"We talking about practice."
Serious A-Rod.....you're an admitted drug user, everyone knows you think you're bigger than Jesus, so why not? Look for A-Rod to hook up with a Japanese conceptual artist and go solo.....2 great albums, 2 good ones, and a mixed bag.
Scientifically proven baby!
Infield
Well the Giants infield at least resembles that of a major league team. Hell, Edgar Renteria has even played in some meaningful games.
Travis Ishikawa reminds me a little bit like Dave “Professional Pinch Hitter” Hansen: he’ll get some starting time early in his career but his best use is as a bench player. His stats are a pretty slim right now in terms of sample size, but he has hit well with runners in scoring position. I’m guessing he gets platooned with Rich Aurelia or at least benched against hard throwing lefties. 1B: Below average.
At second look for the Giants to go with Emmanuel Burris, at least if they’re smart. Burris is the epitome of the high .270’s hitter with no real pop, but he does walk at a decent rate and doesn’t K a lot. At best he’s Orlando Hudson in Toronto. 2B: Below Average.
At short, we get the Giants big acquisition of the offseason, the veteran Edgar Renteria. Renteria has made a career out of being slightly below average for three years or so and then posting above average numbers for a season (2003 St. Louis, 2007 Atlanta) to keep his value up. While he is an upgrade over Omar Vizquel, that’s not saying much, and Renteria has the advantage of playing a position that isn’t exactly stacked. SS: Average.
Third base would be the lone potential bright spot on the infield with converted catcher Pablo Sandoval manning the hot corner. Yes he did hit .345 in limited action last year with the club, and I hear good things about his abilities, but I don’t think he’s particularly seasoned and he did show some signs of regression as the season concluded. The Giants should be happy if he hits .280 with around 15 homers, and adjusts well to the corner. 3B: Average.
Outfield
Left field is manned by Fred Lewis, a decent yet not remarkable player. He will likely hit leadoff for the Giants and his near .350 OBP and decent speed will fit quite nicely there despite his free swinging ways. Lewis is 28, so look for this to be about the cap of his performance. LF: Below Average.
In center the Giants have the overrated Aaron Rowand. I honestly believe that had Rowand not broken his nose on that catch against the Mets, there’s no way he gets the deal he got, and as much as I despise Andruw Jones, at least we did not sign Rowand to a five year deal, 60 million dollar deal. Rowand strikes out to much and is allergic to walks. He will never hit for power in San Francisco like he did in Philly. Look for Rowand to look more like the offensive equivalent of Barry Zito. CF: Below Average.
Randy Winn rounds out the Giants outfield. Winn is a slightly above average player who would work well as a complimentary player (that is to say playing outfield with two superstars). Unfortunately for Winn, that’s not the case in San Francisco this year, and at 34 he’s topped off. Still he’s decent. RF: Average.
Catcher
Bengie Molina ironically had a high OPS than Russell Martin last year despite the fact he is a far inferior player at this point in his career. Molina is rapidly approaching the point where catchers just fall apart, so I think last year was his swan song. Remember that the Giants can always spell Molina with Sandoval or moved Sandoval behind the plate on a permanent basis if they find a corner guy. C: Below average….and declining quickly.
Rotation
Now here is where it gets good for the Giants. As much as I wish Tim Lincecum will fall apart due to injury or fatigue, I just don’t see it happening, and the Cy Young Award winner will be good again this year. The problem is if Lincecum does regress slightly (likely I think) to say 3.15 ERA or so, well then he goes from winning 18 games to maybe 12. I’m not a fan of how the Giants have used Lincecum so far (well as a Dodger fan I applaud their reckless use of their ace) and I think his star might fade sometime in the future, although not the immediate future.
Following Lincecum is Matt Cain. ’88 Dodgers Cresting A Hill is not impressed by you Matt Cain. You’re numbers are regressing: strikeouts are going down, hits and walks are going up, you’ve logged a lot of innings for a 24 year old, and you’re lifetime 0-6 vs. the Dodgers. In a way you’re the Gotham mob and Lincecum is the Joker….you looked a lot more intimidating ‘til a real criminal mastermind showed up. Look for Cain to post something around 4.20 ERA and be used as trade bait the whole season long.
Randy Johnson. The Big Unit is crazy enough to care about winning as many games as possible rather than simply reaching 300 wins. Injuries are going to be a concern, but Johnson figures to be at least an average to below average pitcher. Look for him to pile up a ton of K’s against the D-Backs and win his 300th.
Barry Zito is a little too easy to bash these days. (As a buddy of mine put it: 2002: Cy Young and Alyssa Milano, 2008: 5+ ERA and Paris Hilton, 2011: Released and Amy Winehouse?) I think a little bit of improvement from Zito can be expected but I recently heard one Giant official refer to him as something akin to an ace which I’m sure he is for some Bay Area coach pitch team.
Jonathan Sanchez actually pitched quite well until the second half (or perhaps reality) set in. There’s some upside here, but not tremendous.
Rotation: Very Good……although not as good as some people think.
