Frisco’s Baseball Giants

As I was watching last night’s Griffin-Jackson fight on my computer, I also had on my smaller screen the Dodgers-Giants game, and I saw them winning.  It didn’t strike me that much, until I noticed that Barry Zito was pitching…and winning…and it was the seventh inning.  Now, any other pitcher would not have this much fanfare after a 5-2 win on Independence Day weekend unless there was some milestone involved.  I don’t think a fourth win of 18 starts is some sort of milestone.  The sad thing is that, even though it’s a holiday honoring our country and our troops, and even though it was a really good outing with 10 strikeouts, the whole season is nothing to celebrate about, especially with the way he’s pitching.

I’m not talking about the whole team, too.  I’m talking about the whole division.  The NL West is as much of a joke as the NFC West, with the league leader two games under .500, and San Francisco still has a chance to jump into second, if not even it up, by the All-Star break (assuming the Mets cooperate in time for the Cubs).  But the good news in all of that is the fact that the Giants still have a shot at the NL West title.  There’s just not that great of a reward that comes with it.

First round draft Buster Posey still hasn’t signed a contract with the Giants, meaning that instead of going to the Arizona summer league team or Salem-Kaiser, if he does not sign by August 15, he will spend the rest of the season at home.  Following the Seminoles’ College World Series elimination, Director of Player Personnel Bobby Evans stated that he typically lets his draft picks catch their breath.  If he doesn’t sign by mid-August…sorry Salem-Kaiser.  Augusta or San Jose, you’re up next year.

An update on the Vinnie Chulk issue…he cleared waivers and is going to Fresno.  This, of course one week after he had said that he wouldn’t take an assignment, so I don’t expect him to report, and he might wind up a free agent.

Catcher Steve Holm and reliever Billy Sadler goes down to Fresno, Elizer Alfonso finishes his 50-game suspension in the minors and moves up to San Fransisco.  Pitcher Osiris Matos goes from Connecticut to San Fransisco.  I didn’t do a Spotlight on him, so here goes…8 saves in 27 appearances and a decent 1.23 ERA in almost 37 innings.

Anything that works is fine by me, and so far, at the halfway point, not much pitching-wise besides Lincecum has been working.

Vinnie Chulk, the middle reliever who has had three losses in 27 appearances, has been placed on waivers today from Cleveland. His last appearance was on Sunday, when he pitched for two-thirds of an inning on Sunday’s disastrous game, and was credited for the blown save, but not the loss. As he’s on waivers, the Giants may look to trade him. In his place, Sergio Romo, one of my “Spotlight On” focuses will be joining the rotation, when I honestly thought he’d be in Fresno next year. Since I did a “Spotlight” on Romo in April, Romo has had one win, five saves, but he did start to allow runs (0 ERA when I did the post), and his ERA is now at 4.00.

The fact that the Giants promoted a pitcher tells me that as for Chulk, any trade talks will be done for minor league prospects only at the other end. One posting I’ve seen is that Toronto would do well with him. However, it’s been reported by mlb.com’s Chris Haft that Chulk won’t accept an assignment to Fresno. This tells me that more teams might be interested in him since all they would have to give up for a major league pitcher is a minor leaguer or two. Honestly, this might work well for the Giants, because they can probably send a new player to Fresno, and send someone on the red-eye to Connecticut to replace Romo, possibly Jesse Foppert, who has pitched 32 and-a-third innings for a 7.52 innings, and gave up 5 earned runs yesterday in a third of an inning against the Casper Ghosts.

Stay tuned for trade updates involving Chulk.

UPDATE: While looking for more news involving this story, I found this gem from Canada (cross posted on San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush).

…Kyle Haines, a 26 year-old second baseman for AA Connecticut Defenders.  Batting .325, the 31st round draft pick has reached base in seven of the last 10 games.  He’s hit no home runs so far this season, though he’s hit 13 RBI’s and has only struck out 17 times in 120 bats.  With his great stats in AA, it’s a wonder why he’s had such poor stats at the A-Advanced level in San Jose, where he hit .105, while hitting .258 in A Augusta.  Yes, he only spent nine games in San Jose, but that must have been one hell of an off-season development.  I honestly expect him to be playing for San Francisco in September of 2009.

…and no one in Oakland wonders why they let him go in the first place.  Seriously, they completely rocked him.  Granted, this Oakland team isn’t like the team in the fall, but this is his third time he’s faced his old team, and is 0-3.

In other notes, Kevin Correia will miss another month since going on the DL, meaning we still have Pat Misch as a starter, something that hasn’t been too impressive.  If you ask me, we need to start looking toward Fresno and calling several pitchers up for a game tryout.  Why not…not much has been going right?

Since I live in Baltimore, I rarely get to see the Giants in person unless they play the Nationals, or when the AL East plays the NL West every other time. That being said, this past Friday, I actually got visit the Nationals Park, which was very nice, but also, very expensive. Seriously, $18 was the second cheapest they could go? (more…)

This kid has been called the best player in college baseball, it’s kind of a wonder why he fell to fifth.  In fact, MLB.com’s webcast play-by-play guys actually wondered why Tampa Bay didn’t take him first overall.  In the two years that he’s been a Seminole, his batting average has been .364, but he’s only hit 7 home runs.  Even in the tough ACC, that’s still very low.  What has helped is the fact that he came into college as a shortstop, and moved to catcher (more on that in a bit).  Below are several videos.

Buster Posey FSU Baseball

Buster Posey Long Homerun

Buster Posey HR off UM’s Bellamy

This next one’s controversial.  Going on back to that shortstop subject, this next one is a video on Pardon the Interruption from earlier this college season.  It seems like Savannah State, the favorite whipping-boy of the NCAA’s infraction committee every time USC pays an athlete, was victimized by Posey playing every single position, even pitching.  Say what you want about the character of Florida State’s coach on this move, but could it be that by the time he goes through the system, he could fill a hole that’s not a catching position?

Here’s that PTI rant

Just wanted to call attention to this.

So I’m thinking back on the strange week that the Giants just had, and it came to me that maybe this team really does have some sort of plan on getting to the top within the next year.  I mean, we just swept the division leaders in Phoenix, but we lose 2 of 3 against the Padres, who are below us.  What makes me think that we actually have some hope is the fact that our pitching is actually getting better, even Barry Zito’s.  Against the Diamondbacks, he pitched 6 innings for 3 Earned Runs, and a no-decision.  Since being demoted to the bullpen, he has not pitched as poorly as he did in April.  Tonight, he’s going against Pedro Martinez for the first time in his career, and it could actually be a duel.  Obviously, Zito’s still not earning his paycheck, but Martinez is coming off of a hamstring injury, which still might affect him a bit.

What I find concerning is there’s still a lack of offensive firepower.  Last night notwithstanding, there hasn’t been a lot of run support for the pitching, when it’s done well.  Cain’s lead has been blown, and the offense could only give Tim Lincecum one run before the relief allowed a run in the ninth.  Yes, Giants’ fans should be used to that this year, and there has be a little trade talk for better firepower, but some people on message boards think that Lincecum, Cain and/or Fred Lewis should be offered, which by far is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in years.

Most people know that I live in Baltimore, so this weekend is special to me.  It will be the only time I get to see the Giants in person, and not on TV or on TVAnts.  I haven’t decided which game I’m going to, it probably depends on which day Lincecum is pitching since he’s on my fantasy team, and I’d like to watch my fantasy guys closer.  Plus, I have two Nationals on my team, though their both on the DL right now (Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman).  I’ll post some pictures, especially of their beautiful stadium.