I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

and i would just like to know…when is the fucking lying gonna end

“we are gonna give the kids more playing time”

when did russ and richie find the fountain of youth???

why the fuck is klesko playing first???

why hasnt roberts been dealt so that freddie can return, or nate can take his rightful place??

why the fuck is durham still on this team?

oh why do i even bother

hey john….take a good look at the cards

the cards started off the season miserably…then their braintrust came up with a brilliant thought….we dont give a shit how much we are paying the vets….lets give the kids a shot…and lo and behold….they are now battling for the central

and according to many sources, the cards farm system aint much better than ours…but they took a chance…unlike the fucking idiots that run our show

sabean will not rebuild this mess

if we dont lose 100 games this year, we will next

i dont care how good cain, lincecum or noah are

i dont care if wilson is finally healthy and can be the closer that he was always meant to be

sabean and peter m will find a way to screw the pooch

It seems he is a problem for Magowan on a personal level and Magowan/Sabaen/Baer/media are trying to color it as an on field deterioration. This is laughable by any objective measurement. Magowan has an inferiority complex which manifested itself in public (only briefly before he reined himself in) during the 2002 season when he started publicly whining that Dusty Baker was getting an unfair amount of credit for the Giants success. He actually insinuated that the media was lax in not crediting himself and his management team enough for the on-field success of the team. This didn’t fly very well, so he changed tactics and started a whispering campaign against Baker leaking stories of a tax dispute that had been going on for 10 years, shortly after Baker started having problems with the local media sniping at him and he sniping back. Enter the “tax problem” story.”

He didn’t out and out fire Baker, he just publicly let it be known that he wasn’t about to continue to grant Baker favored persona status anymore. For the last couple of years, Bonds had been under fire from all sorts of questionable sources over and above the usual antagonistic sports hacks. Rather than defend the guy who actually turned the franchise around on the playing field, he is either silent, or sending mixed messages depending on whether Bonds is hitting the ball well or not.

Sabaen seems to be nothing more than Magowan’s mouthpiece on all matters Bonds. Bonds was Magowan’s hire when he took over management prior to the 1993 season. For years Magowan pounded his chest in public shouting to the world that it was he, and nobody else who was responsible for Barry’s presence in San Francisco. So as Bonds ages, he distances himself. A real swell that guy. And people wonder why players play hardball at contract time and leave for the biggest contract and screw the home town team? It was Magowan’s decision to sign the disaster that is Zito. We all knew he was overpaid and overrated, but nevertheless an adequate replacement for the LA-bound and perennial leader atop the Disabled List, Jason Schmidt. Nobody in their right mind could have predicted Zito going all Rick Ankiel on the Giants though. As of now, a worse contract than the ones given to Mike Hampton and Kevin Brown combined. 30 7 inning starts with 3 runs or less seemed reasonable. But what we have is a guy who struggles to keep opponents from scoring about twice that amount–averaging almost a run an inning since July.

I don’t know if there is any salvage value left in Zito. I do believe that the more they run him out there to get humiliated, the worse he is going to get. His first 3 starts after the ASB would have been enough for any rational management team to shut him down and send him home for the season. With explicit instructions to do whatever it takes to get his head together by Spring training, or look forward to a nice career as a journeyman middle reliever in the Central Valley Beer League. All he has succeeded in doing is bring more self doubt upon himself, embarrass his team, and attract even more ridicule to an already credibility-lacking management and ownership group. Every time he goes out and throws a 40 pitch inning, another 100 season ticket holders rip up their renewal letters. Every time opponents put up a crooked number, his teammates bats pick up additional ounces of dead weight. The Giants are bouncing around 90 – 95 losses for the year. Having Zito gone would have helped diffuse some of the rancor that is sure to follow. Everytime he shows up, you can see thousands of bricks flying into tv screens and other thousands of fans in the park, either picking their noses, flipping out their cell phones, or playing tourist wandering around the park until Barry Bonds comes to bat. Most PacBell attendees are too lethargic at this point to even boo with any energy. Too many targets. Feliz, Roberts, Durham, Frandsen, the bullpen. Biggest waste of 90 million I’ve ever seen.

Here are our punchless Giants, compared to a team with some bats, the Phillies:

1B Klesko .287/Aurilia .172 – R. Howard .465
2B Durham .156/Frandsen .071 – Utley .496
SS Vizquel .107 – Rollins .357
3B Feliz .215 – Dobbs .314/Helms .186
C Molina .213 – Ruiz .227
LF Bonds .584 – Burrell .384
CF R. Davis .392/Roberts .207 – Rowand .394
RF Winn .255 – Victorino .281

Bonds kills everyone on their team, but it’s not pretty after that. Look how weak we are at 1st base. 2nd base and SS are horrific. Rajai Davis is putting up Rowand-like numbers so far, but will it last? Roberts is worthless – we know that. We must have the lightest hitting middle infield in baseball. Under .200 OPS (minus 500), and you should be lucky to be riding pine on a Major League bench.

Btw, Old Man Bonds is tops in all of baseball, 42 points ahead of A-Rod. The only other NL hitter above .500 is Chipper Jones at .517 (67 pts behind Barry). Something for all the Bay Area sportswriters and fans who say Bonds needs to go. $15mm is a bargain for this guy. The problem is everyone else around him. The guy who should be sent packing is the guy who wants to get rid of Bonds, Mr. Sabean.

Btw, how did the WHIP stat get so popular? It’s basically the equivalent of OBP for hitters. It doesn’t take into account extra-base hits against. So Zito has a 1.49 WHIP, and Lowry has a 1.46 WHIP. Well, Zito has coughed up 19 homers to Lowry’s 8. The real stat to look at is OPS Against. Zito’s is .281 (again, I like to subtract 500 pts) while Lowry’s is a solid .212. Incidentally, Bad Luck Cain is at .176, and Lincecum is at .162.

How Zito ever got his ridiculous contract from the Giants, I’ll never know. Over his last 3 years with the A’s, he was 41-34 with a 4.05 ERA and 81 homers allowed. His OPS Against was .259 last year, which is pretty unimpressive. With numbers like those, he signs the richest contract for a pitcher in Major League history, and turns out to be much worse. The Giants were bamboozled. And now there’s no money to get hitters like Howard, Utley, or Rollins.

This team is dreadful. And it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Does Jack Hiatt have compromising pictures of someone? There must be an explanation as to why the Giants haven’t developed an position player in 15+ seasons. The Giants spent the money to sign and keep Barry, Sabean made two impact deals (Kent and Schmidt) and some nice spare part deals/signings. But Barry’s age precludes him from being the centerpiece of a good team now, and role players without a role are just bodies.

Magowan, Sabean & Co. have ridden Barry and ballpark he built to eight seasons of unprecedented attendance. They’ve strung it out as long as they could, with historic homers and All-Star games. But it’s over. There is nothing that makes this team worth watching consistently, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. We’re going to finish last this year, next year and for the forseeable future.

This franchise has devolved into nothing more than an extension of Pier 39 complete with garlic fries, brie cheese, white wine and tourists.

No way Sabean signs Rajai long-term until he shows at least another year of above-average performance. He’s not arb-eligible til 2010 or 2011.