Giant Podcasting Fun!

Last night I ventured downtown to the Public House at AT&T Park for the taping of the next Torture Cast podcast. I didn’t know it at the time but Ben, Willie and Chad had arranged for the gentlemen of the Giants pod, Dan and Tom, to join them. This was going to be a group session to make a number of predictions about the San Francisco Giants and their chances for the upcoming season. The Torture Cast’s Facebook page mentioned it as an upcoming event, and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to attend.

Before I go any further, I have to mention that the group was graced by the presence of Samantha Land, who was charming and gracious, especially when I peppered her with questions or asked her to read one or two of my posts at Grubby Glove. Sammi, it was a pleasure meeting you, and I look forward to continuing our dialogue in the near future.

Arriving before the podcast gave me a chance to talk to the members of the team, seen here before the taping started. I took this photograph of them warming up in the bullpen. From left to right, we see Ben, Willie, Samantha and Chad. I got a few minutes to ask these Giants fans a number of questions and got some surprising answers, many of which will be featured here in an upcoming post.

Dan and Tom, the Giants pod team, arrived a few minutes after this picture was taken. Some socializing ensued, and a few beers were hoisted. The evening unfolded and somewhere around 9:30 pm the crew settled into a corner in the back of the bar and began taping the program. I had come to witness the event, meet the fellas and in general enjoy a night out with some very sharp Giants fans. Much to my surprise and delight, I was introduced at the opening of the taping and permitted to ask a few questions as well as make a few comments. Thanks, guys, for this unexpected treat.

After the introductions, Willie directed the conversation and a number of topics were discussed, and even dissected. One of the main topics of discussion was Matt Cain, the durable right handed pitcher whose contract expires at the end of the season. The group consensus was that the team should make every effort to sign him to a long-term contract, if the price is right. In this cast, “right” seemed to be somewhere in the vicinity of 5 years for no more than $110 to $115 million. In and of itself, that seems about right, but it wasn’t long before the concerns about the team’s payroll surfaced. If the Cain signing occurs, however, and the fellas got the price correct, the Giants will have three $20+ million dollar pitchers (Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Cain) on their hands next season. That’s a lot of money.

Here we see the crew in a lighter moment. That’s Tom to the right of center and Dan on the far right. It was about this time that a topic that got the full treatment was introduced. Everyone was asked to name the one player from another team, regardless of his contract situation and salary, that they most wanted to have on the Giants. Tom went first and immediately said what for me were the magic words of the night, Andrew McCutchen. The multi-talented center fielder was Chad’s choice as well. I don’t want to give away all of the answers, because that would take away from the fun of listening to the podcast. I will say that three other players were named. The fact that four players were named highlights the differences in each man’s take on the team’s greatest need.

And so it went. Soon it would be closing time,which was too bad, because this the crew could have easily gone on much longer. The evening was filled with moments of disagreement, and more than a few moments of harmony. Here we see one of them.

Willie brought the taping to a conclusion, which more or less signaled the end of the evening for me. I had a great time and want to thank Samantha and the gentlemen of the Torture Cast and the Giants pod for welcoming me. I had a great time, gang. Go Giants!

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The Torture Cast can be found here: http://torturecast.com/.

Giants pod can be found here: http://giantspod.net/.

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Did you know you can now like “Grubby Glove – All Things Baseball” on Facebook? If you do so, please mention your favorite team and player and I will feature him in an upcoming post. The page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/grubbyglove.

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