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Giants Must Handle Brewers, Cubs

Date: Sat, Sep 18, 2010

The Giants and Padres are dead-locked right now in a tie for first place in the NL West, although the Giants do have a slight advantage in their winning percentage. With only 2 weeks left, every game from here on out is huge, and the Giants must take advantage of their light schedule over the next week.

First off, they need to take care of business vs. the Brewers, who they where shut out by on Friday night. Randy Wolfe threw a complete game, 3-hitter, and the Giants lost brief hold atop the NL West. The Giants must right the ship on Saturday evening, and they have the right man taking the hill in the red hot Tim Lincecum. The Brewers are 10 games below .500, and the Giants are fighting for their playoff hopes, and because they were unable to come up with any runs and just 3 hits on Friday night, it's got to be a little bit discouraging for the team as a whole. The Brewers aren't a very good team, and the Giants had been on fire coming into the series, so hopefully Friday night's loss was the lone hiccup and these last 2 games. It's very important the Giants start taking advantage of these teams that they're better than, because they have another 3-game set with the same type of team coming up next. After the Brewers series, the Giants head to Chicago to face the 68-81 Cubs. If the Giants were truly playing with a sense of urgency, and are determined to be playing baseball well into October, they really should go 5-0 over their next 5 games, or at the very least, 4-1.

In order to do that, the Giants are going to need just a little more consistency out of their offense. Once again, they showed their roller-coaster offense over the last 2 nights, putting up a 10 spot with 8 extra-base hits (3 homers) on Thursday night against Ted Lilly, only to be absolutely shut down by Randy Wolf, who pitching style is identical to Lilly's. Over the last 2 games, Bruce Bochy has also slotted in a new leadoff hitter, as the never-ending search to replace Andres Torres' bat continues. Edgar Renteria has been the latest trial, and he answered the bell big time Thursday with a 4-hit night, but then went 0-4 in the same spot Friday. Without Torres, the Giants have no real leadoff hitter, and don't even really have anybody that somewhat resembles a leadoff guy. Renteria is probably the closest thing to that on the roster, but he's not really an everyday guy right now, as he splits time with Juan Uribe. Freddy Sanchez might be an option, but he's really solidified the 2-spot and the Giants do need to keep some sort of cohesion going in the lineup. That leaves the man I mentioned in last post, Cody Ross, still as the best candidate by default. He's got a little patience, got some speed, got some pop and wouldn't disrupt the lineup by shuffling a bunch of hitters. When Renteria plays, Boch should lead him off, but when he doesn't, my pick is Ross.

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Giants Offense: A Model Of Inconsistency

Date: Wed, Sep 15, 2010

The Giants pitching staff is doing all they can in order to push this team into the playoffs, but the offense just can't seem to keep up their end of the bargain, at least on a consistent basis.

In September, the Giants have lost 4 games, and in 3 of those games, they've scored 1 run or less. Whenever this team scores more than 2 runs, they generally win the game, and again, that is a huge tribute to their pitching staff. Last night's game in LA was a prime example of the Giants "Jekyl and Hyde" offense, as they were shutout 1-0 by the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw. Once again, had the Giants been able to scrape out just 2 measly runs, they would have taken the game. Instead, they were held scoreless, and fell a full game behind San Diego in the west. It's a shame too, because they wasted another solid outing by Barry Zito, and ran his losing streak to 7 games. Now, for the first 5 of those last 7 starts, Zito did look pretty bad, and did deserve to lose the game, but in his last 2 starts, Zito has gotten himself back on track, he just hasn't gotten any help from the Giants offense. The situation kinda reminds me of the lack of run support Matt Cain was suffering through during the '07-'08 seasons, when his loss total doubled his win total, despite carrying a 3.69 era over that span. Zito's a veteran though, and I don't think he's going to let that get to him, especially with so much on the line in these last 2 weeks of the season.

The one thing I did like to see in Tuesday's game was using Cody Ross in the leadoff spot instead of Aaron Rowand. Now, Rowand has gotten plenty of bashing here lately, so I'm not going to keep beating a dead horse, but there's no way this lineup is at it's best with Aaron Rowand in the leadoff spot. With Andres Torres now out for the regular season, they need an answer there over the next few weeks, and Bochy turned to Cody Ross on Tuesday, and I think he should stick with Ross for the rest of the year. Ross hasn't been overly impressive since his arrival in San Francisco, but he's been used sparingly. However, Aaron Rowand is hitting .229 and has an OBP of .282. That's truely pathetic in terms of a leadoff hitter, and pretty horrible for any positional players standards. Ross' OBP isn't too much higher (.319) but a big improvement over Rowand. Ross also brings more pop and speed to the lineup. If Ross doesn't get going in the next couple of games, I would hope Bochy would try somebody else though, and my next choice would be Freddy Sanchez. The Giants' second basemen has gotten himself back on track over the last 6 weeks, and is one of the teams hottest hitters. Not an ideal leadoff hitter of course, but without Torres, the Giants don't really have one on their roster.

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Lincecum Puts Giants In Tie for 1st

Date: Sun, Sep 12, 2010

Tim Lincecum is officially back, and if you needed anymore clarification on that, all you had to do was watch him work on Sunday afternoon.

