Cyber Monday Deal on Edgar Renteria!

The Tigers decline to offer arbitration to Edgar Renteria, paving the way for Edgar to join the Giants without losing a second-rounder.

As long as it's a two year deal, and upon further reflection, I'm perfectly fine with the move. Although many fans are clamoring to see a youth movement, there is little else in the middle infield cupboard besides Manny Burriss, who, in spite of a nice rookie campaign, has a long ways to go as a major league hitter. Kevin Frandsen is coming off a big injury and isn't necessarily a guy you hand a starting position to, and Eugenio Velez is best-suited in a utility role, preferably one that doesn't require him to play defense.

And, even with Renteria on board, one will have to play second.

Two years of Renteria provides a bridge to the Nick Noonans and Charlie Culbersons of the world. Or perhaps even Buster Posey the shortstop, though I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

And, even if Renteria succumbs to old age or a catastrophic injury, the length of the deal won't cripple the organization by any means. (Unlike some people.)

Dirty Dismissal

For Jonathan Sanchez, a season that started with so much promise ended with a whimper.

And if I were a betting man, which I am, I'd wager that Kevin Correia may have thrown his last pitch as a Giant. With all the young pitchers in the system, it makes little economic sense to keep the six year vet.

Plus, he kinda sucks.

Kudos to Andy Baggarly for this awesome find from last night's otherwise nausea-inducing proceedings:

They fielded nine rookies in the seventh inning: Catcher Steve Holm, pitcher Billy Sadler, first baseman Pablo Sandoval, second baseman Ryan Rohlinger, shortstop Ivan Ochoa, third baseman Conor Gillaspie, left fielder John Bowker, center fielder Eugenio Velez and right fielder Nate Schierholtz.

How long has it been since a major league team simultaneously fielded nine rookies in a major league game? [Snip]

Almost 25 years to the date, according to the hard-working folks at the Elias Sports Bureau. The Los Angeles Dodgers fielded nine rookies on Sept. 20, 1983, in a home game against the Houston Astros.

To counter this uncharacteristically youthphilic behavior, the Giants signed J.T. Snow to keep the average roster age at a Brian Sabean mandated minimum.

But seriously, folks, in case you didn't hear, he'll take the field this weekend with the starting lineup and get a nice sendoff from the fans. Class move.

Baggs also reports that Travis Ishikawa took the night off to be with his brand new baby. Congrats to Travis, and huge props to Baggs for using the occasion to recall tales of Harry Caray lore.

HEY! This provides me the perfect opportunity to link one of the best impersonations of all time!

A Shot of Hennessey

Evidently, it's good for what ails ya. Unfortunately, Brad's second gem in a row, this one of a complete game variety, can't bail out San Francisco.

And, since it has been a couple of days, let me ask, what the heck has gotten into Eugenio Velez? Even in last night's tough loss, the man who challenges Juan Pierre for the MLB Double Crown of speediest/smallest head was nails at the plate yet again.

For a team playing out the string, there has been plenty to watch for, including Velez's recent surge, the continued domination of the Pablominable Snowman, Ishikawa Redux and The Freak's race to the Cy Young/catastrophic arm injury.

Tonight's reason to watch: to play the pretend game where you have any idea how Matt Cain is going to pitch.

A. U. Haynio.

In spite of a blown save by Brian "Frown" Wilson, the Giants' lineup got a walkoff in the ninth against the venomless D-Backs.

In this game, while the kids played a big role, it was actually the work of the ----- WAIT A SECOND, this isn't the same story at all.  This game was about the kids, most specifically, A-U-Haynio Valez.  Four RBI, a double, a walk-off triple (his second walkoff in as many days, although OBnB failed to note it).  He is Manny Ramirez-clutch right now, and even playing decent defense (zero errors yesterday!) as he makes a bid to be this team's everyday starting 2B in 2009.  Worse things have happened.

