Slowly but surely, Bochy is figuring it out...

It's not perfect-- nothing is of course with our Giants and the backward state of the roster. Bochy at the helm has driven us all to drink, yell, spit, and burn up various internet posting outlets at one time or another. Indeed, he is slow, deliberate and frustrating in many ways.

Bochy is slow to make pitching changes, slow to walk to the mound, it even appears as though he would eat dinner slowly.

The slowest part of his behavior has been the excruciatingly slow, soccer-like execution of assembling the ideal lineup.

Interesting about this suddenly decent offense is that it is made up of modestly and/or appropriately paid players that were not expected to make up the everyday lineup card.

We all know the bummers that have befallen the Giants payroll. Renteria makes $8MM, and has been a combination of hurt and ineffective. Rowand makes $12.5MM, and is both ineffective and horrendous-- now he rides pine. DeRosa has been injured for nearly a month after hovering slightly above the Mendoza line for the first 7 weeks of the year. His $6MM salary is on the shelf, along with his wonky wrist, which for some unacceptable reason, has not been repaired yet.

Then of course there's Bengie Molina, who has been another disappointment, making around $4MM.

Let's add it up. For those of you keeping score at home (by the way, who the hell would actually do that?), that's right around $30 meeelion dollars (**Dr. Evil pinky finger thing**) of nearly dead weight in 2010.

Now, I'm not exactly sure if I'm going anywhere with the Dr. Evil reference. Maybe Brian Sabean is Dr. Evil, maybe it's Bochy. I'm not sure.

With the bizarre Frankenstein lineup that we've ended up with, we can't be upset. The additions of Pat Burrell and Buster Posey are about as cost-efficient as it gets, and the trio of Huff/Uribe/Sanchez are now looking like complete bargains and two of them are worthy of all-star consideration.

All the Sabean haters ripped on each one of these signings with the exception of Posey and Uribe, but look, somehow, things are working.

What we cannot stand as fans is the fact that money is being wasted on players either too ineffective or too injured to contribute at all. It's like, why cant any of these big salary guys work out, while the cheap guys like Huff, Santiago Casilla, Andy Torres, and Billy Mota are? I don't get it. It's the same GM making these moves, and yet there are wildly varying degrees of success involved. Back to Bochy though...

Bochy is a slow old catcher, who likes slow old vets. He can't help himself because it's who he is. Rowand is "one of our guys", Renteria "has been around for a long time", and Bengie "handles the pitching staff well". It's almost as if it causes Boch physical pain to remove former "gamers" like Rowand from the lineup, and to move the slow-learning, ADHD-riddled Pablo Sandoval down in the lineup.

It really angers knowledgeable fans like myself, and many that I talk to on Facebook/Twitter or in real life, that we've been saying things like "Call up Posey" and "drop Sandoval down in the order" and "play Nate Schierholtz" and "how do you expect John Bowker to ever hit lefties if he never faces one?"-- and being correct about them while Sloth Bochy and Sabean sit on their hands for WEEKS at a time over these decisions.

While Schierholtz is still not playing in favor of Bengie Molina, many of the things that we fans have harped on are finally being done. Posey was called up. Andy Torres leads off daily while Rowand sits. Pablo Sandoval has been yelled at and demoted in the order for being a retard, and the best players are now playing on an every day basis regardless of salary.

However, the true test of whether or not Bochy has rid himself of his foolish ways and habits will come within the next week. Yes, Gamer Renteria (I think Gamer is a biblical name), is coming off the DL, and I for one am scared as hell that he will ruin everything.

Today, everyone from Baggarly and Schulman to Amy G and Lou Seal relayed the information via Twitter that Juan Uribe would continue to start and that Renteria would not reclaim his starting spot. I'll believe it when I see it.

I can't even imagine who would sit in favor of Renteria. If it happens, it would be the most egregious injustice committed in sports since soccer was invented by fruitcakes on another continent who thought ties were an okay way to end a sporting event.

(See how I ripped on the World Cup there while remaining relevant? Damn I'm good.)

The whole point is that Bochy, after weeks of torturous lineup cards, has finally figured it out. Step two is playing Posey at catcher, putting Huff at first, Nate in right, and banishing Renteria, Rowand, and Molina to the pine, where they belong.

Things are looking up.

PS: Pat Burrell could be the "big bat" we were looking for. Imagine that. Who advocated his acquisition months ago? Yeah, it was me.

It's time to freak out, Giants fans

It was a shocking weekend. Just shocking. It didn't help that the Sharks got swept either, but my God...

ONE RUN IN THREE GAMES.

ONE RUN!

Usually, I'm the one against freaking out, and keeping our composure, but this-- this is not gonna work anymore...

This display against the very beatable Athletics even drew the interest of the great ESPN for once (which might as well be an unholy marriage between NESN and YES at this point). I was delighted that they chose to throw a little "Did You Know?" stat about our futility out there. Yeah, the Giants hadn't scored so little in so many games since like '49. It's just totally unreal.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit on the season, we can say for sure that the Giants' quick, heavy-hitting start out of the gate was indeed a fraud. That was us at our absolute best. Renteria and Rowand were raking, Bengie was kicking ass... that was the best that this team could play. It's like a chick peaking at age 16. That's all gone. Now, we're most likely witnessing the worst they can play. Not cool Giants.

The bullpen is not holding leads (or keeping games close), and our poor starters, who are still going strong, are being left high and dry, which does God-knows-what to their mental state and confidence. It's just not going well at all.

You know I'm not usually like this. You know... the whole negativity thing. Unfortunately there is little to no silver lining to be discovered right now... and management seems to have zero clue as to how to fix the problem.

Even now, after managing one run in three games, Sabean and Co. refuse to consider calling up Posey. There is such an obvious disconnect between those in charge of the organization and reality, that I wonder if we're all actually living in some dreadful, non-linear drama on ABC like FlashForward or Lost.

I know I'll take a little heat for the Lost rip, but that's not the point. The point is that our beloved team has a problem-- an obvious problem-- and it is simply not being addressed. Not only is it not being addressed, but there has been almost no attempt at addressation (that's not a word, but I think it should be).

It's quite simple really. Let me break it down so that even a caveman could do it.

We cannot score runs.

Solution?

Add hitter, change lineup. Score runs.

I'm tired of the money excuse for Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina. Yes, they are gamers, and I like their effort and veterany-ness, but they aren't playing well. Just because these guys (and Renteria) are making too much money, doesn't mean they get a free pass. If I'm in charge of the Giants, this is what I do until DeRosa gets back, and Posey at catcher full time be damned. Bengie is still a good bat. We're trying to win, remember? And I know this would never happen in a million years, but does it not make sense? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?




1) Andres Torres CF
2) Freddy Sanchez 2B
3) Pablo Sandoval 3B
4) Aubrey Huff LF
5) Buster Posey 1B
6) Juan Uribe SS
7) Bengie Molina C
8) Nate Schierholtz RF

Yeah, there could be a couple flip-flops in the order, but how on earth is that worse than the BS being run out there right now? I'm sorry, but the longer management waits on Posey, the further we will slip into mediocrity. Notice how good that lineup looks with no Aaron Rowand?

