Positives and Negatives

Positives:

Tim Lincecum was named Pitcher of the Year by MLB.com. This doesn't come as much of a surprise after his winning of the Cy Young, but it is a nice addition to his growing list of accomplishments. He is gearing up for another great year but has not recieved the support needed to insure the Giants of a satisfactory season.

Negatives: 

Still nothing has happened since the move for Edgar Renteria. The Giants have half way improved there team, meaning the bullpen, but they haven't really improved there lineup at all. They really need another hitter if they want to contend at all next year.

At this point there really isn't much to say. We will have to wait and see what happens before I am able to talk anymore.

A Worthless Week

This was a disappointing week in the Giants organization. It wasn't so much that they weren't able to get C.C. Sabathia as that they said they would be fine if they weren't able to get another bat to add to their lineup. Bruce Bochy said that he and managment were okay with playing Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa on the corners at the start of the season. 

I am fine with Sandoval starting but Ishikawa is not a proven enough player, in my eyes, to be the opening day first baseman. He only has three homeruns in his 45 game career and that shows that he doesn't have much pop. A first baseman is known to hit balls out of the park. He is an above average fielder, but right now, hitting is what the Giants need. Ishikawa is not the answer. I know that the Giants are wanting to go young and I really want that to happen as well, but I don't see a future for Travis with the Giants. 

I think they need to acquire a third baseman. Sandoval will make a fine first baseman and the market looks bleak in that area anyway. Adam Dunn was the best option and he is getting old and we don't really need all the strike outs and poor fielding anyway. At third, we did lose the option of getting Casey Blake, but we can still get Joe Crede or Jorge Cantu. These guys would add some more power to the club and Crede is a solid defender as well. 

I think if the Giants want to have an even ok infield next year, there going to have to make another move before the season starts. It is unfortunate that the Giants are fine with what they have now. This just shows they don't have any real urge to win soon. One more is all it takes.

Two Moves In Two Days

This past week was a busy time for Brian Sabean. He made two aquisitions; one a pitcher and one a shortstop. Bob Howry and Edgar Renteria respectively. Both these moves were to fill holes that were needed to be filled. Sabean wants to go into the winter meetings without having to make too many moves. It is a lot harder to make moves when you have so many to make then when you only have to focus on one guy. Now he can focus on getting the big name pitcher or big name hitter in Las Vegas.

Neither of these guys particularly gets me excited, although Renteria does a little more because of all his hardware and his ability to hit in the N.L. Bob Howry is a pretty solid pitcher who has posted a 3.68ERA over his career, but he is coming off his worst season where posted a 5.35ERA. I haven't really liked either of the pitchers Sabean has gotten so far. He said he wants to make his bullpen more reliable but both of the pitchers he has acquired have been ok at best. Both pitchers have never really been big name guys and the both have had some bad seasons in the league. Right now I have more faith in the yoing guys then Affeldt and Howry. 

Edgar Renteria is coming off a poor season with the Tigers. Analysts have said he is looking past his prime. Two reason why I don't think he is are that he was in the American league last year and he is a way better National League hitter, and he was playing for a team that was terrible last year. Because the team was so bad, nobody really played at a high level. He has been to the All-Star game multiple years and has won a Golden Glove. And, if you think about it any upgrade hitting wise at the shortstop position would be an upgrade. Renteria certainly is that and more. He is a .290 lifetime hitter and hits 25-30 homeruns a year. 

In a way these moves may turn out better than people think at first look. This gives Sabean time to acquire a Sabathia or Randy Johnson instead of filling up his smaller holes. Jut think of our rotation if this happened.

1. Tim Lincecum

2. C.C. Sabathia

3. Matt Cain

4. Barry Zito

5. Noah Lowry

or

1. Tim Lincecum

2. Matt Cain

3. Randy Johnson

4. Barry Zito 

5. Noah Lowry

Those would be two unstoppable rotations. He also can make a trade to get his first/third baseman. Getting rid of Jonathon Sanchez could get him someone like Casey Blake, Joe Crede or Adam Dunn. I am looking forward to what gets done this week at the Winter Meetings. If any of things that I mentioned happen, then I think that Giants fans have a reason to hope for good things this coming season.

Giants Offseason, So Far

The Giants look to be on the attack mode early. They have already signed Jeremy Affeldt to a two year, 8 million dollar contract. They also have been reported to be in the hunt for many other free agents, including C.C. Sabathia, Mark Texiera, Orlando Hudson, and especially Rafael Furcal. Furcal has narrowed the teams he wants to go to, down to four and the Giants are one of the four.

Now, I don't completely understand the move for Affeldt. I know the Giants want to bolster there bullpen but I don't really see any improvement with this move. The Giants were tied for 14th in ERA with a 4.45. They just picked up a guy who has a career 4.55 ERA. I don't say any bolstering going on there. He also has a losing record. If they really wanted to improve there bullpen then they shouldn't have signed this guy. All we can hope for now is that he rights his ship and has a great season. 

