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06.09.2008
Hot Wash
Thoughts about the Giants' weekend in Washington, where the nasty heat and humidity made me wonder why I would ever complain about my home turf's cool, foggy summers: * If Barry Zito can go five innings and only give up three runs in every start, I'll take it. Sad but true. Did you see Jack Taschner's fierce quotes about Zito in today's game report? Props to The Special Agent for going all out for Zito. That's having your teammate's back. Take heed, all fans who turn on a player who falls overboard like so much bloody chum in the water: "On the pregame show they're
talking about his questionable approach. Are you serious? For a guy
who's done it as long as he has and works his tail off? For a guy who's
taken the abuse he's taken?"
"He comes in every day and does his work, trying to change things
up. People will say he should, because he's making all that money. But
it's hard when the fans, even San Francisco fans, are riding him all
the time. As a teammate, when you see a guy do that (work), it feels
good to leave his game intact, because when he goes out there and gets
a no-decision, it doesn't help him one bit."
I don't put much stake in wins and losses, but in this case Taschner's right. A win for Zito is a big deal. It's easy to slag Zito; I try not to make it personal, and I truly want him to turn his game around, but the signs continue to be as ominous as the lightning that descended upon the new stadium right at the end of Saturday night's game. * With the draft pick of Buster Posey, I've seen suggestions that the Giants try to trade Bengie Molina at the deadline. Right now he might be their best trading chip -- and no, Brian Sabean's stupid comment about Bengie's "clock winding down," which Bengie made clear he didn't appreciate, hasn't made him more likely to be traded. In fact, it would be a bad move. First, Posey might not sign. That would be an ugly outcome, but it's possible the sides won't agree on terms. Second, even if Posey signs, he probably won't be major-league ready til 2010 at the earliest, and who would catch in the interim? Holm, G-Rod and Notgardo? Losing Molina mid-season could blow a hole in the position for the Giants for a year and a half. Unless they're absolutely blown away by an offer, it's hard to imagine Molina leaving until at least the winter.
* Oh, by the way: Randy Winn .301 / .350 / .459 and 10 for 11 in stolen bases. Put him in center field on a team that needs an upgrade and he's suddenly quite above average. At least this year, better than Rick Ankiel, better than Reed Johnson, better than Mike Cameron, better than Chris Young. Not defensively, mind you, and I'm not suggesting the D-Backs will bench Young and trade for Winn. But a couple more weeks of this, and we can assume that several teams will start to see Winn as an attractive addition for the pennant race.
* Also sneaking up statistically is Brian Wilson, now 10th in major-league WXRL and 6th in the NL. Sixth-best reliever in the NL? You wouldn't guess it from all the heart-attack appearances he's thrown at us.
Comments
Johnny Disaster
replied to
If one of main your goals for this season is the development of young pitching, dibbly-dobbly catchers may not be the best idea... any deal involving Molina had better net some real talent in return.
I think a Sabean quote would be good here, "I am not an idiot."
He's clearly shown that he knows things are different. He didn't sign a whole slew of free agents just to field a team nor traded away any of their young talent. He signed Rowand because he's a superior talent, not because we needed a CF. He signed Vizquel, because we had no other options. He kept 3B open in case Frandsen could win the position; same with 1B in case Ortmeier could do the same. Neither happened but he had backups in case that happened.
Likewise, he didn't sign any vet starter, he allowed Correia to join the rotation, plus then allowed Sanchez to join the rotation, instead of signing any of the traveling fill-ins like Jeff Weaver, Kent Benson, Sidney Ponson, or Livan Hernandez.
Nor did he pick up any vet reliever, in fact he released on in Kline, who probably would have been serviceable had we kept him. He got rid of them in order to keep Threets.
He repeatedly said during the off-season that the Giants are in transition and thus any deal they do will take the long-term view as well as short-term. Which means no short-term rentals, like the Crede trade everyone had him pegged for. Lucky we didn't do that one, for in spite of how well Crede has hit, the pitcher everyone was willing to give up, Sanchez, has done pretty well himself.
The Giants have acknowledged the need to have another middle of the lineup hitter and we clearly have one in the minors in Schierholtz, who can basically do what Winn can do right now, whereas Winn is not driving in runs despite hitting often from the 3rd spot, and is hitting pretty badly with runners on. He's never been a run driver, but he normally hits much better with runners on, so perhaps he'll improve during the rest of the season.
Winn is also probably the most tradeable and valuable among the vets anyhow, he still has another year on his contract, whereas Durham and Aurilia would be rentals, both coming off poor years so they probably won't draw as much value in trade. But both has been hot since May started so you never know how desperate a team might be.
I don't see Molina being traded and I wouldn't trade him, we have nobody to take over for him at the moment, and I doubt any team would offer enough to make me want to trade him away. But if somebody wants to be stupid and give us a top prospect for Molina, you got to pull the trigger and see how Holm handles it or pick up some free agent catcher somewhere for cheap.
Castillo is a possibility, but given we have no 3B for 2009, and we control him relatively cheaply, I don't see him being traded unless, again, it is a huge overpay on the part of the other team.
There's no one this year, unless you're willing to let Aurilia and Denker split time there. But in 09 shouldn't Frandsen be in the mix to be the 3B?
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Did you see where the Giants are now? 7th last. What difference does it make to be 7th last and dead last in the standings if you can get youngsters with potential greatness in a couple of years? If a true blue-chip young player is dangled for Molina, go for it. Giants are not going to contend next year unless the owners decide to increase the payroll substantially. So a year and a half with dibbly-dobbly catchers is okay if that means getting a stud for 2010.