Lincecum won his third straight decision, throwing 7 innings of 7 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 9 and walking just 1 Padre batter all afternoon. And I can't help but think that all those people who were seriously worried about Timmy are kicking themselves for ever doubting "The Franchise". I think we can agree, that after his third straight solid outing (21.2 IP, 5 er, 17 hits and 29 k's), the Giants ace is back in his groove, and he found it just in time. It seems like Timmy's velocity is popped back up a bit, but it really was his accuracy (or lack thereof) that had him out of whack. It's no coincidence that Lincecum's only walked 2 batters over those last 3 wins, after averaging a little over 3 per start during his 5-game losing streak. It was also good to see the bullpen, which has really tightened up here over the last week or so, nail the door down for Timmy over the last 2 innings. Although they did allow a few runners to cross the plate in Thursday night's game, the Giants bullpen went 8 scoreless innings in the most crucial series of the year up to this point. In fact, overall, their pitching as a whole really came through in this series. The only reason they didn't sweep the Friars is because the offense couldn't score any runs when Madison Bumgarner contributed another brilliant outing (20.1 IP, 11 hits, 2 runs, 13 k's over last 3 starts).

Equally impressive as the Giants overall pitching performance, was their mini offensive outburst in Sunday's finale. The Giants offense got to Cy Young candidate Mat Latos for 5 runs, knocking him out after just 4 innings pitched. Buster Posey hit his 13th big fly of the season in a 2-hit effort, and Aubrey Huff chipped in 3 hits and 2 runs scored as well. The Giants offense was due for an outburst though, after collecting just 1 run over their previous 2 games. But now the Giants' offense faces a new challenge, as the team lost it's everyday leadoff man and center fielder, Andres Torres, likely for the rest of the regular season, this weekend after he underwent an appendectomy. Torres had been the one constant in an ever changing lineup over the 2nd half of the season, and was one of the team's most valuable players this year. It's definitely going to be a loss, and the Giants are going to need Aaron Rowand to step up big in his absence.

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Giants Within 1 in the West

Date: Tue, Sep 7, 2010

The Giants can move back into a tie for first place with a win Tuesday, coupled with a Padres loss, as the Giants have moved to within 1 game of NL West leading San Diego.

The Giants have also apparently got their starting pitching back on track. Starting with Tim Lincecum's win last week, the Giants' starters have been outstanding over the last week or so. The team has won 4 of their last 5 because of that, as their offense still hasn't really found their groove in September yet. A prime example of this came Monday night, as the D-Backs held the Giants scoreless through 12 innings, when they finally broke through and won, 2-0. They only scored 3 runs the day before that in LA as well. There really just isn't anyone who's very hot in that lineup right now, and there are a few guys starting to struggle a bit. Andres Torres has hit a bit of a rough patch over the last week, going 2-25 in that span. The Giants outfield as a whole has really hit a rough patch. Newcomers Jose Guillen and Cody Ross started out well, but have since cooled off, and Pat Burrell has just 1 homer in has last 10 games. It's gotten to the point where Nate Schierholtz is starting to get some ab's again, and he ended up delivering the game winning hit on Monday night in AZ. Luckily, the Padres bats have sputtered more than the Giants, enabling the Giants to stick within striking distance of first place.

The Giants will try and reclaim that top spot again on Tuesday night, sending Tim Lincecum to the mound vs. young D-Back righty, Barry Enright. The 24 year-old Enright has been lights out since his promotion (6-2, 2.45 era) and won't be an easy task for the Giants. More importantly though, they're just hoping Timmy can continue his rythem from last weeks start, which was his best start in about 2 months. It's time to start the "Padre Watch" as well, and they'll be sending someone to the mound in place of Mat Latos (out with the flu) Tuesday to oppose the Dodgers' Clay Kershaw. This is a great opportunity for the Giants to move into that tie, as the pitching matchup now heavily favors LA. Also, the Wild Card race, which appears is becoming just a 2-team race between the Giants (or San Diego) and the Phillies. The Phills, who hold a 1.5 game lead on the Giants, send Joe Blanton to the mound against the Marlins Chris Volstad, Tuesday night.

Roster News: The Giants will be getting Emmanuel Burris and Eugenio Velez back on the big league roster Tuesday night as well, as the Giants have now expanded their roster to 32 players. With them being in a pennant race, again, there probably won't be many more call-ups, and certainly not any players that they don't plan on using in some way. I still would like to see Jesus Guzman brought up as a right-handed power bat off the bench, and still would like to see righty Henry Sosa get a few innings of work.

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Padres Opening Door for Giants

Date: Sat, Sep 4, 2010

It seems like we've been waiting all year for it, but it's finally came, and that is a San Diego Padre losing streak. Ever since they've taken reigns atop the NL West, they've been a model of consistency, but now they're finally struggling, and it's time for the Giants to take advantage of it.

