Penny Proving Pivotal

The Baseball world didn't take too much out of the Giants signing of Brad Penny last week. He struggled through most of the season in Boston and I don't think anyone really expected much out of him the rest of the way. However, he's shown up in San Francisco and has gone above and beyond the expectations which the Giants had for him over his first two starts.

Penny followed up his Giants debut start last Wednesday (in which he held the potent Philly offense scoreless over 8 innings) with a 7 inning, 2 run, 6 strikeout victory over the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park on Monday afternoon. Penny is looking very comfortable back here in the NL West, and has really solidified the back-end of the Giants rotation with Randy Johnson on the shelve. The big right-hander looks strong and motivated and I'm really expecting him to keep up his solid performance over the season's final 3 weeks. In fact, he's looked so strong in his 2 outings with the Giants, that he's going to get consideration for a post-season rotation spot if the Giants do indeed make the playoffs. Obviously they'll have Cain and Lincecum as the first two starters, and I'd expect Barry Zito to get a start after the way he's thrown in the second half of the year, then they'd likely look to Penny as the fourth man. Randy Johnson has stated that he expects to return to the team before the season ends, but he'll do so as a reliever. Penny could also enter the bullpen in the postseason if the Giants make it and decide to go with a 3-man rotation in the NLDS. There is a ton a of baseball to be played still though, and this is all speculation and optimistic planning on my part, but the Giants have some depth in their rotation and it could leave them with a lights-out bullpen in October if they can manage to make it.

Another new development happening with the ballclub is Bruce Bochy switching up the defensive positioning a bit. Pablo Sandoval has been battling a few nagging injuries and Bochy is hoping a switch over to first base for a while will take some of the pressure off of his body. Not to mention, Juan Uribe is the hottest Giants hitter going right now, and since Freddy Sanchez just returned from the DL, the only way Uribe can be kept in the lineup on a daily basis is if he starts at third. Uribe has gone 9 for 25 with 4 homers, 8 RBI and 6 runs scored over the last week. He's quietly putting together a very nice season as a utility guy, and I really don't think the Giants are in the position they currently are if Juan Uribe is not on this team. His overall season numbers don't jump out at you too much (.282, 12 home runs, 40 RBI), but he puts up numbers when it matters and has been one of the Giants most clutch hitters in 2009. A good indicator of how valuable he's been to the Giants is his .816 OPS, which isn't earth shattering by any stretch, but is good for second on the Giants behind Pablo Sandoval.

Notes: Buster Posey, who was called up about a week ago when Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval were both unavailable to catch, is still looking to make his big league debut. I'm a little surprised Bochy hasn't just thrown him out as a pinch hitter or something, but I fully expect Posey to get his feet wet a little up here before the end of the season... Madison Bumgarner also got called up, in a surprising move, on Tuesday. Bumgarner is the Giants top pitching prospect and has been nothing short of dominant in his 2 years in the minors. It's still unclear as to what Bumgarner's role will be right off the bat, but apparantely Tim Linceucm has a sore back which may force him to miss a start and Bumgarner could slip into his spot. That's just speculation on our part, but it's pretty exciting to see both the teams elite prospects arrive at the major league level at the same time!

Cut.... Cut..... Cut again.... Cut some more.....

It's that dreaded time of the season again where the infamous NFL 53 man team rosters must be made and that will bring the dreaded axe to some NFL careers while others are signed to practice squads or some may even find success in the CFL. Let us not forget the UFL has some available openings as well. Most of the cuts that I noticed were of players that I pulled a lot of auto's from in Topps and Bowman football last year and some from 2007. For example:

RB Thomas Brown, QB D.J. Shockley, WR Marcus Monk, WR Isaiah Stanback, RB Darius Walker, WR Yamon Figurs, QB Brian Brohm, RB Mike Hart, RB Chauncey Washington (pulled 5 of his auto's from a case of Bowman Chrome- No coalition issues there- HAHAHA!), QB John David Booty, WR Adrian Arrington (pulled 4 of his auto's from Topps), RB Allen Patrick, QB Kevin O'Connell, QB Paul Smith, and WR Dexter Jackson.

I hope these guys can find success on another team or perhaps even with another league. Good luck guys!

Interview with SI's Tom Verducci

We recently had a chance to catch-up with SI's senior baseball writer, and one of the best baseball minds in the media as far as we're concerned, Tom Verducci. We talked to Tom a little bit about the Giants chances at the postseason and got his views on what the future holds for some of the younger players on the roster, so here it is:

Q1: How do you see the NL Wild Card playing out? The Giants had the lead for a while there to start the second half, but their offense has gone stagnant and the Rockies are really heating up. Any chance the Giants re-gain their momentum over the last month and re-take the lead, or do you see the Rockies (or Dodgers if they continue to stumble) staying atop the bunch in the NL?

