September 8th, 2009
With all of the talk surrounding Bengie Molina’s contract situation, Juan Uribe is more deserving of a new Giants deal than Molina and Freddy Sanchez, and it’s not just because of Uribe’s recent hot-hitting. Of course, the Giants could re-sign both Sanchez and Uribe, and commit second base to Sanchez and third base to Uribe in 2010. But, if it comes down to one or the other, Uribe seems the more logical commitment.
For starters, Uribe is younger and more healthy. Uribe turned 30 in March, while Sanchez turns 32 in December. In his six weeks as a Giant, Sanchez has had knee and shoulder issues, while Uribe has mostly been pain-free. Health should be the number one concern when it comes to signing players to multi-year deals… even two-year contracts.
Uribe is also more versatile. While Sanchez hasn’t played anywhere other than second since 2006, the Giants can play Uribe at second, short, and third. Versatility is becoming one of those many aspects of baseball that has been undervalued. (In the way that on-base percentage and defense have been undervalued the last several years.) Uribe’s versatility also gives the team some leeway to develop their younger infielders. Uribe can play third to make room for a second baseman, and he play second so someone can play third or first (whichever position Sandoval isn’t playing). He also, of course, is capable of playing shortstop if Edgar Renteria continues to tail off next year.
Uribe does all of this while playing very good defense no matter where he’s playing. He’s only slightly below average at shortstop, but so is Renteria. Sanchez is a good defender at second, but Uribe is just as good in the field.
As for the offense, it may just be that Uribe will be a better hitter over the next couple of seasons. This season, Uribe’s OPS is .816, nearly 100 points better than his career mark (.726). His wOBA is .345 this season compared to a .309 career number. Maybe Uribe is in a salary drive (although I doubt it) but, perhaps more likely, Uribe is becoming a better hitter and one of the many players more successful in the National League. I’m not expecting a .816 OPS in the future, but a .780 OPS in 2010 and 2011 isn’t that unrealistic and still above average.
By comparison, Sanchez is a career .756 OPS hitter, and has a .768 mark this year. He did have an .851 OPS in his best season in 2006 when he hit .332, but that was when Sanchez was still in his 20’s. I’m guessing Sanchez’s 2009 offensive numbers are more reflective of his next few seasons. And, with Sanchez being 32 and 33 the next couple of seasons, the numbers could go down.
In the end, there may not be a huge difference between Uribe and Sanchez offensively in the next few seasons. However, Uribe’s versatility, defense, health, and clubhouse presence (which continues to get talked up) make him the better option to sign for the next few seasons. If you factor in that Uribe may be cheaper because so many people in baseball (Sabean?) are still in love with batting average, then he is a MUCH better option.
More notes:
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: Bengie Molina, Brad Penny, Bruce Bochy, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Eli Whiteside, Eugenio Velez, Freddy Sanchez, Giants, Jason Hammel, John Bowker, Jonathan Sanchez, Jorge De La Rosa, Jose Contreras, Juan Uribe, Matt Cain, Rockies, Tim Lincecum, Ubaldo Jimenez, Willie Mays | No Comments
August 13th, 2009
Whether it’s been Ryan Sadowski or Joe Martinez, the Giants are 1-5 in the last six games started by their fifth starter. Considering the Giants have four off-days left, counting today, shouldn’t Bruce Bochy make sure that Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain pitch as much as possible and also limit the number of starts made by whoever is in the fifth spot? If he does take advantage of these remaining off days, Cain will make 11 starts, Lincecum and Barry Zito will pitch in 10 games each, while Jonathan Sanchez will make 9 starts, and the fifth starter spot will come up in 8 games.
What is concerning me, however, is that Bochy doesn’t plan on pitching Lincecum in New York when Lincecum should pitch Monday if he receives his normal four days rest. Even worse, by pitching Cain Saturday instead of tomorrow, Cain will miss the four games in Coors Field against the Giants greatest wild-card competitor. The Giants are 2-3 in the Rockies home park this year, and both wins were games started by Cain. He is 2-0 in Colorado and has allowed just one run in 13 innings. Bochy should make sure that Cain pitches in that series, and all he would have to do is push Zito back a day.
