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Offseason Starting Quietly

2009-11-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

Although the Major League Baseball off-season isn't quite a full-month old yet, I'm pretty surprised at how quiet things have been. As far as the Giants are concerned, the only news to come from them in recent weeks, besides Tim Lincecum winning his second consecutive Cy Young award, has been Brian Sabean hinting that they'll steer clear of the top offensive free-agents, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay, this offseason.

Now, this shouldn't come as a surprise to Giants fans, the team hasn't added a big time offensive player in decades, but for a team that has a need for offensive as much as the Giants do, I am a little surprised that Brian Sabean is already dismissing the idea of pursuing either of them. I made a post here a couple weeks back comparing Jason Bay and Matt Holliday here, so I'm not going to be comparing them as players today, but I'm just not sure what the Giants are waiting for in terms of building their offense? One bat like Holiday's or Bay's would certainly give this team an offensive boost, maybe even make them the favorites in their division. They have such a good pitching staff, that even a league average offense would probably be good enough to keep this team atop the NL West. Now, I understand that Bay and Holliday are far and away the best offensive players in this free agent market, and whoever gets them will wind up spending some serious dough, but that doesn't mean the Giants should completely remove them from their plans.

The Giants pitching staff is on the rise and is one the best in baseball, but they're not going to have Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Jonathon Sanchez, Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt ect... all together forever. When these guys become free-agents, they're not going to want to stick around if the Giants are still hovering around .500 and struggling to score runs. At some point they're going to have to figure out whether they'll need to deal from within or use free agency in order to get some offense, cause they're going to need it. I'm not talking about dealing for a Ryan Garko or Freddy Sanchez, I'm talking about making a play for a Prince Fielder or Adrian Gonzalez. They need someone who will come in and anchor their offense, much like Barry Bonds did during his 16 year stay in San Francisco. I think Matt Holliday is that type of player and could impact the team in a way that Gonzalez or Fielder could. Is he the best player in baseball? No, he's probably not even in the top-15, but he's a legit middle of the order hitter who is going to be good for a while, and he would allow the Giants to hold onto Cain, Bumgarner and Wilson.

Lincecum Wins Consecutive CY Young Awards

2009-11-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Tim Lincecum has done something that no other Giants pitcher in history has done, win two consecutive Cy Young Awards. In fact, the only two NL pitchers to ever win the award in consecutive seasons were Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax.

It was definitely a close call though, and by no means did the 25 year-old ace run away with the award. Adam Wainright, who led the NL in wins with 19 and innings pitched with 233, received 12 first-place votes, one more than Lincecum's 11. However, Lincecum received more second place votes and more total points. Chris Carpentar finished second in the voting with Wainright coming in third. Atlanta's Javier Vazquez and Arizona's Dan Haren also received votes. Lincecum only finished the year with 15 wins, but his 261 strikeouts, 1.05 WHIP and his .206 BAA made up for the lower win total. The lanky one who most call "The Freak", but I call "The Franchise", struggled a bit down the stretch and went just 1-3 with a 3.60 era in September. I thought at the time that his slow finish may hurt his chances for the award, but he did enough in the first half of the year (10-2, 2.33 era before all-star break) to allow some sputtering towards the end. The scary part about this kid is that he's still getting better and better and probably a couple of years away from his peak.

I think all Giants fans knew there was something special about this kid when he first started dominating in the minors after the Giants drafted him, but I don't think anyone could have predicted 2 Cy Young awards within his first 2 full-seasons at the major league level. The future of the Giants pitching staff is about as bright as it can be at this point. Matt Cain didn't get any Cy Young consideration this year, but I really think this is the year the Cain broke out and realized that he could be a dominant pitcher in this league. He's been well above league average over the last couple of seasons, and has never been an easy assignment for opposing batters, but this year he seemed to really learn more how to pitch rather than trying to just throw the ball by every batter. Between Cain and Lincecum, the Giants have a duo of right-handed power arms that should contend for Cy Young award for the next 10 seasons. They'll also soon be joined by a left-handed phenom as well, as Madison Bumgarner could do in 2010 what Linceucm did in 2007 (become a full-time member of the rotation by May-June). And these 3 guys could form the best young rotation in all of baseball.

Giants Showing Interest in Uggla, Damon

2009-11-15T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks since the start of free agency filing, and the Giants apparently are wasting no time making contact with potential help for their ball-club. The team is apparently interested in free agent Johnny Damon, and have had talks with the Marlins about a potential Dan Uggla trade.

The Giants have been interested in Uggla, it seems, for the better part of the last two years. The Marlins are always looking for ways to cut payroll if they can, and Uggla is entering the expensive phase of his career. He's got 2 more years of arbitration left and then will be a free agent after the 2011 season. The Giants desperately want and need his power, but they'd need to do some shifting in the infield if they were indeed going to make a major play for Uggla. Yahoo Sports reported yesterday that Uggla doesn't want to change positions if he's dealt, which means the Giants would have to move Freddy Sanchez to the hot-corner, while placing Pablo Sandoval over at first full-time. Although, I would have my questions about how that infield set-up would play defensively. Uggla isn't a very mobile second basemen, and Edgar Renteria is declining quickly, so they'd lack range up the middle. I think Sanchez would be OK at third base, he's played there for long stretches of time at few different points in his career and handled it well. I also think Sandoval would be a fine first basemen full-time, although he doesn't have ideal size for the position. I also wonder what the Marlins would want for Uggla. I think the Giants may be able to start a package around Jonathan Sanchez, but the Marlins would probably want a young positional prospect as well, possibly Emmanuel Burris. We'll definitely keep our eye on the Giants/Marlins discussions over the next few weeks to see if anything becomes serious.

On the Johnny Damon front, I haven't seen too much out there that links him to San Francisco, but KNBR did report over the week that the Giants have interest and plan to speak with Damon's agent. The Damon report kind of had me scratching my head a little bit. I don't know why the Giants would want to spend big dollars on a 36 year-old outfielder who hits left-handed and doesn't posses the type of power they're seeking. Don't get me wrong, Damon is a fine player, and would definitely help any team that he lands on, but if this Giants team is planning on spending big money on an outfielder, why not just go all the way and get Matt Holliday? So take the Damon rumor with a grain of salt, because I'm hoping Sabean won't continue to make the same mistakes. In this free agent market, the only outfielder the Giants should be considering giving multi-years to is Matt Holliday. Jason Bay was really struggling for Pittsburgh before being dealt to Boston, and I just don't think he'd be a good fit back in the NL in the spacious AT&T Park. Holliday knows this division all to well, and no, I don't think a dropped line drive in the NLCS vs. the Dodgers last month should detour the Giants from pursuing the .318 lifetime hitter who's averaged 30 homers and 110 RBI over the last 4 seasons and hasn't even had his 30th birthday yet.

Note: Angel Villalona has had his US Visa taken away by Domincan Republic officials and won't be allowed to join the Giants even if he does avoid prison. This situation continues to look worse and worse for the 19 year-old, but we'll keep an eye on it and relay any new info as it comes.

Off-field Issues Surround Giants

2009-11-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Giants organization has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it's not the kind of news that you hope for. I'm sure most Giants fans are aware of the trouble that "The Franchise" got into a couple of weeks back after being caught with an illegal substance, as well as the tragic news out of the Dominican that involves Giants' elite 19 year-old infield prospect, Angel Villalona.

Now, these two issues are drastically different and on completely different levels, but both seem to be making news each day over the past week or so. The Lincecum news isn't something that is going to get him into any kind of legal trouble, or get him any suspensions from the MLB or the Giants, but it is something that will likely follow him wherever he goes in the immediate future. I'm not in anyway comparing steroid use to marijuana smoking, but I'm expecting the same type treatment from road fans towards Linceucm as Barry Bonds got after the steroid scandal. Obviously not to the extent Bonds got, as Lincecum is generally well-liked in opposing cities, but you'll definitely be seeing some signs and hearing some rants, and he's going to have to keep focused. I can't wait to see what the fans at Dodger Stadium, or in New York have to say to Timmy once he takes the mound in there yards. Again, this is not something that is going to hurt Lincecum's status as an elite pitcher or anything like that, but I guarantee you that this is going to be something that won't go away as quickly as I'm sure he's hoping.

As far as the Villalona case goes, things are starting to pick-up in the investigation and it's not looking pretty for the 19 year-old. Andrew Baggarly reported yesterday that two new witnesses have come forward and are set to testify against Villalona, the main suspect in a homicide in Santo Domingo in September. However, Villalona apparently has reached an agreement with the victims family in which Villalona will pay them 150,000 to drop charges. Even if they do drop the charges though, Villalona is still facing trial and the possibility or 20 years in prison if convicted. This situation really cannot end up well for the Giants no matter what happens in the case. If Villalona is found guilty, his professional baseball career will be finished and he'll be incarcerated until he's 40. However, if he's found not guilty and avoids prison, then what do the Giants do with him? I'd hate to speculate on a case I know very little about and accuse Villalona, but how on earth do you employ someone in his situation if he does manage to get off? I guess only time will tell, but my feeling is that Angel Villalona's career has ended before it really got a chance to start, and it's such an unfortunate situation in all aspects.

