S.F. Giants--Fans Becoming Power Hungry
Written by T Reginald Sykes, Tuesday June 02 2009
Realizing that a 25-24 record isn't exactly burning the league, fans have to love their position as we reach the on-third mark of this season.
Giant fans, you have arrived! We are in a pennant race...despite yourselves and the Giants themselves.
This is a team of underachieving overachievers who some how manage to overcome their shortcomings by riding the arms of baseball's best pitching staff.
To a man, almost ever player on this team has fallen short on their season's expectations. And with so much focus on the team's lack of homeruns, fans are overlooking two key statistics.
San Francisco is last in the National League in runs scored with 193. But the team batting average is .258, or 8th in the league. They are also last in the league with 126 walks drawn.
What this means is that the team is not only failing to hit in clutch situations, they aren't extending rallies by finding othe ways to reach base. It's base hit or nothing.
Getting back to expectations, we find that Bengie Molina has seen his batting average plummet toward the .250 mark that Edgar Renteria has yet to reach. Randy Winn and Aaron rowand have both suffered through severe slumps.
And the power shortage displayed by Travis Ishikawa, Fred Lewis and Pablo Sandoval. Coming into this season, this trio was expected to hit between 16 and 20 homeruns apiece. Between them, they have seven to go along with 43 RBI.
Giants fans are impatient, seeing the chance to win and knowing that a big bat is one trade away their voices can be heard loudly over the airwaves.
On sports radio, there are about 30, 000 would-be General Managers calling for a trade. It seems as if they've chosen lefty Jonathan Sanchez as the sacrifice hoping that his value may go up by the time July's trading deadline approaches.
But fans, unless Brian Sabean finds some GM staggering out of a bar, he's not going to get a Babe Ruth by dangling Jonathan Sanchez in front of him.
Aside from that, trading Sanchez would weaken the team's strength. Adding a few homeruns is not going to be worth. This guy is only 26 and next year, he may be one of the league leaders in strikeouts.
Instead of that thinking, maybe the Giants should strengthen their strength. It's a lot better than forefiting their future to win, today.
In 1990, The Atlanta Braves began their historic run. They did so with the best trio of pitchers in baseball. Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery put them in the playoffs three years in a row, But instead of trading one of them for a hitter, they went out and got the Gregg Maddux who had just won a Cy Young Award with the Cubs.
That would be the Giants' best bet.And there are several pitchers that come to mind who'll be available next month. Perhaps the best would be Zach Duke of Pittsburgh who is only 26.
If the Giants want to wait for Ishikawa, Sandoval and Lewis to find the power strokes they displayed this spring, there is one more option. Brian Sabean could add a bat without talking to another General Manager. What's Jeff Kent's phone number?
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12 comments
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Yeah then I can see where we differ. I'm new school, steriods and DH's, just kidding. But why is this GM so scared to make a move? I mean does he like being second best? And I know he had to see the effects of Manny in L.A last year after they made that blockbuster deal. Yeah, that deal was kinda done by boston being sick of Manny being Manny, but still they made a deal and it looked like it helped them out for the most part. Oh and one of my main reasons of loving the DH, MLB 2K9, I can just throw a extra batter in there, say Adam Dunn, keep him out of the field and just smash the heck out of the ball.
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Sorry man, but I think the DH is a joke. Not only does it make it MUCH easier to be a manager in the AL but it creates an unfair, huge desparity in the offensive numbers between the leagues. I'm just old school, I guess. Whatev. I honeslty think a major flaw in the system with SF is the GM, Brian Sabean. He needs to make a big move at the trade deadline if he wants to stay. Go big or go home, and we're garbage right now, so what would it hurt? I want to see a blockbuster, like pair a few guys for Ryan Zimmerman from the Nats or something. Anything to get Giants fans excited again.
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Hey now! Don't start hating on my league MC, haha. But seriously it just sucks because they have options but either aren't acting on them or dont' know how to use the options that are available.
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The way I see it, the Dodgers will come back down to earth, they aren't as good as they've been playing, even after they get Manny back. The Giants had high hopes for Travis Ishikawa, but he hasn't impressed, so bring up John Bowker, at least he has power, and has proven it at the ML level. Ishikawa is okay at home and SUCKS on the road, but always plays very good defense. If they brought up Posey, there would be nowhere to put him. If they were an AL team, they might be able to play Bengie and Posey, but since they play real baseball in the NL, he wouldn't get many ABs, and that's what you want for a rook.
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So their current first basemen, travis whatever his last name is, whats his deal? I thought he was supposed to be a pretty good prospect or something? I suggest bringing up that guy Buster Posey and seeing what he can do. What do they have to lose? They are already slipping by doing nothing and the Dodgers will only get better later down the road. So try to fix the problem now so that they don't get too fair in a NL West hole. Besides, no team in that division is looking wild card friendly about now...
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They supposedly have two really good arms in the minors, both starters. Madison Bumgarner is a top 5 prospect, in all of the minor leagues, a lefty, throws mid-90's. Alderson is supposed to be really good as well, don't know a whole lot about him though. Buster Posey, C, is supposed to be a can't miss prospect, but Bengie plays C, so maybe he can learn 1B, it's not like we're getting any production from the current 1Bs. They also have a kid named Angel Villalona that is supposed to just absolutely mash, but he's like 18, or younger even, so he's very raw.
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Now see you make a great point that the average Giants observer (Myself) wouldn't know about. So they say they have talented pitching in their minor leagues? Well thats a different story. They appear to pull up some good talent so if they actually have some nice players down there then like ya said, you can't expect one bat to win but if you don't at least start getting them you'll still have no bats.
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The fact remains, if the Giants don't get a bat, they will go nowhere fast (as is the case with the current over-achieving under-achievers), regardless of pitching. I know one bat will not put this team over the hump, but you have to start somewhere. You can't get that second or third bat in the lineup if you don't get the first one. I'm all for a starting rotation with 5 Cy Young Award winners, but you can't win if you can't score, it really is that simple. With the talent at pitcher we supposedly have in the minors, giving up one or two of the guys with the big club wouldn't hurt so much, or trade the guys in the minors. This team can't just keep wishing the young guys will suddenly figure it out. Sabean needs to prove his worth by getting a bat, because he has shown nothing since Barry (Bonds, not Zito). I don't think many Giants fans would be opposed to trading a pitcher for a bat, especially with the inept offense they trot out every day.
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Oh and I'm a san fran fan so they are just breaking my heart. AL: I love my Tiggers, NL: Gotta love San Fran thru 'riod allegations and Zito signings.
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I agree with this blog. Dangling pitching would weaken a strength and only bring one bat into the line-up. And one power bat can get pitched around...so its not worth it..but a pitcher can always hold a team down for the most part...Zito is disgusting by the way. Just wanted to that out there. Can't even dangle him, he's like rotten meat with flies all over it.
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Sanchez isn't good enough right now to grab a big-name as the biggest chip in a deal, but he would be a great complimentary piece in a huge multi-player deal. Sabean needs to get canned. All the dude has ever done is sign Barry Bonds. Anything the Giants get through the draft should be attributed to the scouts, because anyone, and everyone, he has signed through free agency is a bust. Nice try with tying the Giants to the Braves, but they had David Justice, Fred McGriff, Ron Gant and Terry Pendleton in the middle of the lineup. SF's offense is a joke.
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Sabean doesn't have the balls to pull a big name trade, at ANY position, so it's another year of what-ifs. I just hope they don't become 'sellers' and ship off Cain or Lincecum (although I can't see that happening, nothing is guaranteed), everyone else is fair game. The Giants should copy the Cubs mantra "wait 'til next year."