2009 MLB season discussion*

[pohibaba]

Jim Bowden finally gone. One of the best things that happened to that franchise in awhile.

I'm hoping that one of the Giants' Latin prospects turns out to be older than they claimed so that we'll finally be able to get rid of Sabean, who should've been gone 4 years ago.

[Melena]

Sabean will be gone in 2 years unless there is marked improvement. The one I feel sorry for is Bouchy. He gets shit from fans for doing what the front office tells him to do, especially when it came to Lincecum. The guy is a better manager then people give credit for.

[Headspace]

Just got back from the Reds @ Red Sox in Ft Myers. Only stayed to the 7th inning stretch but was a good game. Bruce hit a 2 round homer as well as Encarnacion. Brandon Philips hit a base hit and was able to steal a base after being hit in the nuts by a bad bounce.

Then when the starters were taken out, the reds hit a grand slam in the 7th. It was 9-2 reds when I left. Plus the weather was fantastic.

[Ensam]

Sabean is atleast a good scout when it comes to young players. You look at the names that's come up through that system throughout the years, good stuff. Plus he was responsible for a lot of the Yankee farmhands that formed the 90's dynasty. And then you have Alderson and Bumgarner in the minors, both A/A- pitchers. A rotation of Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner/Alderson/Sanchez eta '10-'11 is gonna be flat out scary if they stay injury free (lolFoppert). Just becomes a question of offense.

Unfortunately, he's horrible at free agency, signing overrated (zito, rowand) or over the hill players and hasn't been too hot in trades.

Still though, it's atleast better than Bowden, who led a franchise to a bottom-5 ML team with a bottom-5 farm system. I definitely don't think Sabes should be a GM, but I think he gets too much flack. Worse GMs out there.

[Akiyama]

Manny finally signed that contract with LA. It's about fucking time. Sick of hearing about Manny.

[Viq]

Mannywood!

[Melena]

How quickly people forget when Sabean was fleecing teams left and right for a couple of years when the Giants had that streak of making the playoff's. I also wouldn't say Rowand is over rated. Maybe a tad overpaid, but people forget he was playing with a cracked rib in the beginning of the season. .280-.295 batting average with 20hrs and 85 rbi's is what we were expecting out of Rowand.

[pohibaba]

How quickly people forget when Sabean was fleecing teams left and right for a couple of years when the Giants had that streak of making the playoff's. I also wouldn't say Rowand is over rated. Maybe a tad overpaid, but people forget he was playing with a cracked rib in the beginning of the season. .280-.295 batting average with 20hrs and 85 rbi's is what we were expecting out of Rowand.

Yeah, he broke it at the beginning of the season, which also happened to be the only part of the season where he performed up to expectations. When we're paying our number 6 hitter (which is where he should be in our lineup this year) 12m a year to have an OPS well bellow the league average, something is wrong. I hope I'm wrong and he turns it around this year, but he seems to be a whiner and someone who is quick to make excuses for himself. I honestly think, though, that the Errant Throwin' who played last year for us is the real one.

[Ensam]

He's overrated because of his one good season with Philly. Two strait seasons with OPS's under .750, has a monster .889 OPS season thanks to Philly's ballpark, goes to SF's pitchers park and he's back to under .750. Ontop of that, this isn't the good defender he was in his 20's. Age kills defense with most players. He's on the wrong side of 30 and it's shown. -11, -4, -9 in 2006, 2007, and 2008 respectively. Diving plays and web gems look cool and all but they are not a real represenative of defense.

The average OPS for a CFer last year was .752. That means he's below average offensively and defensively, and yet he's making 12m per year. That's a horrible signing.

My biggest problem with the signing is they have Fred Lewis. I mean, he's not a defensive king, but at worst he's what Rowand has been, most likely more around average defensively, and meanwhile he's a lot better hitter. They already have a better CFer than Rowand, and he's playing LF. And then they have Nate Schierholtz, who would be able to at worst match Rowand's offensive production.

I mean, signing Rowand was a complete lateral move that did not improve them at all, infact you can say just his presence alone is a negative considering Nate should be a better hitter and it has slowed down his progression. And yet it also cost them 60 mil over 5 years. How far would that 12m have gone this year? We're talking about, like, being able to sign both Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn. Would that 12m have put them legitimately in the Manny race?

[pohibaba]

First off, I agree with everything Ensam just said. That was a very informed post about the Giants. Kudos.

Secondly, here's a post from someone on one of the Giants boards I frequent:

I'm watching MLB Network right now...they were going to a story about Fernando Valenzuela...one of the guys said Fernando Vina.

Then the screen went black...and you could still hear the voices

"Did I just say Fernando Vina?"

"What the f*uck is that"

I tivo'ed it...someone will get fired over this.

Here's the video, thought you guys would enjoy it.

[fren.]