The Giants have picked up a few games over the last week, and now sit just 3 games back behind the first place Padres in the West, but they've been struggling themselves lately, and have yet to really jump on the opportunity this Padre losing streak is providing. They did manage to take 2 of 3 from the Rockies this week, but they fell back into the losing column Friday night against Chad Billingsley and the LA Dodgers. Barry Zito didn't really give the Giants much of a chance, as he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings of work. The bullpen did take over in the fifth and held the Dodgers scoreless the rest of the way, but the Giants offense mustered up only 2 hits all night, one of them just happen to be a clutch 2-out, 2-RBI single off the bat of rookie Buster Posey which is the only reason the Giants even dented the scoreboard. That came a day after the Giants only put up 4 hits against Ubaldo Jimenez. They just don't look like they're playing with a sense of urgency, especially at the plate. They didn't look like they were playing for a chance to move within striking distance of first place in their division. I don't now if the guys are just tired, or what (they did have just 2 off days in August), but they looked like they were swinging the bat under water on Friday night. Still though, as I type this, the Rockies are leading the Padres 2-1 in the fifth inning in San Diego and if they can hold that lead, the Giants would have another shot at moving within 2 games with a win tonight.

One great peace of news to come out of that Rockies series was Tim Lincecum's outing in the rubber match on Wednesday. The Giants needed it too, because he was opposed by Jimenez and again, the Giants offense didn't do a whole lot for him. Lincecum didn't need a whole lot though, as he went 8 strong, allowing 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. The only blemish on his night wasn't even much of a mistake, just a great piece of hitting by one of the best young hitters in the league, as Carlos Gonzalez took him deep with nobody on base. Brian Wilson shut the door in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, earning his 38th save and preserving Lincecum's first win since July 30th. More importantly though, it broke Lincecum's personal 5-game losing streak, and hopefully will put the 26 year-old right-handers mind back at ease. It's also worth noting that it was by far Timmy's best outing throwing to rooking backstop Buster Posey, something that has been brought up frequently when discussing Lincecum's 2nd-half drop-off. Anyway, the Giants need their ace confident and ready down the stretch if they are going to be playing in October, there is no doubt about it.

Roster News: The Giants haven't made many add-ons to their roster just yet, but the only positional player they've brought up has already paid some dividends. Speedy 25-year old center fielder Darren Ford, who had a huge '09 season and a nice spring training this year, was called up this week, and scored the game winning run in Wednesday's game vs. the Rockies. Ford, who led the Giants minor leagues in stolen bases and is arguably the fastest guy in the organization, was used as a pinch runner and will be used in that role quite often. The Giants also activated relievers Dan Runzler and Chris Ray.

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Giants In Need of a Strong September

Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2010

Although they've really looked pretty bad here over the last couple of weeks, the Giants enter September with a more than legit shot at ending their 7 year playoff drought.

The one consistent the Giants had been able to keep up, even when they were struggling, was that they've been able to beat the teams they should beat, but that wasn't the case in their most recent series vs. the D-Backs. The Giants really should have been swept by Arizona, but fortunately for them, their offense showed up in Sunday's finale and bailed out another rough series for the pitching staff. Now they have a shot to get back on the right track and start off September in stronger fashion than they finished August in if they can take care of Colorado on Wednesday and take the 3-game set. More importantly though, the Giants need Tim Lincecum, who's struggles have yet to cease, to get back on track, and this would be a great game for him to do that in. It's not going to be an easy task though, as Lincecum will go against the Rockies ace, and potential Cy Young candidate Ubaldo Jimenez. Lincecum has been a below average pitcher since the all-star break, carrying a 5.17 era, a 1.52 WHIP and a 2-5 record in 9 games since the 3-day hiatus. Again, I'm not at all in panic mode, and I fully expect Lincecum to work his way out of this. I just think the kid's had a tremendous workload over the last 2 1/2 seasons and the Giants may want to monitor his pitch count a lot closer over this last month. The Giants really need Lincecum to get back on track if they're going to make a serious run at a postseason birth, so it's really tough at this point to hold him back in any of his starts. I just wouldn't ask him to throw more than 100 pitches per game right now, and I'd give him the extra day of rest whenever possible.

Luckily, while the pitching staff has sputtered, some of the offensive players have started to pick up some of the slack. Freddy Sanchez in particular has been on fire over the last 10 days, hitting right around .500 with a homer, 6 RBI and 8 runs scored over that span. He's raised his average back up to .290 and has found himself back in the 2-hole because of it. The Giants offense clicks best with Sanchez in the 2-spot, and I like how it allows Posey to move back down in the lineup to a more suitable position for him. When they're on, Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez provide one of the better 1-2 combo's in the NL, and we're just now seeing both of them hit their stride together. Sanchez hasn't been the only guy who's picked up the slack recently though either. Pablo Sandoval has really spun his season around in August. Half of his 12 home runs and 16 of his 52 RBI came in August, and he backed those numbers up with a solid .312 average and .907 OPS. That is much more "Panda" like, and I really think he's in line for a big finish, which of course would be another shot in the arm for the Giants offense. For the first time in a long, long time, the Giants have two guys in their early-mid 20's who they drafted/developed that should anchor the middle of their order for years to come in Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. It's like Matt Williams and Will Clark all over again. I really can't wait to see them both clicking together and eventually hitting back-to-back in the batting order.

September Call-Ups: Since we are officially in September now, teams can expand their rosters and carry up to 40 players. With the Giants being in a pennant race, I don't think they are going to be looking at giving a lot of younger players much of a look, but there are still some intriguing names to keep an eye on over this next month. I don't think we'll see guys like Thomas Neal or Brandon Belt but a few other guys to watch for are former Marlins' ace Dontrelle Willis (in Fresno right now), infielder Jesus Guzman (to provide right-handed pop off the bench), infielder Emmanuel Burris (late inning defense replacement at short) and right-hander Henry Sosa (promising arm that can start or relieve).

