How could you, Melky?

Earlier today-- Betrayal Wednesday-- I was speaking to a co-worker about the Giants' win the night before.

We spoke about Belt smashing the ball and hot-dogging like a dope, we touched on Posey's great slugging percentage, and how sweet of a pickup Scutaro is turning out to be. Despite Monday's demolition at the hands of Washington fresh in our minds, our conversation was purely positive.

How could you, Melky?

Then he paused and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think for the first time since maybe Bonds and Kent were around, we actually have a pretty respectable lineup."

After one game-- one game-- of our Cabrera-Posey-Sandoval-Pence heart of the order, we were beginning to feel confident.

Less than two hours later, my phone began buzzing in my pocket.

Boom. ESPN text. CSN Bay Area text. Tweets in my inbox.

I had to read them twice for my brain to process what I was seeing. What was I seeing?

I was seeing the collective heart of Giants fans being broken and our guts punched in. I was seeing words that made no sense-- but yet they were real.

We are a unique fanbase in more ways than one. People make fun of us for voting 225 times apiece for the all-star game and for all the animal hats (and deservedly so), and all the other weird little quirks that have come to define us as a group.

But we LOVE our team, and we stand behind our players once they have proven themselves. You get big hits and throw shutdown ball in tough games and we'll support you to the best of our abilities. Look at the love Bonds got and still gets. Look at the support Lincecum gets even during an abominable season.

The point is, we stick with our players-- almost to a fault once they've shown us something.

Even when a player hasn't shown anything but intermittent glimpses of productivity like a Belt or a Schierholtz, there are still gobs of fans out there defending them to the death-- cursing Bochy for not playing them every day.

The point is, we are forgiving and loving as a fanbase.

But this...

...this may be unforgivable.

For Melky to do this-- to do something so dumb is simply incomprehensible. Everyone wants an edge out there, but how foolish can you be? Were you not paying attention earlier this year when your own teammate, Guillermo Mota, got suspended for 100 games? Did you not see the controversy over Ryan Braun's MVP award last season? What the hell, man?

How could you risk everything you've accomplished in this town? There are people wearing delivery uniforms and stupid hats with bowties in the stands rooting for you. There are sleazeballs selling self-printed "Melkman" shirts on the Embarcadero. We voted you into the all-star game. We gave you a new home.

WE LOVED YOU.

And in the end, it was nothing but a lie. Whether that testosterone helped you get all those league-leading hits or won you that Camaro in Kansas City during the Mid-Summer Classic, we'll never know. What we do know is that you let us down. We believed in you, and you let us down.

Not only that, but this team is in a pennant race and an NL West fight against our hated rivals, and you'll be nowhere to be found. You'll be off in some faraway land with another betrayer named Angel Villalona.

Part of me wants you to just stay in the Dominican and never come back. The other part of me thinks that now you'll be more affordable to sign next season-- but then do we want you back at all?

I don't know what to think right now. I really don't.

What I do know is that you chose to let everyone down when we needed you most, and that may just be unforgivable.

Gotta Love Corrupt Countries

If you haven't heard, it looks like Angel Villalona could be getting off scot free for the killing that occurred in his homeland of the Dominican Republic.

After the original news broke out, it appeared by all reports that Villalona was obviously guilty for killing some guy who wouldn't leave the all important club VIP area. So, just like athletes do in this country, guns were involved. Too bad Villalona didn't get to know Stephen Jackson first. Then he could've just "dumped", which according to Jackson means, "take out your gun and shoot (into the air)."

That is neither here nor there.

Andrew Baggarly among others, reported yesterday that Villalona was out free on bail. Not only that, but the “judge accepted the decision of the deceased’s family to withdraw the charge.”

Although, the charges have not officially been dropped, as Baggarly suggests in so many words... good luck finding any witnesses-- which is actually a quick departure from his November 8th report that there were 3 witnesses. Guess why?

He bought his freedom.

Just like I suggested here (to mixed reviews) on September 20th:

"The corruption angle could work well or horribly for Villalona in this scenario.

Scenario #1: Villalona hires the best lawyer in the country, pays off a couple magistrates and politicians, and gets off on a self-defense ruling. Everyone's happy."

What I didn't think about was that he could just pay off the family and the witnesses! Man, that's gotta be so much easier than paying off government officials! Who was I kidding?

Truthfully, assuming Villalona is guilty, this is a gross miscarriage of justice in terms of the common moral scale that most of us share-- you know, the Ten Commandments and state and local laws... all that stuff?

However, in countries such as the D.R., there generally is no such thing-- or the contrast between laws for the rich and poor is so great, that they are basically two completely different standards.

And that $150,000 that Villalona paid the victim's family? It was probably the equivalent of 10-15 years worth (or more) of that family's annual income. Not to say that they are intentionally profiteering from their son's murder, but this probably represents a whole new life or opportunities for them, and I doubt that this type of thing is uncommon in such a poor, corrupt country. We don't have to accept what happened down there, but we need to recognize that things work differently.