At the top of the order, Win, Win, Win with Randy Winn looked great again, with three knocks to move his average to .315, which would be the highest of any everyday Giants Starter if the Pablominable Snowmandoval weren't swinging a scorching stick.

And Brad Hennessey was a welcome sight, providing a quality start on 100 pitches and leaving the game with his team in the lead.  If he were pitching every fifth day for this team, he'd realize he could do a lot worse than a No-Decision given that sort of effort.  Better luck next time.

Also, don't miss Baggs today - everybody loves a little rookie hazing, and Kuip said this morning that Manny Burriss was the French Maid and "shook his toosh like he knew what to do with it".

Sabean: Burriss Likely to Replace Vizquel at Short

There must have been something in the Colorado River Compact, because Brian Sabean came back from Denver displaying a bit more chutzpah than his usual listless self in his fireside chat on KNBR last night.

Among the revelations in Sabes's brief flirtation with candor:

- Manny Burriss is penciled in to start at shortstop next year and all indications are that he will be given every opportunity to be there long-term. Omar Vizquel will not be back.

Ivan Ochoa will compete to be the primary middle infield backup, but, in a miraculous moment of clarity, Sabean now does not view him as an everyday player.

- Pablo Sandoval is likely an everyday player next year. What position that may be at is anyone's guess, although, given that he seems to be unaffected by the position carousel he's riding thus far, the current setup may continue through 2009.

- Regarding the position prospects, Sabean seemed to be strikingly emboldened by the success of the youngsters this year, and said he's not constrained by anything but the player's ability to play at the big league level to promote him.

Taking into account the past production and polish of '08 draftees Buster Posey, who was just promoted again, and Conor Gillaspie, those guys should be in San Francisco in less than two years and maybe even in one.

- With respect to 18 year old wunderkind Angel Villalona's arrival at Pac Bell: "anything's possible."

- As for offseason plans, Brian sees third base as the position most likely to be upgraded with a power bat, given the current free agent landscape, although I'm not sure what landscape he's looking at. Suffice it to say, his past flirtations with the likes of Hank Blalock and Joe Crede renders this poseur beat writer nervous.

- Sabean said he's looking to move pitching for hitting help, and his third base evaluation may make more sense if you include possible trade targets, with names like Beltre, Atkins, and Kouzmanoff potentially available.

Other names I would throw out at third would include Brandon Wood, Jorge Cantu, and Dallas McPherson.

But despite reports of Tigers owner Mike Ilitch ordering an offseason slash in payroll, my personal white whale (no pun intended) Miguel Cabrera probably isn't going anywhere.

- Other nuggets Sabean peddled: Fred Lewis and his toe may be heading to surgery given the recent leveling off of his play, giving Nate Schierholtz an extended look; absent an outside addition, Kevin Frandsen and Eugenio Velez would compete for the job at second (no mention of Travis Denker, although I hope it's an oversight); and an extension for Randy Winn will be discussed this offseason.

Comment! You can make one move this offseason: what do you do?

Good Takeaways From A Bad Long Weekend

- Dirty returns and puts together a nice quality start; San Francisc still loses.

- Manny Burriss at shortstop. I'm not sure if Sabchy is grossly inept, doesn't care, or is pulling an Andy Kaufman on the Lunatic Fringe, but I guess it's better to have a completely obvious good idea later rather than never.

If Manny can hold down the position, and all indications are that he can, it frees up second base for a spring training competition between Kevin Frandsen (who's rehab from an Achilles rupture seems to be progressing), Travis Denker (who has put together a nice stat line since his demotion to Fresno), and Eugenio Velez.

- Yippee ki-yay, Scott McClain got called up!

Call me a sap, but I want this guy to get one good year in the majors. I can't think of a better team for him to do it than this rudderless ship. Do you have any better ideas for acquiring a dirt cheap power-hitting corner infielder?

- Speaking of power-hitting corner infielders, The One just had the best month of his pro career.

