Who's the next Rickey?

Josh Wilker at Cardboard Gods has a nice end-of-the-year post about Rickey Henderson's 1980 rookie baseball card -- noting that the 1979 Oakland A's went 4-25 in his first 29 games on their way to a 54-108 season. Rickey's pose in the photo shows that things were going to change pretty quickly for the A's. One of the comments notes that Rickey was born on Christmas Day and his career was a gift to baseball fans everywhere.

That's why Tim Lincecum's arrival was so exciting this year. We're looking at a guy who may be the team's top player for years to come -- though it would be nice if there were an equivalent everyday guy on the way (Angel Villalona?) or already there (Dan Ortmeier?).

In any case, Happy New Year to you all. I hope you've enjoyed stopping by this year.

The Balco Blues

Playboy contributing editor Jonathan Littman wants to know what's the point of the Mitchell Report -- long-term, that is. Aside from demonstrating that Bud Selig's an idiot and a deranged dingbat, I can't understand what's to be gained, either.

I think Littman's a bit overheated here in proclaiming that this is baseball "darkest hour." Wrong. Jonathan, please read Eliot Asinof's "Eight Men Out" or watch the movie of the same name about the Black Sox throwing the 1919 World Series and then rewrite that a bit. Other than that, it's a pretty good piece. Here's some of his observations --

The slam-dunk case against Roger Clemens - better than anything the government has mustered so far against Bonds - makes one wonder. Where was the grand jury and perjury trap for Clemens? Why didn't the government set him up for a fall?Unlike in the case of Bonds and the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, the government has the syringe in hand with Clemens. Brian McNamee, his personal trainer, told George Mitchell that he literally stuck the superstar pitcher in the rear. But Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and the other prominent players named in Mitchell's report will likely only be humiliated and perhaps suspended.What's the purpose in all of this? Do we need to string more misguided athletes from the nearest tree? Is that the path to enlightenment in baseball's darkest hour?

As I said, I really liked this piece until it went a bit off the rails. He calls for testing by an independent body, which seems like a good idea at first reading -- until you consider how stringent current testing is. My cynical view is that this whole push is Selig's idea of a power play against the MLBPA.

Something to look forward to in 2008

Left field bleacher shot from September by pjryan3

Outside the media centers: how it hurts Tim Raines

Strange headline, I know. The debate over Tim Raines and his Hall of Fame credentials goes to show how guys who don't play in New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles often have a tougher time getting into the Hall of Fame specifically and getting recognition generally. That's why guys who played in media centers -- Don Drysdale, Don Mattingly, Maury Wills and Jim Rice -- are sometimes over-rated. Raines did play five years with the Chisox and three with the Yanks but it was long after he peaked in Montreal.

I thought of this because ESPN's actually run a thoughtful analysis between Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark in which Gammons winds up agreeing that Raines is a legit Hall of Famer. Here's one of Stark's points -- Raines finished with 2,605 hits: 395 away from 3,000. How many more would he have had if he'd played in an era of labor sanity? Think of all the games that were surgically removed from his career by collusion and labor strife. It adds up to almost a full season of his career -- half of it in that period when he was one of the best players in baseball.

I'm also convinced that the rush to find ways to exonerate Roger Clemens from the McNamee allegations reflects the bias of major media centers toward their own self-created icons. Can you imagine the level of villification that Barry Bonds would have received had his own trainers made similar allegations? I can't.

Top 10 Giants moments of the year

Photo by Danny Moloshok of Reuters. Barry hits No. 756

1. The first one is easy. I titled it this way -- "Eat It, Bud Selig. Eat It Raw." August 8.

The next nine were not so easy, but here they are --

2. "Choker" Kent stabs his Dodger teammates in the back. September 21.

3. Dan Ortmeier hits the Giants only walkoff HR of the year as the Dodgers gag at Mays Field, thanks to horrible relieving and defense. Septmber 7.

4. Omar Vizquel ends the game against the Dbacks with an astounding DP. September 12.

5. After being traded to the Dodgers for a case of dental floss, Mark Sweeney plays like an idiot Dodger and manages to end a game by losing track of how many outs there were and wandering off first on a pop fly. August 15.

6. Tim the Enchanter strikes out 12 Dbacks in a 13-0 victory. July 1.

7. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Fatmando Blownitez is traded and Brian Sabean whines like a little crybaby. June 1.