Hank Schulman of the Chronicle suggested today that "big changes" would be coming to the lineup. Oh yeah? If Bochy considers this "big changes", then I'm a monkey's uncle. From The Splash:

"This is how it might work until left fielder Mark DeRosa returns: Freddy Sanchez would move to third base, allowing Juan Uribe to play second now that shortstop Edgar Renteria is back. (Alternatively, Uribe could play third and Sanchez could stay at second.) Pablo Sandoval would shift from third base to first base, and Aubrey Huff would move to left field. Andres Torres will play right, leaving John Bowker and Nate Schierholtz on the bench."

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Basically, if I'm following this correctly, to solve the problem of not hitting, they've decided to move Huff from his best position to one of lesser skill, move Freddy Sanchez to a position of lesser skill, put our "mega-super-ultra" utilityman Uribe at Sanchez's position, and add Edgar Renteria to the lineup.

Excuse me while I scream into a pillow.

We all must admit to ourselves that Posey may not be the answer. It's possible that with the pressure and inexperience, he could crack. Remember, he only got two hits in 17 ABs and looked overmatched at the plate while briefly up last year. Obviously it's a small sample size, and he will rake at some point, but we can't just add Buster to the big league lineup and assume we'll start scoring like the Phillies.

And people, as tempting as "name-brand" veterans like Pat Burrell, Jermaine Dye, and Austin Kearns are, they are not the answer.

The answer, unfortunately lies in a trade, and the price will be steep. Someone near and dear to our hearts will have to be traded, and it will not be pretty at first, but it must be done. We will have to part with Madison Bumgarner and will have to include a Thomas Neal or a Brandon Crawford, or both. We have another 3-4 years to win with this group of pitchers, and we are well behind schedule in overall team development.

Also of utmost importance is to rid ourselves of Aaron Rowand. It is another article for another day, but if we were to eat $8MM of his deal for the remainder of his deal ($24MM), it would be better than having him on the roster, and crazily, it would save us $12MM total ($4MM/year). How sickening is that? But seriously. He's part of the problem, and is a big reason why we are financially constrained.

Anyway, let's all enjoy the day off from offensive mediocrity and pray that Bochy, Sabean, Neukom, and the rest of those bean counters stop acting like such a-holes and do what needs to be done.

What's not to love?

I don't mean to keep gushing like a North Hollywood white trash school girl looking at a Justin Bieber Dodgers billboard, but I just can't help it. I just love this Giants team. Maybe sometime soon I'll write something about home runs or stankeyes or cool shirts emblazoned with Krukowisms, but right now I just can't. I'm too excited.

I'm too excited about Timmy and Kung Fu, and even too excited about Rowand and Renteria. I just love this Giants team.

Now, it probably goes without saying that most people reading this already root for the Gyros. Then it probably goes down to about 80% of readers who actually really love the Giants. There is a difference however between loving the team you root for, and actually loving the roster, and the way they get things done-- a big difference.

None of us really loved the 2009 Giants team. Sure it was gutsy, and did waaaay more than was expected of it, but Lord knows it was deeply flawed, and among the more frustrating things ever. Did we still love the Giants? Hell yeah we did. Just like we hated the Dodgers. That never changes.

The difference between 2009 and this 2010 season still in its early infancy, is that I think I may just love this roster and this team. Would I feel differently if we'd started 1-6? Probably. Who wouldn't? If we were to go 1-6 in our next 7 games, would I still love the roster? Yeah, I think I would, and here's my sick "under the influence of winning" rationalization.

There isn't a guy on this team that I hate. I mean, yeah, I really didn't like "The Retarded 'R' Brothers" of 2009 (Rowand & Renteria). Many of us used the words hate towards them. I was close. Hell, I think I even had a poll question up here last season asking if you "truly hated Edgar Renteria". Sick, I know, but look, could you blame us? Those two make way too much money and played horribly.

I don't think our "hatred" of those two guys was real. It was disgust and frustration, but I think when fans truly hate a ballplayer, they cannot be forgiven and cannot achieve new life with that fanbase. Think Milton Bradley being run out of Wrigley; now that's some serious hate right there. Think Stephen Jackson and how he left the Warriors.

Back to Rowand and Renteria's situation, which is very similar to another guy you know.

May I present to you Barry Zito as exhibit A. He's still borderline with some folk, but he's managed to somehow resurrect his Giant career for the most part in a matter of 25 or so starts. Plus, he plunked Prince Fielder and is now a supposed "leader in the clubhouse".

Remember how much we "hated" Zito?

We didn't care what happened to him. We wanted his contract bought out, we wanted him in the bullpen, we wanted him in Fresno... just anywhere but Mays Field. It was honestly the closest thing to hatred I've seen since "The Great Lunatic Fringe/Armando Benitez Revolt of Twenty-ot-Seven".

The point is, when players begin to perform at an acceptable level, they instantly become likeable, or at least tolerable. With Renteria opening the season at a .440 clip and hitting that dong the other day against Atlanta, I'm thiiiiiiiissssss close to already forgiving and forgetting. Same thing with Rowand. He still swings at a lot of crap, but dude, after his 0-10 start in Houston to open the season, guess what he's hitting. Seriously, guess.

Aaron Rowand is hitting .435 since those first two games. Not only that, but he's even knocked in a few runs.

What I'm trying to say here is that with Zeets, Row, and Edgar on their way to being embraced by Giants Nation, there's no one left to dislike, and by that logic, you like the rest of the roster. Right?

No one screams "Freakin Bum!" at you when you peruse the roster. Billy Mota? He's been pretty solid so far. A.U. Velez? Guy's funny looking and we don't know what we're getting from him, but hey he hit that double the other day! Bowker? Schierholtz? Whiteside? Huff? Wellemeyer? They're all okay. See what I mean?

It just struck me during the shellacking of the Buckos on Monday. These guys are just fun to root for and to watch play. Sandoval is just plain hilarious in every way, plus he's not off-balance anymore (which scared me the other day if you'll recall). Bengie is also amusing in his own way, and he's hitting like the pressure is off. Huff is like a walking comedy act, and I have a feeling he's going to be a KNBR staple at some point this season. And that's without even mentioning what a pleasure it is to watch this pitching staff go to work.

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive my gushing over this team. I can't help it. If you have a more cynical view of things and would rather focus on the past or on how many games we've played thus far, please, I encourage you to seek your fan-perspective blogging from another site.

Around here, I love this team, and I don't care who knows it.

I had a feeling this would happen: The Posey dilemma

Hey folks. Happy March Madness weekend. How are you brackets doing? Did you pick all the wrong upsets on days 1 and 2? I hope you picked Cornell to go to the Sweet 16, because that's where they're going. Inside information from Tony Kornheiser.

Check out the last two entries on Hotstove.com here, and here. Also, I'm submitting full articles there now. Good stuff.

Now, onto the main question: WTF are we going to do with Buster Posey?

There seems to be a good 30-40% of Giants Nation who were fit to be tied when Bengie Molina was re-signed. This group consists mainly of baseball nerds, who think they're better than Joe Eighteen Packs like me. It's really amazing. Baseball fanhood is the only realm of life where nerds actually become elitist snobs that turn their bespectacled noses up at the rest of us who actually believe Bengie Molina is a good ballplayer who helps a team more than he hurts it.

