If Not For The Courage of the Fearless Crew

Got a few extra bucks burning a hole in your pocket? Here is a one of a kind item available, which might be to your liking if you're old enough, as reported on Yahoo News:

OTTAWA (AFP) - The ship that stranded the crew and eclectic passengers of 1960s television classic "Gilligan's Island" on an uncharted desert island following a torrential storm is for sale by its Canadian owner.

The SS Minnow set out on a "three-hour tour" with actor Bob Denver (Gilligan) and his gang, which wound up as castaways for three years on US primetime television, and their buffoonery replayed around the world for many decades.

Irresistable. And only $99,000. Canadian! If you throw in Col. Klink's monocle, Boof says you've got a deal.

Poker and Baseball - Dolan, You're a Genius

I bumped into a site that is new to me that meets my criteria for linkage. Across The Seams, written by Marty Cortinas is funny, well written, has been around a while, covers the Giants, and as a bonus, he’s a poker player.

In fact, he won an entry into this summer’s World Series of Poker main event, and made it to day 3 and into the money. He has written about this on his site, and for you poker players, it is must reading.

I love his story about cashing his check for $19 grand:

Took the check to the bank to deposit it today. I just love teller chit-chat. An approximate log, as she is processing the check.

"Just get into town?"

"No, actually leaving. Just finished the World Series."

"Oh really? Did you do all right?"

(... I point to the check after long pause)

Great stuff, Marty.

Balancing Next Year's Books

The Giants are somehow still in the thick of it, after three consecutive non-Schmidt stirring pitching performances by Lowry, Morris and Cain. They are only 2 games out in the wild card chase, but keep your perspective: they are still under .500.

Meanwhile, I can’t help thinking about next season. I keep seeing references to the money the Giants have tied up for next season, and the money they will have to spend in the post-old guy era to come. I decided, being an accountant after all, to do some research on this matter. I saw several web sites, but the best appears to be Cot’s Baseball Contracts, which despite some of the complex contracts, is clear and easy to read and follow.

Here are the players who the Giants are absolutely committed to for 2007:

Matheny - $2,250,000
Vizquel - $4,000,000
Winn - $4,000,000
Sweeney - $950,000
Morris - $9,500,000
Lowry - $1,150,000
Worrell - $2,000,000 (ouch)
Benitez - $7,600,000

Total – 4 hitters and 4 pitchers, $31,450,000

In addition, the Giants hold team options for Finley (forget it at $7 million) and Wright (I doubt it at $2.5 million). They will have to pay Finley $1 million and Wright $300,000 to buy out the options. Let’s assume they do that, bringing the total 2007 payroll commitment to $32,750,000.

Before we start filling in the blanks, let’s determine how much the Giants will have to spend. Cot’s lists the 2006 Giants’ Opening Day 25 man roster payroll at a hair over $90 million. I heard a talk recently by the Giants’ CIO that suggested the team’s 2006 payroll was in the low 80’s.

Whatever the base number, the team will have substantially more ticket revenue to spend in 2007 because of the increase in prices connected to the expiration of price caps for initial seat licensees. For example, our tickets in FC 109 are going from $40 (a real bargain) to $70 (still a hell of a lot cheaper than the Warriors). If we assume conservatively that the price of 10,000 seats will increase by an average of $10 per game, that represents $8.1 million in additional revenue. So it’s fair to assume that the Giants will have at least $90 million for payroll next season, and possibly quite a bit more.

So that leaves an additional $57,250,000 to spend beyond their current contractual commitments.

There are a number of young players who will not be eligible for arbitration next season. Let’s assume that the average salary for those players will be $450,000. The 2006 minimum is $327,000, so the $450K projection is probably high. Here are the players you can expect the team to resign, give or take one:

Alfonzo (starting/backup catcher)
Frandsen (backup middle infielder)
Linden (starting/backup outfielder)
Hennessey (starter)
Corriea (long relief, possible starter)
Taschner (middle relief)
Chulk (reliever)
Sanchez (reliever or starter).

Plus, of course, Matt Cain, who could be signed to a long term contract, but let’s assume the Giants wait one more year for that. (That’s 9 players at $450,000, or a total of $4.05 million, leaving $53,200,000 to spend on the following positions:

Starting 1B
Starting 2B
Starting 3B
2 Starting Outfielders
1 Backup Infielder
1 Backup Outfielder
1 Starting Pitcher
1 Lefty Short Reliever

That’s a lot of money for 8 slots. It’s not Yankee money, but it is an average of $6.65 million per player. And it could be more, because with the ticket increases, don’t be surprised if the Giants’ payroll is closer to $100 million next season.