AFL Stuff: The Arizona Fall League has been going now for a few weeks and the Giants have a few prominent youngsters getting some action in. SS Brandon Crawford, OF Thomas Neal, C Buster Posey, as well as pitchers Joe Martinez, Daniel Turpin and Scott Edlefson are all playing for the Scottsdalle Scorpions. Neal and Crawford are both having respectable offensive showings. The 22 year-old Neal, who tore up the California League for San Jose in '09 with a .337 avg, 22 HR/90 RBI season, is hitting .288 with a homer and 7 RBI and leads the team with 8 stolen bases for the Scorpions. His play over this year has put him on the map as one of the Giants' top outfield prospects. Crawford, who had a terrefic start in A and a solid finish in AA in '09, is hitting .309 with a .845 OPS with a home run and is second on the team in runs scored and walks. Both of those guys have played much better than Buster Posey, who's hitting just .224 with 2 homers and 8 RBI in 15 games. On the mound, Joe Martinez has looked pretty good, sporting a 1-0 record with a 4.32 era and 17 k's in 16 2/3 innings spread over 5 starts.

Giants Still Need Infield Help

2009-11-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010.

I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in the lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indicate. However, I really can't say I'm too upset with the terms of his new deal. I think Sabean did the best he could given the situation in this case. Sanchez has shown that he's capable of hitting .300 if he stays healthy, and I think his gap power could translate into dozens and dozens of doubles for the second basemen here at the spacious AT&T Park. So, to sum this situation up in a sentence; I wasn't looking forward to having Sanchez back at 8.5 mill in 2010, but having him around at 6 mill is much more reasonable and in line with his value, and it also gives the Giants an extra couple of mill to use on more infield help.

With Sanchez (2b), Renteria (SS) and Sandoval (1B-3B) all penciled in for starting spots in the Giants infield, it would appear that their is still one opening in which the Giants may be able to store that big bat they so desperately need. Travis Ishikawa and Ryan Garko will be the returning options if the Giants fail to upgrade in that department, and they also have potential free-agent Juan Uribe who they appear to have sincere interest in keeping. I was stoked on the performance that Uribe gave the Giants last year, playing for the ML minimum, but being truly honest, I don't think he's an everyday player, and I'd hate to see Sabean give him something like a 2-year, 10 million dollar deal with the belief that he can be. I want Uribe back on this team next year, just not as a guaranteed starter, and I can't help but think that there are going to be other teams out there that are going to want Uribe's services after the year he put up for the Giants in '09, and I certainly wouldn't get into any kind of bidding war if that's the case. Uribe is especially valuable to the Giants because of his ability to play shortstop, where Edgar Renteria may need a caddy throughout the year.

Yankees Win World Series: The New York Yankees reeled in their 27th World Championship on Wednesday night, defeating the Philidelphia Phillies and Pedro Martinez to clinch the Series in 6 games. The Yanks' starting pitching was the superior of the two, and the Yankees were only using a 3-man rotation. What was really surprising to me though, was how well the Yanks bullpen threw. I think the pen was key for them in this series as they really held the potent Phills lineup in check. Offensively, everyone knew the Yankees would score enough runs, and they certainly did. Series MVP Hideki Matsui sported a ridiculous .625 batting average with 3 home runs and 8 RBI in the 6 game set. Mr. November, Derek Jeter, continued his November brialliance, hitting .407 with 6 runs scored and led both teams with 6 hits in November. The Yankees were definitely the best team in this postseason and as much as it pains me to say it, they certainly deserved to win this thing.

Trading Rowand Might Be An Option

2009-10-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

MLBTradeRumors.com posted and interesting piece today regarding the different players around baseball that are being vastly overpaid. After looking at the list, it makes me feel a little bit better about the Rowand, Renteria and Zito contract disasters, and it also got me thinking of how to possibly get one of these guys, most likely Rowand, off the Giants hands.

Now, this is mostly just speculation on my part, and since there really hasn't been anything to report on for the Giants over the last 2 weeks, I figured why not start some trade speculation. If the Giants have any hope of getting some of the dead weight like Aaron Rowand or Edgar Renteria off their roster, it would likely be in a deal in which they'd have to bring back some other teams' overpaid player in what basically amounts to a swap of bad contracts. Right away, when looking at the list of baseballs most overpaid players, the one name that I was surprised to see on there was Alex Rios. The 28 year-old outfielder was the guy that Brian Sabean and co. were considering dealing away either Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain for in the winter of 2007, but eventually passed. Rios went over to Chicago after the deadline this season, and played terribly. He hit just .199 with 3 home runs, 9 RBI and 26 k's in 146 at-bats with Chicago. The White Sox are also the team that brought up Aaron Rowand, and were supposedly interested in him when he was a free agent 2 years ago before the Giants swooped him up. Rios is due to earn 60 million over the next 5 seasons and Rowand is on the hook for 3 more years and $36 million. I also look at the White Sox need for second base while the Giants have Freddy Sanchez for another year, and I think he's expendable to them.

I have no idea if the White Sox would still have interest in Rowand after his 2 sub-par years in San Francisco though, and I'm not sure they're looking to trade Rios so soon after acquiring him as they may want to give him a full year in Chicago before assessing his performance. I just think that a Rowand and Sanchez for Rios deal would make some sense for both parties. The Sox would get a veteran center-fielder who they're familiar with and who's had success in Chicago in the past while also saving themselves upwards of 25 million dollars. They'd also get a second basemen who's been an all-star and a .300 hitter for much of his career in Freddy Sanchez. The Giants, I'm sure, would like to get Rios because they still see the upside he has and a move to a new league could be a nice change for him. In a way, he's almost seemed to digress over the last couple of seasons and I can't help but think that a move to a new league would give him a fresh start. I also look back to the summer of 2007 when Rios player here with the AL all-star team and put on a ridiculous showing in the home derby, repeatably hitting balls deep into the left field bleachers and up near the giant coke bottle that sits 505 feet away from home plate at AT&T Park. Again, this probably won't even be discusses between the two teams, but if they did, they'd probably see a little bit of logic in that deal.

WORLD SERIES: Major League Baseball's Fall Classic takes kicks off tonight, with CC Sabathia squaring off with former mentor, Cliff Lee. I'm always stoked to watch the World Series, regardless of the match-up, but I really think the Phills and Yanks are about to give the world one heckuva battle. Both of these teams have the big offense, and both have their pitching staffs working at close to full health. I just really like the momentum that the Yankees have going for them right now, and I think they'll end up being too much to handle for the reigning world champs. The Yankees are running a 3-man rotation with Sabathia, Burnett and Pettite, who are all throwing very well in this postseason. I think Sabathia and Pettite could pose match-up issues vs. the Phills trio of Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley which could give them the slight edge in an otherwise tightly matched world series. I'm a National League guy, so naturally I'll be pulling for the Phillies here, but if I were to bet, I'd say the Yanks take it in 7.

Sanchez and Garko Must Be Better In '10

2009-10-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

The majority of the Giants' fan-core have been very open about there displeasure for Brian Sabean's trades from this last summer. Sabean sent two of the teams top-5 pitching prospects (#2 Tim Alderson and #5 Scott Barnes) away in separate trades for Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko, and their first 2 months in the orange and black couldn't have gone much worse for them.

For Freddy Sanchez, it was a problem for him to stay on the field. He played in just 25 of the 67 games that took place while he was on the Giants roster, and when he did play, he clearly was affected by his back. His numbers took a big time plummet after the trade, but I think it's more so the injury issues with Sanchez that have people frustrated. He's a good hitter when he's on and healthy, but he just couldn't stay on the field after coming over from Pittsburgh. He sported just a .295 OBP and a .619 OPS while with the Giants, and wasn't much of a run producer either, hitting just 1 homer, driving in 7 and scoring only 11 runs while hitting at the top of the Giants lineup. When taking a look at his career, if you take away 2006 and 2007's career years for Sanchez, he's really been mediocre. The Giants dealt for him based on his 2009 performance at that point, and I think Sabean felt comfortable dealing Alderson because he knew Sanchez wouldn't just be a rent-a-player. Because of that, I don't think the Giants will seriously consider declining their $8.5 million option on him. Since that's the case, all we can do is hope he gets right next year and hits over .300 with 40+ doubles and 75+ RBI, cause he's being paid to put up those kinds of numbers, and hopefully still has that potential.

