I am disgusted, but hardly surprised by Bill Neukom and Brian Sabean’s failure.
Instead of getting all fired up abut the stretch run, excited by the acquisition of a real hitter to bolster our league-worst offense, I get to be disgusted. I get to wake up this morning, and read about how a real team –a team run by an owner and GM who are actually knowledgeable about the game of baseball– went out and added the one thing their team actually needs, a fucking guy who can hit home runs!
The Dodgers picked up Jim Thome in time for him to be eligible for the postseason, but now that yesterday’s deadline has passed, the Giants no longer have that option. But we did pick up an old, out of shape, completely ineffective pitcher, just in time for us to raise our league-leading ERA. That Penny will make, at best, four or five starts is immaterial. That Randy Johnson may, in fact, be able to come back and take a couple of turns in the rotation hardly matters.
WE NEED HOME RUNS!!!! And we ignored a chance to pick up a guy who has already hit more than a quarter as many home runs as our entire team for a fucking drone in the minor leagues and less than $2.5 million dollars!!!!!
Just remember that I told you so. I told you we would face a situation where we would be told that we were unable to acquire so and so player because of financial concerns. Just remember that I told you this would happen.
I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!
UPDATE: Are you guys fucking kidding somebody?
I just wrote a piece about how the Giants should make a run at Jermaine Dye. JERMAINE DYE!!!!!! If you look close, you can still see the writing, something like 1/3 of the way down the page. Jesus Christ! How could anyone possibly fail to see that I was reiterating my suggestion that the Giants GET JERMAINE DYE!!!!
Over and over, you so-called “fans” wanna argue about how this player or that player isn’t worth shit to the Giants, while ignoring the fact that we have the worst offense in baseball for going on four fucking years now!!
My comments about the Dodgers picking up Thome were meant to point out that the Dodgers are addressing their needs at the last possible chance to make an impact for the potential championship run. The Giants, on the other hand, once again DID NOTHING!!! Well, actually, we didn’t do nothing. We signed a pitcher who will instantly be the worst pitcher on the team. Forget about being the worst pitcher on the team… Penny is ranked 84th out the 84 pitchers who qualify for the ERA title. That is to say, he is the worst starting pitcher in all of baseball. In 131 innings, he’s allowed 200-plus baserunners, 82 earned runs, he has 89 strikeouts and 42 walks, and he sports a stellar 5.61 ERA. And Alex says, “it seems like Penny can still pitch.” What, batting practice? Are you out of your fucking mind??!!??! We could’ve picked up a shit ton of pitchers for a song, including John Smoltz (who, in 11 innings with the Cardinals, has 15 strikeouts and has allowed 7 hits, one walk, and one earned run), John Garland, Jose Contreras, Scott Kazmir, to name but a few, and every single one of them would’ve been better than Brad Penny. Every single pitcher we could call up from our minor league system is better than Brad Penny.
But, what the hell, who cares? Why not throw $400,000 dollars on the ground? It might only be the difference between being able to sign a player who could make difference or not, right?
To suggest that the Giants couldn’t use Jermaine Dye –who plays a corner outfield spot and wouldn’t displace anyone worth TEN FUCKING CENTS!!!!!!– is a crime against intelligence. To sit here and tell me that he would somehow be inadequate, illustrates exactly why the Giants can get away with this kind of horseshit team building and managing for so long. The vast majority of Giants fans have no fucking idea whatsoever what they are talking about, either.
How you could fail to see this point is simply amazing. How you could continue to suggest that ANYBODY WHO HITS HOME RUNS IS WORTHLESS BECAUSE HE ISN’T PERFECT IS ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS. Do me a favor, and go somewhere else if all you can talk about is how each and every hitter I suggest the Giants pick up isn’t worth a shit, even though they would be the second best hitter on the team the second the walked in the door.
UPDATE, Part II: Are you idiots watching the game? 5 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs. Hamels has thrown 69 pitches, 44 strikes. As in, I can throw it over the plate whenever I want. Yup, who needs a a guy who can hit some home runs?
UPDATE, Part III: Hamels, 6 innings, 1 hit, 79 pitches, 53 strikes.
