Lincecum dominates Rockies, Sabean faces roster decisions

It wasn't the most normal night in Colorado. Nate Schierholtz hit a Heraclean home run into the upper deck of Coors Field. Pablo Sandoval walked 3 times, seeing 17 pitches total and only swinging at 3 of them. What was somewhat normal was seeing Tim Lincecum pitch the way he did, beautifully summed up by Grant at McCoveyChronicles:

Lincecum’s ‘07 velocity + his ‘09 changeup + his ‘10 slider + a sprinkling of improved command = what you just watched.

It was a fun night for the Giants, beating the division leading Rockies. I'm not surprised by the number of people who have jumped on the "Rapril" (yes, that is what some Rockies fans are calling it) bandwagon, because it's natural, but one look at their schedule tells you a lot. Before last night's game, their opponent's combined winning percentage from the 2010 season was .440, and none of their opponents finished over .500 (the Giants 2011 opponents had a .495 winning percentage last year).

Cody Ross is rejoining the team, and any minute now we may know the fate of Brandon Belt. Surprisingly, I'm rather torn about this decision; Nothing about Belt's short time in the big leagues has me doubting his ability. He has shown that the two skills for which he is most lauded, patience at the plate and 1st base defense, are very real. Yet he hasn't been hitting the ball much at all. Some of this is bad luck (Aaron Rowand's great start is benefitting from the opposite kind of luck) but it is true that his power has disappeared since that impressive home run in Los Angeles. He also looks late on a lot of fastballs in the middle of the plate, and there have been quite a few groundouts to 2nd base. These are all things I believe Belt could fix up here. But just as we said he should be on the team because he could help them win, and it's only fair to apply that same urgency when he is struggling like this. What's most important for him (individually) is that he plays regularly.

The only possible players I see being sent down to make way for Ross are Ford or Belt. Rowand was the popular choice at the beginning of the season, and while it'd be foolish to believe he perform like this consistently, it's impossible to cut a player who is making that much money and hitting well to start the season. There's no way they send down Heracles after his home run yesterday. I'm not a big fan of Darren Ford at all, but he's a better bench player than Belt, not only because his skills (running, defense) are bench skills, but because there shouldn't be any concern about him getting consistent at bats as there is with Brandon Belt.

I'm not saying I want Belt sent down. Not at all. But I don't have the strong negative reaction towards it that might be expected. The service time advantage that the Giants could have by sending down Belt is also pretty attractive. All these factors tell me that sending Belt to AAA would not be a disaster. If Sabean and Bochy decide to stick with him and give him regular starts, I'd be ecstatic. It would be a great sign, for us and for him.

Giants Sign Miguel Tejada

Although it isn't official until his physical, we can safely say that former MVP Miguel Tejada will be the Giants starting shortstop for 2011. Tejada's deal is for 1 year, $6 million. In essence, he'll be replacing Juan Uribe, and when you look at the 2 players and the contracts they each got, the Giants situation appears quite favorable. Before Uribe joined the Giants in 2009, he had just had 4 seasons with an average OPS+ of 77. He may not be that bad ever again, but giving him a 3 year contract is pretty foolish. Meanwhile, Tejada will only be with the Giants for 1 year, and isn't costing a lot. Looking at it purely from that perspective, the move isn't bad at all. Also, there are a lot of positive things to say about Miguel Tejada.

He was one of the better shortstops in baseball most of this decade, thanks to his ability to make hard contact and hit for power from the weakest (or 2nd weakest) offensive position on the diamond. His career defensive numbers aren't pretty, but they aren't atrocious either. He is considered a great clubhouse leader and continually competitive, motivated player, who even at 36 is in better shape than many major leaguers. All those qualities are impressive and admirable. So, having established that Tejada for 1 year is "okay" (because it's more favorable than keeping the current SS, Uribe), and going over what his reputation is as a player and teammate, you might wonder why I dislike this signing as much as I do.

It isn't nearly as popular to criticize Brian Sabean these days as it was a mere, oh, 5 months ago. A World Series trophy, somewhat rightly, buys a lot of credibility. But I think the Tejada signing represents just another uncreative move by Sabean to fill a position with an aging veteran. And just because we all hated the Aubrey Huff signing last year, and he succeeded beyond anyone's expectations, doesn't mean the Giants should AIM to spend the offseason picking up the players no one else really wants. You can only get lucky like that so many times. And there's really no reason to refrain from fair criticism of Sabean simply because the team just won the World Series. This offseason is now about winning it in 2011. 2010, as magical a year as it was, has nothing to do with that.

