On to the pitching staff. I actually started with this part a few days ago, but I got to the bullpen and started twitching and drooling on the keyboard. Beyond Brian Wilson, what in Jehosephat's name can you predict about this bunch of goons? Bruce Bochy had a recent brainstorm that Tyler Walker should only be out there against righties, who are hitting under .200 against him. But even if he thrives for the next six weeks, is anyone really enthused about penciling in The Big Sweaty as Official ROOGY of Opening Day 2009?
I dig him -- S.F. Homie and all that -- and that rumble you hear, the collective throat-clearing of all our local Mando-haters just now realizing Tyler is their new anti-guy, only makes me want to defend him more. So if he wants to come back on the cheap, fine. No guarantees about the eighth inning, or any inning, but I'll mildly advocate for him simply because depth is always nice.
Speaking of damning with faint praise: Jack Taschner. Again, cool nicknames only go so far, and "The Special Agent" goes farther than most, but I'm not feeling the love these days. Nearly 1.5 baserunners per inning and difficulty against righties is not what you want from your main set-up guy, and that's what Bochy made Taschner at the same time he (slightly) demoted The Big Sweaty. But good to have around? Sigh. Be lights-out against lefties in the final six weeks, and I'll show more, shall we say, enthusiasm.
See? I've got that same feeling again -- relievers are relievers are relievers, Romo Sadlershaw Matospineli blah blah blah. Let's just say that any of these young 'uns could stick, or none of 'em could. What I really want for Christmas is a healthy Merkin Valdez and an in-command Alex Hinshaw. Those two plus Billy Sadler minus half the walks could make things interesting next year. If Valdez remains a question mark through the rest of the season, watch for Sabean to shoot for a grizzled veteran reliever or two. Any of these guys worth a few mil? How about another round of Keiichi Yabu? My gut feeling is Sabean will convince management to set aside some dollars for at least one expensive reliever.
Now the easy part: Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito, Correia. Those are your starting five, though I can't shake the suspicion that one could be traded this winter. Not Lincecum and not Zito, for wildly divergent reasons. But Correia might intrigue a bargain shopper, Sanchez could be a sell-high kind of move, and Cain, well, it would be like Billy Beane trading Danny Haren. Bewildering, disappointing, but the haul Brian Sabean could get in return makes the conversation worthwhile. That conversation must not involve Sabean drinking Jager shots at a topless bar in Vegas, and it must include the fact, sometimes overlooked, that the Giants don’t have an upper-level minor leaguer ready to step into Cain’s shoes. Matt Palmer was the top guy on the AA-AAA roster when Sanchez went down. Proceed soberly, my friend.
Much will depend on Noah Lowry, who reportedly might throw in winter ball. Will he be any good? Who knows. Just counting on him to be healthy would be reckless. His injury was too weird, too severe, and too intimate with his left arm. The other wild card is Correia, not just how he pitches down the stretch but how much he might make in arbitration this winter. This was his first arb year, and he signed for a touch more than a mil. Double that, and we enter some interesting cost/benefit territory.
