DIE SABIAN DIE!

I just cut Barry Freakin Zito in my mega-deep NL only league and will pick up either Manny Acosta, Chad Qualls or Joel Hanrahan.

I hate Barry Zito a LOT.

Personally, I'd take Kirt Reuter in retrospect.

Joel Hanrahan was a former Dodgers prospect...that's all I've got on that front, but at this point one would think just about anyone is a better option then Zito.

I knew that, give me a cookie.


BREAKING (BAD) NEWS (FOR GIANTS FANS)!!!


Just scrolled on ESPN:

"Buster Olney reports Giants will move P Barry Zito to the bullpen"


WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


FLAVA FLAV WAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW


I guess they dont want him to be the first $126 million pitcher to lose 20 games, so they're making him the first $126 million long reliever

I think that is actually a good thing for the team, but obviously a horrible thing for the organization. The bad part on the baseball side though is that you know they made the move with the intention of moving him back to the rotation once he improves. Hopefully he has a couple decent long relief appearances, and then gets moved back to the rotation soon. Don't give up on him losing 20!

On a side note, I actually was glad to see Cain get a win. You can't help but feel bad for the guy, although you know in a few years he will prob win a Cy Young in NY or Boston.

At least they're not so stubborn that they'll throw good innings after bad money...

I'm on Linecum against Cook and the Rockies tonight. You guys opened as pretty solid favorites, but have been slowly dropping all day, since all the money's coming in on Colorado. Now all I'm asking is for 2 runs. I think, if you guys can score 2 runs, we'll be okay.

Look, I'm betting real, actual money on the Giants AS FAVORITES. All I'm asking is that you give the boys a little pep talk, okay? Thanks guys. I should be a member of this thread, since I find myself betting on San Francisco more than any team except Cincinnati.

Go Giants.


Wang

Sure will Wang... give a peptalk to the Giants...


EAT SHIT AND DIIIIIIIIIIE


j/k, but we are Dodger fans

Fuck you and get your freaky mojo out of the Giants thread.

Sanchez at home = guaranteed Giants victory, at least half the time.

Well the Giants did get two runs but this was an atrocious game. With runners on 1st and 3rd and one out in the first inning, Velez takes off for second which is good because Cook is a DP machine and steals the base easily but then Lewis tries the old delayed steal of home and gets thrown out by a country mile.

Giants still get a break when Helton drops a perfect throw and Tulowitzki can't field a grounder due to his quad/groin injury so two gift runs but they should have had more if Lewis doesn't get thrown out at home. The Rockie's backup infielder is also out so they have Ianetta (backup catcher) playing third and Atkins playing second. Do the Giants ever try to bunt to third or test out Ianetta - of course not.

So 2-2 when with a runner on third, Molina decides its a good time to call time just as Lincecum goes into the wind-up. Ticky-tack balk call by the ump but it's still Molina's fault. Then in the bottom of the inning, Lewis at 3rd and Velez on 1st with one out - we've seen this movie before. This time Velez gets picked off first base which is the one thing you can't do. Nice job on the bases. Durham then of course swings at ball four twice for the third out.

One other play I remember is that there is a player on third with two out and Bocock who is possibly the worst hitter ever at bat. I actually agreed with Krukow here as he said that Bocock should bunt toward third since he's a good bunter with speed and you have the backup catcher playing third. No, we'll just have Bocock swing away....

Giants should have won this game going away.

If you were on the Giants yesterday (I think you were), then I feel bad for you/you got screwed. Seeing as about 30% of being a Dodgers fan in the Bay Area is watching the Giants and finding pleasure in their ineptness, I watched most of the game.

B of 1st - 1 out, runners on 1st and 3rd. Runner on first goes, throw goes through to 2nd, and with their cleanup hitter up (ok so it's Benji Molina, still....) Fred Lewis thinks it is Little League and tries to go home. He is out by a mile obv.

T of 7th - Runner on 3rd, 1 out, Torealba (i butchered that i think) at the plate. Molina calls for time out, and it looks like Gary Darling (crew chief behind plate) gives it, but then he calls a balk on Lincecum for starting his motion and stopping it. Even as a biased Dodgers fan, it looked like the Giants got hosed. Bochy gets kicked out, and I have my 2nd biggest laugh of the night at the expense of the Giants. Rockies go up 3-2.

B of 7th - Randy Wynn is on 2nd with 0 out, ground ball hit to the SS, Wynn goes and is thrown out at 3rd. To be fair though, the ball was hit a few steps behind Wynn, and you are taught to go in that situation. He did get an awful jump though, so it was borderline I guess.

