We begin Odds & Ends this week with the sad news that Giancarlo Stanton will be member of the New York Yankees after turning down trade offers from both the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Stanton had a no-trade clause in his contract and did not want to go to either club and instead had the Astros,Cubs,Dodgers,and Yankees on his wish list of teams to go to. The latter team was able to snag him in a trade that sent second baseman Starlin Castro and minor leaguers Jose Devers and Jorge Guzman to Miami.

If you’re a Yankee fan,you’re absolutely ecstatic,there’s no denying that. But if you’re a Giants fan like me,you’re either fine with it because of his high price tag or you’re disappointed that he won’t be crushing home runs into McCovey Cove. Count me in as the latter.

I really think Stanton would’ve been great here. He’s shown as an opponent that he can crush the ball at AT&T Park and he would’ve put on a great show and would’ve put the myth that players can’t hit the long ball at AT&T Park to rest. I didn’t care about his huge contract because the Giants have a lot of money and could’ve taken that on.

It makes me wonder why he didn’t want to come here and play with guys like Buster Posey,Brandon Crawford,and Madison Bumgarner. I guess we’ll never know.
So where do the Giants go from here as the winter meetings take place this week? Clearly they need a power hitter,there’s no denying that. If you do,then chances are you’re okay with this club losing 98 games again next season,maybe even more.

It would be neat to have a moose in the Bay. Who’s with me?

Well,for starters J.D. Martinez has been discussed (just like last year) and he would be a great addition to the line-up and fills a need as a clutch power hitter and in left field where there’s long been a hole,though some might say he’s a liability defensively. He hit 45 home runs last season,which is equal to the total that Brandon Belt,Brandon Crawford,and Hunter Pence had combined.

Other names that have been mentioned are Jay Bruce,who hit 36 home runs last season,Mike Moustakas who had 38, and Andrew McCutchen,who had 28. The former two that just got mentioned are the guys they should go after should they not get Martinez. I myself wouldn’t mind having Moustakas come over.

Here’s who they’re more than likely going to sign: Either a guy like Todd Frazier who had 27 home runs last season or Jackie Bradley Jr, who had 17 home runs last year. If I know the Giants like I think I do,they’re more than likely going to puss out and sign Bradley.

They always sign underwhelming guys like him who they don’t need. This team can do a lot better than that. I hope that they do, but if they sign someone who doesn’t hit very many home runs,you heard it here first.

I hate to bring this up,especially since I wrote a column about how much they shouldn’t do this, but is it time to at least entertain the idea to bring in the fences a little bit at AT&T Park?

I know the team has long been against this and I know that fans don’t want this,but it seems to me that a lot of players bypass wanting to come to San Francisco because of the dimensions of the park. It very well could be one of the reasons why Giancarlo Stanton passed on being traded there any why many others in years past have declined to don the orange and black by the Bay.

AT&T Park had the fewest home runs this past season with 118. The next fewest was 152 hit in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park and Fenway Park in Boston with 164.

Some fans have talked about it on Reddit and there is one fan who has an idea to bring right-center field fences in about 15 feet and consolidating the bullpens to the area that would be brought out. I’m not too opposed to that idea if it were ever to happen,although I think the bullpens should be left where they are. Get more seating out there instead.

I don’t see a move like that happening anytime soon because of how unpopular of an idea it is,even if it is at the cost of seeing sluggers continuing to bypass the Giants in favor of other clubs who have ballparks where their numbers might flourish more.

The Houston Texans and the NFL are coming under fire over quarterback Tom Savage not being placed under proper concussion protocol after it looked like he had a seizure on the field in Sunday’s 26-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

It happened during the second quarter after a hit by Elvis Dumervil leveled him to the turf. Even fans in the stands who have little to no medical training could see that something wasn’t right with Savage.

Savage checked into the sideline medical tent but returned to the game after a few minutes for the next series and went three and out with two incompletions.

“We evaluated him. We made the determination — not me, obviously, the evaluators — made the determination to put him back in the game. We put him back in the game, and he came out, and they evaluated him a little bit more just because of what they saw, and that’s where it’s at,” Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said.

He added, “I don’t have anything to do with that. Really, all I do is coach.”

Brian Smith of The Houston Chronicle, under the headline “N.F.L. appears brain dead after letting Tom Savage back into game,” wrote: “You know there’s no way in the world Savage should have been allowed to return to that football game. Only in the N.F.L.”

I agree. Look,what we saw as fans was horrific,especially if that was a seizure. I myself am an epileptic and have had three known seizures in my lifetime. I don’t know how he came back after that if it was one. Honestly he should’ve been in a hospital after that hit,not in a football field. The team and the league need to do a much better job of treating players who get jacked up like Savage did.

Finally this week, I gotta say it, but the Seattle Seahawks are a bunch of sore losers.

In the closing moments of the team’s 30-24 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road Sunday, the Jaguars were in victory formation when Michael Bennett, the Seahawks’ nominee for the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year award, decided to dive into Jaguars center Brandon Linder’s legs. What made it worse a scuffle ensued after the play, Bennett again went after Linder, and rolled into his legs and took him down.

This resulted in personal foul penalties on Bennett and Sheldon Richardson, who was ejected for “throwing a punch.”

On the following play, another scrum broke out, resulting in more shoving and flags being thrown. Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse,they did.
Defensive end Quinton Jefferson was ejected for fighting Jaguars players, and head coach Pete Carroll was also flagged for running on to the field. On his way off the field, though, Jefferson got into a verbal altercation with Jacksonville fans.

Those fans also threw items such as beer at Jefferson,who bolted past stadium security and tried to climb into the stands and fight the fans who threw things at him. He was restrained ultimately and headed to the Seattle locker room.

The Seahawks are no stranger to acting like fools following a loss. In Super Bowl XLIX’s closing moments a fight broke out between them and the Patriots,who won the game on a game-clinching interception of Russell Wilson by Malcolm Butler on the one-yard line of New England.

I get that this is a passionate team who wants to win,that’s not in question. What is in question is the way they have handled losing close games in the past and their level of maturity following them. There was no reason for them to fight Jaguars players in the final seconds of a hard-fought,close game. They won fair and square and did what was expected of them, to beat a good team at home to keep their hopes of a division title alive.

Also,regarding Jefferson trying to get into the stands and beat up someone throwing a beer at him, that’s also uncalled for. Sure,that fan who did and all the other fans who threw items at him should not allowed to come to games for life. That is bad fan behavior. But Jefferson should go into the locker room and take his frustrations out in there.

The Seahawks need to take a lesson in humility. I get that it’s been a far from stellar season,but other teams can see how fragile you are acting that way and could take advantage of it. They already are.

That’s all for me this week in Odds & Ends,we’ll catch you next time!