As baseball fans shift their focus to the postseason, the Giants’ season and players are no longer daily topics of conversation because they aren’t around every day to talk about. That is, except for Mark DeRosa, who’s working as an analyst for MLB Network. Everyone knows DeRosa’s going to have a long career as a baseball announcer or analyst on TV after he retires. But when will that be?
Before it’s too late, I wanted to post a couple videos from Mark DeRosa’s comments after the last game of the season. In this first clip, DeRosa talks about how “grateful” he was that the Giants kept him around. It sounds like he wasn’t sure they’d give him another shot after he re-injured his wrist on a check swing in L.A., saying his “apartment was packed up” as his Minor League rehab assignment came to a close in early August.
DeRosa also spoke about how he’d love to come back, saying of his time in San Francisco, “Two, God, five years ago I almost came out here. And then two years ago I thought it gave me the best opportunity to win a World Series, I really did, with the young arms. I was right.” That’s where I pressed “stop” on the Flip Cam a moment too soon, before DeRosa said something like, “I just wasn’t there” or “they did it without me.”
In the second clip that follows this paragraph, DeRosa really sounds like he’d like to come back. Will he get the chance? Brian Sabean went on KNBR with Ralph Barbieri and Tom Tolbert on Thursday, a few hours after doing the postmortem press conference with Bruce Bochy. While he praised DeRosa’s leadership and the determination he showed in coming back from what looked like a career-ending wrist injury, Sabean also said, “I would expect him to go someplace else.”
DeRosa himself admitted he had limitations throughout the year. He could make contact and throws without any problems, but his power was diminished to the point where hitting a home run was pretty much impossible over the last couple months of the season. No big deal compared to the rest of the offense, but that had to be difficult for a guy who averaged almost 17 home runs per season in the four years before DeRosa came to the Giants.
After getting burned by the health of DeRosa’s wrist, Sabean probably doesn’t want to put himself in that position again, even if DeRosa was only expected to contribute in a utility role. But DeRosa won back the trust of many Giants fans with the way he came back, and with Sabean calling Jeff Keppinger a “luxury item at the price point” you wonder if they might think about bringing DeRosa back for the veteran’s minimum in 2012. Based on Sabean’s comments that probably won’t happen, but it’s a credit to DeRosa after what he’s gone through the last two years that it’s even a viable option. Time will tell if DeRosa will get to play another year, or if this stint on MLB Network will become a permanent career change.
And just because there was a lot of talk about this guy during the season’s last game and in the aftermath of the press conference and my interview with Sergio Romo I neglected to post this video … here’s a guy who dressed up as Buster Posey in full gear, dancing between innings. I already can’t wait until Opening Day 2012 — hopefully the Giants will continue to be as accommodating as they have and allow me to cover the team from the press box and in the clubhouse. Who knows, maybe I’ll make a road trip or two next season.
