Who knows, maybe Sabean can turn it around if they can somehow develop Fairley, Alderson, Villalona, Bumgarner, Noonan, Sosa, Denker, and some others. It seems highly unlikely that they’ll all develop into at least everyday players but i always seem to leave out some hope.

John, who would you personally suggest for a new GM? I would personally try to pry Paul DePodesta away from the San Diego front office, although I know bringing in one person isn’t going to solve everything.

126 mil for a pitcher who has to change his delivery one year into a contract

and sabean wont be fired

hahhahahahahhhahahahahahahaha

I think the DePodesta idea is a great one. He got a raw deal in LA and was replaced by Sabean-clone Colletti. I’d love to pry him away, but I think Magowan is “sold” on Sabes. We’re stuck with him even if we go 42-120.

[...] Original post here [...]

Sorry for the doom and gloom, but it’s really too late right now. Too late in the sense that the Giants are now 4-5 years from competing again. We’re too old and bad and many of our youngsters are too far away. All this as the Dodgers, Rockies and D-Backs are already with their youth playing (and in many cases well or it will be well) and the Padres are decent. It’s too much for a few free agents to fix and the Cains and Lincecums of the world are going to get sick and tired of losing and of having Barry Zito behind them in the rotation and much richer than them in the real world.

Things won’t get better because Magowan, like a lot of people, buys into the view that the team will somehow improve due to the absence of bad karma surrounding Bonds, ignoring the fact that His Barryness was the only reason the Giants were even able to sniff respectability the past three seasons.

There must be some truly strange behind-the-scenes stuff in the Giants’ front office + ownership, that explains the ineplicable decisions this franchise has made the last 3-4 years. I remember back when Sabean signed Michael Tucker several hours early so as to DELIBERATELY punt a first-round pick, my reaction was, “Wow, somebody above Sabean must have forced him to do this because no one is this stupid.” Then ever since the Zito signing Sabean has been on KNBR telling Ralph and Tom that “We realize we paid an above-market rate for him” — which makes it sound like Sabean was ordered to sign Zito, and damn the expense. Then, Magowan and Co. extended Sabean’s contract in late 2007, when most any other owner would have fired him — could it be because ownership realized that it had forced some of these bad decisions on Sabean?

I’m not defending Sabean — I think he has to go — but I suspect that some portion of the endless blunders of the past few years stem from ownership meddling + stupidity. I hope not, because if this is the case then ditching Sabean won’t solve much, at least not until they invent a rule that allows fans to fire the ownership…

[...] John wrote a fantastic post today on “…. Spin Doctor”Here’s ONLY a quick extractOn the other hand, baseball is about adjustments. Zito has lost speed off his fastball, making command that much more important. He believes that by shortening his windup and not bringing his hands over his head, he can spot his pitches … [...]

I have watched, or occasionally attended, 90% or more of the Giants games the past 5 years. I doubt I will watch 20%. I would boycott the season entirely, but Lincecum is too interesting a story. There is little reason to watch any other games. I am unlikely to attend any this year. Why support such bone-heads?

I’d say it’s pretty clear the order to sign Zito came from ownership, who wanted a so-called “marquee star” to change the identity of the franchise away that of Barry Bonds’ team. Both ownership and management viewed Bonds as a liability, not only in public relations (which is admittedly true) but also, inexplicably, on the field, where he was seen as a fragile statue in left field who hit the occasional home run.

It’s odd- I’d say most of the people in this space are quite rightly depressed about the state of the Giants and are predicting a dull, lifeless team that will finish near the bottom of the National League. Yet when talking to other Giants fans, they’re actually excited to field a team of “gamers” that doesn’t include Bonds, as if a measure of pride has been restored to the franchise. It’s as if they think, “hey, we might lose 100 games but if Rowand crashes into the fence a few times and Vizquel makes a pirouette-like throw from short, we’ll be happy. At least Bonds is gone”.

The Giants basically have a grand total of four players who have a chance to be better than average at their respective positions: Rowand, Cain, Lincecum, and Winn. Four. Not only that, but the Giants figure to rank at the bottom of the league offensively at every single infield position with the exception of catcher. With Lowry’s implosion and Zito’s regression we’re looking at a pitching staff of two good to very good starters, three major question marks, and at best an average bullpen.

