[Mick]

Matos can play all three. He's just 21, hit well in Richmond, and is tearing the cover off the ball in Sacramento.

The youth movement is real, vibrant and exhilarating, starting with the arrival of Schmitt and Bailey. Winn can pitch, Matos is on his way, Harrison maybe not that far behind. Doval, Sabol and Webb are only 25, 25 and 26. Walker is 27. Giants may be moving from one of the oldest teams to one of the younger (or middle of the pack) teams, especially if they lose Crawford. Slater and Conforto are only 30. Lots of pitchers age 32 or older, the age when Cain, Lincecum and Bumgarner either became ineffective or were done in baseball.

The Giants started 11-17. Their record is 24-15 since then. And attendance is picking up. A running, seven-game home average starts off high with both Dodger games and the openers at 33k, quickly dropped to the 24k range, even as low as 23,987 a month ago, then went to 25k and 26k, then 29k.  Last four running seven game averages are 30k, 31k, 30.6k and 32,400.  Trend is positive, and with the arrival of summer, families can hit up the weekday games. We'll see how well the Padres and Diamondbacks draw.

One other thing...the Giants seem to have an inordinate number of local, or at least Californian players. Crawford is Pleasanton/Foothill HS, Pederson went to Paly, Haniger went to Mitty, Slater went to Stanford, Beck went to Stanford, Cal Stevenson was from Fremont, Scott Alexander went to Cardinal Newman in Santa Rosa, Logan Webb went to Rocklin HS, Kyle Harrison went to De La Salle, Austin Wynns went to Fresno State, Sam Long went to Sac State, Trevor Hildenberger (RiverCats) went to Cal, Schmitt, Nottingham and Sabol are SoCal (San Diego, Redlands HS and USC). 15 players, 12 of whom were NorCal, acquired by the Giants. By chance or by design? Do local products mean more local attendance? I always liked to see Mike Aldrete, Jeff Kent, Randy Winn, Brian Johnson and other local players on Giant rosters.

[Mick]

Matos can play all three. He's just 21, hit well in Richmond, and is tearing the cover off the ball in Sacramento.

The youth movement is real, vibrant and exhilarating, starting with the arrival of Schmitt and Bailey. Winn can pitch, Matos is on his way, Harrison maybe not that far behind. Doval, Sabol and Webb are only 25, 25 and 26. Walker is 27. Giants may be moving from one of the oldest teams to one of the younger (or middle of the pack) teams, especially if they lose Crawford. Slater and Conforto are only 30. Lots of pitchers age 32 or older, the age when Cain, Lincecum and Bumgarner either became ineffective or were done in baseball.

The Giants started 11-17. Their record is 24-15 since then. And attendance is picking up. A running, seven-game home average starts off high with both Dodger games and the openers at 33k, quickly dropped to the 24k range, even as low as 23,987 a month ago, then went to 25k and 26k, then 29k.  Last four running seven game averages are 30k, 31k, 30.6k and 32,400.  Trend is positive, and with the arrival of summer, families can hit up the weekday games. We'll see how well the Padres and Diamondbacks draw.

One other thing...the Giants seem to have an inordinate number of local, or at least Californian players. Crawford is Pleasanton/Foothill HS, Pederson went to Paly, Haniger went to Mitty, Slater went to Stanford, Beck went to Stanford, Cal Stevenson was from Fremont, Scott Alexander went to Cardinal Newman in Santa Rosa, Logan Webb went to Rocklin HS, Kyle Harrison went to De La Salle, Austin Wynns went to Fresno State, Sam Long went to Sac State, Trevor Hildenberger (RiverCats) went to Cal, Schmitt, Nottingham and Sabol are SoCal (San Diego, Redlands HS and USC). 15 players, 12 of whom were NorCal, acquired by the Giants. By chance or by design? Do local products mean more local attendance? I always liked to see Mike Aldrete, Jeff Kent, Randy Winn, Brian Johnson and other local players on Giant rosters.