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

07.12.2007
Elsewhere

As we all know, the Giants are right there in the NL West, just one zany win streak away from running away with the division. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a rosterful of experienced, savvy veterans all jell at the same time as the clubhouse coalesces and Barry Bonds puts the coconut bra back on. Bam! Instant baseball synergy. You have to shield your eyes, the chemistry is so blasted powerful. Med_goggles

But before I don my rakish yet protective Giant-Rally rose-colored goggles — yes, that is me, back in my days with the clandestine Uruguayan Jaguares del Aire, but we’ll save that story for another time — I should take time out to acknowledge the other pennant races around the league. There will be some doozies. 

Detroit v Cleveland in the AL Central. If we can take heart from anything this year, it’s the amazing Tiger resurgence after so many losing seasons. All it takes it smart draft picks, gutsy free agent signings, and Jim Leyland. No problem.

The A.L. West. Seattle’s manager Mike Hargrove quit in the middle of an eight-game win streak. He said he didn’t feel the competitive fire anymore. Success can do that to even the strongest of skippers, and it’s another reason to take pride in the Giants’ current outlook. Winning? Pssssh. That’s for quitters.

The N.L. East. OK, really. Stop messing with me. What happened to the Mets’ triple-digit lead? It was just there a minute ago. Atlanta, only two back; Philly, 4.5. Hell, the Marlins are only seven back. If New York loses that lead, Omar Minaya’s national security alert will go to orange. “Extraordinary rendition” will be on every Mets fan’s lips. The Mets really need another starting pitcher and, unless Jose Valentin comes back strong from an injury, a second baseman. Wait a sec… I know a team that can easily afford to give up the same type of players. Helllooo, delicious.

Brewers v Cubs in the N.L. Central. I want the Cubs to win so I can watch Lou Piniella spray spittle on umpires in the playoffs. If things go terribly wrong, well, remember the movie Scanners? Chicago is 4.5 back, St. Louis 7.5. I am actively rooting against St. Louis. With the glum LaRussa at the helm, the tiny David Eckstein leading off, and a collection of broken-down veterans surrounding Albert Pujols, this team is as boring as… I won’t say it. You know what I mean, though.

The N.L. West. Until the Giants run away with it, spurred on by the acquisition of several more savvy veteran presences in exchange for inexperienced unreliable young pitchers, San Diego will enjoy the top spot. The D-Backs are fading, and the Dodgers are 14 games back in the Dodgerness column.

My favorite race will be the A.L. West, because it will be fun to watch Ichiro single-handedly rescue the M’s from the grip of burnt-out field managers, incompetent executives, and Richie Sexson.
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[July 12, 2007 7:00 PM]  |  link  |  reply
someguynamedg said

I think you mean the "NL east" not the "AL East" unless the Braves and Mets decided they didn't like watching pitchers hit anymore.

[July 12, 2007 8:17 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ogc said

Sexson is starting his patented second half surge (check his stats for July 2007 and for second half career; or at least so I've been told by a Fantasy Baseball tout).

Yeah, I had the same doubletake on the NL East. That's what happens when your whole OF goes down for a while, plus various pitchers.

Tigers resurgence started with Verlander and Leyland. Bonderman, Robertson, and Maroth kept things together but Bonderman and Verlander finally got them going forward. But they haven't developed any position prospect of note either, Granderson is up and down, Inge is Feliz-like, and Shelton is on Missing posters across the nation.

Gutsy free agents like Urbina, Perceival, and Jones? :^) Yeah, it was pretty gutsy to sign Ordonez after his horrible injury and I-Rod after years of injuries and, being a catcher, with no reason to believe that things will get better. That's a deal that would earned Sabean a ton of scorn from the fans: what? old, frequently injured I-Rod? At a position prone to injuries?

