Heh... Morris homered and pitched to the minimum through three before it started to fall apart.

"Noah Lowry was a pitcher with as much potential as Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain not too long ago..."

Um, well this just isn't true.

Yes and no. Cain and Lincecum were more hyped, but Lowry's first year and a half in the bigs were pretty damn impressive. Through 2005, Lowry was 19-13 with 7.4 K/9 and about 3 BB/9.

Through 2006 (about a year and a quarter), Cain's K/9 was 7.9 and his BB/9 was 4.

Also, Lowry made his ML debut at 22. He was still 23 when he came up for good in mid-04, so there isn't too much age difference between him and Cain/Lincecum.

Has Threets been able to find control down in Fresno?

Also, I had discussions with some Seattle fans, and they said he was basically done in Seattle, and had nothing left. What's the general consensus on him?

Yeah, but the point is that he said that Lowry had as much potential as Lincecum and Cain, and that's not true at all. Yes, he had a great year and a half, but Cain and Lincecum flew up the farm system whereas Lowry was unheralded, I can still remember his first call-up, when he came in the game, I was at that game and wondered "who?!?". Even after his great year and a half, and his great Augusts, his potential, as compared to that of Cain or Lincecum, is no where near, he's a team's #2 starter potentially, both Cain and Lincecum are potential aces.

Also, here's what I posted on trades under the Henry post:

"Also, I wonder what trade Sabean was working on Sat before it fell through and they decided to DL Aurilia instead. Seemed like a position player on the 25 man since they DLed Aurilia only after the trade died and he's a position player. I would guess that Sweeney and Klesko would be the hottest commodities and players most easily replaceable. Durham isn't hitting and was injured again recently, Vizquel they probably will need next season unless they really believe that A-Rod is coming here (NOT!), Feliz might return because of his defense and improved hitting, and I would have to think that Roberts is wanted for his knowledge on stealing and his passing some of Maury Wills techniques to our many fine young speedsters in our farm system. He has a very high success rate.

I guess there goes Lowry's trade value for this season, we'll have to wait until the off-season to trade him if we want anyone good for him. One rumor I saw at the Merc last week was that Sanchez could have fetched us Carlos Gomez from the Mets - which wouldn't have been that bad a trade, some liken him to a Jose Reyes in CF, he steals even more bases than Davis, and I think he's only 20 years old."

Also, I realized just now that if the trade involved a reliever, then that would have cleared a spot for Misch as well, so perhaps it wasn't a position player nearly being traded; it just seems natural as most of the vets we should be trading are position players.

trilljester -- I'll answer your questions, but first, for future reference, there are two excellent sites for minor league stats:

milb.com has breakdowns of this year's current stats (game logs, splits, etc).

thebaseballcube.com has historical minor league stats and has just added up-to-date current stats.

Now, re. Threets:

no, his control is as bad as ever -- 32 BB/26 K in 38 IP. But the Giants might soon lose his rights -- I believe he's been in their system for 6 years -- and it would be fun to see him in the bigs.

Re. Blackley: He's only a couple years removed from arm surgery, so the fact that he's pitching every 5th day in AAA shows he's not "done." He's not knocking anyone dead, but he's not stinking it up: in 130 IP, about one hit per inning, twice as many Ks as BBs. Factor in the extreme hitter's environment of the PCL, and it's fair to say the Giants should hold on to Blackley if not for this year, then for next.

>Cain and Lincecum flew up the farm system whereas Lowry was unheralded...

I understand arguments about Cain and Lincecum's ceiling being higher based on their "stuff." But to say Lowry, because he was "unheralded," didn't have as much potential when he arrived for good as a 23-year-old -- that doesn't hold water.

I'm on the Blackely bandwagon and hope the Giants will call him up now that Lowry is most certainly headed to some sort of stint on the DL.

I do not want to see Russ Ortiz start any games this year for the Giants unless he absolutely has to. I'd much rather find out what guys like Misch and Blackley can do for the team.

According to my pre-season prospect book, Blackley had labrum surgery in 2004 and is close to being the same pitcher. But that's not necessarily a good thing as he has below average velocity and has the inability to spin the baseball, which would lead to overexposure with hitters, making him an unreliable MLB starter.

However, when he was only 20 years old, the year before his operation, he had 157 K's in 154 IP, and was very good in AA. If he can regain that ability, I don't see why he can't be a good LOOGY then work up from there.

Heck, if he can return to that former form in the minors, he would certainly fetch us a better prospect in return in a trade than Ellison. Ellison is like that former A's whose role was pinch-runner (Herb Washington?), he's been up with Seattle all year and yet has so few ABs that it looks like he's only been up for a few weeks or so.

fyi: Jason Ellison was designated for assignment on Friday to make room for Adam Jones, Ellison is waiting to hear whether or not he will be traded or sent to Triple-A Tacoma. I haven't heard yet but he's not on the Tacoma Rainers roster as of now??

Selig's reaction does not make sense. What I mean is the following: Did Bonds break a record, or not? If he broke the record legitimately, it's your obligation to honor him. If he did not break a record, then why are you allowing him on the field? Are you saying that his actions on the field are illegitimate? If so, then what about the Giants' win/loss record, to which Bonds contributed? If this, then what about the win/loss record of Giants' opponents? If, by his body language, Selig is placing Bond's achievements into doubt, by extension, he is publicly acknowledging that Baseball, itself, is of marginal credibility.

I'll phrase the same thing differently: If the Commissioner of Baseball thinks Bonds' achievement is illegitimate, then why is he allowing Bonds to play? The book, Game of Shadows was, in my opinion, a book about Bud Selig, rather than about Barry Bonds. Does Bud Selig know something that we don't? That many of Baseball's stars are juicers?

johnP: excellent point. The first thing Selig's behavior indicates is his belief that baseball has an image problem. He's made such an obvious theater of his displeasure, but for whom? Himself? His buddy Hank Aaron? Perhaps, but I think Selig is more savvy than that. It's for the public, and he's trying to send a message: Don't worry, America, I want you all to know that we don't approve. Barry Bonds doesn't represent you, and he doesn't represent baseball.

Problem is, as JohnP points out, the theater backfires; the commissioner doth protest too much.

His buddy Hank Aaron? Ya - if Hank was $elig's buddy, he'd be congratulating Bonds, and pretending that all's well in $elig's kingdom.

Why are you excited about Rajai Davis? He hasn't exactly set AAA on fire, and he's almost 27. Sure, he's fast, but he projects as no better than an average defensive CF, and as a below-average hitter.

Lewis is a better player...and he's still not exciting.

Re. Rajai: from looking at stats, he's not exciting, but I've really liked what I see on the field. Super-fast, great breaks on fly balls, strong arm, and a little bit of patience at the plate. I just got back from the yard, and he had a great game. You couldn't tell from the box score, but he was on base three times, hit another ball on a rope for an out, and made a couple nice plays in the outfield.