The McCovey Chroncast

Now that we've reached the end of the minor league season, Roger Munter is here to break down the Giants' 2018 and give us a sense of the system as a whole. For the second consecutive season, the entire organization has been populated by losing teams and underperforming players. Is there hope for 2019? This is a POSITIVE PODCAST! Roger has great things to say about the top of the Giants system and so there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about the near and distant future of our favorite baseball team.  We also answer a couple of Twitter questions.  This is the season finale and next time you hear the podcast, it'll sound different and maybe even have a new host or two. We sought out your feedback for what you'd like to hear in the future and how you'd want us to consider improving the show, but if you missed that initial post, don't hesitate to post your comments down below.  Thanks for listening!

You know the Giants drafted catcher Joey Bart with the #2 overall pick, but was he the absolute right fit for the Giants? And how else did they do with their slightly unconventional selections? Did their draft strategy suggest a new organizational philosophy? All of these questions and more are answered as Bryan and Roger have a one-on-one about the 2018 MLB Draft.

The Padres had been running circles around the Giants and the Braves had been pounding all of baseball with their vaunted youth movement, so it came as a welcome surprise when the Giants left Atlanta with a sweep. We talk all about the standouts from that series and how the new coaches might be helping out with this turn of events. We also make our picks to click and answer your Twitter questions.

For all the rightful attention Pablo Sandoval has received because of his tremendous inning of relief Saturday afternoon, there’s still the small matter of the Giants maintaining relevance in the NL West and their industry as they close out the first month of the season. Without their #1 and #3 starter, despite their #2 starter lost to DL time for a time, their starting left fielder unable to compete and their hot-hitting backup suddenly knocked out with an injury, and a now uncertain future for their prime second baseman, the Giants will end the month around the .500 mark for the first time since 2016. That means we’ve seen a lot of positive results for a team that’s been mired in bad process for nearly two seasons and it certainly suggests that there’s perhaps been a change in the process. Naturally, we’re on the case discussing everything that happened this past week as well as projecting the week ahead. We also make our picks to click and answer your Twitter questions.

Brandon Belt gets a lot of guff because he’s not good all the time when many people think he should be. Well, he was good and more this past week and, so, it’s only fair that we dwell on that Belty goodness and enjoy how everything that happened could’ve only happened to Brandon Belt. But it’s not *just* about Belt, even though this is the Beltcast. Bryan and Sami are awestruck by how well the pitching staff has held up in the absence of Bumgarner and Samardzija. What's going on with Johnny Cueto's changeup? And how does the new coaching staff seem to be impacting Bruce Bochy's decision-making? Also, we explore Sami's ability to pick the right picks to click and we answer some of your Twitter questions. 

The Giants are off to a 6-9 start for the second consecutive season and Brandon Belt has been benched repeatedly for striking out at the wrong time... for the umpteenth consecutive season. Can Doug and Sami convince Bryan that the Giants *won't* change their ways at this point if they haven't shown a willingness to before?

After an eventful first week of the season, Bryan, Doug, and Sami try to figure out just exactly how it all went so well for the Giants. Were the offseason moves enough? Is the bullpen for real? Is Joe Panik reall the most hated man in Los Angeles?  And there's also a lot of talk about Andrew McCutchen's walk-off home run against the Dodgers from Saturday night, because that's exceptional news. The Giants beat the Dodgers on a walk-off home run. Andrew McCutchen instantly became a part of Giants history.

Can the Giants break the boom and bust cycle of their farm system? Roger Munter was at the Spring Training complex in Arizona and got to see up close and personal a lot of the unknown players in the system. Who were the surprises? Were there any letdowns? And who's the secret player Roger thinks has a shot at being secondmost invaluable prospect behind Heliot Ramos? You'll just have to listen to find out.

We’re just 48 hours from baseball cutting loose and letting it all hang out. The excitement of Opening Day is hard to replicate. Here is the Chroncast’s way of priming the pump for what’s sure to be a baseball binge for some of you and a “I can’t wait to watch Ty Blach hit a home run off of Clayton Kershaw” day of preparation for the rest of you. Eric Stephen of True Blue LA talks about how the Dodgers might not have a unanimous rookie of the year on their roster this season and that because of the competitive balance tax won’t have the infuriating level of depth in starting pitching. Will these weaknesses help the Giants stay in the NL West race? Probably not. Roy Thomasson comes over from Gaslamp Ball to describe a Padres team that feels like a complete unknown populated by total strangers to remind us that Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer, and Chase Headley (yes, that Chase Headley) are anything but strangers and that the Padres, while being in a transition year, are still carrying a lot of interesting players who will make the Giants miserable. Again. Jen Mac Ramos chimes in with Diamondbacks notes and how the shift in organizational philosophy helped them get competitive in a hurry, but also warns that their belief in their own quality of talent depth might not match the reality. They also talk about how Tim Lincecum inspired a writing pursuit involving Filipino food. And, Adam Peterson of Purple Row grants us an interview not to gloat about his dead-on predictions concerning last year’s Rockies team but to talk about how this year’s prediction is tougher now that the team and organization have real expectations.   

The Giants' new-look lineup has done well in Spring Training, and now with only a week away from the season starting, it would seem the team has some big decisions to make regarding the roster. Who will be the bench bats? Who will land in the back of the rotation and/or the bullpen? Bryan and Sami put forth their predictions for these fringe spots as well as explore the entire week that was for our favorite baseball team.   

Now that the gang's all here, it's time to look at the sweet, sweet sample size of Spring Training and determine what, if anything, the Giants might have that will make them competitive in the National League this season. We also look back at the offseason that was, not just for the Giants, but for ourselves. It turns out, Sami might be living in a haunted building. You don't want to miss her story on that, because it contains advice on how to deal with a ghost that could save your life... And then award-winning site creator Grant Brisbee returns to regail us with stories of his offseason, tales from the Giants Outsiders booth, and what he thinks about everything the Giants did. He also reveals what's next for him as he transitions from splitting time on McCovey Chronicles to focusing 90%+ of his time on his national baseball writing.  Then we answer your interesting Twitter questions and close with a discussion on the economics of baseball and how the victory of sabermetrics might have actually taken some of the fun out of following the industry. 

The Chroncast returns after a lengthy hiatus within which quite a bit happened to our favorite baseball team and our favorite Giants-related site. You'll notice a new intro and a new sponsor, and also how fantastic our first guest of the new year is. He's MLB Cut4's Michael Clair, and he's here to tell us all about Andrew McCutchen and what we can expect now that he's wearing the orange and black. Suffice it to say, there are some details in this interview that will surprise you and a lot of information about ghosts and ghost stories you would never expect to hear on a baseball podcast. And, of course, Bryan answers your Twitter questions. 

The gang gets back together for one final show in 2017. What's in store for our favorite baseball team? What prospects might actually pan out? We also revisit the NL Manager rankings that Bryan & Doug put together before the start of the season. How well does the list hold up? And, of course, we answer your Twitter questions.

The gang gets back together for one final show in 2017. What's in store for our favorite baseball team? What prospects might actually pan out? We also revisit the NL Manager rankings that Bryan & Doug put together before the start of the season. How well does the list hold up? And, of course, we answer your Twitter questions.

Was Matt Cain taken for granted? Does Hunter Strickland deserve more scrutiny? Was there *anything* good about the 2017 season? Sami toughs out another week with Bryan and together they discuss all things Giants' 2017, but not before doing an emotional deep dive on Matt Cain's legacy.  And then there's a whole rant about Hunter Strickland followed soon after by a ranking of Buster Posey's top baserunning moments.  What were you favorite moments of the 2017 season?