8. Giants torment the Dbacks with a 5-4 vic in extras in Phoenix as Feliz ties it in the ninth. Meanwhile, the Dodgers gag away a 5-1 lead in the 9th to lose 6-5 to the Padres. June 7.

9. The Mets fall apart in the 5th and the Giants put a 9-spot as Benjie homers twice. May 7.

10. Tim Lincecum's MLB debut after Stupid Sabean finally brought him up after five completely unnecessary weeks in Fresno. Though he's the loser in a 4-3 loss, Tim shows he belongs. May 6.

Knocked up his prom date?

The Shysterball blog has a very amusing post about the backs of Topps 1973 baseball card set. It seems that the editors at Topps decided to get a little more creative with the blurbs on the back of the cards around that time. And I didn't know Dick Dietz was ineligible for sports as a high school senior. Some of the best ones, with Shyster's comments --

"Rich was ineligible for sports as a high school senior because he was married." I suppose "Rich knocked up his junior prom date" wouldn't have gotten past the editors.
"Ron loves New York for its fine knishes." First draft: "Ron is a Jew."
"J.C. set record with 33 passed balls in 1965." Wow, they're not even trying to polish that turd.
"Larry once decided to quit baseball." And thank YOU for bringing up the memory of that painful time in my life.
"Dennis enjoys attending sporting events." Given his job, I would hope so.
"Wes crusades against the use of drugs." Wes Parker: Harshing Dodger buzzes since 1964!
"Harmon enjoys watching television."
"Nate enjoys playing checkers." Killebrew calls him "wild man."
"Ken works in a service station in the off-season." And people think Marvin Miller shouldn't be in the Hall of fame?"
"Steve does volunteer dentistry work." You can just do that?
"Bill is taking graduate courses at U. of Southern Mississippi." I wonder what folks in early-70s Hattiesburg thought of the Spaceman?
"Tom received his college degree in Latin." Well la-de-frickin'-da.
"Mike is working on his PhD." Take that, Tom!
"Gail is working on his PhD in biochemistry." Take that, Mike!

Best column of 2007: fire Sabean and Tidrow

Hands down, no contest -- it was Glenn Dickey's June 22 takedown of Brian Sabean and Dick Tidrow in a memorable bit of writing entitled "Barry Lite Can't Save the Giants." It was written after the Giants had lost eight straight games. He correctly predicted the team would not win 75 games (it won 71). Here were his major points -- still beyond dispute --

1. Bonds was such a strong performer in his prime that he made other players like Kent and Aurilia better.
2. Sabean and Dick Tidrow have never shown any aptitude for developing or keeping young talent.
3. Sabean has constructed a roster that can't hit, other than Bonds.
4. Sabean and Tidrow should be fired ASAP.
5. Dickey predicts this team won't even win 75 games, which is what the 2006 team managed.

And here's how Dickey ended the column --

With Sabean putting together another old, old team — the last two Giants teams are the oldest in the last 50 years in baseball — and the reduced Bonds, this team will be lucky to match either of the last two. Bonds’ great play from 1993 through 2004 masked bad decisions. Now, the Giants have some rebuilding to do, and it should start with Sabean and Dick Tidrow, who has been overseeing the weak farm system. Bonds can no longer cover up the mistakes.

My favorite sports story of the year

From The Onion, of course ---

BOSTON—Claiming that a relaxed atmosphere and a chance to create his own schedule would greatly benefit his productivity, Red Sox left-fielder Manny Ramirez has asked team officials if he can play the remainder of the season from the comfort of his own home. "My client just can't seem to focus in his current place of work," said Ramirez's agent Greg Genske, noting that Fenway Park's loud, boisterous atmosphere and high-stress, pressure-packed environment are "not ideal working conditions for anyone." "Manny seeks a work space where he doesn't have to constantly travel, can wear whatever he wants, and can work at his own pace. I assure you that he will be able to put up the same statistics he normally does while physically on a baseball diamond. Just give him until November or December." The Red Sox have tentatively agreed to allow Ramirez to telecommute, claiming that although their offense may suffer without him at the ballpark, their defense in a vacant left field may substantially improve.

Looking for help in the SF bullpen

The Giants have signed former Oakland A's pitcher Keiishi Yabu. I like this deal because I figure that if Billy Beane liked this guy enough to keep him on the roster for a year, he must have some decent value.