Garko's a different story. Sure his failure in the NL can be partly attributed to learning the new league, but his performance in SF was borderline disastrous and only seemed to get worse as the season wore on. So bad in fact, that Bruce Bochy went back to Travis Ishikawa, the guy Garko was supposed to take over for, for much of the final month of the year when the Giants were making their run at that Wild Card. Garko also made some pretty ugly mistakes in the field too. If you take away one big game in Colorado in which he hit 2 hr's and drove in 4 runs, his numbers would be as follows: .235 avg, 0 hr, 8 RBI, .299 OBP and a .597 OPS in his 40 games with the Giants. Pretty disappointing that the only 2 home runs the so-called power-hitting first basemen hit in 40 games with his new team came in the most offensive friendly yard in baseball. I'm not trying to rip these guys apart, just stating the facts as to how their time in a Giants uniform went last season. These guys were dealt for to help the Giants with their pursuit of a playoff birth and they did nothing to help that cause. All this being said, these guys are Giants now and will be next season, so all we can do is hope they can turn things around, cause they have the potential too. Garko has 25 hr, 90 RBI potential, even as a platooner as he showed in Cleveland. He can be a valuable player, and the Giants are going to need to see that out of him next year.

Performance Review: Sabean and Bochy

2009-10-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

With so many people expressing mixed emotions about the Bochy/Sabean extensions over the past couple of weeks, I wanted to take a little bit more of an in-depth look at what these two have done here during their time in San Francisco.

It's no secret that Sabean has made big time mistakes over the past couple of years through free-agency. He signed Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito to multi-year deals that will ultimately pay the two under-achievers nearly 200 million dollars before their time in San Francisco is up. Then capped it off by guaranteeing a aging, injury prone under-achieving Edgar Renteria nearly $20 million for 2 years. Even since he took over reigns of the Giants in the mid-90's, free agency hasn't been too kind to Sabean and that's not how he's put his good teams together. Sure, he did get Juan Uribe for peanuts and Jeremy Affeldt on a great deal last off-season, but come on, every time this guy shells out multi-year, big dollar contracts, he flat out misses. If you look back through the years that Sabean has been pulling the strings for this team, all his big acquisitions that have paid off have come via trade (Jason Schmidt, Jeff Kent, Ellis Burks, Livan Hernandez, Kenny Lofton, Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez, Rob Nen, Randy Winn ect..). Now, a lot of those guys he ended up re-signing after he acquired them, and a few of them really paid off in that way (Jason Schmidt, Jeff Kent, Ellis Burks, Rob Nen) but those guys don't count as true free agent acquisitions since they were already with the team. So, Sabean's track record has clearly indicated that he's been much better on the trade market than he is in free agency.

However, ever since 2003, his trades have really turned into crap shots. The one player acquired after 2003 that I can think of as having an impact with the Giants for multiple seasons is Randy Winn. Other than that, all that comes to mind are Shea Hillenbrand, Sidney Ponson, Ryan Garko, Freddy Sanchez, dealing away Russ Ortiz after 2002 and getting nothing in return, and of course, the dreaded AJ Pierzynski deal. So, Sabean's had a bad track record in free-agency throughout his career, and now all the sudden he's striking out in the trade market that he used to be so good with? So why did the Giants extend him you ask? I think it's largely in part because of what he's done in the last couple of drafts. He's really rebuilt the farm system, although they still lack a bunch of offensive talent. He pulled the trigger on the small, unorthodox Tim Lincecum when other GM's where skeptical and I think that one pick is what ultimately has Sabean still running the team. Take away Timmy, and the Giants are very ordinary. Now Sabean has another tough task in locking up Lincecum for the long-term as he hits arbitration this winter.

I can't say as much about Bochy, because he's only been here 3 seasons, and in two of those seasons he really didn't have anything to work with on the field. What I've seen from him though, hasn't been bad, but certainly not great. For starters, I really do like the way he uses his pitching staff. It seems like everyone gets enough work in the pen, but they don't get overworked. He lets his starters' performance dictate how long they go in a game, and doesn't rely so much on a pitch count like Felipe Alou did. Now, that said, he does have some tendencies that I'd like to see changed. I don't like his stubbornness with the lineup. He insisted to hit Bengie Molina cleanup over the second half of last season at a time when Bengie was a guy who was weighing down the lineup in multiple ways. And like his predecessors, Felipe Alou and Dusty Baker, he definitely seems to feel much more confident in playing the veteran ballplayer. I can think of numerous games when Nate Schierholtz was hot in which he insisted on playing a struggling Randy Winn over the youngster. I'm just not sure this is a guy you want leading a young up and coming team. He's a little laid back, kind of suited to run a veteran ball club, and they might need some more energy from that spot. So yes, like with the GM spot, it would have made a lot of sense to get a younger person in there with new energy and philosophy, but at the same time, Boch did well with what he had in '09 and it would have been tough to fire him after that year.

If worst comes to worst, and Sabean fails to address their obvious needs this Winter and the team comes out and struggles under Bochy next summer, I wouldn't put it past the "Bowtie" to eat the final year of their deals and cut them loose.

Bochy, Sabean Sign Extensions

2009-10-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

Though it wasn't official at the time, it was made pretty apparent in the Giants' postseason press conference last week that both manager Bruce Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean would be returning to the team for the 2010 season. On Tuesday, it became official, as both signed 2 year extensions with the Giants, with a club option for 2012 on both.

I'm still not too thrilled with the fact that both of these guys are going to stick around for another couple of seasons, but the deals are done, and I'm not going to sit here and magnify the mistakes these guys have made over the last couple of years. Sabean has been hit-or-miss in the free agent market over the past 5 years, with most of his moves coming up as misses. The area in which he has succeeded in though, is rebuilding this teams farm system. The organization, from top to bottom, is in much better shape now than it's been at any point this decade, and I think that is what ultimately got him his extension. The Giants are giving him two more seasons to see if he can finish off what he's started building here over the last few drafts, but if the Giants can't make the postseason in the next two years, I'd say Sabeans' run will finally come to an end. Bochy also will be here through 2011 with Sabean, and although I see the logic in bringing him back, I've not been too impressed with Boch in his time here running the team. That said, he did get his bunch to overachieve mightily this year, and the Giants' brass likely feels that he's the guy that's going to lead them back to the postseason. I just wasn't a fan of the way Boch filled out his lineup card on a nightly basis, such as the continues use of Bengie Molina in the cleanup spot, even when he was clearly struggling and hurting the team in that spot. On a positive side though, I do like how he'll play guys who are playing well, like playing Juan Uribe over Ryan Garko on most nights when Uribe was roping the ball and Garko was struggling. I'm really going to be interested to see how the Bochy/Sabean tandem pans out in 2010, as both will have expectations for the first time in a few years.

Sabean's going to have an interesting agenda this winter, as he'll try and add offense to the team without disrupting their great chemistry they have amongst their pitching staff. This team was really a hitter or two away from being a legit contender, and Sabean will be hard at work trying to find those bats this offseason. I just really hope he doesn't overpay, whether it be via a trade or free agency. The whole baseball world is aware of the Giants strengths and weaknesses, and teams know they're going to be in search of offense. The Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins wrote a piece last week in which he listed a few potential trade options for the Giants this winter, but none of the potential game changing, middle of the order bats the Giants need could likely be had without subtracting from their pitching staff. The one guy who's seemingly been mentioned every year over the last few seasons as a potential trade chip is Jonathan Sanchez. The 26 year-old lefty is coming off his best season as a pro (including a no-hit performance in July) and really started reaching his potential this year. He's the one guy I'd deem expendable in the right situation, since they have Madison Bumgarner so close to being ready to take a spot in the Giants rotation.

Trade Target? One name from Jenkins article that I would really like to see the Giants pursue if possible is B.J. Upton. I'm fairly certain that he'd cost the Giants more than just Jonathan Sanchez, but he's the type of guy I'd consider putting together a nice package for, especially since he's coming off a sub-par year and his trade value could be at an all-time low. Apparantly the Rays are really focused on signing Carl Crawford to an extension, and they have 22 year-old top prospect Desmond Jennings (.320, 11 HR, 62 RBI, 52 SB in AA and AAA in '09), ready to start his big league career. The Rays are not likely actively seeking to deal Upton, but I'm sure he could be had in for the right deal.

Giants Offseason Begins Now

2009-10-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Major League Baseball offseason doesn't officially start until the end of the World Series, when free-agents can file and trades can be made. However, for the Giants and GM Brian Sabean, the offseason planning should start now.

Even after a year in which they overachieved, the Giants have a bunch of question marks heading into the winter. In our last post, I put a bow on the Giants season and talked about some positive things they have to look forward to in 2010 (Pablo Sandoval, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson etc..) but they still have a bunch of things they need to figure out in house, and they only will have a couple of weeks to do so before all the baseball world enters the off-season mode.

