Sandoval contract talks cut off partly due to shady agents

Like you guys, I'm a bit giddy over the Giants' hot start. They're crushing the ball everywhere, and it's nice to know that it's Brandon Belt's world and that we're just living in it.

Other than some early concerns about our rotation, I'm most concerned by the Pablo Sandoval contract situation, and hope that this doesn't turn into a sour-tasting circus.

Gustavo Vazquez while still with Morgan Advisory Group.

Their website is down for construction as they lick their 

wounds and pick up the pieces.

As you know, he is in a contract year. He certainly knows it because he lost a bunch of weight, and has (mis?) placed his trust in his team of agents-- who themselves are about as shady as the absurd 5 year, $90MM contract demands they're making.

Sandoval is demanding Hunter Pence's contract as a STARTING point. Having the gall and huevos to even start there is reason for alarm-- and we're not even talking about Panda's on-field play and weight issues. Secondly, Pablo has chosen a couple of real winners to represent him, and they're out for a payday just as much as The Panda is.

Sandoval is represented by Gustavo Vazquez and Michel Velasquez, who are not exactly the type of people you work with "in good faith". Most agents are by nature, serpentine sleaze merchants and fly-by-night shadesters, but most manage to keep their back alley dealings out of the papers.

These two are not such agents.

From ESPN's Jerry Crasnick:

Gustavo Vasquez and partner Michel Velasquez are defendants in a civil action suit filed in South Florida District Court by Morgan Advisory Group of California. The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages for breach of contract and fiduciary duty and fraud, among several other allegations. 

The suit alleges that Vasquez illegally conspired to use his new company against the Morgan group by "diverting away clients, misappropriating funds, and interfering with and harming the present and future business relationships between MAG and its former and current clients." 

The suit also seeks damages for baseball equipment, computers and other items that the defendants failed to return.

"This lawsuit is not about retribution or payback," said Darren Heitner, the lawyer for the plaintiff. "It's about seeking just relief for damages that were caused to Morgan Advisory Group. Ryan Morgan believed in these guys and pumped money into their fraudulent scheme, and the result is that he's been left without a baseball division."

 Vasquez left Morgan Advisory Group last year to form SPS Sports Group and took Sandoval, Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez, Pittsburgh pitcher Jeanmar Gomez, Atlanta reliever Luis Avilan and numerous other players with him to his new agency. 

So, essentially, these two guys decided to go out for themselves, and began an elaborate clandestine exit strategy that involved poaching every baseball client Morgan represented, equipment, contacts,  and property. Most of all, the suit alleges that these two dynamite individuals were fraudulently siphoning money to themselves in order to get their "business" up and running.

That's called embezzlement, larceny, and being total jerks.

This is what the Giants are dealing with: an immature, inconsistent player represented by scumbags. No wonder Brian Sabean said he's "at the end of his rope". Can anyone blame him? He has to talk to these guys. They're about as reasonable as a mentally ill junkie ranting and raving on a corner in the Tenderloin.

It's not even Panda's play, or talent, or anything else baseball related that's aggravating about the situation. It's more about his poor choices over the length of his still young career. Sticking with these sleazards to negotiate the first big contract of his career is going to end badly; whether it is because these guys trick him into signing away too much of his money, or him ending up on some lousy team and eating his way out of the league. They are blatantly using Sandoval to make their first big splash with their new agency, and he's their meal ticket to fancy cars and Cuban cigars.

Of course it could turn out okay, but the combination of Sandoval and these guys just seems less than ideal.

According to the Houston Chronicle, MLB puts no commission limits on player agents, and on average, MLB agents make between 4-10% of a player's contract:

An agent’s commission varies, based on the sport he represents. Generally, a sports agent earns between 4 and 10 percent of an athlete’s playing contract, though some leagues place limits on what percentage an agent can charge in commission. For example, the National Football League states that an agent can't receive more than 3 percent of player salaries. The National Basketball Association places the limit at 3 percent too. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League don't have any limits on agent commissions, however.

Whaddayou wanna bet that the Vaz/Velas Dream Team take the full 10% commission (or more) on this $90MM Sandoval is supposedly worth. Yeah. Pretty solid bet. Then they're going to take that $9MM, buy giant houses in Miami Beach and swindle other impressionable Latin American talents into giving up too big a chunk of their salaries.

Michel "Michael" Velasquez (left).