They may also have to assume that Worrell is done despite the guaranteed contract, so there may be one more middle reliever spot open. And of course Matheny may not be able to answer the bell, but that would mean $1 million for a backup catcher, assuming Alfonzo continues as the starter.

So who will be gone and who is coming back?

Bonds – gone. I’ve heard Larry Baer discuss this indirectly, and it sounds like the Giants are just salivating over redistributing his contract money.

Alou – gone. I think we can assume that will be both Alous.

Finley – gone. Here’s your million dollar buyout.

Durham – gone. I know, this is not going to be popular, but he’s 35, he’s been nothing but a frustration until the last 10 weeks, and he’s going to be expensive. It’s time to start over at 2B. And get real - the starter is NOT going to be Frandsen.

Feliz – resigned. He’s arbitration eligible, he has power and he’s a good fielder. Pencil Peter Happy in at $5 million for next year.

Hillenbrand – gone. Like Sean Casey, he’s too soft. Maybe “The Larry” will remember my recommendation of Lyle Overbay, soon to be a free agent, who will probably get an Edgardo Alfonso type contract of 4 years at $30 million or so, and it may be a lot less.

Schmidt – gone. He’s going to be expensive, too expensive for a guy who hasn’t been consistently great for a couple of years. I saw the 16 strikeout game, but he also blew a 4-1 first inning lead this week. The Giants can afford to sign him (at the cost of a cleanup hitting outfielder), but I think they are looking to Sanchez to become that 5th starter. Nonetheless, they are probably going to sign another starter, but not at the $15 million per that Schmidt might command.

Wright – gone. Didn’t you all know that first month was a mirage? Wright was wrong.

Kline – maybe. They have a spot for a lefty reliever (maybe 2). He’s finishing a 2 year contract at $5.5 million. He’s probably going to cost at least $2.5 million. Dads, bring your boys up to be left handed pitchers. I miss Scott Eyre.

Stanton – maybe. I say no, at 40 years old, but he’s still got something in the tank. He’s making $1 million, so he could be a cheaper alternative. Again, they will definitely need at least one lefty reliever other than Sanchez.

Predictions:

This is where Alfonso Soriano is going to end up. The Giants are believers in having a superstar to build the team around, and they like it for marketing too. They’ve got a nice spot at second base (where he wants to play) just waiting for him. And he’s got legitimate power: of his 41 homers, 20 have been at RFK, a notorious pitchers’ park. He’ll hit plenty of shots into those left field bleachers. And I don’t care about his crappy fielding. How do you think the Yankees feel now about the Soriano-ARod deal now? Six years at $18 million per. It’s in the budget.

Assuming the Giants don’t sign Schmidt, they will have the money for another big free agent, maybe not Carlos Lee at $15 million per, but an outfielder at over $10 million. Plus they’ve got room for an Overbay level player at first base. And there you’ve got your instant, new 3-4-5 in the lineup.

There is still money in the budget for another $2.5 million outfielder, a $1 million outfielder, a $1.5 million backup infielder, and a $3 million starting pitcher. Sabean loves to drive us nuts with these kinds of guys (Reggie Sanders, Jose Cruz, Mark Sweeney, Jose Vizcaino, Neifi Perez, Eric Davis, Shinjo-san, Jamey Wright). Let’s hope he does better next year.

Here’s the look of next year’s lineup: Winn, Vizquel, Soriano, big OF, new 1B, small OF/Linden, Feliz, Alfonzo/Matheny. Fill in the names Carlos Lee and Lyle Overbay into the 4 and 5 slots, and that’s not a bad lineup.

And while we’re at it, give Bob Brenley some money to take over.

The Place to Be

Having been in FC 109 the previous two days, I was home playing ball with my dog Thursday night when our Section apparently became quite the center of attention yesterday. We have a report from our field correspondent, Dale, who was on the scene:

Last night's game was action-packed! Cincinnati has a scrappy team, and it was great to see Rich Aurilla and Royce Clayton again -- even if they did have on the wrong uniforms.

Unfortunately, the Giants were the Giants of July again. They got three runs in the first two innings, then put their bats to bed and tried to cling to a three-run lead with a bullpen that has more leaks than a sieve. Brad Hennessey pitched beautifully for five innings, then lost the ball and the game to the bullpen.