We like the guy, he's a pudgy, funny Puerto Rican that has knocked in some big runs for us-- oh... what's that? Baseball nerds don't count RBIs as positives? Oh. Okay. Sorry. My bad. I thought that was how you win games.

Basically, I was happy that Big Money was re-signed to simultaneously catch, amuse, and frustrate the hell out of us. I felt the salary was about a million too high, but I also felt that it would be a net positive for him to return.

Let's for a minute throw his offense out the window and just focus on what he brings to the rest of the table (where he's probably hitting the buffet hard... that's what I'd be doing).

He is the preferred target of most of the pitching staff, specifically Timmy Lincecum, who has, as you know, won consecutive Cy Youngs while throwing to Big Money.

Nothing about Bengie's defensive stats have declined significantly, although he did seem to be a little slower and lazier behind the plate last year blocking balls. However, he seemed to be more banged up in '09 than previously. Regardless, his receiving skills, game-calling skills, and calming presence behind the dish are net positives.

As for his offense, I don't think I've ever, in all my days on this earth seen an uglier, more frustrating 20 HR and 80 RBI. I mean, I had to do a double take looking at the stats right now. It's unbelievable. How does a guy who appears to be awful put up such significant figures? The truth is that he is awful, but only in certain areas.

He swung at a higher percentage of balls out of the strike zone than any other man in MLB last season. He walked only 13 times in nearly 500 official at bats. His on base percentage was .285 last season. The only guy worse was Yuniesky Betancourt for God's sake. That, and he's slower than molasses in wintertime.

So, I don't know man. I just don't. Maybe Bengie will be more comfortable hitting in the 6th or 7th spot, and will feel less pressure to swing at everything from here to Sunnyvale. But, then again, his highest OBP was only .322. He's about as likely to change his ways as an 80 year-old small town Southern man is.

Speaking of Southerners, what do we do with Posey??

The concern shared by Bochy and Sabean, apparently, was Posey's ability to play the position and call a proper game. Of course he could use some seasoning, he has caught like 400 innings in his entire life at every level... maybe less. He's a bright friggin guy though, and he picks stuff up like that (*finger snap*).

Okay, fair enough.

My concern after last season's brief appearance was that he wasn't ready to hit big leaguers. After ripping up every level he played at, he looked over-matched while with the big club. Granted he only got like 3 ABs (which was angering me to no end at the time), so it simply wasn't a good enough sample size.

This spring, my fears are non-existent. Posey is absolutely raking in Scottsdale with a current .925 OPS in 32 ABs. Again, small sample size, non-regular season setting, but it is now creating a "Catching Controversy". Wow, I thought we weren't going to have to deal with a controversy until David Carr and Alex Smith started battling it out for the title of "Least Awful Former #1 Overall Bust".

The question is, really, "What now?"

Do we send Posey to Fresno for "seasoning"? Does he even need it? Did we underestimate this kid? If we keep him up on the 25 man roster, in what capacity will it be? Backup catcher/pinch hitter? SUPER ULTRA MEGA EXTREME UTILITY GUY?

Because we don't have enough of those guys already.

Can you imagine it? We've got Sandoval at catcher! We've Got DeRosa and 2nd! Huff in Right! Uribe at Short! Posey at 1st! Sanchez at 3rd! OMFG!

Ridiculous. Just absurd.

It does bring up an interesting question though: With 4 or 5 multi-positional players already, what purpose does Posey serve? It's all a big cluster-eff at this point, and damn you Posey for being ready to play! Now we're all messed up!

It is definitely a good problem to have though, and my humble two cents are: If Buster Posey starts the year in Fresno, it's doing everyone a disservice. He's ready to play, and if that means that he catches 2 games to Bengie's 3, or he becomes a personal catcher for someone and plays some first base against lefties, you get his ass in there.

Don't Expect Miracles This Offseason: Part 1

By not expecting miraculous overhauls, you are actively promoting your mental health.

If you, as a Giants fan, and by virtue, a rational human being, expect for this team to be transformed into a thumping lineup full of clubbers and dongers, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and hair-pulling insanity.

And I'm going out on a limb here by saying this, but... you don't need that in your life.

As we intermittently and half-heartedly watch the MLB playoffs, we keep thinking, "God, we were so damn close. That could be us in there!"

Yeah, it could have been, and we were so very close.

Whether or not we could have competed against the Phillies is debatable, but at this juncture, it is neither here nor there. By finally coming to terms with 2009's result, we inevitably shift our Giants thoughts toward the offseason signing period and 2010, with with a wandering jealous eye trained on playoff scores.


Here's what it's looking like:

Hitters w/guaranteed deals: Rowand ($13.6M), Renteria ($10M)

Arbitration eligible hitters: Frandsen , Garko

Players under control (minimum deals): Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Velez, Lewis, Torres, Bowker, Burriss, Whiteside, Rohlinger, etc. (all guys that have been shuttling back and forth between the minors basically)

Free Agents: Juan Uribe, Freddy Sanchez, Randy Winn, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia

There's so many things to speculate about here, so let's just go with the most likely scenarios.

I see the Giants cutting their losses with Ryan Garko. They made an effort to get some corner infield pop to complement Ishikawa, and it didn't work. Granted the guy needs consistent at bats in a new league to be successful, but it didn't happen, and although Sabean gave up LHP Scott Barnes in the deal, there may not be any room for Garks. He is arbitration eligible, and his salary would probably net him between $3-5M per year, something I don't see the Giants biting on. Cutting ties without offering arbitration is known as "non-tendering" a player.

Kevin Frandsen is a bit of a mystery. He may just a be a 4A player that the Giants are tired of. I can see this well-liked guy being non-tendered as well, despite his low price.

As for all these other guys, it'll just be up to management. I'm not going to sit here and debate whether Emmanuel Burriss or Ryan Rohlinger should be backup infielders, it just doesn't matter that much (although I'd go for Rohlinger).

The real questions lie in what to do with 3 key free agents: Juan Uribe, Freddy Sanchez, and Bengie Molina.

The case for Sanchez:

We were all disappointed by how this worked out. I was even more disappointed that Sanchez himself knew he'd need surgery, and that the Giants brass swept this under the rug. So, let me get this straight... we traded a top 5 prospect for an injured guy? If Sabean wanted him so bad, why not just take a stab at him in free agency?

The case for bringing him back lies partially with the amount we gave up for him (Tim Alderson), but mainly for the stability he will bring to the lineup and his ability (when healthy) to get hits and get on base. He plays very good defense, and is a valuable veteran presence. I'm simply not comfortable with some sort of strange timeshare between Eugenio Velez and another guy.

He has an option that the Giants can pick up at $8.5 million. This is doubtful, because no one on the open market would give him that. I think they will either offer him arbitration, or will agree on a lower annual salary on a two year deal.

The case for Uribe:

Uribe's performance this season was exemplary. He did everything in his power to help this team, and he deserves a raise from the $1M he made this season. However, I believe whether the Giants bring him back depends on the market for him. He deserves at least $4M per year on a two year deal.

Re-signing Uribe and Sanchez allows the manager (assuming it's Bochy... another blog for another time), a great deal of lineup flexibility. Between Sandoval, Ishikawa, Sanchez, Renteria, Velez and Uribe, there are seemingly an infinite amount of infield combinations. Not pretty combinations, but nonetheless...

