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 really going on out there?

I apologize for the lack of posts recently, especially while the winter meetings were going on in Indy. Guess it didn't really matter in the long run because nothing really happened. It seems like the Scott Borasization of the Meetings mean that nothing gets done. Of course this results in no one even considering the first offer they receive, fair or not. Then there's a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle rumor spreading and denials. It's all just smoke and mirrors-- a veritable pissing contest as to who can look the busiest without accomplishing jack while trying to be the only one not to pop open a tube of Rolaids after hitting the hotel buffet 4 days in a row.

Probably the most interesting thing to happen was Chone-nee Figgins leaving Anaheim to a division rival for a below-market 4yr./$36MM. My question is why didn't Sabean go after him? We were never linked to him, and it makes very little sense. I understand the preference to keep Panda at 3rd and everything, but Figgins's OBP, speed, and versatility would have been huge. And at $9MM a year, that put's him squarely between Renteria's $8MM and Rowand's $12MM contract disasters. A complete bargain when you think about it...

Anyway, for those of you reading who don't regularly feast your eyes on MLBTradeRumors.com or read the good folks over at El Lefty Malo or McCovey Chronicles, I'm going to do a quick rundown here of what's going on here. Obviously I'm no insider, but when you hear the same things over and over again, it becomes real.

No chance/no interest: Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Johnny Damon

Interest but: slim chance/too expensive/too old/too useless: Jermaine Dye, Adrian Beltre, Scott Podsednik, Kevin Kouzmanoff (via Trade), Xavier Nady, Mike Cameron, Dioner Navarro, Gerald Laird (via Trade)

In pursuit/mutual interest: Mark DeRosa, Dan Uggla (via Trade), Juan Uribe, Miguel Olivo, Yorvit Torrealba, Nick Johnson

One thing to take from recent happenings is that the Gyros like Mark DeRosa a lot (Although Andrew Baggarly has suggested that it's posturing to lower Uggla's price). He's solid with the glove, versatile and has significant pop. He's basically the perfect baseball player... I only wish he was a few years younger. Unfortunately deep-pocketed teams recognize DeRosa's value-- teams like Boston and the Yankees. A DeRosa signing would mean any number of combinations could occur in the infield as he can play everywhere but short, catcher, and center.

The Jermaine Dye idea appears to be dead in the water, but there are some absurd Scott Podsednik rumors floating around if you're into White Sox OF's on the decline.

As for Dan Uggla, the issue is this. Florida would prefer to pocket a fat revenue check than pay its good players in arbitration. Therefore, the powerful second baseman is available. The problem of course is that the Fish want Bumgarner.

Yeaahhhhh... no... we're not going to that. Uggla is horrendous in the field, posting a UZR/150 of -9.6 with 16 errors. And despite his Bondsian (compared to what we have now) power numbers in a cavernous ballpark, his .243 average scares me. He does, however chalk up a ton of free passes, as he walked 92 times in 668 plate appearances.

Basically Uggla is a smaller Kentuckian version of Adam Dunn.

Fair enough you say. We could use Adam Dunn. And by this virtue, we could use Dan Uggla.

And here's a fun fact that should make you slam you fist down on the desk. Uggla hit 31 dongers last year. You know who hit 31 dongs on the Giants last year?

Give up?

Travis Ishikawa (9), Aaron Rowand (15), Edgar Renteria (5), and Randy Winn (2).

Let the vomit flow through you!

Once Florida's asking price comes down, I believe the Gyros will pull the trigger on a lesser trade. Grant likes this idea...

Much of it has to do with how desperate the Fish are to rid themselves of yet another quality player that it deems to pricey to keep around. It's estimated that Uggla will make about $7-8MM via arbitration. The Marlins will be stuck with whatever the arbitrator decides as they will not "non-tender" him (like Ryan Garko will be). The more the egghead arbitrator gives him, the more desperate the situation for this joke of a franchise in South Florida.

Another question is what, exactly, the Giants will have to give up for such a hitter. As they will not trade Bumgarner, the next position player on the list is Thomas Neal, now ranked 4th on the Giants top 10 prospect list preceded by the 3rd ranked Zack Wheeler. The truth is, you gotta give up something to get something. Sucks, but as we all know, 30 HR hitting infielders don't grow on trees... or in Fresno. Hopefully Sabean can throw together something less...

A quick thought on the "rich get richer" Curtis Granderson trade that went down this week.

We couldn't get in on this? Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy and Austin Jackson, huh? That's it? That's like us trading Roger Kieschnick, Dan Runzler, and Sergio Romo for Curtis Granderson... if that. Ian Kennedy won't turn into anything, Austin Jackson is a poor man's Cameron Maybin, and hit 4 dongs versus 123 strikeouts in AAA last year, and Phil Coke is a decent 8th inning reliever. In return you get a guy in his prime, signed reasonably, and he hit 30 bombs last year.

Dammit.

Non-Tender Deadline Time!

A bunch of quality players are going to be without contracts tomorrow, and we'll be able to sign them for free (and a contract)!

Name like Garrett Atkins, Rick Ankiel, Jack Cust, and Ryan Garko will be out there. Oh wait... we have Garko? I'd hardly noticed.

If you're not already annoyed, try this on for size... From MLBTR:

"Peter Gammons said that Jason Bay "does not want to play in San Francisco, pure and simple," in spite of the fact that the Giants would be willing to offer Bay the five-year contract that he is apparently seeking."

What a dickhead! Man that makes me mad!