I believe he's the first Japanese player to sign with the Orange and Black since Tsuyoshi Shinjo in 2002, starting the regrettable trend of the Giants' playing guys who have OBPs under .300.

Giving thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates

Larry Dobrow of the CBS Sportsline makes a brutal analysis of the state of the Pirates franchise -- one of the few that may be in worse shape than the Giants, which is saying something. Most interesting to me is that he points out that the incompetence of the Pirates front office is so pervasive that it makes Brian Sabean look far smarter than he actually is -- unless Matt Morris suddenly begins to pitch like Juan Marichal. Here's how he put it --

And they sure stabilized that tricky fifth rotation slot when they took Matt Morris and the remaining $13.7 million on his deal off the Giants' hands last July. That second maneuver had to be the final nail in recently axed GM Dave Littlefield's coffin. Making Giants GM Brian Sabean look intelligent is more challenging than smoking a cigarette in the shower, and the Pirates did it twice (with the Schmidt and Morris trades).

RIP Oscar Peterson

One of the great jazz pianists passes away at 82.

Was it that long ago? Robb Nen remembered

It's hard to believe that Robb Nen is already on the Hall of Fame ballot, five years after blowing out his arm for good in getting the Giants to what's probably going to be their last trip to the World Series for awhile. The official Giants site has a nice story that focuses on the five years he spent in the Orange and Black.

One of my biggest memories of Nen came in 2001 when he came on to close out a 7-5 game against the Pirates and couldn't do it. He got two outs and gave up a single to Brian Giles and then a long HR to Aramis Ramirez into left field. Every now and again, someone big and strong like Aramis would catch up with that 97 mph heater -- and this was one of those times. Nen looked pretty pained but then showed his professionalism by refocusing and struck out Armando Rios swinging. The Giants eventually won the game in the 11th when Feliz singled in Shawon Dunston.

In 715 innings over 10 years, Robb gave up a total of 51 homers.

Countdown

As of today (Dec. 23), there are only 99 days until Opening Day for most Major League teams, and the Dodgers.

Rod Beck remembered

Chris Haft of MLB.com does a nice job talking about Rod Beck being on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Beck wasn't always dominating but his happiness when he saved a game for the team was always something that you could feel -- particularly since he wasn't exactly the most dominating guy.

My favorite Beck memory came in Game 161 of the 1993 season at Chavez Latrine. He relieved Mike Jackson in the 8th with two out, two guys on and one run in and the Giants up 5-3; Atlanta had already won so the Giants HAD to win. He got Dave Hansen, who was a pretty decent PH, to sky the ball to deep right, where Dave Martinez caught it. A few more feet and it would have been a 3-run homer. I can still see Beck letting out a huge sigh of relief as Martinez caught the ball.

This is how it went in the bottom of the 9th as Beck picked up his 48th save -- still a Giants record:

--- J Reed Strikeout Swinging
--- H Rodriguez Strikeout Swinging
--- B Butler Groundout: 2B-1B (2B)

How the baseball moustache movement started

Bill North was one of the first Giants players with facial hair when he played with the team for three years from 1979 to 1981. By then, moustaches and beards were not a huge deal.

As it turns out, Reggie Jackson was the starting point for ditching the clean-shaven look with the 1972 A's. Here's a great little story on Bronx Banter as to how Charlie Finley decided that he didn't want to have a confrontation with Reggie over his moustache so he got most of the team to grow one instead. Those A's teams were the last to win three World Series in a row until the Yanks did it in 1998-2000. Bill North was a major contributor in 1973-74.

And yes, Jeff Kent's stupid moustache makes him look like a washed up porn star.

Here's what's that smart guy in Oakland is up to....

What's particularly embarrassing about Brian Sabean's incompetence is that it occurs in the shadow of Billy Beane's brilliance with a payroll that's half of what the Giants have; despite using 54 players last year due to decimating injuries, the A's were still 5 games better than the Giants at 76-86. Here's what Beane has up his sleeve as the A's prep for their move to Fremont in 2012. According to Cam Imnan of the Contra Costa Times, those plans don't include signing Barry Bonds in 2008.

Here's what's really maddening if you're a Giants fan -- the A's had big injuries to virtually every top player they had (Chavez, Harden, Crosby, Street) and the club was still well enough constructed to go out and win 76 games. It was the first time since 1998 that they had finished under .500. And it looks like more talent's coming, like Daric Barton.