So why do I think the Tejada signing is uncreative and disappointing? Simply because it appears that better shortstop options are in fact out there to be had. JJ Hardy (#JJHardyorGTFO) could be available, either in a trade or simply as a free agent if the Twins non-tender him (this might be less likely than I hope; the Twins seem to have ideas of other options at SS, but all analysis points to Hardy being their best option). Marco Scutaro and Jason Bartlett are both trade options, and the Red Sox and Rays want middle relief in return, something the Giants have. If you were to go just by last year's performance, Tejada is very close to all 3 of these guys, or better. I think you could reasonably expect that all of them might end up giving the same production in 2011 (1.5-2.5 WAR). But the other 3 possible SS all have something that I believe Tejada lacks: the potential to have a big year. Hardy had 4.3 and 4.9 WAR seasons in 2007 and 2008 (and positive UZR numbers in every season of his career; how the hell could the Twins not want to keep this guy? I think maybe they will keep him). Bartlett had a huge offensive season in 2009, then a total dropoff in 2010. The same for Scutaro, on a smaller scale. Now, of course, Tejada has had a much more productive career than any of these guys. But Miguel Tejada is going to be 37 next season. His skills have been diminishing every season. His power is mostly gone. His defense is not good. And he'll be playing one of the most demanding defensive positions, everyday. He doesn't strike out a lot; he never has. Going hand in hand with that, he doesn't walk much either (never has). Although Tejada doesn't make as much contact as he used to, he will still hit his share of singles and doubles, and most of his offense comes from that. But his age and free swinging tendencies also means lots of double plays. Tejada has led the league in double plays 5 times. Yeah. I've come to the conclusion that Tejada isn't actually a disaster. But it remains to be seen if the Giants could have done a lot better.

Speaking of double plays, I want to end the post with a word on Pablo Sandoval. When we first heard about the Tejada signing, there was talk that perhaps he was being signed to play 3rd base, or to at least pressure Pablo into performing well, because Tejada would be waiting to take over. This I hate. It's truly amazing how our expectations shape our perceptions and observations. We can all agree that Sandoval had a bad 2010 season. But it was still better and more productive than Tejada's in nearly every way (I tweeted the numbers that support this, you can find them by simply comparing their 2010 slashlines, wOBA, and WAR on fangraphs). I fully expect Sandoval to rebound in 2011, but even if he barely did so, he would be better than Tejada. Perhaps we'll need to write a full post on Sandoval this offseason. I am truly mystified how so many fans have given up on a young player so quickly, especially when you consider what he did so recently in 2009 at the age of 22.

Game Recap: SF 10, FLA 9

There's so much to talk about from today concerning the Giants, so let's begin at the end. Andres Torres "singled" in the 10th inning with the bases loaded and 1 out, to give the Giants a 10-9 victory. In the 10th, Rowand, Renteria, and Schierholtz singled to load the bases, and Torres hit a fly ball over the heads of the drawn in outfielders. This came on the heels of Brian Wilson blowing a two run save in the 9th inning. Wilson gave up a game tying ground rule double to Dan Uggla on a 3-2 fastball. There was a lot of discussion on Twitter about Wilson and Posey's pitch selection, but if hindsight tells us anything, it's that Uggla should have just been intentionally walked.

Of course, Wilson should have never entered this game. The Giants took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning, when 6 Giants collected singles. They increased the lead to 7-1 when Juan Uribe tripled in 2 runs, and then scored on a wild pitch. Then, in the 6th, Andres Torres hit a 2-run splash hit to make the score 9-2. Up to that point, Jonathan Sanchez had pitched well, but he fell apart in the 7th inning. After a 3-run HR, Denny Bautista came in to relieve Sanchez, and promptly gave up a 2-run bomb to Dan Uggla, to make the score 9-7. It felt like one of those games where the Giants had scored early and fallen asleep, only for the Marlins to come storming back. When Wilson faced Uggla with the tying run on base and Wes Helms on deck, it should have been obvious to walk him. In 3 games, he's hitting .500 with 4 home runs.