A: I'm guessing it's going to take about 92 wins to win the wild card. The Giants would need to go 23-12 to get there. Can they do it? Sure. They've already had a 23-12 run this season. We know they have the pitching to do it. But the injuries to key offensive players make it very difficult. Obviously the Giants are going to have to take care of business when they play Colorado head to head. Nobody has slowed down the Rockies for four months of .700 baseball. They're bound to step on a banana peel at some point, right? I still think the Rockies are the wild card favorites, but I think the Giants do have a run in them to make it close.

Q2: There are still a couple of days before the MLB Waiver trade deadline. Have you heard anything regarding the Giants possibly acquiring some more help for the stretch drive? Who are some names that have been placed on waivers or could be before the 31st?

A: I wouldn't expect very much. The Giants may have some interest in bats such as Felipe Lopez and Mike Cameron of the Brewers, but in both cases Milwaukee would want a decent prospect in return rather than viewing those guys as pure salary dumps.

Q3: The Giants made a couple of moves before the non-waiver deadline, acquiring Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko in attempt to help bolster their sub-par offense. What was your initial reaction to these deals, and did you think that those 2 would be enough to help keep the Giants atop the NL Wild Card? Do you expect these guys will become mainstays in the Giants lineup over the next couple of years?

A: I liked both moves because without the addition of any bats the Giants' postseason chances were about nil. I guess the deal for Sanchez depends on what you think Tim Alderson will be in the big leagues. Scouts like his breaking stuff, but the Giants saw some regression this year, particularly with velocity and command. Sanchez will play next year at 32 for $8 million and has to hit well over .300, as he did in 2006, to be really valuable, so I don't think he's going to be a mainstay. Garko does hit lefthanders well so he does fit a role, but I don't see him as an everyday fixture in the Giants lineup for years to come.

Q4: Over the last couple of years, there's been a lot of talk about Jonathan Sanchez's potential and his value as a trade chip. He's shown flashes of brilliance, including his near perfect game last month, but can't seem to find any consistency. How do other general managers and team executives around the league view this guy? Is he someone who could bring the Giants back a nice bat in a deal, or is he someone they'd be better off hanging onto and hope he reaches his potential in San Francisco?

A: I think people around baseball would love to get Sanchez from the Giants on the premise that maybe they can get him cheaply. The guy is lefthanded, only 26, has never even qualified for the ERA title yet, never made 30 starts, and strikes out one batter per inning. Obviously, the walks are a concern. But he still has big potential. Of course, people have been saying that about Oliver Perez for years.

Q5: Even the casual baseball fan is becoming familiar with "The Big Panda" Pablo Sandoval as the Giants have finally developed a position player of note. What's your take on Sandoval? Do you think he's a guy who will be a .320+ hitter with 30 homers and 100+ RBI a year type player, or do you think those numbers will recede as the league starts to learn him some more.

A: Sandoval reminds me of guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Vladimir Guerrero. They can hit just about anything and go up there hacking. That's normally not a game plan for consistent success, but these guys have exceptional hand-eye coordination and you'd rather not change them. My only concern long term would be his size; he's 245 pounds at age 22. He's a better athlete than what he appears to be, but you wonder about staying away from injuries when you play at that size.

NFL PRESEASON AWARDS EDITION

Thank you Thank you! Welcome to the 2009 Preseason awards ceremony as hosted by Enough Already. We the fine mentally stable person at Enough Already would like to a moment and thank our sponsors: (sounds of crickets)


Now since that is out of the way let us sally fourth onto the presentations.





Our first award of the evening is a pointless award and has nothing to do with the Preseason. It is the "Most likely to not be a Broncos Running Back in 2009". The nominees are as follows:

Anthony Alridge
Alex Haynes
Cory Boyd
J.J. Arrington
Selvin Young
Ryan Torain
Marcus Thigpen

The winner is ....... well unfortunately there is a 7 way tie folks. Some of these folks deserved better treatment than what they did from the Denver Organization. I hope and pray that some can find another team to play on and that their injuries can be quickly healed. Some well known names on the list.

Our next award is the infamous "not likely to sign with the team in time" award. This award category is limited to NFL drafted rookies only and is awarded to the top draft pick that does not sign with the team that drafted him on draft day. Are nominees are as follows:

Josh Freeman
Aaron Curry
Michael Crabtree
Tyson Jackson
Andre Smith
Knowshon Moreno

and the winner is..........
Michael was not available to accept this award because in the best interest of his agent he was going to try to work on winning a better award.