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Giants' Rotation Laboring Through August

Date: Mon, Aug 23, 2010

What's been the strength of the team for the last couple of seasons has all of the sudden become a liability. The starting rotation which was one of the ML's best throughout the first half has looked downright bad through most of August.

A big reason for the rotation's downfall has been the struggles of Tim Lincecum, which we broke down in our last post. However, it hasn't just been Lincecum. Barry Zito, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez have all been pretty inconsistent lately. And the bullpen hasn't been much of a help either. The Giants lost 2 of 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals, again losing to a first place team, and gave up 17 runs in the process. Even when the Giants offense is on, it's asking a lot of them to score 17 runs in a 3-game set, and they just can't keep up with teams when they get behind by a large margin early in ballgames. Surprisingly, it's been rookie Madison Bumgarner who's really been the most consistent Giants' starter throughout the month of August. Cain and Sanchez have sprinkled in some decent starts as well, but have been terribly inconsistent. The excuse some of the pitchers and fans are hinting at is that the loss of Bengie Molina has had more of an impact than people originally thought. Not that Buster Posey is a bad game-caller, it's just that he's only caught a handful of games at this level and doesn't know these hitters nearly as well as Bengie did. I'm hoping this staff though, which is packed with Cy Young winners, perennial all-stars and top-prospects, will be just fine eventually no matter who's behind the plate.

The Giants also made another move which added some depth to their outfield Sunday, grabbing Cody Ross off waivers from the Florida Marlins. I think they claimed Ross to block him from somebody else (my guess is the Padres, Cards or Braves), but ended up with him. And since he's here, they might as well use him. Ross brings value to the team in a number of ways. Although he's not having his best year (.265, 11 hr, 58 RBI, 60 runs, 9 SB) he's been a pretty solid hitter over the last couple of seasons. In 2008-'09 he averaged 23 homers, 82 RBI and a .799 OPS with a .265 average. Not too shabby considering he's a pretty darn good defensive center fielder, with the ability to play either corner outfield spot flawlessly as well. That said, I don't think he's going to get a heavy playing load right off the bat here. I don't think he'll play over Guillen in right or Burrell in left, but could be used as a defensive replacement late in ballgames or insurance for Andres Torres incase he fades down the stretch. If Ross catches fire though, like Burrell did, he'll undoubtedly find himself in the lineup more days than not. He's also under team control through the 2011 season, meaning the Giants can either use him as trade bait this winter, or they could keep him in the mix as a viable center/right field option for 2011. Everybody in the Giants outfield, outside of Schierholtz and Rowand will be free-agents after the year, so Ross would immediately become their best outfielder on the roster once everyone files for free agency. I really like the move considering they didn't have to give up anything, and, again, now posses a 29 year-old right-handed hitting outfielder who plays good defense and will give you 20 hr/85 RBI per year.

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Giants Struggling Vs. Top Teams

Date: Thu, Aug 19, 2010

I've been noticing a pattern here lately with the Giants, and it's becoming a tad disturbing. Yes, the team is still 13 games over .500 and in pretty good position to make their playoff push in the final month of the season, but they just can't seem to figure out the NL's better teams lately.

First off, the Giants were punished by the Padres, once again, in their own home ballpark, losing 2 of 3 to the first place Friars in a series the Giants really needed to make a statement in. Just a few weeks back, they were really cruising but lost 3 of 4 to the NL East leading Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, then beat up on the lowly Cubbies before sinking vs. the first place Padres. Now they're struggling again vs. a solid Philly squad. It seems like the Giants just can't seem to win the big series vs. these winning ballclubs, and that's going to hurt them down the stretch. A big reason for that is the fact that their dominant starting rotation has hit a bit of a bump in the road, especially ace Tim Lincecum. Fans are starting to worry about "The Franchise" after his era's blown up to 3.62 (a staff high) and he's lost his last 3 starts in a row. Not too mention, his fastball that once averaged 94-96 mph is down around 90, and he just doesn't have that uncanny command that he's used to. I've seen Lincecum win without his best stuff. I've seen him dominate teams even with the 91 mph fastball consistently, but he seems like a different pitcher right now. The logical guess is that maybe all his work over the last 3 seasons is catching up with him (450+ innings last 2 seasons). I'm not at all panicked over Lincecum right now, but I think it would be wise for the Giants to consider sitting him down and missing a start to get some extra rest. Not sure if that's the issue or not, but I'm sure taking an extra 5 days off wouldn't hurt the matter.

It's not just Lincecum though either. It seems that the rest of the Giants' starting rotation have all had their era's balloon here in the last couple of weeks. Luckily, they've gotten some clutch offensive performances that have won some games for them recently, or else they'd really be in a tail-spin. The two right-handed power hitting outfielders the Giants added in-season have both been paying dividends. Jose Guillen just arrived, but has arrived in style, going 5-12 in his first 3 games as a Giant, including an impressive homer run off of Roy Oswalt to bring the Giants to within 1 late in Tuesday's game (a game the Giants eventually got blown out in). But it's really been Pat "The Bat" Burrell who has really exploded here lately. Burrell's taken sole reigns of the everyday left-field job and has prospered. In his last 10 ballgames, Burrell has gone 11-39 with 5 home runs and 13 RBI. One of those homers ended up winning a game for the Giants, and one of them ended up tying a game in the 8th inning in which the Giants ended up pulling out.

