After all, pitchers don’t hold up forever – they get hurt, become free agents, burn out, etc. And with a very mediocre outfield (Rowand, Winn, Fred Lewis, Dave Roberts) and a pathetic infield (Renteria and a bunch of unproven middle of the road prospects) clearly the offense needs an upgrade.
As a long suffering Giants fan I need a place to vent. So, here goes:
With what everyone considers to be a good young rotation the time is now for the Giants to make their first playoff appearance in 5 years. After all, pitchers don’t hold up forever – they get hurt, become free agents, burn out, etc. And with a very mediocre outfield (Rowand, Winn, Fred Lewis, Dave Roberts) and a pathetic infield (Renteria and a bunch of unproven middle of the road prospects) clearly the offense needs an upgrade.
Signing Manny seems very unlikely – it would be very expensive, who knows how Manny’s attitude will be, and weak as the OF is, it is the infield that really needs help. Most of the available third basemen are either very weak fielders, are only under contract for one more year, or are big injury risks. Meanwhile, the Giants do have Pablo Sandoval, who tore up the minors last season and who had a great couple months recently in the Caribbean league. So, it seems the Giants should sign a big bat to play 1B and then give Sandoval a shot as the starting 3B. (Scoresheet note – that would give Sandoval third base eligibility, which could make him a very valuable player in Scoresheet if he continues to hit.) So let’s sign Adam Dunn to play 1B! The complaint about Dunn is that he strikes out too much. But so what – an out is an out. And his on-base percentage is actually quite good because he does walk a lot. And while he does not play a great first base, he is a better fielder there than Manny would be in LF.
And let’s not stop there. The O-Dog (Orlando Hudson) is still available, and would be a huge upgrade over what the Giants currently have at second base (Burris, Velez and Fransden.) With the addition of Hudson and Dunn I think the Giants would be in great position to win a very weak NL West.
Crabtree to be the biggest bust since Vernon Davis.
No one really knows what the Giants are doing right now. It seems every team is at the mercy of Scott Boras and all his free agents. I would love to see the Giants snag Dunn & Hudson but I don’t see it happening. As for the outfield, I would have liked to have seen the Giants in on the Ibanez or Burrell talks but I didn’t hear them involved in either.
What I would REALLY love to see is the Giants trade Jonathan Sanchez while he has some value. Our 5th starters last year were horrible but serviceable and if Noah Lowry comes back in decent shape he would fit in nicely as a #5. He did win a team high 16 games 2 years ago before the injury. Trade Sanchez while his value is up and while we are at it try to unload Merkin Valdez as well. He’s a flamethrower that doesn’t seem to want to develop a 2nd decent pitch that will keep him in the major leagues.
Before last year started I flat out said the Giants wouldn’t win 70 games. Well I was wrong by only 2 games! Great, but now we have a bonifide pitching staff. Without any help I am affraid to say the Giants might only muster a 500 record if we don’t get some punch to our Judy Lineup!
I definately DO NOT want to see Winn or Rowand batting 3rd, nor do I want to see Bengie batting 4th as well as he did he is no cleanup batter. AND PLEASE PLEASE could we just release Dave Roberts once & for all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t figure out what SF is doing. If you want to rebuild why sign a declining talent like Rowand? If you are competing now (in a winnable division) why haven’t you signed Hudson and Dunn? Both represent known talents that are a lock to produce, and they both draw talent from your most significant rival.
SF what exactly is the plan?