The San Francisco Giants are one win away from winning the NL West! They also are one win away (or Reds loss) from clinching home-field advantage in the Division Series.
If and when the Giants win one game against the Padres. The Giants will then likely start the first round of the Playoffs at home (Thursday Oct. 7th) against the Atlanta Braves. If for some reason the Padres sweep the Giants at home this weekend. They will finish in a tie, and will have a one game playoff game Monday at Petco Park.
Tim Lincecum who was bumped up a game this week. Will either get his next start in the one game playoff with the Padres, or game one of the Division Series.
Long story short…
The Giants need to win one out of four games to make the playoffs. Either win one against the Padres this weekend, or the one game playoff game Monday if the Padres sweep the weekend series at AT&T Park.
The San Francisco Giants signed the D-Train Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract. Willis will be reporting to the Fresno Grizzlies on Monday. This is a low risk high reward signing for the Giants. Just like the Pat Burrell signing.
This tells me that Giants GM Brian Sabean is getting serious about trading LHP Jonathan Sanchez for a bat. The Milwaukee Brewers want Sanchez or Madison Bumgarner for Corey Hart. I’m not saying this will be the trade, but this is the rumor that isn’t dying.
When I asked the San Francisco Giants beat writer Chris Haft (via email) if the thinks the Giants are getting serious about trying to trade for Corey Hart, Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun. He told me it will take a lot to get one of those guys. The Brewers would want Matt Cain and somebody else decent, though the Giants might be able to sell them on Jonathan Sanchez.
Anthony Witrado of the Journal Sentinel said rumors have been flying regarding Hart for the last couple of weeks, and with the pitching-heavy but offense-starved Giants in town, the mill really got going with Hart-to-Giants talk.
I asked Witrado (via email) if he thinks the Giants will be able to land Hart, Fielder or Braun, and if so what does he think it would take to land one of them?
Witrado said Fielder and Braun are out of the question, most likely. Fielder would mean the Giants giving up Cain for sure. Hart is possibly, probably for Madison Bumgarner, but I don’t think that’ll happen over the next week. It will likely come after the break if it happens.
The San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers rumors always seem to be swirling in the Bay Area wind. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Giants GM Brian Sabean and Lee Elder (Giants scout), were watching the game from the press box. Schulman believes they were scouting potential trade targets Corey Hart, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.
Hart: AVG .288, HR 19, and 61 RBI’s
Fielder: AVG .264, HR 18 and 36 RBI’s
Braun: AVG .291, HR 11, and 51 RBI’s
Anyone of these guys will be a great addition to the Giants lineup. The question is what are the Giants willing to give up to land one of these bats. Travis Ishikawa has been getting a few starts recently, and I believe it’s to showcase him. He can be part of a package deal to land one of these guys from the Brew Crew.
The Giants may also be willing to part with a couple players in Triple-A Fresno. Players like John Bowker and Eugenio Velezwho seem to tear it up in Fresno, but can’t secure a spot on the Giants roster. Yes, it will take more than these players to land a big bat, but they may end up part of a package deal.
Bowker: AVG .321, HR 9 and 25 RBI’s
Velez: AVG .303, HR 3, 14 RBI’s and 22 SB
If you have any doubts that the Giants will not make a move… DON’T! Sabean will make a move, because he knows another extension depends on it. He’s not going to be okay with throwing up the white flag and calling it a year. If they don’t go out and get a bat to make a run at the playoffs, he’s going to be going, going, gone! The Sabean era will probably be ending in San Francisco with no trades to get the Giants train rolling.
When it rains it pours, and it’s definitely pouring in Giantsland. The San Francisco Giants have lost six straight games, and are looking for a heartbeat to show they are still alive in this NL West.
Tom Verducci of SI.com lists his “All-Overlooked All-Star Team”. The only Giants player to make this list is Shortstop Juan Uribe. Verducci says no other shortstop has more than Uribe’s 12 homers and 45 RBI’s.
Damon Bruce of KNBR 1050 told me (via email) it’s going to be hard to deal for a significant player without moving a pitcher (Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner or Brian Wilson). Bruce doesn’t believe the Giants would ever move one of them. He also says it’s hard to think of a big name coming in to save the season.
