basemen Freddy Sanchez. The first I hear about this move was actually on line, as I was scrolling through Yahoo Sports and saw the headline "Giants acquire Sanchez from Pirates". I read said article, but that article only had information about the player the Giants attained and didn't give any info about who they gave up. At that point, I figured they may have gotten him without dealing anyone too significant, otherwise the Yahoo writers would have included it in their article. However, that couldn't be any less the case. The Giants had to part with their number 2 pitching prospect, and a guy who a lot of scouts see as a future ace in Tim Alderson, to get a hold of the steady-hitting second basemen.
right-handed bat. He's also more than capable defensively at second base, which should strengthen the Giants up the middle. Again though, he's battling a bum knee right now that could keep him out another couple of days, which is fine, as long as this thing doesn't linger all season. With the news of Edgar Renteria ailing and needing offseason surgery, it was pretty immanent that the Giants added another infielder, and Sanchez had been on their radar for much of the past month. He's a good player, and he along with Ryan Garko may be enough to jump start this offense and bring them to a respectable level, but giving up Alderson was too much if you ask me!
solid hitting first basemen, though not great, and not necessarily a middle-of-the-order type of guy, much like Hillebrand was when the Giants dealt for him. However, that's about where the comparisons stop if you ask me. Garko seems like a much better teammate and is getting better, whereas Hillenbrand was a cancer who's career was spiraling downward. Not to mention, Garko is under team control for another 3 years, and should be a main cog on the Giants roster for a while. This year, in 239 at-bats in Cleveland, he hit .285 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI to go along with a respectable .825 OPS. Although he's only been in the league 3.5 years, he's proven himself as a run producer, as he's driven in 235 runs in his 408 ballgames. He hasn't hit for quite as much power as the Indians were hoping he would, but he did tally 35 home runs spread over the 2007-08 season without playing full-time, and his 11 jacks in just 235 at-bats this year proves that his power is still developing.
Giants are still said to be very interested in Pittsburgh's second basemen Freddy Sanchez, as that position has been a black hole for the Giants all year long. The Giants only had to part with one guy, albeit a solid pitching prospect, in order to land Garko, so there still is some resources available on the farm that could be used for another bat like Sanchez. Since Garko is a first basemen/corner outfielder, it doesn't seem like Giants will be looking to add another corner guy, but you never know. Another second basemen who could be available to them, and a guy we've mentioned here while back is Brian Roberts. He was a guy who'd be on the trade block every summer there for a while in Baltimore, but apparently that's no longer the case. Brandon Phillips is another one who would be a perfect fit here in San Francisco, but he's the type of talent that would probably require one of the top prospects in return. Anyway, I'll be on the edge of my seat to see what Sabean comes up with between now and Friday, because I really don't think he's done.
bat or two, or maybe another starting pitcher, chances are it will be done before July 31st. The thing is, there hasn't been much talk about the Giants over the last week or so. They've really struggled out of the gate after the break, and they're on their way to another series defeat as they trail Colorado 4-2 in the seventh inning as I type. And I think those struggles may be what's keeping Sabean from pulling the trigger. Their main spot for need coming out of the break was on offense, but with Randy Johnson's injury, and Ryan Sadowski pitching a lot more like a minor league call-up over his last few outings, the Giants pitching staff isn't in the best shape itself. Something tells me that Sabean isn't ruling out adding another starter and he may be trying he darnedest to pull some sort of multi-player deal in order to bring in both a hitter and another quality arm by Friday afternoon.
going again. Fred Lewis had been in a major funk, as he hit just .167 in June, but he had a couple of multi-hit games over the weekend in Colorado, which were his first multi-hit games since late May. I pointed out in this post about a week ago how I'd give Lewis another shot in the outfield again to see if he's gained anything while riding the pine, and it looks like has... Another young outfielder who recently got called up, John Bowker, has really struggled to get going since he's arrived in San Francisco. The powerful outfielder/first basemen has gone just 5 for 32 in his first 11 games back in the bigs. He better turn it around asap, or he'll find himself back in Fresno, building on those ridiculous numbers he was putting up there.
just a week away, Brian Sabean is likely making his last minute inquiries. Henry Schulman reported in his blog earlier Thursday that the Nationals had a couple of scouts in Connecticut over the last few days, scouting out some of the Giants AA prospects. The Nat's have a number of players who could actually help the Giants out. Of course, the two names that have been bandied about the most have been Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn, but those aren't the only guys on the Nat's roster that could provide the Giants and offensive punch. I talked about Josh Willingham a while back here, as he's a right-handed hitting corner outfielder with above average power, and really is an all-around solid hitter. Heading into play Thursday, Willingham is carrying a .297 average with 13 home runs, 29 RBI and 40 runs scored in just 209 at-bats. The 13 home runs are better than any other current Giants outfielder, and actually matches the teams' top two, Aaron Rowand (9) and Fred Lewis' (4), put together. That said, I think the Giants would welcome Willingham to one of their corner spots with open arms.
eed to add some offense. Not necessarily a guy who hits 30 homers a year (though that would be nice), but at least another guy who hits .300 or so and can keep innings and rally's going. They've lost their lead in the NL wild card race, and have shown over the last week (2 wins, 5 losses) just how bad things can get when this team goes through offensive struggles. The clock is ticking towards the July 31st trade deadline, and I fully expect to see Sabean and the Giants active before that date. Both Sabean and Bochy are in the last years of their contracts and both need this season to finish well in order to have any shot at resigning with the Giants, and they just may have the team to make a little noise in the post-season with an addition or two to their lineup!