The worst GM in baseball

It's not just me who thinks the Giants are doomed as long as Brian "Brainiac" Sabean is in charge. Scott Jensen at Dougout Central posted a thread a week ago that asserts the same and goes into detail as to why. More than a dozen posters later, very little disagreement has emerged.

Scott makes the point that Sabean created a terrible team last year that's several years away from contending and then asks --

So what have you done this off season?
1. You were (according to reports) interested in signing Hideki Matsui. Why? If it’s because you think he’ll keep people in their seats while you rebuild, then kudos to you! Well thought out. But if it’s because you think you can win next year or in 2009, then, sour grapes to you. It will be a waste of money.
2. You were (according to reports) willing to trade Lincecum or Cain – possibly for Alex Rios or Matsui. Why??????? These two are your future, part of the re-building plan. If it is true you were considering this… I don’t know what to say.
3. You signed Aaron Rowand – for five years! It’s not so much the money that bothers me, though I don’t think Rowand is worth $12M a year, but it’s those years. Did you realize that Rowand will be 31 at the end of next season? (That means he’ll be 36 at the end of the contract.) Did you realize he plays with reckless abandon, meaning he’s more prone to getting hurt? Did you know he’s coming off a career year? Perhaps not. Last year, hitting behind Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and ahead of Pat Burrell. In 2008, when he’s hitting behind Dave Roberts, Omar Vizquel and Randy Winn and in front of Bengie Molina, he’s going to give you 18 home runs and 70 RBIs (along with great defense) and .280/.325/.440. By the last year of his contract, you’ll be lucky to get 140 games of .270/.317/.420.

The same old Black and Orange recycling program

Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle's reporting that the Giants are interested in Kris Benson, 33, and Tony Clark, 35.

Benson is a fifth starter at best who missed the entire 2007 season and is most famous for having a strange wife. Clark's a part-timer at best. Neither is going to get any better.

Why are the Giants obsessed with giving playing time to guys who are well past their primes? The list goes on and on -- Ray Durham, Buttmando Blownitez, Steve Finley, Ryan Klesko, Dave Roberts, Jose Vizcaino, Mark Sweeney and Rich Aurilia, just to name a few.

Walter O'Malley = Satan

Well, maybe that's a stretch. But Stan Isaacs writes a nice column about how idiotic it is that the flim-flammer has been voted into the Hall of Fame after screwing over Brooklyn -- thanks to the lies perpetrated by O'Malley and the delusions of stupid Dodger fans who wrongly villify Robert Moses. These are the same kind of idiots who insist Maury Wills -- perhaps the most over-rated player ever -- should be in the Hall of Fame. Here are some excellent points from Isaacs --

O’Malley slithered his way out of Brooklyn by mouthing slanderous falsehoods about Ebbets Field and the neighborhood. Because of a few isolated incidents, the impression was given that fans constantly urinated on ramps and that the neighborhood was unsafe and that the lack of parking was deadly for accommodating fans. He trashed Ebbets Field as too old, too small to the extent that most people believed him. Lost upon many was the character of Ebbets Field, the kind of intimate charm celebrated by Boston’s Fenway Park now. Calls to build a new ball park for the Red Sox were beaten down by wiser heads, and Fenway is now the most celebrated park in baseball. Ebbets Field had aplenty what Fenway Park has.

Bud Selig = Richard Nixon

King Kaufman at Salon.com makes Selig look pathetic. Here's a pretty good line --

But his performance last week was classic Bud. At a time of crisis, the game needed a leader, a statesman. What it got was a petty operator, a sanctimonious hypocrite looking to make the world forget about his and the other owners' role in enabling the drug culture by punishing a few users. Baseball needed a Lincoln. It got a Nixon.

This is what happens when you suck year after year

Q. What team had the exact same 2007 record as the San Francisco Giants at 71-91?

A. The Florida Marlins.

I thought of this as I read this punchy little piece from the Palm Beach daily as less than 50 people showed up yesterday at the Marlins ballpark to meet the manager and check out the seating (Notice how I am using the stupid Marlin teal color, too?). This is what happens when you're lousy year after year. Get ready for the same thing to start happening at Third and King.

Oh, and by the way -- thanks, Bud Selig, for being stupid enough to put a team in a place where nobody cares.