Furcal is a lot better fit. He would fill a hole and add some pop to the lineup. For his size he has a lot of power. He also has one of the strongest arms at short in the league. Since Ivan Ochoa is no longer with the team we didn't have a youngster to fill the spot. Furcal would also give us a true leadoff man. A thing we've been looking for for over three years. Let's just hope he doesn't pick the team across the bay. 

I hope that the Giants aren't finished after these two moves because we are still in need of a third/first basemen (Pablo Sandoval will fill the other spot). We also need some more bullpen bolstering and another big bat. Maybe we could sneak a trade in there for another player. Say a pitcher for a batter. 

Talk to you next week.

The Spring Training schedule for 2009 is out and here is the link.

SF Blog Redone

As u can see my blog is going to take on a new look. Instead of being a blog where I write whenever, it is going to be a weekly blog where I write every Saturday. I will write about all the things that happened during that week. Apart from that, I will also write whenever something big has happened. Hopefully you will enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Thank you.

The Spring Training Summary

Spring training is almost at a close and it hasn't been one to remember. Both Noah Lowry and Omar Vizquel have collapsed under injury, although both will return close to the seasons start. Giants management hasn't made any moves to acquire a third or first baseman. Dan Ortmeier certainly hasn't fit the bill at first, getting 14 hits in 60 at bats for a .233 batting average. He isn't the only one. The Giants hitting has been atrocious. They are hitting .260 as a team and have only hit 15 homeruns, which is tied for fourth or fifth worst during spring training. The only bright spot, as expected, has been the pitching. Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum have both looked pretty sharp throughout the spring and Zito is coming off his best start of training camp, going 5 2/3 shut out innings.

Are they just looking bad but still winning their fair share of games. I haved only one answer. 8-16. They have looked even worse than last year. Hopefully it is just because they are "taking a look at players" and that this won't roll over into the season. This is not the kind of production I wanted to see at the start of this season. Not that I didn't expect it. I was just hoping that it wouldn't be this bad.

One good thing to look forward to is the first game of the season. The Giants will be letting fans into AT&T park to watch the opener in L.A. for free on the HDTV screen. Hopefully Zito doesn't repeat what he did last year.

Here is a link to Spring Training scores:
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/spring_training/schedule.jsp?c_id=sf

The Possibilty

This could be a good week for the Giants. Today, the Phillies announced that they are close to a deal with Pedro Feliz. It would be a two year deal. At the same time Brandon Inge finally spoke about his position with the Tigers. He is angry that he is playing second to Miguel Cabrera. "I am not happy with it. I'm not happy at all," he said. Although he didn't say he wanted to leave the team he wants to play baseball. I find it a bit too much of a coincidence that these two things happened on the same day. Why would Inge wait until today to express his feelings? I think the Giants should listen to Inge's plea to play with them. I have already said he would make a pretty good fit. Hopefully Sabean will be able to see through that thick skull of his and make the move. Then I won't be so pissed off about this off season.

The Men Behind the Mike

There are five of them now, including J.T. Snow, the latest addition. Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Dave Flemming, and Greg Papa are the rest. If you look at at all those names you are probably thinking of a gold-star booth.

Jon Miller is most definitely the voice of the Giants and is planning to be for a long time since he will be remaining with the Giants thru the 2012 season. He has one of the greatest, richest voices in the business and makes the game entertaining even when the play isn't. I am always pissed off on Sunday's when ESPN steals him away for the night. Those days we don't get to here his famous line, "two, a double play."

Miller isn't the only announcer in the booth. Dave Flemming is the perfect person to go along with him. He isn't a standout announcer, but he tells the game the way it is. Now in his third season with the Giants, he is becoming the main play-by-play man of the team. I wholeheartedly agree with that idea. I think he is one of the best at explaining each play so that you can picture it in your mind. His call of 715 is actually one of my favorite home run calls because he was so excited that his voice cracked while he was calling it. Hopefully he will be on the radio for a long time.

T.V.'s have been invented though, so now there is a need for more announcers. Kruk and Kuip are the two for the Giants. They have been a pair for 16 years now. They are two good talkers when it comes to the game, but I don't think they spend enough time on the game. They love to pan the audience and talk about that, rather than watch a couple of pitches go by. If they spent more time on the game, it would be easier to watch them.

Greg Pappa and J.T. Snow are to people who aren't in the booth every game. Pappa fills in for Miller when he is doing the Sunday night game. Snow goes on some brodcasts and gives insight to plays in the game. I think Snow might be participating in a few more games this year than last year. At least I hope so. It is fun to here plays from an ex-player's standpoint.

I'm sure these guys are itching to get on the air as much as I am itching to get this season started. I cannot wait to here their voices describe the plays of the game. Only 19 days till spring training.

The Potential 5th Starter

A non-important signing was made today, but still, it is a signing. Brad Hennesey was re-signed today on the terms of $1.6 million for a year. He avoided arbitration by doing so. He is one of the pitchers who will be battling for that open fifth spot during spring training. He has been with the team for four years now and has struggled to maintain a spot in either the bull pen or the rotation. Yet again, he will be battling for two jobs come this new season in 2008. The fifth spot in the rotation and the closer role. Both have many other possible candidates. Once again it looks like another struggle for Hennessey to get playing time and nobody is really that interested anyway.