Not to say any of this behavior is new. These guys are certainly far from the first to operate like this-- Albert Pujols's agent Dan Lozano comes to mind, the man dubbed "The King of Sleaze Mountain" in a revealing Deadspin article.

It makes me begin to think that Scott Boras isn't so bad after all. At least we know what we're dealing with when it comes to him.

I do really apologize for pissing all over our hot start parade, but there's a fire smoldering underneath the surface, and I'm just trying to put it out a little bit before it starts burning out of control. I also want you all to prepare yourselves for the possibility that this is the last year you see Panda in a Giants uniform. In the end, it's all about the money and good business. But in Sandoval's agents' case-- just about the money. Good business be damned.

Giants could be seriously good, but also mortal

I waited a week to jump in here and write something intentionally, as to not overreact about such a small sample size. Seeing as though week one ended on a pretty lousy note in LA, I feel as though we've all been doused with a little bit of reality after a pretty sizzling start.

We're not going to win 110 games. Belt isn't going to break Bonds's HR record, and Pagan won't hit .450 the rest of the way. But what we do know, is that this 2014 incarnation of our beloved Giants could be-- and I emphasize could be, as good or better than the 2012 Champions.

For once, the lineup appears to be well... really good. There's a pretty nice mix of power and contact throughout the lineup, and honestly, I think the days of finishing in the bottom 5 in runs scored and HRs is over. Prior to the season, we all looked at the lineup on paper and thought, "Wow. If this goes right, and that guy stays healthy, and this guy continues getting better, we could score a lot of runs."

Well, things are beginning to fall into place, now aren't they? Every single one of our power hitters has hit a HR, and effing Brandon Belt has 4. FOUR HOME RUNS! Like... seriously?

Seriously. I saw them.

The Belt development is the single most important event to happen to this lineup since I don't know when... probably since we added Pence via trade.

Forget what he's on pace for, but instead just sit back and acknowledge that Belty has finally figured it out, and is a legitimate power hitting corner infielder. Many of us knew it was a matter of time, others thought he would never pan out and were on the Brett Pill Crazy Train to nowhere.

With what we've seen so far. Belt is not only a lock for 25 dingers and an .800+ OPS with good defense, but we're talking potential all-star selection.

I know it's only 7 games, but this metamorphosis began last year with the grip change, and you all saw how he improved. This didn't just come out of nowhere.

Someone who did kinda come out of nowhere was Brandon Hicks, or Brandon #3, or B3 for short. Is that going to catch on? No? Okay, I tried though.

A former 3rd round pick of Atlanta, Hicks was a long shot to make the team at all. Now he's making some serious noise at the plate. The guy is doubling, hitting home runs... all out of nowhere. Of course, he'll probably cool off, but just the fact that there's a guy on our team capable of replacing Scutaro that has pop? Just what the doctor ordered... as long as Bochy doesn't take too many ABs away from B3 in favor of Adrianza so that he cools off.

Another guy the doctor ordered is Mike Morse. Man, it sure is nice to have him on this team. I know he's a bit injury prone and he will strike out a good deal. But the guy can hit. He's contributed in a number of different ways at the dish, including a crazy bomb in LA that went like 450 feet. Also, he hasn't hurt us defensively yet, and the 7th inning Gregor Blanco substitution thing seems to work just fine.

All in all, I could not be happier with this lineup right now, save for Scutaro basically hanging in career limbo with this bad back of his. I asked Twitter and Facebook recently that if all they got out of Marco's $20MM contract was this picture and the 2012 World Series, was it worth it? There was a resounding yes, and a couple smart asses that said he was re-signed after that. Yeah geniuses. Thanks for that.

Now the pitching, I'm not so sold on. Of all the idiotic things John Kruk rambled on about on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, the one thing that I hate to agree with but do is, "I don't know if the Giants have the pitching to get done this year."

Sucks, but from what we've seen so far, it might be true. As I see it, there are two guys-- Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson-- that are going to be rock solid performers every 5th day. There's Matt Cain, who will be somewhere between decent and good, and then there's the Wild Cards, Lincecum and Vogelsong.

Granted, Vogelsong did very well in his first start, and I think that's a seriously encouraging sign. Let's keep our fingers crossed on him. However, we need to face the possibility that he may begin to suck and will be run out of town in a more delicate fashion than Todd Wellemeyer once was. We owe Vogey that much.

