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.
As the trading deadline starts to rapidly approach. I wanted to share some names that I have gathered that the San Francisco Giants have shown some interest in.
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!
Brian Helfrich & Erik Swanson of Sports Business Daily give us the results of their survey on the Top 10 Marketable Players in the MLB. It’s an exclusive survey of sports business execs and media personalities conducted by Sports Business Daily.
Top 10 Marketable Players
1. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
2. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
3. Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
4. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals
5. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
6. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
7. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
8. David Wright, New York Mets
9. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
t10. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
t10. Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels
The San Francisco Giants have one guy that made the list. It’s none other than “The Freak” Tim Lincecum. It’s funny that this came out today, because I’m wearing my new Lincecum shirt that I got from GrimyInk.com. You can click the on the Lincecum shirt logo on the right sidebar to go directly to the page where you can purchase it. It’s on sale for $14.99, and only takes a few days before you see it in your mailbox.
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?
I’m curious as to what most Giants fans think now about Freddy Sanchez? Since the day we made the trade for him. I thought it was a great trade, but a lot of fans were skeptical. We traded Tim Alderson who was one of the top prospects in the Giants organization. He was behind Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner on the list. He was still one of our bright shining stars in the organization.
Trading Alderson made sense to me. The Giants have the great pitching, so we were able to part ways with a prospect to get a bat that the Giants so desperately needed. He was a good chip to have to pull off a trade that can land an All Star 2nd Baseman. In 2006 Sanchez was the NL Batting Champion, and who wouldn’t want to add a bat like that to their offense?
There was a lot of Giants fans out there. That were bagging on Brian Sabean for making the trade for a hurt Sanchez. I knew a healthy Sanchez would be a great addition to the Giants lineup. I really think Sanchez is the best number 2 hitter in the game. He’s a very good situational hitter. With a runner on 1st. He can go to the right side to get the runner to 3rd base. Plus he hit s for average.
In 19 games this year for the Giants. He’s 25-for-69 and that’s a .362 AVG. I’m sure a lot of fans that were bagging on him prior to his return are loving the fact that he’s a Giant now. For those of you that like to judge players by their contract. I would say the Sanchez contract is a steal. He’s locked up for this year and next year for $12 million total. That would have to go down as one of Sabean’s better signings.
Patrick Rishe recently did a study on the worst franchises in pro sports. Since this is a Giants (baseball) blog. I will just inform you on the top 3 worst MLB franchises. The statistical analysis was gathering data from the last 5 years (2005-06 through 2009-10). The criteria was the most money spent on the least amount of victories and postseason appearances. Rishe wanted to identify teams with the highest average payroll cost per win and with no more than 1 post-season appearance in the last 5 years.
The 3 worst MLB franchises (in order) are the New York Mets, Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants! I’m sure you knew the Giants had to be on this list right?
The Mets average cost per victory was $1.3 million, with a 20% postseason rate. During that 5 year span the Mets overall league record is 427-383. It doesn’t look bad when you look at the wins and losses, but they only managed to make the playoffs in 2006. That’s not good for a team that’s been over the $100 million mark each year during that 5 year span.
Now the Mariners record the past 5 years is 381-429. Which is an obvious losing record. In 2005 and 2006 they were in the $87 million range, and then bumped it up to over $100 million in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 they were just below the $100 million mark and were around $99 million. That is a lot of money that’s given to players that were not producing for the Mariners.
Yes Giants fans, we are the 3rd worst MLB franchise! I’m sure most Giants fans out there knew we were. At least based on the emails I receive about how Brian Sabean overpays veterans who are passed their prime to come play for the Giants. The Giants record during the same 5 year span is 382-427. Which is just only one more win than the Mariners to put them as the 3rd worse MLB franchise and not tied for 2nd. For those of you that think the games played doesn’t match up. That’s because the Giants only played 161 games in 2006.
Do you think Sabean and the front office are to blame or the players just under performing? Patrick Rishe told me (via email). “When teams make this list, I’d say that it’s a combination of front office people overvaluing talent, managers mismanaging players, and players under performing relative to their true ability.”
We all knew coming into this season that our pitching was our strong point, and our hitting was going to struggle again. Here are some stats to show you where the San Francisco Giants are currently at compared to other 30 Major League Baseball teams.
Batting Stats
AVG: .256 (ranked 17th)
Runs: 182 (ranked 24th)
Hits: 389 (ranked 23rd)
Home Runs: 34 (ranked 24th)
Stolen Bases: 18 (ranked 27th)
OBP: .322 (ranked 21st)
SLG: .392 (ranked 21st)
Total Bases: 594 (ranked 23rd)
Pitching Stats
ERA: 3.45 (ranked 4th)
Runs Allowed: 161 (ranked 28th)
Saves: 14 (ranked 6th)
Strikeouts: 360 (ranked 4th)
OpBA: .224 (ranked 1st)
OBP: .311 (ranked 5th)
SLG: .335 (ranked 1st)
Run Support: 4.02 (ranked 24th)
Do any of these numbers surprise you? From the offensive side of things. The Giants have had some key players injured, and haven’t been able to trot out the everyday lineup they envisioned when they completed their roster in the offseason. Freddy Sanchez finally makes his return to the Giants, but Mark DeRosa has been out (wrist). Now Edgar Renteria is back on the shelf. He was placed on the 15-Day DL with a strained right hamstring. If the Giants can get all these guys in the lineup at one time. I have no doubt that they can’t scratch out a few more runs, and get more wins. No, they will not be “Murders Row” (1927 Yankees), but with this kind of pitching staff they don’t need to be. The Giants are currently 23-22 this season. It’s still not time to panic Giants fans. They still have 117 games left to play. Let’s just hope Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy are keeping any eye on these stats as well. Lets hope they can fix the problem areas before it’s to late for this season.