UPDATE, Part IV: Hamels, who came into the game with a 4.62 ERA, has gone 7 innings, allowed 1 hit, thrown 91 pitches, 62 for a strike, and allowed only five balls to be hit out of the infield. 18 straight outs. Yup, who needs a guy with 25 home runs? Or 35, for that matter?
UPDATE, Part V: Hamels, 8 innings, 1 hit, 104 pitches, 71 strikes, 21 straight outs. Top of the ninth, Rich Aurilia, pinch-hitting. Yup, what a waste it would’ve been to have a guy like Thome on he bench. And, amazingly, in perhaps his last at-bat as a major-leaguer, Aurilia leads off with a single.
UPDATE, Part VI: Cole Hamels, 4.62 ERA coming in, went 9 innings, threw 118 pitches, 80 strikes, allowed 2 hits, and 0 runs. Brian Sabean should be ashamed of himself. This is one more loss that is simply because our GM cannot figure out how to build a team.
If you want to play young guys, then you have to accept the shortcomings that arise from inexperience. The amount of bitching going on in these comments would probably not change much from the current level.
Tell me, can you imagine yourself writing, “The game was lost because he screwed up that play, but that’s the price of inexperience. He’ll know better next time”?
Just announced: The Giants have called up Posey, an act of desperation which is contrary to their earlier stated intent to keep him in the minors until 2010. Thanks Benjie, for all the clutch hits and performance that exceeded expectations, and we need your locker.
They have also called up LHP Dan Runzler and the rumour is that Ryan Sadowski may be called as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR 2010 San Francisco Giants.
If nothing else, the rest of the series with the Phillies should be must see TV.
Pedro Martinez faces off against Tim Lincicum tomorrow, when, one would expect, Posey will make his MLB debut. First pitch at 4:05 PM PST. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
well, this is retarded…and a total act of desperation
posey isnt ready…which is why it was stated he wouldnt be called up this season
i feel bad for the kid
too bad they called up Posey after 8/31 so that he’s NOT eligible for postseason. Another great act of roster management by BS
Eh, don’t feel like reading user comments today, so I’ll just respond to John. I attended the game last night, it was disgusting. I was embarassed. I knew our offense was awful, but watching it in person (especially with the lineup we had our there yesterday)….is beyond words. It’s sad to see this pitching staff, which is unbelieveably good, go to waste on such a disgusting group of AAA hackers. Given this pitching, any semi-competent GM would have the best team in the NL right now.
On another note, there are real reasons to believe Penny can still pitch. FIP, which is a much better predictor of future ERA than ERA is, put him at a 4.48 FIP so far this season, while he’s been pitching in the most dominant division in baseball. That’s pretty respectable, and shows he’ll probably be an upgrade over our current 5th starter. It also means he’s been hit by a combination of bad luck and bad defense so far this year. While it’s true we’ve failed miserably to upgrade the offense (which is what we needed to do), in a vacuum, taking a flier on Penny wasn’t a bad idea.
“………While it’s true we’ve failed miserably to upgrade the offense (which is what we needed to do), in a vacuum, taking a flier on Penny wasn’t a bad idea.”
Well no more a bad idea than breaking out new deck chairs, when what you really need is more lifejackets, preservers and fucking lifeboats.
I’m not snapping at you per se “B” but you are doing and saying exactly what the spinmeisters want you to do. You’re buzzing about a non-event. A distraction. A deck chair. Its the curiosity and shiny new object factor. In otherwords its 100% Giants front office material.
It distracts folks from the fact that the Giants continue to resist acquiring power hitters, trying to do a cheap avoidance end around the realities of dealing with superstars. Its bullshit. Its what the Royals, Pirates, Padres and Indians do. Get rid of the fucking superstars, their salaries, and their “controversies” with the media. Overpay robotic slop-hackers, and sprinkle in some burger flippers and a couple of decent youngsters and call it good.
This pitching staff screwed up everything for Sabean. It revealed how bankrupt his methods for roster building really are.
This isn’t a baseball team, its a fucking pitching staff with ball dudes.
