Ironically, while Lansford was an excellent, and relatively patient, major league hitter for most of his 15-year career, Meulens was a decidedly impatient hitter, with a career OBP less than .300 in the minor leagues, who struck out in a third of his major league at bats. Maybe it's a case of teaching others from one's mistakes, and alternatively, being unable to teach what comes naturally?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=meulen001hen

I think the red-ass personality can grind on people after a while. Jack Clark had that happen to him when he was with LA as their hitting coach.

Still, Jack the Ripper should be considered. Jack Clark has worked as a hitting coach before, and he did show discipline while being an aggressive hitter. He loved being a Giant, coming up the system, and can probably instill some of that "Giants Pride" that he felt while coming up the system.

Velez stinks and has no business being a starter.

That is all.

Oh, also, good point about Velez, Lefty, I noticed his sad sack stats once I saw that the comments that Sabean was going to make him the leadoff hitter (actually, in the press conference, from what I read in the transcripts, he never said such a thing, he was throwing that out there as an example of what might be, but his wording did not make it seem like he liked that option, he asked that as a question, just that this currently is our option).

If Bam-Bam is responsible for that, I agree with you, then he should not get the job. Velez needed to get on base at over the league average for me to think Bam-Bam can do the job, that's his first job, being a plate setter. And Velez did not show anything that I would want to see on a regular basis.

That's why I think the Giants might be angling to sign Chone Figgins, and maybe install him in a rotating starter's role again, mostly LF, some at 3B, some at 2B, some in CF, some in RF, some at SS, all over the field, at least initially, so that young players would still get a chance to start, and once it's clearer who is performing and who is not, he then is mostly played in one position for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, he would be the leadoff guy that the team has been searching for since we thought we got one when we got Durham.

Figgins actually strike out a little too much, but he walks so much plus has so much speed, that his hitting does not appear to suffer much from that. I am thinking more and more that he's going to be the big spend this winter, plus Sabean will kick the tires on the big guys, Holliday and Bay, to see if they are willing to come to SF on the cheap, get the phone slammed down on him with laughter emanating and echoing.

As much as people want to see huge leap and bounds, I think the Giants will still be sticking to giving their prospects plenty of opportunities to show off what they got in 2010 and make hopefully marginal improvement with the Figgins addition.

Figgins, Franchez, Schierholtz/Bowker, Sandoval, Renteria, Rowand, Ishi-Garko, C (hopefully Posey, but maybe vet cheap free agent).

I don't see it either. I wish I did, almost more so than for any other Giant prospect. I would love to have a Ricky-esque lead off hitter with speed, a good glove, and some pop. I wish Velez were that guy, but I am a long way from being convinced.

Here's an analogy from the world of education:

When a teacher or a professor has, say, 2-3 students who are vocal and establish themselves as the "leaders

Someone or other in the organization did not have the guts to sit Molina and Rowand, the "leaders," when they violated the hitting coach's authority.

Why should the young guys do anything BUT follow the worthless example of these pompous know-it-alls?

For any hitting approach to take hold, the Giants must disabuse themselves of the notion of Molina and Rowand's value.

If they offer Bengie arbitration, it should absolutely be with the caveat that he will be a part-time player and mentor to Posey, not the man in the 4th hole. As far as this fan is concerned, he can go pout somewhere else.

If the Cubs take Rowand for Bradley, they should do it in a heart beat. Doesn't Bochy supposedly have the superior personnel skills that ought to be able to manage a "clubhouse cancer" with some real talent?

Hey, what happened to part of my post??

My analogy was that when one has "leaders" who set a bad example, the authority figure has to reign them in for the sake of the greater good.

From what I saw just on tv during games, it never seemed like Carney had much interaction with the players. You never saw him going over strategy or talking to hitters as they were heading to the ondeck circle. My guess is that his voice was too soft or he just wasn't respected enough by the players.

Velez should be given a lot more credit then people are giving him now. He was horrible before his last call up and even though he was no Ichiro, he was our best option at leadoff and actually had several at-bats where he took tough pitches and worked counts. Am I happy that he and Torres are going to be our leadoff hitters next year? Not especially but then again based on what Sabean says and what actually happens (last year he said Burriss would be our starting shortstop in 2009) my guess is he resigns Dave Roberts to come back and hit leadoff, 2 year contract most likely.

If Velez continues to improve then I think we have a nice player that can contribute. If he was on just about any other team he would be lucky to make the 25 man roster which goes to show you what the talent level of the Giants is. I am trying to learn how to keep my expectations in check and compared to other options I like Velez and think he can contribute and doesn't cost 9 million a year.

How about John Bowker? He was very patient in AAA, but hacked away when he was back in the MLB. Another od contradiction considering the hitting styles of the two batting coaches.