Hey, maybe “How Much For Ray Durham?” (see Tuesday’s post) won’t be such a grim question, after all. Ray-Ray is getting hot at the right time — which for him means contract year.
After his double and home run last night, he’s .345/.429/.473 in May. Let’s pray this doesn’t tempt Sabean into giving him a contract extension. Tie yourself to the mast, Sabes, and we’ll ignore your pleas as we row your little skiff past the cliffs. (The guys with the oars? Those are Odysseus’s long-suffering season ticket holders.)
If all the planets align, Ray will keep mashing in June, an A.L. contender that needs a solid bat and fill-in second baseman will offer a decent prospect in trade, and Eugenio Velez will be ready for a second tour come mid-July. Speaking of Hey-You-Genio, the Fresno Bee ran a nice piece about Velez’s educational odyssey. The Merc’s Baggarly noted it on his blog and outlined the fact that the Giants apparently made Velez change his swing this spring. Baggarly said he’d ask Carney Lansford about this. Keep your eyes peeled for it.
Trading Durham and Castillo would leave the Giants with Velez at 2B and Aurilia at 3B for the rest of the year, with Denker and Burriss filling in. It wouldn’t hurt to bring up Justin Leone, a 31–year-old minor league vet who has hit well the last two years for Fresno. He’s apparently glove-deficient and probably a quad-A type of guy, but with a possible infield next year of Frandsen, Burriss, Velez, and Bowker, Leone might be a nice utility fit, a cheaper, younger, faster version of Rich Aurilia.
Fill in the blanks: I’d rather dip my ____ in _____ than have Brian Sabean sign Durham to another extension.