Zito has been pitching very well, but if Bochy is worried about hurting Zito’s feelings, then he’s missing the boat. He’s also missing the boat if he is worried about Lincecum or Cain’s right arms. There is no harm to Cain and Lincecum because they would be pitching on their normal four days rest. Bochy needs to give his team the best possible opportunity to reach the postseason.
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Barry Zito, Brian Wilson, Cal, Giants, Guillermo Mota, Joe Martinez, Jonathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Kerri Walsh, Matt Cain, Michael Crabtree, Nate Davis, Pablo Sandoval, Raiders, Rich Aurilia, Ryan Sadowski, Stanford, Tim Lincecum, Vin Scully | No Comments
July 11th, 2009
Not only is he a Cy Young winner, but Tim Lincecum apparently is also Nostradamus. His quote on Chronicle Live last night before Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter:
Someone is going to throw a no-hitter and it might not be the ace of the squad. It could be an unsung hero kind of guy.
“Unlikely”, as Henry Schulman and Andrew Baggarly write, is the word that has been used most frequently to describe Sanchez’s no-hitter. While no one expected this piece of brilliance from a pitcher who has struggled so much this year, we can expect brilliance from pitching coach, Dave Righetti.
Sure, the Giants are fortunate to have a lot of pitchers with great stuff, but they still need a coach to help harness that stuff. And, great stuff doesn’t always mean great results. Righetti obviously worked hard with Sanchez since his demotion to the bullpen. Just as he did when Barry Zito has demoted last year, and came back a better pitcher. From Jeremy Affeldt to Sergio Romo to Ryan Sadowski to Justin Miller to Brandon Medders, and even Lincecum and Matt Cain, can you honestly say that Righetti can get any more production from their pitching staff than they have received to his point? Sanchez has been the one underachiever, and the Giants pitching coach may have righted that ship.
Righetti appeared to be in tears last night as he embraced Sanchez after the final out. It confirmed how close Righetti is to these Giant pitchers and got me thinking about a great baseball book I read from Roger Kahn called The Head Game.
In the book, Kahn spoke at length with former pitching stud, Johnny Sain. Many baseball fans are unaware that Sain was, not only an excellent pitcher, but a very good pitching coach. Jim Bouton once said of Sain, the coach:
Johnny Sain didn’t try to make you pitch like he did. He put himself in your shoes. He had allegiance to you. He made you think. He was the best pitching coach in baseball.
Sain had a number of principles he lived by as a pitching coach, but two have stood out. One, a coach “owes his primary loyalty to his pitchers”. Sain explained that loyalty took precedence over other important loyalties to the boss and to the field manager. Whether you agree with it or not, it helped Sain become closer with his pitching staff and develop trust. One of Sain’s other quotes was, “It’s better for a pitching coach to be unemployed than to be dishonest”.
I don’t know if Righetti follows these same principles or the exact relationship between Rags and the members of the Giants staff, but those tears confirmed that there is a bond that us fans may not completely grasp. A bond that may be developed through loyalty and honesty. Whatever his methods, Righetti is getting great results. It’s time we give him his just due.
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Aaron Rowand, Anthony Randolph, Barry Zito, Bengie Molina, Brandon Medders, Buster Posey, Charlie Manuel, Dave Righetti, Eli Whiteside, Giants, Greg Ellis, Jeremy Affeldt, Jim Bouton, Joey Devine, John Montefusco, Johnny Sain, Jon Bryant, Jonathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Justin Miller, Kevin Frandsen, Matt Cain, Mike Krukow, Pablo Sandoval, Patty Mills, Raiders, Roger Kahn, Ryan Sadowski, Sergio Romo, Stefan Frei, Stephen Curry, Tim Lincecum, Warriors | No Comments
June 18th, 2009
The Giants are leading the wild card! Woo-hoo!!
What’s that? Oh, okay. Not anymore.
Leading the wild card doesn’t mean crap in June. It seems that this “wild card race” is making people forget about what this season is supposed to be about. Yes, the Giants want to make the playoffs and probably believe they’re good enough to be a postseason team. I still think they have a good chance to make the playoffs.