The major questions for the Giants will be what to do with their impending free-agents, and they certainly have a couple of key ones. The two guys who have been tenured here the longest, Bengie Molina and Randy Winn, will both be free agents in a couple of weeks, and I'd say chances are that neither will return. It's pretty clear that Winn will be finding a new home, as he struggled through 2009 with minimal power and without his usual steady average and base stealing abilities, but Molina will poses a tough situation. I think the Giants want him around for another season, to help Buster Posey with his transition to the big leagues and to keep him with these young starters who he's worked so well with over the years. However, Molina will be one of the most sought-after catchers in a very thin free-agent market and will most assuredly get bigger dollars and more years from other interested teams. Based on what Buster Posey showed in his brief stint in September here, he still has a little ways to go before he can be counted on as an everyday guy, so if Molina does depart, Sabean will need to find another veteran presence who can share and possibly shoulder the load should Posey deem un-ready.

It's not just the catching position that is unclear for the Giants in 2010 though, as they sit right now, they have openings in right field, left field, the corner infield spot that Pablo Sandoval doesn't end up at, and quite possibly second base. Unfortunately the Giants will be paying Edgar Renteria to play everyday at short next year otherwise they could use an upgrade there as well. Judging by Sabean's words in his postseason press conference, it appears as if the Giants are planning to have Freddy Sanchez back in 2010, even though he's going to cost upwards of 10 million dollars and sorely (no pun intended) disappointed in his brief stint here this summer. The real tough questions with this team though lie in the outfield, where Sabean will need to fill 2 spots. The Giants don't have any outfielders in the system who are remotely close to contributing at the big league level, so unless they plan on rolling with Schierholtz and Velez as their corner outfielders, there will be some movement there.

It's going to be another month or more before moves start to be made, sure, but that doesn't mean that the Giants should be sitting on their hands waiting for things to happen. They need to figure out how they're going to address all the questions above, and hopefully by the time November roles around, they'll have their plan in place.

Giants End Season On High Note

2009-10-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

The Giants ended their 2009 season on Sunday, going out with a victory in San Diego, capping off what was a very surprising and successful year for the organization.

Pablo Sandoval also put a nice final touch on his season, as he hit the game-winning solo home run in the 10th inning to put the Giants on top for good. Then Brian Wilson came on to shut the door on the Pads for his 38th save of the year. It was really a fitting way for "Big Panda" to finish off his year with that home run, as he really emerged as the Giants' team MVP in 2009. He showed a glimpse of what he could do at the end of the 2008 season, and didn't disappoint in the slightest in 2009. Sandoval's final line for the '09 season looks pretty darn good: .330 avg, 25 HR, 90 RBI, .943 OPS, and I think he's just starting to tap into the potential that he has. It took him a little while to get his power bat going too, as he only hit 3 home runs over the first two months of the season, so he's definitely got some room for improvement. What really surprised me throughout his season, was the improvement he showed in his plate discipline. It's no secret that he's more of a free swinger than your average ML hitter, and that works for him, but the reason why he was able to carry an average in the .330's for most of the season was because of his improved eye at the plate. He walked just 4 times in 145 at-bats as a rookie last year, but walked 52 times in 572 at-bats in 2009. Oh yeah, he's still just 23 years old, which means he's not even close to hitting his full potential yet, and that's pretty scary.

Unfortunately, the Giants didn't have many other young players step up and cement themselves a full-time role with this team going forward. Nate Schierholtz showed glimpses at times, but the more at-bats he got over the course of the year, the less impressive he was. Same with Eugenio Velez. His first 200 at-bats of the year couldn't have gone much better than they did, but then he mellowed out a bit towards the end of the year. Velez did, however, show that he deserves a pretty prominent role with this team going forward. If the Giants decide not to exercise their option on Freddy Sanchez, and don't add anyone else from outside the organization this winter, there's a solid chance Velez could end up at second base, or at least play heavily into the mix there, in 2010. He did go out on a positive not though as well, as he was 3-5 with 2 runs and 2 sb's in Sunday's season finale. Another guy who really stepped up at the end of the year was Andres Tores And it really was the younger players, Ishikawa, Sandoval, Schierholtz and Andres Torres, that carried the Giants in the second half. The team did not get big contributions from Bengie Molina, Randy Winn and Aaron Rowand in the second half whatsoever, but their pitching, defense, and young timely hitting kept them in the wild card race until the final days of the season, and that's likely more than any Giant fan was expecting out of them coming into the season.

GBB Note: Posting here has been a little sporadic over the last 2 weeks, as we've been busy with school and other obligations, but we fully intend to get back on track of at least 2-3 posts per week in the offseason. We'll have much more season review and offseason previews throughout October, as well as some other MLB playoff talk, so stay tuned!!!

Giants Notes

2009-09-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Rockies magic number for clinching a wild card birth is down to just 1 with 6 games remaining, so the Giants should be mathematically eliminated either today or tomorrow. And, although the season ends in a week, there are still some things I'd like to see happen with this club before the book closes on the 2009 season.

We talked a bit in the last post about giving Buster Posey some playing time behind the plate to see if he may be ready to take reigns of the Giants catching position at some point in 2010. Posey has actually started 2 of the last 3 ballgames, but hasn't done much with the bat yet. He's just 1-10 in his first 10 big league ab's. This is exactly why I wish they would have started playing the kid a couple weeks ago. If he finishes off the season struggling, it could very well mess with his confidence level coming into spring training next year. I don't think that will necessarily happen with Posey, but it's no secret that a positive showing in September breeds confidence heading into the next season. A prime example to look at is what happened with Pablo Sandoval last season. He tore up every minor league level he stopped at, and was thrown into the mix immediately with the Giants and didn't miss a beat. He hist .345 to end the year and set himself up for a very successful season in 2009. I'm not saying these things go hand-in-hand, but again, I'd much rather see Posey playing everyday and racking up at-bats than spot starting and struggling to get into a rythm.

It's not just Posey they should be taking a long hard look at either. There are numerous roster decisions that will arise when the season ends, including what to do with some of the teams' key free agents. Bengie Molina, Randy Winn, Randy Johnson and Brad Penny are all potential free agents after the year, and Freddy Sanchez has an 8 million dollar team option. Out of that list, the only guy who I'm really pulling for to be re-signed is Brad Penny. He showed his capabilities and his ability to pitch in the NL West over the final month of the season (3-1, 3.31 era in 32 innings in September) and he's been a very nice fit behind Cain, Lincecum and Zito. Randy Johnson is likely looking to play another season, but I think I'd lean towards Penny, who'd likely be cheaper than Johnson anyway. The three real tough decisions will revolve around Randy Winn and Bengie Molina, who've been mainstays in the Giants lineup over the past 3-5 seasons, and of course whether or not they'll pick up the option on Freddy Sanchez.

As much as I appreciate what Molina and Winn have done here over their tenure's, I think now would be a good time to cut ties with each player. Winn saw his power numbers completely fall of the charts this year, and his average and run production suffered mightily as well. It was by far his worst season in San Francisco. Molina has also struggled through most of the year in 2009. Take away his terrific April (.325, 4 hr, 18 RBI) and his numbers would be atrocious. In fact, Bengie has just 7 home runs and 25 RBI after the all-star break, and remember, this guy is the Giants clean-up hitter when he's in the lineup. Freddy Sanchez has ended up being a colossal mistake by Sabean, as he cost the Giants their #2 pitching prospect and didn't do anything to help their playoff push this year. I can think of many ways they could use the 8 million he'd cost them in 2010, including re-signing Penny and super-utility stud, Juan Uribe. We'll have much more on the Giants potential player movement when the season ends.

Giants Un-officially Out of Race

2009-09-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

After making a nice push last week after they beat the Rockies in 2 of 3 games in San Francisco and moved to within 2.5 games of them, it looked like the Giants were going to take this race down to the wire. However, they've really started to fall apart on their recent road trip, and sit 5 games back of the Rockies with just 11 games to go.

Now, I've seen weirder things happen than a team overcoming a 5 game deficit with just 11 to go, but the Giants seem to be struggling more and more each day while the Rockies look determined to seal this thing up. After Tim Lincecum got roughed up by LA on Sunday, and then seeing Matt Cain get pounded around by the D-Backs in Tuesday's loss, I think it's finally sunk in that the Giants are not going to be a playoff team in 2009. They just don't look like a team that's playing with urgency or are fighting for their playoff lives. Maybe it's just me, but I'm really not seeing it. Their starting pitching, which has been what's really carried them all season long, has all of the sudden hit the wall. It's understandable, it is late September after all, but once their pitching starts to take a dip, then it really causes a ripple effect on the whole team. None of their starters have gone at least 5 innings yet on this road-trip in which they're 2-3, and the starting rotation is carrying an era of 13.25 in those contests and I'm a little surprised they've figured out a way to win 2 games with those kind of starting performances.