Uribe is a great clubhouse presence, and players like him are simply invaluable to a club. Would you be comfortable with the Giants not signing Freddy Sanchez and keeping Uribe to start at 2B and spot start at SS, while Velez takes over at second? I would.

Again, these things are not pretty, but this is what we're looking at.

The case for Bengie Molina:

The case is not great. Bengie was our heart and soul for a few years here. In all honesty, he deserves better than this; than to be discarded like an old newspaper. It is, unfortunately the nature of the beast, and Buster Posey is the future catcher of the organization.

At this stage in his career, Bengie will be looking for a multi-year deal, and will surely receive multiple two year offers. The thing is, we just don't want him for two years.

In my opinion, Posey will not be ready to be a full time catcher at the beginning of 2010. He is close, but just not quite there offensively. He's too green yet, and needs to start next season in Fresno. Therein lies the issue.

Do we sign a guy on a one year deal? Ehh...

Then what kind of offense would we get out of that position in the first half of next year? If you recall, Bengie was basically our only offense (other than Panda) in the first half of last year. Without that production, we wouldn't have been close.

See... this sucks for everyone.

So, why can't we just spend money and bring in some hitters?

Okay, well easier said than done. There simply aren't that many great hitters out there on the market. We're not getting Jason Bay or Matt Holliday, so just forget about that. Sorry. Not gonna happen. And even if it did, it would KILL US longterm. You do want to sign Lincecum and Cain in a few years, don't you?

The interesting wrinkle in this whole situation is the vast amount of money that is coming off the books for 2010. The combined salaries of Winn, Molina, Uribe, Dave Roberts, Noah Lowry, Sanchez, and Howry add to approximately $34.3M. Before you jump for joy, keep in mind that Lincecum, Brian Wilson, and Jonathan Sanchez will be getting modest raises, as they are in their first years of arbitration. Accounting for that, there is still a solid amount of money available to spend. The key is not spending, just to spend. This is why Bill Neukom and Sabean are non-committal when speaking to a guy like Ralph Barbieri, who makes it a hobby to badger Giants management about "spending money".

Yes, they should put the best product on the field, but this year, there are no sure things, and we must think about the most sound way to compete now, without hamstringing the team when extensions for Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Pandoval, etc. come up in the next 4-6 years.

Anyway, here are the available free agents.

You can find the whole list here, but here are the relevant options:

Catcher:

Rod Barajas (34) - Type B
Michael Barrett (33) - club option
Ramon Hernandez (34) - $8.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout - Type B
Jason Kendall (36) - Type B
Miguel Olivo (31) - $3.25MM mutual option - Type B
Jason Varitek (38) - $5MM club/$3MM player option plus incentives - Type B
Gregg Zaun (39) - $2MM club option with a $500K buyout; Zaun can void option

Nothing looks attractive here other than Rod Barajas on a one year deal.

First Basemen:

Hank Blalock (29)
Russell Branyan (34)
Carlos Delgado (38) - Type B
Nick Johnson (31) - Type B
Adam LaRoche (30) - Type B
Chad Tracy (30) - $7MM option with a $1MM buyout

Blalock and Johnson obviously jump out at you, but Hank is subpar defensively and better suited to the AL. If Nick Johnson isn't re-signed by Florida, he'd be a good fit, and wouldn't be too expensive. Delgado wouldn't be horrible, but after years of us ripping Sabean for signing aging players for millions of dollars, he's too gun shy to pull the trig.

Second Basemen:

Ronnie Belliard (35) - Type B
Mark DeRosa (35) - Type B
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34) - Type B
Orlando Hudson (32) - Type A
Akinori Iwamura (31) - $4.25MM club option with a $250K buyout
Felipe Lopez (30) - Type B
Placido Polanco (34) - Type A
Freddy Sanchez (32) - $8MM club option with a $600K buyout - Type B
Juan Uribe (31)

I'm a big Mark DeRosa fan. He brings the same adhesive properties that Uribe does, but is a more refined ballplayer. I would love to sign him to play 3B full time, move Panda to 1B, and re-sign either Sanchez or Uribe to play 2B. I don't believe the Giants would go after Polanco or Hudson due to their "Type A" status. And would they be an upgrade over our current incumbents? No. Not really. DeRosa is solid pickup though.

Third Basemen:

Adrian Beltre (31) - Type B
Joe Crede (32)
Mark DeRosa (35) - Type B
Chone Figgins (32) - Type B
Troy Glaus (33) - Type B
Miguel Tejada (36) - Type A
Juan Uribe (31)

Technically, this isn't a position of need, but you get it. Hmm... some repeat names on here. Figgins would be nice, but the Angels will re-sign him at any cost. The guy that intrigues me, which you'll think I'm crazy for, is Troy Glaus. He spent the whole season on the DL, but he can still hit, no doubt in my mind.

Outfielders:

Garret Anderson (38) - Type B
Jason Bay (31) - Type A
Marlon Byrd (32) - Type B
Johnny Damon (36) - Type A
Matt Holliday (30) - Type A
Reed Johnson (33)
Manny Ramirez (38) - $20MM player option - Type A
Rick Ankiel (30)
Rocco Baldelli (28)
Mike Cameron (37) - Type B
Coco Crisp (30) - $8MM club option with a $500K buyout
Darin Erstad (36)
Ryan Freel (34)
Andruw Jones (33)
Scott Podsednik (34)
Bobby Abreu (36) - Type A
Jermaine Dye (36) - $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout - Type A
Geoff Jenkins (35) - $7.5MM mutual option with a $1.25MM buyout
Austin Kearns (30) - $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Xavier Nady (31) - Type B

Ehh... what looks good to you, keeping in mind that Bay and Holliday are unattainable? Jermaine Dye and Bobby Abreu? Yeah. I'd take one of those guys. They'd require two year deals at around $8M+ per though. Nady and Kearns are interesting as well, but both have their drawbacks.

So you see, boys and girls, there are no quick fixes for this offense. The best I think we could do would be to sign Dye or Abreu to play right, and some two man combo out of the following infield group: Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Mark DeRosa.

Then of course, that stunts Nate Schierholtz's growth, unless he takes over in LF, where his gun of an arm is under-utilized.

You can sign the injury prone Nick Johnson and give up on Ishikawa, but is that a big enough upgrade to justify doing it?

Then, there's catcher... (my head hurts)

So, after breaking down this dreary situation, I hope you now see that there are no quick fixes. I too wish we could just throw an insane contract at Holliday or Bay to man left field for us, but it's just not feasible. The dearth of signable free agent hitters this offseason is shocking, but it is a fact. This leads us to the following options: trade a big time pitcher or prospect for a big time hitter, or hunker down and do the best with what our options are.

Wish it were different.

Part II coming up in a couple days.

Lincey's Cy Young hopes all but gone and Winn sucks

It is with great regret that I say this, but there is very little to be happy about at this current juncture. Tim Lincecum will probably not win the Cy Young award for the second year in a row.

Is he deserving of it and should he win? Hell yeah he should.

The problem is a lack of wins. As I wrote in this August 28th post, Timmy being Timmy may not cut it this year-- and it's not his fault.

Chris Carpenter/Adam Wainwright seem to have a leg up right now, and a lot of it has to do with the team they play on rather than them having "blow-you-away" stats. The Cardinals are simply a better team. They've won more games, they've scored more runs. It's that simple.