This season, however, is about playing the young players and determining whether or not some of these guys are going to be good enough to go forward, beyond 2009. In the offseason, the Giants will sign a couple of position player free agents and that will take away a couple opportunities from younger players in the system to establish themselves. 2009 is an excellent opportunity to evaluate young position players such as Emmanuel Burriss (although he was certainly given great opportunity), Kevin Frandsen, Travis Ishikawa, Nate Schierholtz, Fred Lewis, and John Bowker (when he gets his chance). It was my understanding that the main goal of 2009 was to find out exactly what the Giants had in these players. This was the year to give them the at bats and the experience, so we can have a better evaluation before the Giants really try to make a run in 2010 and 2011.
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Alex Boone, Andres Torres, Bob Geren, Cal, Don Nelson, Emmanuel Burriss, Fred Lewis, Giants, Jack Cust, Jahvid Best, JaMarcus Russell, John Bowker, John Bryant, Jonathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Kevin Frandsen, Kevin Love, Kevin Riley, Matt Cain, Michael Wuertz, Nate Schierholtz, Pablo Sandoval, Patrick Christopher, Patrick Willis, Phil Jackson, Phil Mickelson, Raiders, Rajai Davis, Rich Aurilia, Scott McKillop, Shaun Hill, Tiger Woods, Tim Lincecum, Travis Ishikawa, Warriors | No Comments
June 10th, 2009
As mentioned yesterday, the Giants almost had to take a pitcher because there were so many good ones, and such few hitters, on the board for that 6th overall spot. I don’t think that Brian Sabean, John Barr, and company drafted Zack Wheeler because they have premeditated intentions to trade one of their top pitching prospects. However, down the road, likely in the offseason, this does clear up an opportunity for the Giants to deal one of their pitching phenoms for some offense.
The phenom who is most likely to go is Tim Alderson. Madison Bumgarner has reached untouchable status, Barry Zito’s contract is untradeable, Jonathan Sanchez is tradeable but won’t fetch mush other than a rent-a-player (if that), there would be a riot if Tim Lincecum were dealt, and Matt Cain could also go, but likely won’t considering his contract is so affordable, and he’s now having his best season (although some would say this offseason would be a perfect time to deal Cain because his value will never be higher). Alderson is the most likely to go during the offseason because, if his solid season continues at Connecticut (27 innings, 2.00 ERA, 1 BB, 24 K’s) he will likely crack Baseball America’s Top 20, and maybe even Top 10, prospects for 2010. (He was a #45 on BA’s list coming into 2009.) Nobody ever trades away Top 20 prospects, but the Giants pitching surplus could put someone on the market that other teams around baseball could be salivating over.
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Aaron Cunningham, Barry Zito, Brandon Jones, Brett Favre, Brian Sabean, Cal, Cam Weaver, Chris Wondolowski, Craig Clark, Dick Tidrow, Drew Storen, Earthquakes, Florentino Perez, Giants, Grant Green, Henry Sosa, Jahvid Best, JaMarcus Russell, Jeff Garcia, Juan Uribe, Kenny Diekroeger, Kevin Frandsen, Kevin Johnson, Kevin Pucetas, Madison Bumgarner, Marvin Jones, Matt Cain, Nick Garcia, Nnamdi Asomugha, Pablo Sandoval, Raiders, Randy Bennett, Randy Winn, Sharks, Shaun Hill, Stanford, Tim Alderson, Tim Floyd, Tim Lincecum, Travis Moen, Zack Wheeler | 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).
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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
May 26th, 2009
Anyone that follows a number of baseball blogs and articles is hearing that trades could be made very soon. “Teams are willing to deal early”. We keep hearing it, but nothing of substance has really happened. (I wouldn’t count the Jake Peavy-to-the-White Sox deal, because it’s always been known that Peavy has been available since November.) The A’s shouldn’t be looking to deal their most rumored bait, Matt Holliday, while everyone disputes his career numbers because of Coors Field.