Don't get me wrong though, they've done much more than I, or any other fan likely expected coming into the year, and are still playing meaningful games in late September, which is something they haven't done in 5 years here. This season has been very much a success story for this franchise. It's tough to look at it that way at the moment, because they're struggling and likely will fail to make the playoffs, but the fact that we're even mentioning them with the playoffs in the same sentence is a step in the right direction. What I'd like to see them do over this final week and of half of the 2009 season is put Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and some of their other young players to work to see if these guys can be counted on at the beginning of 2010. I'm a little surprised that Buster Posey isn't getting more time behind the plate (played in just 3 games this month). Bengie Molina is a free agent after the year and I don't foresee the Giants re-signing him and I don't think they're planning on investing in another catcher from outside the organization, so they better throw Posey into the mix and see if he's ready. Bumgarner has gotten a little more work than Posey, and hasn't missed a beat. He's gone 8 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 2 solo home runs, and 7 hits while striking out 9 batters. I don't know that the Giants will insert him into the rotation to star the 2010 season, but I'm definitely expecting Bumgarner to have an impact on the 2010 season early, kind of like Tim Lincecum did in 2007.

Johnson Returns As Reliever

2009-09-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Randy Johnson hasn't thrown a pitch for the Giants since July 5th, but the lanky left-handed legend has been activated from the 60-day DL and the Giants expect him to contribute out of the bullpen for the rest of the season.

With Brad Penny now in the rotation, and Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito each pitching very well, there really wasn't a spot in the rotation for the Big Unit anyway, so bringing him back in relief is actually a plus for this team. Right now, Jeremy Affeldt is the only left-handed reliever who Bruce Bochy really trusts with the game on the line, and now Johnson gives him another. Dan Runzler, who was among the September call-ups, has thrown very well in his limited appearances, but those have been in lopsided games and I don't think Bochy has the confidence in the young lefty to throw him out there with a game on the line in the middle of a pennant race. I'm stoked to see how Johnson does out of the pen and I have a feeling he's going to be lights out if he's healthy. He doesn't need to pace himself to pitch 6-7 innings per night now, so I'm expecting him to really let loose in the inning+ he gets each outing in relief.

Johnson will definitely help the bullpen with his return, but that's not an area on the team that is desperate for help. That area is the Giants offense, which actually came alive for the first two games of the Rockies series, both Giants victories, before being shut down by Jorge De La Rosa on Wednesday night. No Giant hitter had a multi-hit game on Wednesday, and if it weren't for Andres Torres' double, they would have been held without an extra base hit. Now, don't get me wrong, Jorge De La Rosa is a nice young lefty, who's certainly capable of doing what he did on Wednesday. I just didn't expect him to do it to a team who virtually has no room for error in their fight for a postseason birth. I don't want to say that the Giants hitters looked disinterested and overmatched, but they certainly looked like a tired bunch on Wednesday. It's really a shame too, because if they would have pulled out that victory, it really would have given them the momentum, and would have given the Rockies something to worry about. Now, even though the Giants won the series, the Rocks had to feel pretty good about themselves as they left San Francisco, still with a solid 3.5 game lead and heading into Arizona to take on one of the leagues worst teams while the Giants head to LA to take on the leagues top team. Now, this race is still very much alive, but with only 16 games on the schedule remaining, the Rockies magic number is dwindling by the day.

Notes: Bruce Bochy still hasn't given Buster Posey his first major league at-bat, as the kid has been up for nearly 3 weeks now and is the only guy on the roster who hasn't gotten into a game. It's really surprising too, because I think this kid could definitely give the Giants offense a boost, even if it is as just a pinch hitter. They need something to kick-start their offense, and I think a few nights with Buster Posey getting some action may do just that... Top pitching prospect, Madison Bumgarner, has also been out of action since he made his big league debut start on September 8th. I was kind of expecting Bochy to use the kid in relief, but apparently that's not in the cards... Jonathan Sanchez will try and get some revenge on the Dodgers in Friday night's start. Sanchez's last outing came against these Dodgers last week, and they handed Sanchez his worst start and loss since June 16th.

Giants Need To Win This Series

2009-09-14T18:46:00.001-07:00

A lot of people are already writing the Giants off in the NL Wild Card race. They're offense seems to be getting worse as the season draws near the end, and it almost seems as if they're just playing out the year, rather than fighting for a playoff spot.

This post will be a little shorter than our normal posts here at the Giants Baseball Blog, just because it won't take a whole post to say what needs to be said. The Giants have Tim Lincecum going tonight, in his first start since September 3rd, and it's anyones guess as to how his back will hold up throwing for the first time in 10 days. The Giants need him to be his dominant self though, as they'll need Matt Cain and Barry Zito to be as well. The Giants have it set up to where they'll have their three hottest arms going against the Rockies, and they're really in a great position to sweep this series if they can somehow manage to get the offense going early. One tip I'd have for Bochy is to give Andres Torres some more time in center field and at the top of the lineup for the time being. Eugenio Velez has gone into a slump in the leadoff spot, and it's really caused a ripple effect on the whole batting order, because the Giants rely so much on the top of their order. Torres has looked good at the plate in recent games and is a fine defensive centerfielder. In fact, here's the lineup I'd have for the these next three game vs. the Rockies, which some quick notes on it below:

1. CF Anders Torres 2. 2B Freddy Sanchez 3. RF Nate Schierholtz 4. 3B Pablo Sandoval 5. SS Juan Uribe 6. C Bengie Molina 7. 1B Travis Ishikawa 8. LF Randy Winn/Velez

*Bengie Molina has 3 RBI in September....Can no longer hit cleanup when in the order!
*Uribe should be moved to the middle of the lineup with the way he's swinging.
*Ishikawa at first is helps the defense, so I'd lean towards him there unless Sandy' needs to be.
*I'd limit PT for Renteria and Winn while they continue to stuggle, and throw Uribe at short and Lewis or Velez in left while letting Nate play full-time in rf.

Giants Fading In September

2009-09-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Giants are losing ground on the Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies, and they're doing so very quickly. They've gone just 4-5 in September thus far, and are getting banged up a little in the health department which has led them to 4.5 game deficit of the wild card leading Rockies heading into play this weekend.

It's still a little unclear when the teams ace, and most important player by far, Tim Lincecum, will make his next start after aggravating his sore back in his last outing. He's tentatively scheduled to make the start on Monday, the opening of an extremely important series vs. the Rockies, but that is anything but guaranteed. The Giants called up Madison Bumgarner on September 8th, which was Lincecum's last scheduled start, in order to give Timmy a few extra days to nurse the back along. Bumgarner threw pretty decently in his major league debut, going 5 innings vs. the Padres, allowing 2 runs on a couple of solo jacks, and just 4 hits while striking out 4 batters. He showed enough to get another nod and will start on Monday if Lincecum isn't ready, or ends up going in one of the weekend games vs. the Dodgers (highly unlikely). The call-up of Bumgarner now gives the Giants 6 starting pitchers for Bochy to use, and allows him to give some guys an extra day if needed. Even if he doesn't stick in the rotation for the final 3 weeks of the season, he provides the team with another power-armed lefty they can use in middle or long relief along with Dan Runzler.

The September downfall of the Giants hasn't been just about the team being a little banged up. They flat out aren't hitting, and they are really struggling to score runs, even vs. teams and pitchers that they shouldn't have trouble with. They just lost 2 of 3 at home to the San Diego Padres, who are 15 games below .500 and trotted out to the mound guys like Wade LeBlanc and former Giant castoff, Kevin Corriea, and both had their way with the Giants hitters. Freddy Sanchez, who cost the Giants Tim Alderson at the trade deadline, has been a major disappointment so far, I don't care how you sugar coat it. He cost the Giants their second best pitching prospect, and although he's still sporting a respectable average, the dude has been anything but clutch and has been an injury waiting to happen since dawning a Giants uniform. In fact, their isn't one particular game in which I've felt Sanchez has impacted enough to help determine the outcome of. Even Ryan Garko has had a few clutch hits which have helped the Giants pull out victories late in games, but I've yet to see that happen with Sanchez. I may be a tad over-critical of Sanchez right now, but I know what kind of value Alderson had and I certainly feel Sabean could have turned him into more than just Freddy Sanchez. Oh yeah, the Giants are just 8-8 with Sanchez in the starting lineup since he arrived in San Francisco and 12-9 without him. Not a drastic difference, but not the type of impact you'd want out a guy you dealt a top-3 prospect for.