Besides Burrell, prize rookie catcher Buster Posey has continued his assault on NL pitching, collecting 8 hits in his last 4 ballgames and keeping the Giants lineup afloat. Bruce Bochy has recently been experimenting with Posey in the 2 hole, but I really would like to see him moved to the 3-spot permanently. I think that spot best suits him and will likely be the spot where he ends up in the long-term. With the way everyone's swinging the bat right now though, Boch doesn't have many other options for that 2nd spot. One idea I have would be to place Pablo Sandoval there for a few games to maybe get him going. Hitting him in front of Posey, Huff, Burrell and Guillen would probably be the spot that would provide him with the best possible pitches, and probably the best fastball ratio. Pitchers won't want to walk the Panda to set things up for the hot hitters in the Giants lineup, so I think they'd go right after him. Just an idea, but I don't see any harm in trying it out.

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Giants Add Guillen, Lose Game 1 vs. SD

Date: Sat, Aug 14, 2010

The Giants started their most important series of the season to date on Friday, and hours before the first of three with San Diego, the Giants added that final offensive piece to the puzzle that they had been looking for.

Brian Sabean made a couple of small, but necessary moves before the July 31st trade deadline, adding some bullpen help in Javier Lopez and Ramon Rodriguez, but they saved their big move for August. The Giants obtained Jose Guillen from the Royals for some cash and a player to be named later, bringing Guillen's .255 average, 16 homers and 62 RBI to the Giants lineup likely in time for Saturday's game 2 of the ever so crucial 3-game set with the first place Padres this weekend. Surprisingly, Guillen cost the Giants less than both of those relievers did, and he has the chance to pay huge dividends down the stretch. I talked a lot about Guillen in our last post when it became clear that the Giants had a good shot at getting him, so I won't repeat all the same info again. He was told after the trade that the Giants plan on starting him at least 4 times per week, and if he takes off like Pat Burrell has recently, he'll probably become the everday right fielder. Guillen is very pleased with the deal, and who could blame him. He's going from a last place situation where he was beginning to lose time to younger players in a rebuilding effort, only to arrive on contending team in a great city with a solid cast of teammates.

Although he's played most of his career in the AL, Jose Guillen is no stranger to the NL, playing here most recently in '05 and '06 with Washington. So his transition should be relatively smooth. Speaking of transition, he also wasn't the only guy the Giants traded for this week. Brian Sabean also went out and grabbed Mike Fontenot from the Cubbies after getting news that Edgar Renteria would once again hit the DL. Fontenot brings plenty of versatility to the Giants bench, having played extensively at all infield positions besides first base, and doing so with good defense. He also will provide some occasional punch for a little guy and can be a very streaky hitter. He also brings some value as a pinch hitter, as he's got 7 pinch hits for the Cubs this year, including a homer and 8 RBI. The Giants did call up Emmanuel Burris as well when Renteria went down, and Burriss had a multi-hit game right out the gate, but he's likely destined for Fresno again on Saturday once Guillen is put on the 25-man roster. And after they add Guillen to the roster, they're going to be content with their roster and will have have one of the deeper clubs they've had here in a long while. I think on most nights, we're going to get Huff at first, Burrell in left and Guillen in right and the rest of the bunch in their regular spots. This leaves the Giants with their most potent lineup since the days of Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent.

Right off the bat, the new look Giants will get a huge test and they failed part 1 Friday night. Game 1 of the highly anticipated Giants/Padres series unfortunately went to the Padres. The Giants got to Clayton Richard early for 2 quick runs in the first 2 innings, but the Pads chipped away and came back to edge them out, 3-2. The Giants sure could have used Jose Guillen tonight against the left Richard, as the Giants just couldnt' get anything going after the first two innings. It's only mid-August, so this series isn't going to make or break either of these teams. The Giants needed a sweep to take sole possession of first in the west, but hopefully they can at least salvage the last 2 and they'd still end up gaining a game on the Pads. Madison Bumgarner gets Mat Latos on Saturday, then Tim Lincecum and Wade LeBlanc wind things up Sunday afternoon, so we're in line for some pretty good pitching match-ups. At least the Giants will have the new look for those games. Here's how I'd like to see Bochy put together the lineup for the next few games:

Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Posey C
Huff 1B
Burrell LF
Guillen RF
Sandoval 3B
Uribe SS

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Giants Could Have Interest in Jose Guillen

Date: Sat, Aug 7, 2010

The Giants have been looking for ways to add power to their lineup without giving up the farm, and their best chance to do so may be right now, as the Kansas City Royals have waived outfielder/DH Jose Guillen.

