July 3rd, 2009
The Giants have been fortunate this season to have one of the best bullpens in baseball. Considering they have six full-time relievers with ERA’s of 3.50 or lower, you won’t find a pen with greater depth. Whether it’s baseball or business, you need to play your cards right when it comes to supply and demand. There are enough contending teams who are desperate for relief help, and the Giants not only have a lot of options, they have a number of low-cost options.
The three best and most untouchable relievers are obviously funnyman Brian Wilson (he may drive you nuts but he can’t go anywhere this season), Jeremy Affeldt, and Sergio Romo. Most teams would kill to have that triumvirate leading their bullpen. That’s the Giants bullpen core, and the team should make sure that these three are surrounded by at least two remaining solid pieces. Out of the group of Brandon Medders (3.03 ERA), Bobby Howry (3.86), Merkin Valdez (3.38), and Justin Miller (2.16), Sabean should trade one or two arms. This group doesn’t have tremendous value but they do have decent value when you factor in contending teams such as the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, Rockies, and Angels all have bullpen ERA’s of 4.20 or higher. These are also teams that are looking for multiple relievers, not just one arm. And, the five teams listed above aren’t the only teams looking for bullpen help.
Let’s explore the potential bullpen trade chips:
(more…)
Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Al Davis, Andrew Bailey, Barry Zito, Bobby Howry, Brad Ziegler, Brandon Medders, Brian Wilson, C.J. Watson, Earthquakes, Edgardo Alfonzo, Fred Lewis, Giants, Greg Papa, Jeremy Affeldt, Joe Cannon, Justin Miller, Kent Huskins, Lance Armstrong, Manny Ramirez, Merkin Valdez, Pablo Sandoval, Raiders, Ron Artest, Ryan Sadowski, Ryane Clowe, Sabercats, Sergio Romo, Sharks, Warriors | No Comments
July 2nd, 2009
As annoying as last night’s debacle was, Brian Wilson’s two TV appearances yesterday was much more of a train wreck. He was on ESPN’s First Take and the Giants Pregame Show on Comcast SportsNet and continued to be as unfunny as Steve Lyons. Even worse, the hosts of the shows, Dana Jacobson and Scott Reiss, laughed along with Wilson’s unfunniness.
Why so many of these TV folks try to hype up Wilson as a funny person is beyond me. Maybe it’s because of the boring TV show, Life of Brian, where admittedly I’ve only watched a few minutes. I just know those few minutes I watched, I’ll never get back. A guy walking around with a video camera, only amusing himself is not what I call great TV. I’d rather watch Full House re-runs. Jacobson called it dry humor yesterday, but if it’s not funny, it’s someone making themselves look ridiculous (particularly with that hair).
Maybe I’m making a big deal about nothing, but considering how the Giants are finally in the national sports news for being a respectable team for the first time in five years, Wilson appears to be poor representation. Basically, he looks like douche bag. That’s what I would be thinking if I were a fan of another team watching Wilson for the first time. ”Who is this loser and what is that dead animal on his head.” (more…)
Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Amare Stoudemire, Andy Roddick, Bobby Howry, Brian Boucher, Brian Sadowski, Brian Wilson, Charlie Steiner, Chris Mullin, Dallas Braden, Edgar Renteria, Giants, Jack Cust, Jason Giambi, Jermaine Dye, Kent Huskins, Kurt Suzuki, Leon Powe, Michael Kay, Mike Grier, Pablo Sandoval, Patrick Willis, Raiders, Sharks, Tony LaRussa, Vernon Davis, Warriors | No Comments
June 22nd, 2009
Sorry, I haven’t posted anything since Thursday. I got lazy. Maybe if I had the energy of those losers starting the wave in the upper deck yesterday, I wouldn’t have waited four days. Speaking of which, if you’re at a baseball game, are older than 16, and you’re trying to start a wave, you are pathetic. And, you’re not a Giants fan. Don’t even bother showing up again. We don’t need your short attention spans at our games. Sometimes, I miss the 15,000-20,000 die-hards that loyally showed up to the ‘Stick.