Eh, I can see how you’d think that. I really only brought it up because John was so adamant Penny is a bad move. He was a good pickup. I’ve been to the last couple games, though, trust me – I understand that’s not the move we should focus our attention on. Our offense needed upgrading and didn’t get it. That is the important thing, however, I just wanted to simply point out that Penny should be an improvement for us.
“………Penny should be an improvement for us.”
No kiddin. I fully expected him to go tits up by the 4th after hucking 80 pitches giving up a couple of bombs. Glad the wind was blowing across from right instead of out. Made me a screaming porch monkey.
The Giants advance runners about as well as the Symphony horn section would.
Firstly about Brad Penny; while I am not overwhelmed with joy at the signing, I don’t really have any problem with it either. I don’t think he will be any worse than our in-house options for a 5th starter (although he won’t necessarily be better) and if we do get to the post-season could be reasonable out of the pen. I don’t really understand why you cite John Smoltz as being the man we should have got as if you go off his BoSox numbers as you have with Penny then he actually appears as bad if not worse. Check out http://www.baycityball.com/2009/08/27/pick-a-penny/ for some not unreasonable analysis on why Brad Penny has sucked this year and reasons to be hopefull we will see an improvement.
With regards our failure to add a bat, I generally agree with your points. As pointed out in earlier comments Thome would only be an off the bench option but he would still be the best available bat if on the Giants. Dye would have been a good pickup but I assume Sabean wouldn’t have been able to claim him for nothing and did not want to give up prospects.
This offseason the Giants really desperately need to look into acquiring a good bat who legitimately hit in the middle of the order. My preference would be towards getting an outfielder to play left field. It seems like Matt Holliday (arguably the best available option) will probably want more $$$ than the Giants brass are willing to give and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up with either the Yankee or RedSox. I also don’t believe Sabean is capable of making a good trade for a bat and most will clubs will ask for Posey or Bumgarner anyway so that leaves a thinnish crop of talent. My suggestion is that the Giants take a look at signing Bobby Abreu. Yes he is old but he has also and still remains to be one of the better hitters in the game. His power has faded but he would still at least provide double digits in the homerun column, which is not to be sniffed at with this team. He also gets still gets on base at around a .400 clip and is one of the main reasons I advocate signing him. Not only that but have you seen how much the other young Angels hitters OBP has risen this year? I don’t think that is a coincidence and believe that Abreu would help make our team less hack-happy. Abreu is also still useful when he gets on base (over 20SB this year) and would be more than capable of playing the small ball that we obviously need to in order to score runs. He is not great in the outfield bu LF is somewhere I think we can allow poorer defense for a good bat. I think he would also have a reasonable price tag after last years experience where he turned down a 2-year $16m offer from the Rays only to wind up taking the $5m from the Angels because he had no choice. Fearing a similar situation occurring I think a respectable offer early from the Giants could land us our man, perhaps $13-14m for 2-years? or maybe $8m for 1 year or look at it like this Winn out Abreu in. Thoughts?
Well its nice that you have all these suggestions Geoffrey. Really. But that really is outside the major problem of who makes the decisions and what kind of organizational philosophy the Giants have. It is obvious the Giants have no interest in developing, acquiring or retaining the types of ballplayers necessary to compete and win championships.
The organizational goal is to provide a “ballpark experience” and fill the stadium and coffers accordingly. Thats a fine business model. For running a fucking Performing Arts Company. Its not how you win championships. And the Giants are run more like the San Francisco Symphony than the California Angels or LA Dodgers or NY Yankees. Teams that have strong field managers like Baker and power hitters. Teams who are laser-focused on winning championships and letting the stadiums fill as a benefit, not as an ends.
The Giants run out a lot of cheap, but extraordinarily talented, homegrown pitching, one “face of the franchise” player and surround them with over the hill garbage cans. They have done this since the Lurie ceded control of the franchise to the current partnership group (of which he still remains a shareholder incidentally). This is the same model that was used by the San Francisco Symphony commencing in the early 70s. The San Francisco Symphony did that for years.
