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When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby | |
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When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby | |
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Giants 40-Man Roster
(w/2010 Salary, if known) PITCHERS
Affeldt (4.5 M)Bumgarner Cain (4.5 M) Hinshaw Joaquin S. Johnson Lincecum (9 M) J. Martinez Medders (.85 M) Pucetas Romo Runzler J. Sanchez (2.1 M) H. Sosa B. Wilson (4.4 M) Zito (18.5 M) CATCHERS
Molina (4.5 M)
PoseyWhiteside INFIELDERS
BurrissDeRosa (6 M) Downs Frandsen Gillaspie Huff (3 M) Ishikawa Pill Renteria (10 M) Rohlinger F. Sanchez (6 M) Sandoval Uribe (3.25 M) Velez OUTFIELDERS
BowkerFord Lewis Peguero Rowand (13.6 M) Schierholtz Torres OTHER
Bonds ($5 M deferred from '05 + interest)Gigantes
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Nice recap. I was impressed with the slider/breaking ball that Merkin seems to have developed. As I recall his slider used to look like Felix Rodriguez' slider, as in, a slower fastball with no movement. I actually think Valdez has the stuff to be a starter if he develops his changeup a bit more, but his arm history should probably keep him in relief.
I was dismayed that Benji called for another high fastball to Gallardo after getting him to strike out on the same pitch in the 3rd. RJ didn't miss the mitt by much. I guess a slider down and in would've been dangerous but he had shown good command with it all night.
Rowand's start is very encouraging.
I share your concern about Panda. He needs to understand that the high-inside pitches are not going to get called and lay off them.
Renteria looks old.
Ishikawa has looked comfortable at the plate and good in the field.
Why PH Aurilia against a righty?
My friends, it has begun: Aurilia "needs" AB's. Just him? Not the other bench guys? Ishikawa is never going to learn to hit lefties if Aurilia "needs" AB's.
Molina at the plate and the double play. Every time this season that the Giants have Winn at 3rd and Lewis at 1st with no outs or one out, and Molina is at bat, if Lewis does not attempt to steal second, Bochy should be severely beat. The failure of the man on first to steal second in these situations is inexcusable and probably cost the Giants a run last night and innumerable runs last season. Bochy absolutely needs to send the runner in front of Molina in this situation every single time. All the man at third needs to do is bluff a a step toward home and the throw to second will be cut off, everyone is safe and the double play threat is removed for Molina. Even when there is only a runner at 1st and not at 3rd the Giants need to be running Lewis most of the time (I would say Renteria too, but I am not sure he is fast enough). If Lewis runs in front of Molina with less than 2 outs he removes the double play threat and gets in scoring position. If he runs with 2 outs he gets in scoring position (this last option should not be invoked of course if the Giants are way behind). In short, it is a good thing that Lewis' feet are pain free because he should be running like a wild man in front of Molina this season. Did Bochy's failure to send Lewis drive anyone else crazy or was it just me? Is it just me or does Bochy seem particularly inept at managing the running game in such a way so as to complement the line-up?
BigWig,
At least once in that sequence Lewis ran. Once it was a hit and run and Molina fouled off the pitch. I agree that Bochy needs to do more to stay out of double plays, especially in the first-and-third situaiton like that, but you can't just send Lewis on every pitch.
Yes, I know Lewis ran once and the ball was fouled off, but I think he needs to go a high percentage of the time (like 80%). It doesn't really matter if the other team knows he is going. If a runner is on third the pressure is on them to try and make a play. Winn could actually take off for the plate on occasion to keep other teams honest rather than just bluff. Essentially, I think the double play risk with Molina is higher than the risk of Lewis getting thrown out even if the other team knows it is coming.
P.S. Lefty, you are right about Burriss. He looks just like he did last season with the bat (not good). I hope he is able to make some real hitting strides, but I fear his slugging % will be lower than his on base percentage for a good chunk of this year. The Giants need to stick with their choice of Burriss over Frandsen long enough to give Burriss a fair chance (two games is definitely too small a sample), but it seemed like the Giants put way too much weight on this spring vs. overall minor league performance when making this selection. I think the Giants will eventually realize that Burriss belongs at AAA at SS working on his defense and his slugging so that he can take over for Renteria at the appropriate time.
On Frandsen/Burriss, I think Frandsen's rust played a role. They want Frandsen to work it out against AAA pitching away from the microscope, and I can see the logic in that. I expect to see a change made there eventually.
Losing Accardo is still a worse trade, to me. But yeah, good call, he looks to be up there in terms of bad trades.
I agree with UV about Frandsen. I think he'll be back up here once the Giants had time to evaluate Torres and Velez.
I didn't realize that Carlos Villanueva was a remnant of that trade. I do remember the spring deal for Franklin and Leo Estrella and thinking, wow, how desperate for bullpen help must Sabean be that he is taking rejects from the Brewers? Pretty desperate indeed -- Franklin posted a 6.39 ERA and served up the grand slam that extinguished the 2004 season. And Estrella was gone after 2 games, never to pitch in the big leagues again (though he did manage to go 0-8 for Fresno that year).
So yeah, a bad trade that's up there with Sabean's worst, considering the negative contribs of Franklin/Estrella and the eventual multi-year success of Villanueva.