Carpenter: 187.2 IP, 16-4, 2.30 ERA, 138 K, 1.07 WHIP, 6.62 K/9

Lincecum : 218.1 IP, 14-7, 2.47 ERA, 254 K, 1.09 WHIP, 10.47 K/9

Wainwright: 219 IP, 18-8, 2.59 ERA, 193 K, 1.21 WHIP, 7.93 K/9

It truly is an unbelievably close race, and everyone knows which horse we're pulling for. Timmy's numbers are overall the best I think, especially because of his cartoonish strikeout totals. It's all up to the writers though, and I think the sob story of Carpenter returning to prominent dominance following 2 years of injuries will tear-jerk them into a vote for Carp. Timmy has one more start this season, so the lineup gets one more chance to pick up their ace. Don't hold your breath.

This could've all been avoided though...

IF THE GIANTS COULD SCORE SOME GODDAMN RUNS FOR THIS GUY IN SEPTEMBER!

Friday's offensive performance was downright offensive. Getting two measly hits off Z and 1 measly walk is just a total joke. Zambrano is a guy who allows nearly 1.5 baserunners per inning on the season! We get three in the whole effing game. Typical.

All while Timmy is out there pitching his can off, dog-tired, and in need of a pick-me-up.

And while I'm on the subject of offensive offense, we can all put this effing stat in our collective pipe and smoke it:

Randy Winn, a guy who has taken the majority of his at bats in 2009 in the 3rd spot (inexplicably) in the order, has... wait for it....

Two home runs.

Two.

Carlos Zambrano has four home runs in 2009.

Yes. That Carlos Zambrano. Carlos Zambrano the pitcher. The guy who hits 9th and isn't supposed to hit .160. I am ashamed right now.

And to top it off, Bochy has continually defended putting Randy Winn in the 3rd spot all year. The order disorder has gone on all season. Although Bochy has gotten unbelievably far with the tools he was given for his lineup, the continual unwillingness to rid the lineup of Renteria and Winn (and even Rowand) all year probably cost us 5 games. Guess how many games we're behind Colorads right now.

Here's another stat to smoke in your pipe.

Randy Winn hit .212 this season in the 3rd spot of the lineup. That is the lowest average of any spot in the order this year in which he's had 10 or more at bats. I'm sorry. I have to make a spreadsheet of this. Indulge me and click here please. This is too appalling. Just do it.



It's sickening.

Oh.

And it's about goddamn time Buster Posey got a friggin start. What's the plan for next year, huh? Is Posey or is Posey not the future catcher of this organization? Are you going to start the season next year with Eli Whiteside and Steve Holm as your catching tandem? Get Posey as much big league experience as possible while he's up here. How effing hard is that to understand? If he doesn't start the rest of the Giants' remaining games, I'm going to put my head through the drywall. You've gotta be kidding me. Sit Bengie's ass down permanently. It's been a nice run Big Money, and you carried us through some dark times, but I'm tired of your ways, and you are no longer part of this team. Good bye and good luck.

In fact, while I'm on this angry rant, goodbye Randy Winn, Randy Johnson, and Rich Aurilia. Three great guys, three washed up ballplayers.

God. Sorry. I needed to get that out there.

PS: Mike Krukow said Vespas were cool during the 5th inning. I used to respect him 100%. Now it's at 99.5%. Don't ever say that again Krook. Also. Congrats to Matt Cain for winning the Willie Mac award.

I've gotta sleep this off. Later.


.

Juan Uribe, the team's SMVH

Sorry to anyone who's getting this twice. I'm having a big problem with Feedburner. Anyone know any alternatives?


I've been thinking of writing this for a couple weeks now, and of course, the people who actually get paid for this-- Andrew Baggarly of the Merc's Extra Baggs-- beat me to it.

Nonetheless, it's a legitimate take that many of us have had for a couple months now-- that is of course that Juan Uribe has been the team's second most valuable hitter; the SMVH.

Since he worked his way into steady playing time, Uribe has simply been marvelous in so many ways. The guy plays three positions fairly well and can do it at any time. Sure he boots a ball every now and then, but the sheer lineup flexibility he has afforded Bochy and the adhesive properties that he adds to this squad have far outweighed his 9 errors and range issues.

In addition, as Baggarly points out, the guy is a clubhouse delight, much like Sandoval is:

"He keeps the clubhouse loose. He interacts with everyone on the team, not just the Latino players. He has a special brand of humor that you can’t put into words."

So his teammates love him, he helps us out in the field... geez there was one other thing... God what was it? Hitting? Yeah, that sounds right. His hitting.

I remember Juan's days with the White Sox-- particularly 2005 when they won it all. My buddy had Extra Innings for dish and we both delighted in watching Hawk Harrelson, Darin Jackson and the White Sox whenever the Giants weren't on. Say what you will about the homers on the South Side, but they are hilarious and awesome and I won't take that back. I also remember Uribe's play; free swinging, cannon of an arm, flashing a big goofy grin on a fairly consistent basis.

In fact, while playing short for the Sox, Juan put up some sick numbers. From 2004 through 2007, he averaged 20 roundtrippers and 71 ribeye steaks. Not exactly A-Rod territory, but he was no slouch.

In comparison, another shortstop, someone you may have heard of, Edgar Renteria, averaged 11 HR and 67 RBI. Of course, Renteria's .291 average over that period was a full 40 points higher than Juan's, but still. It's ironic, because Renteria is the guy with the 2 year guaranteed deal worth $9MM per, and Uribe got a non-guaranteed deal worth one measly million during spring training.

More tangibly, Uribe has been a godsend in many games this year, especially since mid May. I mean, the guy only had 25 ABs in all of April. Now look at him. He's ranked #9 in Yahoo fantasy leagues in the last month (Bengie #146, Kung Fu #147) putting up gaudy figures (7 HR, 20 RBI, .357 avg, 1.090 OPS). I know fantasy baseball isn't a great indicator team success, but numbers are numbers and he's been keeping the ship afloat almost singlehandedly at times.

Granted, he's only hitting .214 with runners in scoring position this season, but he seems be constantly involved in rallies and random run production. Plus, whenever he hits a home run, I have to hit the replay button on my remote. They are just a thing of beauty.

What I guess I'm really trying to say is... RE-SIGN THIS GUY.

He deserves at least a 2 year deal worth $10MM. In a world where Renteria is making $9MM and Dave Roberts is making nearly that amount for watching TV, a guy like Uribe deserves it. And don't think for a second that other teams haven't noticed what he's done. He's an affordable bottle of glue and lightning that any team would love to have.

It is even more prudent that he returns due to health concerns of Freddy Sanchez. If indeed Sanchez does come back, the Gyros need infield insurance to help us all sleep at night. Plus this continues our lineup flexibility into 2010 and perhaps can give Renteria few days off (or force him more like it).

Plus...

We were able to bring back the ooooooooo! reeee-baaaay! chant.

And you can't put a price tag on that.


PS: BRUTAL WILSON, BRUTAL.

Another one run loss, Bumgarner looks solid

(Become a fan of The Dodgerhater on Facebook!)



I swear... this act is getting really, REALLY old.