- The Franchise goes tonight. For those of you haven't noticed, NL Cy Young frontrunner Brandon Webb hasn't been all that in his past two starts.

Another dominant outing by Timmy and, at the outset of September, he could be in control of his Cy Young destiny.

Comment! Why will you watch the Giants this September? Or, perhaps, why won't you (you bandwagon fan)?

Silver Lining-Free Zone

I'm sure you're all aware of the skeletal plot of a contrived sports movie: a team of scrappy unheralded players perseveres through a period of complete incompetence, meeting the expectations of every outsider, only to band together and prove that the sum is greater than the value of its parts, leading to a sappy and painfully predictable ending.

This Giants team is the antithesis of that. Except you have the same general disregard you did for these guys as you did for the duration of Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch.

The Giants, from the top levels of management down, demise into preseason expectations is officially complete. Let's count the ways, shall we?

The Lineup: You all remember Jason Johnson, right? Oh wait, why should you? Quick refresher: the guy was a craptastic pitcher for the Orioles in the late 90s and early 2000s before eventually pitching his way out of the MLB and onto the Seibu Lions last year.

So, obviously, he shuts the Giants down for six.

To add insult to injury, Chan Ho Park came into relieve and also proceed to do away with the lineup in a cruel and efficient manner.

Don Drysdale was up in the ninth, but I can only assume Joe Torre, classy guy that he is, spared us his wrath.

Brian Sabean: He actually sold a part in Ray Durham, so there's that. And it doesn't look like he wants to buy, which is okay.

But for Ganesha's sake, snippets like these make me want to unleash the lunatic inside:

Sabean will listen to offers for Molina and Winn, but the Giants would have to win the deal. In other words, the Giants would have to receive, for openers, a young position player who could fill a glaring need. In the Giants' case, that is power. As Sabean said on his radio show Thursday, "I personally don't see those deals out there."

I'll forgo the outrage bit and simply state this opinion: I would trade Molina and Winn (and their 2009 contracts) for Pablo Sandoval and Nate Schierholtz in a heartbeat.

If anyone's offering a the Air Bud Trilogy for the entirety of their contracts, please just do it now.

But then, to destroy my spirit even more, Schulman weighs in with this:

"I think you have to be open minded because of the division we're in," Sabean said Tuesday.

[Snip.]

[In relation to Molina] The Marlins are said to be dangling first baseman Mike Jacobs, who has 22 home runs this year. John Bowker, at 24 is three years younger and, in the Giants' eyes, could become a better hitter than Jacobs.

Meanwhile, teams are stepping up conversations about left-handed reliever Jack Taschner, but again, the Giants are reluctant to deal a commodity - namely, a left-handed setup man whom the team can control for the next three years - that would not be easily replaced.

Really? Think we're all set at first with Bowker (who I love)? Not worth taking on a 27 year old plus power corner infielder who has more than twice as many homers as anyone else on our team in an extreme pitchers park?

Oh, don't know if you forgot, but John Bowker is an OUTFIELDER!

Better get used to this bunch of clowns.

And finally...

Bruce Bochy: That's right, I've turned. Jose Castillo, after doing his best Chuck Knoblauch on Monday, was out there again last night. Bochy's defense?

"We want to take somewhat of a look at him," Bochy said.

[Snip]

"I like the way he swings the bat," Bochy said.

Schulman puts it more bluntly:

Jose Castillo started at second base for the second straight game. Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants want to evaluate him as a potential second baseman for the future.

Translation? The 2009 Bruce Bochy-led Giants will live and die by Shrekstillo.

It is an absolute disgrace that our team has once again been hijacked by a huge headed BB. Taking a look at a repeated failure like Jose Castillo while Manny Burriss toils on the bench? Hell, I'm not the biggest Eugenio Velez booster, but at least he hasn't been released by the Pirates and the Marlins.

I almost wish that Bochy copped to showcasing Castillo rather than implying that he's a part of this team's future. The Giants picked this guy up off waivers mere days before the start of the season because, lo and behold, Sabean had done nothing to address the position after the departure of Pedro Feliz.