Section 109 was filled with action last night! There were 4-5 foul balls hit near our seats, including one two rows behind us that went through a man's hands, off his chin, and into my hand. The medics were called, the Giants fed him food and strong drink the rest of the game, and the TV cameras focused on him for the next two innings. Being the true fan that I am, I felt sorry for him and gave him the ball, which he proceeded to rub against his bloodied chin and hold up next to his bloody mouth for the cameras.

The fan with the "best orange outfit" was also in our section, which warranted Lou Seal making several appearances, and several moments on the big screen. A man two rows in front of us (who has apparently been eating "big-ass hamburgers" at the Brickhouse for years) stood up and waved his arms every time there was a big screen opportunity. Watching the game around him was like trying to see around the Empire State building.

Last, but not least, it was Jewish heritage night, and the "Rally Rabbi" was in our section! He is apparently quite a Giants fan, and he took several opportunities to appear on the big screen, even blowing "charge" on his shofar.

Dale gave him the ball. What a weenie.

It reminds me of a classic Boof story. He was sitting behind home plate at the Stick when a foul ball was rocketed straight back, and hit an eighty year old women smack in the center of the forehead. It knocked her out cold. As they carried her out on a stretcher, Boof got up and screamed at her, “Lady, you’ve got to PAY ATTENTION!”

Tale of Two Batters

Here are a couple of stat lines for two hitters. Can you identify them?

Player A
28 G, 107 AB, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .215 BA

Player B
30 G, 120 AB, 14 HR, 28 RBI, .317 BA

Need a hint? OK, think Giant first basemen.

Player A is Shea Hillenbrand since he arrived in San Francisco. Player B is Lance Niekro's stats for the Fresno Grizzlies.

Timing is everything.

Hugs and Kisses

The Giants swept the DBacks today, and I was in attendance at two wild games, Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

Last night I was joined by most of the folks in my seat license group, including the Colonel and the Doc. We began a tradition last season of choosing one game that we buy all of the tickets around us in FC 109 so we can share a game. The Colonel calls it the Group Hug game. Last year we saw the Canoodler game together. Last night, it was another round of Boonitez.

You all read about Buttmando’s meltdown in the ninth last night with the Giants ahead by 4. With a run in, 2 on and 2 outs, Felipe pulled him. The Giants’ “closer” was not happy. When they finally pulled out the game with Kline getting his first save in 2 years, Boonitez did not come out of the dugout to shake hands with his teammates. He was probably already in his car, headed home.

There was a guy sitting behind us last night who was hilarious. In the ninth inning he kept telling us we had to keep it positive for Armando. He was ranting: "Why y'all booing Benitez? Who else are they gonna bring in? Vinnie Chulk? Jack Taschner? You gotta understand this: the Giants got no bullpen". And he added, “Give him the love. Give him the love.” But when Felipe yanked him, he whipped out his cell phone and yelled into it, “Is this JT the Brick? Our closer sucks, I’ve got no love for him anymore.”

He got another chance today, coming in to close out the ninth with a more precarious one run lead. This was a different pitcher. He was seething. Facing the top of the order, he just started firing 96 MPH fastballs, one after another, like a gatling gun. With 2 outs and a 2-2 count on Luis Gonzalez, he threw his only off-speed pitch, a nasty splitter, for the final swinging strike. It was a dominating performance.

The crowd booed him lustily when he came in today, but by the second pitch, a bullet at the knees, the mood of the crowd changed dramatically. The crowd was on its feet for the entire final at bat, and the cheers poured down on every pitch. The great hope is that in his fury and embarrassment at being removed last night, he may have found himself. On the other hand, Felix Rodriguez had some great, overwhelming outings too, but it didn’t keep him from giving up critical runs at the most critical times.

My guess: Boonitez still sucks. But it is possible that Felipe did the best thing possible to get him on track last night.

Eliezer Alfonzo was amazing. He had the key hits in both games, a two out double last night to drive in the go ahead run in the eighth, and a triple to right center in the seventh today to drive in the game winner. He only got one hit today, but he was absolutely mashing the ball in every at bat. He is one of the great, unreported stories of this season. A decade in the minors, and suddenly, finally, he gets his chance, and the result has been remarkable. He’s not just adequate, he’s good, very good. And now he’s added clutch hitting to his resume. He is surely going to be the starting catcher next season. When are those hacks at the Chron going to write a feature article telling the story of his glacier-like trip to the major leagues?

