Possible Giants targets

With less than 12 hours to go before the July 31st non waiver trade deadline passes, I don't expect we'll see additional Giants moves but it is certainly possible. The Giants  have made the decision to go for it this season yet set themselves up for the future somewhat. The team still has needs and can upgrade in a few areas so expect that Brian Sabean will be combing every opportunity until 1600 EDT today. 

The team could look to upgrade a back of the rotation starter and another bat, likely a LF but they won't be very picky. Here is a short list of who they are likely targeting:

Mark Teahan- the Royals infielder can play nearly anywhere... Literally. 2B, 3B, 1B, LF, RF. He has shown good power over the years but has been inconsistent offensively. He would likely be a platoon guy similar to what they expected from Frandsen, but not have an established position on this team. He's controllable for one more season and is a local CA guy out of Redlands. This season, Teahan is hitting .290/.344/.450/.794 with 9 homeruns. Teahan is not likely to slip through waivers in August 

Carl Crawford- Crawford is one of the games most underated superstars and not likely to be moved. With one more very affordable team option, Crawford makes sense to keep for the Rays except this may be the best time to capitalize on his value. He's the perfect fit to AT&T park and quite possibly could reach 25-30 triples playing there. No one in the league is better at stealingbases currently than Crawford and his high OBP is just what the Giants need. The Rays won't become sellers this season, but have indicated they might move him if it involved getting something of greater need back for this years playoff run do to clear money, sat Roy Halladay. Crawford is not likely to clear waivers in August. 

Josh Willingham- Willingham has really gotten hot recently and may have just played himself into staying on the Nationals for years to come but just last week they were still talking about him. He has the power potential to hit 30 homeruns but is somewhat limited in his dimensions offensively. Willingham is team controllable for a few more seasons and is cheap now. One factor against him is he's already 30 si this could be the ideal sell high time... Hry wait, Sabean loves to buy high, who needs match dot com when you have this? He could be the power bat the Giants want in LF this season but as the Nats GM Frank Rizzo has made aware, he won't come cheap. They wanted Jonathan Sanchez for Nick Johnson! What do you think they'd want for Willingham... Matt Cain???? No way he slips through waivers.

Jermaine Dye- The white Sox think they are still in the race so GM Kenny Williams hasn't made Dye available yet, but it could come soon. Dye would give the Giants that natural cleanup hitter they long for and positionally fits great. Another NorCal guy, he would be very familiar here. For an aging OF with questionable knees and a rather large 2010 salary, there is very little question he slips through waivers so don't worry about him. The Giants still have a month. 

Carlos Lee- Lee is a bit of an enigma here. The OF spurred the Giants a few years ago to sign for less with the Astros for their Hitters park and has not even lived up to that contract. He's owed a lot ($56 million more thru 2012 & full NTC) for a long time still, but if you compare him to our other two deals that way(Zito/Rowand) his numbers look good...and technically Sabean didn't give him that contract so he can't take fault right? On one hand, he didn't want to come here anyways so why should we want him. On the other, well, I still don't want him but the 'Stros may pick up some coin on him and it won't take a buster/Madison/angel to get him... And he should clear waivers over and over.

Jon Garland- This DBacks starter has been consistent if anything else recently. nothing spectacular or over powering but he'll give at least the quality innings Zito has. That's pretty good if you're looking to improve a back end spot. He might just be the difference in 2 more wins the last two months. 2 wins is 2 wins. He has a mutual 2010 option but not so favorable wording regarding trading him this season. If he is, the acquiring team cannot offer arb if he's a type A FA. Garland is questionable but likely to clear waivers.

Jarrod Washburn- This Seattle starter is having a renaissance season perfectly timed with his walk year. He is more of a number 3 starter than a back end guy but is owed a good chunk of change still and is likely to clear waivers. The problem is he's likely to garner type A FA status so the Mariners are going to push for 2 quality prospects back even though the likelyhood they extend arbitration in the first place is very low.

Brian Bannister- This Royals pitcher is still fairly young and controllable for 2 more seasons so it would be likely the Royals look for a sweet return on Bannister. He's another quality three guy and doesn't cost much at all. He is not likely to clear waivers in August.