Lincecum is probably going to have another season of 4.50-4.75 ERA ball with maddening starts of equal parts brilliance and gopher balls. That's been the trend the last two seasons, and I just don't see it changing unfortunately. His propensity to give up the long ball and get bogged down in big innings will be his undoing half the time, and that's what we'll likely get. A beloved .500 pitcher-- like your smartphone a year and a half into your two year Verizon agreement. Completely maddening.

Cain to me is the most concerning. He's beginning 2014 much the way he began 2013-- by giving up HRs in bunches and bunches. Just like last year, it's concerning as hell, but there's evidence to suggest that he can avoid these things somehow. It's as if he's cruising along, and things are fine, then boom-- gone. Two batters later? Gone again. I just don't understand.

It should be of course noted that last season Cainer did improve toward the second half of the year, and cut down on the long ball. If not, I'm afraid, he'll be more in the Lincecum category than the Bumgarner one, and that's not going to win us that 3rd even year World Series in a row.

And John Kruk will be right.

We can't have that.

So everyone, take the first week for what it was-- a week, but just know that this team has the potential to be seriously good, and that it's probably going to come down to pitching-- just like every other year.

And I hate the Dodgers.

Expecting the unexpected

Completely unbelievable. 

It's not torture, and it's not surprise. It's just completely unbelievable.

I warned you to expect the unexpected. The unexpected is now an understatement.

What we all witnessed in Game 1 was the same thing we all witnessed in Game 7-- complete and utter domination of a team that was expected to take care of the Giants like a garden hose rinsing dirt off a walkway.

You know it's a good thing when 22 of 27 ESPN "experts" pick the Tigers to romp all over the Orange & Black. It's also a great thing when the best pitcher in the game is tagged for 5 ER and is reduced to an ungracious little jerk who all but blamed a mound visit by pitching coach Todd Jones for Pablo Sandoval's second HR.

That's what this team does to people.

They take reigning World Champs, defending AL Cy Young/MVPs, and every expert's darlings, and completely take them by storm.

You could clearly see the shock of the faces of the Tigers both during and after the game. It was a collective, "What the F--- just happened?"

Not only were they handled by a suddenly dominant Barry Zito (crazy right?), but they were demoralized by Panda's historic 3 HRs, and countless dinks and drives by Scutaro, Pagan, and even Zeets himself. Then you have a wicked Freak Lincecum roaring out of the bullpen and throwing a flawless two and a third. I'm a Giants fan who's seen or heard almost every game this year, and even I last night was saying, "WTF just happened?"

I don't know how they're doing this, but they are.

It's a long series, and Detroit will win a game or two before it's all said and done, but it's extremely difficult not to get ahead of ourselves here. I don't see the resilience or heart in the Tigers that I see in our guys, but they're certainly capable of taking the lumber to us at some point and shutting us down with Anibal Sanchez.

What we all saw last night was an incredible show of Ruthian (or Sandovalian) proportions with a side of epic #RallyZito action. Simply inexplicable, but fact.

In Game 2, the Giants send to the mound Madison Bumgarner, who has been more bum than MadBum in the playoffs. If Bochy and Rags say they've fixed his mechanical issue, who am I to judge? These two, along with the rest of the coaching staff have combined to create nothing but magic. Let's just hope Bumgarner is fixed better than Jose Valverde was fixed.

Game 2 starter Doug Fister is from Merced and grew up a Gyros fan. He's going to be fired up and hasn't pitched in nearly two weeks. People can debate the layoff factor all they want, but it's going to hurt the sinkerballer tonight. Like Verlander before him, the Fistmeister is going to be overamped and rusty.

He's likely not going to give up any HRs, but I'll bet you anything the Giants tee off on him, executing a veritable laser show that would make Pink Floyd jealous.

I have to say, I am enjoying this World Series so much more than 2010. Even though we killed the Rangers and it was incomparably exciting, it was still nerve-wracking and completely emotionally exhausting. I feel like this time around, we're all able to take it all in better. Especially after our Game 1 romp, I think I'm able to look around (so to speak) and really revel in the moment without the neurosis and paranoia that came along with the Torture.

Regardless, we don't know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy this Giants fans! You never know if you'll be back!

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.

In case you missed it: Brian Wilson on Rome

Brian Wilson is truly a sleaze... and a good sleaze at that. In case any of you haven't seen his now famous/righteous appearance on Jim Rome is Burning, enjoy. As a buddy said, "Wilson is one step away from being a WWE wrestler..."