As for On-Hell and his Giant aspirations, it looks like the ball is starting to roll his way. If indeed these charges disappear, he will have escaped by the hair of his chinny chin chin and hopefully will learn from this-- ideally rededicating himself to the game and his professional development.

Will you root for him if/when he makes it to the majors?

Article on Villalona by a teammate

Check this out. This is a great little article written by Garrett Broshuis, a teammate of Villalona's in the Giants system (currently AA Connecticut).

Definitely give it a read.

F. Sanchez, Garko, and Villalona: The ugly truth

Well, things are looking bleak.

Despite Monday's win in Phoenix, the Rockpile is still up comfortably with a 4 game lead. There are 12 games left, and Colorado plays the rest of its regular season at home. Are we still in it? Yes, mathematically. Realistically... well I don't like saying it out loud.

You know when Brian Murphy is giving up during the Murph & Mac show, it's not good.

ANYWAYS... moving on to more pressing matters:

Freddy Sanchez's injury is not good. He twisted his knee and left early in the game yesterday. He's getting an MRI on it today. Worst case scenario... we're talking ACL. Best case, he's out for the rest of the season. It's increasingly looking like he won't be back with the Giants-- something inconceivable at the time of the trade.

Sanchez has only played in 23 of the 48 games since he joined the Giants-- disappointing on its own. His 2010 option would have vested with 600 plate appearances, something that obviously didn't happen due to the missed time. At this juncture, the Giants have 2 options:

1) Pick up his $8.1MM option for 2010, making him a free agent in 2011

2) Buy him out for $600k, making him a free agent, then collecting a compensatory draft pick from whatever team signs him. He's projected by MLBTradeRumors to be a Type B free agent

So much depends on the extent of Sanchez's knee health. If the guy tore his ACL, he won't be able to play until May 2010 at the absolute earliest. This of course would make his $8.1MM option a horrible idea. Not to mention the fact that other teams will not want to sign him because durability concerns and a loss of draft pick to the Giants.

This happened to Milwaukee this past winter. Ben Sheets was a type A free agent, who was diagnosed with a serious injury by the Rangers during the signing period. Not only did the Crew lose Sheets from its rotation, but since no other team signed him in 2009, they got nothing in return for one of the best pitchers in baseball.

In the Giants situation, the worst that could happen is that Sanchez's knee is blown out. Then they would buy him out for $600k, no one signs him next year, which would result in no compensatory pick, and the Pirates will have gotten Tim Alderson for free.

Excuse me while I wretch.

Of course, if F-Sanch's knee is okay, and he just sprained or tore his MCL, the Giants have more options. Not great ones, but options.

Obviously the worst case scenario is ugly, but sadly, it is a legitimate possibility.

Onto the Ryan Garko scenario. Having fun?

I remember the day we got Garks from Cleveland. My boy Damon Bruce was so excited, that he couldn't contain himself on the air. Hell, admit it, you were excited too. The guy's got pop, he was going to help a lot!


Well, the hype surrounding Garko was akin to the expectations we put on Inglourious Basterds. It was inflated and fan-driven. Just like when saw the movie trailer for I.B. thinking Brad Pitt would be killing Nazis non-stop for two hours, we looked at Garko's power numbers and his obvious complement to Ishikawa, and thought, "Playoffs here we come!"

Tarantino's movie ended up being an overhyped snoozefest, and the Garko acquisition has been a failure.

Going back to the Damon Bruce on the air the day of the acquisition, I remember one caller distinctly. Naturally he was clamoring about Matt Holliday and Jermaine Dye, like the rest of the unrealistic lunatic fringe. This guy said the Garko trade would be just as bad as the Shea Hillenbrand deal of 2006.

That deal seemed awful at the time, because Jeremy Accardo looked like a possible future closer. Now, we can see that that deal was inconsequential. Accards hasn't turned into much after filling in for BJ Ryan that one year, so it didn't end up mattering.

The Garko deal could look bad in 3 or 4 years when Scott Barnes is ready to join Cleveland's rotation.

Here are Garks' details:

1) He is arbitration eligible. He made $446,100 this year, and is due for a significant raise, putting him in the $3-5MM range

2) Garko could (but won't) decline arbitration, making him a free agent. Currently, Garko is not a Type A or Type B free agent, which hurts his value to the Giants (Here are the current Elias Rankings by category)

3) Could be non-tendered, making him a free agent, giving the Gyros no compensation

Sooooooo... we'd be better off offering him arbitration, him signing a deal, and then keeping him or trying to trade him. Not great.

Villalona update:

Andy Baggarly of the Merc has updated the Villalona situation.

The Giants prospect pleaded innocent down in the D.R. and was sent to jail while awaiting his trial. I guess they don't have bail down there... but then again, he is accused of shooting someone. Who knows how it works anyway.

Apparently he wore a bulletproof vest in the courtroom. Yikes.

I also wanted to state that in my previous post, I wasn't trying to convict the guy already. I was just saying that I believe that Villalona killed the guy. To be guilty, you need to commit a crime, and I never said that he did. What I was alluding to is that he probably shot this character in self-defense.