Meet the Cardinals new infielder Julio Lugo.
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half of the season gets underway, most of the teams top prospects that started out in San Jose have been promoted to other levels within the organization. The most recent move the team made was sending their top non-pitching prospect, Buster Posey, from A San Jose to AAA Fresno. A leap up of two levels is something that the Giants don't do too often, but apparently they've seen enough in Posey (.326. 13 home runs, 58 RBI) to warrant that jump. Even though Posey is no longer on the roster, there still are a few hitting prospects making plenty of noise in the California League. Roger Kieshnick leads the team with 19 home runs and 76 RBI while carrying a respectable .301 average. 21 year-old Thomas Neal currently leads San Jose in hitting with a .342 mark, to go with 16 bombs and 60 RBI. A promotion for those two could happen as early as August 1. Not all the teams notable prospects in San Jose are swinging a hot bat though. Top-5 organizational prospect Angel Villalona (.267, 9 HR, 42 RBI) and Nick Noonan (.249, 5 HR, 46 RBI) hope to improve on their sub-par first halves.
AAA over the next few weeks, but outside of Posey and Jesus Guzman, there aren't really any "prospects" in Fresno at the moment. John Bowker, who was putting up numbers worthy of PCL MVP consideration, got the call-up before the all-star break. The one guy who I'm keeping a close eye on is 2B/SS Emmanuel Burris. The 23 year-old started the year as the Giants starting second basemen, but a prolonged slump caused his demotion, and he really hasn't gotten right down in Fresno yet either. Burris is hitting just .268 with a measly .312 OBP, which won't cut it for a guy with little extra-base power. The only guy you can really consider a pitching prospect on the Fresno roster is Kevin Pucetas, and he's continued to be a steady anchor atop their rotation. Pucetas is carrying a 3.43 era and a 9-2 record in a team-high 115 innings pitched. He's not a big strikeout guy (67:32/K:BB ratio in those 115 innings), but he really has good command and knows how to get out of innings and limit the damage. He should be the next guy in line for when the Giants need someone to make a spot start or two, a la Ryan Sadowski.
see why they lost the first two games of the second half, despite getting superb pitching performances out of Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum. Zito's start was especially intriguing because he had been coming off a horrible one, and his 5-9 record was starting to cause some chatter. His record did fall to 5-10, but he gave a quality effort, throwing 6 1/3 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 4 batters. So yes, he did take another loss, but it was another loss in which he pitched well enough to win but got zero run support from the offense. Lincecum's start the night before was prototypical Lincecum. Dominating for 7 strong, striking out 10 batters and making only one mistake on the night, in which the newest Giants' killer to come along, Garrett Jones, hit over the center-field fence. With Randy Johnson on the shelf for for foreseeable future (a return before mid-August is looking less likely at this point), it's key that guys like Zito, Sanchez and Sadowski step up, and right now they're doing it.
has been a big reason why they've put themselves where they're at in the standings. Before Rowand moved to the leadoff spot, the Giants were hovering around .500, but after the move, Rowand took off, and so did the Giants offense. Now, I'm not blaming the icy second half start solely on Aarond Rowand, but it's apparent that the Giants need to have people at the top of the lineup that can jump start this offense and right now, Rowand is not doing so. I'm sure the Giants would love to see Randy Winn take off, and play himself back into the leadoff spot, but he's battling out of a long slump himself at the moment. The Giants are kind of an odd team in that they don't really have a prototypical leadoff guy, but in their type of offense and with their type of game plan, they really do need one. It may be time to give Fred Lewis a few starts to see if he's learned anything while riding the pine for the last 5 weeks? We'll see what Bochy comes up with if Rowands' average continues catapulting down, cause he's going to have to make a change.
national league and a big reason for that is they've only hit 63 home runs as a team. Heading into the break, there really isn't one guy in particular though who is in danger of losing his job. A few guys who could improve in the second half though are Randy Winn (.275, 2 homers, 35 RBI) and Fred Lewis (.250, 4 hr, 12 RBI, who's struggles at the plate cost him the starting spot in left field. I don't think Lewis is completely out of the Giants plans, and since Nate Schierholtz hasn't completely ran away with an outfield spot over the last few weeks, Lewis could find himself back in the mix to start the second half. Winn has been up-and-down all year long, as he's seen his average get up as high as .312, and down as low as .261 over the first couple months of the season. Since he doesn't bring a lot of pop, it's crucial that Winn keeps his average around .300 in order to be of value to the offense. Bengie Molina and Edgar Renteria are a couple of other bats who have been solid in clutch situations, but who's averages could certainly use a boost.
ordingly. The Giants rotation now has 3 guys (Sanchez, Zito and Ryan Sadowski) who are either unproven, or have proven to be inconsistent. That's 3/5 of the rotation that really is unpredictable. Sadowski has been a nice surprise, and I'm not too worried about him yet, but once he starts facing teams for a second time or goes up against premiere lineups, I'm not sure what to expect. Everyone wants to talk about how the team needs a bat or two to push them over the top, but depending on Johnson's status, they may need another starter just to keep them where they're at now. In a perfect world, Johnson comes back before the trade deadline and doesn't miss a beat, and the Giants are able to acquire a nice, middle of the order bat without giving up one of their top-5 prospects, and if that happens, they'll run away with the Wild Card. If they don't add another bat, and Johnson's injury starts lingering into August, then this team will struggle to keep their hold. It should be an interesting second half for the Giants as they zero in on a playoff birth for the first time since 2003, and it will all come down to health!