Extras: The next 6 games could really ultimately end up deciding the Giants fate as far as their wild card chances go. They have 3 with the Dodgers this weekend, then host the Rockies for three next week. If the Giants lose ground on the Rockies by the end of that series, they'd essentially need to be perfect for their remaining games and hope that the Rocks hit a rough patch. One thing the Giants do have in favor for them as far as their schedule goes, is that they'll play 12 of their remaining 18 games at home, where they're the best team in the NL.

Penny Proving Pivotal

2009-09-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Baseball world didn't take too much out of the Giants signing of Brad Penny last week. He struggled through most of the season in Boston and I don't think anyone really expected much out of him the rest of the way. However, he's shown up in San Francisco and has gone above and beyond the expectations which the Giants had for him over his first two starts.

Penny followed up his Giants debut start last Wednesday (in which he held the potent Philly offense scoreless over 8 innings) with a 7 inning, 2 run, 6 strikeout victory over the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park on Monday afternoon. Penny is looking very comfortable back here in the NL West, and has really solidified the back-end of the Giants rotation with Randy Johnson on the shelve. The big right-hander looks strong and motivated and I'm really expecting him to keep up his solid performance over the season's final 3 weeks. In fact, he's looked so strong in his 2 outings with the Giants, that he's going to get consideration for a post-season rotation spot if the Giants do indeed make the playoffs. Obviously they'll have Cain and Lincecum as the first two starters, and I'd expect Barry Zito to get a start after the way he's thrown in the second half of the year, then they'd likely look to Penny as the fourth man. Randy Johnson has stated that he expects to return to the team before the season ends, but he'll do so as a reliever. Penny could also enter the bullpen in the postseason if the Giants make it and decide to go with a 3-man rotation in the NLDS. There is a ton a of baseball to be played still though, and this is all speculation and optimistic planning on my part, but the Giants have some depth in their rotation and it could leave them with a lights-out bullpen in October if they can manage to make it.

Another new development happening with the ballclub is Bruce Bochy switching up the defensive positioning a bit. Pablo Sandoval has been battling a few nagging injuries and Bochy is hoping a switch over to first base for a while will take some of the pressure off of his body. Not to mention, Juan Uribe is the hottest Giants hitter going right now, and since Freddy Sanchez just returned from the DL, the only way Uribe can be kept in the lineup on a daily basis is if he starts at third. Uribe has gone 9 for 25 with 4 homers, 8 RBI and 6 runs scored over the last week. He's quietly putting together a very nice season as a utility guy, and I really don't think the Giants are in the position they currently are if Juan Uribe is not on this team. His overall season numbers don't jump out at you too much (.282, 12 home runs, 40 RBI), but he puts up numbers when it matters and has been one of the Giants most clutch hitters in 2009. A good indicator of how valuable he's been to the Giants is his .816 OPS, which isn't earth shattering by any stretch, but is good for second on the Giants behind Pablo Sandoval.

Notes: Buster Posey, who was called up about a week ago when Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval were both unavailable to catch, is still looking to make his big league debut. I'm a little surprised Bochy hasn't just thrown him out as a pinch hitter or something, but I fully expect Posey to get his feet wet a little up here before the end of the season... Madison Bumgarner also got called up, in a surprising move, on Tuesday. Bumgarner is the Giants top pitching prospect and has been nothing short of dominant in his 2 years in the minors. It's still unclear as to what Bumgarner's role will be right off the bat, but apparantely Tim Linceucm has a sore back which may force him to miss a start and Bumgarner could slip into his spot. That's just speculation on our part, but it's pretty exciting to see both the teams elite prospects arrive at the major league level at the same time!

Interview with SI's Tom Verducci

2009-09-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

We recently had a chance to catch-up with SI's senior baseball writer, and one of the best baseball minds in the media as far as we're concerned, Tom Verducci. We talked to Tom a little bit about the Giants chances at the postseason and got his views on what the future holds for some of the younger players on the roster, so here it is:

Q1: How do you see the NL Wild Card playing out? The Giants had the lead for a while there to start the second half, but their offense has gone stagnant and the Rockies are really heating up. Any chance the Giants re-gain their momentum over the last month and re-take the lead, or do you see the Rockies (or Dodgers if they continue to stumble) staying atop the bunch in the NL?

A: I'm guessing it's going to take about 92 wins to win the wild card. The Giants would need to go 23-12 to get there. Can they do it? Sure. They've already had a 23-12 run this season. We know they have the pitching to do it. But the injuries to key offensive players make it very difficult. Obviously the Giants are going to have to take care of business when they play Colorado head to head. Nobody has slowed down the Rockies for four months of .700 baseball. They're bound to step on a banana peel at some point, right? I still think the Rockies are the wild card favorites, but I think the Giants do have a run in them to make it close.

Q2: There are still a couple of days before the MLB Waiver trade deadline. Have you heard anything regarding the Giants possibly acquiring some more help for the stretch drive? Who are some names that have been placed on waivers or could be before the 31st?

A: I wouldn't expect very much. The Giants may have some interest in bats such as Felipe Lopez and Mike Cameron of the Brewers, but in both cases Milwaukee would want a decent prospect in return rather than viewing those guys as pure salary dumps.

Q3: The Giants made a couple of moves before the non-waiver deadline, acquiring Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko in attempt to help bolster their sub-par offense. What was your initial reaction to these deals, and did you think that those 2 would be enough to help keep the Giants atop the NL Wild Card? Do you expect these guys will become mainstays in the Giants lineup over the next couple of years?

A: I liked both moves because without the addition of any bats the Giants' postseason chances were about nil. I guess the deal for Sanchez depends on what you think Tim Alderson will be in the big leagues. Scouts like his breaking stuff, but the Giants saw some regression this year, particularly with velocity and command. Sanchez will play next year at 32 for $8 million and has to hit well over .300, as he did in 2006, to be really valuable, so I don't think he's going to be a mainstay. Garko does hit lefthanders well so he does fit a role, but I don't see him as an everyday fixture in the Giants lineup for years to come.

Q4: Over the last couple of years, there's been a lot of talk about Jonathan Sanchez's potential and his value as a trade chip. He's shown flashes of brilliance, including his near perfect game last month, but can't seem to find any consistency. How do other general managers and team executives around the league view this guy? Is he someone who could bring the Giants back a nice bat in a deal, or is he someone they'd be better off hanging onto and hope he reaches his potential in San Francisco?

A: I think people around baseball would love to get Sanchez from the Giants on the premise that maybe they can get him cheaply. The guy is lefthanded, only 26, has never even qualified for the ERA title yet, never made 30 starts, and strikes out one batter per inning. Obviously, the walks are a concern. But he still has big potential. Of course, people have been saying that about Oliver Perez for years.

Q5: Even the casual baseball fan is becoming familiar with "The Big Panda" Pablo Sandoval as the Giants have finally developed a position player of note. What's your take on Sandoval? Do you think he's a guy who will be a .320+ hitter with 30 homers and 100+ RBI a year type player, or do you think those numbers will recede as the league starts to learn him some more.

A: Sandoval reminds me of guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Vladimir Guerrero. They can hit just about anything and go up there hacking. That's normally not a game plan for consistent success, but these guys have exceptional hand-eye coordination and you'd rather not change them. My only concern long term would be his size; he's 245 pounds at age 22. He's a better athlete than what he appears to be, but you wonder about staying away from injuries when you play at that size.

Giants Add Brad Penny

2009-09-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

We talked about it in our last post on Friday, and it came to fruition on Monday evening. The Giants had been looking for another starting pitcher to help for the stretch run for the last couple of weeks, and signed Brad Penny on Monday, giving the team another veteran presence in the rotation as they try and push for a playoff birth.

Penny didn't have the best year in Boston, his first season in the American League, but he feels good and he did scatter a few decent outings in there over his last 5-6 starts. Regardless of what he did in Boston, the Giants are hoping a return to the National League West, where he had tremendous success as a Dodger, will re-focus the big fella and get him back on track. It looks like Penny will likely take the fifth spot in the rotation behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, the new Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez. I am not expecting too much out of Penny, but I really do think he has the chance to make a big impact on the Giants chances if he can revert back to his 2007 form. Another positive coming from this move is that it was completed on August 31st, just before the post-season roster deadline. If the Giants had waited until today (September 1st) to make the deal, Penny wouldn't have been able to qualify for a postseason roster spot if the Giants end up making it. On the less positive side, this does mean that the Giants aren't expecting anything from Randy Johnson the rest of the way, or if they are, they aren't expecting it until the very end of the month. Overall though, I like this low-risk, potentially high-reward move, and I'm stoked to see what Penny does in his Giants' debut tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

The Penny signing comes in light of the Giants sweeping the Wild Card leading Rockies at home, and putting themselves back atop the NL Wild Card standings, so it really was a successfull weekend all around for the orange and black. The game on Sunday really had a playoff kind of feel to it and when Edgar Renteria hit that grand slam in the 7th inning of that game, it almost felt as if the Giants had clinched the wild card right then and there. The offense showed up this weekend and provided more than enough run support for the Giants starters. Renteria had himself a very solid series, collecting 4 hits, driving in 5 runs over the weekend. Pablo Sandoval also contributed a couple of homers along with 4 hits of his own in the three game set. On the mound, Tim Lincecum won his first game since August 1st on Friday night, dominating the Rockies to the tune of 8 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs and 8 k's. Barry Zito followed Lincecum's effort and continued his second half dominance with an 8 1/3 inning, 7 strikeout, 1 run performance of his own. Zito's numbers for the second half continue to get better and better with each outing he has. He's now 4-2 with a 1.92 era and .225 BAA in 56 innings since the all-star break. He's looking like a front-end of the rotation starter for the first time in his Giants' tenure and has his era below 4 for the first time since 2006.