I've just never seen anything like this in all my days. We are, in effect living and dying with a team that literally loses by one run nearly every time. It is just the most frustrating damn thing on earth, it really is. Being positive is becoming harder and harder... pretty soon we're all going to start having a recurring nightmare where we're standing up at the altar, and the Giants don't show up for the wedding-- I mean playoffs.

We have now lost our past 4 games by a total of, yes you guessed it, FOUR RUNS. I'm becoming enraged as we speak.

Serenity now, Mr. Costanza. Serenity now. Deep breaths.

You probably saw the game, so I'll try not to dwell on details. After all, you don't read this for recaps. Let's talk about Madison Bumgarner. Come on, you perked up a little bit just now, didn't you?

To be honest, I thought I knew more about the kid than I did. For some reason, I thought he threw harder... like 94-96. Heh. I kinda felt like a scout or a pitcher on his day off, charting Mad-Bum's pitches in my notebook.


True fans chart pitches!

Anyway. He threw 76 pitches (I missed 1 or 2 due to CSN) in 5.1 innings with 2 earnies and 4 K's. Certainly a very respectable outing for a 20 year old Double A callup who didn't even expect to start.

I got a pretty good idea of his three pitches tonight-- especially once he settled down. His three quarter release from the left side is certainly part of why he is going to be an effective pitcher. It's a deceptive and almost a total cross-body pitching motion. Coupled with pretty damn good control, he's certainly got the tools.

It's difficult to truly gauge what a pitchers strengths and weaknesses are going to be from just one sample size, but here are my observations:

-- I charted 43 fastballs, most of which fell between 88-92 mph.

-- He threw 15 circle changeups which fell between 81-86 mph. He got a couple of big swings and misses on them early in the game. If he can improve this pitch, he could be a seriously good pitcher. This appears to be his weakest pitch.

-- His slider is his most deceptive, and in my opinion, best pitch. It appears really slurvy and flat, but it takes hitters by surprise, and is especially filthy to lefties. He got Adrian Gonzalez to look foolish on a couple of these. He threw this pitch 16 times and it nearly always landed on 78 mph. Bumgarner seemed extremely comfortable with his breaking ball.

-- He needs to work on keeping the ball down. Too many of his fastballs were up, and the two dingers he gave up-- one to Chase Headley, and one to Will Venable-- were both fastballs, one was 90 mph and one was 92 respectively.

-- He simply doesn't throw hard enough to get away with fastballs up at the waist. Once he learns how to pitch, he'll be able to mix speeds even more effectively than he already does. I'm no pitching guru, but I'm thinking that if he is able to improve his changeup, he could really be something. Establishing his offspeed stuff first, then "blowing" them away with a 92 mph fastball could be filthy.

-- Bumster has incredible poise out there. He shows very little emotion, and seemed truly unrattled out there. He just strikes me as a confident, quiet Carolina kid that doesn't say too much and carries a big stick.

-- I really think we need to come up with a better nickname than "Mad-Bum". It's a cop out. My vote right now is "The Carolina Kid". I'm going to refer to him as that until someone comes up with something better. (This is what the comment section is for).


Game Notes & Quirky Observations

-- Hey Will Venable! Can you, like, not hit home runs against your hometown team? I'm happy to see a fellow San Rafael native do well in the majors, but dude! No more dingers for you!

-- Will's younger brother Winston is the starting safety for Boise State and his dad Max played for the Giants. San Rafael rules, but San Rafael High School sucks!

-- Jeremy Affeldt could be unraveling a bit. I really wouldn't be surprised. He's been incredible all year, but he's gotta be totally exhausted at this point. He's already appeared in 64 games, and is on pace to pitch in 75. Not a record, but still.

-- What a great play by Freddy Sanchez (I believe in the 7th). He saved the game from being a "three run blowout". A huge sno-cone job against Nick Hundley with the bases juiced.

-- Everything about David Eckstein bothers me.

-- Everything.

-- Krukow's first observation of The Carolina Kid (see, told you I was starting it) was that "...he's a walker." As in, he walks out to the mound. Guy never ceases to crack me up on the simplest, stupidest things.

-- The effing Colorado Rockies won a-goddamn-gain. Can we get a little help here Cincy? Please?

-- I'm burying the fact that we're now three games back in the wild card all the way down here, as to prevent our anger from boiling over.

-- It's not working.

-- Pablo Sandoval has the highest single season batting average for a switch hitter in Gyros history. Currently at .326.

-- Chili Davis had the previous record at .315

-- An amazing thing has happened. Juan Uribe is so awesome, that the AT&T faithful have brought back the "OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! REEEEEEEE-BAAAY!" chant back. It's effing awesome. It was originally Candlestick chant for the late, great Jose Uribe, Juan's second cousin.

-- Why do these worthless old Balldudes get to have a #1 on their uni's? Screw that. The only #1 on the Giants is Big Money Molina. Give those guys double zero. Disrespectful oversight. I'm gonna talk to some people... straighten this out.

-- On that note, we absolutely need to bring back the black alternate uni's for next year. They were awesome. Seriously, just wear them on Friday nights at home, like we did back in the day. They were slick, sharp, and they've got some great mojo in them. The hats were sick too.

-- No effing way. Aaron Rowand hit a home run at AT&T. He now has 14. He makes $12 million dollars

-- Juan Uribe has 12 dongs and makes one twelfth of what Rowand does.

-- Congrats to Randy Winn and Dave Flemming who just had a couple little bundles of loud, crying joy delivered by their wives in the last few days.

-- Merkin Valdez is not to be trusted anymore.

-- The only thing I'll say about the Milwaukee series is the following:

Prince Fielder, you better be able to run, because you are getting drilled in the ribcage with a 95 mph widowmaker the next time we meet. You sons of bitches will not get away with that grotesque, choreographed monstrosity of a celebration. That kind of crap belongs off the field. You're not LeBron James, and you can't do that crap during a game.

Completely unacceptable. The entire Brewers organization should be fined for that garbage. Eff you guys. If you Giants fans aren't outraged by this, you don't care enough.

Okay Zito. We need a shutout I guess. Work your magic!

We're still in this!

The Giants found a lucky Penny, Posey called up

Where were you when you first heard the news?

I received multiple text messages this morning and confirmed this while Facebooking and driving on 101.

Our Golden Boy Buster Posey was indeed called up today-- something that we were hoping for, but not expecting. Sabean and Bochy have been noncommittal about calling up either of our blue chippers all year.

It really makes all the sense in the world.

With Bengie Mo walking on rubber legs and Eli Whiteside being a weak offensive option, this really seems like a no brainer. It also means that Bengie's quad injury is not progressing well.

We don't know how much PT Buster will get, after all, we're in a playoff chase here. More than anything though, this will give Buster a sense of what it takes to play at an extremely high level. He'll catch bullpen sessions for major league pitchers, he'll get to take a few hacks, and most importantly, this cup of coffee in the bigs will give him a crash course on what to expect next year when he inevitably takes over the starting catcher position. Rookie catchers are traditionally eased into things, but I'm anticipating a rapid fire transition.

PS: Those of you in fantasy keeper leagues, I hope you have the #1 waiver priority, otherwise, you ain't landing him.

It'll be exciting to see this youngster. I cannot wait!


Penny looks like a Silver Dollar

Or maybe a gold Sacagawea!

These coin jokes doing anything for you? No? Okay.


So, still any doubters out there?