Todd Linden had a nice clutch at bat last night too. The Doc and I grabbed him off the scrap heap for next year’s Pickled Pecklers as we think he’s going to finally get his chance with the coming shakeup. The youngsters are starting to show their stuff, with Cain and Lowry having fine outings in this series as well.

It’s impossible to report on this series without some comments about the Diamondbacks. This has got to be one of the finest rebuilding jobs through a minor league system ever. Whoever engineered this is a genius. For those of us who are sick of the old guys on the Giants, the Dbacks are the model.

C – Johnny Estrada 30
1B – Conor Jackson 24
2B – Orlando Hudson 28
SS – Stephen Drew 23
3B – Chad Tracy 26
OF – Eric Byrnes 30
OF – Carlos Quentin 24 (next Monday)
OF – Chris Young 22

Jackson, Drew, Tracy, Quentin and Young all came up through the system. They have so much talent here, including power and speed, that you’ve got to think if they add a couple of pitchers next season to Brandon Webb and Miguel Bautista (say Jason Schmidt, who was less than spectacular today) they’ll be one of the favorites in the NL. But more than that, this is a team a fan can really get excited about.

Take Chris Young, who came up to the majors for the first time this past week. Last night he made a catch on a ball in centerfield that was flat out unbelievable. I’m not going to describe it, I can’t possibly do it justice. It had to be a web gem on ESPN. Then, as often happens, he came up in the next inning and mashed a line drive double to left center, to almost the exact place where he made the great catch. Today he crushed a two run homer deep into the bleachers off Schmidt to tie the game. The kid is only 22. He’s just scratching the surface of his talent, which is enormous.

The Pecklers traded for Estrada a couple of weeks ago. We kind of liked him for next year. Then we got a real eyeful of him last night: a single, two doubles and a homer – every ball just blasted. Holey moley, this guy can hit. (That’s what Alfonzo looked like today, just blasting every pitch over the plate.) He’s going to be the centerpiece of this team, the glue. And he sure looks like a catcher.

I’m sure Brian Sabean is not going to rebuild the Giants in this manner. He’s going to have free agent money, and he’s going to spend it. Let’s just hope he does a better job than spending it on Edgardo Alfonso and Ray Durham and Armando Benitez and Mike Matheny and Moises Alou and Mike Morris. It’s like purchasing $30+ guys in a Rotisserie draft: you’ve got to be right. If you’re not, you’re dead, unless you’re the Yankees. But realistically Sabes can’t just slap together a minor league system overnight. And of course, he’s never, ever shown the ability to put one together over any period of time.

Yesterday I posted a piece in which I talked a little about Will Clark. Low and behold, he was at the game last night. Between innings in the middle of the game they showed some old Clark highlights, and then they put him on the big screen at the stadium. The crowd went wild, giving him a prolonged standing ovation. He got up and waved and then sat down, but the crowd wouldn’t quit, standing and cheering until he took another curtain call. I bet he was surprised at the hearfelt ovation and the obvious depth of feeling for him here. The Giants love The Thrill, and I’ll bet everyone (except Jeffrey Leonard) continued to root for him throughout his post-Giant career. He works for Arizona now, along with his buddy and another Giant favorite, Matt Williams. And speaking of Matt, if you never saw him do his Babe Ruth imitation, you haven’t lived.

So the Giants are 4 behind the Reds for the wild card as they begin a 4 game series against them this week. And they are 4-1/2 behind the Dodgers as the Padres and Dodgers get underway tonight. There are still almost 6 weeks to go. The playoffs seem so unlikely, with all of these damaged and missing parts. When you compare the teams, I’m not exactly sure how they swept Arizona this week. But they did. It all looks like an elaborate Penn and Teller magic trick, but there they are, still standing.

Give them the love.

I Told You So

True story.

Back in November I was chatting with “The Larry.” No, that’s not Larry Dot Net. If you’re a Giants fan, you know who “The Larry” is.

He asked me two things. First, he asked me if the Giants should consider keeping J.T. Snow. I laughed. He was serious. I told him that no experienced fantasy player would even consider keeping Snow. I appreciate what JT has meant to the franchise, but the guy can’t hit anymore. I told him to dump away.

Then he asked if I had any ideas for a left-handed first baseman to replace Snow. I suggested Lyle Overbay, who at the time was still on the Brewers. It was clear that Overbay was going to be dealt, because the Brewers clearly wanted to go with Prince Fielder. Overbay and Fielder can only play first base, so it was obvious Overbay had to go. I said he was probably arbitration eligible, but he was a solid left-handed hitter right in his prime who wouldn’t be too expensive.

