The Glory Days

I was perusing the 2003 Giants Media Guide--Felipe, superimposed over the Park, is on the cover, with inset photos of Bonds and Robb Nen and the "2002 NL Champions" logo. I found my way to page 378 which lists the 2002 June Draft Selections. There are 50 total, of that 24 had been signed. Here are the first four, in order:

Round 1, pick 25, MATT CAIN (17 yrs. old)
Round 2, pick 66, FRED LEWIS (21 yrs. old)
Round 3, pick 97, DANIEL ORTMEIER (21 yrs. old)
Round 4, pick 127, KEVIN CORREIA (21 yrs. old)

(2001's #1 pick was Brad Hennessey)

The only other name of note on the list from '02 was #8, the 247th pick, Clay Hensley, who went to San Diego for Matt Herges in July of 2003. Then 18-year old Travis Ishikawa was the 637th pick (#21) overall. The other 44 names are nobodies.

So, in June of 2008, six years later, who will be making the biggest impact on the San Francisco Giants? The Hurra-Cain is a shoo-in, but what about the other three? Talk amongst yourselves . . .

More kudos for M.C.

The Hurra-Cain gets more notice:

Cain recognized: Right-hander Matt Cain was ranked eighth on famed baseball analyst Bill James' list of the game's top 25 players under the age of 29. The feature appears in The Bill James Handbook 2008, which will be published next month.
"His 7-16 record disguises one of the league's best pitchers," James wrote of Cain, 23. "He had the same number of quality starts last year as Brandon Webb, but whereas Webb was 17-2 with three no-decisions in those games, Cain was 6-8 with eight no-decisions."


This was the last item in the Chris Haft article about Eugenio Velez ("Velez on the run in Arizona Fall League") from the Giants webpage. Of course, we knew this already. Bill James is the well-known stat guru. Here's another link to his work. (We'll have to talk about Eugenio Velez pretty soon, eh?)

Crox or BoTox?

OK, readers (er, RMC has readers, eh?), time to chime in on the World Serious. Crox? BoTox? Don't care? The BoTox were pre-season favorites, they have been the best team all year, they just scored 30 runs (while yielding 5) in the last three games of the ALCS, they are hotter than Alabama asphalt on sunny day. The Crox have The Streak, The Team of Destiny, the Humidor Hoo-doo goin' on, and they SWEPT their opponents in the playoffs. Too bad the Crox are a non-story. I mean, winning 20 of 21 is something special, but you have to be baseball junky to care. No one outside the shadow of the Rocky Mountains gives a shit about that team. The TV folks were sacrificing virgins to get the Mets into the Series, or at least the Phillies, some team with a goddamn market. You'd probably get more folks watching the Dodgers minor-league team from Vero Beach than the Crox. Then there is the elephant in the room, the damn Red Sox and their goddamn Nation. The team is absolutely loaded. They have youth, veterans, fielding, power, speed, starting pitching, bullpen, everything. This Series is theirs to lose. I'll be surprised if they don't crush the Rockies. My family is from Boston--I've got the Sox in my blood. But I've had my fill of the goddamn Nation. Congratulations on a great season, and congrats in advance for winning the Series. Now bugger off ya damn wankers.

The Tao of '08

Handle a large kingdom with as gentle a touch as if
you were cooking a small fish.
If you manage people by letting them alone,
Ghosts of the dead shall not haunt you.

--Lao Tzu (trans. Witter Bynner)

I'm convinced that the best thing the Giants can do is nothing. No free agent signings*. No trades. The Giants have a large arsenal of young arms. Some of them will be effective (or better) major leaguers. Let's find out who they are, and what role they will shine in. The team has several OF prospects. Let's give them a chance to play. I've already blogged about Dan Ortmeier and Kevin Frandsen--I think they are our 2008 1B and 2B. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but there it is. We might lose 120 games. Fine. If we have a FUTURE and are RE-BUILDING I can live with losing. Normally, I would encourage the team's leadership to spend the "currency" of young arms on young hitters. But I am haunted by the ghosts of failed trades and idiotic signings. I do not trust Brian Sabean to make good judgments. I do not trust our scouting department to make good evaluations of other teams' talent. I do not trust the ownership group to make sound financial decisions. Sometimes you have to hold your cards and bluff. This is that time.


*Omar. OK, I can live with Omar.