Let’s pose a hypothetical- the Giants could trade “futures” with any other team in baseball. Would there be any team, at all, that you wouldn’t swap with in an instant? I can think of two- Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Maybe Washington, or Florida, or Kansas City would make you think. Not Cincinnati anymore, with their load of young talent. Certainly not the A’s.

In fact, the Giants’ quest to become the West Coast version of the Pirates and Orioles appears complete. Incompetent, meddling ownership. A lousy GM who nevertheless can’t get himself fired. Years of stultifying mediocrity. And a beautiful stadium.

Sorry to be such a downer…but just thought I’d share. Pace trantor, I’m masochistic enough to keep supporting these boneheads because baseball is a funny game and you never know what might happen. But I hope that if, as expected, the Giants are truly atrocious this year the fans who read these blogs and listen to the radio will start clamoring to get rid of our current management squad and get the team back on its footing. Hell, it worked for the 49ers in the late 70s. A move to fire Sabean and hire DePodesta as the GM would be a step in the right direction.

Actually, as a life-long Pirate fan, I wouldn’t trade places with the Giants.
I’d keep my group of pitchers (Gorzelanny, Snell, Capps) and position players (a rejuvenated LaRoche, Pearce, Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay) with some youngsters in the minors (Neil Walker, especially) and a new manager and GM …

I wouldn’t want any part of the Giants as they are assembled now (FYI, I’m a HUGE Bonds fan who was crushed by the Game 6 loss in 2002, and am now rooting hard for the Giants to lose 100 games since they thought they would be so much better off without BB)

krusecontrol

I posted about how I’d change places with any (I think it was “any” not “most”) MLB franchise about two years ago. I felt that way then and have ever since. We have two pitchers and a kid a few years away from even being ready. Those are our Giants and they are terrible. Everyone should be thankful that MLB doesn’t have relegation.

I’d trade positions with just about every other major league franchise. The Orioles are the only one that I might have a problem with, just because I’m not sure Jones/Markakis would be enough to fill the Cain/Lincecum void, so to speak. But yeah, it looks beyond horrible for the next few seasons

Let us all remember how last year when Sabean’s contract was up and he did not yet have an extension, that he actually did not expect to be re-signed. He subsequently bowed his head and admitted unspecific and vague mistakes about player development. The only thing he’s done about changing his ways was to aggressively draft high upside players and make token commitments to youth. Instead he has absconded to Felipe and Big Headed Frenchie and signed Rowand, Zito, etc directly blocking players, who he should be giving a chance. The front office is a mess. Giants management throws out a vague strategy of pitching and defense and long term player development, but my God they are spending a lot of money for a horribly constructed team.

Based on the their own current desperation over their Spring Training play, the actual season may be an epic of pain and misery. A misery consisting of hungry younger players who are not given a chance to play, a talented starting duo getting no run or bullpen support, a team geared for defense, but obligated to play their worst defensive players (Durham, Aurilla), and most importantly a failed, uninformed, and divided player management group. It’s really a culmination of Magowan’s failure to fire Sabean four years ago. He really needs to network and meet other, smarter baseball business people. Its like Sabean is the only baseball exec that Magowan knows.

I’ll be repeating myself again, but I will be the guy this year wearing the paper bag with ‘Fire Sabean’ scrawled on it along the 3B lower box area. Let’s see how quickly telecom park security disposes of me.

geez, I like the “giant sundial in its place in tribute to some ancient Aztec God.” idea….

From Jayson Stark’s ESPN column today:

THREE STRIKES: BASEBALL’S WORST TEAM?

STRIKE ONE — THE BASEMENT RACE: I’ve heard very little consensus this spring on the best team in baseball. But there’s a heck of a debate going on about who might emerge as the worst team in baseball. The contenders, please, as nominated by our distinguished panel of scouts and executives:

• Orioles: “I don’t think they’ll win for five years,” said one scout. “I mean it.” … “If you can find a strength on that team, let me know,” said an AL executive.

• Giants: “You watch that team, and it’s actually depressing,” said a scout that has watched way too much of the Giants, apparently. … “The talk of Arizona,” said another scout, “is, how bad will the Giants be?”