Brian Sabean traded Tim Alderson, one of the four untouchable prospects in the Giants organization, for Frddie Sanchez, a decent, but by now means, top-level second baseman.
…. The Giants have acquired Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez in a one-for-one deal for minor-league pitcher Tim Alderson.
As several media outlets have reported, Giants doctors re-examined Sanchez’s left knee today and reportedly found no major defects.
Again, I am forced to reiterate that the Giants had to make these two trades, because Sabean ignored their obvious offensive shortcomings this off-season, and now the team has fewer valuable minor league commodities, and quite frankly, the moves left me a bit wanting.
Sanchez, 31 years old, is a career .300 hitter, but he’s never walked more than 32 times in a season, his career high in home runs is 11, and his career OBP is just .336. He’s ranked fifth among NL second basemen in just about every category, which is to say, we traded our top draft pick from 2007 for a league average second baseman. For an easy comparison, let’s look at Juan Uribe.
J. Uribe 72 G 222 AB 17 2B 4 HR 21 RBI 10 BB 47 SO .284/.313/.432 .745 OPS
Sanchez 86 G 355 AB 28 2B 6 HR 34 RBI 20 BB 60 SO .296/.334/.442 .776 OPS
I can’t for the life of me imagine how that kind of minimal upgrade would be worth one of the top forty prospects in all of baseball. Trading Alderson is fine, but WE NEEDED HOME RUNS AND WALKS!!!! Instead, we get two more 30-year old guys who are league average hitters. Can you see? This is systemic, because Brain Sabean does not know how to evaluate hitters, player value, or how to build a team.
UPDATE: Waking up this morning, the first thing I thought was, “What a fucking idiot of a GM we have.” The second was, “What does he have on Bill Neukom?”
Seriously, I am still stunned. And so unhappy. And just plain amazed.
I’m amazed that a man could have a career in baseball, live in a technologically advanced part of the country, and make the same mistakes, over and over and over, and not learn from them, not be able to see that they are mistakes, not be able to see that what he is doing is not working; and not be held to account for his failings ever.
What a fucking dream job it must be to be the GM for the Giants. You get to walk around in flip flops and Hawaiian shirts and spout off platitudes about character and veteran leadership and how many runs JT Snow saves with his glove, and how many runs a catcher like Mike Matheny saves, and how you have to give up something to get something…..
WHAT A FUCKING CROCK OF SHIT!!!!!!
I remember when he traded Matt Williams, and he arrogantly wore that T-Shirt that read, “I am not an Idiot.” Well, Brian, yes you are. You are an idiot. An idiot is someone who, not unlike a crazy person, does that same things over and over, and wonders why nothing is changing. That is you. You keep acquiring 30-year old, league average mediocrities, and you keep talking about a “youth movement.” You do not have the faintest ides what you are doing anymore. Really. Did you watch that game yesterday? 9 innings of one absolutely embarrassing at-bat after another, on and on and on; a perfect display of your personal vision on team building, on how to construct an offense.
You watched that, and decided that you would trade a top-40 prospect in all of baseball for another league average mediocrity? He’s a three-time All Star? Only in the fucked up world of Bud Selig is Sanchez an All Star, a world in which every team has to have an All Star representative do you have Sanchez being a three-time All Star for one of the worst-run organizations in all of baseball, a team that has traded away an All Star team of hitters in just the last three or four years.
This was a coup, for the Pirates. Getting Barnes for Garko was a coup, for the Indians. Sabean got fleeced by two last place teams, two teams that were in the position of having to trade away talent to save money, and in those conditions, it was Sabean who was taken advantage of.
And, as for Bill Neukom, it is high time he started paying attention to what his Idiot is doing, because Sabean just traded the future on a chance to win this year; and his results are utterly abysmal.
From this day forward, I will never, never, refer to Brian Sabean by any name other than The Idiot. I will never write his name again. He is The Idiot.
60 Backtalkers
I just saw Sanchez walking down the runway towards the Giants clubhouse. He is limping like he took a round from a fifty caliber, though he was trying to hide it. The Giants Doc pronounced Sanchez as “day to day”. He is a candidate for the DL for krissakes!
Fucking Sabean has lost whatever was left of his mind. And I’m not even talking about what he gave up. Freddie Sanchez is Rich Aurilia without any power.
Oh yeah. Randy Johnson joins Noah Lowry on the 60 day DL. Another brilliant offseason acquisition. 303 and call it a career. 9 million bucks a little over 5 innings per start, and a spiffy 4.81 era. I’m sure all the phans will be in Cooperstown in 2014 when he doffs his Mariner/DBack lid and goes “Giantswho?”