How about it, Bud -- you sniveling weasel

William Rhoden of the Paper of Record (registation required) says Bud Selig should apologize to Barry Bonds for his bad manners during the past 5 years.

In other news, hell has frozen over.

Hypocrites defending Clemens

As usual, John Perricone at Only Baseball Matters nails it. He points out that the East Coast media heavies are already falling all over themselves to exonerate Roger Clemens being named in the Mitchell Report -- while these same guys have demonized Barry Bonds for years with much less reason. Here's how he begins --

Two seven timers are in the Mitchell Report, seven-time MVP Barry Bonds, and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens. One has already been given the whitewash, and the other has been the target of sports media vitriol and government investigation for four years. Now, why is that?
I’m watching ESPN, and we got Tim Kurkjian, Peter Gammons, John Kruk and Steve Phillips. All of them are saying the same thing, Clemens has denied it, there’s no proof, McNamee has an agenda, I want to believe him, we have to wait and see….


Unbelievably, they have already confirmed my worst suspicions, that they are ready, willing and able to come up with any reason to excuse Clemens, to defend him, defend his right to due process, and immediately impugn the character of McNamee. The first time they have a chance, they all said that McNamee had an agenda, that he was naming names to avoid jail.
OK, so how come Greg Anderson and Victor Conte, who had plenty of reasons to testify against Bonds, plenty of reasons to detail all of the ways Bonds used illegal performance-enhancing drugs; did not? How come those questions aren’t being asked, and haven’t been? Because Bonds is black? An asshole? Clemens is a hero?
Hypocrites, every one of them. The report isn’t 24 hours old, and we’re already being treated to sob stories about how Clemens and Pettitte are being slimed by a scumbag trying to protect his own ass. Bonds wasn’t slimed by scumbags who could’ve, but that’s not worth talking about.

Eat it, Dodger fans. Eat it raw.

It's now official. Two former Dodger heros -- the Fat Frenchie AKA Eric Gagne and Paul "I'm So Pumped" LoDuca -- were among the many MLB players dosing with human growth hormone and steroids. Additionally, Kevin Brown, who shook the Dodgers down for a massive $100 million contract, is on the list.

We can hope that this might bring to an end to the self-righteous idiotic bleating of Dodger apologists about how evil Barry Bonds is -- when it was obvious to all but the stupidest fans in baseball that Gagne was dosing.

However, Dodger fans are so stupid and so misinformed by the LA Times that they'll probably just keep on ignoring the truth.

More idiocy from Brian Sabean

Nothing like spending $60 million on Aaron Rowand to pump up a pathetic offense and then saying that you're keeping guys who can't get on base -- Molina and Feliz -- and batting Dave Roberts as your lead off hitter. Here's what Henry Schulman -- one of the few decent reporters on the Chron sports staff -- writes:

Sabean will continue to pursue a contract with free-agent third baseman Pedro Feliz, not for three years, but perhaps for two. The Giants are not talking to Detroit about available third baseman Brandon Inge. Dave Roberts will move to left field, with Nate Schierholtz, Rajai Davis and Fred Lewis destined to compete for backup roles if they are not traded. Sabean could deal Roberts but seems inclined to keep the only experienced leadoff hitter the Giants have.

Also, Bochy says he wants Molina to bat fourth, which makes the lineup an immediate laughingstock. You may wonder why all this seems idiotic. Let me explain -- Both Feliz and Molina have OBPs under .300; Roberts is at .331 while Rajai Davis is at .371 and Fred Lewis is at .374

My guess is that Lewis and Davis have to sit because Roberts is making $6 million a year. Yes, Sabean was stupid enough to overpay Roberts to the tune of $18 million for three years.

The big offseason move

It looks like Magowan and Brian "Brain" Sabean have realized that they can't trade Lincecum, Cain or prospects to get some real offense. So they went out and bought some, giving Aaron Rowand a 5-year deal worth $60 million.

He's not Vlad Guerrero but who is? He's instantly the best hitter on the roster unless by some miracle Bonds comes back to the Orange and Black. IF he has another year like 2007, maybe the 2008 version of the Giants will go 78-84 instead of 71-91.

The red flag is that Rowand had a career year in his walk year in a hitter's park surrounded by guys like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell. Still, maybe at 30, he's going to be able to keep it at that level for awhile.

