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.

Tied for the Wild Card: It's a whole new ballgame

I'd like to begin by saying the following:

If it were even possible for me to love the game of baseball and the San Francisco Giants any more, well it happened.

I have re-fallen in love with this game and this team.

It's some serious man love.

What we've seen from this ragtag group of youngsters, out-of-their-prime veterans, and scrappy perfomers is simply mind boggling.

More specifically, if your brooms are still in their closets, you should really consider taking them out and bungee cording them to your mailboxes in front of your house... perhaps attach them to your roofracks of your cars as you drive around; an even more redneck version of the window flag.


5-1 on the Homestand, a sweep of the Rocks

Lincecum gave us what we needed on Friday. A true Timmy-esque shutdown job.

Zito threw the gem of his tumultuous Giants career on Saturday, going 8.1 innings of one run ball. He was truly masterful, save of course the bomb he gave up to the Hawpester in the 9th.

No one knows what Romo and Affeldt were doing in that game, but we pulled it off, and it was amazing.

Kung Fu's HR's on Friday and Saturday were incredible, especially considering his injury.

Things just looked like they were inevitably going the Giants way, even with the blowout they sustained against Arizona on Thursday and the near 9th inning meltdown on Saturday. There was a certain confidence about these guys that somehow permeated the physical and media barriers that separate us from the team. It's like exuberant confidence by osmosis.

This team is the embodiment of what the baseball gods smile upon from their perch.


Sunday Best

From the beginning of Sunday's game, I will admit, I didn't feel a good vibe. Cain did not look sharp from the get go. The abominable call at first base with Cain covering didn't help my uneasiness.

Then there were those back to back jacks from Helton and Tulo.

I was squirming in a major way at that point.

When you're only down 1 game in the Wild Card race, it seems difficult to have two season-turning plays. Of course that is generally reserved for seasons that need to be turned around.

Not in this case.

The oft-maligned Edgar Renteria, a guy making $8 million this year and next, a guy that Sabean haters target mercilessly, showed up in a big way.

Before his at bat in the 6th inning, I stared at the television graphic of his stats with serious disdain. 3 home runs.

I muttered, "This would be a great time for your 4th homer you bum."

Boom. RBI Double off the wall. Giants down 4-2. I'll take that.

The bottom of the 7th came around with the Gyros down 5-2.

One thing led to another, and Edgar came up with the sacks full of Gigantes.

Instead of saying out loud what I'd muttered an inning before, I simply thought about it; and I definitely wasn't the only one. Bases loaded, down 3? What else do you think about?

Boom, just as we were all praying for the unthinkable, there it was. Grand Salame time. He almost hit the ambulance parked behind the left field wall!

Not only did this incredibly clutch swing of the bat give us a 6-5 lead, it renewed all kinds of hopes and dreams. Naturally, it renewed our dream of winning the game and sweeping the Rockpile for a share of the wild card. More importantly though, it renewed our faith in a player who for so long this season has disappointed us in so many ways.

Renteria has not been horrible. He has had timely singles and such. He's made a couple good plays. He went after Russell Martin in a brouhaha.

His best quality, not surprisingly, is his "clutchness". Look at this magnificent table below that I've put together for you. If you are reading this in an email newsfeed, you have to click here to see it.



Don't freak out, those stats are correct. A lot of the situations overlap.

But seriously, look at those numbers. Obviously your approach at the plate is going to be different without runners on, as you'll swing aggressively, but c'mon, there's no denying that this man does his best work when it counts.

Renteria has 24 ribeye steaks this year with runners in scoring position (RISP) and two outs. That, my friends, is the definition of clutch.

The game, and more importantly the season changed today with one swing of the bat from Edgar.


Quirky game notes and observations:

-- If you didn't catch this stat on CSN or in the papers, Barry Zito is now 105-4 when he gets 4 runs of support or more.

-- Zito this year has received 1 run or less of support in 12 out of his 26 starts and has received ZERO runs of support in 9 starts. Unconscionable.

-- Zeets is 4-2 with a 1.77 ERA since the all star break. His last two starts have been against the Rocks, and has combined for 14.1 innings, 1 ER, and 11K. That's a 0.62 ERA. Yeehaw.

-- Zeets got a curtain call. Well deserved.

-- How often are we going to score 9 runs when Kung Fu goes hitless?

-- Aaron Rowand walked. Alert the media.

-- Affeldt's recovery on Sunday to escape a jam and strike out both Garrett Atkins and Carlos Gonzalez was absolutely monstrous. He was able to shake off an ugly performance in Saturday's 9th inning to throw some absolute filth up there. The backdoor curveball to punch out Atkins was disgusting, and his subsequent ring-up job of Gonzalez was enough to fire anyone up. Especially him.