Larry looked at me and said words that shocked me: “That’s a new name. No one has mentioned him before.”

I said he had to be kidding. It was clear that the Brewers had to move Overbay. And although he might not be Ryan Howard, Overbay is definitely a professional hitter. I said I didn’t know what he would cost in trade, but it was clear the Brewers wanted to move him, and it wouldn’t cost Matt Cain. He said he’d bring it up.

Shortly thereafter the Giants signed Sweeney to be their left-handed first baseman. The Brewers later traded Overbay to the Blue Jays for David Bush, Gabe Gross and someone I don’t know. They avoided arbitration by signing him to a one year contract at $2.5 million.

Bush has some promise, but might be the eternal starter with a 4.30 ERA. Gross looks like a decent backup.

To date, Overbay’s numbers are:

460 AB’s, 37 2B, 19 HR, 77 RBI, .309/.366/.517

Do you think he might have helped the Giants?

Another Thrill

I know that I’ve been a little lax this past month about writing here. The demise of the Giants coupled with the demise of the Pickled Pecklers has made me interested in some other things. That said, this is entry number 300 in this blog, begun just a year and a half ago. As you know, for a blog, I tend to write long entries, so that says something.

To celebrate, I want to write my favorite kind of entry: an historical observation, somewhat obscure. My favorite entry ever was my discovery of Hal Trosky, who at age 25 was listed as one of Albert Pujols’ equivalent players by Baseball Reference. I spent a lot of time finding out about a guy who was, for a while, an incredible player in the thirties, but whose career was ultimately cut short by blinding migrane headaches.

I’ve been doing some research on BR lately on potential Hall of Famers, including Craig Biggio (yes), Manny Ramirez (he’s a nut, but he’s got some serious numbers), David Ortiz (not clear yet) and others. I was also looking at some guys who aren’t going to make it, like Edgar Martinez (wonderful hitter, but nowhere near HOF).

Which led me to Will Clark.

I’m not an old Giants fan. (OK, I'm old.) I came to California in 1974, 32 years ago yesterday. At the time I came here, to be honest, I wasn’t much of a baseball fan anymore. The Yankees sucked and I stopped following baseball. I was an NBA and NFL fan. I became a baseball fan again during the 1975 World Series (Game 6, greatest game ever). And I became a Giants fan when Joe Morgan hit that homer against the Dodgers on the last day of the season in 1982.

Right from the start in 1986 I was a big fan of The Thrill. I was there when he stroked that fastball up the middle in the NLCS against Mitch Williams to win it in 1989. I saw him on TV cursing up a storm on live TV after clinching the division in 1987. I’d like to say he’s my all-time favorite Giant, but he’s just edged out by the guy whose Sonoma Crushers bobblehead I’m looking at right now: Kevin Mitchell. Another time about Mitch.

Clark didn’t get enough votes last year to even make the next HOF ballot. It’s a shame, because when he hit that homer in his first at bat off Nolan Ryan, he was, for that moment, The Natural. I’ve got lots of his rookie cards if anyone is interested in buying them.

Will Clark was a good hitter his entire career, from beginning to end. He had a beautiful swing, but didn’t have quite enough power or quite enough durability. It was great to see him hit so well in his swan song with the Cardinals in 2000, replacing Mark McGwire who got hurt that season. He hit .345 and slugged .655 down the stretch, and topped it off by hitting .412 and slugging .706 in the NLCS. It would have been nice to see Clark get one more shot at the Series, and I was rooting for him all the way.

He finished with a career batting average of .303, but only hit 284 homers over his 15 years in the majors. He needed 5 more years of production to be considered, and even that might not have been enough. He sure had a sweet swing.

This isn’t about Will Clark. It’s about a guy I’ve never heard of who was Clark’s closest comparison on BR for the first 3 years of his career, a guy named Don Hurst.

Hurst was a first baseman who came up for the Phillies in 1928 at the age of 22. His closest career comparison is a guy named Zeke Bonura. He’s also compared to Kevin Millar, Sean Casey and Leon Durham. Certainly not HOF material. On Hurst’s page, Clark is listed as his closest comparison through age 27.