Renteria, Zito, Johnson, Aurilia, Burris. And now a platoon castoff from Cleveland and a DL candidate who is marginally better than a guy on his last legs like Uribe. Really how the fuck does he get away with shit like this?
Unbelievable
Just caught Sanchez’ agent on Comcast Roundtable. When pressed by Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Merc and Marty “Back In the Days of Branch Rickey” Lurie about the extent of Sanchez’ knee he allowed that it was a “sprain” of the ACL.
LOL. “…but its not torn”.
Uh folks that sub .500 OPS in July was no fluke apparently.
Lurie: “When do you think Freddie will be able to play?
“Were not really sure…maybe a couple of days, maybe longer…it depends.
——————————————————————————
This from MLB Trade Rumors in March
Freddy Sanchez Wants To Stay In Pittsburgh
By Tim Dierkes [March 30, 2009 at 9:09am CST]
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who wants to stay with the team beyond this season. Under his current contract, Sanchez has three ways to remain a Pirate in 2010:
* Team chooses his $8MM club option over the $600K buyout
* Option vests with 635 plate appearances
* Option vests with 600 PAs and an All-Star game selection
Presumably the Bucs are not going to be terribly interested in exercising the club option. But 635 PAs is possible; Sanchez had 632 in ‘06 and 653 in ‘07. Sanchez mostly batted first and second in the lineup last year.
According to Kovacevic, Sanchez doesn’t want the contract clause to become a factor. He just wants to have a strong, healthy season and “everything will take care of itself.”
————————————————————————————
Sanchez has 382 plate appearances and the Giants have 61 games left. That means counting tommorow, Sanchez needs 253 more plate appearances for the option to vest (4.14 per game) It is going to be a stretch for him to reach that. If he does not, the Giants can kick him to the curb at the end of the year for 600k or exercise the option for $8 million.
Any bets that we’ll be seeing a “not ready for prime time” Sanchez in the line-up flailing away and limping around trying to vest his multi-million dollar option, while Sabean tries to convince everybody how gritty Sanchez is by “playing the game the right way” and “sacrificing his body for the good of the team”?
This is better than the movie, Major League. I can just see Corben Bernson reprise his role as Ray Dorne, only this time as a second baseman. When he holds out his contract to show Bochy his vesting options when he goes to double-switch Sanchez out in the sixth inning, Bochy snatches the contract out of his hands just like Lou Brown did, unzips his spandex pantaloons, and pisses all over it on the pitching mound.
Looks like old Orville Redenbacher has been lacing
Baer’s and Sabean’s popcorn with LSD and 2006 Topps baseball cards.
I watched the Comcast Roundtable, too. Marty Lurie must have said three times “But he’s a batting champion, a .300 hitter, and a 3-time all-star!” It was quite depressing. At least Kawakami wasn’t drinking the Kool-Aid. And Andrew Baggarly was on KNBR this morning criticizing the trade.
Kurikami and Baggarly deserve some respect. They have shown single handedly what a third rate rag the Chronicle has become.
So, let me get this straight, we could have had–and by “had,” I don’t mean pie-in-the-sky trades promoted by people like Mets fans (”hey, Angel Pagan and Wilmer Flores for Grady Sizemore!”)–Orlando Hudson AND Adam Dunn. Instead we got Edgar Renteria–full disclosure, I wasn’t against signing Renteria…but ONLY because we didn’t have any other rocks to place at SS. In retrospect, maybe punting SS offense and keeping Vizquel and Some-Defensive-Hack would have been better. ‘Cause remember kids, Master Brian always preaches the importance of defense.
So we traded Barnes, who seems to have some potential, and Other Tim for Ryan Garko and Freddie Sanchez. Now, I have nothing against those guys; I “like them” as players. However, we could have kept Barnes and Other Tim and have signed Hudson and Dunn for very little money and (even better) for just a year or two. Why exactly is Sabean treated like he knows what he’s doing? Damn!
Maybe it’ll work out. I hope so. But, it seems pretty obvious that having signed Dunn and Hudson before the year began would’ve given us more for the entire season than any production from Garko and Sanchez for half a year.