"I just wasn't made for these times.....or the closer role"
Bullpen: There are some bright spots here like Yabu, but overall this group is pretty average at best. I’m definitely not sold on Brian Wilson as closer, although Pet Sounds is a pretty brilliant album. Bullpen: Average at best.
Bench: I would evaluate the Giants bench but unbelievably I do have better things to do, and since this and the lineup is so interchangeable. Bench: Below average.
Scenarios are from a Dodger perspective.
BEST CASE SCENARIO: Lincecum regresses significantly, Johnson pitches like he did with the Yankees, Molina hits the wall, and the Giants lose 100+ games. Nancy Pelosi stimulus money leads San Francisco to engage in a city wide project to level off SF instead of living on an 85 degree tilt like they do now. The jury convicts Bonds despite poor prosecution from the get go.
'88 Dodgers Cresting A Hill drives a manual transmission, so that's money well spent.
WORST CASE SCENARIO: Everyone pitches well, the offense coughs up some more runs than expected, the Giants deal for a real bat and look to finish around .500. Manny Ramirez is bitten by a shark while swimming back fro Alcatraz. Bonds is elected mayor.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: Like the above Rice-A-Roni, the Giants may look 20% better but are essentially the same team. Look for them to win 72-77 and enjoy Manny hitting some splash hits!
Party Like It’s 1665!
Cause the Dutch have become a world power yet again! Somehow a lineup featuring David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez, Robinson Cano, Miguel Tejada, and Jose Reyes was shut down by well, basically a Single A team at best. Looking at the box score, it’s obvious that the Dutch took advantage when they could getting 7 baserunners to the D.R.’s 14, but hitting them in when it counted. I’m sure Amsterdam will be rocking tonight!
Really this is probably a good thing for the World Baseball Classic because it shows that teams we all thought would suck (like the Netherlands) turn out to be good, so next time around every single major leaguer with any pride in the Dominican Republic will play for them, thus increasing the star power.
The one sacreligious thing about me as a Dodger fan is that I don't do Dodger Dogs. I've never been a hot dog guy, always been a chicken fingers or pizza at the ballpark kind of guy.
So Jason Schmidt made his spring debut today vs. the Rangers. Could have gone better but I wasn’t overly concerned. He gave up a 3 run homer to Taylor Teagarden (which is either the best baseball name or the worst) but from what I can gather Teagarden can hit for power. I really don’t know what to think on this one because I wouldn’t be terribly excited if Schmidt had totally dominated either. Spring training is just that training…..although I hope for Kevin Millwood’s sake he was tinkering with some kind of pitch and that’s why he got absolutely shelled. Good to see that teammates Andruw Jones and Kevin Millwood seem to be taking the same path in their post-Braves career.
More important is who is our 5th starter going to be? As one always should do, I looked ahead at the schedule to see if the Dodgers need a 5th starter when they break camp. They need someone to start April 10 vs. Arizona, but after that they can go until April 18th vs. Colorado before they need another one and then need a consistent 5th starter. Thus far I am not particularly excited by any of the names being thrown around: Schmidt has injury problems, Vargas is a journeyman, Shawn Estes has been shelled, and Eric Milton has shown a habit of pitching in and out of trouble. I’m not really considering McDonald or Troncoso at this point because I feel they should start the season in the bullpen, and Jeff Weaver has only been talked about in a relief context at this point. My personal preference is a healthy Schmidt, I think this first start is a lot of rust coming off but he needs to start performing soon to win the 5th spot. After Schmidt I’d take Weaver or Vargas.
Personally I believe whoever does win the 5th spot will end up being replaced by McDonald in roughly June or so which is the right way to go. I’d rather have McDonald build confidence in the bigs in a relief role than have to go out and feel the pressure to perform immediately. It also helps keeping his innings down, always critical with a young pitcher.
Past the starting pitching there were two other bright points today. First Kuo pitched without pain in a B game, which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately I think the Dodgers will always have to deal with some kind of injury issue with Kuo, not through his own fault, but because he seems to be one of these guys fated to always have injury issues. Maybe there’s something wrong with him mechanically but tinkering with an effective pitchers mechanics is a dangerous game.
Second, Xavier Paul continues to rake in spring training. To be honest I feel Paul has essentially forced the Dodgers hand as to his career future. If they envision him as a starter, then he needs to start looking for apartments in New Mexico. If however they feel he can be a bench player, well now is the time really. I don’t see him cracking the Dodgers spectacular outfield this year or for that matter next, so I’m inclined to put him in the 4th outfielder role. The roster spot he’d take would almost assuredly be Delwyn “Vincent Chase of Utility Players” Young or Jason “DL by Tax Day” Repko, but in all honesty it should be Juan Pierre’s. Paul seems to be a more complete player than Pierre, which is of course like saying The Dark Knight seems like a more complete movie than the trailer for The Happening. I could live with him taking Young or Repko’s place, but if the Dodgers are going to end up releasing Pierre, why not now instead of later?
