So I sat there. My first Opening Day Game ever! And they lost.
And here are my thoughts, a day later....
Matt Cain, days like that are going to happen. Even though they touched him for 5, it still looked like he was in there trying to be the stopper for this team. Too bad no one on this team is able to drive in more than a run a game when he is pitching.
Brian Bocock, looks like he will be a good Majro League shortstop if he does the following: Take Charge Out There! Mr. Bocock, you have a glove, use it. The shortstop has always been the anchor, the captain, of the infield defense. If in doubt, you grab. Don't leave it up to Castillo or whoever is playing 2nd base.
Eugenio Velez is fun to watch. Not sure about his defense (mostly because Bruce Bochy has decided that since Kevin Frandsen is on the DL, he needs someone else's head to mess with by putting them in a different position every other day).
Rich Aurillia... I cannot decide if its just a bad hitting streak for him or what he really is these days. Back during his first go-round with the Giants, he was one of my favorites. Now... with diminished defense and a diminished bat... I am almost hoping that he goes gracefully out to pasture.
Jose Castillo, well what can I say? He has all the bad parts of Pedro Feliz and Armando Benitez. Hits when no one is on base. With runners in scoring position, he grounds out. Cannot field a ball to his right hand (i.e. non-glove) side if its fair, but damn, hit a hard hit foul ball 10 feet off the line in foul territory and he nabs it like it will help with getting a gold glove. Get rid of this bum!!!!
Fred Lewis is just an at-bat or two away from being back. He is just getting unlucky with where the ball falls. I like the fact that he is getting walks and not just swinging at everything to get out of the slump he is in right now.
As for the boo-birds heard at the ball park... I was one of them. But I think that if you are playing defense like Roger Dorn, then you deserve to get booed. On the other hand, I did not participate in some of the abuse heaped on Bocock and other rookies. A week into the season and trying to deal with the new pressure, especially on their first opening day, they get a pass for now.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Is It Too Soon To Talk About This?
Normally I am not the guy who wants to do the drastic things but after watching tonight's game, I think that the Giants need to take some drastic steps. First, I think its time to dump Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy.
First, Sabean, I think, is starting to take things too personally. Last season, if you listened to him in the interviews, it was as if he was feeling like the whipping boy of the Giants instead of Armando Benitez. And that tone seems to still be there right now. Furthermore, the team he has built is ... well... awful. For instance, he has signed a middle infielder (weak glove to begin with and now with a weak bat) to play first base. His solution to the injuries in Spring Training: sign Jose Castillo. Jose Castillo, stats-wise is arguably worse than Pedro Feliz, the player he nominally replaces at third base. His power is decreasing over the past few season, his on-base percentage is almost the same as Feliz's (.296 to .288) and their batting averages are almost identical (.256 and .252). Furthermore, Sabean has yet to pull off a good deal in the last four seasons (and it could be argued that its been six since he had structured either a good free agent signing or a trade with another team).
Under Sabean's watch, the Giants have failed to produce an effective big-league position player in eight years. The pitchers that it has produced can pitch as well as they can, but if there is no one to drive in the runs... well why not ask Matt Cain how much fun that is.
Second, Bruce Bochy must go. As I was listening to the start of the game tonight on the radio, Dave Flemming was talking about how Bochy is 7th on the active managers list for wins. He is. He has 1022 career wins. On the other hand, he has 1067 career losses. Even if you throw out last years abysmal finish by the Giants, his record with the Padres was 951 wins and 975 losses. That is otherwise known as a .494 winning percentage (meaning he loses more than he wins). Keep me as a manager in the Big Leagues for 13 plus seasons, and I would probably have at least 806 wins (thats if I lost 100 games each year).
Now, winning percentage alone is not the reason why Bochy needs to go. Its his managerial style. He does not manage the team. When was the last time you saw him bench an expensive player? Last season, he kept running out Benitez over and over again in save situations, leading to blown saves and lost games. The only reason Benitez did not lose more games was that they traded him away.
Then there is Ray "Can't Hit and Can't Field" Durham. Last season he hit .218. He played, inexplicably, in 138 games. And he was supposed to be the big bat in the Giants line up. The argument, I suppose, is that he had 71 RBIs, but those, I would argue, are misleading. He is no longer that fast. His glove, suspect in good years, is deteriorating before our eyes (Examples A and B would be the two ground balls that he was unable to get to.)