If you couldn't tell he was pumped up to exorcise some mound demons in the 8th inning, well, then you were blind. He was screaming and pumping his fists in a way that would make K Rod and Papelbon look like shamed altar boys. Rock on dude.

-- Eli Whiteside? Absolute Beast. Bengie Who?

-- Ryan Rohlinger's 2 RBI single on a 1-2 pitch was absolutely huge. Busted it wide open.

-- Alex Hinshaw coming in to a huge game in the 6th inning? Not so good. Bochy, come on man... you knew better than that. If you wanted to get his feet wet for the '09 season... you accomplished that. They're so wet that he's got a case of trench foot. Not a wise substitution.

-- Anyone remember Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez? Our two huge acquisitions have been nowhere to be found. With Sanch on the DL and Garks mired in a slump, they've been non-existent. The very guys that were here all along are the ones winning the games. Funny how that happens.

-- Garko hasn't started since the 26th, and is 1-10 since August 24th.

-- Was it me, but did Garko's shades today look like some kind of fashion glasses? They had shiny gold stems. Almost as if they were daytripping Ray-Bans or something. WTF Garks? If you need a tip for glasses, go with the extreme orange mirrored Fred Lewis glasses or the transparent yellow/orange NRA militia glasses that Jeff Kent used to wear.

-- Speaking of Jeff Kent. Good to see that son of a bitch back at the yard in a real hat. We will never forget that you played for the Dodgers, but we will forgive you. Kent was an absolute beast for us, and is a future hall of famer. I'm glad we've all reconciled. They put his picture up on the Wall of Fame with his moustache. Excellent. True sleaze.

-- With the stakes so high, have you ever in your life seen so many mound visits between Bochy, Dave Righetti, Jim Tracy, and Bob Apodaca? I think we're talking record for a 3 game series. I swear there was a mound visit per inning. Not even including the catchers.

-- Brian Wilson threw 4 pitches to Troy Tulowitzki on Sunday. All four were 100 mph. I was counting. Pure filth.

-- If you were on a hike in Colorado and saw Todd Helton emerge from a sheer cliffside with a bloody elk carcass strung over his shoulders and a .300 Magnum elephant gun slung over his arm, would you be surprised? Mountain Man. Why he's not Coors Light's national spokesperson is beyond me.

-- Remember how Clint Barmes hurt himself a few years ago, derailing a .400 season to that point? He was carrying huge pieces of vennison up his stairs with Todd Helton and fell down. Love it.

-- New idea for a reality show. Bear Grylls, Todd Helton, and Ted Nugent shoot guns and eat wild game. That's it.

Huge series coming up. Three in Philly, three in Milwauks. It's go time boys. The road is where the playoffs are made! We come back to play the streaking Padres and the Blue Bastards de Los Angeles.


I will leave you with some inspirational quotes from Krook & Kuip from the postgame wrap on CSN.

Kuip:

"For those who proclaimed Tuesday morning that this team was dead, and it was over for them... they're gonna have to try again.

Krook:

"The clown that said that needs to eat his words."

"I've got two words to say about this weekend: I'M IN!"



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49ers fans in need of a laugh about the Crabtree situation need to click here. Hilarious.

Giants get Freddy Sanchez: We're in it to win it

AND WE WON!

Happy Sanchez Day!


We just added a former NL Batting Champ to our lineup ('06, .344) to go along with our other Sanchez, who threw a no hitter. I like our Sanchezes. We good even call them the "Dirty Sanchezes". I could see Krukow calling them that on the air.

We did give up a lot though. One half of our "jailbait" duo of Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner went over in the deal. Obviously it was Alderson, who we Giants fans have been enamored with for a couple years now.

The truth is, you gotta give up something to get something, and this is a great move.

Sanchez has an option that vests next year if he reaches 600 plate appearances, which looks like it will probably happen. If for some unfortunate reason that it doesn't, I'd be shocked to see us not go after him as a free agent. We gave up Alderson after all. It is likely that we won't have to deal with that.

Anyway, the guy is a career .300 hitter and will certainly provide the stability at second base that we've been seeking all season long.

It also signals to fans that we are going for it this year. Sabean is doing very well by aggressively filling holes without giving up the farm. Naturally, time will tell how this goes, but Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez look like they'll be around here next year.