They hired and decided to overpay the most popular conductor in the world at the time, Seiji Ozawa, and make him Music Director, to fill the half-empty Opera House (where they played prior to the current Symphony Hall) to lift them up to the big time, to try and compete for recording contracts, and tour underwriting, with the likes of Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. (sound familiar kiddies?)
What folks didn’t know was that while they were running around marketing Ozawa, their “face of the franchise” and in an attempt to find funding for a new Symphony Hall, they surrounded their new star with far too many “AAAA” strings, horns, woodwinds and percussionists. Why? Because the money, working conditions and great musicians were being paid and playedin other places. Like Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. As a result, he opted for free agency and went to Boston at the end of his three year contract, despite all of the assurances management gave him that they were “trying to upgrade” all of the chairs. The San Francisco Symphony swells, after making a ton of excuses and hand wringing went out and signed a new “face of the franchise” in Michael Tilson Thomas. So today some 30 years later, they still have an “all star” conductor but remain outside the circle of elite symphony orchestras in the country.
Kind of like the Giants.
Power hitters are expensive. They are generally the best players on the team. They alone bring people to their feet in awe. They are a pain in the ass usually. They demand, and get special treatment. They talk to the press when and if they feel like it. But when you’re the big swinging johnson in the clubhouse and can carry the team on your back and bat for days and weeks, you can get away with it. If your bosses are interested in winning that is. It is obvious, the Giants are more interested in filled seats, cheap compliant youngsters, and good old boys like Bengie, Rowand, Aurillia, Bochy, Righetti, et all who are perfectly satisfied to collect a fat paycheck and pound some “Buds” with the post game spread and participate in the illusion of competing.
hey….i sang as a part of the sf boys chorus, under seiji….the man was brilliant, and very much like bonds, made everyone around him better
you are right that he left when the symphony would not go out and get world class talent…but he did bring them to acclaim during his brief stint
under thomas…they have become world class and have done some fine albums
ill put them up against the boston pops anytime
I am surprised they managed two hits with this line-up. There is not one player in this line-up that starts for the Dodgers or Phillies…..not one
E. Velez LF
E. Renteria SS
A. Rowand CF
R. Garko 1b
J. Uribe 2b
R. Winn RF
R. Rohlinger 3B
E. Whiteside C
J. Sanchez p
You know what really sucks? Jonathan Sanchez threw his fucking ass off, and his fucking heart out tonight. He cockpunched 8 of the Phils. Between he and Medders, they shut the Phillies down in their dinky-doinky dickless litterbox with none other than Chris “I have the same last name as a porno king” Guccione behind the dish. This guy calls strikes about as often as the Giants hit with power. It is usually an accident. Three fucking hits in 6 innings Jonathan allows.
But thats what Sanchez did. Batter after batter, inning after inning. To no fucking avail. Just like all season. Sabean and the front office should be fucking ashamed of themselves for putting out the position players they have to support one of the best pitching staffs, if not the best, in the almost 52 seasons the Giants have played here.
And does anybody reasonably think that guys like Tim Lincecum, Sanchez, and Cain are coming back here when they gain their freedom? Are you fucking kidding me? If you’re 35 and looking to coast for a couple of years in a friendly yard, sure thing. But these guys are going to be in their 20s, and the Angels and Yankees and Dodgers are going to roll out more than a wheel-barrow full of money.
They’re going to roll out a real baseball team with guys who can actually play defense, hit with some power take a base, have a team-plate-appearance, and use more than 7 pitches an inning before making three outs.
Hey Jonathan, how about turning that fucked up 6-11 record and turning it into a 14-5 without changing a fucking thing except your address?
And Matt. How would you like to pitch for a team that scores 5 runs per game instead of 3 and instead of being stuck on 13 wins on Sept 1, you’re looking at maybe 18 wins and all you have to do is turn in the orange and black for pin stripes or maybe dodger blue?
And Timmy. How about a sure ticket to the playoffs every year. And endorsements. It all comes with an 8 year contract and 150 million. Fuck man, you can buy your own fucking team by the time you’re 34 years old. Fuck dood, we’ll even throw in a few extra million for your boy Wilson to come along too.
