major league batting stance from the late 80's/early 90's is pretty ridiculous. So when I got an email from a buddy showing that he was displaying the Braves, I was pretty stoked. Fred McGriff (1:05)is spectacular, Ryan Klesko (1:25) is hilarious and the fact that they have a separate "David Justice Awkward Baseball Card Pose" (0:45) is awesome.



Although, let's be honest ... the Earl mutton chops seem a little publicity stunt driven, no? Still, keep them coming.

The Giants needed to get rid of Barry Bonds.

It probably would have been the best thing for the health of the Giants franchise to get rid of Barry Bonds a few seasons earlier, but you can't expect the Giants to turn away millions in revenue connected to Bonds' chase for Hank Aaron's record. In the efforts to win in the present while Bonds was still an active part of the club, the Giants brought in a lot of older help in the forms of guys like Omar Vizquel, Ryan Klesko, Dave Roberts, Mike Matheny, Moises Alou, Steve Finley, Jeff Fassero, Benito Santiago and Andres Galarraga. Over the years, signings like those were probably in lieu of better, younger signings because the money that Bonds was making ate up a large percentage of their payroll.

The problem was that Bonds would frequently be pulled after the seventh inning for pinch runners to save his health. So you have $15 million dedicated to a guy who isn't going to be around past seven innings to potentially win ballgames, forcing the Giants to depend on some overvalued talent to carry the team the rest of the way.

Well, not only does $15 million come off the books with Bonds, but they also lose the salaries of Vizquel ($5.1 million), Pedro Feliz ($5 million), Klesko ($1.75 million) and Matheny. Nobody should be surprised if the Giants also get rid of guys like Rich Aurilia (.245) and Ray Durham (.215) who combined are making $10.5 million. And perhaps, as correctly noted by a comment here (thank you for the correction), the Giants could find a way to trade Roberts, who was signed to a three year $18 million deal before the season began. That would be a shade over $40 million to spend to make an old roster younger and energetic, and perhaps get some younger legs with some range to support guys like Barry Zito, Matt Cain, and Tim Lincecum. This is probably the first opportunity since 1993 for the Giants to remake their roster in a significant way, instead of putting band-aids on problems just to give Bonds some patchwork support.

Or, they could go get Alex Rodriguez, because you know that if he opts out of his contract, that speculation is going to start. A-Rod did say how much he loved San Francisco, didn't he? If the Giants want to keep their ballpark full, that would be the way to go. And that $40 million just might be enough to get him (he is, after all, a Scott Boras client). But to me, the smart money is to fortify their roster with fresh prospects and bullpen help to surround their starting rotation. The key for the Giants is to not let the bottom fall out for a few more seasons just because Bonds is leaving. If they're smart, it doesn't have to be that way.

Previously on FanHouse:
Barry Bonds is Leaving San Francisco
Alex Rodriguez Loves San Francisco

Armando Benitez may have taken the brunt of the blame for the Giants 5-4 extra-innings loss to the Mets last week, which eventually led to his banishment to Miami. But manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that there was more than just Armando Benitez to blame for that loss. In fact, there are several players to blame for the Giants losses according to Bochy -- not for what they did on the field, but because of their failure to make it onto the field.

"You can't afford to go into a series against a team like the Mets and be two or three guys short," Bochy said. "Sometimes you can't do anything about it. Maybe on the preventative side or the maintenance side of treatment, we've got to eventually turn up the volume on how we do that."
...
"We've got a great medical staff here. (The players) have got to take responsibility for their health. You're paid on performance, and the best way to perform at your best is obviously by being healthy."

GM Brian Sabean echoed Bochy's thoughts:

Asked about a potential trade for a bat, an agitated Sabean said, "Ask the guys who can't answer the bell every day. Once we find out who is ready to play every day, then we'll have a better answer about what we have internally. ... We need guys on the field, and as usual, we're not getting it."

Dave Roberts has been on the DL since May 10th, while the likes of Ray Durham, Rich Aurilia, and Ryan Klesko have all nursed injuries recently. But honestly Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, did you really think you would get through an entire season without many injuries when your lineup is full of players who were born before the Truman Administration?

Previously at FanHouse:
Armando Benitez Officially Traded, Giants Fans Celebrate

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The White Sox are in a peculiar position; they don't have a bad team, they just happen to be in arguably the best division in baseball. As a result, they're 25-27 on the year, and struggling as the 4th place team in the AL Central. Manager Ozzie Guillen is taking the blame for a lot of the problems, and has said the team isn't ready to give up yet. But if GM Ken Williams decides otherwise, the Giants could be ready to make a deal.

If the White Sox decide to sell, the Giants might be interested. Two of general manager Brian Sabean's top talent evaluators, Paul Turco and Ted Uhlaender, scouted the Sox in Chicago and Toronto last week. Outfielder Jermaine Dye is a free agent after the season and could be on the block.

The Giants are currently last in the NL West, but within a few games of .500. They consider themselves to be a big-market team and certainly need some top-notch players to keep their fans happy. And when you think about it, outside of Barry Bonds, the next big bat for the Giants is Ryan Klesko or Ray Durham. Yeah. I think Jermaine Dye would fit in perfectly.