Click here if you are reading on Facebook or an email newsfeed to see the video.

Big Time Timmy Jim does SportsCenter

After another brutal SoCal loss, I thought you guys could use some cheering up. Here's Tim Lincecum's new SportsCenter commercial. He's made the big time now... Click here if you cannot see the video.

The system is definitely effed up

For those of us out there confused about how, exactly baseball's revenue sharing/lack of salary cap system works, you are not alone. Until this article came out about 10 days ago from ESPN's Jayson Stark, it's really never been totally spread out in front of you.

As you know, (for better or worse), MLB has no salary cap. Teams like the Yankees can spend whatever they can, and that's just fine with Bud Selig. We all complain about it-- those of us that are fans of teams not located in the Eastern time zone or Orange County, CA-- but as Stark and Scott Boras point out, we need to look at these losers with the tiny payrolls.

Yes, Florida and Pittsburgh, we're looking right at you.

These teams make excuses to their fans about small markets, weak economies, small populations, etc.

The real truth of the matter is that the system is set up in a way that truly would benefit these teams if they wanted to succeed. They choose not to. These teams collect a fat check from the rich teams, lay around in a puddle of their own Triple A filth of a roster, and cry poor.

I encourage you to read this whole article on ESPN, but I'm gonna just have to copy and paste some of it here:

"Your team (Pirates/Marlins) collected more money this season -- before it ever sold one ticket -- than it spent on its entire major league payroll. In fact, it collected more than it spent on its major league payroll and its player-development system combined."

Stark goes onto explain:

• "Central fund (includes national TV, radio, Internet, licensing, merchandising, marketing, MLB International money): Each team, from the Marlins to the Yankees, gets the same central-fund payout. And that check comes to slightly over $30 million per team if you deduct the $10 million in pension and operations fees, or just over $40 million if you don't.

• Revenue sharing: Only income-challenged teams get a revenue-sharing check. But you should never forget that those checks are a lot larger than your average rebate check from Target. This sport shared $400 million in revenue this year -- more than the gross national product of Western Samoa. Now every club's payout is different. But the five neediest teams -- which we believe to be the Marlins, Pirates, Rays, Blue Jays and Royals -- averaged somewhere in the vicinity of $35 million in revenue-sharing handouts per team. And that still left over $200 million -- more than $20 million a club -- for the rest of the "payees" to divvy up.

• Local TV/radio/cable: Good luck getting these exact figures. But we know that 29 of the 30 teams make at least $15 million a year in local broadcast money, and no team rakes in under $12 million. Obviously, some clubs collect much, much more than that.

Add $30 million, plus $35 million, plus $15 million, and what do you get? That would be $80 million. At least. Before these teams spin their turnstiles once."

And as we know, there are about 12 teams last year that spent right at, or less than $80MM: Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Washington, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Arizona, Cleveland, and Baltimore. For those of you keeping track at home, that's 40% of the teams in baseball that are collecting checks for intentionally being non-competitive.

Each of those teams has its issues. With the A's, it's attendance and a horrific stadium. For the Rangers, it's their owner running out of money. For the Padres, it's an impending sale after an ugly divorce. The point of this whole thing is that there are huge checks being thrown these teams' way in order to make them competitive with the New Yorks and Bostons of the the world, and rather than seize that opportunity to bring a little joy into their fans' lives, they choose to cry poor and collect checks.

I was going to make an Obama socialist joke, but I decided against it. In fact, this socialist system in MLB under Selig is such a welfare state that it makes even the Scandinavians jealous.

As for the Giants, they officially had a payroll of about $94MM last year, good for 14th highest in the league-- ostensibly "middle of the road".

As the fans'/local media personalities' drumbeat to spend more money gets louder and louder, we must ask ourselves exactly why ownership cannot or will not spend more on free agents.

An "educated rumor" that I've heard (ie. second hand information from an unnamed someone by way of another unnamed someone in the organization) is that the Gyros lost close to $30MM this season. Now, to be fair, I didn't hear it directly from anyone in the organization, and I don't know if that number was before or after different revenue streams or lack thereof were factored in.

So regardless if that large number is real or not, I believe it.

The Giants get a significant amount of money from local TV and Radio deals. They have decent attendance and solid revenue streams from stadium concessions, etc.

