Tag Archives: Aubrey Huff

April 25, 2012

Huff Disabled

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Aubrey Huff goes on the disabled list due to anxiety attack.

Yes, Huff has gone on to have a successful Major League career, but unfortunately has fallen on hard times. He had one of the worst years of his career in 2011, and then at the beginning of 2012, his wife filed for divorce after a fifteen year marriage that produced two sons. As part of the process for moving forward with the divorce, the two parties are engaged in case management conferences, the most recent of which was held on April 11th.

I mention all of this because it was just announced that Huff left his team in New York ahead of Monday afternoon’s double header, not to attend to a family emergency as had been previously reported, but rather to seek treatment for an anxiety attack that the 35 year old had suffered. As a result, Huff has been placed on the 15-day Disabled List.

I’ve seen these attacks up close, and they can be quite scary. I hope Aubrey gets through this okay.

As far as baseball is concerned, I think this will help the Giants. There’s no reason to keep the youngsters on the bench. Let them play, and let’s see if they hit. Brett Pill and Brandon Belt are both doing well when they play.

April 5, 2012

Belt and Pill

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The Giants decided to move Aubrey Huff to the outfield and platoon Brandon Belt and Brett Pill at first base.

Despite Belt’s eye-popping numbers, manager Bruce Bochy said that the 23-year-old will platoon with Brett Pill to open the season—and move Aubrey Huff to the outfield. Despite the fact that Belt hit .348/.412/.522 against lefties last season — albeit, in just 51 plate appearances — the Giants think he needs more work against same-handed pitchers. Belt, however, did show a platoon split in 2010. Pill, on the other hand, has generally been better versus lefties during his time in the minors. When you consider those stats — and the fact that Belt is on the better half of the platoon — the strategy could actually work in the Giants’ favor.

Unfortunately, this strategy also prevents Belt from facing lefties.

There are other consequences to this move, as Huff is a poor outfielder, and a younger, better Nate Schierholtz gets benched. FanGraphs also notes that with a platoon at first, how is Buster Posey supposed to get time at the position?

It’s good the Giants are at least trying to get younger players in the lineup. I just wish they would go whole hog.

January 3, 2012

Huffing and Puffing

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The best shape of his career articles start the new year with Aubrey Huff, who uses Pilates:

Huff’s wife is a Pilates instructor, and before the 2010 season he did it three times a week. His muscles felt better, his back didn’t hurt as much and his general sense of well-being was enhanced. Then, last offseason, “for some stupid reason I didn’t do it again.”

He acknowledged that the short offseason after the World Series played a part in that.

Then, Huff started slowly in 2011.

If you don’t do your Pilates, you’re just one letter removed from ending up with the Pirates. Also, if all the baseball players who trained this way were on one team, would you call them the Pontius Pilates? 🙂

July 3, 2011 June 2, 2011

Huffed and Puffed

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Aubrey Huff blew the house down in St. Louis, hitting three home runs against the Cardinals as the Giants lead 12-7 in the top of the ninth. Huff drove in five runs with the home runs and added another with a single. The big night only raised his slugging percentage to .403, however. It was the 13th time Huff hit multiple home runs in a game, but the first time he hit three. He collect three two homer games for the Giants last season.

Update: The game goes final at 12-7. With the win, the Giants are 4-4 without Buster Posey.

April 4, 2011

Where’s the Defense?

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Aubrey Huff was the culprit Sunday night for the Giants, but it was noted during the Sunday night telecast that poor defense seemed to be the rule the first weekend in baseball. A very simple proxy for defense is BABIP, batting average on ball in play. The formula is (Hits-HR)/(AB-(HR+K)), so it only counts fieldable balls in play. Note that unlike DER, it does not count errors. During the first four full days of the regular season in 2010, the BABIP for the majors came in at .291. So far in 2011, the value is .300. So even not counting errors, defenses are more porous than they were a year ago.

This does make a certain amount of sense. Offense dipped last year that 2010 was referred to as the year of the pitcher. What’s the way to counter that? Better hitters, who may or may not be good defensive players. The Giants move to bring up Brandon Belt and push Aubrey Huff to the outfield is a perfect example of that. They improve their offense, but hurt the defense, especially on nights when both Huff and Pat Burrell are in the outfield. There are trade-offs in baseball, and so far defense seems to be suffering so teams can generate more runs.

December 2, 2010

Huffnpuff

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In case you were wondering, Aubrey Huff is worth more than his stats:

For one, it completely ignores Huff’s vital presence in the clubhouse. He kept things loose, stepped up to offer perspective after spirit-crushing losses, and provided invaluable leadership. None of that stuff shows up in a stat-driven scouting report.

If the Giants overpaid, they didn’t mind at all. Huff was just that valuable to the club’s dynamic, and there was another team involved in the bidding (the Dodgers, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal). More than anything, though, Huff’s season was no fluke. He’s a technically pure hitter with a flat, distinctive, remarkably quick swing that won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

In 2005, Huff’s 2010 would not be a fluke. In 2010, it’s more likely his last hurrah, as four of his last six season were poor. Secondly, if a good clubhouse presence is so important, why not just pay somebody $100,000 a year to be the positive attitude guy? I suspect that there are a lot more people who are good at being funny/friendly/supportive that there are people who can post a 4+ WAR! Somehow, that job doesn’t strike me as being worth a few million dollars.

November 23, 2010

Puffing Up Huff

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The Giants signed Aubrey Huff to a two-year deal worth $22 million. I’m not crazy about the deal. The Giants are paying him for his 2010 performance, but given his history and his age, I don’t think the Giants will get their money back on this contract.

In a way, the Giants are like the gambler who wins a long shot bet, then instead of walking away with the big pay-off, let’s it all ride again. If you view this as part of a three-year deal covering 2010-2012, it’s fine. As a deal simply for the next two season, San Francisco is likely over paying.

October 31, 2010

First Bag Two-Bagger

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Andres Torres hits first base with his batted ball leading off the third. That causes the ball to bounce over Mitch Moreland‘s head for a double. Torres is two for two on the night.

Update: For the second time in a row, Freddy Sanchez hits a ground ball to third, leaving Torres at second. Freddy has worked Tommy Hunter both times, however.

Aubrey Huff makes it not matter with a home run down the rightfield line for a 2-0 Giants lead.

Update: That’s all the Giants get. All the runs scored in the Texas leg of the World Series came on home runs. San Francisco leads Texas 2-0 in the middle of the third inning.

June 16, 2010

Bay Blast

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Aubrey Huff puts a ball in McCovey Cove, and the Giants take a 3-2 lead on the Orioles in the bottom of the sixth. Uribe follows with a deep shot into the leftfield stands to extend that lead to 4-2. Huff’s power dissipated over the last two seasons, but with 11 homers this year he’s now slugging .539.

Tim Lincecum may be coming out of the game after throwing 111 pitches through six, but those two shots puts him in line for a win. He gave up eight hits, walking four, but allowing just two runs as the Orioles did not collect an extra base hit and struck out 10 times against Tim.

January 10, 2010

Huff to the Giants

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Rivera Ave Blues links to a report that the Giants signed Aubrey Huff of play first base. That means Sandoval goes back to third base and Mark DeRosa to the outfield.

It’s not clear that Huff is the big bat the Giants need. He’s another aging player, and he’s coming off a bad year. In his mid-30s, it’s tougher to bounce back.

Plus, it makes the defense a bit weaker. Given that their pitching is the team’s strength, the better defense they put behind them the better.