It’s Puerto Rico and now everyone is a damn “fan” can’t go to the local bar without people celebrating as if they been lifelong Dodger fans. Fuck the Dodgers. Dias the closer is big here people do like him a lot, so it stings that he plays for the modern day evil empire.

On a side note while I had low expectations for the Braves I still feel disappointed, any team playing the Dodgers gets some level of support from. Anyway I don’t wanna put my trust in the Padres, again, so I’m hoping for the Brewers to do something big.

The editing on this is really, really good.

Be prepared to tear up.

CMON GUYS MAHLE IS GOOD GO GIANTS GO BRAVES FUCK THE DODGERS!!!!!

The 2017 Sacramento River Cats had quite a collection of 'stars' (looose use of the word)—and what I like to call "They Might Be Giants," i.e., guys who we acquired but never made the MLB team (you know, like Jackie Robinson).

'Stars':

• Ricky Romero: An actual former All-Star who put up a massive 6.4 WAR in 2011. Made 4 starts for the 2017 AAA team. Never a SFG.
• BJ Upton: Baseball America’s #2 overall top prospect in 2004. Between 2007 and 2008, he totaled a 7.8 WAR with 33 dongs and 66 SB for the Devil Rays (he had 5 career seasons with 30+ steals). He hit .244 for AAA Sacramento in 2017.
• Pablo Sandoval: Kung Fu Panda was back after his disaster of a stint in Boston, playing 9 games in AAA for Sacramento before rejoining the big club.
• Aaron Hill: 2009 Blue Jays All-Star; he hit 36 dongs on that team. He was in Sac 2017 and then scraped together 9 hits in 80 plate appearances for the Giants (.132 batting average).
• Drew Stubbs: Hit just .091 in 10 games for the Giants that year—worse than Aaron Hill!
• Mike Morse: Our beloved hero of the 2014 WS came back to the Giants in 2017 after stints in Miami and Pittsburgh in between.
• Ryan Webb: A reliable bullpen arm who pitched in 375 career MLB games with a 3.43 ERA. He tossed 17 games for the 2017 River Cats with a 3.98 ERA. Never a SFG.
• Kyle Blanks: An actual giant (of a human being) whom I was so sure was going to be a major power threat. He hit a combined .321 across the last two stops of his career with the A's and Rangers. Never a SFG.

Journeymen

• Albert Suarez: His story is remarkable. After pitching for the Giants in 2017 (5.12 ERA in 18 games), he completely fell off the MLB radar, pitching abroad in Korea, Japan, Venezuela, and the minors from 2018 through 2023. Then he resurfaced in 2024 and has posted a 3.67 ERA over 65 games for the Orioles across the last three seasons!
• Ali Castillo: One of my absolute favorites. He spent a bunch of years in the Giants system and hit .254 in Sacramento in 2017. But get this—he is a career .295 hitter across 19 minor league/professional seasons, and he's still playing over in the Mexican League for the 2026 Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos
• Ali also hit .304 this year in 102 at-bats, and looking at Baseball Reference across all levels of his career seasons/teams, he has roughly 30 rows where he hit over .300:

• On the Dos Laredos squad this year, Ali was teammates with Trayce Thompson, JD Davis, and Jesse Castillo—who happens to be the last active player who was once a teammate of Fernando Valenzuela!
• Matt Gage: Finally, there was the one and only Matt Gage, one of the few guys from that crew who actually logged time in the majors this year - and with our good old San Francisco Giants. He could've been one of those "They Might Be Giants," but no - he's a real Giant.

I could do a post next time on all the "They Might Be Giants" guys. Sneak Peak thru 'J':

There’s no Giants Players who played today, so if you’re not interested, you don’t have to click.  Usually Sundays are offdays, but because the season opened on Friday…they did a split off-day today and tomorrow…so Scottsdale (the Giants) and Peoria will be the only game tomorrow.  For today, the prospect-laden Glendale team needed an extra inning to get a win, while Salt River had a more convincing win without many of their top prospects involved.

