For a team with a fairly strong winning tradition the Giants are at an extreme low in their history. A commitment to Barry Bonds over winning has caused a fracture in the player personnel pipeline (which has been more through trades than minor leage development). Extreme caution has to be used during this offseason to get the Giants back to .500 in 2008 and hopefully back into the playoffs by 2009. The only way this will happen is through shrewd front office moves and putting the right people in the right place so they can afford some legit players. Projected lineup for the 2008 MLB season.
1. Rajai Davis (40+ bags in a full season) - CF After picking up Davis in the Matt Morris trade (thanks Pirates), Davis proved his speed at the top of the lineup is better than an injured Dave Roberts. An affordable player and a pretty good one.
2. Tadohito Iguchi (good situational hitter) - 2B The old middle infield needed an overhaul. Durham is still a good player but getting a serious guy with a ring seems important. I just like Iguchi so lets get him.
3. Alex Rodriguez (best hitter in the game) - SS The only way to get Rodriguez is to put him back in the middle of the field. How about Vizquel goes and A-Rod stays. You know the Giants are going to get an A player and the Yankees will take Zito off our hands.
4. Dmitri Young (20 yacks, 80 ribs) - 1B Why not? The guy was good, then got hurt, and the Nationals won't give him another contract. How about no more Aurilia.
5. Pedro Feliz (20 yacks, 80 ribs) - 3B A third baseman who can't hit for contact and and can't hit 3 or 4 either must really stink. Which Feliz does, but the Giants are in such bad shape he actually is pretty good, ugh.
6. Randy Winn (20 yacks, 80 ribs) - RF A very solid player and I like him. A good fit to drive in about 85 runs and he brings a little speed to the lineup also.
7. Bengie Molina (fat) - C Too lazy in my book and not a championship catcher but hit pretty well for being a ####.
8. Fred Lewis (lets see what he can do in a full season) - LF Its going to be weird not to see Barry in left, but this rounds out a decent lineup. There's not much protection in their for A-Rod but getting Andruw Jones is pretty unlikely and idiotic.
From a defensive perspective the outfield will be much faster to cover the spacious gaps on the cove. The left side of the infield is pretty stout with Feliz and Rodriguez, and I like Tado on the other side. Young is kind of a fill in but, better than Lance and Dicky Aurilia.
1. Matt Cain (R) - give him a defense and watch out
2. Tim Lincecum (R) - give him a defense and watch him lead the league in Ks
3. Noah Lowry (L) - nice changeup behind the two flame throwers at the top
4. Kevin Correia (R) - He looked pretty good in a starting roll. He's no Liriano, but he's alright
5. Jonathan Sanchez (L) - He needs to start and lets get ready for the 2009 playoffs
Closer - Brad Hennessey (R) - Picked up about 20 saves in half of a season. Seems alright to me.
It's never to early to talk rebuilding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and talk about bonds watta jerk not finishing the season with the team!!!!! yea barry... dont put san fran on your past playing days!!! hey your a great ball player!!! but if i was a giant player id say thanks BB for the memories.... hope you too have a great day!!!! id love to see him play for the yankees.... i wonder if he could stand being second fiddle to all those superstars?????? and all other teams in MLB????
Interesting perspective- "a commitment to Bonds over winning"- although he's no slouch as a player, you have a point- he did eat up a lot of payroll $, and the rebuilding process probably would've gotten underway a lot sooner without him. (P.S. I don't expect A-Rod to leave New York)
You are stretching it with this one. A-Rod, a giant, don't Think so. Let's look at at it realistically; not a home run park, not an organization that seems to care about winning, to much Bonds drama so too soon for another big name, and plus, orange doesn't match his hair. He needs an organization that cares about winning and is in a city that will not run him out of the park for a couple bad games or even a slump.
Atlanta or Chicago. Will Atlanta spend the money? NO.
Will S.F. have a shot?
NO.
ChiTown might just be a winner.
Not an organization that cares about winning? Dude its only been the last couple years they've struggled. Before that they had a nice stretch of winning 90 games. Bonds messed everything else up. ChiTown a winner? Not quite.
Last edited by sportthink on October 3rd at 8:40 AM.
Oh, lets put some more blame on Bonds now. Was he supposed to be Superman and make every one else play the game right? Last time I checked he was on base dang near all the time, but no one could drive him in consistantly. How about putting some blame on the front office. Or better yet, let's just say the moves they made sucked. And Bonds isn't a pitcher either. May not be the best outfielder but he's a better outfielder than Zito was a pitcher the past year. Want some more bad news from the front office? How about Klesko, Winn, Omar, and the rest of the bad news bears out there. A-Rod might be the best player in the game, but it takes a team to win. Bonds was the proof of that, not the cause.
Bonds "messed everything up" because while the Giants were waiting for him to break the homerun record the last three years, he played in only half the games and deteriorated into the worst outfielder in baseball. A little bit of an expensive promotional money maker which turned into a side show. I'm not "blaming" Bonds, I'm blaming the Giants front office. Thanks for stopping by, you're dismissed.
Published sports column contributor, but I'm about the 560th ranked blogger on this site. I'll keep most of my posts sports related. My sense of humor exists to amuse myself. This has happened by default because I rarely seem to amuse anyone else. I'm ashamed that my favorite professional sports teams are from the city of San Francisco.
Favorite sports listed from favorite to least favorite: duck-duck-
goose, red-light green-light, freeze tag, marco polo, and hop-scotch.
