I’m a Giants fan, and have been for more than twenty years now. This blog arises out of frustration, a frustration known to a lot of Giant fans. Since 1993, the team has been built around Barry Bonds, and since 1997, it has been a team that tried to contend by adding various supporting players, many of dubious skill, around Bonds. After the 2002 season, the end of which I won’t here review, that strategy has proven disastrous, both for the team on the field each year, and for the long-term health of the franchise. It got to the point where the team, in order to save money to be invested in over-the-hill free agents, gave up its right to pick in the annual amateur draft’s first round. I hoped that this was the offseason when that strategy would change, that the team would get younger, and that though there would be a few years of losing records by the big-league club, in the end we would again have a team about which we could be excited. That, of course, is not going to be the case.
I’m not a number-cruncher with an advanced degree in mathematics, but I am one who believes in collecting data and analyzing it before making decisions, so I am clearly closer to the “sabermetric” or performance analysis side of the house rather than the scouting or “tools” side. It frustrates me that the Athletics across the bay get this, while the Giants continue to pay free agents for what they have done, not what they can reasonably expect them to do.
While I’m sure that I’ll be critical of the team and the men in the front office, I’m a friendly critic, who loves the game and the team, and roots for them daily, regardless.
Tools of Ignorance, a Giants Baseball Blog 
April 4, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Hi,
I found your blog after doing a google search for my baseball site: https://www.thetoolsofignorance.com, and I just wanted to compliment you on a good site name and to invite you to check out my site as well.
Tom
April 25, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Hi,
I found your blog after doing a google search for my baseball site: https://www.thetoolsofignorance.com and I just wanted to compliment you on a good site name and to invite you to check out my site as well.
Tom
April 26, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Tom –
I checked out your blog. It looks fun, with lots of interesting stuff. I’ll be a returning visitor. Good luck!
gumbo
May 2, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for the input. I wish that I had more time to do all of the things that I want to do with it. I’ve been checking your site everyday. I’m not a Giants fan but since I am a lifetime Indians fan, I still love Omar. You guys got a great deal there.
Tom
May 31, 2007 at 9:50 pm
You’re quite right, Tom — the Giants are quite fortunate to have savvy, experienced talent like Bonds and Vizquel — beats sufering along with the mediocre youth inflicted on fans in places like KC, Tampa Bay, or Washington.
March 4, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Glad I found this website (the Facebook connection) and that I found someone I knew writing about something near and dear to my heart….baseball. I am a fan of the evil, soul-less, yet to me, utterly magnetic and exciting NY Yankees. But I am a baseball fan, foremost. Grew up as an Expos fan (once they came online in ’69), but have dropped them as they dropped me upon moving south to DC. So I will read your words with interest. (I’ve got some baseball related pics on my Facebook page, as well as an old baseball-related status update longing for the beginnng of the season). Good luck with this. DP
March 5, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Thanks, Debby. Glad you checked this out. I’m resolved to write more regularly this season. Don’t apologize for being a Yankee fan; my sister, who lived in Brooklyn 15 years, is a die-hard fan who bristles at my criticisms of Derek Jeter’s defense.