Up Next for the Giants will be a potential playoff preview, as they travel into Philadelphia for a 3-game set with the NL East leaders. If the season ended today, It would be the Giants and the Phillies squaring off in round one of the playoffs, so it will be interesting to see how SF will match-up with Philly. The Giants will send Jonathan Sanchez to the hill Tuesday night, followed by Brad Penny Wednesday and then Tim Lincecum will face Pedro Martinez in Thursday's finale!

Giants Notes

2009-08-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

The MLB Waiver Trade Deadline is just 3 days away, and the Giants could still use some help in various areas of their roster. I'm not expecting anything too big to go down if something indeed does, but there has been some rumblings going around over the last 24-48 hours that are posing some interesting scenarios.

According to MLB.com, the Giants have placed a waiver claim on Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to acquire Hoffman, but it does give them the chance to discuss a deal with the Brewers while also keeping Hoffman off limits to the Dodgers and Rockies. I think Sabean was more so trying to keep Hoffman away from those 2 squads, which promoted them to put a claim on him, but the more I think about it, the more Hoffman would actually make sense for this team. Earlier in the year, the Giants bullpen was having trouble finding innings to stay fresh, but now they're starting to get a tad overworked. Overall, the Giants bullpen has been better than they've been since 2004, but they still could use a nice veteran addition like Hoffman for the stretch drive. Back in 1997, the Giants had Roberto Hernandez and Rod Beck in their bullpen, two above average major league closers, and it really shortened games. If the Giants could somehow land Hoffman and toss him in with Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt and a rebounding Sergio Romo, it would make any lead the team had after the 6th inning pretty darn safe.

Another decision looming for the Giants is what they're going to do with their number 5 spot in the rotation. Joe Martinez has really struggled in three of his last 4 starts, and has yet to make it through 6 full innings as a starter. It's really taxing the bullpen each time this guy takes the ball, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Giants find someone else to take his next scheduled start. A name from outside the organization that has surfaced recently is Brad Penny. The burly right-hander was just released from the Red Sox and apparently is looking to move back to the NL to right himself after struggling in the AL for most of 2009. Penny is apparently healthy, and is just 2 seasons removed from a 16-4, 3.03 era season with the Dodgers. I do think a move back to the NL and into a spacious park like AT&T would be ideal for Penny. There are other teams that are interested in him though as the Yankees would like him to become their 5th started for the final month of the season. Anyway, Penny likely won't clear waivers until Monday morning, so don't look for anything to happen with him until then, but I would be all for giving this guy a shot in the Giants rotation, especially in a low-risk, potentially high-reward type situation like this.

Up Next: The Giants have the Rockies coming into town for a 3 game weekend series starting Friday night, as they try and get revenge on them after losing 3 of 4 in Colorado last week. The Giants have set it up so that their top-3 starters will all throw in the series as Tim Lincecum faces Ubaldo Jimenez Friday, followed by a Barry Zito/Jason Marquis match-up and capped with a Matt Cain/Jasom Hammel duel. The pitching match-ups heavily favor the Giants, but the Rockies are playing extremely well at the moment, so it should be a fun weekend to watch... Also, we're going to be hooking up with Tom Verducci, SI's Senior baseball writer, for an interview and we'll hopefully have that transcript ready before the end of the weekend, so be sure to check back on Saturday or Sunday for that!

Giants Losing Ground In Wild Card Race

2009-08-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

This weekends series vs. the Rockies was definitely one that the Giants wanted to use to gain ground in the wild card race. It's still pretty early, and they do see the Rockies a couple of more times before the end of the season, but if they can't manage to win Monday nights game and split the series with these Rockies, they'll find themselves 4 games back in the race and will have a hole to dig themselves out of.

The Giants who had been heating up coming into this series (Eugenio Velez, Nate Schierholtz and Randy Winn) have really gone cold in the mile high city. Velez was thriving in the leadoff spot for most of the second half, but has gone just 1 for 19 over his last 5 ballgames, and his average has dropped from .330 back into the .270's because of it. Schierholtz is another guy who was really swinging a hot bat coming into this series. He hasn't quite fallen off over the last couple of games like Velez has, but he'd be the first one to tell you that he hasn't done as much at the plate as he's like over the last couple of games. Nate did homer in Saturday nights' loss, but that's the only hit he's collected in 10 at-bats in one of the most hitter-friendly yards in all of baseball. The Giants need to get their offense going early on in Monday's game and hopefully get out to an early lead. They don't have the offense to come back from 4 run deficits, even in a place like Coors Field. As they showed in Tim Lincecum's start on Friday, it doesn't necessarily matter who you have on the mound in Denver, runs will be scored, you just need to be ready to keep up with the Rockies and the Giants haven't been through the first 3 games.

Ryan Garko has been somewhat of a bright spot in this Rockies series though. Garko hit his first two home runs as a Giant in Saturday nights' loss, and has gone 3-9 with 3 runs and 4 RBI in the series. Garko was kind of sputtering along for a couple of weeks there, and people were starting to wonder if this guy would ever get any offense going here in the National League, and I think he answered that on Saturday night. If Garko can start hitting the ball like he has in Denver, then the Giants offense will get that boost that they thought they were getting late in July when they pulled the trigger on the Garko deal. The other Giants newcomer, Freddy Sanchez, has been nursing a bum shoulder for the last week, and it's created a void in the Giants lineup and in the number 2 spot of the order. I think it's safe to say that Sanchez is the Giants most complete right-handed hitter at the moment, so losing him for these games in Denver is certainly hurting the team. Hopefully there are some changes on the horizon regarding the Giants batting order, because Bengie Molina in the cleanup spot, and Eugenio Velez at the top of the lineup while struggling are killing this team.

Up Next: After the Monday nights game, the Giants will return to San Francisco for 3 with the Diamondbacks then 3 more with the Rockies, so again, no matter what happens on Monday night they still will have a chance to redeem themselves against Colorado 6 more times this year. Also if you want to put some money on the Giants, check out the baseball sportsbooks for all your baseball odds and baseball betting!

Giants, Rockies Set for Showdown

2009-08-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Giants just missed sweeping the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, as their offense was unable to support another Matt Cain solid start. They did however take 2 of 3 from the Reds, a team they had to take advantage of after losing 2 of 3 at home to them a couple of weeks back. Now, it's on to Colorado, where the Giants hope to gain ground, and possibly re-take the top spot in the National League Wild Card race.

The starting pitching was once again rock solid in the Reds series but unfortunately, none of the starters got credit for a win. Surprisingly, the Reds got to Tim Lincecum on Tuesday night and handed him his worst start since May 15th by getting to him for 5 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings of work. It wasn't a horrible outing by the reigning NL Cy Young winner, but certainly not Lincecum-esque. The Giants offense luckily came through for Timmy though, and allowed him to exit without a decision, furthering his impressive streak of just 2 losses since April 12. Barry Zito and Matt Cain also helped ease the load on the bullpen in the final two games of the series. Zito put forth his 7th straight start in which he had to feel pretty good about. We've been talking a lot about Zito since the start of the second half here, and I know it's hard to believe, but he's been the teams top pitcher, leading in both era and wins, since the start of the second half. Matt Cain followed Zito's 6 scoreless innings with an 8 inning, 1 run performance in Thursday's loss to the Reds. That's the game that was really frustrating to watch as the offense left 10 runners on base and a bunch in scoring position, much like they did for most of Cain's stars in '07-'08.

So, even though the offense is still not hitting on all cylinders, the Giants are still playing relatively good baseball, and they have one of their most important series' of the year approaching. I know it's only August 20th, and there are still 40+ games left, but this up-coming four-game set with the Rockies should be a big one. The Giants will enter it either 1.5 or 2 games back of the Rockies (depending on what they do in their game with Washington tonight) in the wild card race. Depending on how things go over the weekend, they could find themselves 4 or 5 games back after this series, or they could leave Colorado in sole possession of first place in the wild card standing. The first two games of the series are going to be especially important, as the pitching match-ups are kind of in favor of Colorado, but the key to the series will be what kind of offense the Giants will be able to put up in the high altitude of Coors Field. One of their new adds, Ryan Garko, had himself his best series as a Giants in Cincinatti, going 4-12 with 4 RBI in the 3 game set. Garko is definitely someone the Giants need to get going for this stretch drive, and it looks like he's heating up just in time. Hopefully he starts showing some pop (he's yet to homer in 62 at-bats as a Giant), and this weekend would be as good a time as any to really explode offensively.