The best part of this means that Lincecum and Cain are pretty much off the market. And perhaps the Giants will ditch Dave Roberts. Can't the Bosox take him away? Wouldn't he be more at home in Boston?

The greatest Giant of them all

From the Thrill22 Web site

George Mitchell is a dangerous dingbat

In anticipation of the release of the Mitchell report, Tim Marchman of the New York Sun makes the point that the former Senator's a paid adviser to the Bosox. Apparently, that's OK with Bud "Idiot" Selig. Here are two interesting points that he makes --

-- Mitchell seems not even to appreciate that the problem is not his relationship with one team, but his relationship to baseball's power structure. Imagine President Bush charging Karl Rove with a blue ribbon inquiry into the war in Iraq, and Rove brushing away the appearance of impropriety by assuring the world that the White House political operation would get no special favor. That's a more or less exact parallel to what's going on here.

-- One of the crown jewels of the report, to give an example, is reportedly a list of ballplayers who bought drugs from convicted dealer and former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski. This was obtained as part of his plea agreement, negotiated by the Department of Justice. It is expected that this will be released to the public. Think about that: The federal government, on unknown authority, compelled Radomski to cooperate with Mitchell's ridiculous inquiry, and did so knowing that this would result in Radomski's unproven accusations becoming public, and did so without providing the accused a means to defend themselves. This is disgraceful, as are many of the tactics used by Mitchell's investigation.

Rios for Lincecum -- Don't do it

The often-worthless Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Merc News lives down to his crappy rep by ardently backing the idea of trading Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios via a series of stupid, misguided statements that seriously over-state the value of Rios and understate the value of Lincecum.

Grant at McCovey Chronicles deconstructs the arguments nicely. Here's one of his points -- It's more about recognizing that 23-year-olds who average a strikeout per inning don't come around too often. He was blowing away MLB hitters 70 innings after he was in the Pac-10, and he's under the Giants' control for the next five seasons. This isn't your mother's Jerome Williams. More importantly, there is no way to build even an average offense by trading Lincecum. It just isn't something that can happen this offseason.

But the best single argument as to why this is a dumb idea came from a simple comment on the Merc News site --

BHF Says: December 5th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Don’t do it….Many years ago the Dodgers traded a young pitcher with a slight build and funky motion to the Expos for a young hitter, Delino Deshields. That pitcher was Pedro Martinez. Don’t do it

The SF Chronicle doesn't know what's going on

Why would I write such a thing? After publishing a story last Friday by Susan Slusser that Barry Bonds would sign with Oakland, Ray Ratto reports in Sunday's paper that it's probably not going to happen. But it still might, depending on what happens with Joe Blanton.

I'm sorry but this is typical of the Chron -- home of sloppy slipshod journalism. Pardon me for thinking both stories are nonsense.

Time to blow it up

Larry Dobrow of CBS Sports.com reaches a painful but all too familiar conclusion -- the Giants are the most incompetently operated team in MLB right now and will face several more years of losing more games than they win. Here's his opening --

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants. With the no-longer-satanic Rays transforming their outfielder glut into pitching goodness and the other clodhopper franchises (Rangers, Orioles, Pirates) simply refraining from shooting themselves in the foot, the Giants have seized the dumbest-team conch. This is almost as much of an achievement as the team's mid-1990s run and took a lot more work. The good years were predicated on a single spectacular acquisition and a handful of savvy supporting ones; the down era that commenced in 2005 required superhuman neglect, complacency and incompetence.

He says there are 4 solutions: 1. Don't trade Cain or Lincecum 2. Don't sign Hideki Matsui as a short-term approach 3. Bring back Barry 4. Get used to losing and opt for a rebuilding strategy that works by developing players. Here's the final paragraph --

The only rational thing for the Giants to do is blow up the fort. Blow it the #$@& up, with great vengeance and furious anger, and rebuild around the pitching core. Win-now hasn't worked in recent years; it's time to give win-later a try.

Feliz saying adios

Pedro Feliz declines arbitration because the Giants won't give him a 3-year deal.

I'm saying adios, too. Have fun in Japan!

Barry in Green and Gold

Yes, it's true. Today's SF Chronicle is reporting that the A's plan to sign Barry. According to Susan Slusser, there are six reasons --

-- He can still rake
-- He wants to play
-- He gets to stay in the Bay Area
-- It's an in-your-face to the Giants
-- Legal problems should not interfere since the trial probably won't be for another year
-- It's typical for Oakland to sign a fading former superstar (Piazza, Frank Thomas)

I hope this gives lazy hack weasels like Bruce Jenkins and Bill Plascke a bunch of big fat headaches trying to explain why Billy Beane doesn't know what he's doing.