But the Giants won the game, and they can thank Andres Torres. Torres, who looked like he might have been cooling down last week, went 4-5 with a long HR and 3 RBI's. Jonathan Sanchez's meltdown in the 7th inning did not help his trade value, although it probably doesn't matter. The Giants don't appear poised to make any big deals before Saturday. Bullpen help is likely, and maybe a mediocre hitter is Sabean has steady phone reception. The Giants were apparently in on the Scott Podsednik negotiations before he was traded to the Dodgers. Thank God we didn't get him. If you need to know why we don't want Scott Podsednik, just visit the now-defunct firejoemorgan.com and search his name. However, Jorge Cantu is still a threat to join the team.

Last thing: On Andres Torres' game winning hit today, Kruk & Kuip mentioned that the Marlins were wondering if Schierholtz had safely reached 2nd base. By rule, if there is a runner at first, he must touch 2nd base before the winning run counts, otherwise the opposing team can get a force out at 2nd, nullifying the run. This is interesting because there is an infamous situation in Giants' history involving this very rule. In 1908, the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs were in a pennant race, and played each other on September 23. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, 19 year old Fred Merkle singled, moving the winning run in Moose McCormick to 3rd. Al Bridwell singled on the next pitch, scoring McCormick, and winning the game for the Giants. But Merkle, who was on first, went to the plate to celebrate instead of reach 2nd safely, and the Cubs shortstop complained to the umpire. The umpire ruled in Chicago's favor, and play continued until the game was called due to darkness (remember, 1908). At the end of the season, the 2 teams were tied for the pennant lead, and replayed the game, the Cubs winning 4-2. They would go to the World Series and beat the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs have not won since. But the Giants believed they were robbed of a pennant because of an umpire enforcing a rule that was often overlooked in those days, and it remains one of the most controversial plays in baseball history.

Why the Giants Stuck With Molina for So Long

With what is hopefully a monthly occurrence on this blog, we at 8thInningWeirdness present to you the first ever 8thInningWeirdness Comic Strip! The writing is done by me and Reza and the illustrations are created by the great artist/HTMLer and loyal Giants fan, Niki. This first strip explains why the Giants stuck with Bengie Molina for so long, despite his struggles. Please understand that everything depicted in this comic strip is fiction and not meant to be taken seriously. Enjoy!

Don't Try Calling Brian Sabean Because He Won't Call You Back

Yeah, that's right, according to Buster Olney of ESPN (Insider), who did a survey of MLB GMs, Brian Sabean is the most difficult GM to deal with simply because he doesn't answer the phone. Sabean says it is absolutely untrue and that not enough GMs were polled, but still, at least several GMs have claimed that Sabean doesn't return their calls. When you think about it, it kind of makes you laugh. I can imagine Sabean hearing the phone ring and seeing that it's a rival GM and thinking, "You know, if I don't answer the phone...maybe they'll think I'm playing hard to get so they'll want to talk to me even more and I still won't answer the phone and then to get me to answer the phone they offer me a player who hits over .300! Genius! No wonder I'm the longest tenured GM in the game..." And when I think about it some more, it makes me angry because it is absolutely ridiculous. If this is true, Brian Sabean is essentially not doing his job. His job is too converse back and forth with general managers in order to find the best ways to improve the Giants. But he just refuses to answer the phone? Why? Is he busy meeting with Bochy to discuss their plan to ruin the Giants before they are both eventually fired? That must be it. By not listening to other teams he's just limiting his options. It just makes no sense, and the notion that a Major League Baseball GM wouldn't answer phone calls from other teams is just...unbelievable.

Here are a few other notes from the last couple of days:

A little while ago in this post, Reza outlined the Giants' possible interest in David DeJesus. Here, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs explains why he's the perfect fit for the Giants.

Apparently, Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy believe some of their struggles can be attributed to the team being too right-handed. The article says they'll begin using more platoons against right-handed pitchers to get more lefties in the lineup. I'm not so sure Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz will make much of a difference.

It was assumed that with Molina gone, Posey would become the everyday catcher. Not so fast. The Giants want to ease him into being the everyday guy, so at least for now, Whiteside will get a lot of starts at catcher. I guess it makes some sense, but it's still a little disappointing.

Brandon Belt has been promoted to Double-A Richmond. Belt was absolutely dominating in San Jose with a line of .380/.488/.624 with a 1.112 OPS. Time to see how he does in the much tougher Eastern League.