The last year and a half I haven’t been nearly as hard on Sabean as I used to be. He wasn’t doing the best job, but he was making some moves that were setting us up well for the future. Renteria isn’t working out well, but neither is Orlando Cabrera in Oakland and Beane knows what he’s doing. I figure we had a 1/3 chance of getting Orlando Hudson, so not surprisingly we didn’t win that one (and miscalculated the market dynamics and way overpaid). We could have gone after Dunn, especially when his price dropped, but at least it is true that’s he’s the worst defensive player in baseball and gives a lot of his value back (though he’s still good). I wasn’t totally upset about that. Randy Johnson? 1 year deal, even if it wasn’t particularly smart, at least it was low risk. Garko? Mild improvement, didn’t give up much. Didn’t mind that.
But this. This was classic Brian Sabean. Giving up way too much for a veteran on the wrong side of 30, who is a complementary player at best. This move was awful. Terrible. Sabean is clearly going for a new contract, and doesn’t mind screwing over the team in the process. Alderson was WAY too much to give up for Sanchez. Hell, if we wanted to trade Alderson, we could have packaged him and Barnes and that would have been a nice start to a package for a real All-star caliber player. Victor Martinez maybe? But instead we have Garko and Sanchez. Brian Sabean has not learned, never will learn, how to properly GM a team. Sabean must go. All I can hope for now is that this move convinces Neukom that Sabean is incompetent.
I can’t believe that Tim Alderson couldn’t land the Giants someone like Adam Dunn or Josh Willingham. You know…somebody good. You never know how these things will work out, but right now this trade looks absolutely horrible.
I was afraid of this. Our young team over performs half a season and Sabean smells the chance to earn a nice new contract. really….REALLY….did we honestly just trade our #2 pitching prospect for a 2b WHO IS HURT?! Freddie Sanchez is a solid player, and if we had a real team he could be the last piece of the puzzle, but he brings no power to the table.. He is only slightly better than Uribe. Can Sabean possibly justify slightly better than a guy we already have by trading TIM ALDERSON?! After both of these moves we are still hardly guaranteed a wild card spot, yes JUST the wild card since our division is already over. However we are guaranteed to be fretting the growth of a player we regarded as “untouchable” until the firesaling pittsburgh pirates called us and offered their 31 year old bum knee’d 2nd baseman.
I mean honestly…the team had traded away all of it’s position vets before this trade, you’re telling me Sabean couldn’t talk them into someone on less regard, even Pucteas, ANYONE?! I’m sick over this.
I guess all that is left is to pray we either walk on water and win the world series or miss the playoffs because freddie sanchez’s bum knee never acts up and we finally fire this fucking chucklehead
Freddie not only is on the wrong side of 30, but did not make the majors until 24. Heck, I learned way back in the 70’s how much future value could be predicted by how young a player was when he made the majors. Someone who joins at 24 is likely to be gone by 3-31, and the career trend shows it. Unfortunately, Sanchez has hit over his head the past couple months, so we will get stuck with someone making 8 million a year who is going to be lucky to hit 275 next year.
With the money Sabean just flushes into the bay, ownership should be mad as hell. But they probably also drank the Joe Morgan anti-Moneyball hype that says ignore all those new-fangled stats about OPS/SLG/RC/VORP and gosh darn, never worry about AGE in this post-steroid (fountain of youth) era! Sabean had one point in the 90’s, that with Steroids keeping players young, he was getting more value from washed up veterans than could have been expected.
NEWS ALERT: STEROIDS HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM MLB. MLB now tests for the shit. Are you listening Giants ownership? Can you please get a GM who understands modern baseball a little better.
Its a shame, as one thing I will give this organization credit for is identifying young pitching talent. And being clueless about identifying hitting, young or old. And being clueless about how athletes AGE.
At least the players on the team think this is a major upgrade, so who knows, it may psych everyone up to start producing. But its clear that this team made negligible progress towards making the playoffs, at a cost of a couple very talented young pitchers.
I think your point, that players won’t age as well now that steroids are banned, is very important. For years I was in awe of Brian Sabean for acquiring players like Burks, Santiago, Gallaraga, and Grissom, who seemed to defy age. But in hindsight we can make some pretty good guesses about what kept them young. Sanchez is a 31-year-old, gimpy-kneed second baseman — EXACTLY the kind of player whose career would immediately go off the cliff in the pre-steroid era, and will probably go off the cliff in the post-steroids era as well…
“But they probably also drank the Joe Morgan anti-Moneyball hype”
I love how Joe Morgan the player was the epitome of the stereotype Moneyball player, but Joe Morgan the announcer has completely and utterly destroyed his credibility.