The only possible way I see that they could've lost that kind of sum is from the following:

-- An annual mortgage payment on AT&T Park of $20MM+
-- Little or no revenue sharing check (not including money from the "Central Fund" that Stark described above

It's kind of like the Giants are too well off for a cut of Selig's welfare check, but not well off enough to be able to afford a $110MM payroll. Kind of like that family out there trying to get Financial Aid because they actually need it, but is told they make too much money, even though they have three college aged kids and live in Marin County.

At the same time, because the Giants have a legitimate revenue stream of our own (Stadium, tickets, concessions, TV/Radio), we're somehow at a disadvantage when compared to teams that don't.

Take the Reds as an example. They spent $72MM on their payroll in 2009. What do you want to believe that they were a prime candidate for a big revenue sharing check? Here's how they work out:

-- Central Fund: $30MM (40 minus 10 for pension, etc.)
-- Revenue Sharing: $25MM (Estimate)
-- TV/Radio deals: $15MM (Est.)

That equals $70MM. What was their payroll again? Oh yeah, $72MM.

So then, you factor in Cincy's 5 year old beauty of a ballpark with its 22,000 per game attendance, $8 Miller Lites, $20 parking, $35 Bronson Arroyo T-Shirt jerseys, subtract operating cost and minor league development, and I bet they doing no worse than breaking even.

With the Giants, they're stuck. We live in a big market. We don't get that extra $25MM from sharing like 'Natti gets. That $25MM right there is a mortgage payment, and nearly the exact amount of money they'd need to spend to land a precious bat like Holliday or Bay's and have enough left over to re-sign Juan Uribe.

I'll take a line from the movie Red Dragon:

"Now do you see?"

If I sound like a raving lunatic, please let me know, because I'm not sure anymore....

Ugly loss, press is giving up on us

One of the ugliest losses I've ever seen in person. Just total domination. That Brad Penny acquisition either needs to happen now, or we could have a seriously tough time with this wild card thing. It's obvious that Joe Martinez, after giving up 8 runs, is not a viable fifth starter at this time.

ESPN/Baseball Prospectus is now counting us out (insider required):

"...the Giants' remaining schedule is 20 points harder than that of any other NL contender, a consequence of their playing in what's surprisingly been the league's strongest division this year. This translates to a 12.2 percent chance of making the playoffs. Eighteen of their remaining 34 games come against contenders -- six apiece with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Rockies, including a three-game series with Colorado starting tonight, plus three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs. Not only are they 10-14 against their two NL West rivals, they've been outscored by 41 runs in those games."

These prospectus guys are all into Pythagorean theorems and quadrangle equations and whatnot, but I don't buy into all that the way some people do. Yes, the Giants have a difficult schedule and the Rockpile are kicking ass right now, but it comes down to pitching and execution. The Giants have shown that they can bounce back from just about anything. What we really need is for Lincecum to have a lights out start tonight against Colorado.

Cy Young Watch

It pains me to say it, but if Timmy doesn't go back to his lights out self for the rest of the year, he could be passed up by a couple of Cardinals for the Cy Young. The media has recently begun salivating over two St. Louis Cardinals and their impressive streaks. Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter have been otherworldly as of late, while Timmy has been simply great. With these two redbirds on the scene, great may not cut it. Let's hope Timmy gets back on track. Here's a look at the stats, it is an incredibly close race. Also amazing is how great a season Matt Cain has had.

If you cannot see the table below, click here. Trust me.



Other than the wins, Timmy leads in the most relevant categories. We'll just see if we can survive the media bias!

Oh yeah.

HAPPY LINCECUM DAY!

What a complete goofball --->

Giants may be interested in Brad Penny

Just released from the Red Sox, the Giants and a couple other teams might be interested in Brad Penny. It's hard to say what role the Gyros might use him in with Joe Martinez holding down the 5 spot fairly well right now. Also, as this ESPN article details, Penny has a number of innings-based performance bonuses due once he hits 160 innings and beyond.

Buster Olney seems to think the Rockies are the best place for him. All the better reasoning for the Giants to sign him.

I doubt he'd want to work out of the bullpen, so I'm not sure how this would work. Moving Martinez back to the pen would be the obvious move, because he started out the year very well in that role. I guess we'll see.

From Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal via MLB Trade Rumors:

"He would make sense as a starter for the Giants, who are using left- hander Joe Martinez as the replacement for the injured Randy Johnson. And he would make sense as a reliever or bullpen for the Marlins, for whom he played from 2000 to '04.

