Reports of My Demise Exaggerated, Giants Are Different Matter

Despite the large amount of revenue OBnB generates, a few other (theoretically) necessary responsibilities reared their ugly heads at once, putting me out of commission.

Luckily, the break absolves me of the false sense of jubilation that may have come with a five game winning streak for this plucky but ultimately doomed young team. With their second straight loss to the defending NL champion (remember that?) Rockies, the boys in black and orange showed this bunch is still a work in progress.

Happy trails, Matt Palmer. And welcome back, Osiris.

And now, with apologies to The Rock, I give you my Wednesday Rundown:

- Pablo Sandoval is good. I read this article about how Class A San Jose was completely galvanized by his arrival, only to fall back to the pack when he was promoted to Double A Connecticut, at which point the Defenders surged. It would have been good to link and relate to the recent improvement of the Giants.

But I couldn't find it, so take my word for it. To make up for my eroding search engine eagle eye, check out this interview Sandoval did with Defenders beat reporter Joe Perez upon his promotion to Connecticut in June.

Hope this kid sticks - he loves the game, and not in a creepy 'phile Favre way.

- A pleasant byproduct of Sandoval's callup has been the recent rebirth of Big Money's bat. Since Sandoval's arrival on August 14, Molina's batting .333 with 11 RBIs, his most productive stretch since early July.

Though it's been easy to be tough on the big guy after his ridiculously hot start, it's easy to forget he's played the most demanding position on the diamond without much respite, on 34 year old knees to boot. Baggarly did a piece on Molina couple days back:

For now, the focus with Sandoval is short-term. But Molina knows that teams seldom let their best offensive prospects stay behind the plate. Their production inevitably suffers because of the grueling nature of the position.

"You should see Bengie when he takes his shirt off," a teammate said. "He has bruises all over."

Molina acknowledged that because of numerous foul tips, there have been times this season when he could barely grip a bat.

"Yeah, but I don't have any excuses," Molina said. "I want to be out there every day and I do the best with what I have."

Molina is committed to guiding Sandoval behind the plate. He'll do the same for Buster Posey when the No. 1 draft pick (fifth overall) arrives in major league camp next spring.

But Molina wouldn't be surprised if Posey eventually moves, too.

As you may have noticed, the Giants have no shortage of good guys behind the plate.

- And speaking of Posey, who I seriously just this moment realize has a name ripe for nicknames should he flameout (God forbid), his professional career has begun in a smashing fashion. In 4 games in the Arizona Rookie League, Posey's hitting a Sandovalian .438 with a dinger and 3 RBIs.

Turns out there's no shortage of talent behind the plate either.

Are we sure Brian Sabean's still the GM?

- Finally, everyone (and by everyone, I mean the media) needs to shut up about this CC Sabathia nonsense. Hey, I love that the Giants can still be a preferred landing spot for any blue chip free agent, but the organizational pitching budget would appeared to be tied up in, well, not CC Sabathia.

Romo DFA'd (Yeah, I Know - That DOESN'T Make Any Sense!)

And this time, it wasn't even a knee-jerk response by the notoriously vindictive Brian Sabean.

He DFA'd a controllable young arm with nice upside because of that other thing he's known for: gross incompetence!

From Baggs:

The Giants probably put him on revocable waivers because a potential trade partner was interested in him. Or they wanted t ogauge the general the level of interest. No matter the reason, you cannot option someone when they are on revocable waivers. (I’m up on most roster rules, but that’s a new one for me.)

Anyway, and this is the important part, the Giants insist the oversight will not result in losing Romo to another club. When you designate a player, you take them off your 40-man roster and have 10 days to waive, release or outright him. Before those 10 days are up, the Giants will revoke Romo off waivers be able to option him at that point. He’ll remain on the 40-man roster. Romo said he expects to join Fresno in Salt Lake on Friday.

You know, the front office's insistence that nothing is wrong reminds me of a teenager insisting his dad's bottle of Black Label was always almost gone: I just don't buy it.

Oh, in case you were upset, the impetus for the botched Romo move (as well as swapping out Osiris Matos for Billy Sadler)?

Activating 39 year old never-will-be Keiichi Yabu.

Okay, now you can go punch yourself in the neck.

Bummer

The bums ruined our country's birthday.  Welcome to the bigs, Osiris.

Flip side: the Giants continue to build well for the future, signing another Dominican teenager.

Do the Roster Shuffle!

Billy Sadler down, Osiris Matos up as the roster juggling continues.  Sadler had pitched better in June before his debacle in the Monday game.

The 24 year old Matos was a candidate to replace Vinnie Chulk before Sergio Romo got the call.  After a superb 2007 season at Connecticut, Matos showed he had nothing left to prove this year to the tune of a 1.23 ERA in 36.2 innings of work, allowing only 25 hits and posting a 37 to 11 K:BB ratio.

Speaking of Chulk, despite indications that he wouldn't accept a demotion, he cleared waivers and has been it appears he will accept his assignment to Fresno.