The San Francisco Giants have placed reliever Chris Ray on the DL, and Jeremy Affeldt has been reinstated from the DL. Let’s hope Affeldt can step up and help solidify this bullpen.
The Giants starters have not got a win in the last 13 starts, so let’s hope Matt (Shotgun Cain) Cain can change that tonight. We really need to have our starters pitch like we know they can to have a chance at this Division or Wild Card.
Random Stats
Pat Burrell is tied for 2nd in RBI’s for the month of August with 15.
Buster Posey has the 3rd highest AVG (.340) in the Majors since May 29th.
The folks at GrimyInk.com have done it again! They first gave us a cool one of a kind Tim Lincecum shirt, and now they give us a pretty sweet Buster Posey shirt. The Posey shirt has a Ghost Buster theme. It’s a very cool shirt that is a must have for Posey fans.
GrimyInk.com also has some other cool shirts that I’m sure you will love, but don’t forget to get your Lincecum and Posey shirts. I know I have mine!
If you haven’t been paying attention the San Francisco Giants have been the hottest team in baseball since July 3rd. They are on a 22-6 hot streak right now. The offense has been running on all cylinders. The Giants are currently 1 game back of the Padres in the NL West, and have a 3 game lead in the Wild Card over the Cardinals.
The Giants have won 4 in a row, and 8 out of their last 10 games.Their record against the NL West teams since the All Star break is 10-1. The first half they were 9-21. Talk about a big improvement! If you can’t beat teams in your division, you can’t win it!
Possible Rookie Of The Year?
Stay hottttttBuster Posey!! He had a 3-for-4 night and has hit safely in 24 of 26 games. Posey has played in 48 games, and has a .370 AVG, 8 HR, 33 RBI’s and scored 28 runs.
Possible MVP?
Aubrey Huff leads the Giants in AVG (.310), HR (20) and RBI’s (65). Where would they be without their $3 million dollar man? I’m sure Brian Sabean or whoever the Giants GM is will try to bring Huff back next year.
This post has been written prior to August 4th games.
The San Francisco Giants are still interested in the Toronto Blue Jays reliever Scott Downs, but the Blue Jays have a high asking price. Which tells me this deal isn’t likely for the Giants. Another reliever they are looking at is the Seattle Mariners reliever Brandon League.
With Scott Podsednik being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now Giants GM Brian Sabean can scratch him off the list and focus on bringing someone over with some power. Jose Guillen is still in play for the Giants if they go the rent-a-player route.
I was going to add Jorge Cantu as well, but word on the street is the Texas Rangers are close to making a deal with the Florida Marlins for Cantu.
Below are the stats for Downs, League and Guillen.
Erik Swanson and Brian Helfrich of Sports Business Daily have done it again! They share with us the results of their exclusive survey of 50 sports business execs and media personalities. This time it’s the MLB’s Most Marketable Under The Age of 25.
MLB’s Most Marketable Players Under The Age of 25
1. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
2. Evan Longoria, Rays
3. Jason Heyward, Braves
4. David Price, Rays
5. Bryce Harper, Nationals
6. Phil Hughes, Yankees
7. Ike Davis, Mets
8. Pablo Sandoval, Giants
9. Felix Hernandez, Mariners
10. Matt Wieters, Orioles
11. Colby Rasmus, Cardinals
t12. Austin Jackson, Tigers
t12. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
t12. Mike Leake, Reds
t15. Clay Buchholz, Red Sox
t15. Mike Stanton, Marlins
17. Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
t18. Buster Posey, Giants
t18. Justin Upton, Diamondbacks
t20. Starlin Castro, Cubs
t20. Drew Storen, Nationals
The San Francisco Giants have two players on the list. The Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval) and Buster Posey. I’m sure if they do this survey again in the near future, Madison Bumgarner will be added to the list. The Giants future isn’t looking too shabby!