Heh. When you are a multi-millionaire, you don’t have to be open-minded anymore.
This is pitiful considering they gave up a valuable prospect. With his low power and walk numbers (and runs and RBI) numbers, he will almost certainly not produce much at all. In his defense (as much as can be made), he has always been a much better hitter in the 2nd half, and is a great hitter with runners on (.329 this year, .331 career) and RISP. I can’t wait to see, though, who ends up getting Josh Willingham and what they have to give up for him. I posted some of his numbers on my blog, and they are amazing this year. It is nice of Pittsburgh to let so many players who have only known losing to finally be part of a pennant race.
“We want him to be in a Giant uniform next year and hopefully beyond,” Sabean said.
Excuse me while I vomit.
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back …. Unbelievable? Hardly….
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back …. Unbelievable? Hardly….
Sad to see that there are still baseball execs that apparently stop analyzing a player once they find out his batting average. “Ooh, .300 hitter? Here’s one of our best young pitchers, gimme gimme gimme!” Mid-season acquisitions are already going to give back a limited return on investment because they missed so much of your season. Mid-season acquisitions that won’t be 100% for the foreseeable future? Maybe the Giants can trade their GM next!
Brian Sabean is an idiot.
“Simply put, our long-awaited next move has finally been consummated,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. “A kid that has distinguished himself as an All-Star three out of the last four years and a batting champ within that time frame. The timing’s great.”
If we were getting the 2006 version of Freddie Sanchez (.344 .378 .473) I wouldn’t be displeased, but we so obviously are not getting that. We’re getting the old, injured version. And, we traded them this:
“We are pleased to bring in a pitcher as highly regarded as Alderson into our system,” Pirates GM Neal Huntington said. “Tim has the size, frame, athleticism and an advanced feel for pitching at his age to become a high quality Major League starting pitcher. He has a solid arsenal of pitches with plus command that has allowed him to move through the Giants’ deep system at an accelerated pace.”
Place profanity here.
for the record, 31 year olds aren’t kids anymore. They’re on the down side of their prime men
Not even on the down side of their prime. Past their prime completely!
Ahh…Brian… EVERY TEAM has a representative at the All Star Game!!!!! Freddy Sanchez is a legit MLBer, but he’s not an “All Star” like Sabean’s selling him. And now I’m reading that he’s hurt? I know we overuse the term “joke,” but this is a joke…and a bad one at that.
I repeat Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson were available for nothing and for short term contracts after last season. A GM with a bit of sense could have signed either (both) and could’ve kept our pitching prospects. We must need more veteran leadership. In that vein, I hope Sabean brings Matt Morris and Ellis Burks back for the stretch run, the maybe-we-have-a-chance-at-the-Wild-Card stretch run.
Sabean’s time has passed him by and he needs to leave.
Unfortunately, this just really happened. There is not much more one can say about Sabean that hasn’t already been mentioned….but fucking moron comes to mind.
Aquiring 2b’s from teams from Pennslyvania have been the downfall of the Gigantes in past years. Anyone remember the Rennie Stennett deal in 1980…after that bust we followed it up with Manny Trillo in mid-season 1983.
I like Sanchez…but, I have a bad feeling his injury is worse than stated. He might not even get 200 ab’s….and most likely will not be healthy until next year. For this season, a healthy Uribe is better than an injured Sanchez. Nice logic.
The Nats are in dire need of pitching…maybe a deal for Willingham makes sense…But, Alderson for Sanchez….sickening….but all too real.
Another idiotic deal for Sabean’s legacy. Complete dickhead move.
The nightmare continues…he must go now before there is any more collateral damage.
Too pissed at the moment to say more.
Classic post, +mia – you’re in top form. Made me laugh out loud. Thanks.
This trade ranges from boring and ineffective to really stupid. At best, it very marginally helps the Giants this year. At worst, it’s a hideously bad trade.
Yeah, okay, .344. But this – .344 .378 .473 – shows me a guy that had one lucky season. Even his best season gives one pause if you really look at the numbers.
No Alderson and add a player with one good season and on the wrong side of 30 to the DL. Right.
Glad you can laugh. The Giants and particularly “The Idiot” , provide a target-rich environment for the bellicose, bombastic bastards, such as moi, who follow this collection of mutts on a regular basis
[...] Perricone writes to tell me he isn’t happy with the Freddy Sanchez trade. His thoughts are not very different from other Giants bloggers I’ve read over the last 24 [...]
