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

04.24.2008
Raj-A's

Looks like the A’s claimed Rajai Davis last night and DFA’ed Kirk Saarloos. So long, Raj. You were my man-crush last August, and I’ll never forget it.

He’s in center field and batting ninth for the Oaklands as I write this. (And Frank Thomas is batting fourth.)

Could this have ended differently? If there was a trade possibility out there, I think it would have happened. See Dan Johnson: the former A’s first baseman has a skosh of usefulness, but he’s now been DFA’ed by two smart GMs, Billy Beane and the Rays’ Andrew Friedman (yes, the Rays just cut Johnson loose.) If those guys could have squeezed value out of Johnson, they would have. We can quibble whether Johnson or Davis is more useful, but the larger lesson is this: teams aren’t willing to part with anyone once they smell DFA in the water. (The corollary: Johnson and Davis aren’t very good.)

The other alternative was DFA’ing someone else. Rich Aurilia comes to mind. Why not him instead of Davis? Well, money, duh. Scream bloody murder about sunk costs, but P-Mags didn’t make a bundle in the grocery biz by throwing 4.5 million cabbages in the dumpster.

But I think the Davis v. Aurilia decision, if indeed it ever came to that, was based more on the Giants’ lack of faith in Daniel Ortmeier to be a regular contributor. Cut Aurilia, and you’ve got a Bowker-Ort platoon with precious little in Fresno in case either of them blows up. OK, Scott McClain, sure. But weren’t you just bitching about Rich Aurilia? McClain is just as old, pal. The other argument pro Aurilia is his ability to back up Castillo at third.

Just because I put it in print doesn’t mean I endorse it. Davis might not have had much work on this team, but I would have liked to see a little more creativity to keep him.
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[April 24, 2008 5:19 PM]  |  link  |  reply
natteringnabob said

We keep hearing about how flexible Aurilia is; interestingly, he never seems to play anywhere but 1B (2 games at 3B this year). If it was so important to rest Bocock, couldn't Aurilia have done that once maybe while Ortmeier played 1B (or now Bowker)?

As for cabbages, I've seen plenty of produce dumped at Safeway when it's rotten. If P-Mags could only fit 25 cabbages on the shelf, and one was rotten, you might see it go away.

Anyway I agree with your doubt that it was Davis v. Aurilia. I think they have given up on Ort at 1B and that it was more Lewis/Bowker/Ort or Davis. I guess I'd rather have those three than Davis, but maybe paying Roberts to stay away would have been a better idea.

[April 24, 2008 5:43 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

have you looked at Crede's numbers recently?

[April 24, 2008 6:07 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Anonymous replied to bigO

He's in-crede-ble!

And have you seen today's Oakland-Twins boxscore?

[April 24, 2008 6:31 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Goofus said

It's amazing how far Raj fell from his butt-kicking initial stint with the Giants last year.

Initially, he was saying things like "My job is to get on base and make things happen." Then he hit that HR, said "there will be a lot more of those" and it looked like he was always trying to go yard after that. He hasn't looked like the same player since. Interesting that a single HR might have ruined him as a hitter.

[April 25, 2008 12:32 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Lyle said

I think the writing was on the wall for Davis when Aaron "Warrior" Rowand was signed.

[April 25, 2008 12:49 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

Interesting point that Goofus made, I didn't remember that quote. Yeah, it would be interesting if that is what happened.

Though 3 hits yesterday says otherwise. :^)

To me, it seems that he had the advantage over pitchers when he came to the Giants last year, but then the league figured him out pretty quickly and he didn't adjust at all. Compare his August with September, like day and night. So he might replay that with the A's, hitting well for a while, then be stone cold the rest of the season, unless he can figure out how to adjust.

Now I think Goofus's observation probably had a hand in that, so it will be interesting to see what was the bigger influence, swinging for the fences or learning.

But people seem to just remember that wonderful August and forget that horrid September and the fact that his minor league stats scream "4th OF".

And I just checked out Goofus's observation:

pre-HR: .391/.491/.587/1.078
post-HR: .216/293/.270/.563 - Aug

He had 6 BB/4K plus 3 HBP pre, 3 BB/8K plus 1 HBP post.

Sept: .241/.305/.241/.546 with 5 BB/11K plus 0 HBP, more of the same.

Wow, so his hot Aug was fueled mainly by a hot first half of August, else he was pretty cold otherwise.

I have been as cold about Davis as his hitting has been, so I won't shed a tear about losing him, and rather be glad we got him when we did because otherwise we would still have Morris most probably or at least paying him. There was no creativity to be had here, we are full up with prospects both in position players and pitchers, I don't think there was any creativity to be had other than the phantom injuries that NBA players used to have before this season.

Davis was the low man on the totem pole and the Giants wanted to see Burriss play. Rajai wasn't be the first semi-useful player to be lost on waivers and he won't be the last. At some point, if our coaches think he can't hack it in the majors, wouldn't it be better to try someone else than to keep him around and hope you are wrong?

About Aurilia, I think it is all about 3B: Castillo has been starting all the games there and Aurilia only got a game or two as someone noted, but I think the Giants are just trying him out for an extended period to see how well he can play and hold up. I think we can see right now why the Pirates gave up on him. When the Castillo experiment is over, I think Aurilia will be seeing more regular work there.

Of course, Aurilia hasn't been hot himself, so that could be playing into why all-Castillo, all the time. Perhaps Bochy is waiting for Richie to get hot or at least back to normal before making him the starting 3B.

All this is making me wonder: how well does Rohlinger have to do in San Jose for the Giants to jump him to majors? Remember, he was briefly prepared to take 3B in spring training, if need be.