Big Thanks to sfgfan for a link to Barry Bonds' good-bye message. Apparently the Giants (Peter Magowan specifically) have just informed him that this is his last year with the Giants and he's upset he didn't get to do some unnamed extra something with the fans, but this is the right time, it's the last homestand, he can say goodbye and so can the fans, at least to him as a Giants, he could return back next season playing for another team.
Thanks Barry
That put a skewer in my assumption that Bonds is back, but that's OK, I was OK either way, as long as we weren't paying him that much. That's my guess right now as to why the Giants passed on Bonds, he probably still wants big dough to play in 2008, gave the Giants the range and they decided, "No thanks." Thus Bonds can now say it was a business decision on their part.
In any case: Thanks Barry Barry Much, Barry, for 15 incomparable seasons as a Giants player. I salute your dedication, your skills, your tenaciousness, your singular vision, that led you down this Hall of Fame path. Your numbers in the 2000's were much like the crazy stats I wrote up for my "baseball card stats" when I was a young kid, thanks for making them real.
Hopefully the idiots in the media don't decide that they are above the game and not vote for you, but I suspect that many will chose not to vote for you, just because they are mean-spirited and biased. I'm only sorry that we were never able to celebrate a World Series Championship together, but hopefully you will come back to the organization afterward and finally start teaching our young players all your tricks of the trade. Thanks for all that you have done.
Plot Complications, Plot Complications
With no Bonds, then Dave Roberts can play LF where he had stellar defense for SD in 2006, instead of CF, where he's probably just average. Randy Winn would then return to CF, where his offense can be considered good, and Nate Schierholtz would get to start in RF. I wonder if Schierholtz's good season in AAA and then his nice run up in the majors was the factor that finally tilted the Giants to not re-sign Barry.
Frankly, as much as I like Fred Lewis and Raj Davis, they cooled off a lot after their nice start with the Giants, so it was not like either had earned a starting spot even if one was available, though I would be OK with them, say, platooning in CF, should the Giants trade Winn away for prospects. Davis will probably be Roberts platoon buddy, and Lewis would be the 4th OF, sucking up ABs at all three OF positions, as neither Winn or Schierholtz can be expected to play 162 games. Plus there will be DH opportunities for someone. That in all could open up a total of about 45-50 games for Lewis, or about 200-225 AB, which is not that bad to get a nice gauge of how he is doing.
Given this turn of events, it looks more likely that Klesko will not be re-signed either, and Dan Ortmeier probably will get the call to start at 1B in 2008. Else why would JT Snow be working with him so extensively to give him a crash course in fielding 1B? That would mean a defense of:
C: Molina
1B: Ortmeier
2B: Durham
3B: Aurilia/Frandsen
SS: Vizquel?/Ochoa?/???
LF: Roberts/Davis
CF: Winn
RF: Schierholtz
Not the best, but I am OK with 2008 as a rebuilding year where success is not measured by wins but by development and progress.
These are just my opinions. I cannot promise that I will be perfect, but I can promise that I will seek to understand and illuminate whatever moves that the Giants make (my obsession and compulsion). I will share my love of baseball and my passion for the Giants. And I will try to teach, best that I can. Often, I tackle the prevailing mood among Giants fans and see if that is a correct stance, good or bad.
Info on Blog
▼
When was the last time the Giants did not try make a splash in the FA market? I can't imagine them fielding an outfield without a "star" in it.
ReplyDeleteThat's what has me so discouraged about this decision. It will lead to a pretty significant mistake unless they break from their past pattern of decision making (unlikely)
kenshin
Hey, kenshin, howdy!
ReplyDeleteWell, really, the only star in the OF has been Bonds so I don't think you can quite brand their decision making just on him.
And what's wrong with a "star" at 3B/SS instead? :^) Just saying...
hey martin!
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to imply that they had a quota of 1 star player in the outfield type deal. I meant that Magowen will probably be extremely uncomfortable without a position player he can market as a star. It would require a modicum of restraint on the part of Sabes to avoid making a signing to fill a marketing void.
kenshin
Kensin,
ReplyDeleteAnd just what we be so wrong about this if the star signed is the biggest star in all of baseball today? Why not sign A-Rod?
Hey Martin,
ReplyDelete"I wonder if Schierholtz's good season in AAA and then his nice run up in the majors was the factor that finally tilted the Giants to not re-sign Barry."
I hope that Schierholtz can start next year but watching the news conference today left me a little worried.
Sabes and Pete kinda alluded to that they might try to play the FA market because "they'll have money to spend", I'm going to really hate Bonds not coming back if he's replaced with a Jones or Hunter (take your pick).
I like the move if we're truly rebuilding and someone like Schierholtz can pick up the ABs opened up by Bonds leaving.
Thanks for the news on the news conference Chris. Hmmm, that does sound a little ominous, I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed...
ReplyDeleteBefore this bit of news, I was going to note that technically, they already have someone to market, Barry Zito, plus Cain and Lincecum are clearly the ones leading the Giants to the promise land in the near future, so they are another marketing focal point, if I were handling the marketing.
At this point, if the Giants do get an OF free agent, that move would be pretty idiotic, we have three prospects who should be getting a chance of some sort (and please, no jokes anymore about Sabean, we know your feelings, you know mine).
Here is a quote from sfgiants.com's article -http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070921&content_id=2222175&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf&partnered=rss_sf - on this news: "But fans' hopes of finding an instant replacement for Bonds in free agents such as Torii Hunter or Alex Rodriguez, if he opts out of his Yankees contract, are probably far-fetched.
"The way we've gone the last couple of months, which is to accent our pitching, more team speed, more defense, it's going to be a mix-and-match thing," Sabean said. "I can't say we'll run one name player in here who's going to soften the blow of losing [Bonds].""
Hmmm, seems even worse now, we'll have around $30-35M (Bonds, Vizquel, Feliz, Morris, Matheny, Klesko off books minus raises to Winn and Zito and young pitchers) to spend and they will stay around $90-95M, but they won't spend it on one big free agent, that means a bunch of mid-range free agents again.
Interesting note is that he mentioned specifically that pitching will be an accent, plus the debate a number of us have been having on whether Lowry goes in trade or not, but then who replaces him, so what if Lowry is traded for position prospects and the Giants sign a free agent starter? I'm not sure who is available, just throwing out this possibility.
Of course, as business negotiators, they would be stupid to tip their hands on what their plans on A-Rod is.
It could be that it is as he says - they are not pursuing him. But if they would like to sign him, their position HAS to be that they can live without him if necessary. Else, Boras can now leverage their strong interest and play it off other bidders, raising the bid.
But the Giants were one of the teams rumored to be asking the Yankees about the possibility of trading for A-Rod, and they were not afraid of making Bonds the highest paid player of his times, heck, they were not afraid of giving Zito the biggest contract ever for a pitcher.
And what better marketing can there be long-term than to get the guy who looks to be the one who will surpass Barry someday?
I'm sure Boras has already figured this all out and will be hitting up the Giants big time to drum up interest in A-Rod with them, placed nicely in the portfolio he likes to make for his clients to give to teams, showing how good the player is.
I think the Giants have the will, the money, the motivation, the history/prior behavior, to get A-Rod. But money talks so all that won't matter if one of the big money teams - Boston, LA (both), Chicago - decide that they want A-Rod too. That's why I say I'll believe it when I see it.