Players who signed contracts or extensions before March 06 and are traded mid-contract can demand a trade in the next off season and become a free agent if not traded. GMs know this, even if the fans don’t.

So Halladay is a 13 start rental and the biggest advantage to giving up the ransom demanded is the ability to negotiate with him before he hits the FA market (which he has said he wants to do in any case).

Garko is a great pick-up.
Ishikawa reminds me of Desi Wilson.
The horror.

I did agree with you regarding trying to get Big Tex or Manny, even though it seemed like neither of them were interested. However, I will never agree with you regarding Dunn, because it doesn’t seem like you’ll ever accept the fact that a run saved is as good as a run earned. He would be an upgrade over Ishikawa, yes, but not a $10 million upgrade.

How many different ways do I have to explain it.

Upgrading –at any position– is what championship contenders do, not what last place teams do. Solidifying the fourth spot in the rotation is what championship contenders do.

A team that scored the fewest runs in the league should not be worrying about those kinds of problems. Thats like painting your living room while your house burns down.

The Giants went into the off-season and did nothing to solve what were solvable problems, and instead, they spent tens of millions of dollars trying to get 5% better at two positions, shortstop and the fourth slot in the rotation; and, I might add, NEITHER SOLUTION HAS WORKED!!!!!!

Instead of spending tens of millions of dollars to improve our fucking offense.

All due respect Aaron, but how can you still be defending these moves?

We needed, and still need, home runs and walks. Fuck defense, fuck pitching, we’re gonna miss the playoffs, with two stud pitchers –a la the 2001 Diamondbacks– because we have three outfielders who have combined to hit fewer home runs that the guy we could have signed for a bargain price instead of the corpse we trot out at short every day. For Chrissakes, Uribe is three times the player Renteria is, and we picked him up at Costco.

And the Vernon Wells bit needs to stop. The dude’s got a massive contract, he’s still apparently not even 100% from his injuries last year, and the Giants can’t really afford to carry any more dead weight.

Giants GM Brian Sabean and Nats acting GM Mike Rizzo have a strong rapport, so perhaps something will get done.

Of course they have a strong rapport. They both have new stadiums and have perfected the art of buck passing. At least Washington ownership finally had the good sense to boot their GM to the curb for being corrupt and inept.

Watched Hampton pitch a couple of innings in Houston the other night. He IS Barry Zito without a guitar. A waste of a roster spot. The difference between the Rockies and the Giants is that the Rockies are willing to pay Hampton to sabotage their competition, whereas the Giants will continue to pay Zito to sabotage theirs.

Mike Hampton’s season stats in 2000, the year before he signed his $100+ million contract with the Rockies:

IP: 217
BB: 99
SO: 151
Wins: 15
Losses: 10

Barry Zito’s season stats in 2006, the year before he signed his $126 million contract with the Giants:

IP: 221
BB: 99
SO: 151
Wins: 16
Losses: 10

Scary, huh?