So the Giants finally signed Freddie Sanchez to a two-year, $12 million dollar deal. Great. Of course, I knew this was coming, but really, I’m just speechless. Sure, it’s a cheap enough deal, and he’s certainly a solid player; but, for crying out loud, what a sham of a front office we have. Sabean’s been talking about getting this guy ever since he won the batting title, and the fact that our GM openly coveted such a mediocre nobody is such a clear indication that this franchise is slowly driving the wrong way down a one way street.
I don’t know how much longer I can do this. A lost season, a waste of young talent, an acquisition that pretty much only improves the team by about five runs….. I mean, I’m getting to the point where all I can say anymore is, “Who cares?”
…. On the other side of the infield, the Giants would like to re-sign Juan Uribe, and general manager Brian Sabean has begun talks with Uribe’s agent. However, a quick resolution is unlikely.
“I get the sense he’s going to test the free-agent market,” Sabean said.
Yeah, what a surprise. You think Uribe might want to take less money to play for a team that is committed to winning a championship? Or maybe he knows that he clearly out-performed Sanchez, and the Giants one year offer for $2.5 million is pretty much an insult. Sanchez’s ’08 and ’09 pretty much mirror his career line of .299/.334/.417 .751 OPS — and with 76 extra base hits the last two years; maybe Uribe (.257/.298/.430 .728 OPS, also with 76 extra base hits the last two years) feels like he deserves a real contract, too.
I’d also mention that I predicted this:
…. In another move that was expected but might carry some emotional weight, the Giants cut ties with popular but injured pitcher Noah Lowry by declining his $6.25 million club option for 2010 and placing him on outright waivers.
C’mon, what is he a “solid player” or a “mediocre nobody”? You must be quite
high on Yankee smoke these days. I’m not in love with Sanchez, but he’s either
one or the other. Mia, will you step up and interpret for John?
Vlad’s a free agent…now he’s just old enough and mediocre enough for Sabes. He’ll sign him just to prove that he was right by not signing him in 2004.
The Giants will go hard after Bay it seems, and I’m fine with that. I’d really like to see them go after Figgins as well so we have a lead-off hitter with some OBP. Two new line-up spots with those two would add a lot of runs.
We have the money with $30mm+ coming off the books this year, and even with the raise due to the arbitration guys and Sabean’s stiffs like Roward, there should be the cash available. Payroll of $82mm for last year was right in the middle of the pack and only $51.1mm is committed right now, an insult to a 3 million attendance team that also has its own cable network. Time to step up and get to 9 figures on that payroll. Oh yeah, fuck that stadium debt excuse- its tired, it reduces you revenue sharing expense, and the Yankee’s have one that 5 times a large, and you don’t pay rent so that offsets about $5mm of it.
And here we thought you were yelling…..
Jeezo El. You should know by now that I speak loudly, and carry a small stick.
wait. that didn’t come out right.
Classical Idiotic Gas
If you squint real hard, you can almost see Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” comics scribbling furiously in the underground tunnels of Payphone Park writing up press releases for Beachball Head to read to the media. You just can’t make this shit up:
Well try this on for size.
22-Sep-09 Left knee injury, day-to-day.
07-Sep-09 Missed 19 games (left shoulder injury).
25-Aug-09 Left shoulder injury, 15-day DL.
18-Aug-09 Left shoulder injury, day-to-day.
02-Aug-09 Missed 5 games (sore left knee).
27-Jul-09 Sore left knee, day-to-day.
10-Jul-09 Missed 6 games (back injury).
03-Jul-09 Back injury, day-to-day.
13-Sep-08 Missed 1 game (eye injury).
12-Sep-08 Eye injury, day-to-day.
03-Aug-08 Missed 5 games (back spasms).
28-Jul-08 Back spasms, day-to-day.
14-Apr-08 Missed 1 game (right shoulder injury).
13-Apr-08 Right shoulder injury, day-to-day.
05-Apr-08 Missed 1 game (right shoulder injury).
04-Apr-08 Right shoulder injury, day-to-day.
01-Oct-07 Missed the last 5 games of the regular season (shoulder injury).
26-Sep-07 Shoulder injury, day-to-day.
19-Jun-07 Missed 3 games (flu).
15-Jun-07 Flu, day-to-day.
26-Apr-07 Missed 1 game (eye injury).
25-Apr-07 Eye injury, day-to-day.
18-Apr-07 Missed 1 game (left wrist injury).
17-Apr-07 Left wrist injury, day-to-day.
07-Apr-07 Missed 5 games (sprained knee).
31-Mar-07 Sprained knee, 15-day DL.
24-Jun-05 Missed 1 game (hamstring).