And look, this sounds callous, but this guy is a mega prospect, and I care too much about the Giants for Villalona to be locked up for 20 years in some hellhole prison in one of the poorest countries on earth. If it takes bribery to get this guy out of jail and into instructional winter ball, so be it.

These type of powerful youngsters do not grow on trees, and we'll never win a championship if we can't hit. I just hope he didn't gun this guy down in cold blood!

Let's channel our frustrations into hatred toward the Dodgers and Rockies. It'll make you feel better. I think. Just stay away from sharp objects.

What's worse, being down 4.5 games or a killing on Hispanola?

(I apologize if you're getting this twice. I'm having some feed issues again.)


Well, the former is ugly, but not insurmountable. Our wild card hopes are certainly dwindling away just like the summer boozing season. Of course, it's almost the fall boozing season, so that's not the problem. The real problem is fatigue by our horses, Cain and Lincecum.

These guys have been monsters all year, but I truly think that this long, stressful season has taxed both their physical and mental states. It would be hard not to. In the NL, only Adam Wainwright (219 IP) and Danny Haren (217.1) have thrown more than Timmy's 211.1 innings. Matt Cain is right behind with 202 innings.

I'm not one of these guys that says "Oh he's too small to keep this up" and "His motion is too violent." It's just not true. There are very few horses in this league that can be considered better at the tail end of the season. Hell, look at Roy Halladay. The guy leads the MLB in innings pitched at 221, and his first and second half stats are markedly different.

Halladay's pre all-star ERA was 2.65, to go along with 10 HR allowed. In the second half, his ERA has gone up to 3.26, and has already allowed 11 HR in 30 less innings.

With Zito and CC Sabathia being notable exceptions, dudes just tire out. Even Timmy Lincecum will give up 5 runs occasionally. Of course, his worst starts are in the heat. As I noted in this August 18th post, Timmy hates the heat.

He flat out doesn't like it, and his pitching suffers as a result. Take a look for yourself. In Timmy's last 3 starts in which he's given up 4 runs or more, they've all been during hot weather-- one in Cincy, one in Atlanta, and one in LA. If you can't see the table below, click here.




Now, onto the Angel Villalona situation.

If you haven't read the article from MLB.com, here it is.

All we know is that Angel Villalona, the 48th ranked prospect in all of the majors at age 19, has turned himself into authorities in the Dominican Republic, and is the prime suspect in the killing of another dude.

Great. This is all we need.

The island of Hispanola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) is not a good place. Poverty, desperation, and corruption rule, and for many young men, the possibility of becoming a major leaguer is the only way out. They'll lie about their ages and names (Miguel Tejada) and will even do all kinds of crazy steroids, even stuff meant for animals. It's this desperation that Dominican big leaguers know all too well.

This particular situation has a 19 year old bonus baby, who received $2.1 million dollars from the Gyros at age 16 to develop into the next David Ortiz.

Think about it. You're in a new country that has zero in common with the only thing you know, you've got a ton of money in your pocket-- more than 95% of your countrymen. It's difficult to comprehend how someone develops at such a young age with such strong factors at work.

With all that said, yeah, he probably shot this Mario Felix de Jesus Velete character. In fact, I'm almost positive he killed the guy.

But c'mon guys. This is the same thing that professional athletes deal with in this country, let alone the D.R.

Eddy Curry, Antoine Walker, Dunta Robinson, Steve Smith, CC Sabathia, Paul Pierce, Stephon Marbury... the list of professional athletes robbed or attacked is off the charts.

These guys are targets, and the young and dumb ones seem to inevitably put themselves in these situations. See Jackson, Stephen and Jones, Pacman for further clarification.

Obviously none of us were there, but some young Dominican punk probably ran up on Angel outside of some club or a cousin's house (inevitably cousins are involved somehow), and some sort of threatening situation occurred in which Villalona feared for his own life or the lives of his family members.

As Giants reliever Waldis Joaquin alluded to, "...people occasionally shoot first and answer questions later if they're being hassled by a group."

"Maybe if you have five people in one fight, you don't want to leave, and if you have a gun, you [fire it]." --MLB.com

Real reassuring Joaq-man. Real good.

The effect on the Giants future plans obviously won't be known for awhile yet, but to have one its top hitting prospects in this kind of trouble is not good.

The corruption angle could work well or horribly for Villalona in this scenario.

Scenario #1: Villalona hires the best lawyer in the country, pays off a couple magistrates and politicians, and gets off on a self-defense ruling. Everyone's happy.

In fact, check this out from the UNHCR website:

"...The judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court, is politicized and riddled with corruption, and the legal system offers little recourse to those without money or influence."

Money and influence, sounds good. Go Giants.

Scenario #2: An overzealous legal system seeks to make an example out of On-Hell and stuff is not good.

Ah yes, murder raps in corrupt third world countries, gotta love that.

Keep the faith Giants fans.

AND EFF THE DODGERS.