One thing to keep in mind: With this economy, this "trade deadline" will be as loose as ever and more players than ever before should slip through waivers. The August deadline should be busier than July's. Expect the Giants to deal again...

Giants acquire Freddie Sanchez for Tim Alderson

The Giants announced last night another trade, acquiring Pirates All
Star second baseman Freddie Sanchez for AA pitcher Tim Alderson.

Alderson was one of the Giants top 4 (suposedly) untouchable prospects
with a live arm and great command. He has been projected to be a solid
#2 starter. Many have envisioned a "dream rotation" of Lincecum, Cain,
Bumgarner, & Alderson leading the Giants for years to come, comparing
to the great Braves staff if the 90's. It's hard to compare prospects
though until they reach the show.

Baesball America had Alderson ranked as the midseason #26 prospect in
baseball. Others all had him listed in the top 50. He was #4 in the
Giants farm system and will move up to #1, maybe #2 behind Pedro
Alverez, in the Pirates farm.

Sanchez brings stability to a shaky second base this season and a
consistent #2 hitter. Sanchez doesn't hit for power but high average
and on base % he excels in. Sanchez has an $8 million option for 2010
that vests at 600 PA's or becomes a club option if not. Either way,
you can count on the Giants picking it up and looking to extend him
another 2 years this offseason.

This is a high price to pay for Sanchez, but if the Giants reach the
playoffs this season this deal will look better. If they reach the
world series, Sabean will be lauded.

In the end though, it will be difficult to determine how good or bad
this trade was until a few years have gone by. Alderson will likely
make his MLB debut at some point next season for the Pirates, whereas
it wasn't likely until 2011 with San Francisco. If he starts his
career off strongly, Sabean once again will have an earful of critics.

My opinion: I was in favor of and was hoping the Giants would go after
Sanchez, but not to this extent. Many of the 2B prospects didn't get a
fair shake this season &/or are still very young and were pushed to
hard to fast. The organization decided to go all in on 2009, a move
that is hard to argue with given the position the team has put
themselves in. Freddie Sanchez will make a lot of fans in San
Francisco as long as they accept he won't bring the power bat they
desire, and he should be here for years to come.

Last but not least, this will likely spell the end of the Kevin
Frandsen era in S.F. and he will be gone by next season, if not
sooner. Matt Downs still has time in the organization to play himself
into a role here. Emmanuel Burriss, once healthy from his broken foot,
will have his focus shifted back to SS, where the team will have thru
the end of next season to see if he can take over for Edgar Renteria
in 2011, a much healthier time-line for him offensively given his age
of 22 now.

Breaking down the Garko trade

"Sometimes the best deal you make is the one you don't"

Who ever said that doesn't know what they are talking about, trades are fun when you think they are going to work in your favor or you THINK that your team won... Oh wait, I've been saying that for months.

Well, I didn't mean it in this case. This time, the Giants have finally made a trade that looks great on first impressions. The Giants acquired 1B/OF Ryan Garko from the Cleveland Indians for minor league (A) P Scott Barnes. On second impression, I still like it.

Now, if Scott Barnes turns into Francisco Liriano or Joe Nathan, then for the record I HATE THIS DEAL. I thought it was dumb from the beginning and Sabean needs to be fired... But for now, I think the Giants got a great return.

Garko, 28, is a Stanford product so he's got to be smart right? Isn't that enough? No, OK, well we do have a ton of Cal Bear fans so we'll leave that one alone. He was a 3rd round draft pick by Cleveland in 2003, made his major league debut in 2005 but only played one game. Garko then played 50 in 2006 and became a regular for the Indians over the last three seasons. Regular? kind of. He's been playing mostly 1B and DH over his career, with some limited LF/RF this season... and it hasn't actually been everyday. Garko has about 100 less plate appearances than Giants regulars Winn, Sandoval, Renteria, Rowand, & Molina so his numbers may look smaller than they can be.

He has demonstrated decent power over the last 3 seasons, with a high of 21 and 53 career. Garko may never be that perennial 30 home run, 100 RBI guy, but 25/90 isn't that far fetched. He's just entering his prime and is coming to a home park that actually suits a right handed pull hitter very well. Garko is a pull to middle hitter that nearly equally hits line drives, fly balls, and ground balls

More so than his power is his all around bat. Garko has a career line of .283/.355/.450/.805. That .805 OPS isn't superstar, but it is good. It's also better than the career average of every single Giant except Pablo Sandoval. It's not just the career line though, this season he's at .285/.362/.464/.826. Again, better than all the current Giants except Sandoval.