The Rockies, Marlins and Giants all had interest in Penny last off- season before Penny signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Red Sox. His deal also includes separate $500,000 bonuses for reaching 160, 170, 180 and 190 innings, but those will be voided once he is released."

Interesting...

I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants tried to snag Penny just to keep him away from the Rocks and the Blue Bitches. A preemptive strike if you will.

Sanchez for Alderson: I was pissed at first

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


When I first heard of the Freddy Sanchez for Tim Alderson trade I was absolutely infuriated. Why on earth are we trading away the #4 prospect in our organization-- a guy who Keith Law of ESPN recently rated as the #26 best prospect in baseball, for a player who is anything but the power bat our organization so desperately needs.

Sanchez is a guy everyone wanted, obviously a nice upgrade over Downs/Frandsen/Velez. He allows Uribe to return to his better suited utility position, but nonetheless, is a player who is tough to imagine as a true difference maker. Simply put, I felt betrayed.


At the beginning of the 2008 season, Giants Nation was disgusted with Sabean’s recent moves as a GM. The great majority wanted him out. Recently, Sabes has been regaining some of the cred that made him one of the league’s top GMs in the late 90s and early 2000s. Sabean’s recent drafts have restocked our farm system, and the free agent gems brought on board have solidified our pen (see: Affeldt, Jeremy; Medders, Brandon; Miller, Justin; Howry, Bobby). In additon, the Garko trade was a nice move as he is a right-handed power bat at a relatively cheap price (and a Stanford guy at that).

But of course, just as B-Sabes started gathering some goodwill – BOOM!!! A massive backhanded slap to the face!

I was suddenly rocked back into reality.

I mean this.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, the same team who traded us Rajai Davis for Matt Morris, while taking on all of Morris's salary, the same team who gave us Jason Schmidt for the immortal Ryan Vogelsong and Armando Rios somehow were able to get the better of the deal????

It was like we had been robbed by an old woman; our candy stolen by a baby.

All the way back to the Bonds signing, the Pirates have repeatedly been a source to supply our farm system. What gives?

In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friends.”

Upon further review, I like this trade.



Sanchez, though only having 6 home runs on the season, does rank 5th in the NL in doubles, and carries a .296 average. This is a .296 average which is right on pace with his career .300 avg, not to mention that Sanchez was a former NL batting champ in 2006 (.344 avg.). He also carries a .776 OPS on the year, which ranks 3rd on the team behind Pandoval and the newly acquired Garks. He plays very solid defense, and my favorite, he loves to play the game and do the little things that it takes to win.

Krukow would say…


“Gamer.”

As for Alderson, he is indeed a 20-year-old in AA who is certainly holding his own with a 3.47 ERA in 72.2 innings. However, looking at the peripherals, opponents are hitting .272 on him over the season. Another subject of note is that one of his biggest compliments coming out of high school was that he was very polished. Of course meaning that it is not necessarily a surprise that he advanced quickly for a kid out of 12th grade.

Alderson has a plus curveball, but his fastball only tops off in the low 90s and he doesn’t have a changeup worth mentioning. With this in mind, I still fully expect him to make it to the big leagues and be a contributor. However, I see him more as a Mark Gardner than a Matt Cain, and this current Giants squad does not need a young Mark Gardner.

While some may argue that we could have gotten more for him in return, that is purely speculation. F-Sanch is of proven quality who will immediately help this squad this year and next-- possibly beyond. Too often do fans get overly obsessed with prospects and forget about what truly matters: winning at the big league level.

Could Alderson be the next Francisco Liriano or Joe Nathan? Sure.


But he could just as easily be the next Jesse Foppert, Kurt Ainsworth, Merkin Valdez, Nate Bump, Jason Grilli, David Aardsma, Damian Moss, etc. This is a chance of guaranteed improvement for our squad at a position of need with no clear replacement in sight while giving up a player who’s merely a projection.

Final analysis: This is a clear indication that the Sanchez trade is a win-win trade for both squads. The Giants get their hitter, while keeping their Big 3 intact (Bumgarner, Posey, Villalona). And, of course, the Pirates flip one of their best players into a quality prospect.

Alderson is not the player Giants fans wanted to give up. But I guess all we can say is that it’s just a shame Dave Littlefield isn’t around anymore.

Otherwise he might've taken Sadowski and Velez instead.

Go Giants.

--Tucker