Sabean is atleast a good scout when it comes to young players. You look at the names that's come up through that system throughout the years, good stuff. Plus he was responsible for a lot of the Yankee farmhands that formed the 90's dynasty. And then you have Alderson and Bumgarner in the minors, both A/A- pitchers. A rotation of Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner/Alderson/Sanchez eta '10-'11 is gonna be flat out scary if they stay injury free (lolFoppert). Just becomes a question of offense.

Unfortunately, he's horrible at free agency, signing overrated (zito, rowand) or over the hill players and hasn't been too hot in trades.

Still though, it's atleast better than Bowden, who led a franchise to a bottom-5 ML team with a bottom-5 farm system. I definitely don't think Sabes should be a GM, but I think he gets too much flack. Worse GMs out there.

It took BA long enough to rank Montero over Villalona.

[Melena]

when you compare Rowands 12m a year contract vs the near 9m for Randy Winn who is just an 300 hitter with no power and slightly above average speed, and the 6+ mil Dave Roberts fleeced us for, it's not that horrible of a contract. The problem the Giants have is knowing there ballpark is a pitchers park + not being good for a few years, to get anyone with decent offense, we have had to over pay. Hopefully next year when we get a couple of these shitty contracts off the books we can parlay that into a real offensive threat.

As for Schurholtz, he can play all 3 offensive positions but he got hosed with the glut of outfielders the Giants have. You have Schurholtz, Lewis, Winn, Roberts, and Rowand and only 3 spots. Next year though our Outfield will look of Lewis, Rowand, and Schurholtz, which will be an upgrade of Lewis/Roberts, Rowand, & Winn

[Viq]

Word is A-Rod has to have surgery on his hip, and will be out until May.

[Cephius]

Season over!

[pohibaba]

I don't follow international baseball much, so who's the favorite in the upcoming WBC? Does Japan have a good enough team to repeat?

[Bregor]

Word is A-Rod has to have surgery on his hip, and will be out until May.

So glad my fantasy draft isn't for another three weeks, definitely taking Pujols now. (I pick second, and word is Hanley will be first.)

[Viq]

Yu Darvish could be this year's Matsuzaka. There have been rumors for a while now that he wants to pitch in the States, so expect him to bring his A game like he did against China. I expect Korea to compete, but I doubt they'll make it to the finals again. Cuba, I don't really know anything about. Their team was fun to watch three years ago. With DR and PR not sending teams as strong this time around, I think it'll be interesting to see how far Cuba and make it. The US team has a lot of talent, but will be hindered by how closely watched and restricted some of their play times will be. If I had to bet on it, I'd say Japan is likely to at least make the finals again this year, and a repeat isn't out of the question.

[fren.]

Yu Darvish could be this year's Matsuzaka. There have been rumors for a while now that he wants to pitch in the States, so expect him to bring his A game like he did against China. I expect Korea to compete, but I doubt they'll make it to the finals again. Cuba, I don't really know anything about. Their team was fun to watch three years ago. With DR and PR not sending teams as strong this time around, I think it'll be interesting to see how far Cuba and make it. The US team has a lot of talent, but will be hindered by how closely watched and restricted some of their play times will be. If I had to bet on it, I'd say Japan is likely to at least make the finals again this year, and a repeat isn't out of the question.

I haven't seen many rumors about him coming to the states. In-fact he himself said he wanted to win 200 games in Japan first.

and about that ARod guy, Cashman said no surgery..just rehab. Could either work or blow up in their face. This offseason went has been a clusterfuck of good and bad.

[Cephius]

Not to derail this into a fantasy thread, but to me Pujols is a terrible 2nd draft pick because he plays first base, and there are a ton of power hitting first basemen out there. Your best bet is to pick someone who gets lot of power out of a typical non-power position, like SS or 2B. Utley is hurt, so I'd probably take someone like Jose Reyes, Josh Hamilton, or Brian Roberts. You'll lose Pujols, but pick up a hard-to-replace CF SS or 2B, and you'll still have ton of quality 1B availble by the time you pick again.

[Akiyama]

I wouldn't suggest Josh Hamilton either as I've heard he's been having some injury problems this Spring. I may be wrong though. My draft went fairly well. Did an early one, and am going to do a late one near the start of the season later on.

Some notable guys I got were guys like Miguel Cabrera and Grady Sizemore in my 10th/11th picks. I know Sizemore is hurt, but I'm sure he'll be fine by Spring. Also got Ian Kinsler, Matt Holliday, Dye, Victorino, taking a chance on Cameron Maybin and Furcal. So my lineup is decent for a 12 team league.

My pitchers aren't too bad either.

Lackey, Shields, Liriano, Harden (Ugh, he fell to me), Verlander (18th round), Harang (lol), Cordero for closes, Kershaw, and Morrow for possible trade bait.

Anyway, /fantasyoff.