Our next contestant on the price is err.....our next award to be handed out is our "motor mouth" award. This award is earned by whoever does the most trash talking in the preseason. The nominees are as follows:

Ray Lewis
Terrell Suggs
Lawrence Timmons
Antonio Cromartie
Shawne Merriman
Jerry Jones
Terrell Owens

and the winner is..........
Antonio could not be here to accept this award because he is twittering about how much he was toasted more than any Quizno's sub or any other DB.


Our next award is for the "most valuable player in the preseason and then never heard from again in the NFL regular season". The nominees are as follows:

David Clowney
Isaiah Stanback
Jeremy Bloom
Jason Hill
John David Booty
Dwayne Jarrett

and the winner of the MVP is ...............


John could not be here to accept this award because Brett Favre was having a team meeting to discuss the "schism" and how he will create all things equal in Minnesota. He also wants John to clean out his locker so that Favre can put his wranglers on the shelves and have a place for John Madden to be sitting there talking about Brett Favre to everyone while using the teleprompter to show everyone just how good Brett Favre is and how he can play forever!

Thank you and good night! Remember to wipe carefully when using cheap toilet paper.

Not another freakin kid! Someone stitch her shut!

"Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who have 18 children and one grandchild on the way, are expecting a new addition to their household – baby No. 19 will arrive in the spring."

This is just absolutely absurd. The cost and upkeep for 2 kids is hard enough as it is for some people and this lady is doing nothing else but apparently screwing all the time and pops one out every year. She needs to be sterilized. Octo-mom has nothing on this lady.

Giants Add Brad Penny

We talked about it in our last post on Friday, and it came to fruition on Monday evening. The Giants had been looking for another starting pitcher to help for the stretch run for the last couple of weeks, and signed Brad Penny on Monday, giving the team another veteran presence in the rotation as they try and push for a playoff birth.

Penny didn't have the best year in Boston, his first season in the American League, but he feels good and he did scatter a few decent outings in there over his last 5-6 starts. Regardless of what he did in Boston, the Giants are hoping a return to the National League West, where he had tremendous success as a Dodger, will re-focus the big fella and get him back on track. It looks like Penny will likely take the fifth spot in the rotation behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, the new Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez. I am not expecting too much out of Penny, but I really do think he has the chance to make a big impact on the Giants chances if he can revert back to his 2007 form. Another positive coming from this move is that it was completed on August 31st, just before the post-season roster deadline. If the Giants had waited until today (September 1st) to make the deal, Penny wouldn't have been able to qualify for a postseason roster spot if the Giants end up making it. On the less positive side, this does mean that the Giants aren't expecting anything from Randy Johnson the rest of the way, or if they are, they aren't expecting it until the very end of the month. Overall though, I like this low-risk, potentially high-reward move, and I'm stoked to see what Penny does in his Giants' debut tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

The Penny signing comes in light of the Giants sweeping the Wild Card leading Rockies at home, and putting themselves back atop the NL Wild Card standings, so it really was a successfull weekend all around for the orange and black. The game on Sunday really had a playoff kind of feel to it and when Edgar Renteria hit that grand slam in the 7th inning of that game, it almost felt as if the Giants had clinched the wild card right then and there. The offense showed up this weekend and provided more than enough run support for the Giants starters. Renteria had himself a very solid series, collecting 4 hits, driving in 5 runs over the weekend. Pablo Sandoval also contributed a couple of homers along with 4 hits of his own in the three game set. On the mound, Tim Lincecum won his first game since August 1st on Friday night, dominating the Rockies to the tune of 8 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs and 8 k's. Barry Zito followed Lincecum's effort and continued his second half dominance with an 8 1/3 inning, 7 strikeout, 1 run performance of his own. Zito's numbers for the second half continue to get better and better with each outing he has. He's now 4-2 with a 1.92 era and .225 BAA in 56 innings since the all-star break. He's looking like a front-end of the rotation starter for the first time in his Giants' tenure and has his era below 4 for the first time since 2006.

Up Next for the Giants will be a potential playoff preview, as they travel into Philadelphia for a 3-game set with the NL East leaders. If the season ended today, It would be the Giants and the Phillies squaring off in round one of the playoffs, so it will be interesting to see how SF will match-up with Philly. The Giants will send Jonathan Sanchez to the hill Tuesday night, followed by Brad Penny Wednesday and then Tim Lincecum will face Pedro Martinez in Thursday's finale!

Chicken Scratch of the Day

Mr. Tarkenton signed these beauty's back in the 2000 UD Pros & Prospects football series. I like the fact that no sticker was used in the production of this autograph and that it's hard signed. His auto is rather consistent with his other signatures from other series and his auto is legible and clean. He get's 3 sharpies for his efforts. He gets bonus points for complaining about Favre too!