23-Jun-05 Hamstring, day-to-day.
11-Jun-05 Missed 2 games (groin).
08-Jun-05 Groin, day-to-day.
10-Jul-04 Missed 84 games (ankle injury) and optioned to Nashville (AAA).
01-Apr-04 Ankle injury, 15-day DL (retroactive to March 26th).
So like most everybody else who has played this game, the older he has gotten, the more injured he becomes and the fewer games he plays. And when he does play his effectiveness is diminished by injuries. Thats life. No mystery. It is inevitable. And even more pronounced now, that MLB had decided to enact and enforce rules against performance enabling medication.
And don’t underestimate the impact of the removal of wonderdrugs from the scene. Its not that they enhanced the careers of certain players, as much as they prolonged them.
But wait. There’s more!
Nice expectations because this is what Fast Talking Freddie put up for the last couple of years:
271 / .298 /.371 /.669 in 2008 at Pittsburgh in 145 games. Oh yeah. He walked 21 times in 608 fucking plate appearances! While bashing an astronomical 9 jacks.
284 / .295 /.324 /.619 in 2009 with San Francisco 25 games, 108 plate appearances. He did draw 2 walks however.
He put up somewhat better numbers in Pittsburgh earlier in the year, but what the fuck…it doesn’t matter, because he doesnt walk, he has no power and is the emptiest .300 hitter since Edgardo Alfonso.
It gets worse though. Here’s Bochy’s brilliant mind at work. His depth of knowledge of the game of baseball knows no bounds
Hit third?
“……not able to find a powerful cleanup hitter”
Again.
I look at the Yankees for the last month and I go “Whoa…thats a fucking ballclub that doesn’t have to do everything perfect every time. They just have to be who they are most of the time.”
There is a bigger difference between the Yankees and the Giants than there is between the Giants and their AAA affiliate. And thats what Mr. Sabean has to show for himself after 13 years of steering the USS Cain around and into a bunch of icebergs on a nightly basis, while he’s still trying to find out who stole his fucking strawberries.
“Nobody can win against +mia, because +mia apparently has a thing against french people.”
Although that’s certainly to his credit, it’s more this kinda stuff that makes dueling with him problematic at best:
“With snappy retorts like that, no wonder you’ve earned the designation of 4th degree pink belt in ‘Internet Word Warrior’.”
Trust somebody who’s been around awhile, he only jumps people when they’re acting completely stupid. Unfortunately, that particular species is wildly overrepresented on the Internet.
And, alas, in the Giants front office.
No he just isn’t mature enough to know the disagreeing with his opinion is not the same.
yahoo! flame war!
Nobody can win against +mia, because +mia apparently has a thing against french people. But +mia, you missed on thing that’s going on in Sabean’s curious little mind – “bay… bay… that rings a bell… pacbell…. bay… my gut is telling me something about a bay….” (all trance-like).
However, somehow, by accident, someone whose name rhymes with “cove” with get $25 million per year.
In any case, you’re exactly right John… my feelings about resigning Sanchez are “boring…..”. It’s not bad, it’s not good, it’s just dull. Uribe may not be the equal of Sanchez, but resigning him might actually be a good idea. Good, as in not dull.
Bay will not play for the Giants unless he gets ridiculous money. Take your pick with our beloved GM – dull or ridiculous. Be a good slogan for next year – “Your 2010 Giants – Dull and Ridiculous!”.
Maybe the Yankees will cut Willie McGee again.
John, you are becoming just flat ass silly. Are you really trying to sell that Juan Uribe (who could not even get a MLB deal last year as he signed with the giants to a minor league deal) is the equal of Freddy Sanchez? Your opinion of Freddy Sanchez (or for that matter the next move by the Giants) is clearly clouded by your bias against anything Brian Sabean does and frankly is no longer worth paying much attention to.
Just go fuck yourself to death on the way back up Sabean’s ass
Thanks for again proving what a donkey’s rear end you are!
With snappy retorts like that, no wonder you’ve earned the designation of 4th degree pink belt in “Internet Word Warrior”
Next up on giantsscrotumbagman’s list of great mind challenges: “Mastering “Ukulele Hero”
Beating on you is like scraping dogshit off my shoe.
Consider yourself ignored. Anything further from me would be considered cruel and unusual. Living inside your own skull is punishment enough obviously.
I am betting your actually want the Giants to sign Jason Bay to a contract larger then the rumored first offer from the Red Sox of 4 Years and $60M. I bet you don’t realize that Jason Bay (like John’s White Whale Adam Dunn) gives up more then 2/3′s of his offensive value with his horrible defense.
It is you that is out of touch with reality and thus all you have to offer insults rather then facts or logical arguements.