Here are some numbers:

1928 – 396 AB, 23 2B, 19 HR, 64 RBI, .285/.391/.508
1929 – 589 AB, 29 2B, 31 HR, 125 RBI, .304/.390/.525
1930 – 391 AB, 19 2B, 17 HR, 78 RBI, .327/.401/.522
1931 – 489 AB, 37 2B, 11 HR, 91 RBI, .305/.386/.468
1932 – 579 AB, 41 2B, 24 HR, 143 RBI, .339/.412/.547
1933 – 550 AB, 27 2B, 8 HR, 76 RBI, .267/.327/.329
1934 – 281 AB, 14 2B, 5 HR, 33 RBI, .228/.279/.331

In 1929 at the age of 23 he hit 31 homers while striking out only 36 times. I found a list on the web of players under the age of 24 who hit over 30 homers and showing the number of strikeouts that season. Joe D was #1, #2 and #5 in terms of the lowest number of strikeouts in such a season. Ted Williams was #3. Mel Ott was #6 and #7. Gary Sheffield was #8, Don Mattingly was #9 and Hank Aaron was #10. Hurst was #4. That’s pretty good company.

In 1932, Hurst led the NL in RBIs with 143. He was the starting NL first baseman in the first ever all-star game.

Somewhere along the way he set a record by hitting six homers in six games. This was subsequently tied by Lou Gehrig and Ken Williams, and later broken by Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey, Jr. By the way, those were his only hits in the six games.

In 1935, at the age of 29, Don Hurst was washed up and out of baseball.

In the middle of the 1934 season, he was dumped by the Phillies to the Cubs for a prospect, Dolph Camilli, who went on to win the NL MVP in 1941. Don Hurst’s claim to fame is that he was the weak side of one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history. Given that he only had 151 more at bats left in his career, it would be impossible to dispute.

There is no evidence that it was connected to a cause other than the loss of the ability to hit the baseball. There was an immediate decline from his career year of 1932. There was a ton of hitting in the early ‘30’s (Hack Wilson drove in those 191 runs in 1930). There is no explanation as to why a 28 year old hitter reaching what should have been the prime of his career couldn’t hit a baseball anymore.

It’s a mystery. And so before we start inking Albert Pujols into the Hall of Fame, let’s remember that as great as he is, he’s still got a hell of a lot to accomplish.

A New Low

Nope, not the Giants.

ESPN, our nation’s great sporting network, seems to be having trouble finding broadcast ideas. Over the years we’ve seen spelling bees, poker, scrabble and the World Series of Darts. This weekend it was wall to wall Little League, not the finals, but the preliminary rounds.

Of course there have always strongman competitions, and superstars type events. Recently I’ve seen paintball competitions. Remember, this is the network that brought us “Bonds on Bonds” until they couldn’t take it anymore.

But today, it’s a new low. Chris Berman and Tom Jackson are hosting a live Fantasy Football draft. Eight ESPN commentators (Irvin, Young, Salisbury, Jaws, Ditka, Mortensen, Kolber and Bakay (who the hell is Bakay?)) are now in the fifth round. They are using the set and the graphics of the NFL draft, with the pick scrawl across the bottom.

Any experienced fantasy player would love to be in a league with these guys. Reggie Bush was the #6 pick. Deshawn Foster was #16. Deion Branch just got taken with the 48th pick. Ditka took the Bears defense in the 4th round. At least there is a token of sanity – through 8 rounds, no Niners have been taken.

I guess this might just be what retirement is like: ridiculous TV programming until you die. At least they didn’t trot out Mel Kiper.

PS. Speaking of TV, if you’re not watching “Entourage”, you’re not living.

Boo Blownitez

My wife and I have been power watching the third season of The Wire this past weekend. Last night in between episodes, I picked up pieces of the Giant game. As I have Hensley on my team, I was enjoying his performance, albeit in a losing cause for me, but good for the Giants. He’s got pretty good stuff for a rookie no one talks about.

Anyway, one of those in between moments was the bottom of the ninth. There he was on the mound, Blownitez, ready to do his thing. Sure enough, there are guys at first and second, one out and Pickled Peckler Josh Barfield at the plate.

And at this moment, I found myself rooting for Barfield and hoping that Blownitez would give up the gopher ball that would end his Giants’ career. Sure enough, he hung a slider above the belt, and Barfield blasted it to deep left center. Off the bat I thought it was out, and so did Barfield from the look on his face. It died in Linden’s glove at the edge of the warning track, and Fatmando got Blum to strike out for his first save in….can’t remember.

Anyway, I actually have reached the point with him that I am rooting against him. I’d rather see him blow a save than finish a win. That boy has got to go.