The Guy Who Calls The Shots

I know Brian Sabean is in a mess with all this stuff about the steroids scandal, but can the man make some moves here. Giants fans are falling asleep with the action that is happening in the Bay Area. Signing Aaron Rowand got me excited, but that has been the extent of the action this off season. There are still moves to be made that haven't been.

First base and third base are the two major concerns, right now, and nothing is being done. The two candidates for the job, are Dan Ortmeier and Rich Aurilla. One of them is a natural outfielder, the other a shortstop. Sabean could pick up free agent Sean Casey for not much of a price to pay. He would dramatically boost our power, which is at -8000 right now.

Third is a problem as well. I am ecstatic that the management has made moves to get rid of Pedro Feliz, but he hasn't made any transactions to fill the spot. Until a few days ago, Scott Rolen was a viable option, but now he has gone to the Blue Jays. There are still other options though. Brandon Inge, of the Tigers, has shown no interest in backing up Miguel Cabrera and would bring a little more pop to the line up. Corey Koskie is also on the list of free agents. His lifetime .275 average would be fantastically better than Feliz's .252. All that has to be done is the phone to be picked up and the contracts to be inked.

This is not a new story. Sabean has had a history of being slow to pull the trigger. Last year he announced that the team was going to get younger. Nothing happened until he signed Aurilla and David Roberts, two people who are in their mid to late thirties. Things need to start moving here in the Bay Area or seats are going to stop filling up at AT&T. It would be nice to see some new faces in the orange and black.

The Four

As of right now the Giants have four set starters. All of them durable and, for the most part, reliable. Here they are in Opening Day order.

1. Barry Zito, 3.67ERA
2. Matt Cain, 3.73ERA
3. Noah Lowry, 4.03ERA
4. Tim Lincecum, 4.00ERA

The fifth spot is more of a question. There are quite a few people competing for the job. Kevin Correia, Patrick Misch, and Russ Ortiz are the prime candidates for the job right now. Whoever does the best in spring training will most likely have it come April. Personally I think that Patrick Misch really looked good in a few of his starts last year. He has the potential to become a pretty developed player. I would love to see that great curve ball a lot more. Russ Ortiz is past his due and should finish up his career. Kevin Correia just hasn't looked reliable over long periods of time. He has his occasional spectacular game here and there, but in the long run he hasn't looked that brilliant. It will be interesting to see who gets the spot when all comes to an end.

I really like the starting four except for Lowry (I will explain later.). They were MLB's seventh best staff and the National League's fourth best. I don't think that is going to change any time soon, if not improve. Here they all are in detail:

Barry Zito

Barry Zito did not have the best of years last year and that is putting it nicely. He struggled with his control and had trouble keeping the ball down. His curve didn't always have its usual bite to it. I think he was mainly uncomfortable taking in the role of ace and staff leader as soon as he arrived. I'm hoping he'll settle down and assume his position. If he does, I think he will resume pitching affectively and racking up those strike outs when players are standing frozen after the ball seems to drop from above the head to right at the knees.

Matt Cain

I don't know how he put up with it, but he was tortured beyond belief last year. I have never seen a pitcher get that little run support and still have an ERA below four. I don't know how many no hitters or shutouts he took into the seventh or eigth inning last year only to lose 1-0 or 2-1 in the ninth or extra innings. If the Giants had been alive at all and scored just 3 or 4 runs in any of his games his record would be reversed from 7-16 to 16-7. We would be talking about All-Star caliber play. I think if he repeats what he did last year and the line up comes to life at all, his worth will go up even more and he will be considered one of the top pitchers in the league.

Noah Lowry

This pitcher was said to be one of the up and coming young pitchers. I think he was never very interesting to begin with, let alone was going to be. He may be a pretty good pitcher but his stuff really isn't that fun to watch. He doesn't have any one pitch that is amazing or an interesting delivery. I don't look forward to his next start when the one he's on is over. I guess I shouldn't be ranting on him too much since he always seems to get the job done. We will just have to wait and see how he holds up this season. Last year he had a little problem with injuries. Hopefully that isn't going to be a long term thing. I certainly won't be disappointed if he starts off next year 4-0.

Tim Lincecum

Lincecum is probably my favorite pitcher. From his quirky wind up to his zipping fastball and quick-biting curveball, he is fun to watch. I think if he gets more mature and doesn't lose his control in stressful situations he will be a fantastic pitcher. He has already shown signs of a mind-boggling change-up. His 7-5 record doesn't show the potential he as. Rather, the 150 strikeouts in only 24 games does. That is averaging almost 6 strikeouts a game. I can't wait to see what kind of season he has this year. I'm expecting a lot more swing and whiffs and I can't wait.

I'm hoping San Fransisco's lineup doesn't ruin yet another good pitching season because this staff could be talked about f0r years to come if the team gets any recognition. Every night I will be saying "Yay Cain's pitching" or "Yay Lincecum's pitching." I really wish the season could start two months sooner so I wouldn't have to wait so long. But I do, so until then I'm just going to keep on writing.