Nothing like a little run support and virtual playoff appearance guaranteed compared to the crap that Sabean has been running out since he drove Kent out, to put the 3rd street bridge in the rear view mirror.
And if anybody thinks next year is going to be better, you’re out of you’re fucking minds. Triplicate pitching seasons like this don’t happen automatically. They just don’t. And unless Buster Posey can hit 89 jacks and get to bat twice an inning, this team isn’t going to hit shit. Why? Because Sabean is living in 1921 and just can’t wait to sign Burleigh Grimes and scrappy Roger Hornsby to lead his ground attack.
Teams that score 640 runs do not, have not, and will not ever make the playoffs unless somebody kidnaps the Rockies and Braves.
The Giants have had 10 road trips this year. They have lost the first game in 9 of them. You know why? Because they are not ready to fucking play. Its that simple. Veteran leadership my fucking ass. Veteran leadership is a canard and nothing more than more front office propaganda. Aaron Rowand may have a bowling team and Rich Aurilia and Randy Winn, may go on wine tasting tours together, but the only fucking thing they’re leading is a bunch of overpaid, overweight, over-age collection of the talentless and useless in a fine impersonation of minature golf everytime they come to the plate.
This shit never went down with Bonds and Kent and Baker in the clubhouse as far as I remember. This roster is pathetic. It is a travesty. It is like something even Charlie Finley would not have put on the field in his most eccentric and penny-pinching days.
Wasting the incredible seasons of Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Wilson, and Afeldt by surrounding them with scarecrows, human sundials, Bob’s big boys, porcelin china and skillet mitts, that make the Seattle Pilots hall of fame worthy. And then adding insult to injury by signing Brad Penny. Who never did a thing for anybody but Brad Penny.
Brad Penny and Brian Sabean deserve each other. Useless overpaid sullen, ill-humored, gargoyles.
+mia,
Great rant…and spot on.
I just have one question…Why is Winn starting against lefties with a .162 avg? It’s lower now. Shierholtz is hitting a 100 points higher on the bench. Why Nate isn’t playing is pure BS.
Timmy and Matt will both leave. No way they stay…and that is the real travesty.
Nice line-up to start a road trip with momentum…pathetic. Sad state of affairs.
Sanchez was awesome and obviously deserved a better fate.
Veteran leadership on the Gigantes is an oxy-moron.
Why is Winn starting against lefties with a .162 avg?
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Because Sabean says so.
Behind Zito, he and Rowand are the two highest paid stiffs at $9.6 million per. Right in front of Renteria and Molina at $9.0 and $6.5 million. Playing time and roster slotting has nothing to do with baseball. Its all about who’s getting paid and who isn’t.
That lineup truly is breathtaking. I’m mean, doesn’t it seem as if you would have to affirmatively pursue some kind of Triple-A offensive strategy to put that patchwork together? Or, is that way too unkind to Triple-A lineups everywhere?
Here’s a challenge: Can anyone think of an alleged playoff contender, in the month of September, having put out on the field a weaker lineup in the entire history of Major League baseball?
On some level, it is a masterpiece of mindblowing incompetence by management.
And while were on the subject of bullshit smeared in heaping steaming piles in the luxury suites and in the press media room and emanating from the radio booths and tv studios and stupid fucking blogosphere full of stupid dumb fucks who couldn’t show you the difference between a 4 seam fastball grip and a 4 seam quilt without Googling the terms, you know what Kent said about his relationship with Bonds?
“No we were not friends. We were teammates. We needed each other to succeed. To reach our own goals and to win ballgames. Thats what we get paid to do. Win ballgames. He made me better. I made him better. Together we made the team better.” “He made me what I became. He pushed me to limits I didn’t know I had.
So fuck you Baer, Sabean, and the rest of you paste-eating, windlow-licking, chin-drooling, short-bus riders who wouldn’t have fucking clue one about what it takes to win in this game. It was this kind of thinking that ran the Viet nam war into the ground. Incremental, half-assed, pansy-fuck, non-committment, back-stabbing, and double dealing motherfuckers. Just so long as the assholes in charge of the checkbook and the drink cart got to stay in charge, they were happy.
