SF Giants news: Barry Bonds reaches 300/300 & when will MLB return?

While we wait to hear more news on a possible Yasiel Puig deal, here’s a look at some SF Giants stories from around the internet.

On this day in 1996, Barry Bonds homered twice for the SF Giants to reach the 300 home run, 300 stolen base mark, NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra noted. Only four players have joined the club since.

That combination of power and speed is always fascinating. There have been 62 times, by 40 players, someone has had at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season, including a couple of times by Bobby Bonds. (Barry’s father is another of those players in the 300-300 club.)

A player surpassed 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season only four times, and half of them came in the Bay Area: Jose Canseco first attained the mark in 1988, and Bonds continued his stellar ’96 season to finish at 42-40.

The others were by Alex Rodriguez, in 1998, and Alfonso Soriano in 2006. Matt Kemp (39 home runs, 40 stolen bases) just missed in 2011.

Calcaterra writes one player who missed out fascinates him:

I think the most fun 300-300 fact, though, is that the guy with, in my view anyway, the greatest blend of power and speed of all time isn’t even it: Rickey Henderson stole 1,406 bases but hit “only” 297 home runs. Rickey played for 25 seasons. If only three fly balls in all that time had a couple extra feet on them, Rickey’d be in the club too.

Our sister site, White Cleat Beat, wrote a little more about Henderson’s near-miss on Sunday.

Barry Bonds finished his 22-season career with 762 home runs and 514 stolen bases, giving him both more home runs and more steals than anyone else in the 300-300 club.

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SF Giants infielder Mauricio Dubon is all ears

Entering his second year in the organization Mauricio Dubon is taking the opportunity to dive into the Giants’ franchise, both past and present.

Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area sat down with the infielder to speak on a variety of topics, among them the advice he’s been listening to.

Dubon told the reporter that Barry Bonds has been an influential voice:

“I mean, he’s one of the greatest hitters ever,” Dubon said of Bonds when talking with NBC Sports Bay Area in a recent Zoom call. “Just kind of listen to him. Listen to him, ask questions and just listen.”

A current giant has played a role as well: Buster Posey. Dubon said he has tried to get into the Giants’ catcher’s mindset and how he approaches hitting.

Dubon hit .279 /  .312 / .442 / .754 (99 OPS+) in 109 plate appearances with the Giants last season after coming over from Milwaukee in a trade at the 2019 non-waiver deadline.

McCovey Chronicles adds that if you’re not Dubon fan, either you have no heart “or you’re a Dodgers fan.”

When will baseball be back?

It’s not specifically Giants news, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote about what will need to occur before MLB can return to playing. It’s a fascinating article worth reading.

Passan says that most people do believe the season will be back this year and suspects that we’ll learn more by the end of May. The reason why: money. The reason it could get derailed? money.

Here’s what things might look like though:

Finalize a plan in May. Hash out an agreement with the players by the end of the month or early June. Give players a week to arrive at designated spring training locations. Prepare for three weeks. Start the season in July. Play around an 80- to 100-game season in July, August, September and October. Hold an expanded playoff at warm-weather, neutral sites in November.

As always, the devil is in the details until then.

Your Hunter Pence update

Through 26 games, Hunter Pence’s MLB The Show Giants are … about the same as the real ones will be, we presume. Pence went 10-16 through 26 games. He’s in the bottom third of the league.

ESPN, ESPN 2, and FS1 will televise the playoffs for the league. The top eight finishers from the round-robin regular season will advance.