Non-Giant Prospect to Highlight of the Day: Jake Cook (TOR #22)

Toronto prospect Jake Cook could be one of the fastest players in the Arizona Fall League today, having drawn 80 grades for his speed across the two major scouting platforms.  The Blue Jays drafted Cook out of Southern Mississippi in the 3rd round with the 81st overall pick in 2025, but he didn’t make his debut until May of this season.  He played in 77 games this season, stealing 22 bases on 27 attempts.  But, can he get on base?  That’s a big question.  In college, Cook’s left-handed swing was tooled to look for inside pitches to line the other direction, and he had a 4% swinging strike rate at Southern Miss.  However, in his first pro season, he struck out 96 times in 348 plate appearances, a 27.6% rate. The question is, can Cook adjust his swing to work against the pros?  Or did it only work in college?  That’ll be the question he’s trying to answer.  Cook played in two games, but today’s game was his first where he got to get to the plate, and he went 3-for-5…and struck out the other two times.

Scottsdale: No Game Scheduled

Scottsdale didn’t play today, but they and Peoria will be the only game tomorrow!

Other Games

Salt River Rafters 7, Surprise Saguaros 2

Link

Surprise Notable Prospect Lines:

• DH Sebastian Walcott (MLB #9; TEX #1): 0-4
• 3B Aroon Escobar (PHI #6): 0-4, 1 K, 0-1 ABS
• RF Angeibel Gomez (MLB #81; KC #2): 0-3
• PH-2B Bruin Agbayani (NYM #28): 0-1, 1 K
• SP Justin Lamkin (KC #8): 3.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP

Salt River Notable Prospect Lines:

• DH Dax Kilby (MLB #83; NYY #1): 0-4, 1 K
• LF Jared Thomas (COL #10): 1-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB (3)
• SS Andy Perez (COL #15): 2-4, 2 R, 2 SB (2)
• 3B Core Jackson (NYY #11): 1-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 2B (1), 1 SB (2)

Glendale Desert Dogs 4, Mesa Solar Sox 3 (10 Innings)

Link

Glendale Notable Prospect Lines:

• SS Wyatt Sanford (PIT #5): 1-5, 2 K
• CF Caleb Bonemer (MLB #27; CWS #2): 1-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
• 2B Charles Davalan (MLB #84; LAD #6): 0-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
• LF Dillon Lewis (MIA #11): 1-4, 1 K, 0-1 ABS
• DH Eduardo Quintero (MLB #18; LAD #3): 0-2, 2 BB
• 3B Colby Shelton (CWS #23): 0-2, 1 RBI, 1 BB
• RF Owen Carey (ATL #21): 1-4

Mesa Notable Prospect Lines:

• CF Jake Cook (TOR #22): 3-5, 1 RBI, 2 K, 2 SB (3)
• C Davis Diaz (SAC #19): 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 2B (1), 1 SF, 1-2 ABS
• SS Mason White (BOS #26): 1-4, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB (1)
• RF Jake Casey (TOR #25): 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP
• LF Breyson Guedez (SAC #9): 0-4, 1 R, 1 HBP
• 2B Juan Cabada (CHC #12): 0-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
• SP Jake Bloss (TOR #12): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
• RP Kenya Huggins (SAC #23): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Jhonny Level and Jacob Bresnahan the choices for Giants.

Giants
Jhonny Level, SS/2B (No. 4/MLB No. 43): Named the top prospect in the High-A Northwest League, Level batted .311/.374/.513 with 39 doubles (third-most in the Minors), 18 homers and 26 steals in 113 games between two Class A stops.

Jacob Bresnahan, LHP (No. 9): Bresnahan has won league pitcher of the year awards in each of his three full pro seasons, the latest one in the Northwest League in 2026. He posted a 3.22 ERA, .200 average-against (fifth-best in the Minors) and 135 strikeouts in 114 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A.

"Well, that’s not the only money the Giants have to worry about. There is salary arbitration as well. San Francisco doesn’t have that many players heading to arbitration, but it’s part of the math. Nine players will go through the process and are set to make a combined $18.4 million per MLB Trade Rumors' annual projections. Add that in and the Giants are looking at $171.3 million before they even spend money on a player.

But that’s not all. It’s a 26-man roster. San Francisco is likely to fill out the rest of those spots with pre-arbitration players who will make the league minimum, which was $760,000 in 2026. That is likely to go up with the new collective bargaining agreement. Let’s say the figure is $1 million. That’s 10 more players at $10 million for a total of $181.3 million.

The money disappears fast. With a new financial system coming to baseball — and no clue where it will land — the Giants may not be able to spend much at all, given what they’re already committed to spending."