Brian Robert McNamara Sabean. In a fucking beer-stained aloha shirt. God fucking help us all.
In March I was thinking .500 would be a very good record this year and I’ve been upset every time an older on-the-way-out-the-door player got game time in this “rebuilding” year.
Even this late in the year I cannot get my hopes up about this rag tag band of has beens and young but not quite ready for prime time players. If they manage to win the world series for some reason, sun spots, the hand of god, whatever, I will only begin to get excited about this team, really excited, when they reach the playoffs. I would be excited if this were a balanced team, with good offense and good defense to match their stellar pitching, but I cannot seem to get excited about the second coming of the ’69 Mets. Count me on the side of those who felt that giving any prospects up for Garko or Sanchez or anybody above the age of 29 was wrong and went against the “rebuilding” plan. I am more than willing to wait a year or two while the team “rebuilds” but I will not happily wait for years and years while the front office half ass takes a stab at building a team.
I can’t get mad about a crappy aquisition at this late date, it’s too typical. During the preseason, during the trades at midseason, here in the late season what, exactly what has the front office done to give me or anybody watching any hope or reason to believe they would make a good deal or a smart player move? I am only glad that the dumb ass GM didn’t trade away even more of the farm team prospects, future draft picks, sign trillion dollar contracts with near corpses or run out the young pitchers in a two man rotation.
Sabean hasn’t done the team any good this year, and he hasn’t been allowed to do it much harm either. Join me now, my fellow Giants fans, in a moment of silent prayer, and let us all ask that that goofy looking guy in the bow tie kicks Sabean’s ass out the door then kicks him to the curb. That would be a really sweet ending to this season, lord. Amen.
Robert,
Spot on. AMEN. I’ve been away on business lately and haven’t been posting for a couple weeks. I echo your sentiments. I happened to be in Vegas yesterday…and couldn’t resist betting the unders in the Gigantes game. If you can believe it was 8.5…with Sanchez and Hamels going…with the pitiful Gigantes line-up. When I saw Winn starting with a .162 avg…I loaded up. These bets come along once in a blue moon.
Last nights game speaks volumes. Nothing more needs to be said.
+mia is being too nice with his comments on Penny. The guys worthless as a baseball player…and a complete jerk in real life. If I’m a young pitcher in the system…I’m steamed.
Speaking of boycotts…If Sabean stays I’m done.
Of course the Giants didn’t need Thome. Or Dye. Or Adam Dunn. Or Bobby Abreau. Or Vladimir Guerrero. Or Jeff Kent. Its obvious guys like that are totally useless. Unless:
1. You actually know what the fuck you’re doing in this day and age. (Meaning after 1922)
2. You actually are committed to winning instead of signing beach wreckage like Edgardo Alfonso, Steve Finley, Shea Hillenbrand and so on, ad nauseum, ad barfeum
3. You are fucking sick to death of every single mothefucking excuse known to mankind to not provide an impact bat that actually affects how your opponents pitch.
4. You are fed up with letting asshats like Doug Davis and Aaron Harang pitch into the 7th inning and beyond. You know, actually acquiring guys that actually know how to take a walk, and have a team AB and work a pitcher over, even if they are overmatched.
4. You are also sick to death of every shitbag with an internet connection and a link to fangraphs and SF Gate echoing almost word for word every piece of propaganda bullshit put out by Baer’s spin machine.
With one feel swoop, Colletti has given Torre the ultimate late inning threat. Even if he does not set foot in the batters box. A left handed power hitter that will drive Bochy apeshit crazy trying to run his stupid fucking double switches. Especially since the Giants have one fucking lefthanded reliever. Hinshaw doesn’t count. Please. He’s AAA established and thats it.
Brad Penny is Tyler Walker. Gimme a fucking break. Sadowski actually has much better numbers and results than Penny, but the Giants don’t want to talk about that. Penny is fat, out of shape, a self-centered, big-mouth, blowhard who hasn’t pitched for shit in two and half years.
Neukom seems as I suspected. A bowtied, Orville Redenbacher-wannabe, fanboy more comfortable sipping mint-juleps with Muffy, Eleonore, Estelle and Curley Joe at a croquet tournament.