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates have demoted pitching prospect Tim Alderson from Class AA Altoona to Class A Bradenton. In AA Altoona, Alderson was 7-5 with a 5.62 ERA.The San Francisco Giants sent Alderson to the Pirates for Freddy Sanchez. At the time of the trade a lot of fans were skeptic. Alderson was one of the top prospects in the Giants organization behind Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner. I thought it was a great move by Giants GM Brian Sabean. He got an All Star second baseman who’s proven for a prospect that has potential. Alderson is still only 21 years old, so he has plenty of time to show in the long run the trade may have been worth it for both clubs.
It was a bitter-sweet moment for most Giants fans as the news dropped that the San Francisco Giants traded Big Money Bengie Molinato the Texas Rangers for RHP Chris Ray and a player to be named later.
Molina really was a clutch performer for the most part of his Giants tenure and a great backstop as well. He’s a career .275 hitter with 142 homers and 692 RBI’s. Molina just wasn’t putting up the numbers this year for the Giants at the plate. The leash for Molina wasn’t long with the future backstop already on the team (Buster Posey).
One of the SF Giants Rumors swirling prior to this trade was the Giants needed to solidify the bullpen and get a relief pitcher. Well that’s exactly what they did in this trade. Ray is currently 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA, 31.2 IP and 16 K’s. He’s going to be a guy that helps get the ball to closer Brian Wilson.
This isn’t a sexy trade, but it’s one that had to be done. The Giants couldn’t continue to trot Molina out behind the plate, when it’s clear that he’s not the best catcher on the team anymore. I wish you well Big Money because you were a great Giant!
The recent San Francisco Giants rumor that is floating around in the thick San Francisco fog is the Giants are interested in the Kansas City Royals OF/DH Jose Guillen. It’s also been reported that the Giants will only be interested if the Royals pay most of his salary.
Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star told me (via email) If the Royals eat all (or nearly all) of the salary and are willing to take (next to) nothing in return. The offer will need to get sweeter for anything to happen.
Chris Haft the Giants Beat writer also told me (via email) He hasn’t heard anything concrete but it absolutely wouldn’t surprise him. He’d be a good rent-a-player.
Guillen is currently hitting .279 with 13 homers and 47 RBI’s. He would be a nice bat to add to the middle of the Giants lineup. There would have to be a lot more juggling with with defense and lineup to keep the hot hitters in the lineup. Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell have been in the outfield so Buster Posey could get some AB’s at first base.
If this trade does end up going down. We can see Bengie Molina losing a lot more playing time to the young phenom Posey, and then Burrell or Huff can move to first base to free up room for Guillen in the outfield.
I have recently been asked to do an interview with Regie from plantTHESPEAR.com. They cover all things FSU (Florida State University). For those of you that don’t know. Buster Posey went to FSU which is the reason Regie wanted to interview me. They like to follow all of their FSU alumni to see how they are doing. Here is a link to check out the interview “Buster Posey Exceeding Expectations”.
Steve Phillips of Fanhouse tells us who he thinks the buyers, sellers and teams holding are at this years trading deadline. He has the San Francisco Giants listed as buyers, and I would have to agree with him. The Giants are half a game out of the NL West behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
The starting pitching has been there all year for the Giants. It’s been their inability to score runs that has cost them games. This team does seem to have more of a thump in their lineup lately. Freddy Sanchez has returned from his injury and the call up of Buster Posey has really helped ignite the offense. They have Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff both playing some outstanding ball right now. The addition of Pat Burrell also has them producing more runs per game. He brought that right-handed power that the team needed. Plus he seems to have found his stroke. You know what the saying is… “Home Sweet Home”
With that said the Giants can still always upgrade their offense. When you’re not putting out an everyday lineup like the New York Yankees. Then there is always room for and upgraded offense. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star has said in an article that teams may have interest in David DeJesus and Jose Guillen. Bob told me via email that he hasn’t heard any rumors linking the Giants and any Royals players at this time.
The Giants beat writer Chris Haft told me via email that he thinks the Giants may need another reliever more than they need a hitter. The Giants do have the flexibility to move players around to acquire a bat, but the question is who are they willing to part with?