B of 8th - The Giants have runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and Ray Durham at the plate. That super fast Velez kid who the Giants announcers hoover constantly is on first, and there is a good chance he is going to break up the chance of a DP. THe Rockies pitcher throws over to first like 4 consecutive times, the GIants fans take time away from their garlic fries to boo the pitcher for doing so (one of the more annoying things fans do throughout baseball). Obviously on the 5th try Velez is picked off, and I laugh for a good 3-4 minutes. During this time Durham struck out and ended the inning.

Pretty brutal game to watch if you bet on the Giants.

I see that you didnt get as much enjoyment out of the game as I did...

There... is a reason I canceled my MLB internet TV package. You guys make it sound much more colorful than ESPN.com's Gamecast. "Fielder's choice to SS, Randy Winn out at 3rd."

Wang

Players on the Giants that I root for: Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Fred Lewis

I don't want the Giants to do well though because I want Sabes gone. I also want Bochy gone as I haven't been impressed at all a la lack of taking advantage of a catcher playing 3rd and a 3rd basemen playing second last night.

That's a pretty good list, because those are the 4 players I think are possible good ML players, with higher ceilings for the pitchers obv. Sanchez needs to be consistent for a while though before I'm sold on him. That Velez kid seems to have a lot of the tools to be very good as well. The rest of the young guys though are pretty average, more Todd Linden/Calvin Murray/Cody Ranson/Jason Ellison clones.

Rooting against them so Sabean gets fired is a pretty good move probably. Although, it's still amazing he has been able to keep his job over the last few years and you really shouldn't be put into that situation as a fan. It also makes sense to root against them since if for some reason they had a good enough 1st half to be in contention for the playoffs, Sabean could possibly be stupid enough to make trades to 'improve' the team.

On the flip side, if you root for guys like Durham, Wynn, Zito, etc etc and they perform well, there is a better chance you can trade them to contenders.

Zito will never get traded due to his obscene contract - that said, I hope he at least returns to a middling innings-eater pitcher who would be the fourth starter on this team. I liked Zito when he was on the A's and at least he's answering all the interview questions and still trying. I hope he comes back but it's not his fault someone offered him all that money.

As for any of the veterans like Durham, Vizquel (when he's back), Aurilia, Winn, Molina - they should take whatever they can get for these guys. Molina is one guy who might actually have some value; a team like the Yankees could use him if Posada is out for a long team. But Sabes wouldn't make that trade since Molina is a gamer and the Giants need him for that playoff push (lol). The sell high concept eludes Sabes. I doubt they could trade Rowand due to his big contract either.

That's the problem with Sabes - you're rebuilding so why go out and sign Rowand to 5 years 60 million? The A's picked up Emil Brown for one year at a low contract and also the big Hurt for the league minimum. There's a concept called value.

Velez needs a position and I think he belongs at 2nd as he's at least comparable to Durham defensively since Ray can't field anymore. Last night was the first time I saw him in the outfield and based on his two adventures on not so difficult fly balls - you can't have him in the outfield.

LOL! I realized this last year when we were 20 games under .500 and the Giants owners gave Sabian a 2 year extension. I lost my mind.

I took the day off of work and celebrated; not often you get news that a part of your life will be amusing for at least 2 more years.

That being said, I still have an inherent distrust for his protege, NedCo.

It is because he is awful. He is the kind of person that hates computers and doesn't trust anybody under the age of 40 wearing prescription glasses. He belives in things like Heart, Grit, Hustle and, of course, Juan Pierre. It's my instinct that, with NC around, you guys will have real trouble competing in the long term. Anybody who gets the Plaschke seal of approval gets the Wang seal of (vomits all over himself).


Wang

Oh man, don't even get me started on Plaschke...

The only thing that might enable Colletti to succeed is our minor league system and our payroll. I agree though with pretty much everything you said.

You guys have TONS of talent, and lots of money to spend, but I'd be worried Colletti does something very, very stupid, like dealing Kemp and Kershaw for a #4 starter and some bullpen help or something. That's ridiculous, but you know what I'm talking about. It's very easy to screw up a deep organization, ESPECIALLY if you have lots of money. I can very easily envision youth being stuck behind well-paid veterans (thank GOD Juan Pierre only has 52 ABs this year, right?), the result of a bad GM with not enough patience and just enough money to cause himself problems.


I tell you, say what you will about the Tigers struggles this year, but Dave Dombrowski is a hell of a GM. He's followed pretty similar paths in all his stops, and it's worked. In just a handful of years, with some very, very smart decisions (overpaying for Pudge, "overpaying" for Maggs, trading for Polanco, trading for Guillen), he's taken the club from laughingstock, to possible free-agent destination, to BASEBALL TOWN. I feel really comfortable with him at the helm, even though he's probably not as sabermetrically inclined as I'd prefer.