This should certainly make the Giants-A's games interesting!

Another bad idea -- Lincecum for Rios

The SF Chronicle's John Shea's reporting that Toronto wants Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios -- another bad idea and a reflection of just how badly Brian Sabean has performed over the last four years, saddling the team with terrible deals and getting the MLB's most pathetic offense in place. So now it's at the point that one of the only ways to upgrade offensively is by trading away the franchise's most valuable asset.

One good note -- the Giants sound like they're finally pulling the plug on Pedro Feliz.

Those wacky Devil Rays!

Tampa-St. Petersberg, which nearly stole away the Giants in 1992, has been a graveyard for MLB ever since it expanded with the Rays in 1998, thanks partly the ugliness of Tropicana Field. When Bud "Idiot" Selig was trying to contract MLB, he would have gotten more support if he'd suggesting getting rid of the two Florida teams.

Now, however, the municipality has started working toward getting an open-air stadium along the lines of Mays Field in San Francisco. Good luck.

Don't do it

The Chron's reporting that Toronto's offering Alex Rios for Matt Cain. I think it's a lousy idea.

For the O'Malley revisionists

Now that the Hall of Fame has continued to embarrass itself, it's time to offer an opposing view from the attempts by lame journalists to deify Walter O'Malley. The highly respected Dave Anderson of the New York Times wrote a particularly insightful colum two months ago about this. His bottom line -- O'Malley apologists incorrectly put the blame on the move of the Dodgers from Brooklyn on Robert Moses EVEN THOUGH IT WAS O'MALLEY WHO MOVED THE TEAM.

The column (registration may be required) is entitled "Time Doesn't Relieve the Pain or Change the Facts."

Many thanks to Dan.

What a relief!

ESPN's reporting that the Tigers have traded prospects to the Fish for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

My reaction is one of relief -- relief that Sabean wasn't stupid enough to trade Cain and Lincecum. That's how pathetic the Giants have become, unfortunately.

Dodgers won't upgrade

The LA Times reports that the Dodgers don't want Andruw Jones or Aaron Rowand. what it doesn't say is that they got themselves into this fix of no offense because of their stupid signing of Juan Pierre.

Another reason why Brian Sabean should be fired is that he made a four-year $36 million offer to Pierre a year ago. What a dingbat.

More embarrassment from the Hall of Fame

How can we respect an institution that accepts Marc Ecko's defaced baseball; elects Bowie Kuhn and Walter O'Malley; and rejects Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat and Marvin Miller?

The dumbest sportswriter in America, part 2

Ken Tremendous at Fire Joe Morgan deconstructs just how stupid Bruce Jenkins is with a great post titled Do You Know What "Hurt" Means?

Nobody cares about the Orange and Black ....

... at least at the Nashville meetings, to hear the SF Chronicle's John Shea tell it. Shea spends most of today's story detailing what the A's, Bosox and Yanks might do and then comes to the conclusion that the Giants won't do much -- probably because they can't offer much.

Hard to disagree with that when the Giants farm system and roster are so lousy. It's yet another reminder why Brian Sabean should be fired.

The stupidest sportswriter in America

Bruce Jenkins has just taken away the title from the LA Times resident dingbat Bill Plaschke with this mind-numbing column in today's SF Chronicle -- praising the Angels for their idiotic Torii Hunter signing because he's a classy guy and getting on the Barry Bonds Hate Train for the umpteenth time by saying the Giants were hurt by having Bonds on the team last year.

Earth to Bruce -- maybe stupid sportswriters like YOU were hurt but the team would have lost even more than 91 games without Barry. Of the pathetic 683 runs the team scored last year, Bonds created 99 of them in part-time play. Of course, you don't care about things like stats. So here's what the Giants lineup is going to look like next year -- without any signings or trades -- and you're expecting the team will improve? --

CF Rajai Davis
LF Fred Lewis
RF Randy Winn
1B Nate Schierholtz
C Bengie Molina
2B Ray Durham
3B Kevin Frandsen
SS Omar Vizquel

In what universe does this team score more than the 2007 team?