So, you are saying that Giants should of made a half-assed deal for guy who is going to come in the 7th inning to hit for the pitcher? He’s sure as shit not an everyday player. People here had a fit that we gave anything up for Garko or Sanchez since they had terrible OPS. However, Thome can hit the long ball. He’s the tonic to our offensive problems?
I am not arguing that Sabean could of pulled a deal for Dunn or Martinez or someone who can hit consistently with power. I am arguing that Thome is deal the Giants don’t need to make. Now Jermaine Dye would be great to make a deal for, but I bet someone other team ahead of the Giants in the waiver order would jump him in a New York minute.
Ned Colletti could make the Thome deal to be a pinch hitter because the Dodgers have the players on their team that allow for them to have a power guy off the bench for the late innings. They are in a much better position to add that type of bat.
Ned Colletti could make the Thome deal to be a pinch hitter because the Dodgers have the players on their team that allow for them to have a power guy off the bench for the late innings. They are in a much better position to add that type of bat.
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EXACTLY DT!
Thanks for making my point! Or at least bearing a great deal of it out. The Giants have yet to replace Jeff Kent. And everytime somebody makes a suggestion, or a power hitter becomes available, there is no fucking shortage anywhere of dimwits to pick up the Giants banner and nitpick to a fairtheewell every single shortcoming that Vladimir, Dunn, Jose fucking Jimenez for krissakes and why they/he/she/it is a bad signing, acquistion, trade, waiver claim/minor league call-up. They haven’t moved off of 2002 for fucks sake! Its like if the Giants can’t sign Babe Ruths 28 year old clone for $538.45 per year, its a bad fit, but fucking signing a fat-ass celebrity suckass fatboy like Penny is going to bring everybody manna from heaven!
This crack-smoking induced shit has been going on since Baker left and Sabean and the front office wrested every last bit of roster control from the people in the clubhouse. You know. The guys that actually fucking played this game after Herbert Fucking Herbert was run out of Washington DC waiting for the stock market to self-correct without any supervision.
You know why Jeff Kent fucking left? Do you? Because he couldn’t get along with Bonds? Because he hated San Francisco? See thats what Baer and his little rubber duckie-fuckers in msm want you to believe.
So to everybody’s surprise he finally spoke on the record what guys like me and John have been saying since the Giants front office visited thier own version of kristal-nacht on Baker and his boys.
I am going to paraphrase briefly what he said in his own words last night talking to Barbieri and Tolbert (you can probably download the podcast right now if you’re so inclined from knbr.com)
The reason he didn’t sign, was because the Giants wanted to get rid of Baker because of his undue influence, and with the signing of guys like Edgardo Alfonso, he was let it be known in no uncertain terms by one MR. BRIAN FUCKING SABEAN that the team was going to go in a new direction with new priorities.
So how the fuck has that fucking worked out lately? At the bottom in every single offensive category for 5 fucking years and only the fact that Bobby Evans and Dick Tidrow pulled a fast one on Sabean with the Lincecum draft has kept them in the top third (barely) of the NL this year.
I’m sorry if I come off rude, but to get this close in spite of that fucking asshole know nothing blowharded arrogant Greed Is Good motherfucker running this roster is just a little too much to take right now.
You speak of half-assed deals DT? Hows this for you? Over a month ago. This is the kind of “half-assed” deals you should be complaining about.
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2009-07-28 18:14:07
What is all this nonsense about Freddy Sanchez. I wouldn’t trade Juan Uribe straight up for him.
He has no speed….(10 career stolen bases( He is injured. He is another over thirty .700 ops guy who is in offensive decline who is owed millions this year and next. His best year was 3 seasons ago with an OPS of .851. He has absolutely no power. None. Zero. Zilch. Other than 11 jacks in 2006, he has never hit double digits. He has less freaking power than Omar Vizquel, who even the Giants had the good sense to release.
Uribe has 4 jacks to Sanchez 6 in about 100 fewer at bats. His ops is about the same. And his slugging at .442 is only marginally better than Uribe’s .431. And this all before he got hurt…..again.