That's like being forced to lick a piece of dog poop by the local bully, deciding it doesn't taste as bad as you thought, and making it a part of your regular diet.

(Yeah, the 12 year old in all of you should probably check out Step Brothers if you haven't already.)

I can't even look at these guys right now.

Oh yeah, the Giants lost.

Happy RayDay?

The rumors begin to swirl that the long-rumored Ray Durham to Milwaukee deal is close to consummation.

From Tom Haudricort at the Journal-Sentinel's Brewers Blog:

There's a lot of other names floating around. One has the Brewers dealing second baseman Rickie Weeks in an expanded trade but I don't believe that at all.

More likely, it's a minor deal involving either Durham and/or Giants reliever Jack Taschner. It appears the Brewers are sending minor league outfielder Darren Ford in whatever deal is being hashed out because he was removed from the starting lineup with Class A Brevard County today with indications he is being traded.

Rickie Weeks?  Really?  Schulman chimes in with a dose of reality at the Chronicle's Splash Blog:

UPDATE: From what I'm hearing, rumors of a blockbuster are not true, and that Durham is the main man in the deal. One reason Durham's agent might be in his office on a Saturday night, and why the deal could not be announced Saturday, is that Durham is a 10-5 guy who needs to approve any trade. That can involve negotiations with a player.

Either way, selling off Day to Day Ray for anything of value is a coup.  At least I thought it was until I read Haudricourt's downlow on the presumptive return in this deal:

Ford, 22, is one of the fastest players in the minors but plays centerfield, a position at which the Brewers are well-stocked. In 91 games with Brevard, he is batting .230 with 48 stolen bases in 59 attempts.

Perfect.  A speedy no hit centerfielder, huh?  Way to match up in a deal there, Brian Sabean.  Not like we don't have any of those, in the minors or the majors.  With the Dave Roberts deal expiring in a short 15 months, and only Wendell Fairley, Clay Timpner, Brian Horwitz, Nate Schierholtz, Eugenio Velez and a boatload of others available to replace him, I think it's perfect that he's targeted Ford. 

Not, you know, an infielder, or a relief pitcher, or any kind of low-average, middling-power guy.

I'm not expecting a Cameron Maybin for Ray Durham, but if I had to profile the one minor leaguer I would NOT want in any deal, it would be Darren Ford.

(I could be fair and say the kid's got some size at 6'1/195 and he's shown a bit of pop with 18 HRs in two and a half minor league seasons. But .230? Kid should be pretty settled in at A ball, by now, don't you think?)

Well played, Brian.  I'm climbing back into the (Sunday morning) bottle.

Ivan Ochoa, Come On Down!

Travis Denker has been a fairly head-scratching call-up.  He's an intriguing young player who should be playing every day as we move towards an all-out competition for the second base job next year, one that would include Denker, Manny Burriss, a presumably healthy Kevin Frandsen and, depending on off-season moves, a host of other potential candidates.

So instead of getting regular at-bats in Norwich or Fresno, Denker's been toiling on the bench, hardly playing at all in the big leagues, not to mention the fact that Brian Sabean, in all his perverse management glory, started Denker's service time clock way earlier than he needed to.

Bringing us to today: an obviously trigger-happy Sabean has sent Denker to Fresno in exchange for infielder Ivan Ochoa, who perhaps should have been the utility infielder the Giants should have called up in the first place.  Up until this season, Ochoa has had a lackluster career in the minors.  Now, entering his ninth season, the 25 year old is putting together a nice little campaign down in Fresno, going .318/.395/445 (with 20 steals) as the team's regular shortstop.

In my completely uninformed opinion, this may be a signal that a deal to swing Ray Durham to a contender may be coming into focus.  The callup of Ochoa would allow Manny Burriss to take over duties at second in the event of a Durham trade, while Ochoa could slide into Burriss's current role as the utility man. 

