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

06.10.2008
6/8/08: Natty Dreadful

Giants 3, Nats 2: My excitement about the four-game sweep is tempered by the state of the sweepees. Them Nats're in a bad way. Half their players and most of the good ones are on the DL, and they had to call up back-to-back AAA fodder to round out the rotation. Still, the Giants made it interesting by not hitting or throwing strikes or playing very good defense in the final innings today, a surefire way to not sweep most of the time.

It's easy to untemper my excitement, though, with the realization that the Giants -- yes, these Giants, the ones I (and you and you and you, and yes, you) thought by now would be about 40 games out of first place -- are five games back and generally playing worthwhile baseball. Not great baseball or dominating baseball, but the $17 face value of my bleacher seat 14 times a year doesn't feel like grand theft larceny.

And with draft gurus raving about the Giants amateur picks for the second year in a row, the nuclear winter of the post-Bonds future doesn't seem so toxic: a little more Marshall Plan, a little less Mad Max. If you hadn't noticed, three of the Giants' five first round picks from last summer are thriving. All are a year removed from high school: lefty and top pick Madison Bumgarner is posting excellent numbers in Low-A. Righty Tim Alderson was assigned to High-A, to one of the nastiest hitters leagues in the minors, and he's doing well, too. Second baseman Nick Noonan is Bumgarner's teammate and his numbers don't scream "thriving" (.288 / .318 / .438), but at 19 years old he gets some slack. Even younger is Angel Villalona, the Dominican babyface and unanimous #1 prospect in the organization this spring. He's struggled a bit but no one seems too worried.

But back to today's game:

PLODAG: Randy Winn with a single, a double, two RBI, a walk, and a key catch in the bottom of the 8th. Funny how these older guys get rejuvenated when a) they're in a contract year or b) their team makes it clear they're looking for excuses to play younger guys. Winn's been hot since the start of May.

The Upside: Brian Wilson with a real save. No three easy outs with a three run lead kind of save. Wilson entered the game in the 8th with the bases loaded, coaxed a screaming line drive that Winn ran down to prevent three runs, then finished it up in the ninth even though Castillo made an ugly throwing error behind him.
Also on the Network:



[June 10, 2008 11:08 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

I'll also send Yabu a little love, he induced that DP at a crucial moment in the game.

http://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2008-06-09&team=Nationals&dh=0&season=2008

He got a WPA of .194 for his .2 innings of work, next only to B-Dub last night. Not bad for not even a full inning of work.

[June 10, 2008 11:45 AM]  |  link  |  reply
reeky said

As a charter member of the Cleveland Spiders cheering section, I've got to join in the crow banquet. A lot of these guys are interesting, if only because they're young and hopeful...and Sabean/Bochy are playing the youngun's relatively frequently (notice I said "relatively"). And how 'bout them pitchers???

There's plenty of time to stink, and we got a couple of series against the A's coming up. But a .500 team would be a very pleasant surprise.

Double-up the contract-year comment for Durham (and double-down for Zito). Which of you child-less guys with lots of time on your hands can do the numbers on contract years versus improved performance? Can one argue for shorter, higher-paying contracts to take advantage of "hungry" performance?

[June 10, 2008 12:20 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to reeky

I would say relative to how poorly the young'uns are playing, or are you advocating starting Bocock for the rest of the season and dumping Omar?

Show me the young players who deserve to be playing over the vets based on performance, then I might take your point of view.

And the Giants have been playing the young'uns consistently, in the pitching staff, for the past 3 years or so.

People don't seem to get how amazing it is that our pitching staff is about 80% filled with pitchers we drafted or acquired with people we signed. There is not any staff that comes to mind anywhere in the majors. Plus, we have three pitchers that any team would be happy to have one of.

I recall studies of this contract year phenomenon and them not finding anything worth remembering. However, Durham definitely seems to be driven when it is contract year, so he's one who should be signed year to year. I'm hoping he goes crazy like in 2006, both because it would help the team and because it might make up enough of last year's stink to enable us to get a draft pick when he goes free agent and hopefully someone signs him and gives us a pick (Giants probably low risk offer arb like they did with Feliz last off-season).

[June 10, 2008 12:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to obsessivegiantscompulsive

I don't think anyone wants Bocock anywhere near a big-league clubhouse.

>Show me the young players who deserve to be playing over the vets based on performance

Fred Lewis. John Bowker. I'd like to see Burriss get more playing time. That's about it. OGC is right to point out the young'uns doing well are mostly on the pitching side. With Frandsen's achilles blowing up, Velez showing up overwhelmed, and Ort's finger injury/struggles, the youth movement among position players became much more limited.

But OGC, keep in mind that sometimes the young'uns don't have much of a track record and they still need to play. Bowker's a good example. No way he "deserved" a big-league promotion this year. But he's done well enough -- all while learning a new defensive position -- to to keep his spot in the 1B platoon.

[June 10, 2008 10:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
PM said

To add to that, in the few chances Denker and Horwitz have gotten, they have not done badly at all. Anyone who plays well (or even if they are just temporarily hot), especially if they are young, deserve some more chances. I would certainly not advocate Bocock over Vizquel, but, Denker should get a few more chances as should Horwitz. Durham and Winn could rest a little; that may even result in them being fresher in the last few months of the season. I almost expect Durham to be injured for significant part of the season.

[June 11, 2008 2:25 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Jonathan said

Awesome title. I for one would like to see Horwitz get more time either via a straight platoon with Lewis, or a shot at 1B.

I'd like to see Durham traded as soon as possible, or at the deadline. I love Denker.

I like Winn, too.