“I bet you don’t realize that Jason Bay (like John’s White Whale Adam Dunn) gives up more then 2/3’s of his offensive value with his horrible defense.”
This is only 10% true on a Giants team where Bay replaces Carl Crawford in left. In case you didn’t notice, Fred Lewis, Randy Winn, Eugenio Velez, Andres Torres, and John Bowker aren’t Carl Crawford.
Also to compare Bay’s defense to Adam Dunn’s is truly moronic. Jason Bay *IS* Carl Crawford compared to Adam Dunn. Do you watch any of these guys actually play the field?
Even with that being the case Adam Dunn’s offense would still outweight his defence by an exponential factor.
Congradulations! You are wrong on all three of your points.
Giants LFers in 2009 combined for a UZR of +25.3 which is better then the +17.7 Carl Crawford and the rest of the Rays combined for and is infact is the best in all of MLB.
Jason Bay’s 2009 LF UZR of -13.9 is indeed as I stated very simular to Adam Dunn’s 2009 LF UZR of -14.4. In addition Jason Bay’s 2007-2009 LF UZR of -43.8 is also indeed very simular to Adam Dunn’s 2007-2009 LF UZR of -48.5.
According to Fangraphs In 2009 Adam Dunn’s offense added 35.5 runs but his defense gave it all back and then some costing 36.4 runs. Looking again at 2007-2009 Adam Dunn’s offense added 97.4 runs but his defense gave back almost all of it costing 83.2 runs.
Other then being dead wrong about everything, nice post.
Here is something else for you to chew on. Fangraphs finds that Fred Lewis’ produced more wins above replacement level (WAR) in 2008 and 2009 then Adam Dunn did. Fred Lewis provided the Giants with 3.2 WAR over these two years while Adam Dunn only contributed 2.4 WAR to his teams over these same two years.
The Giants are way ahead of most here at “Only Baseball Matters” in that they have come to the realization that thinking “Only Offense Matters” or even “Offense Matters Way More Then Defense” is dead wrong.
oh, and rohn got fired too
ya, its his fault that players who get called up from aaa cant hit
John wrote:
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
Some admittedly unsolicited advice: either do it, or don’t do it, but please stop with this kinda stuff, which you have done on several occasions. It looks, well, like you’re trying to get your fans to beg you to stay, as Thomas does here. That’s not to say I don’t think you’re seriously thinking about throwing in the towel, as I’m sure you are, but it’s really unbecoming of you to go all Hamlet on us time and again.
Just my two cents.
I think he means by keeping it up is whether or not he can give serious thought and consideration to any fucking thing the Giants do anymore with any real hope for improvement. Its more of a reflection of how do you take anything they do as being anything other than the actions of a critically and seriously dysfunctional organization. And anybody who thinks they can speak on Perricone’s behalf is a bigger idiot than Sabean, Bochy, and Neukom combined. I don’t think John means to imply that he is going to stop criticizing them. I sure as hell am not.
Fuck the assholes in charge. I’ve been following this team since before some of those little cocksuckers at 3rd and king were even a gleam in some sperm donor’s eye. And I’ll still be around when most of those fuckers are gone too. I’ve got over 50 years invested in following this team…and I am personally not going to let some piece of shit spooge management team who happened to suck their way into temporary stewardship of this team and run it into the ground get in the fucking way of my opinions of them. The sooner they get fucking discouraged, bored and broke, the better.
Root for the players as individuals. Fuck the laundry as it is now constituted. A bigger collection of undistinguished boring assholes in spandex I’ve not seen since the mid 70s and early 80s. What a bunch of boring faceless worthless shitballs.
Uh, no. Maybe you missed it, but John has written more than once that he is considering covering the Yankees rather than the Giants. Actually, I think you do know this.
Look, I enjoy and appreciate John’s writing and analysis almost as much as I do yours, mia. No need to go to creative lengths to manufacture some elaborate rationale for John when he has made his feelings quite clear. Or, as you put it, “[A]nybody who thinks they can speak on Perricone’s behalf is a bigger idiot than Sabean, Bochy, and Neukom combined.”
I don’t think it is elaborate at all. It seems pretty clear to me at least. John is gonna write whatever the fuck he wants to write about, when he wants and how he wants. Besides the Giants organization is so fucking zany and its front men so full of shit, how can anyone resist poking them in the ass on an ongoing basis.
Glad you appreciate my mostly tongue in cheek over the top profanity laced tirades about what really amounts to nothing in the big scheme of things.
And good gotcha on throwing my own quote back at me
Total fucking caught me by surprise laughing my ass off when I read it.