BABI Race 2006, RIP

Long and fantasy baseball related. I just can’t write about the Giants these days.

In writing this, I keep thinking of Cool Pounder’s 2005 BABI Talk commentary about my writing about BABI and the Pickled Pecklers in Sour Grapes last season:

“He’s honest about his own foibles most of the time, but you can occasionally see the rationalization shining through.”

He then went on to chide me for comments about the trade that will not be mentioned.

After all our talk about trading and not trading, dumping and not dumping, going for 6th place and going for 3rd place, affecting the race and not affecting the race, we made a trade today that pretty much (we think) ended the BABI race for first place:

To the Rips: Carlos Lee (08-40), Mike Barrett (06 contract) and Tom Glavine (08-11)

To the Pecklers: Eric Byrnes (08-13), Johnny Estrada (08-10) and a bum (Jason Marquis, unkeepable at any price)

As an aside, it is personally painful to let go of the guy who smashed AJ Pierzinski in the face. The 10 day suspension was worth it to us too.

I’d like to discuss this trade here. I hope it is not seen as rationalizing this deal, which is clearly a dump deal, and clearly helps the Rips enormously to lock up first place.

The Rips entered the day in first place with 85 points. The Cappers are second with 79. Everyone else is far in the distance. With this deal, the Rips are picking up homers and RBI’s, maybe some batting average (that’s close) and are sacrificing a few steals, though not many, as Lee has 13.

They also get Glavine, whose numbers (mostly 12 wins) are good, though he’s stunk for about a month. But they jettison Marquis, who without doubt will get the Bullinger of the Year award. Some of his outings have been so extreme (13 runs and 14 hits in one game, 12 and 14 in another), that we may rename the award for him. He’s not likely to be on our team next Tuesday afternoon.

On June 26, I penned an entry called “Deadwood”, which was mostly about how unwatchable the Giants are (there is something that certainly hasn’t changed). At the end, though, I concluded that the Pecklers were dead wood too, and it was time to dump. It freaked the Old Bat out, and caused him to pull the trigger. Chaos ensued.

Meanwhile, we methodically contacted teams in the middle about dumping to them. We were aiming at one large (Lee, Rolen and some more hitting) and 2 small deals (one based on Furcal, the other based on Dempster). We started with Larry Dot Net, who was in 6th place, but seemed a perfect fit. He needed power badly. We offered him a deal that included Lee, Rolen, Barrett and Jenkins. We proposed a 5 for 2, the two being Fielder and Phillips. Larry decided he couldn’t do better than third, so he passed.

We then contacted HOBO. We didn’t see a great fit here because they only had one hitter keeper (Holliday) who needs to be extended. They also have 3 nice starting pitcher keepers, though Patterson is a little dicey with a career on the DL. Getting a pitcher from them meant replacing it, which meant Glavine, who at the end of June was 11-2, 3.34 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. We started structuring a deal which would have included Lee, Rolen and Barrett for Holliday and Capuano. Hank also asked for Glavine and Dempster.

We really wanted to keep Dempster as the basis of another deal (someone always needs saves). We knew the Lickers wanted Dempster, and simultaneously we talked to them about Barfield (08-5F). Dempster was imploding around that time, ready to lose the closer job any day. Big Rick basically swapped Dempster for Barfield straight up, and when we told him to pick any pitcher, he threw in Wise (08-3). Happily for the Lickers, Dempster has turned it around (8 saves and 1.98 ERA for them).

That didn’t end the deal with HOBO, but we didn’t see Capuano as being that much better as a keeper than Glavine at that moment. So we were essentially giving up Lee, Rolen and Barrett for Holliday, in his breakout year, who will have to be extended to $23 next year. Noel chided me today for not trading them Glavine, saying that we considered him a keeper. At the time he was, but things changed, and Glavine’s effectiveness has changed radically. He’s only won 1 game since the end of June, with an ERA over 6 and a WHIP near 2. Mark is actually taking a big chance with him.

OK, maybe that’s rationalizing there. But there is no denying that Glavine through June and Glavine since June are two very different pitchers.

There was one other guy we were starting to have second thoughts about trading at that time. Scott Rolen went on a tear before the all-star game. He hit .372 in June, at which time his season BA was .343. He was suddenly looking like a keeper at $32, and we plan to keep him at this time.