(Crickets chirping)

Look, as I said before, this was a great move. None of us expected an 8 inning shutout performance, as Aaron Rowand said during the postgame show, but I fully expected a quality start. At this point, a 6 inning, 3 ER outing would've been awesome. Consider how badly Joe Martinez and Ryan Sadowski pitched in each of their three final starts for the Gyros.

In case you forgot, their final three starts combined resulted in a 9.48 ERA and disasters all around.

The whole point in this is this is a veteran guy battling for his career and a contract next season. He's a big, burly, surly son of a bitch out there with a chip on his shoulder-- the type of wild card you want on your side in a good old fashioned Western shootout or bar fight.

The AL East is a whole 'nother animal, and when you're coming off an injury, trying to get your velocity back, adjusting to a new city, new team, and a new league full of hitters-- not to mention a slugging DH around every corner... well yeah, I'd expect a few struggles too.

And lest we all forget, the Red Sox technically didn't get rid of him; Penny requested his own release, and it was granted. This is simply the perfect situation for the horselike Oklahoman, and Lord knows he made the correct call.

Plus it looks like he can even be better. His fastball topped out at 97 tonight and he was consistently hitting 94-96, which had been a concern. I reckon that if his splitfinger gets back to being a swing and miss out pitch, we've got ourselves a #5 with the stuff of a #2 or #3. God I love this rotation.

He's not a savior, but he doesn't need to be. He needs to be solid and give us a chance to win every fifth day. He's a little bit too down.

Plus he HATES the Dodgers. Rock on big man.


Game Notes & Quirky Observations

-- I'm not as anti-mascot as Mike Wilbon, but I think generally they're pretty lame. That Philly Phanatic though... great! The guy opened up the game by "flashing" the Giants dugout, and dancing around like a sex pervert. Hilarious. Touche Phanatic. Touche.

-- Aaron Rowand truly is the king of the unproductive out. God I hope there's a stat I can find out there about this...

-- Haha! Ryan Howard grounded into to the shift in right field in the second inning. That's gotta really tick a hitter off.

-- Thank God Andres Torres got on base (and got the RBI). I had to see his routine to confirm my suspicions. I'd like you all to know that he uses running gloves. Allow me to explain.

He bats barehanded a la Nate Schierholtz/Vlad Guerrero. But-- in a bizarre twist of fate, whenever he reaches base, he withdraws not one, but two, white batting gloves from his buttocks pocket, and places them on his hands for running only. He must have a really nice manicure he's trying to protect. I've seen him do this multiple times and I'm actually assured by people who have played the game at the college level that this is not totally unheard of.

I only wish he switched chains in the same manner. Like he hits with that huge silvery pit bull chain, then reaches base, calls time, hands that chain to Roberto Kelly, and puts on a sleeker, lighter gold chain for baserunning. Hilarious.

-- Speaking of habits, Krukow took great delight in pointing out "...that The Panda does somethin' I've never seen before. When he's in the field, he chews bubble gum, but when he takes his AB's, he puts in a dip."

Krook and I have noticed the same thing!

And we're not talking about any dip here. Pablo is putting in like a quarter can of Skoal every time. As a guy who chews his share of the stuff, I can say that that is one significant lipper!

It just lends more credence to the fact that ballplayers are extremely superstitious, especially when it comes to their oral fixations... whether it's Skoal, Red Man, seeds, bubble gum, or what have you. Pablo definitely doesn't disappoint in this category.

-- If you haven't noticed, I've begun spelling Mike Krukow's shortened nickname to the more phonetic "Krook" as opposed to Kruk. Because we cannot being thinking of John Kruk while referring to Krook. Not on my watch.

-- Before Uribe slammalammadingdonged that ball about 420 feet into left field, he took two MASSIVE cuts. I could almost sense his homer was coming. Man, he really swings as hard as anyone in baseball. And to think, he was given a non-guaranteed minor league deal coming into Spring Training.


GREAT MOVE SABEAN!

-- I have begun to fast forward through Aaron Rowand's at bats. Messed up, I know. I started doing it this weekend, and was about to do it after Uribe's dong, but the remote fell down and did this crazy football bounce. Naturally it was too far away to get. That remote was clutch! Aaron Rowand went yard.

It was surprisingly, the fourth time the Gyros have done that this year.

-- Ever heard of the website FMyLife? Well in case you're old and haven't, FML has little stories of people's bad life experiences and they all begin with "Today," end in "FML". They may be made up for all I know, but here's one that I'm going to submit. Pretend I'm a Phillie fan:

Today, at Citizen's Bank Park at the Phillies game, I saw Tyler Walker and Jack Taschner warming up at the bullpen at the same time. Then they came in the game one after the other. FML.

-- They didn't give up any runs up there, but mark my words, those two guys and that effed up bullpen are the reason Philly won't repeat as champions.


-- Yesterday on the CSN ticker, did anyone else do a double take when they saw this scroll by?

"Exclusive interview with award-winning rapper Ice Cube on Chronicle Live"

I missed it, can anyone fill me in? Has he abandoned the Dodgers and Lakers and become a Warriors and Giants fan? Did Greg Papa try to be cool and end up looking more white? Comment below please.

-- Sanchez threw a helluva game yesterday. Krook referred to his strike three pitch on Ryan Howard in the 2nd inning as "abusive."

Howard got the last laugh though as he singled in the only run of the game.

-- Colorado won again. Bastards.

-- Never thought I'd say this in a million years, but GO METS!

Coincidence on the Web?

I found it FASCINATING that another site out there threw together an extremely similar article to one found on this very site.

It stretched back further in time for stats and catchers, but delivered the exact same determination that my collegue PJ and I concluded.

This of course has to do with the August 2 article from Dodgerhater entitled "The Zito Reality: Anyone But Bengie" which can be found right here.

I would love to accuse this other author of seeing this first for inspiration, but I just can't say that that is the case, as many Giants fans noticed a considerable difference between Zito and various backstops.

Perhaps great minds think alike. Of course perhaps something sinister is afoot.

Regardless, the Dodgerhater Zito article was factchecked, edited and published more than two weeks prior to this other article being published on a far more trafficked site on August 17th.

The other article can be found right here.

Maybe I'm just giving The Dodgerhater too much credit. Oh well.

PS: Guess who caught Zito's 8.1 inning gem on Saturday.

Eli Whiteside.
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BENGIE!

Bengie... pulling a Kirk Gibson! I wish he'd done a fist pump, just to draw the ire of the Dodgers and their retard fans!

Not too much to say tonight other than... WHAT A HUGE WIN!

Also, we've hit two dongs in two consecutive games. That's always nice. Also of note is that yesterday, Juan Uribe and Travis Ishikawa combined for a solo and three run dinger respectively.

Today, it was Juan Uribe and the injured Bengie Molina. Interesting.

I certainly have no problem with Uribe going yard. Man he really crushes the ball. For a guy with 8 yardshots, Uribe looks like Albert Pujols up there when he gets a hold of them.

Joe Martinez on the slab tomorrow. Let's do this!

-- Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Santana in the booth on Tuesday night with Kruk & Kuip. That was certainly strange. The guy is a great man, but definitely on his own wavelength. Way to go making baseball political too man... talking about "Eight years of fear under George Bush."

I don't know about you, but I felt safer under Dubya. Haha. I'll just leave it at that.

