When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

05.02.2007
Post-Game 5/1: Let Us Discuss The Matter of The Leash

That’s what you call putting the RUS-(S) back in C-RUS-HED. By far the worst game a Giant starting pitcher has thrown this year. Coming on the heels of Ortiz’s heroic but extremely shaky performance in L.A., and with Timmy Franchise making triple-A batters look like the Whiffenpoofs, how much longer should the Giants extend Russ’s leash? I say two more starts, then put him in long relief. Discuss. 

PLODAG: Mark Sweeney. Being thrown under a bus never felt so good. He’s back to his pinch-supreme role, and in 10 at-bats he has nothing but extra-base hits (3 doubles, 1 HR, 3 RBI), making Lance Niekro look that much more expendable. 
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[May 2, 2007 10:28 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Matt said

I understand that we will probably let Russ have one or two more chances to put it back together, but why? We don't need to. If we think we can rehab this guy for a trade then we are dreaming. 300k experiment failed, oh well, time to move on to better, younger things. If Russ wants to stay with us then he needs to re-tool at AAA.

Replace Ortiz with Timmy, drop one of our relievers (cough) Chulk (cough), and bring back Frandsen.

[May 2, 2007 11:01 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Untradeable? Jason Marquis just signed a $21 M, three year contract this winter coming off a year with a 6.02 ERA. Ortiz may not fetch a major leaguer or a big prospect, but unless he totally implodes, he'll have trade value once he's eligible to be traded.

[May 2, 2007 11:57 AM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

this team is starting to frustrate me. Yeah, I guarantee someone will want Russ. Maybe we can package him and get a bat but I think Morris could bring much more. If we had Zito, Cain, Timmy maybe we could weather Russ as our #5.

[May 2, 2007 12:17 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

Warming up, Ortiz felt like he had some of the best stuff he's had all year. And Molina agreed. The results just didn't show it.
"Today was one of the best days I've seen him have in the bullpen and at the start of the game," Molina said. "They hit good pitches. He didn't throw any hangers. You have to credit those guys. I thought he threw the ball great."
"It was one of those games where nothing went right," said Ortiz, who walked two and struck out four. "I had to scratch my head. I believe if I feel that good and throw like that, things will come out better more often than not."

[May 2, 2007 1:33 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Matt said

When our guys score 7 runs, we can't afford to have Ortiz stink it up. Period.

He's giving up way too many hits per IP and isn't striking guys out like he used to. Look, reminiscing has been fun, but the time for Timmy is now.


As much as I agree that we could get a better hitter in return for someone like Morris or Lowry, we are starting to get contributions from Pedro and Randy. Once Omar finds his groove again, we will have a formidable enough offense for our starting pitching.

If we can get something for Russ then all the better, but my point is the time we will waste to maximize his value pales in comparison to getting Tim major-league experience now.