Previously at FanHouse:
Ozzie Guillen Is Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
Ozzie Guillen Isn't Ready to Give Up Yet

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Yes, you read that correctly. No rabbit's feet, no four-leaf clovers, no midget fans, no rainbows here. When the Giants need a big win, they need to look no farther than Ryan Klesko's pet dog, Gizmo.

Gizmo made her first appearance in the Giants' clubhouse on May 13 in Colorado. In an obvious case of puppy love, various Giants rolled around with her on the floor, played fetch with her and basically had tons of fun. The Giants proceeded to thrash the Rockies, 15-2.

Fast-forward to last Sunday, when the Giants were stinging from losing the first two games of their Interleague series at Oakland. Gizmo was back, skittering among gloves, bats and equipment bags whenever players weren't acting like kids around her.

"We lost two in a row and we weren't looking too good. So I brought her back in just to see," Klesko said. Final score: San Francisco 4, Oakland 1, improving Gizmo's record to 2-0.

Maybe the dog should take some liberties in Barry Bonds' locker, let some of the luck rub off on him. He sure could use it -- and so could we.

Barry's World is the FanHouse's look into the season that is Barry Bonds.

You know something's wrong in San Francisco when it's Ryan Klesko making splash hits into McCovey Cove and not Barry Bonds. You know something's wrong when May 8th was the last time I scrambled to throw up a "Barry's gone deep" post at night. You know something's wrong when I posed the question last week: "When Will Barry Hit Home Run No. 755?" and the guy isn't a step closer. And now it's not a lock that Barry will break the record by the All-Star break.

Barry Bonds has gone 11 games without hitting a home run. In that span, he's gone 5-for-31 (.161) with only one extra-base hit -- a double on May 10th. Barry's slugging percentage has dropped from an eye-popping .805 to a superb .630, and his batting average has sunk from a stellar .338 to a steady .287. And for the first time all year, Barry has not helped his team win games, only driving in one run and scoring three, while watching his team go 4-7 during the homerless streak. So has Barry gotten old overnight? Did he receive a random drug test that threw off his game? Are pitchers dealing with him more carefully? Will he still be able to break the record? Or am I just overreacting to a player who is simply going through a slump like anyone else?

Meanwhile, Mike Sweeney wants Barry to break the record, Lance Berkman thinks the record will be tainted, Frank Robinson says it should be wiped out of the books if Bonds is guilty, and Craig Biggio wants Barry to reach 3,000 hits. That's a tie score by my count. Now all we need is one man to step up and announce his plans for the big day when it comes. Luckily for his sake, he's receiving ample time to continue contemplating.

Previously at FanHouse:
Barry's World
Bud Selig Needs to Make a Bonds Decision, And Soon
Mike Sweeney: Barry Bonds 'Was a Class Act'
Frank Robinson: If Bonds Is Illegal, Wipe it Out of the Books
When Will Barry Hit Home Run No. 755?

A while back on the stellar Padres blog, Gaslamp Ball, they reported that the child actor Emmanuel Lewis, known for his roles as Webster and on The Surreal Life, had a friendly relationship with current Giants player Ryan Klesko. And as they also point out, Lewis' relationship with the Padres has carried over even though Klesko is no longer with the team. I'll let Padres writer Corey Brock take it over from here, via his MLBlog:

Anyway, we're only a few minutes, if that, into Black's postgame discussion when this unusual laugh, one that sounded like high-pitched cackle, like a little kid was being tickled, erupted from the clubhouse.

We keep going, but the laughter only gets worse. At one point, Black begins to wonder -- like the rest of us -- what's going on out there? Now, the San Diego clubhouse is a pretty light-hearted place, but even this was strange. Finally, it was discovered that the culprit was none other than former actor Emmanuel Lewis, he of "Webster" fame.

It got to the point where I could hardly contain myself, it was that funny. I wasn't the only one. Black was laughing and so was Towers.

I finally went out to see what the deal was and there was Lewis, all propped up in the corner of the clubhouse couch, chatting with David Wells and Marcus Giles. Turns out, Lewis lives in the Atlanta area and was at the game.

Judging by Lewis' wikipedia page, he is good friends with Michael Jackson. That being the case, I think the Padres clubhouse is a much safer place to be. Actually, I take that back.

As mjd said about the women's college basketball tournament getting more TV time than the men's tournament, this is "one of the things in the world that truly makes no sense." Ryan Klesko, who last was relevant in baseball discussions pretty much when Otis Nixon was, is the star of the "Ryan Klesko's Adventures" on The Outdoors Channel. Don't ask me how the heck Klesko gets a TV show, but the Contra Costa Times has information about what to expect on the show:

He has hunted turkey in Sonoma County, whitetail deer in Ohio, pheasant in Southern California, mountain sheep in Spain and elk in Oregon. He mixed in some bass fishing in Georgia, deep-sea fishing off the California coast, salmon fishing on the Russian River and abalone diving in Bodega Bay.

That's type of stuff is cool and all, but the best part is Klesko says he used to spend time in the outdoors with his former Braves teammates:

"We'd go fishing, hunting or skeet shooting on off-days," said Klesko, who was often joined by Deion Sanders or Marquis Grissom.

Wow, what I would give to have been part of that hunting group! Are you kidding me? Ryan Klesko, Deion Sanders, and Marquis Grissom?!?! Surely you can't be serious.

If you missed this morning's 6am showing, you can check it out Saturday at 1pm ET.