I'm not entirely sure where this leaves recent returnee Eugenio Velez, but my hope is that his inferior instincts spend less time in the infield and more in the outfield, where his speed and arm are much better served.

Velez Back

Eugenio makes his triumphant return at the expense of Brian "The Rabbi" Horwitz. 

Velez seemed to take out the frustration of his May demotion on AAA pitchers, putting up a .310/.372/.509.  His 13 stolen bags would be nice if he didn't get caught a whopping 9 times, lending little credence to the notion that he has become a more polished player in the past couple of months.

Godspeed to Horwitz, who looks like he could be a nice Mark Sweeney type down the line.

Andrew Baggarly speculates that this could be a precursor to a Durham trade, God willing, but I'm going to stick with my policy of assuming it's just another case of questionable roster management by the higher-ups.

Baggarly also has a good piece on the curious merging of paths of the principal players of the White Flag Trade of 1997 and the Giants potential deadline activity.

For those of you who are not paying attention, The Freak goes against the Mets tonight.

C U, A U

Timmy and the maligned O get it done, although Brian Wilson's performance made me feel inclined to retract my previous statement about the overall performance of the bullpen.

Wilson's very shaky save yesterday (3 hits, 1 intentional pass, one long 2 run Barmes HR and mere inches from a game-tying homer from Holliday) does nothing to allay fears of his long-term viability as a closer. Two issues continue to rear their ugly head - his inability to put people away (he had Barmes 0-2 and Holliday 1-2) and his control with anything beyond the fastball.

As we saw with the Pat Burrell game-winner a couple of weeks back and Clint Barmes last night, major league hitters will tee off on a fastball, no matter how fast it is, once they can time it.

Is this inability to put people away and ongoing control issues a function of bad coaching?

The answer: an absolute and categorical "duh". In fact, this site was almost firedaverighetti.com. But I digress.

- Relatively big roster news as AUGenio Velez is sent down. Although I always liked the kid, he's definitely still raw and playing every day in Fresno only serves to help him. First task? Discerning the art of pickoff moves. All the best to him - I hope to see him back up before too long.

In his place, welcome Travis Denker. You may remember the 22 year old infielder as the PTBNL in the Mark Sweeney to Dodgers deal last year. The guy has shown a little something with the bat but I sincerely hope they intend to give the guy a shot in terms of regular playing time. Not starting for almost two weeks (like Velez) won't cut it.

Although primarily a second baseman, the Giants did try him out at third in spring training, for what it's worth.

Huh - the Giants just sent down a young (albeit maddening) position player with promise and called up an even younger one. What's going on here?

- From within the Velez piece by Schulman, a good blurb on new arrival Alex Hinshaw - hadn't put this together yet myself:

Hinshaw's start: Alex Hinshaw, the 25-year-old left-hander called up to replace the injured Merkin Valdez, has had quite a start to his major-league career. He has struck out four of his first six batters. They include Jim Thome and Todd Helton, two of the best left-handed hitters in the game who deserve to be at least in the conversation about the Hall of Fame.

Hinshaw said the experience "is kind of surreal, because you're facing (possible) Hall of Famers, but you've still got to get ahead and throw strike one. Initially, when you first toe the rubber, it's always a jittery feeling because I only have a limited amount of major-league experience. When it comes down to it, you've still got to make your pitches."

Hinshaw caught Thome looking at a curveball and Helton at a tailing fastball.

By the way, where the heck are all these young players coming from? Do we have a scouting department somewhere I haven't been aware of?

- And lastly, something to file in "Too Far Away to Worry About - Yet": Fred Lewis hit a monstrous homer that proved vital in the top of the ninth. He also hit for the cycle there on Mother's Day 2007. In fact, if I'm Fred Lewis, I wouldn't mind setting up camp there once I hit free agency. Check out his numbers at the Silver Bullet.