The Giants are a team in transition. They should be seeing what the new kids can and cannot do. So far, the only one to get any real playing time is the one rookie who will definitely not be around once Vizquel gets off the DL. Rather than playing Fred Lewis, he is sticking with Dave Roberts. Instead of seeing what Ortmeier can do as an everyday player, they are running out Rich Aurillia at first base.
As a manager, Bochy needs to bench some of these players. Already too many of the older ones are doing the same things that made 2007 such a dismal year. They are not advancing the runners. Hitting into double plays. Not being selective enough at the plate and then overcompensating by watching strike threes go across the plate with runners in scoring position.
I've lived through a 100 loss season. I was hoping to avoid it again. I'm no Salty Balty (if you listen to KNBR, you know who I am talking about) but with the way this team is going, the question is not whether its going to happen, but whether the Giants are going to make a run at setting a new record.
Mr. Magowan, please, reconsider your management team. Soon.
First, Sabean, I think, is starting to take things too personally. Last season, if you listened to him in the interviews, it was as if he was feeling like the whipping boy of the Giants instead of Armando Benitez. And that tone seems to still be there right now. Furthermore, the team he has built is ... well... awful. For instance, he has signed a middle infielder (weak glove to begin with and now with a weak bat) to play first base. His solution to the injuries in Spring Training: sign Jose Castillo. Jose Castillo, stats-wise is arguably worse than Pedro Feliz, the player he nominally replaces at third base. His power is decreasing over the past few season, his on-base percentage is almost the same as Feliz's (.296 to .288) and their batting averages are almost identical (.256 and .252). Furthermore, Sabean has yet to pull off a good deal in the last four seasons (and it could be argued that its been six since he had structured either a good free agent signing or a trade with another team).
Under Sabean's watch, the Giants have failed to produce an effective big-league position player in eight years. The pitchers that it has produced can pitch as well as they can, but if there is no one to drive in the runs... well why not ask Matt Cain how much fun that is.
Second, Bruce Bochy must go. As I was listening to the start of the game tonight on the radio, Dave Flemming was talking about how Bochy is 7th on the active managers list for wins. He is. He has 1022 career wins. On the other hand, he has 1067 career losses. Even if you throw out last years abysmal finish by the Giants, his record with the Padres was 951 wins and 975 losses. That is otherwise known as a .494 winning percentage (meaning he loses more than he wins). Keep me as a manager in the Big Leagues for 13 plus seasons, and I would probably have at least 806 wins (thats if I lost 100 games each year).
Now, winning percentage alone is not the reason why Bochy needs to go. Its his managerial style. He does not manage the team. When was the last time you saw him bench an expensive player? Last season, he kept running out Benitez over and over again in save situations, leading to blown saves and lost games. The only reason Benitez did not lose more games was that they traded him away.
Then there is Ray "Can't Hit and Can't Field" Durham. Last season he hit .218. He played, inexplicably, in 138 games. And he was supposed to be the big bat in the Giants line up. The argument, I suppose, is that he had 71 RBIs, but those, I would argue, are misleading. He is no longer that fast. His glove, suspect in good years, is deteriorating before our eyes (Examples A and B would be the two ground balls that he was unable to get to.)
The Giants are a team in transition. They should be seeing what the new kids can and cannot do. So far, the only one to get any real playing time is the one rookie who will definitely not be around once Vizquel gets off the DL. Rather than playing Fred Lewis, he is sticking with Dave Roberts. Instead of seeing what Ortmeier can do as an everyday player, they are running out Rich Aurillia at first base.
As a manager, Bochy needs to bench some of these players. Already too many of the older ones are doing the same things that made 2007 such a dismal year. They are not advancing the runners. Hitting into double plays. Not being selective enough at the plate and then overcompensating by watching strike threes go across the plate with runners in scoring position.
I've lived through a 100 loss season. I was hoping to avoid it again. I'm no Salty Balty (if you listen to KNBR, you know who I am talking about) but with the way this team is going, the question is not whether its going to happen, but whether the Giants are going to make a run at setting a new record.
Mr. Magowan, please, reconsider your management team. Soon.
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