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

08.12.2008
Making Flippy Floppy

The Giants' brass has a hard time making up its mind. Perhaps this isn't unusual among major league teams; I don't follow the daily minutia elsewhere closely enough to say. But it seems the Giants this year have made several public pronouncements or decisions only to go back on them soon afterwards.

The latest example: Eugenio Velez will now stay with the club as a utility guy thanks to his performance off the bench, including his recent game-winning hits (again, I ask: why does he get credit for a weak comebacker that should have ended the inning?). Right after the trade deadline, the team was ready to send him back to Fresno to get regular at-bats. But a week before that, just after the Ray Durham trade, Bochy had all but anointed him the new starting second baseman!

It's egregious, and it's all there in the public record. The flip-flopping might or might not be justified, but as we're only getting a small piece of the rationale filtered through the press, it comes off as dim-witted. One possible explanation: perhaps the Giants' brass isn't very strict about party-line communications (unlike, say, the Bush administration or the Yankees). Perhaps Sabean et al, especially now with a lame-duck owner only nominally at the top, tend to speak their minds even when various minds aren't quite on the same page. Let's see how former corporate legal eagle and antitrust strategist Bill Neukom puts up with all the loose lips when he boards the ship.

Any thoughts on why this keeps happening? Can you think of other examples this year?

Also: The Merc's Andrew Baggarly has a bounty of prospect tidbits on his blog this morning. He tracked down farm director Fred "Chicken" Stanley and quizzed him on several prospects. Speaking of flip-flops, Dan Ortmeier is back to switch-hitting at Fresno. Apparently he had to talk the organization into letting him go back to it, as the RH-only experiment wasn't cutting the mustard. And for a flip-flop watch, keep an eye on what happens with pitching phenoms Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner at the end of the year. Stanley told Baggarly they would finish up with their current teams then probably take the fall off. That's the right call, so let's hope the rest of the brass is on the same page.
 


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[August 12, 2008 1:38 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

Hope the switch hitting works out for Ortmeier. Remember when J.T. Snow tried to switch hit? He finally gave up and stayed left handed. Is it me, or are there less switch hitters these days?

[August 12, 2008 2:15 PM]  |  link  |  reply
tk said

nice talking heads reference.

why this keeps happening: throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if something sticks.

[August 12, 2008 2:57 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to tk

Might we say that with all this indecision, the Giants brass are slippery people?

[August 12, 2008 3:11 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

The Giants and Sabean had usually been very strict about party-line communications. Changes this year include the addition of Barr and the addition of duties by Evan, so perhaps they operate differently and Sabean hasn't squashed it yet.

Also Bochy is sort of the lameduck manager - after the past two seasons, he could be fired and the team eats his last year if they want - and maybe he's leaking out stuff so that he wouldn't be blamed for some of the stuff going on. Of course, I could be wrong on this as I am not aware who were the sources for all these pronouncements, if they were all from Bochy, then he's the one to blame.

Anybody here who has connected the dots?

Still, it could have been the Giants were sincere about Velez manning 2B based on reports from Fresno but when he got up here, whether nerves or whatever, he's still mangling grounders at 2B, and they had to flip flop on that decision and go mainly with Burriss. Then with Burriss not really hitting still, maybe they are now thinking that Velez's defense is tolerable for his offense.

If Burriss was hitting .700 OPS right now, though, I doubt there would be rumblings of Velez.

[August 12, 2008 3:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Another thought on this: Have you noticed how the Posey negotiations have been sealed up tight? No rumors, no leaks, no posturing. (BP's Kevin Goldstein wrote this weekend that "there has been no progress" on talks, but that feels different than one side or the other leaking for strategic advantage.)

So at least on this front, the Giants seem to have a unified -- and silent -- front. In fact, that's how it's been for all the draft picks this year.

Not sure what this means, just an observation.

[August 12, 2008 5:21 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

Velez, in particular, is difficult to place, both as to level and as to position. He can hit a little and he can run a lot. But he can't catch a beach ball, so where do you play him? He is ooohhhh sooooo close and ooohhhh sooooo far away. I was really high on Velez last year (based on reading game stories and stats) and this spring. But, honestly, I was not prepared for how very bad he is on defense. If they are smart they will talk him up and play him in situations where he can succeed then trade him.

[August 13, 2008 1:23 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Zo said

My understanding is that the Giants have until August 15 to sign Posey, or he goes into next years draft. Hey! That's this Friday!