[July 12, 2007 9:49 PM]  |  link  |  reply
pantalones said

Yeah, ogc, Sabean would be ridiculed for those moves, but it's not like the Tigers weren't. I thought the Magglio risk was worth taking from Day One, but a lot was written about how stupid the Tigers were for bidding against themselves for a gimpy player. So, yeah, it definitely qualifies as gutsy. And very effective. If most of Sabean's risky signings had the upside of Magglio Ordonez, I would be a much bigger defender.

[July 12, 2007 10:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Oops. NL East. I fixed it.

[July 12, 2007 10:19 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

>If most of Sabean's risky signings had the upside of Magglio Ordonez, I would be a much bigger defender.

A very interesting observation. Does this mean Dave Dombrowski has been lucky, and Brian Sabean less so?

[July 13, 2007 12:55 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof said

"But they haven't developed any position prospect of note either, Granderson is up and down, Inge is Feliz-like, and Shelton is on Missing posters across the nation."

That not totally true as they have Cameron Maybin waiting in the wings. He strikes out a little too much but has a lot of upside potential.

[July 13, 2007 1:42 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

But ogc's larger point is an excellent one. Detroit has built a juggernaut, two years running, by drafting good young pitching (Bonderman was a trade, but still), making risky free-agent moves that pay off, while not doing well at developing their own position players. It speaks to this larger point that ogc has been trying to make for some time, though no one notices because they're all too busy frothing at the mouth over Sabean: relying solely on young farm talent exclusively is just as risky as not developing it at all. And having years of success -- like the Giants had from 97-03 -- makes it difficult to draft the "sure things" in the top half of the first round. Should the Giants have a better farm system? Sure. But calling for the Giants to get young without acknowledging the pitfalls is just as short-sighted as leaning 100% on veteran savvy.

[July 13, 2007 1:44 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

What's with all the Granderson doubt!?

He's been having a pretty excellent year from CF.

He was worth around 6.5 wins last year and so far this year he's been around 5. His defense was really impressive in 2006 and this year his defense isn't as proflici but his hitting has increased greatly, going from a EqA of .258 to .290

I think Granderson is underrated actually. By VORP, he's tied for third in the AL (with Torii Hunter) for center fielders. Only Sizemore and Ichiro are ahead of him.

[July 13, 2007 11:27 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof said

Also lost in the arguments is the fact taht it is very difficult to attract free agents to SF due to the fact that players can see that this is an aged team on the brink of a rebuild that may take a long time. Free agents are going to get their money wherever they go, so why shouldn't they sign with a team that has a chance to win the crown?

The trades & free agents signings have not been, for the most part (Sheffield the exception), centered around players past their prime and useful lives. I-Rod & Ordonez still had plenty left in the tank. Those are the types of players you take a chance on, not the Roberts, Aurilias, Winns, Finley, etc. of the world.

[July 13, 2007 11:44 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

>Free agents are going to get their money wherever they go, so why shouldn't they sign with a team that has a chance to win the crown?

That's not what Pudge did. After winning the World Series, fercrissakes, he signed with a team that just went 43-119. No one thought Detroit was anywhere close to turning things around. (Except Pudge, I guess.)

As for Ordonez, perhaps you forget, but he was coming off a mysterious knee treatment for a chronic injury. Everyone thought the Tigers were batshit crazy to give him 5yr/$75 M.

[July 13, 2007 3:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
pantalones said

>But calling for the Giants to get young without acknowledging the pitfalls is just as short-sighted as leaning 100% on veteran savvy.

Absolutely. It could get very rough. Even rebuilding the offense of a relative success story like the D-Backs hasn't been as smooth as people might expect. The D-backs have only two hitters in baseball's top 145 in VORP this season? Jackson? Young? Drew? Tracy? Quinten? Reynolds? Hairston? Callaspo? Montero? Nope... two veterans: Byrnes and Hudson. In general, their highly touted kids aren't doing much better than our widely ridiculed seniors. Still, they're doing it for a fraction of the price, they are under team control for a long time, they can be expected to improve, and their trade value is through the roof.