Amazingly, he actually hits better (in a much smaller sample size, granted) at the other bandbox in Cincy, where he has a 1.625 OPS with a .625 average.

Comment-starter: On a scale of Rickey Henderson to Bill Walsh, how good of a coach is Dave Righetti? Is it fair to blame him for the staff's struggles or is it more of a matter of what he has in terms of talent? Leave your thoughts!

Defense Wins Championships, and Loses Games...

Another tough loss in a series the Giants could have swept. Instead, they come out of a helluva series losing 2 out of 3.

3 errors, including the fateful Velez oops, largely the culprit.

- Big relief as Cainer looks not to be seriously hurt. Given the nature of hammies and the fact that this is Matt Cain, still disconcerting. Within that piece is a sweet one-liner from Pedro Dangerfield:

Feliz has not seen his family since the last week of spring training. It's been hard, he said, "but it's not going to be forever. It's happened before. I came to the states and left my family behind, my mom, dad, brother and sister. Now, it's little kids that I love to be with, but that's part of life."

The third baseman wanted to return to the Giants, but according to sources felt they did not go far enough in contract negotiations to bring him back. Other sources said the Giants actually offered Feliz more guaranteed money than he took in Philadelphia.

He is not sure how the fans in San Francisco will treat him Friday, but he joked about it.

"Maybe," he said, "they'll look at my average, .185, and say, 'Yes! The Giants did the right thing.'"

Notwithstanding the dearth of SF-based Pete Happy loyalists, I think the fans will do the right thing come this weekend's series.

An Ode to Ray

I think that at the outset of spring training, I was particularly pessimistic about anyone young showing anything this year, that our position player prospects close to the big leagues were completely of no value. Durham was going to play because, well, who the else would we throw out there.

I think that, at least for now, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid with Eugenio, Freddy and Bowker. Bowker may be a flash in the pan, but, hell, I'm going to enjoy finding out, and I hope he's up the rest of the year.

So now that we have some guys that can hit, and the pitching (save for Zito) is looking to live up to the hype, maybe this team can win a few games here and there.

As an aside, I don't have the same vitriol towards Zito because he actually seems like a good guy that works hard and is a good influence on the team. Once again, echoing Doc's sentiment, I can't fault him for signing on the dotted line of that ridiculous deal.

But Ray is everything that was wrong with yesterday's Giants, with many athletes and, even more broadly, the overpaid employed in general. He has a smug sense of self-entitlement, of taking care of his own, and does little to back it up. And management at all levels reinforces these notions, at the expense of players who are young and hungry and actually have some talent.

[RANT WARNING]

The "Durham is in for a power bat" excuse is wearing very thin.

He has had a two years of 20+ HRs and has shown NOTHING since - GASP - signing a contract. He .218 with 11HRs last year! No injuries, just shitty play.

He has 1 HR this year in a bandbox in a game in which the Giants had no chance to come back when a pitcher was mopping up. Eugenio's been tagging balls and wreaking havoc on the basepaths. Oh - and he's a better defender.

This Durham charade has gotten patently ridiculous. He's a total freaking disgrace that needs to go the way of Old Yeller. His spring training antics were really the nail in the coffin for this no-heart mercenary.

I understand starting veterans that may be a bit long in the tooth as they can show youngsters how professionals conduct their business, etc. a la Aurilia. Aurilia is terrible but he's a good guy and Ort is not exactly pushing him (although that may be changing).

Durham doesn't take care of himself, puts himself before the team and plays neither offense nor defense well. The fact that he's on this team (does anyone think ANYONE will trade for him? For what? His amazing glove? His veteran influence? His cheap contract? Oh - his POP?) is shameful.

NOTE TO SABES - WE KNOW YOU'VE MADE MISTAKES - WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS POSITION OTHERWISE. CUTTING RAY IS NOT AN ADMISSION OF A MISTAKE. IT'S AN ADMISSION OF YOUR UNDESERVED HUBRIS. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP THE BLEEDING.