Garko excels against lefties, this season batting .333 with a .960 OPS. He takes a few more pitches than we're used to and can hit in the clutch. In 61 AB's this season with RISP, he has 4 doubles, 4 HR, 27 RBI, and is batting .295/.408/.557/.965.

Garko is also under team control for 3 more seasons as he enters arbitration for the first time this offseason. He makes 450K this season but should get a nice bumb this offseason in the 1 to 2 million range.

Comparable ball players to Garko on Baseball Reference are James Loney, Conor Jackson, Casey Kotchman, and none other than our very own JT Snow. Not bad company.

Barnes is a fair price to pay. It's unforunate to see him go as he is likely to be a very quality to good major league pitcher. Barnes problem is the depth within the organization, exactly the reason why he was expendable. Baseball America rated him the Giants preseason #9 prospect within the farm system. Currenty he was buried behind Madison Bumgarner, Tim Alderson, Henry Sosa, Kevin Pucetas, Jonathan Sanchez, Ryan Sadowski, Joe Martinez among others. Barnes is still 2 years plus away from making the bigs but when he does, he's probably more like the 5th best pitcher in the farm system.

Barnes is having an excellent season at A San Jose, posting a 12-3 record with a 2.85 ERA & 1.13 WHIP. He certainly has the chance to make the Giants look bad 5 years from now, but in the end, this should be a good move for both teams. The Giants don't lose their best prospects and still have depth while improving their offense and the Indians clear a spot for one of their top prospects in Matt LaPorta while getting a likely 3rd starter in a few years.

How the Hell did they ever win three?

Right about now, the San Francisco Giants are boarding a plane inbound for home, and they better be thanking their lucky stars that they are only 2 games behind the Colorado Rockies in the wildcard race.

The Giants just finished a miserable (I'm trying hard not to use the adjectives I'm thinking) road trip; 10 games of 3-7 ball.... THREE And Freakin SEVEN!!!!!!

I'd love to blame it on needing days off, maybe have Crash Davis get them a rain delay, but the All Star Break preceded this...disaster. So we'll give Lincecum & Cain a pass, but the rest of them....

Actually, when you look back at it, disaster is too harsh. I mean, they did win 3 games. 3 games is a mind blowing success; it should have been 1 or 2.

Over the last 10 days, the pitching sucked, the defense blew(well, with the exception of Andres, Pablo, & Nate) and the offense...who are we kidding. What offense?

The Giants were outscored 44-23 on the trip. The batted .217, had an OBP of .254, slugged .292... That's an OPS of .546 

2.3 R/G, 50 LOB, batted 12-67 with RISP... That's .179

They had 17 doubles (6 in one game), 3 triples, 3 SB, 17 BB's, and ONE measly HOMERUN

The team only had 3 guys with an OPS over .710 I'll give you 20 guesses and I bet you wouldn't get the order right. (since I don't want to lose another bet, I'm just going to give you the answer now) 

3- Nate Schierholtz- .333/.333/.485/.818

2- Matt Cain- .333/.333/.500/.833

1- Freddie Lewis- .333/.454/.500/.954

In case you were wondering how some of your favorites fared, here you go:

Winn- .268/.318/.390/.708

Renteria- .192/.222/.231/.453
Uribe- .187/.212/.281/.493

Sandoval- .244/.279/.341/.620

Ishikawa- .280/.280/.280/.560

Molina- .214/.290/.250/.540

Downs- sorry, I couldn't bring myself to crusify him

But don't fret, it wasn't all the offense; although 2.3 runs is enough to make any self respectng pitcher shut down. Still, those guys have a job to do and all of them not named Matt Cain or Jeremy Affeldt just didn't help matters

Going into the All Star break, the entire staff was 1st or 2nd in every category frm CG's to No-Hitters, ERA to Shut Outs, Strike outs to girls phone numbers... Heck these guys were so good, even the opponents started sending notes via courier to the boys, looking for a night out. Notthis trip though.