Supposedly, the Giants looked at Guillen when they were scouting Scott Podsednik back before the deadline, buy obviously didn't have enough interest in him to work out a deal. However, now they can scoop up Guillen just by assuming the remaining $3.75 remaining on his contract for 2010 and maybe sending KC some irrelevant minor league prospect. Guillen would definitely bring a potent right-handed bat to the Giants lineup, and solidify one of their corner outfield spots with a guy who's a pretty good defender with a cannon arm. Prior to his release, Guillen was carrying a .255 batting average along with 16 homers, 62 RBI. On the Giants, that would immediately place him 2nd in the HR and RBI categories behind only Aubrey Huff. The real question regarding Jose Guillen though, and a reason why teams are so leary on taking a chance on him, is his negative perception as a teammate and clubhouse presence. He's been compared to Milton Bradley, and one of the big things the Giants have going for them right now is their cohesion as a team and I don't know that they'd take on the risk of adding someone like Guillen.

I personally wouldn't mind them taking a shot on him as long as they don't need to give up anybody. Even though they've stepped things up a bit lately, the Giants still need all the offense they can get, and Jose Guillen is a guy who could come in and hit in the middle of the order with Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff and really solidify things. The Giants have only scored 6 runs over their last 3 games, and were unable to cash in on a couple of solid starting performances because they weren't able to score a couple of runs. In fact, they really should have lost their last 3 in a row but caught a few breaks in Friday nights game which allowed them to eventually win it in extra innings in Atlanta. Yes, it would probably cut into Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz's at-bats, but if those guys are playing well, Bochy could still find ways to get them into the lineup. Basically, the question the Giants need to ask is would they rather be giving crucial at-bats down the stretch to Pat Burrell or to Jose Guillen, and I'd have to take Guillen right now if I had the option. Guillen is by far the better fielder of the 2, and although Burrell may have more pure power than Guillen, I think Guillen is a better overall hitter at this point in each of their career's. Unfortunately the Giants weren't able to claim Adam Dunn off Waivers from Washington recently, killing any chance of bringing Dunn to San Francisco for the season's final 2 months, so Guillen could be their last, real option at adding power. We'll be keeping a close eye on this situation over the next week or so.

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Giants Sweep LA, Ready for Rockies

Date: Tue, Aug 3, 2010

It looks like the Giants players were glad they didn't do anything too drastic to disrupt chemistry at the trade deadline, as they went out and completed their 3-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday, a sweep that really hurt the Dodgers in the standings.

The Giants did sweep them, but the series was a lot closer than it would appear. The Dodgers lost all 3 games by a combined 4 runs, and their starting pitching did a very good job in keeping down the Giants lineup, but when the Giants starters are on, they're tough to beat, and they were on this weekend. We already discussed Tim Lincecum's solid outing Friday night, and he was followed up with a 7 inning, 3 hit, 1 run, 6 strikeout performance by Barry Zito on Saturday. Unfortunately for Zito, the Giants didn't score until Pat Burrell hit a go-ahead 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning, so Zito was once again left without a decision, but everybody had to be pleased with the way he threw the ball. Zito was followed up by Matt Cain, who won his 3rd consecutive decision, going 7.2 shutout innings, and striking out 7 Dodger hitters. Fortunately for Cain, he did get a little bit of support, not much, but all he needed, on an Edgar Renteria 2-RBI triple in the 6th. The Dodgers young lefty, Clayton Kershaw, had been matching Cain pitch for pitch until that inning, and the ball that Renteria hit wasn't even much of a mistake. Still though, whether it was a mistake or not, the Giants found ways to win those games without producing much offense. They got really good at that in July, and hopefully that's something they can keep going all year.

Speaking of the offense, even though the July 31st trade deadline has passed, a big trade option may have just become available, as the Washington Nationals have placed Adam Dunn on waivers. What happens now, is the Giants have to wait for him to be cleared by each team in front of them, including the Dodgers and Rockies, before they could have a shot at attaining him. The one positive they do have going for them, is that the Dodgers and Rockies don't really have the funds available or the positional space to stick Adam Dunn at, so they may shy away from getting to serious about claiming him. If he does manage to fall to the Giants though, they'd have to strongly consider the possibility of adding the left-handed slugger. They obviously wouldn't have to part with too much, although I don't think the Nats would just give him away, even if it does save them $4 million. This is where I think Jon Bowker would have had some value to a team like Washington. They could have at least been replacing some of the power lost in Dunn with a guy like Bowker, but he's no longer an option. Travis Ishikawa could be though. Is it worth to part with a possible future, cheap, effective first base option for a couple months of Adam Dunn? I actually think that with this particular team, it just may be. The Giants are approaching the 20-game above .500 mark, and that just hasn't happened too often in recent years (not since 2004 at least). They may want to make that one move to put them over the hump, cause the NL is really wide open right now and Adam Dunn is certainly the type of impact bat that could sway the balance of power in this league.

Up Next: The Giants start another important 3-game set with a NL West foe on Tuesday night, as Jonathan Sanchez and Aaron Cook square off at Coors Field in Colorado. The Giants really put LA behind the 8-ball (they're now 9-games out of first) by sweeping them over the weekend, and can really do the same to the Rockies by at least taking the series from them. The Giants have suffered some heartbreaks in Colorado in recent years, and now that they're playing as good as they have in a long, long time, I think they're set for some revenge in the Rockies.

