Slop Hackers R Us

Jon Heyman reports that the Giants have have inked infielder Juan Uribe to a minor league deal.

I honestly could not envision a player that would shorten Brian Sabean's trouser legs more than Uribe. He's versatile, having played extensively at short, third and second, and has a career .295 OBP. And, boy, does he like striking out.

Truth be told, it's hard to work up too much frustration over a low-impact signing that essentially serves as insurance at any of the infield spots, all of which remain in flux, with the exception of shortstop. Also bear in mind that it appears Sabes has learned from his laughably tragic mistake of not addressing the backup shortstop position that led to Brian Bocock, 2008 San Francisco Giants Opening Day starter.

Note that the San Francisco 49ers franchise is an entirely different matter: I haven't been this worked up since Scott Spezio. But that's neither here nor there.

Clutch Holmer

Steve Holm gets it done in relief of Big Money as his 2-run homer (the first of his ML career) in the bottom of the seventh helps the Giants nab the rubber match and return the favor to the Phillies.

Awesome story for the local boy. The former backup to Justin Knoedler in Single-A San Jose has looked the part in the majors coming off an improbable upset in an open battle for the backup job in spring training.

On the other hand, Jose Castillo celebrated the return of Pedro Feliz by doing his best impression, hitting into 3 double plays (two on the first pitch and two with the bases loaded) before lining a triple in a completely no-pressure situation leading off the eighth. (Unsurprisingly, he was subsequently stranded by Vizquel, Aurilia and Lewis). His struggles epitomize the Giants biggest downfall so far this season: not cashing in on baserunners. Team batting with RISP? .237.

Dirty continues to struggle as he allows three in a very wild 4.1 IPs. Also troubling: Sanchez's inability to control his emotions - a good example being his failure to cover first on a helluva diving play by John Bowker.

However, the bullpen does the job - a scoreless 4.2IPs as Sadler looks like he belongs, and Taschner, Walker, and Wilson throw a scoreless inning apiece, all without much drama. Special shoutouts to Walker, who bounces back from a recent hard-luck patch, and Wilson, who gets Burrell back with a Nen-esque series of sliders to get the 9th inning K.

All in all, a lot of positives. In addition to his ever-improving D, Bowker may have made his first adjustment (and the one many prospects never make) - in limited duty this month, he's hitting .556. Both of his hits today were opposite field against a steady diet of breaking balls. Maybe we have a keeper.

Also, Aaron Rowand is good. One hit in one official AB along with three walks boosts his average to .348 and his OBP over .400. Gamer or not, guy certainly backs his scowl up.

Great Mother's Day at the park.

- Great to see Vizquel back. Didn't get a chance to mention his solid debut in yesterday's win. Had a great turn in today's game, barehanding a wayward Velez toss and almost turning an improbable 4-6-3 early on.

Contrary to previous speculation, Durham stays active but Burriss's buddy Bo gets the axe. Best of luck to the kid who never really had a chance against big league pitching. Hopefully, it's not his last taste of the big leagues.

Fivish Stinkle

Sound familiar?

"Tough loss as Giants take early lead on [team from PA] only to lose it on bad breaks in the late innings to lose [<4] to 4."

7-4 loss this time, as the Keystone State continues its brutal assault of the victims otherwise known as the Giants of San Francisco. In a painfully predictable course of events, Jimmy Rollins took out the frustration of sitting a month on the Giants staff, and the men in blue showed no deference to the likes of Tyler Walker, who took the tough L.

Stat for optimists? The Giants have started their second straight month at 1-6 - if one month of history is any indicator, which it surely is not, the Giants will bounce back admirably the remainder of May.

Lincecum aims to be the stopper (once again) today as he faces Rip Van Moyer, who stands 22 years Timmy's senior.

On an actual bright note, Manny Burriss is beginning to play like he belongs up here: in addition to some nice displays on D, in May, he's hitting .364 with an .846 OPS in 23 at bats. Good because at the outset of this year, it looked like the Giants had no one in their system capable of taking over in the next year, which would inevitably lead to the offseason signing of Rafael Furcal to a 6 year deal. Of course, this is also bad for the collective ego of myself and the Lunatic Fringe because it serves as a potential counterexample to the theory that Brian Sabean et al is incapable of effectively scouting and developing a position player, thus undermining our case to send him to podiatry school.

Now someone might say that it that is a moot point now that Omar Viquel's return is imminent. My response would be that someone is a stupid doo doo face, because he (or she, we're PC here at OBnB) is expecting a 41 year old shortstop with a bum knee to play at all consistently over the course of the remaining 124 games.

Over/under on the games he plays this season? 54.5. I love the guy, but this also guarantees his option for '09 doesn't vest, once again bailing out Sabean from his stupidity - that lucky SOB.

Also within the Vizquel piece is a strong hint that Strained DurHam is most likely hitting the DL upon Omar's activation. Best of luck on that GTA4 level attack, Ray - try not to sprain your retina.

Off Day Debate: Vizquel's Return

Here's some news to get your mind off this weekend's downer of a series - word from the Fresno Bee is that Omar Vizquel is targeting this Friday to make his long awaited season debut.

The question becomes, then, is this a good thing? Brian Bocock never had a chance with the bat in the majors, and this could very well be his ML swan song unless he really picks it up.

Manny Burriss, on the other hand, has shown flashes. Besides being DC's great baseball hope, he has proven a fluid shortstop if not in Bocock's league defensively. The former sandwich round pick (in the same draft that produced The Franchise) has done about as well as could be expected with the bat, which is to say he hasn't done particularly well. Keep in mind, in 2006, the speedy 23 year old did very well after signing early in short-season A ball. However, after a disastrous start in high A San Jose to open 2007, it took a midseason demotion to low A Augusta for him to find his stroke again. What would have been best would be to keep the kid on a slow track. Instead, due to an ensuing institutional oversight (not disclosing whether or not it regarded having a viable backup to a 41 year old shortstop), Burriss started 2008 in AAA. Check out his pro numbers, with thanks to our friends at FirstInning:

In essentially reproducing his underwhelming numbers in AAA this year at the major league level, Manny has really already outperformed what we could reasonably expect. Bear in mind, this isn't an indictment of his future potential, but more an indicator that he needs some more time for seasoning. After all, we're talking small sample sizes across the board.

Here's the thing, though, Omar, God bless him, wasn't very good last year. His .621 OPS, although it outpaces Manny's numbers thus far, doesn't quite hack it. Hate to break it, but "off-years" by 40 year olds are more likely the beginning of the end. Especially when the player in question is recovering from knee surgery at one of the more physically demanding positions out there.

Then again, if he can even split the difference between 2007 and 2006, Vizquel will be a huge boon to this team, particularly if his glove stays solid.

Really, this is yet another situation with no really good alternative. So what do you think? Is Vizquel coming back a good thing? Should we just throw the kid out there and hope for the best?

- Also, if you haven't read this story about our new best hitter, it's something. Give FLew his due, the guy's earned it. (No really, he really has - story's plain f'ed up.) Good report by Killion.