[lex24]

1702743380[/url]']

1702685664[/url]']

1702685267[/url]']
Not a surprise free agent competition might use the city's recent national rep against the Giants.  Hopefully players who've played here as a visitor have seen and know better.  Hard to beat a good day on the waterfront, a game at Oracle, and a dinner at some of the nearby eateries for player families.  Perceptions matter though so the team and city need a cheerleader.

And that cheerleader very well may be Buster. Because in the rest of his comments he talked about how much he loves the city. After all he picked up his family from his home in Georgia and moved back here. What he essentially was saying, is that the perceptions have hurt. (Zaidi said something similar last year) He wasn’t saying they couldn’t be overcome.

San Francisco obviously has real problems with drugs, homelessness, etc. But so does Los Angeles, Chicago, New York,Philly etc. I actually think the issue is heightened to an extent because San Francisco is  a small  city geographically. Harder to “hide” the issues. 

it also doesn’t help that much of the problem is centered  around the area of what qualifies as a theater district in San Francisco.

As for Oracle itself – I’ve walked many a time down the Embarcadero to the stadium and I’ve never encountered a problem. Not sure what it’s like from the other direction – for example, coming from the train station.

I had a particularly unpleasant encounter with a homeless person just outside of Oracle, and I didn't go back for a while after that. And it is harder for San Francisco to hide their image issues, particularly post-COVID. Over half the restaurants in the city shut down. And in the part of the city that's arguably most visible to visitors, Union Square, there's a retail disaster in the making. The list of stores that have shut down include Abercrombie & Fitch, Anthropologie, Arcteryx, AT&T, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, CB2, Cinemark, Coco Republic, Container Store, Crate & Barrel, Disney Store, DSW/Designer Shoe Warehouse, Gap, Goorin Brothers, H&M, Hilton, Huntington, La Cocina, Marmot, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, Office Depot, Omega, Parc55, Ray Ban, Saks Off Fifth, Uniglo, Yotel.  Those are major brand names, not fly-by-night operations...and that doesn't even include the disintegration of retail drugstores inside city limits. San Francisco is positively screaming that it is a failed city.

Couple that image with the fact that Oracle is a disaster for hitters, and it doesn't surprise me that hitters don't want to come here. Bryce Harper went to Philly, a park where he's always hit well. Ohtani's splits at Dodger Stadium are .357/.457/.679/1.136 -- at Oracle, they are .000/.200/.000/.200. Doesn't surprise me that he didn't want to come here.

How many PAs at Oracle.  4?

So, no hitters want to come.  Fine, get pitchers.  After all, only Yellowstone is a tougher park to hit in.  If you are a pitcher, it’s paradise….

[lex24]

1702743380[/url]']

1702685664[/url]']

1702685267[/url]']
Not a surprise free agent competition might use the city's recent national rep against the Giants.  Hopefully players who've played here as a visitor have seen and know better.  Hard to beat a good day on the waterfront, a game at Oracle, and a dinner at some of the nearby eateries for player families.  Perceptions matter though so the team and city need a cheerleader.

And that cheerleader very well may be Buster. Because in the rest of his comments he talked about how much he loves the city. After all he picked up his family from his home in Georgia and moved back here. What he essentially was saying, is that the perceptions have hurt. (Zaidi said something similar last year) He wasn’t saying they couldn’t be overcome.

San Francisco obviously has real problems with drugs, homelessness, etc. But so does Los Angeles, Chicago, New York,Philly etc. I actually think the issue is heightened to an extent because San Francisco is  a small  city geographically. Harder to “hide” the issues. 

it also doesn’t help that much of the problem is centered  around the area of what qualifies as a theater district in San Francisco.

As for Oracle itself – I’ve walked many a time down the Embarcadero to the stadium and I’ve never encountered a problem. Not sure what it’s like from the other direction – for example, coming from the train station.

I had a particularly unpleasant encounter with a homeless person just outside of Oracle, and I didn't go back for a while after that. And it is harder for San Francisco to hide their image issues, particularly post-COVID. Over half the restaurants in the city shut down. And in the part of the city that's arguably most visible to visitors, Union Square, there's a retail disaster in the making. The list of stores that have shut down include Abercrombie & Fitch, Anthropologie, Arcteryx, AT&T, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, CB2, Cinemark, Coco Republic, Container Store, Crate & Barrel, Disney Store, DSW/Designer Shoe Warehouse, Gap, Goorin Brothers, H&M, Hilton, Huntington, La Cocina, Marmot, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, Office Depot, Omega, Parc55, Ray Ban, Saks Off Fifth, Uniglo, Yotel.  Those are major brand names, not fly-by-night operations...and that doesn't even include the disintegration of retail drugstores inside city limits. San Francisco is positively screaming that it is a failed city.

Couple that image with the fact that Oracle is a disaster for hitters, and it doesn't surprise me that hitters don't want to come here. Bryce Harper went to Philly, a park where he's always hit well. Ohtani's splits at Dodger Stadium are .357/.457/.679/1.136 -- at Oracle, they are .000/.200/.000/.200. Doesn't surprise me that he didn't want to come here.

How many PAs at Oracle.  4?

So, no hitters want to come.  Fine, get pitchers.  After all, only Yellowstone is a tougher park to hit in.  If you are a pitcher, it’s paradise….