Giants Split Four With Mets

2009-08-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

After mustering only 7 runs in the first 3 games of their series in New York with the Mets, the Giants offense exploded in Monday's finale, enabling the Giants to leave Flushing Meadows with a 4-game split.

The Giants have been playing very average baseball of late, and haven't really taken advantage of the teams they need to be taking advantage of. The Mets are a team that has scuffled all year long, are completely banged up, and shouldn't really have the fire power to keep up with a team like the Giants, yet the Giants could only salvage of split. A big reason why they were able to salvage the split was the offensive day from Aaron Rowand. The Giants' center fielder had arguably his best day as a Giant, going 4-5 with a home run, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Rowand's average had dipped below .270 for the first time since May 2oth, so his big day was definitely something he needed and maybe that will get him back on track. The other outfielder the Giants would very much like to get going is Randy Winn. The veteran right-fielder continues to struggle through his worst season as a Giant, but he had a three hit game with a couple of runs scored on Monday as well. With Nate Schierholtz back, and Eugenio Velez striving in the leadoff spot, playing time is getting slim for outfielders, and if Rowand and Winn cannot continue to help out the offense, Bochy needs to seriously consider sitting those guys down for a bit.

The Giants starting pitching threw very well in New York, including another solid outing from Jonathan Sanchez and another victory for rookie Joe Martinez. In fact, it looks like Martinez is quietly grabbing hold of the fifth spot in the rotation and it doesn't look like he'll be relinquishing it anytime soon. He's yet to go more than five innings in a start, but he's certainly shown the ability to keep the ball in the yard and keep the Giants in the game when he's out there. He had one sub par start vs. LA last week, but other than that, he's been nails for the Giants. It's still unclear on when and if Randy Johnson will return to the club this year, so it's especially crucial that the Giants get some support from the bottom half of their rotation. Barry Zito has been pretty darn good since the All-star break, and Jonathan Sanchez has looked like a new pitcher since he threw his no-no back in early July. I thought the Giants rotation would suffer a set-back with The Big Unit on the shelve, but that hasn't been the case. If the Giants can get Randy back in September and he's anywhere close to full-strength, then it will be icing on the cake.

Note: Speaking of the pitching staff, the Giants inked their first round pick from June's Amateur draft just before the deadline on Monday. The Giants and right-hander Zach Wheeler agreed on a deal that will pay the rightie just over 3 million dollars in guaranteed money. Can't wait to see him get his professional career started.... For those of you looking to do some MLB gambling this season, be sure to check out our baseball handicapping and any info you'll need on how to bet on baseball at Betfirms!

Giants Struggling Again

2009-08-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Since the second half of the year started, the Giants have either been on a hot streak, or a cold one, but nothing really in-between. They lost 4 of 6 at home to the Dodgers and Reds over the week, and couldn't get anything whatsoever going vs. the Mets' Brett Parnell Friday night, making the right-handed rookie look like a young Doc Gooden in the process.

The problem for the Giants over the last week has once again been offensive struggles. They scored just 7 runs in 3 games with the Dodgers after losing 2 of 3 at home to the Reds. The team has struggled since the start of the second half, but they normally save their struggles for the road, which made it a little concerning to see them choke so hard at home. They barely avoided being swept by the Dodgers, thanks mostly to Tim Lincecum's masterpiece no-decision on Thursday, but the Giants are going to have to start learning to win when they don't get the 8 inning, 1 run starts from their starters, and they haven't seemed to figure that out lately. One reason why I think the offense continues to sag is because of Bengie Molina sticking in the cleanup spot. We've mentioned this a little bit here lately, and just when you think Bochy will make the change, he trots out another lineup with the Giants' catcher in the cleanup hole. Again the Giants don't have an abundance of options for that spot, and no-matter who they put there, he'll be an unconventional clean-up guy, so they may as well go with a hitter who will keep rally's going and get on base with consistency, two things Molina has not done for the better part of the year.

With Eugenio Velez cooling down a bit at the top of the lineup (it was inevitable that he'd eventually come back to life), it's even more crucial that the Giants have people in the middle of their order who are keeping innings alive. I think the best thing Bochy can do with the cards he has is lineup the teams best three OPS' in the middle 3 spots of the order. Right now, those three would be Freddy Sanchez, Nate Schierholtz and Pablo Sandoval. Only Sandoval of that bunch is your prototypical middle-of-the-order guy, but in this lineup, those guys are your best options. I'd also like to see Travis Ishikawa and Fred Lewis given a little more pt to see if them may be able to kick start the offense a bit. Ishikawa has outplayed Ryan Garko in every since of the term since Garko's arrival in San Francisco, and I know that the Giants want to see Garko succeed and will give him ample opportunity to do so, but they need to be playing their hot hitters at this point in time. Randy Winn has gone stone cold along with Molina, as Winn's OPS has dipped below .700. I would like to see Schierholtz given Winn's spot for a while or until Velez plays himself out of the lineup. Here's the way I'd like to see the top 5 spots in the lineup play out with the way things are currently going: 1. Velez LF 2. Uribe SS 3. Sanchez 2B 4. Sandoval 3B 5. Schierholtz RF.

Giants' Fantasy Baseball Interview

2009-08-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

This year, the Giants Baseball Blog started a monthly interview with the Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove Blog, in which we here at the GBB answer various questions regarding the Giants' players value in fantasy baseball. Here is the final interview of the fantasy season, done Monday @ http://fantasybaseballhotstove.blogspot.com/:

FBHS: I had no idea until I read your blog. Barry Zito has been dealing of late. His last five starts he has a 2.32 ERA as you point out. I'm still not convinced though. He is Barry Zito after all. Give me one reason why he will be able to keep putting together quality outings.

GBB: Well, I'm not too sure he's going to sport an era in the low 2's for the rest of the second half, but Zito's clearly in a rhythm now, one that Giants fans have yet to see him in since he crossed the bay. His velocity is up from 85 mph on average last year to around 88-89 with consistency this year. It doesn't seem like much, but I think that's making a big difference in how his other pitches are beeing percieved by hitters. He's striking out more batters and keeping them off the basepaths. He just seems like he's throwing with a lot more confidence, and is getting himself out of jams when he needs to. Zito's always been a second half guy as well, so I would expect him to continue being strong down the stretch, just maybe not as strong as he has been over the last month. He's made the loss of Randy Johnson a lot easier to swallow too.

FBHS: Despite the fact that Bengie Molina has taken some steps back from last season, Pablo Sandoval has put up some really solid numbers. Do you think if Sandoval was protected better that his overall numbers would see a jump or would his approach at the plate and the way pitchers attack be the same?

GBB: I think Sandoval has done a terrific job putting up numbers in a lineup that is pretty hard to do so in, but yeah, if he had more protection, his numbers would undoubtedly be even better. For some reason, Bruce Bochy insists on hitting Bengie Molina fourth, even though he has an OPS under .700. I would like to see the lineup shifted around a bit and Molina dropped lower in the order, where his measly OPS and pathetic base-running abilities wouldn't be as magnified. The thing is though, the Giants don't really have many better options at that spot. They would like Ryan Garko to take off and maybe take that slot, but he's still slowly learning the National League. I still am expecting to see some sort of lineup change eventually though. Maybe Sandoval into the fourth spot and Freddy Sanchez into the three hole? Anyway, it should be something to keep an eye on down the stretch.

FBHS: If only the Giants had left Eugenio Valez with the big club through June and July he might have had Joe D's record. He has a hit in every MLB game he's appeared in dating back to May 19th. Now he's hitting lead off. He has some serious value as a run scorer there, but another issue of interest to fantasy players will be how much he can run. Is he a green light guy or are the Giants more cautious with him?

GBB: Velez has been amazing since his recent promotion, but he really didn't show a whole lot up here earlier in the year, or during his showcasing last season. He also lost his green-light permission last year with some baserunning blunders. He's got tremendous speed (was something like 19-20 in sb attempts in the spring of 2008), but he has yet to master the art of baserunning fully. He's been on a tear with the bat though and is really sparking the Giants at the top of their lineup and I think the steals will come as long as he stays in the lineup. The Giants don't have a team built for the home run, so they need to play little ball, and Velez really is the epitome of that. He's also flexing a bit of power (2 home runs over the weekend at AT&T Park) which is a bonus on-top of that average and on-base percentage!