Wang

News I want to hear: Billy Beane is seriously talking with NC about a monster deal

For a moment I read that, but blocked out the "want to" part. Neddy would trade his own still-beating heart and a player to be named* for Rich Harden.

*- Clayton Kershaw

I broke out into a cold sweat every time this winter/spring Colletti was 'interested' in making deals. If he was able to control himself and not unload a few of our blue chip guys for Johan, I would hope he'd be able fight the urge now that they saw what Kershaw could do vs ML hitters.

Anything is possible for the 'Stache though.

Good win for the Giants tonight. I'm surprised how we are playing this year.

been a rough week. **** Pennsylvania

no offense to anyone living there

Not much you can do when you run into a juggernaught like the Pirates.

Omar Visquel should be back this weekend, which obv makes you a contender.

Zito looked _better_ though.

Zito has looked much better his past two starts. oh and obv FREDDY LEWIS!

Yeah, he has. I much prefer him to be awful because you guys (Giants fans) are far more entertaining when you are foaming from the mouth. Plus, when he is really, really bad it is beyond amusing to listen to Krukow defend him, as well as Michael Irvin (not the football player, the baseball writer/knbr weekend host). I used tot hink Irvin was good when he covered the A's, but he has turned into a disgustingly optimistic GIants homer. I know it's probably company policy, but blah.

Had Zito and the over on lasting 4 IP in his last game - and he goes a strong six!

I might lose another bet though as I had the under on the Giants winning 71 games and it looks they might go over. The other bet I've got the under on is the trio of Cain/Lincecum/Zito winning 29 games in the year. That one is looking close.

Eugenio Velez: not a major league baseball player, or really not a major league baseball player?

Discuss.

Sabean really is delusional:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../SP5710M9D5.DTL

my reactions to that article

Bruce Bochy has used 40 lineups in 41 games.

lol


After all, as Sabean spoke before Tuesday night's victory against Houston, the Giants were 16-23 and on pace to lose 95 games.

yep we will really contend with that record

When Sabean thinks about the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, who went 83-79 in the regular season and won the World Series, or last year's Colorado Rockies, who rode one long hot streak to a National League pennant, he looks at his transitional team and thinks, why not us?


BECAUSE WE SUCK THANKS TO YOU, YOU **** SUCKER

Year 40 games Final
2003 26-14 100-61
2004 16-24 91-71
2005 19-21 75-87
2006 20-20 76-85
2007 20-20 71-91
2008 17-23 69-93*

six years of sabian hell

DIE SABIAN DIE! BARRY BONDS COME BACK AND HIT HIS HEAD OFF WITH YOUR SMALL MAPLE BAT!

Just got back from the game today! WHAT AN ENDING!!! I was about 3 rows in front of Rowand's home run. Pretty quick game too.

Best part about being at that game was not having to listen to FP Santangelo do color on the radio IMO. My hatred for FP might even exceed my hatred for Krukow, and Krukow is on the short list of people I'd sucker punch in the back of the head if I got the chance.

In fact, I'm going to take this opportunity to list why I hate FP Santangelo:

1. He sucked, but he thinks he was really good.

2. He builds himself up as a 'gamer' but as it turns out he was on steroids. LOL, he was by far the most entertaining person to see on the Mitchell report. (this actually should count for him, since he brought me a great deal of laughter)

3. He is a huge Giants homer, even though he only played 1 season with them. I really don't get it. He played 3+ seasons with the Expos, 1 with the Giants, followed by.....

4. He signed a 2 or 3 year deal with the Dodgers in 2000, his first and only 'big money' contract, and he absolutely sucked. He hit .197 in 81 games, and was released at the end of the year.

5. In recent years, he has appeared on Bay Area sports talk radio quite a bit (and now has a crappy show in Sacramento). On one of those appearances, he talked about how hard it was for him to go to the ballpark in LA because the fans were booing him. He said he thought about quitting, and his wife had to convince him to go to the stadium every day. WHAT A ****ING JOKE. The same guy that portrays himself as a 'gamer', had to have his wife force him to go play because he couldn't handle the fans booing him? Guess what FP? They booed you because you sucked. That's what happens to free agent signees who don't hit over the Mendoza line, ask Andruw Jones. He gets booed and he used to be good actually, you got booed for multiple reasons: a. you sucked, and b. you always did suck, so the fans were booing the fact that someone as bad as you could have a contract to begin with.

6. He comes off as a douche bag on the radio...and according to a couple 2nd hand sources, he is an actual douche bag away from the mic as well.

So, GFY Fp Santangelo. I'd rather listen to JT Snow if the Giants are so set on bringing back mediocre ML players to broadcast.

