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

04.28.2008
Injuries and Embarrassments

The weekend brought several developments, none of them good. The biggest and least surprising was the continued horribleness of Barry Zito, prompting Giant brass to wonder aloud if Zito can remain in the rotation. Did you catch J.T. Snow on the radio broadcast yesterday? Instead of sticking to the fraternal code of ex-ballplayers -- Thou Shall Not Embarrass Thy Brothers on the Air -- J.T. basically said Zito has nothing. He wasn't rude, but he was blunt: No velocity, no command, no confidence. Either he or Flemming, I can't remember which, called Zito's pitches "batting practice fastballs." Batters are comfortable against him; even the outs he got yesterday were pop-ups because the Reds were swinging too hard, Snow said. In other words, no respect. Go up there and have fun, boys.

We're also starting to see how injuries might scratch through the veneer of pleasant surprise that has made the past couple weeks fun to watch. Correia's muscle strain will put him on the shelf for a month, it seems, and suddenly, whoops, where'd the starting pitching go? We could be back to a modified version of our pre-season chant: Lincecum and Cain and Pray for Sanchez to Be Consistent.

Pat Misch will take Correia's place, but it remains to be seen if he'll start or be the long man out of the bullpen.

Another troubling injury is Bengie Molina's sore legs. Losing him for an extended period would really put this team in an offensive hole; even worse, it might prompt the brass to trade Sanchez or others for a bat. I hope that's not the case, although one could argue that after Friday's game, Sanchez's trade value has never been higher. It's possible that Sabean could get a key offensive building block for him right now. Any suggestions?
 
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[April 28, 2008 11:22 AM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

Matt Morris was released by the Pirates. He could fill the gap and still add some veteran help to the youngsters (I doubt they'll even listen to Zito).

[April 28, 2008 2:10 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to bigO

No way on Morris. First of all, he's even more toast (toastier?) than Zito. Second, can you imagine the loss of face in bringing him back to SF? I think -- no, I hope -- the Giant front office would rather see Misch and if need be a guy like Nick Pereira from AAA get some work. They could also slot Hennessey back into the rotation and call up Sadler.

[April 28, 2008 11:46 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Jefferson said

Suggestions? This season should be an exercise in just gritting it out. If Molina gets hurt, call up Alfonzo. If Zito can't pitch, toss him in the pen and call up somebody. No trade should be made simply for the purpose of shoring up this season. If you can do that and also strengthen the franchise for the future, fine; but no more Accardo-for-Hillenbrand type deals.

As far as Zito is concerned, Giants management needs to just forget the size of the contract. The money's gone already. Look at Zito like you would any other starter in that situation, and act appropriately. Whatever he's doing now just isn't working, so it's time to try something else. When Zito started experimenting with a new delivery in spring of '07, the Giants should NOT have told him to stop. If Zito knew that he needed to make adjustments, then for crying out loud, he should have been allowed to do so. Let him try some things in lower-stress situations, and rebuild some confidence.

[April 28, 2008 5:05 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to Jefferson

>no more Accardo-for-Hillenbrand type deals.

Of course not. I'm shooting more for our young promising pitcher for their young promising position player. Sanchez for.....Erick Aybar? Jeff Clement?

Given Sanchez's strong showing so far this year, the Giants could argue he's not a prospect anymore, and should bring back a position player who similarly has had at least some success at the major league level. Casey Kotchman might be asking too much, but it's not a ridiculous thought (except the Angels don't really need starting pitching).

[April 28, 2008 6:10 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

of course "NO WAY" on Morris. Jeff Clement is the real deal but the M's need offense bad. However they did just locked up Kinji Jojima for the next 3 years????

[April 28, 2008 7:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to bigO

I heard that, too, so a deal built around Sanchez and Clement might be interesting. A legit C/1B power bat for a legit LH starter. PECOTA projects Clement as a 20-HR, 80 RBI guy with roughly .340-.355 OBP and .480-500 SLG through the year 2014. That would be great for a catcher, not so great for a 1B.

[April 28, 2008 7:16 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris replied to bigO

I doubt Seattle will trade Clement. I think they'll put him at DH replacing the bad Jose Vidro.

The Mariners need offense, I think, more SP depth.

[April 28, 2008 7:30 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to Chris

I agree with Chris that they are going to DH him. Plus, I recall reading somewhere that he was not necessarily going to stick at C anyhow, he still has defensive issues at C. Do you really want that at C?

If you want a C, I would try to get Bryan Anderson from the Cards, they just signed Yadier to a big contract, didn't they? He's good offensively and at least average defensively, plus they need pitching like nothing, they have been trying to find something for years now.

In either case, I consider Sanchez to be more valuable, so I would want an additional prospect to go with the C. In the Cards case, Allen Craig might be a good player thrown in, 3B, nice offense, not a sure thing, but paired with Anderson a good return for Sanchez.

Still, I think we should be able to get more for Sanchez than Anderson/Craig. I think a Jed Lowrie wouldn't be out of the question for Sanchez, but I doubt the Red Sox would want to do that trade.

[April 28, 2008 7:35 PM]  |  link  |  reply
natteringnabob said

Can't Yabu be the garbage-time starter? He can throw 4 and Zit can throw 3, and whoever's not tired can throw the last inning. Not a great answer, but might waste a month or so until Lowry gets back. If...

Everyone's quick to offer up Sanchez for someone else, but I think it's still early for that. If he's lights out until the all-star break, maybe he can command MORE than just one of these guys, no?

But more importantly, we've gone from "six-man rotation" to having three starters and a bunch of question marks in no time at all. For all we know Lowry could be out forever. Not likely, but "freak injury" and "taking more time to heal than we expected" sound ominous to me, and more importantly it's not like Lowry was channeling Stu Miller before he got hurt in the first place. I think he's the guy to think about moving if he comes back.

[April 28, 2008 7:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Jefferson replied to natteringnabob

Yep, I agree. I think Sanchez has a very high ceiling. I would be devastated if he were traded, even if it were a good trade for the Giants.

[April 28, 2008 7:38 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

talk is up here that they're going to dump Wilkerson and Bloomquest is toast AND RADIOHEADS ARE TALKIN' BONDS.