[...] Perricone writes to tell me he isn’t happy with the Freddy Sanchez trade. His thoughts are not very different from other Giants bloggers I’ve read over the last 24 hours. [...]
I listened to Gary Radnich this morning for the first time in a couple years. One dude called about this Alderson-Sanchez trade complaining sentiments similar to the ones on the blogosphere. Gary interrupted the caller multiple times to mention that Sanchez is a major leaguer, a former allstar, a .300 hitter so you shouldn’t worry about the future or the prospects that we gave up and don’t bring up statistics cause it’s boring. Then I thought, Gary reminds me of somebody I know of: oh yes, Brian Sabean.
I’m sure the exact same conversations happened during the Hillenbrand-Accardo trade.
Since we got Hillenbrand for free, the conversations should have been pretty brief. What we paid for Hillenbrand was, to be more exact, the differential between Accardo, whom we lost, and Chulk, whom we got. Hillenbrand came to us at .301 / .342 / .821, with capability to play either first or third. There are some statistics for you. He didn’t work out for us, true, but acquiring him made perfect sense; and Accardo’s record with Toronto, overall, doesn’t suggest that the Giants lost much, in any event.
I think the point is not necessarily the comparative merits of the Accardo, for Chulk, Hindenburg, trade, but rather it was the acquisition of yet one more in an endless chain of useless deck chairs.
This is the point that those who are immersed in the process of transactions and roster building rather than a policy and strategy of championship building never seem to grasp for longer than 3 seconds. Which is exactly what the marketing focus groups tell Giants management.
knbr is now filled with sycophants
damon bruce pretends to be a critic…but he is like every other midwestern bell ringer….he likes names on a roster
the only guy who ever spoke the truth on that station was larry krueger
even when the team was winning, he noted time and again that sabean was either unwilling or incapable of developing everyday talent
as for freddie…HE DIDNT EVEN FUCKING START TONIGHT
i dont give shit one if alderson never makes it to the majors….sabean allowed the bucs to do a salary dump…and he fucking gave them something of worth in return
please tell me when the opposite has happened
sabean is a doofus
a doofus with jedi mind powers…but still, a motherfuckin doofus
Of course Krueger spoke the truth. He was young and inexperienced in the ways of the Congress as well. A young man destined to be castigated for a political incorrectness that was really an excuse to fire somebody who’s correctly tuned journalistic instincts embarrassed the Giants.
I called in to Bob Fitzgeralds’s show at about 1:30 yesterday and basically expressed what a lot of people have been writing about…..and I couldn’t even get “Fitz” to acknowledge that he’d constantly been referring to Alderson as an “A” minor leaguer.
Would somebody please point out to all the people jabbering about Sanchez being a “three-time All-Star” that in two of those years he was selected as a reserve because the Pirates had to send someone?
If the Giants don’t make the playoffs this season, Sabean really has to go. I mean, that’s really the only justification for NOT letting him go.
the only justiFication?????
you arent serious
I think I was vague. What I’m saying is this: the only reason I MIGHT NOT fire him is if the team made the playoffs. Hell, even if the team did make the playoffs, I might very well go and fire him.
As apparently the Giants are now looking for a starting pitcher, I’m expecting the Lincecum for Marquis trade with Colorado to happen soon. Might have to throw in Sandoval, though.
Neukom is a fucking fanboy corporate mouthpiece by training, education and practice. He got a big fat multi-million dollar parting gift from Bill Gates from fighting the Feds to a standstill in Microsoft’s anti-trust trial and bought himself a percentage of some real life baseball cards who would actually talk to him now that his money would buy him some access to players. Bow-tied jock-sniffers. Fucking goofs with money are still goofs. The fact that their needless millions insulates them from the consequences of buffoonery that the rest of we riff-raff suffer for being arrogant, makes them even bigger goofs now that I think about it.
I doubt that Neukom cares about new knowledge, because he doesn’t have to give a shit about the changes to the game and personnel valuation that new knowledge has brought about. Why? Because Leisure Suit Larry and Brian Boyatano Sabean, keep the cheese-nibblers and wine sippers coming through the turnstiles by signing overly-priced baseball meat 3 years past their expiration date. As a result, there are no personal consequences to him. “Hey we played only 11 meaningless games between 1997 and 2004″ is a refrain that is sure to get thrown around if this collection of dog biscuits manages to somehow avoid a couple of 2-9 and 3-7 runs in August.
In spite of all of this love fest hallucination directed at the Giants now that they consider themselves “contenders”, Neukom has still not given either Sabean or the Planet Skull, contract extensions. The one bit of possible light.