At this point we actually talked to a few teams about going for it, offering Webb as bait. We never got close to a deal there, but we considered it. Meanwhile we’re sort of in the race for sneaking into the money, bouncing around between 9th and 6th over the past month. We’ve been trying, including paying $41 for Julio Lugo this week, with a backup bid on Kevin Mench at $41. We wanted one of them for sure, preferably Lugo, who steals bases. We did not pick him up to trade him, or obviously not to keep him, but to help us for this season. No one else bid more than a keepable price for him (highest was $22).

The Rips started to pull away from the Cappers. Boof had been after Carlos Lee all season, but we put him off, explaining that we did not want to make a deal that would end the BABI race. We were never really tempted, anyway, because he kept offering Freddie Sanchez. He even called the day he got Sanchez in trade offering him to us. Sanchez doesn’t hit homers and doesn’t steal bases. Before this year, he’s never done anything other than sit on the bench or the DL. But suddenly, there he is, atop the NL BA list. Is it real? Who knows?

So, as been our style, we started with the team that was behind, the Cappers. Actually, believe it or not, he started with us. Geo sent me an email asking if Carlos Lee was legally tradable, now that he’s in the AL. He was sniffing, and here is an excerpt from his email:

“I was thinking along the lines of someone like J Drew 24/08, or J Davanon 6/08, or A Kearns 26/08. B Watson is also available as a throw in.”

Oh Joy!

Geo has some nice keepers, but none of these guys are that. For Carlos Lee (29-85-13-290) we want somebody performing at a relatively cheap price. I told him that we’re willing to keep Lee, as he’s keepable if he stays in the NL, unless he’s willing to talk about a real keeper.

Looking at his roster, the Cappers have two incredibly crappy catchers, Javier Valentin (3-17-0-225), and Eric Munson (4-18-0-208). We have Barrett, Alfonzo and Nevin. We offered his choice of 2 of the 3 plus Glavine for Adrian Gonzalez (08-13). We offered Glavine because we heard he was looking for a starting pitcher to bolster his wins. He passed. As he said,

“I have to tell you, Glavine scares the ____ (his underscore, I have no problem in using the word “shit” here) out of me. The only reason I wanted to see about Lee (for offense) was to enable me to give up some offense for pitching.”

It seemed I was offering both hitting and a pitcher, but I can understand him being scared of Glavine, whose numbers since the end of June have sucked. So I decided to really look at George’s team. I don’t have the pieces (other than Webb, who he can’t have) to fix his pitching problem. He’s got a big lead in homers and RBI’s. What I could provide that he needs is steals and BA. These are critical, because Mark is ahead of him in both categories, and passing him is a two point swing in each category.

So we offered SB’s (serious SB’s) and BA. Here was the offer:

Furcal (07-30) 7-43-26-283, Lugo 12-30-20-300 and Barrett 13-44-0-330
for
Gonzalez (08-13) 19-58-0-306, Betamit (08-6) 12-35-3-285, and Munson

This deal would have finished us in the race for 6th place for this season. But we really would like a first baseman for next year. Geo passed because he didn’t want to trade Betamit.

That’s Wilson Betamit, the middle infielder now on the Dodgers who became a backup player yesterday when Nomar came off the DL. That Wilson Betamit. George could have finished with 47 hitting points and passed Mark in 2 categories, picking up a net of 6 points. Furthermore, he would have picked up the tiebreaker point between them.

So I sent an email to Boof telling him to come and get Lee. I told him we didn’t want Sanchez, but we could do a deal around Byrnes. He offered the deal we made, I confirmed it with the Doc, and the deal was done. Easy as that.

George could still win if he wants to try. He’s got Gonzalez and Dan Uggla and Edwin Encarnacion, and at excellent prices. But he’s given up, just like he gave up last year. Second place. Again. Sex with your sister. We’re going to change the name of his team to “The Aristocrats.”

Glavine might not work out for Boof, but now he’s got nice upside in homers. He might even pass Geo in RBI’s (he’s 34 behind with 7 weeks to go). And if Glavine doesn’t suck, he’s got, like everyone, upside in wins. And, most important, he’s got a 6 point lead today.

This will probably end trading as we know it this season. We’re still interested in stolen bases, if anyone wants to trade them. We’d also like peace in the Middle East.

Let me leave the last word on this to Kenny 9, who sent me this email today:

“After your trade with Boof was announced, I told Geo that Izzy, Luis Gonzalez (AZ), Aaron Rowand and Jamey Carroll were available for two of his marginal keepers. He thinks this trade seals it for Mark. I told him that he's ‘worthless and weak.’”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.