The Giants ten-game trip that starts tonight in Oakland is one of three lengthy (10 or more games) road trips remaining on their schedule. It might be the toughest road trip of the year because they’ll face two above-.500 teams (Brewers and Cardinals), plus the aces of those teams, Yovani Gallardo and Chris Carpenter. Considering Jonathan Sanchez will likely be starting twice, and the A’s will be looking for revenge, it doesn’t make things any easier. It could be a very pivotal trip for the Giants bullpen that has performed much better at home than on the road as you can tell by the numbers below.
|
RELIEVER
|
HOME ERA
|
ROAD ERA
|
|
WILSON
|
2.14
|
4.63
|
|
AFFELDT
|
1.29
|
2.03
|
|
ROMO
|
4.15
|
0.00
|
|
VALDEZ
|
1.59
|
5.59
|
|
MEDDERS
|
1.76
|
4.20
|
|
HOWRY
|
5.79
|
3.00
|
|
MILLER
|
1.93
|
2.81
|
Only Sergio Romo and Bobby Howry have posted higher ERA’s at home, and Romo obviously has a very small sample size. Valdez’s splits are particularly glaring, although he wasn’t helped by that Washington disaster three weeks ago when the Nationals scored six runs in the eighth inning in the opening game of the last ten-game road trip.
(more…)
Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Barry Zito, Bob Bradley. Aaron Rowand, Bobby Howry, Brandon Medders, Brian Wilson, Bruce Bochy, Chris Guarnero, Dallas Braden, Giants, Jeremy Affeldt, Jonathan Sanchez, Jordan Hill, Justin Miller, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Frandsen, Lance Armstrong, Larry Riley, Madison Bumgarner, Matt Downs, Merkin Valdez, Nnamdi Asomugha, Pablo Sandoval, Raiders, Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia, Ryane Clowe, Sergio Romo, Sharks, Tim Alderson, Trevor Cahill, Warriors | No Comments
June 3rd, 2009
As a kid, I remember being overjoyed at the dominant major league debuts of Dennis Cook and Mike Remlinger. I really thought it would be a sign of future great success. While they both had decent major league careers, they certainly never lived up to their potential. I bring this up because Vin Mazzaro was fantastic in his major league debut last night, but he did walk four and strike out only one. That is enough cause not to get too excited about what he’s going to do for the rest of the season. On Chronicle Live last night, Marty Lurie mentioned how important command is for all pitchers, and we don’t have to look much further than Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill for proof. Host Greg Papa, while impressed, even admitted that Jon “Way Back” Wasdin had a nice A’s debut, too. And Mazzaro’s wasn’t even the most dominant debut by a major leaguer last night, as the Phillies Antonio Bastardo was much more impressive against San Diego. (more…)
Categories: Oakland A's |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Bobby Howry, Brandon Medders, Brandon Smith, Brett Anderson, Bruce Bochy, Craig Clark, Giants, Jed York, Jerome Randle, Jonny Flynn, LeBron James, Mark Roman, Matt Cain, Merkin Valdez, Mitch Kupchak, Randy Johnson, Terrence Williams, Tim Lincecum, Trevor Cahill, Vin Mazzaro, Warriors | No Comments
June 2nd, 2009
It’s been so long since I actually wrote anything, I figure I might as well dig deep into a topic that I think is very interesting for Giants fans. It’s not that I think 2009 is hopeless, but everyone can agree that the Giants should be a better team in 2010 and 2011. For the purpose of this post, we’ll focus on 2010.
The offseason between 2009 and 2010 is so interesting because the Giants have $37.25 million coming off the books between Randy Winn, Dave Roberts, Noah Lowry (apologies to those who have Lowry T-shirt jerseys), Randy Johnson, Bengie Molina, and Bobby Howry. Plus, another $2 million with Juan Uribe and Rich Aurilia (let’s pray this is the last year of Aurilia). The contracts of Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, Jeremy Affeldt, and Matt Cain will go up a combined $8.6 million in 2010, and there will be other raises for guys like Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson. Nonetheless, the Giants should still make a decent mark in free agency, especially when you consider the payroll should rise since the team basically admitted they had money to spend but didn’t this season (considering the courting of Manny Ramirez).
(more…)
Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Aaron Crow, Aaron Rowand, Angel Villalona, Aubrey Huff, Bengie Molina, Bobby Howry, Buster Posey, Dave Roberts, Dre Bly, Edgar Renteria, Emmanuel Burriss, Giants, Isaac Bruce, JaMarcus Russell, Jason Bay, Jeremy Affeldt, Jonathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Justin Duchscherer, Kevin Frandsen, Kevin Pucetas, Kurt Warner, Madison Bumgarner, Manny Ramirez, Marquis Grissom, Matt Cain, Matt Holliday, Merkin Valdez, Mike Singletary, Nate Schierholtz, Noah Lowry, Pablo Sandoval, Patty Mills, Raiders, Randy Johnson, Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia, Roger Federer, Santiago Casilla, Tanner Scheppers, Vin Mazzaro | No Comments