What’s especially horrible about the FO is that apparently (I learned this off-season) they’ve had statistical analyst consultants for YEARS… yet from what we see from this FO, a) These dudes/ladies are dolts, or b) Sabean is a dolt who doesn’t listen to them.
“…statistical analyst consultants for YEARS…”
——————————————————————–
I didn’t realize that howler monkeys, fingerpaint, and butcher paper constituted the three-legged stool of statistical anaylsis.
Wow, that’s an analogy I can appreciate. Did you just come up with that or is that *ahem* borrowed from something/one else?
To me Freddie Sanchez has some *positive* traits. If healthy, he hits a lot of doubles, makes few errors and has above average range (definitely arguable).
However, my monkey/paint/butcher paper statistical analysis shows a player that in 2630 AB’s has drawn 133 BB’s, hit 37 HR’s and stolen 10 bases. That data leads me to believe that he’ll fit in perfectly on a team that scores no runs. We won’t even notice there’s been a change.
Actually it was an image of something I envisaged at the mention of two contradictory methodologies; Giants Player Valuations and Statistical Analysis. The Giants are too cheap to spring for Costco-size primates, so I settled for crazed howler monkeys running amok in a windowless office with the above-mentioned writing instruments.
You are underestimating Bill Neukom’s intelligence and competative nature by at least a factor of ten. To call Neukom a ‘corporate mouthpiece’ is like calling Barry Bonds ‘some jock ballplayer’. To doubt that Neukom cares about new knowledge ignores his pre-eminence in the bleeding edge field of intelectual property rights during the event of the information age, representing, from its earliest days in 1979, the software giant Microsoft. He founded a world class legal team that grew to 600 members, and he successfully fought and won landmark legal victorys against Apple Computer, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union, just to name a few of the big ones. When I see him refered to as a fucking fanboy corporate mouthpiece with a big fat multi-million dollar parting gift, as Orville fucking Reddenbacher, as a bow-tied jock-sniffer, a goof, a buffoon, I just cringe.
His appearance is non-threatening. He is known as a patient man (to a degree) and in baseball that is a good thing. But I don’t think he has accomplished all that he has accomplished by putting up with losers or fools. He didn’t start off life as a millionaire and inherit a chain of grocery stores.
He began his association with the Giants as a relatively minor share holder. As capital calls were made and other share holders dropped out rather than pony up the cash he bought up their shares. Now he is the CEO and Managing General Partner. That should tell you something about him.
He is on record as saying the Giants have to “invest and reinvest in player development and the draft”. He also has stated that “You want to hire the best people and put them in position and count on them to do their jobs.” He has not, as you noted, given either “The Idiot” or “the Planet Skull” contract extensions. In fact, he has done nothing that could be construed as rash, splashy or disruptive. My take on him is that he is evaluating his new surroundings and that his primary activity will be to surround himself with the best and the brightest and to let them “do their jobs”. Will Sabean and Tidrow survive his scrutiny? Not for long if they don’t win. That isn’t in Neukom’s game plan. I don’t believe it’s in his nature to tolerate loosers.
I do not challenge his basic intellect. A person can have great intelligence and still be the fool. I believe if you re-read what I wrote in that context perhaps it will help convey my point.
Position, standing and power allow, nee encourage, folks to overeach their areas of expertise, thus the decent into goofhood. An extension of the Peter Principle if you will.
Great intellect does not immunize persons of shallowness and affected egos from the same personal shortcomings and character defects that afflict the less privileged in our society.
A mouthpiece is just that. This guy was the chief mouth organ for a very controversial corporation. His reward was millions of dollars. He used a lot of those millions to buy his way into an exclusive country club of jock sniffers.
As such, he is inclined to listen to the “experts”. He wants to be accepted by the insiders who preceeded him. It is fucking human nature. Intellect has nothing to do with it. It has to do with being part of an exclusive club.
I don’t know why you seem to be opposed to this concept.
But having said that, the fact that he has double talked around pointed questions concerning the extension of Bochy and Sabean, and honored the committment to the process in place of waiting until the end of the season, is a point in his favor.
But against that backdrop, the two deadline deck chair rearrangement acquisitions of Garko and Sanchez because both are “bottom line” driven if you look at the respective contracts, it is apparent that payroll was the biggest consideration. And that comes from the top.
Who pray tell did you expect to get for Alderon? Don’t criticize without making a better suggestion…it was said Alderson was projecting as a 3 or 4 starter…hardly untouchable.