Giants beat writer Chris Haft also mention to me that the outfield definitely is an area where they could obtain somebody.
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 San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean has said the team is not interested in free agents/rent-a-player. Sabean says they are looking for someone that they can control (meaning next year as well). This makes sense so they don’t give up players or prospects for someone that’s going to be gone next year.
“Anybody that fits that mold, “Sabean said, “we are going to be heavy in the scouting side of it and see if it makes sense to explore.”
Jeff Fletcher Senior MLB Writer for Fanhouse says given those parameters, the best fits for the Giants are probably outfielders like Corey Hart, David DeJesus and Josh Willingham. Fletcher also says Prince Fielder would fit as well, but the Giants would have to do some shuffling to fit him since he is a first baseman.
Below is each of the players stats. DeJesus to me is doubtful, because the Giants are still searching for that middle of the lineup bat to drive in runs. DeJesus would be a nice bat at the top of the lineup though.
Prince Fielder is currently hitting .260 with 17 homers, 35 RBI’s and will not be a free agent until 2012.
Corey Hart is currently hitting .278 with 18 homers, 60 RBI’s and will not be a free agent until 2012.
David DeJesus is currently hitting .331 with 5 homers, 35 RBI’s and will not be a free agent until 2012.
Josh Willingham is currently hitting .276 14 homers, 44 RBI’s and will not be a free agent until 2012.
Would you like to see any of these players in Orange & Black?
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’m going to have a little fun with this blog post today. =) I attended the San Francisco Giants vs. Boston Red Sox game on Friday night with my girlfriend. We went with a group, so we sat in the upper deck and I was thinking we might have a better view of the A’s game than the Giants. We weren’t too excited to be sitting up there, cause we love being in the bleachers, however it wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated. We were surrounded by Red Sox fans which made it a unique experience and the view wasn’t bad at all. It was like having a birds-eye view of the game, and it was very cool to see the fog roll in. The only bad thing was we couldn’t see the scoreboard very well.
The Red Sox fans were very friendly and just loved talking baseball. It was just really cool to hear them talk with their Boston accents. We did however have one thing in common, we both didn’t like the New York Yankees. I met some Red Sox fans that moved to the Bay Area a while back, and there were others that flew here from Boston to follow their team and vacation in San Francisco. The energy out there was very electric! It felt like a playoff game and the Giants haven’t made the playoffs since 2003. The game was super exciting and had both Giants and Red Sox fans on the edge of their seats.
I have been to a ton of games, but this one will definitely stand out when I look back at games I have attended. The Red Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. I knew if I didn’t do something fast this game would get out of hand. My girlfriend and I knew we had to pull out the big guns if we were going to get luck back on our side. No lucky penny was going to work. We went straight to the Garlic Fries! Once we started munching on them we knew it would be a matter of time before the Giants would make it a game again. The Giants did come back and then took the lead on a Juan Uribe homer. I don’t think the Garlic Fries are really lucky at all, we just love them, so we had to have them right away.
It was a scary ending as the Red Sox loaded the bases, but closer Brian Wilson was able to prevail! I do have a video that I recorded at the game. I will upload it to the site in the next few days. It’s the Red Sox fans doing their chant (Lets Go Red Sox). The Giants took game one of the three game series. I had high hopes with Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum pitching games two and three, but the evil Red Sox showed their lineup was far superior.
John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Aubrey Huff would love to re-sign with the San Francisco Giants. Huff said he and Pat Burrell are really enjoying it here.
“I would love to be back here,” Huff said when asked about 2011.
The way Huff is hitting right now. I’m sure the Giants would love to bring him back. Possibly even Burrell if he continues to produce. Huff leads the team in AVG at .311. There is a few guys with a higher AVG like Edgar Renteria and Freddy Sanchez, but they have half the AB’s that Huff has had. He also leads the team in homers with 12, runs with 41 and is 2nd in RBI’s with 37.
Side Notes
It’s finally official that they are shutting down Mark DeRosa for the season. He will be having surgery early next week. The Giants are just hoping they can get a healthy DeRosa for next year. I was really hoping DeRosa would be a big part of the lineup this year, but the baseball gods had other plans.