Oh, and good win yesterday. Man, Hoffman has fallen off. The Giants comeback ruined my enjoyment though, because I was still laughing about the Adrian Gonzalez HR. Not that I have any love whatsoever for the Padres, but FP was down on his knees giving that Hinshaw (Henshaw?) kid a metaphorical hoovering when he gave up the HR.

<end Monday/Dodgers sucking/Sunday poker/FP induced rant>

Haha how did I miss this? Sorry Patrick. Yeah it was a fun game to go to. Imo I think that JT Snow was a great first baseman. : P. Well we're 5 back! One time Giants!

I have it on good authority that this year's Giants team finishing anywhere near .500 is a sure sign of the apocalypse. So next time you are rooting for Ray Durham to come through w/ a big hit, ask yourself 'Do I really want the world to end?'. I think not.

On a side note, aren't you a bit worried what might happen if the Giants are in contention at the trade deadline? If I was a Giants fan, I'd seriously consider kidnapping Sabean and holding him in a cellar somewhere until after the deadline passes.

This could be a worse case scenario as instead of trading away veterans, he'd go the opposite way although the farm system is barren so not sure if Sabes has any prospects left to trade. Players playing way above expectation who should be traded stat.

Benjie Molina: OPS 860 (can't believe he's hitting better here than elsewhere but he's old and breaking down, get some value for him NOW)
Rich Aurilia: OPS 734 (should have traded him for a pack of cigs after he hit five homers somehow)
Jose Castillo: OPS 749 (notice that all these players are hitting way above expectation and are past their peak years. Hmmm...fluke or fact. Sabes will obviously go with fact)
Randy Winn: OPS 819 (he should actually have some trade value as he'd be ok on a decent team who needs one more OF)
Ray Durham: OPS 817 (with the # of teams losing middle infielders by the bushel, can we move him please?)

All the relievers should be available too as you can always find a cheap closer so if someone wants to overpay for Brian Wilson, be my guest.

As for FP, I didn't know all those facts about him but I did enjoy him when he and Eric Byrnes were co-hosting on KNBR maybe 5 years ago - good chemistry between those two. I still like Byrnes as he still guest hosts every so often and is not afraid to tell it like it is. I liked his statement on steroids where he estimated that 20% of MLB players were on it. He said that he could go down the locker room and go no..no..no..no..yup..

Agreed on most of the Giants stuff. Molina being dealt might be more likely now that he has had 'his feelings hurt' by comments Sabean made last week re: his upcoming contract. Wynn is the only guy that I think might be worth keeping around, other then Omar of course, but he might also have the most trade value.

Yeah, I've been anti-FP for a while now. I can understand Krukow being a homer, but FP being a Giants homer would be like Steve Finley being a Dodgers homer. The whole steroids thing though (following his years of portraying himself as some sort of hardnosed, gritty player) took him from someone I didn't like to someone I find laughable.

I like Byrnes on the radio too, and still wish the Dodgers would have signed him a few years ago when he was a FA.

My FP impression: "Welcome to AT&T Park, home of the Giants. When I was on the Giants, which was a few years back when I was a major league baseball player, we played in Candlestick. As a former baseball player, I can tell you that this is a nicer park than Candlestick, where I played. And did you guys know I was a professional baseball player? It's true! Now let me tell you the story of the time Barry Bonds called me 'awesome'. He would later say he was talking about his recliner, but everyone in that clubhouse, like me, FP Santangelo, former professional baseball player, knew that he was talking about me. And now for a story about my playing days..."

So that game was painful.

Truth is in the eye of the beholder.

weee we're playing good ball right now. Way to go Zito getting your 3rd win of the year. lol

You guys have won 2 in a row, but prior to that you lost 2/3 in KC and had a horrible home stand. Consider your bubble burst.

Zito did pitch well last night though, as did Sanchez the previous night. I'd be much more encouraged by Sanchez's performance though for obvious reasons.

Now all you need is for Sabean to unload the vets for some prospects and you guys can feel good about your future.

I have low standards. When the Giants win 2 in a row, I'm ecstatic. And the Sabean part about trading the vets, wont happen.

Wow, watching the Giants game today is painful to say the least. We have so many mediocre players is pathetic. I really hate Sabean and his horrible trades ever since the world series in 2002. He thinks he is a damn genius for drafting Lincecum and Cain. We have no other good players. At least I can listen to Kruik and Kuipe and have a good time.

(Kruik is awesome patrick, no matter what you say)

Great game. I love Matt Cain.

sigh.

Tim Flannery has been the best offensive weapon for the Giants this year.

Should read..."Because someone has to earn Zito's salary"