Nooooooooooooooo! Please don’t stop blogging about the Giants. Even reading you write ‘who cares’ is more interesting and insightful than a lot of baseball writing. I agree it is dispiriting to watch Sabean spin his wheels. One thing that makes is bearable to me is coming to Only Baseball Matters and seeing writing I typically agree with.
What do you think of the rumor that the Giants will pursue Jason Bay — http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2009/10/31/1109031/giants-to-pursue-jason-bay ?
I think that is fantasyland because Jason Bay isn’t going to sign on as a carnival act for an outfit that chisels guys who actually produce like Uribe, and rewards useless twerps like the above-mentioned Freddy Fuckup. Sancho Panza Sanchez is the desired typical top of the order guy will aid the useless mindless fruitcake Don Quixote Sabean in his quest to “compete” for the windmill tilting playoffs.
Reasons why Sabean would pursue Bay:
He is over .30. He is media friendly. He has a nice name like Jason, and looks like and sounds like the media douches who cover the Giants. He is “a clubhouse guy” and “plays the game the right way.”
Why Sabean would not pursue Bay:
He only hit .267 and struck out 162 times. His OBP is too high at .375 and his lifetime OPS is too high at a little under .900 and he hits more homeruns than Bengie Molina and he doesn’t want to hurt Bengie’s feelings. Even if Sabean thought Bay was worth 14 million per year, he would only offer him 8 million because he’s paying Freddie Fuckfacefuckup the other 6 million, because Freddie is a career .300 hitter and a 3 time all-star—numbers that are obviously superior to Bay’s.
Why Bay will not play for the Giants:
He spent too many years playing for horseshit teams like the Giants when he was in San Diego and Pittsburgh. He isn’t about to repeat that experience. Why the fuck would anybody take less money than Boston or NYY or any other legit. championship contender to play in a wharfside carnival act like the one the Giants front at the Third Street Bridge.
Who the fuck is kidding who here?
Do yourself a favor. Watch the rest of the World Series. Watch what championship caliber teams do in the face of adversity, inclement weather, horseshit umpires, bad calls, bad breaks, hostile crowds…all at the end of an 8 month season this year. Watch those two teams. Then find the moron Giants apologists and ask them to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the Giants chances against teams like this:
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?”
I love your spunky attitude, and i can tell you know your baseball. One thing, you can get your point across without using the “F” word so many
times. Once is good! Next time you use it, address it to Dave Reghetti.
He is the one that is holding this team back. They need a pitching coach
change, but will not pull the plug on this guy. So you might say that
he is the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants. That
pitching staff the giants have, is the best in baseball, and could get
even better. Not with Dave Reghetti. Mark my word!
I made the mistake of reading this more than once.
It makes no sense.
Dave Righetti. Managing General Partner. What the fuck are you talking about?
On second thought, never mind. Anybody who thinks that Dave Righetti is the major problem must be French.
The bigger problem with the pitching staff is going to be 3 years of arbitration with Lincecum before he flies the coop in free agency so he doesn’t waste his career pitching with no run support to garner him the kinds of numbers he needs to maximize his earnings potential. Same goes for Cain and Sanchez eventually as well.
Right now, the happiest two guys in baseball are Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia who managed to escape from perennial losers to pitch in the World Series. You don’t think Lincecum and Cain and Sanchez are looking at this year’s world series and thinking to themselves.
“Fuck me. Thats me in 3 years if I can get the fuck away from this anemic amusement park for old men.”
No. Dave Righetti is not the problem anymore than Carney Lansford was. The problems wear suits and bow ties or dirty fucking aloha shirts and floppys.
12 mil for freddie, even before he has started rehab….good deal
You do not know your baseball! Keeping Sanchez was one of the smartest
moves the Giants have made in years. Come next season, you will jump on the band wagon of Freddie Sanchez. Bye the way, in Baseball, age (32) is just a number! Ask Randy Johnson!
Obviously you are French. Praising the Snatchez signing is like praising General Giap after the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Once a surrender monkey, always a surrender monkey.
With original thought like “age is just a number”, you may be invited to be in the audience of an infomercial for Drano brain cleaner.
Here’s the deal Inspector Clousseau. The Giants biggest need for several years has been a young power hitter with a high on base percentage. The jerkoff nominally in charge of procuring said players insists on overpaying old and powerless, and undisciplined hackers instead. As a result, the Giants have not finished higher than 3rd place in a 5 team division in 5 years. They have reached the world series one time in 20 seasons, of which 13 of those seasons have been under the direction of the current General Manager.
Since you’re french, you should have little problem understanding the concept. F.A.I.L.U.R.E.
Capiche?
Now run along and find somebody to rob you.