Interested to hear if any of you readers has gone to one of the "Heritage Days" this week. I guess it was Italian night tonight, followed by Jewish, African-American, and Irish.

I love how the Irish night is on Friday. Seriously... out of all those groups drinking hardcore at the game, that's the one that will need a day off the next morning! The Brian Wilson shirts look SICK too. I would spend $20 bucks on that shirt by itself. Getting a ticket to the game is just an unbelievable throw in. I'm thinking about going myself. I just won't tell anyone that I'm only 50% Irish. I guess I can round up. It would suck to be 49%!

Let's get rowdy!

Buy special tickets to Irish Night (and other nights) here.

The Zito Reality: Anyone but Bengie

This is the first contribution by PJ, a new addition to the Dodgerhater staff...


How Zito can “catch” a break

If we are to reach the playoffs this season, every game counts.

We all know what we’ll get out of Timmy and Matt every five days, but the enigma known as Barry Zito continues to haunt us.

Despite his three strong outings to open the second half of the season, we cannot predict whether he will be the Zito yesteryear-- or even yesterday for that matter-- or a complete disaster.

On Sunday, he was very good. He gave us a chance to win while dealing with an extremely difficult order— arguably the strongest in baseball with the defending champion Phillies in town. He also walked nary a batter.

His battery mate? Eli Whiteside. More on that later.


His last start versus Pittsburgh, which inspired me to write this, was vintage Zito. He repeatedly gave us flashes of why we signed him to the most ridiculous albatross of a contract in the history of the earth. Even though his WHIP was a little inflated, he was able to battle and escape while still giving the Giants a chance to win.

More importantly, he managed to do it with Bengie Molina behind the plate.

As a former pitcher, I have always been intrigued by the impact that pitcher-catcher relationships have on performance and outcomes. Battery mates must be on the same page, and communication is of the utmost importance. The way a catcher frames a curveball can be the difference between a ball and a strike. This can even have an effect on a pitcher’s confidence to throw a certain pitch.

The nuances and tendencies of a particular backstop can mean everything.

Barry Zito is a fragile dude. Watching games earlier in the year, I noticed a huge discrepancy in how he would pitch from start to start. The difference was his comfort level.

Sure, maybe it was the bickram yoga, but I did some research to find out. There were very few discrepancies between Zito's home/road, day/night, and even right/left splits. What I did find though, was shocking.

I compared the breakdown of how Zito threw to each of the Giants' four catchers:

(Click here if you do not see the spreadsheet.)



The only statistic that is in Bengie’s favor is the increased strikeouts (good thing too, Zito has declined in strikeouts in each of the past 3 years). The quality start (QS) statistic (minimum 6 IP, 3 or less ER) is a great indication of how much better he has pitched to catchers not named Molina.



Could this just be a coincidence? Certainly. But the statistics don’t lie.

If you want to point to strength of opponent, you wouldn’t get very far in my book. 2 of Zito’s 3 starts against the Dodgers have come without Bengie behind the dish.

So what can we do?

Well first off, it’s not unheard of for starting pitchers to have their own personal catcher. Eddie Perez and Paul Bako had a career 60 home runs between them, but that didn’t stop Greg Maddux from sending offensive catcher Javy Lopez to the pine every fifth day. Knuckleball pitchers have also been known to require a “special” catcher. Doug Mirabelli and Tim Wakefield come to mind.

My question is this: Is Bengie’s bat a big enough difference maker to keep him in the lineup if its presence comes at the expense of an extra 2.5+ runs on Zito’s ERA?

Certainly, with these kinds of numbers at our disposal, we can see that Bengie Mo and his disappointing offensive dropoff would not be beneficial during Zito's starts. Despite Molina's abilities, he is only hurting the Giants while catching Zito.

The man needs a game off every week anyway. It only makes sense that Bochy needs to make sure that Ol' Eli Whiteside is back there when our favorite $126 million dollar man is on the mound.

And say what you will about the aptly named Whiteside, but if he hasn't proven to you that he's a major league receiver, just ask Jonathan Sanchez how he feels about it.
This brings another issue to the table:

What if Zito doesn't click with Posey? Certainly Posey's bat cannot come out of the lineup.

Certainly Barry will be around here for years to come, as his contract is all but unmovable. The question arises in my mind whether Posey should make a major league appearance to gauge his comfort with the pitching staff-- and the staff with him.

It appears that Molina will not return to the Giants next season, and although he's been great, and I love him, he is simply not in the plans.

Posey can certainly hit in the bigs, but he's still working on his game management skills in Fresno, and is probably not quite ready to call his own games at the big league level.

If Posey is deemed unready for the bigs in early 2010, what is the best course of action? Sign a free agent catcher to split time with Whiteside or Holm? Give Sandoval more looks back there a few games a week?

It is an interesting quandary.

Let's just hope Zito is comfortable with whoever he's throwing to, because it obviously matters, and we need him throwing strikes out there if we want to secure that Wild Card spot.

Go Gyros.

--Pete

Bummer of a game

The Gyros did their best to overcome a 4-2 deficit against the Mets on Thursday. I saw some great stuff by Fred Lewis and A-Row by getting on base... followed by the Travis Ishikawa sacrifice bunt! I loved it. Small ball at its best. A couple singles by Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria, and we had another comeback on our hands!

Unfortunately the Mets had their absolute way with Brian Wilson, in his worst outing of the season by far. God, it was truly hard to watch. New York ran wild against him and lined multiple base hits off B-Wil to ground the Giants and win 7-4.

Some notes:

-- Really tough day for Bengie Molina. Poor guy allowed 7 stolen bases. 7! including 4 to David Bleepin' Wright. Not all of them can be blamed on Molina, but damn, that is one futile, frustrating night.

-- Edgar Renteria left with some sort of apparent hammy pull in the 8th inning after driving in the tying run. Hope he's okay. If he sees time on the DL, I would find it hard to believe that we wouldn't call up Kevin Frandsen to play 2B and slide Manny Burriss over to his natural position of SS.

-- Extremely classy moment in Wednesday's loss to the Nats. When Ryan Zimmerman grounded into that late inning fielder's choice effectively ending his 30 game hitting streak, the crowd gave him a standing O.

Pure class. There are very few places that would do that. St. Louis and Wrigley Field come to mind. Certainly not New York or LA.

-- Quick correction about my Jon Miller article. I said Tigers announcing legend Ernie Harwell was dead. I meant retired and no longer on the air. That was my bad. Thanks for the
comment.

The Aurilia conundrum:

What do we do with our boy Richie Aurilia? He's in the midst of his worst season ever and there is not much to look forward to. He's hitting .152 with 7 RBI and a vomit-inducing .348 OPS. In his last two AB's he's struck out with runners on in ugly fashions.

We all love Rich, he's our last remaining link to the good ol' days and he's a Giant to the core. But... at this point he's teetering dangerously close to being a detriment to the team. He signed a minor league deal in the offseason, but releasing him would be a HUGE public relations hit. He is a great guy and a valuable veteran presence, but he still needs to earn his keep.

I'm really pulling for him to get a few big hits. You should be too!

Don't forget to check out the awesome shirts on Dodgerhater.net.

Dodger Douchebag of the day: Juan Pierre, who went 0-4. Good. Serves him right. Jerk.