The team ERA this trip was 4.40, WHIP- 1.375, K/9- 7.97, BB/9- 4.09, & K/BB- 1.95

The bullpen had it rough: ERA- 4.02, WHIP- 1.44, K/9- 5.46,  BB/9- 4.31, & K/BB- 1.26

If not for Matt Cain's 1.28 ERA, WHIP- 1.00, K/9- 8.36, BB/9- 3.85, & 2.16 K/BB while leading the Giants to 2 wins and Jeremy Affeldt keeping his scorless streak going(now the best in 40 years for a reliever) at 27...this teamwould have been 1-9

Indeed these guys were lucky to get three wins. If they want to stay together, they had better find their mojo quick. With the trade deadline looming, Sabean undoubtedly is burning the midnight oil looking for help. Is is needed, Yes, but that is another topic. For now, these guys are glad to be home

By the way... Is it "Sad & Pathetic" or just another "Showcase of his talent" that Matt Cain currently sits 2nd on the Giants with his current active hit streak at 2 Games? 

A Giant reason to win tonight

Tim Lincecum is taking the ball tonight & the Giants haven't needed a win this bad in a while. Not since the now infamous 6 game road trip thru San Diego & Seattle have the Giants looked this bad. At least then, the Giants were holding opponents to a 2-1 score.

Gone are the days of a 1-2 loss. The Giants must have gotten tired of those close losses because after a couple of them in Pitt(1-2, 0-2), they decided to give up a boat load of runs, 3-8 & 1-8 in the last two. The offense has just been absent since the All Star break.

At 1-4 in their last 5 games, the offense has been nothing short of anemic. They are:
35-180 (.194 BA), .236 OBP, .311 SLG, .547 OPS...9 Runs (1.8 R/G), 8 RBI, 9 BB, 47 K's (9.4/G), 9 Doubles (6 of them in the lone win), 1 Triple, 0 (ZERO) Homeruns, 2 SB's, 34 LOB, & 5-32 with RISP (.156)

Pretty sad considering...well, it's just sad. The Giants have never been accused of being an offensive threat, but this awful. With only 9 days remaining before the non-waiver trade deadline expires, the Giants NEED to find some offense and quick. It's not that they may fall out of contention, their pitching staff will always keep them close...It's not that some players may be on the chopping block, most have little value right now...It's that GM Brian Sabean may feel more pressure to deal some top talent that may cripple the franchise for years to come, just so he can feel better about the teams chances at the wild card in 2009.

Don't get me wrong, if the right deal were to fall to our laps, I would jump on it like Amy G on Jonathan Sanchez post No-Hitter. But that is for the right deal. Your not gonna pry Buster Posey out of my cold dead hands, nor am I "cool" to the idea of relinquishing my grasp on future man crush Madison Bumgarner, but some others aren't completely untouchable. It's just that I would require a deal that no one would meet.

I don't want to see Matt Holliday in a Giants uniform for 2 months at the price of Thomas Neal & Henry Sosa. You can keep your Freddie Sanchez for $8 million next year if you think I'm giving up Jonathan Sanchez, and there is NO WAY I'm sending Tim Alderson to Texas for Hank Blaylock...

But you offer up Roy Halladay, David Wright, Ryan Braun, Jose Reyes, Nelson Cruz, among others and I'll open, my ears a little. The problem is now... Now the Giants can't hit... Now the Giants need offense... Now the Giants need to win to ease the pressure just a little on Sabean to pull that trigger because the longer he waits, the more the price will drop.

Come on Timmy, Now we need a win!!!

A look back at the first half, by Cliff Claven

With the second half of the season about to begin tomorrow, teams licking their wounds, gathering game plans, rearranging the rotations, & taking a look back at what did and didn't work in the first half. While the Giants do the same, I thought we could take a look into what turned out to be a terrific first half by any standard and see if we can figure out what to expect in the second half:

I think we'll find some pleasant surprises here...

First the obvious, Team stuff...

