* First, a big lukewarm thanks to Jeff Kent, who will announce his retirement tomorrow. He was a great Giant, a terrible ex-Giant, and most unfortunately a Dodger. He should enter the Hall of Fame with an SF hat, despite the boos SF fans have showered him with since 2002.
* Madison Bumgarner, the Mad Bum, is the number one pitching prospect in baseball. Kevin Goldstein said it, not me. In his list of the top 11 Giants prospects, he makes it clear that the Giants now have one of the better farm systems in baseball, but it still won’t help much short term. The San Jose team could start the year with Bumgarner, Angel Villalona, Nick Noonan, Buster Posey, Roger Kieschnick and Conor Gillaspie.
* Please welcome two new Giants-related blogs, both by former newspaper writers. Jeff Fletcher covered the Giants at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and he’s still got the access, as shown by this Q and A with Giants’ director of player personnel Bobby Evans. Lots of good tidbits in there. I expect Fletcher to break some news, but it doesn’t seem he’s going to get all geeked up on stats now that he’s blogging. Behold:
If the Giants get Manny [Ramirez], it means they are going full-bore short term. I don't think you do that and then get rid of another one of your established players. Like them or not, Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn are both solid major leaguers who are likely to outperform Fred Lewis in 2009.
Likely? That sounds like an assessment based on savvy veteran gamerness, not statistics, when you consider Lewis outhit Rowand and was roughly Winn’s equal in 2008, he’s several years younger, and he no longer has an alien growing out of his foot. Fletcher might end up being right, though it doesn’t seem well reasoned. But I quibble. As I’m no news-breaker, so any new source of inside Giants info is most humbly appreciated. I’m looking forward to his posts.
The second new blog is Joan Ryan’s Inside the Clubhouse, a team-sanctioned effort. Roughly speaking, Ryan is the in-house feature writer for Giants Pravda, and Chris Haft handles the news. She’s a veteran sportswriter who has tackled serious subjects, so even though she’s now a team employee, the positive profiles and behind-the-scenes glimpses should be well-written and entertaining. (Who wouldn’t want to see pictures of Brian Sabean’s newborn son?)