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Giants Add 2 Relievers Before Deadline

Date: Sat, Jul 31, 2010

The Giants stayed relatively quiet on Saturday as the non-waiver trade deadline came and passed. They did pull the trigger on two small moves in order to bolster their bullpen, adding lefty Javier Lopez from Pittsburgh and righty Ramon Ramierez from the Red Sox.

The Giants and Brian Sabean apparently re-visited the most logical trade options for the team in the hours leading up to the deadline, including re-starting the Corey Hart talks with Millwaukee and they even were in talks regarding a potential 3-way deal involving the D-Backs and Blue Jays that included names Kelly Johnson, Jose Bautista, Jason Frasier and Scott Downs. However, in the end, they came to the realization that there just weren't any deals that made enough sense for them to pull the trigger on. Every team wanted either Jonathan Sanchez or Madison Bumgarner, and Brian Sabean wisely kept the team's strength in-tact. Still though, I think he gave up a tad too much in order to get Javier Lopez in here. I like Lopez and believe he'll help this bullpen a lot, but the Giants had to give up Joe Martinez and Jon Bowker. Now, neither of those guys have significant roles with the Giants, so they won't be missed immediately, but both of those guys will end up starting in Pittsburgh. Basically, the Pirates just traded a middle reliever, for a 27 year-old starting pitcher who will go right into their rotation, and a 27 year-old outfielder who should hit 20 hr's per year with a full playing load, to come in and start in right field for them. I'd say the Pirates got the better in this deal in the long-term, although Lopez could provide a Jeremy Affeldt (2009 version) type upgrade to this bullpen if he comes in strong.

I don't quite understand the Ramon Ramirez deal as much as the Lopez trade. The Giants desperately needed another lefty so Lopez was a necessity (Bochy was relegated to using Jonathan Sanchez to get an out in Friday nights game due to no other left-handed options), but Ramirez wasn't exactly dominating in Boston (4.46 era, 1.30 WHIP) and doesn't really appear to be an upgrade over the rest of the right-handers the Giants have in the pen right now. What Sabean is hoping for, is that Ramirez will revert back to his pre-2010 form, when he sported a 2.74 era and a .226 BAA and nearly a K per inning in 140 innings between '08-'09. It's going to be interesting to see what the Giants to in order to make room for Ramirez on the 25-man. Obviously, Lopez will slide into Joe Martinez's spot, but it's not clear on what will happen in order to clear room for Ramirez. If I had to guess, I'd say he replaces Santiago Casilla or Guillermo Mota. Neither has been particularly effective of late, in fact, all the right-handers in the Giants' bully have been hit around a bit lately. The Giants gave up minor league releiver Daniel Turpen, who has had a strong 2010 season in AA.

So, although they still could make a deal before the August 31'st waiver deadline, it appears as if the Giants are content with standing pat, sitting just 2.5 games out of first place in the West and atop the NL Wild Card standings. Somewhat lost in all the trade deadline speculation and rumors, the Giants have also had a few interesting things happen already in the series with LA. Tim Lincecum debuted a new delivery on Friday night, and it resulted in 7 strong innings, 9 strikeouts and his 11th win of the season. Lincecum was backed by Aubrey Huff's 20th jack and Juan Uribe's 15th longball of the year. Aubrey Huff continues to look like the best valued free-agent signing of last offseason, now hitting .313 with 65 RBI and a .959 OPS to go along with his 20 homers, and I really wish Sabean would extend his contract another year already. I'm fairly confident that he's going to become the first left-handed hitting Giant, not named Barry Bonds, to have 30-home run season since the team moved into AT&T Park. He's not discouraged by hitting in this park, and it's tough to find hitters, especially of the left-handed variety, that you can say that about. Only question is whether or not Huff would have interest in coming back. He's having a great year, but he may think that if he were playing in a more hitter friendly yard, he'd be putting up even better numbers. Not to mention, after his big season, he's going to get some lucrative multi-year offers from other clubs.

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Giants Have Options as Deadline Nears

Date: Wed, Jul 28, 2010

The Giants continued their 2nd half magic Wednesday with another extra-inning victory over the Florida Marlins in a wild one, 10-9. And with the way the team has been thriving right now, it must have Brian Sabean in a tough spot, with the trade deadline looming (72 hours and counting), as he decides whether to add or stand pat.

When I saw the headline the other day from MLB Rumors that said the Giants were interested in Scott Podsednik, I was at first surprised, but then I remembered, this is Brian Sabean after all, and when he sets his sights on a player (the Giants have had interest in Podsednik more than once in the past too) he never gives up. What does surprise me, and upsets me to a degree is that he's spending his time focusing on adding a leadoff guy, while Andres Torres (4-6, 1 hr, 3 RBI Wednesday) does all he can to prove himself. I mean, I'm not totally sold on Torres as the future leadoff man for the Giants, but right now, I'd say he's doing an admirable job, and if the Giants are going to add a bat, it should be one that they'd hit in the middle of the order, not at the top. The popular name floating around right now is Jorge Cantu, who's having a less-than stellar .260, 10 HR, 54 RBI campaign with Florida. If that is indeed a target, I'd just assume stand pat. I'd rather give Travis Ishikawa at-bats right now than Cantu to tell you the truth. If they are going to make a move, a few realistic names I'd like Sabean to look at would be another Marlin by the name of Dan Uggla, Pittsburgh's Garrett Jones, Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman or Corey Hart, but only if the price is reasonable. I don't really see the Giants having enough or wanting to part with enough to get Prince Fielder, but that rumor just refuses to go away.