Apparently, Holliday isn’t getting a lot of respect for past success. I’ll accept that last year’s 25 homers and 88 RBI’s weren’t very impressive, but he did hit .321, and has hit .340 and .326 in 2007 and 2006, respectively. His last three years coming into this one were three fantastic seasons. Anyone that thinks his current .264 batting average isn’t going to improve, hasn’t been following baseball very closely. Holliday’s numbers might have been inflated by Coors Field, but not this drastically. He’s a streak hitter and is one or two hot weeks from his numbers getting closer to where they were the previous three seasons. The A’s shouldn’t deal him until those numbers come up, or else they could be taking 25 cents on the dollar.
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Categories: Oakland A's |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Alonzo Carter, Billy Beane, Brett Anderson, Brian Sabean, Buster Posey, Cal, Giants, Jesus Guzman, Jonathan Sanchez, Josh Morgan, Josh Outman, Juan Uribe, Justin Duchscherer, Matt Holliday, Merkin Valdez, Michael Crabtree, Nmandi Asomugha, Pablo Sandoval, Raiders, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Vesce, San Jose State, Sharks, Stanford, Travis Ishikawa, Trevor Cahill, Warriors | No Comments
May 14th, 2009
Chronicle Live, hosted by Greg Papa, is a great nightly show for fans because they’re always touching on the pertinent Bay Area sports subjects. Last night, the panelists included Joe Morgan, Bruce Jenkins, and Henry Schulman, and the first subject was where the Giants would find offense this year. Jenkins and Morgan both felt the Giants needed more power in the outfield, but I agreed with Schulman who said the Giants need more production at first base.
As noted here last week, I think the Giants need to stick with Travis Ishikawa for the time being because he is the best option in the organization. (Don’t get me started on the asinine idea of starting Juan Uribe everyday.) Eventually, however, the team will need more from first base. Even if Ishikawa’s numbers improve, and I think they will, they won’t improve greatly. He’s not suddenly going to become one of the better, or even an average, hitting first baseman in the National League.
In order to find that acceptable production, the Giants will have to look outside the organization and the best option is the Orioles’ Aubrey Huff. Huff may be a candidate for
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Categories: San Francisco Giants |
Tags: 49ers, A's, Alex Boone, Andre Ward, Angel Villalona, Aubrey Huff, Barry Zito, Cal, Charles Haley, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Edison Miranda, Frantz Joseph, Giants, J.P. Foschi, Jeff Tedford, John Marshall, Josh Outman, Juan Uribe, Larry Riley, Manny Acta, Merkin Valdez, Nick Johnson, Pablo Sandoval, Rachel Alexandria, Raiders, Ryan Zimmerman, Shairon Martis, Sharks, Terrell Owens, Travis Ishikawa, Vin Mazzaro, Warriors | No Comments
April 29th, 2009
“Whose fault is it?”
“Who do we get rid of so this doesn’t happen again?”
A natural knee-jerk reaction from fans and media, after a painful postseason flameout, is to find players and/or coaches to blame for our distress. The thinking is that something needs to change or we’re doomed to repeat past failures. The problem with knee-jerk reactions is they mostly lack reasonable analysis. I don’t claim to be a hockey expert, but I do know that Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are fantastic players, even if they haven’t produced the playoff results that we expect. I also know that the Sharks aren’t the first team to experience repeated playoff failures. In fact, there have been other teams who have overcome postseason disappointments to eventually become Stanley Cup champions.
Before the Sharks, there have been seven top seeds who have been ousted in the opening round, and four of them eventually won Stanley Cups within three years after their ouster. Okay, that’s not a really high percentage, but the 1994 Red Wings, the 1997 Devils, the 1998 Devils, and the 2006 Red Wings, also had a solid group of good players in the prime of their careers, and instead of trading away key players, they kept most of their group intact.
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Categories: San Francisco Giants, San Jose Sharks |
Tags: A's, Barry Bonds, Bill Neukom, Bruce Bochy, Devils, Devin Setoguchi, Doug Wilson, Ducks, Edgar Renteria, Emmanuel Burriss, Evgeni Nabokov, Fred Lewis, Giants, Glen Coffee, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Jonas Hiller, Jonathan Cheechoo, Jonathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Mark Ellis, Michael Crabtree, Michael Silver, Milan Michalek, Patrick Marleau, Red Wings, Ryane Clowe, Scot McCloughan, Sharks, Steve Perry, Travis Ishikawa, Trevor Cahill | No Comments