What am I missing here? Is he fucking elasto-man with a 56 foot arm span and hands the size of garbage can lids? Can he reach 23 rows back into the stands for a pop-foul? I just don’t get it. He was pretty good in 06, but so were Renteria, Randy Johnson, Rich Aurilia and Omar Vizquel.
If somebody can clue me in here, be my guest.
I’m gonna give you a hug.
*HUG*
Strange. That was for +mia.
What the fuck? Are you Fraser Crane or something.
/sam “mayday” malone
I agree with the previous remarks. Thome is quoted in SI as saying that he is only available to play 1st in an emergency situation. This means that his influence is lessened to just pinch hitting. If the premise is that we need someone who can hit home runs, then he isn’t the guy.
With all due respect, but are you guys idiots?
I just wrote a piece about the Giants making a run at Jermaine Dye. JERMAINE DYE!!!!! Like, fourteen lines before the piece you are commenting on….
Not to mention….. But, Penny can still pitch? BASED ON WHAT?
My comment on Dye was based on that Kenny Williams dangled him along with Thome, Contras, and any other guy he could get rid of to dismantle his team. He at least can hit home runs and draw walks as any other rental player. Heck, at least he will play the field.
I have been reading your blog for several years. You seem to be stuck on two themes. 1) The Giants management is incompetent because they can’t get any hitters. 2) Barry Bonds was jobbed by media bias over steroids and driven out of baseball. You at least write decently which is why I still read you, however it’s starting to sound like a broken record.
Wait, you’re gonna boycott me because I sound like a broken record?
How about you boycott the Giants because their tired act sounds like a broken record. Brian Sabean’s failure to acquire a hitter will cost this team a chance for a title this year. He has failed at this effort for going on five years now, and all the while he’s wasted tens of millions of dollars. And I’m a broken record?
I don’t think boycott is the appropriate word. I may stop checking your blog because there is nothing worth reading. I am well aware of Brian Sabaen’s faults a general manager. I have seen all the bad deals that he has inked over the years. There is nothing I can do as a fan to remove Brian Sabaen from his job. Heck, I though the Giants needed to rebuild way before they started. However, the fact is that despite all conventional wisdom about the way teams are built the Giants are in contention in the last month of the season. For the next month I will be driven crazy as the next guy when they do things like not move a runner home third with less than two outs or watch as big rally gets killed by guys hacking away. Complaining about the general manager is not going to change that. My attitude is to wait and see what happens when it’s contract time for Sabean. I sure as hell hope he gets shown the door. I am not going to complain constantly about the Giants woeful offense when there is not a damn thing I can do about it. As a fan I can watch the games and hope for the best for my chosen team.
When I started reading this blog there was insightful writing on here about the state of the Giants and the ongoing steroids investigations into Barry Bonds. Now there is nothing but complaining. Even your own readers called you on your attitude earlier in the season. It’s too bad because this used to be a blog worth reading.
Gotta agree with DT. I still come back for good writing, but it’s becoming a bit wearisome reading railings against Sabean for shortcomings of the players in the field.
I think that the Giants management has failed to get a decent run producer, but Thome is nothing to whine about. He has flat out refused to play first base. The Giants do not need a dedicated pinch hitter. We need an everyday power guy. The odds of someone that Giants can use that will slip through waivers is nil. They needed to make that deal at the trade deadline. This is not a deal to get upset about.
Yeah, no. Thome is a DH, and hasn’t played in the field since 2004. So he would be useless except in pinch-hit situations. There’s simply no place to put him on the Giants team, home runs or not. Even if he got a plate appearance in EVERY game that the Giants play from here on out, we might see 1-2 HRs. Maybe one of them would win a game? Who knows. But I’m happy taking my chances with John Bowker in those situations, too.
And it seems like Penny can still pitch. For basically nothing, we got an upgrade to our fifth starter, and a bullpen pitcher in the (possible) playoffs. I’m meh about it, but “meh” for $0 is a fine move.
We need home runs, sure. But we need them attached to a glove that can play every day. Thome isn’t the answer.