Bochy said during the press conference that Freddy would probably hit second in the lineup. It's difficult to say now how the lineup will shake out once Aaron Rowand and Nate Schierholtz come back... but I'd assume it would look like this:

CF Rowand
2B Sanchez
3B Panda, Kung Fu
C Bengie Molina
1B Ryan Garko
LF Winn
RF Schierholtz
SS Renteria
P

But as we all know, it could be anything... Maybe Sanchez leads off and Rowand slides down to 6th or 7th. Maybe Winn and Sanchez hit at the top. We've seen so many different lineups this year that nothing would surprise me at this point.

Bochy will need to find a combo that works.

Regardless, we have a new catalyst up there that will get on base.

Also, don't underestimate the power of a change of scenery and culture. The Pirates play in a beautiful stadium, but that's about it. It's a depressing culture and a depressing scene over there. They haven't had a winning season since I was in like 2nd or 3rd grade, and despite the "dude-vorce" that just occurred (his best buddy Jack Wilson was shipped to Seattle), Sanchez will realize what it's like to play in a great baseball culture with fans that haven't been beaten into the ground for 20 years. I expect him to put on the type of post-trade hitting tear that Randy Winn did 2 years ago. Godspeed.

Notes:

Matt Cain threw a 9 inning shutout, but didn't get the win. What an absolute animal. Granted it was against a demoralized shell of a team, but he just keeps doing it week after week.

Two other great things: Randy Winn producing and A.U. Henio Velez doing anything. I've found that ripping A.U. out loud in front of the TV during his at bats really increases his production. He hit his home run when I yelled that he looked like an alien had sex with a gazelle. Give it a try.

Here's a "video" I found on Youtube of Freddy Sanchez. It's one of those gay slideshows, but it's well done and it's the best I could find of F-Sanch. It's a great pro-Pirates tune on here... it fires me up about our new acquisition, but it makes me feel bad for the Pirate fans. You see shots of Jason Bay and Xavier Nady... Jack Wilson, and every other decent player they've shipped out. No matter how bad it gets over here, at least you're not a Pirate fan. Click here if you're reading this on Facebook or an Email Newsfeed.



Also, farewell to Timmy Alderson. We hardly knew ye...

A great day

If you heard about the now legendary "Giants pitching staff as women" blog, click here.
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Yesterday against the Pirates, Los Gigantes showed up.

It was an extremely emotional day, as there was a a brief on field memorial for former Giants owner and biggest fan, Sue Burns. Kruk and Kuip did a great job up there, and it was certainly well done.

It has been well documented that the Burns family, especially Sue, absolutely adored Barry Bonds-- and he them.

Perhaps it's still too soon for the rest of the world, but Giants fans want Barry back in our lives. Seeing him out there throwing out the first pitch with Rich Aurilia to Sue's daughters, then in the stands with her granddaughters on his knee laughing and joking, in the dugout encouraging Tim Lincecum before the game, and cheering in the owners box during the game was heartwarming. It really was.

Bonds gave us a lot of joy and elation over the years as real Giants fans know. To deny him the dignity of being part of the organization (if he wants to), is simply unacceptable at this point (witch hunt trial pending or not).

As for Sue Burns. Lest we forget, that together with Peter Magowan and the signing of Bonds, the Burns's saved the Giants from moving to hell-- aka Tampa-St. Pete.

Thank you.


LinCYcum in action:

Timmy threw an absolute complete game gem last night. He was only the 3rd Gyros pitcher to throw at least 15 since A-Hole Schmidt did it in 2006, and Gaylord Perry in 1966. Wow.

His offspeed stuff was disgusting filth last night, and was almost unhittable. And of course, our patchwork lineup mustered 4 runs. Woohooo! I certainly groaned when I'd seen that Velez was playing.

BUT

Trade Action:

As you know, we acquired Ryan Garko for A baller Scott Barnes.

I am happy with the Garko acquisition. He hits lefties well, is solid defensively, and can play each corner outfield position. Plus he was a Stanford standout back in the day.


He's also under Giants control, as he'll be up for arbitration after this season.

As for what we gave up in Scott Barnes... well he's been a minor league watcher's favorite unknown prospect along with LF Thomas Neal. Barnes had a 2.85 ERA, and a darn near 9.00 K/9 rate along with 12 wins. Wins cannot be projected obviously, but Barnes has a couple plus pitches and the strikeouts do project to the next level.

I think about it like this... we just drafted LHP Zach Wheeler in the amateur draft. He steps right into the void left by Barnes in the system. Sounds better that way. Barnes isn't ready to contribute yet anyway...

Luckily, we have young pitching to spare!

Now let's get Freddy Sanchez and Josh Willingham!