According to Andrew Baggarly's blog, Freddy Sanchez knew he would need knee surgery before he was traded to the Giants. Presumably, although it is not stated, the Giants knew it, too. Incomprehensible! (Tip o' the tam o'shanter to Chris at BCB for story.) Mr. Baggarly goes on to say that he expects FSanchez to get a 2-year, $10 million deal from the Giants. Incomprehensible.
Grant at McCovey Chronicles chronicles the continuing incomprehensibility of the Buster Posey situation. I can't make sense of it. I've not been one to call for Bochy's ginormous head this season. Mostly, I don't think managers make as big an impact as we want to believe. Remember "Juggler Joe" Altobelli? He won a World Series. QED. Also, I can't think of someone who would step in and do more with our crappy lineup than has already been done. And the pitchers--starters and relievers both--have been great. Do Boch and Rags get some credit for that? I don't know. When Bochy got hired, I was hoping Ron Wotus would get the job--would he be better? I don't know. But the Posey thing has me starting to lean the other way. Play this kid! He's the best hitting prospect we have! Get his bat in the fookin' lineup! In defense of Ol' Boch, he may be taking orders from above, which is even more incomprehensible.
Nice to see the other Sanchez--the good one--pitch decently and pick up a W. Juan Uribe is "serving notice" that he should be back in 2010. Quick vote: FSanchez or JUribe at 2B for Los Gigantes next year? (I know how I'm voting.)
Read Baggarly's story in the Merc today and tell me what you think of Brian Sabean's "we'll see" bullshit. This clown needs to go. And the suits--Baer and Neukom--need brain douches (they have those, y'know). I'm increasingly convinced those two guys care only about the revenue stream, and not the least about winning the World Series. Can we get some baseball people to run our basbeall team, please?
(UPDATE: Baseball Musings quotes yours truly! Not bad, eh? Thanks to all my pals for the writing and commenting, and to all the blogfellows, guests, followers, friends, lurkers, and contibutors to this site as well. You've made RMC a happenin' place!)
7 comments:
I don't care if he's coming up with his own ideas or taking orders from above - we need some wholesale changes. I know that this seems odd to say after a season which has exceeded most of our expectations, but that's the way it is. More than shipping people out, we need an organizational shift in mentality. Despite the fact that the Manager is now an enormous-headed white guy, we are still playing Felipe Alou-ball - i.e. swinging at any pitch, anywhere, & lacking any patience at the plate. Things are at such a dire state that our team leader in BB's may have less than 50 BB's for the full season. Our ability to hit 3-run HR's and/or manufacture runs could only be enhanced by some plate patience. The formula, as it is, isn't working. Let's bring in some OBP guys. (By the way, Buster had decent BB totals in both College & the Minors.) That adjustment, along with our maturing & improving pitching staff, will keep us on an upward trend.
Update: Eli Whiteside, as Bengie Molina replacement, went 0 for 3 last night, but was hit by a pitch to get on base. Road trip totals for starting catchers: 2 for 23 for a total of 24 outs. BA = .087, corrected BA = -.043.
Bochy, from the Bruce Bochy pre-game show last night, "Bengie needs a dhay off, but Ah expect he'll be bhack in the lineup tomorrah night."
Then again, he also said that if Jonathan Sanchez got into trouble, he would have to get himself out. Although, to be fair, he did not remark on what he would do if Jonathan Sanchez was not really in trouble.
I keep both Uribe and Sanchez. Why is $5 million per year incomprehensible? Did we not pay Renteria $9 million per year? (Note to self: I promised myself I would not get involved in these money discussions, because they are stupid, boring, totally sujective and irrational, yet here I am. Sigh.) By the way, one way to look at Sanchez's injury is that he probably would be paid a lot more without it - Baggarly suggests that the club will probably pay him his 600K buyout and not pick up his 8.1M option, but offer him a contract for less money.
Uribe has played his way onto this team here in the latter days of the season. How does a left side of Sandoval, Uribe and Sanchez sound? Not the ideal defense at SS, but not horrible.
I think the FSanchez situation raises some serious questions about the brain trust. They KNEW this guy was hurt, yet they still coveted him! (And wasted a top prospect to get him.) We'll have to keep someone around just to play when he's hurt. How can that possibly be worth $5 million? We are in the tank to Rental for another year--this is the problem with TWO-year deals! Just because Rental is grossly overpaid does not make FSanchez a bargain.
And we do have to care about the money committed to these guys because it is money NOT AVAILABLE to spend on a quality free agent, or a long term deal for, say, Tim Lincecum.
Mr. Bow-tie and Larry "Bottom Line" Baer will spew out all sorts psuedo-finance talk when we fail to re-sign a young star or don't go after a high-dollar free agent, and the Comical columnists will praise them for their biz-savvy, and the reality will be that they are dickheads. They will have poured money down the drain on the wrong resources and will have rewarded underperforming players. That's not a recipe for success in ANY FIELD.
When Sanchez walked the first 2 batters I thought, "Oh shit here we go again." But then he settled down and did a fine job.
Also encouraging was seeing Sandoval take some pitches and draw a couple of walks. I doubt if any other player in baseball gets as many horrible pitches thrown at him. Because who knows, he might swing at anything. But he seems to be getting over that.
You know, Posey shouldn't even be in the majors yet, so I suppose the philosophy is, put absolutely no pressure on him, let him soak up the atmosphere, get some tutoring and have some fun.
I clearly think Posey should be batting, but I am appreciative of Grant (McCovey Chron's) posts about rational reasons why he might not be starting. I do not know how to evaluate game-calling from a fan's perspective. Do the pitchers want Posey to catch them or is he an anathema to them? I watched a fair amount of the game on tv last night. It appeared to me as though Whiteside was looking a lot at the bench for instructions before putting down fingers. Why not put in Posey and tell him that Bochy will be calling the pitches? He is supposed to be a bright lad - they can change signs every other inning or something if they need to.
Posey was a Golden Spikes winner. The draft is rife with uncertainty, but the history of Golden Spikes winners belies that. The WORST these guys do is become journeyman or role players. In other words, they CAN PLAY at the ML level. That is not in doubt (as far as such doubt can be removed). Will he be a star? Who knows? But he is ready to play NOW. Why spend $6M on a college kid if you don't think he's worth it?
Roer Craig used to call pitches from the dugout. If that's what they are worried about, then call the fookin' pitches from the dugout.
Golden Spikes Award list.
Almost no one calls their own pitches - if that's the excuse for not playing Posey, then it reeks. In fact, every excuse reeks. The guy should be playing nearly every game until the end of the season. Give Molina a 'Farewell Game' in the final series, then pinch hit Posey for him, & send him on his way to his next multi-year deal.
Just to clarify, I don't dislike Bengie Molina, but he is not what we need now. Even if he could run faster than a snail & got the occasional walk, he still would not be what we need now.
We need an offensive player with pizzazz & who seemingly represents a bit of a gamble, but is actually a 'can't miss' prospect. On the pitching side, we introduced Tim Lincecum. Now, we have Buster Posey.
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