Having said that….to think O-dog was available on the cheap this summer….sigh…
I think Alderson and Barnes would have been a nice start to a package for Victor Martinez, for example. Rather than doing the Sabean thing of acquiring a bunch of mediocre to average players, we could have gotten someone that’s actually good.
“Having said that….to think O-dog was available on the cheap this summer….sigh…”
This line of thinking really bothers me. There were 3 veteran middle infielders out there last offseason. Renteria hasn’t work very well for us. Orlando Hudson has worked very well for the Dodgers. Billy Beane gets it as a GM, if nothing else he at least understands how to properly value players and has a good idea as to things like aging curves and what not when projecting performance. He ended up with Orlando Cabrera, who’s been just as bad as Renteria. Yeah, we could have had Orlando Hudson, hindsight is 20/20, but to me it looks like we had a 1/3 chance of landing the good player and a 2/3 chance of ending up with the garbage we got. Not something worth getting upset about. And it’s not like any of you were out there adamantly lobbying for Hudson the way John was for Dunn, for instance…
I don’t think it’s 20/20 hindsight in the way that you’re referring. And, this site and others had plenty of people asking why Hudson AND Dunn weren’t signed. What’s more, none of “us” are running the team. The Idiot’s supposed to be on top of these things. Instead, he entered the season with the team that we had by choice. (Also, there were plenty of Giants fans against the signing of Renteria.) His choices over the last number of years have been ridiculous!
You make a great point but sabean is being paid a lot of money to land on that 1/3…
And so is every other GM in baseball. Some decisions are hard (though some not so much, and Sabean routinely butchers those).
@Kent – That’s exactly why I used Beane as an example, he IS running a team, is generally pretty good at what he does, and he messed up, too. It happens. That said, I’m not defending Sabean’s track record. It’s clear he should not be in charge of this franchise. For him there was probably much less than a 1/3 chance of landing the good Orlando. I’m just not particularly upset about that decision (I’m more unhappy at how much we overpaid, though I’m not surprised with Sabean running things).
I did make a suggestion. I suggested the Giants get a real hitter, someone who can, you know, draw a walk every week or two, and maybe hit home runs occasionally.
I suggested Willingham, Dunn or anyone who actually has produced some fucking runs.
so garko is 1 for 10 in 3 starts, and freddie couldnt start today’s game
and lo and behold….the kids again sparked the offense
i spend everyday, fearful that if is so much as screw up one thing…i will be jobless
sabean has screwed the pooch time and again….and makes millions
and i will bet everyone here…playoffs or not…he will get an extension
Unc Joe,
Our mantra last year was “let the kids play”. Give them a chance. They really have never given Velez a true shot. He needs to learn to play outfield…and could be the solution for Left. He is making a statement for his case, and is the main reason we are winning the past week. His speed needs to be in the line-up daily…it puts that much more pressure on the opposition.
The Gigantes are over loaded with slow footed….250 hitters with little power…and Garko is another addition to that list.
Granted, Sabean lives in a bubble in a world that has passed him by. Most of us our judged in our profession by performance…and I have no idea what “The Idiots” mgmt by objectives are…if any. Obviously, there is a problem with accountability.
As bad as the Alderson/Sanchez trade is…the Barnes/Garko is a close second. Garko does not bring enough to the table to impede Ish’s development process. He is a hack a 1b…and no one seems to notice he only has 39 rbi’s. So, he is not the productive player every one is hyping. Experienced or not…he is a step down from Ish as a total package.
I doubt Garko will hit higher than .240 with the Gigantes. No speed,no glove,no hit…little power. Nice addition. If Sanchez gets 200 ab’s I’ll be stunned.
Time for the kids to bring this one home…and step it up. Because our vetern leadership is a 22 year old Sandoval.
So once again “the Idiot” shines and is 0-2.
Somebody please throw away the key on your way out.
The Gigantes are over loaded with slow footed….250 hitters with little power…and Garko is another addition to that list.
—————————————————————————–
Yeah. It sure appears Garko (1 hit in 3 full games since coming over) is who he appears to be. A part-time player cast aside for a marginal low minors prospect. And like Sanchez, whose injuries are likely to preclude his 8 million dollar option from vesting, a trade that will more than likely be remembered for being as consequential to any success the Giants may have as the never-ending Rich Aurilia contracts over the last few years. Who no doubt, I am sure, will be offered a minor league contract again next year, and the year after that and happily fucking forever, if The Idiot has anything to say about it.