An area which the team also needs help at, and an area that has been hurting recently is the bullpen. They've given up 6 runs in this Marlins series alone and all have been crucial runs. I'm not worried about Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo or Denny Bautista, but the rest are expendable if you ask me. What they really need is another lefty, or Jeremy Affeldt and Dan Runzler to each return strong here in the next week or so. Even when Affeldt and Runzler back, this bullpen could use a shot in the arm and some reinforcement. A few guys Sabean has apparently been looking at are Scott Downs and former Giants' top-pick David Aardsma. Relief pitchers are one of the easiest positions to come by this time of year, I just hope the Giants can get a quality one and either of those two guys would fit the bill. As far as guys I'd be stingy with when it comes to trading chips, I came up with a list of 12 Giants' prospects that I'd be extremely cautious with and would only use to obtain a player for the long-term. Here are the names I came up with: OF Thomas Neal, 1B Brandon Belt, OF Francisco Peguero, 2B Charlie Culberson, SS Ehire Adrianza, SP Zach Wheeler, SS Brandon Crawford, OF Roger Kieschnick, c/1B Tommy Joseph, 3B Chris Dominguez, SP Eric Surkamp and SP Jorge Bucardo. Everyone else in the minors in my mind is expendable and a few guys that I think could draw at least some interest are OF Jon Bowker, IF Connor Gillespie, RP Henry Sosa, SS Emmanuel Burris OF Darren Ford, SP Craig Westcott, SP Joe Martinez, RP Jason Stoffel. Of those "expendable" guys, I actually believe Bowker, Stoffel and Burris may have somewhat of a market, and the other guys could be decent deal-sweeteners. Even Jesus Guzman could have some appeal to an AL team desperate for right-handed power off the bench/DH.

The one thing different for Sabean this time around is that he does leverage, this year more so than any in the last 7 years, in that he doesn't really "need" to make a move for the Giants to stay in contention, and other teams can't really hold a gun to his head in negotiations this time around. Should be interesting to see what goes down, I'll certainly be watching closely.

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San Francisco Giants: Hottest Team in Baseball?

Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010

The second half of the Major League Baseball season is barely 2 weeks old, but since it started, there hasn't been a team hotter than the Giants in all of baseball.

Since the 3 day break, the Giants have gone 9-2, and lost those 2 games by a combined total of 3 runs. It's been the two rookies that have grabbed most of the headlines over the last two weeks, with Buster Posey extending his hitting streak to 18 games on Sunday, and Madison Bumgarner getting stronger with each outing at the big league level. Over that 18 game hitting streak, Posey's hitting .467 with 7 home run and 23 RBI and a 1.300 OPS. Talk about video game numbers! I don't really like making comparisons unless I really see something in a player, but I can't help but be reminded of a right-handed Joe Mauer with even a little more power, when looking at Posey. If Posey can somehow manage to get to the minimum plate appearance number in order to contend for the batting tittle, I'd put my money on him winning it. He's currently sitting at .371 with 178 at-bats and chances are that he will reach that minimum of 450 plate appearances (not sure on exact number needed) that he'd need in order to be eligible for the batting title. I'll tell you this much, he's the hottest hitter on one of the hottest teams in baseball and it's no surprise the Giants are 14-4 over that span. If he doesn't win Rookie of the Month for July, it would be a crime.

The other prominent Giants' rookie to really step up and claim his spot on the 25-man roster for good is Madison Bumgarner. The 20 year-old power lefty was a little bit of an afterthought in Giants fans minds after a sub-par spring and a slow start in the minor leagues, but he's come on strong and is throwing as well now than at any point in his professional career. MadBum won his 4th consecutive start on Saturday, shutting down the Diamondbacks in Arizona with 7 strong innings that included 7 strikeouts. The Giants have to be pleased with the way Bumgarner has responded after taking a couple of tough luck losses in his first 2 starts of the season. A lot of 20-year old's would have lost their confidence and probably let the situation get worse, then ultimately find themselves back in the minor leagues. Instead, Bumgarner stayed focused and positive and all the sudden he's 4-2 a month later. The success of Bumgarner cannot be overlooked, as it really has rounded out, or completed the Giants rotation. For years now the Giants have kept a 5th starter that was basically keeping the seat warm for Bumgarner, and finally, the Giants rotation is flying at full-force, and it's showing. Even with Buster Posey's emergence, and the solid output from Aubrey Huff, without Sandoval and Rowand hitting, the Giants lineup will not be a strength, so for them to be 13 games over .500 at this point is truly a tribute to their pitching staff.

Walking Wounded: The Giants did lose a couple of players to the 15-day DL this weekend. Eugenio Velez took a Pat Burrell line drive off the face in the dugout and even though he ended up OK considered what happened, the Giants will still shelve him for 2 weeks. He's being replaced by Ryan Rohlinger. Joe Martinez also was recalled a few days ago to replace Jeremy Affeldt who has a strained oblique and will miss 2 weeks as well.

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San Francisco Giants: Hottest Team in Baseball?

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