-At 49-39, the Giants hold the 2nd best record in the NL and 5th best record in baseball. 88 games into the season is slightly over halfway, but that record puts them on pace for a finish at 90-72. That would be their best record since 2004.
-At .262, the team BA ranks 13/30 in MLB, & 5/16 in the NL
-At .393, the miserable team SLG ranks 26/30 in MLB, & 13/16 in the NL
-The OBP is even worse, at .312, it ranks 28/30 & 15/16
-Surprisingly, both the Mets & Pirates have hit fewer HR's thus far.
-The team is 20th in baseball in total SB's, 15th in doubles, and 8th in triples
-Not surprisingly, the Giants are LAST in BB's received.
-Even with fleet footed Bengie Molina, the Giants have grounded into the 7th fewest double plays this season in the MLB
-The Giants are second in baseball in Sac Fly's, so as much as we make about them not being able to get "that" run in, they are doing a fine job here
-The Giants lead all of baseball with a team ERA of 3.51, CG's with 8, SHO's with 13, OB% of .316 & K's with 694
-They are also 2nd overall in WHIP at 1.27, SLG% at .375, & BAA of .239
-The team fielding% is 10/30 at .985

...then the obvious, Player stuff...

-At 15 HR's, Pablo Sandoval ranks in a tie for 42nd overall, and 18th in the NL
-Andres Torres & Randy Winn are both tied for 18th in Triples with 4. That's good enough for 11th in the NL
-Sandoval is tied for 17th MLB & 7th NL in doubles with 24. Winn & Aaron Rowand are right behind him with 23
-Sandoval has 55 RBI, 31st MLB & 16th NL, but still 30 behind Albert Pujols
-At .964 OPS, Pablo is 8th in the NL & 13th in MLB
-Tim Lincecum & Matt Cain are second in baseball with 10 wins & CG's with 3
-Both Lincecum(2.33) & Cain(2.38) are 3rd & 4th respectively in ERA
-Brian Wilson leads (that's right, LEADS) the NL with 23 saves & is 2nd in MLB
-Timmy is tied for the MLB lead in K's with 149
-Jeremy Affeldt leads the majors in every one's favorite category, Holds, at 19

...and for the Cliff Claven stuff...

-The Giants are 18-7-4 in the series they've played thus far
-Giants are 13-5 when Matt Cain starts, 12-6 behind Tim Lincecum, 10-7 when Randy Johnson takes the ball, 8-10 behind Barry Zito days, 4-10 when Jonathan Sanchez toes the rubber, & 2-1 when Ryan Sadowski pitches.
-Jeremy Affeldt still holds the league lead with 21 2/3 innings scoreless innings
-Giants are 8-3 when Eli Whiteside catches with 4 team shutouts, & the No hitter
-3-0 when Pablo Sandoval catches, all Barry Zito starts
-BTW, when someone not named Bengie Molina is Barry Zito's battery-mate, the Giants are 5-2 in 2009...
-Giants are 46-10 when allowing 4 runs or less
-Giants are 41-16 when scoring 3 runs or more
-Matt Cain & Tim Lincecum have more hits than unlucky Kevin Frandsen
-They also are undefeated in games in which they haven't lost since 1883, tied for the longest active streak ever...OK, just checking you were still reading

It should be one hell of a second half & we'll be right here second guessing every move...stay tuned
-28-18 when Juan Uribe starts

The Panda losses to the Flyin' Hawaiian...but there's still a chance!?!

So .326/.379/.560 is not good enough to get into the All Star game. At least not when it comes to fan votes in the Final Vote as Pablo Sandoval lost a seesaw battle with Shane Victorino today by apparently the slimmest of margins.
Giants fans came out in remarkable fashion to vote and certainly is wasn't lost on the national media as now "the Panda" is a household name...but still not an All Star. Yet he may still be...

Every year some player comes down with a last minute injury and is unable to attend the All Star game leaving the manager to pick one final player. It just so happens that this year there could be one.

N.Y. Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran is currently hurt & likely to be unable to attend the game. Given that Victorino is an OF, Phillies & NL All Star manager Charlie Manuel will not NEED to add an additional OF if/when he must fill that spot, so maybe Pablo can still slide in.

Here's an idea, why not put the pressure on him now? As fans we spent countless hours over the last 4 days voting for Pablo, why not spend a few more minutes to let the Phillies & major league baseball know you want Pablo in?

Here is the contact link for the Phillies contact center online...

Here is the contact link for the MLB contact center online...

Let's inundate them with emails. Tell them Pablo needs to be Beltran's replacement!!!

Last chance to get Pablo in!!!