At least FREDDY SANCHEZ IS AN ALL-STAR THREE OUT OF THE LAST FOUR YEARS, A FORMER BATTING CHAMP, AND WANTS WORLD PEACE.
Hell, Leisure Suit Larry was motor-mouthing on the radio yesterday, (for the second day in a row) about how they fully expected Randy Johnson to be back this year, and about how badly Randy Johnson wanted to be back, and how remarkable it was that Randy Johnson was working hard on his comeback and was the most phenomenal 45 year old athlete ever in the whole wide world of America USA-USA USA!!! and how the Giants family was counting on Randy Johnson, the most incredible super awesome 45 year old athlete whatsoever…EVER! was going to help the Giants win a championship this year because the Giants played only 11 meaningless games between Sept 11, 2008 and September 22, 2008.
LSL (Leisure Suit Larry) gushed all over himself, that he had never ever seen an athlete as old as Sir Randall of Livermore, so dedicated to conditioning himself to recover from his torn rotator cuff. Just so that he could reclaim his awesomeness as “the most awesomely awesome gamer veteran pitcher of the whole wide universe as well as being an ALL STAR pitcher”
Presumably Sir Randall, like Freddy, wants world peace too.
The radio interviewer on 680s Wednesday’s morning show would not get off LSL’s back about the ridiculous $30.00 parking fee in Lot A. Funny how irate msm talking heads get when they are subjected to the same protocols as the unwashed in their audience. Some of LSL’s responses:
Interviewer: “Larry. Why so much? Do you really have to charge THIRTY DOLLARS! Especially since ticket prices are already some of the highest in the country?”
LSL “Uh…we don’t have that much parking”
Translation: “Limited parking capitates the number of patrons we can gouge, so we have to maximize our profit per unit in order to attain budgetary objectives….which is to buy myself that third Bentley.”
Interviewer: “What does that have to do with anything?” Why does that make it any fairer?”
LSL “Well, if you’re a season ticket holder you don’t have to pay that much”
Translation: “IF you pay thousands for a vastly overpriced luxury suite, we will give you a 10% discount”
Interviewer: “But why can’t you just charge $20.00? Just as a sign of good faith…it would still be higher than Oakland’s $17.00″
LSL: “………………………zzzzzzzzzzzzz………chirp chirp”
Translation: “Hey I told you I have to have that third Bentley. Lucky for the suckers I don’t want a third Bentley for my kid, or they would be paying $60.00!!”
Simply amazing that as soon as the opinion polls show an improved Giants favorability rating, LSL pops up on every broadcast, tv and radio to bask in the reflected glory of the paste-eating, short-bus riding, windowlicker’s approval.
I shut off the radio after 5 minutes and rolled down the windows in hopes the exhaust fumes from the belching 18 wheeler next me would allow me to inhale just enough carbon monoxide to cause short term
” memory loss”
+mia,
Nice work. I still believe Sabean is a plant…put here by Selig to ruin the Gigantes. There can be no other explanation how a complete Fuck-Wad like him holds down a job with his performance.
Not sure why you don’t see Garko hitting above .240. He’s a pretty average player at best, but he was just hitting .285/.362/.464 with peripherals that don’t suggest he’s bound to fall from that. Supposedly moving from the AL to the NL benefits hitters, as well. He’s instantly our second best hitter, and he’s an upgrade over Ishikawa, even if he’s not really that good. As for Velez, I think it’s fair to give up on his infielding abilities at this point, the only way he’ll become a solid player is to play CF. He doesn’t hit well enough for the corners, and he does have the speed to cover CF (if he develops the rest of the skills needed).
B,
I do not see Garko hitting more than .240 because he is moving to a new league with different strike zone…not to mention new pitchers. It will take him at least a month to adjust…a month we cannot afford to lose.
And No…I do not believe he is instantly our 2nd best hitter…and it is much tougher moving to the NL than AL. Overall…in my opinion…Garko is a downgrade from Ish. He will not help us enough with his offense to compensate for what we will be losing in the field. I follow the Tribe…and he is a hack at First. He will not get to balls that Ish covers routinely. I’ll be surprised if Garko even hits 5 hr’s the rest of the season. The Jake in Cleveland is hitter friendly…unlike Pac-Bell.
I didn’t like Garko with the Tribe…and like him less as a Gigante.
As for Velez…he hits well enough to play Left…and maybe Center would be better down the road.
Time will tell
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