Howry Reaches Age of Giants Consent

In 1994, the Giants selected Bobby Howry in the fifth round of the amateur draft. The big lug was a hard-thrower, and he ascended through the system at a nice pace, projecting as a solid late-game reliever.

Of course, at the age of 25, Howry's precociousness shook Brian Sabean to the core. Howry's advanced learning curve threatened to undermine Sabean's entire personnel management philosophy (in short: baseball players as fine wines). Offended by Howry's inexcusable prodigious talent, Sabean came up with a solution: stash the kid somewhere else until he actually possessed the veteran savvy so necessary to achieve success in the big leagues, somewhere no Giants fan would ever see him.

Hence, The White Flag Trade.

But a short decade later, it seems Sabean has deemed Howry adequately ripened, at least according to team propagandist Chris Haft. Coming off a 2008 season that it evokes such Giant names as Walker, Bautista or perhaps, dare I say it, Poole, it's easy to see why Sabean likes this guy.

All kidding aside, for a one to two year moderately priced contract, this is the kind of low-risk, medium-reward deal I'd like to see the team make. Howry's a year removed from a solid season at Wrigley, and, in the topsy-turvy world of relievers, there's a good shot he returns to that form going from a hitter's park to a pitcher's park. Plus, due to the Cubs decision to not offer arbitration to Howry, he comes sans compensatory pick.

Most importantly, keeping with a theme that I like, the guy exhibits a rarity in the Giants bullpen of recent history: control.

Between Howry and Jeremy Affeldt, you'll have a couple proven vets to step into a bullpen mentorship vacuum to help out the kids with potential in Sergio Romo, Billy Sadler and Alex Hinshaw. Granted, if Sabean gives Howry a deal that comes close to his last contract, and my reaction may rival this.

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.

Romonic

Last night's game reminded me of any M. Night Shyamalan movie besides The Sixth Sense: mildly intriguing most of the way through before giving way to an underwhelming over the top twist that erases any positives one could have taken away before.

Although he didn't officially get the loss (a somewhat improved Dirty did), Sergio Romo did officially get his first rookie beatdown. Even in his loss to the Mets a couple of weeks back, a couple of bad pitches were more his undoing than a complete and utter moundfart.

Oh, and you had to know that since Mike Hampton was starting, the Giants would do their best to welcome him back. Just ask Jason Johnson.

On the plus side, The Franchise goes for the series win today.

Amazin' Aurilia? Richie could find a home on a contender, provided he passed through waivers, according to the official site:

It's likely Rich Aurilia was one of the first players San Francisco submitted -- clubs can place a maximum of seven players on waivers every day. A free agent after this season, Aurilia is owed an affordable $1.5 million for the remainder of the year and currently is batting .281 with eight home runs.

A source said the Mets, losers of four straight entering Tuesday night, were interested in acquiring the veteran infielder to use as a right-handed batter off the bench.

Merkin a Comeback? The on-again, off-again rehab of Merkin Valdez appears to be on again. Although Valdez looked downright nasty in March and April, the centerpiece of the Russ Ortiz can't shake consistent arm troubles.

I'd say shut him down, but I am genuinely interested to see if this guy can stay healthy while pitching for stretch. If he can't rehab an injury that, by all accounts, is not major, in this length of time, I'm not sure this kid will ever be able to withstand the rigors of relieving. His injury history certainly does nothing to refute that.

Comment! Out of left field, so to speak, but, on the heels of his recent drop into the third spot, do you think Fred Lewis can become a legitimate middle of the order hitter?

Down for Keeps

Not sure how many of you had younger siblings, but I clearly remember getting an extra piece of candy and dangling over my baby brother's head, just high enough for to him reach if he jumped to get it.  Leap he did, hand outstretched clutching for this tiny piece of concentrated happiness.  As soon as he reached the apex of his jump, the fun-size bar was magically yanked out of the range of his grasp, and he descended back to Earth empty-handed and crestfallen.

No, kids.  That douchey big brother isn't Eric Roberts, it's the Giants bullpen stealing joy from the hands of Giants fans everywhere.  Each time the boys in blue hats (not the Cubs in this case) clawed their way back into the game, our illustrious relievers seemed to wag a Dikembe-sized finger in our collective face.

In the sixth inning, with the Giants trailing 3-0, John Bowker clobbered a 2-run shot that ended up swimming in the Bay to bring the Giants within one. [JUMP]

However, in the top of the seventh, Sergio Romo and a no-throw by starting catcher Eliezer Alfonzo conspired to allow two runs to score on a Soto single.  All of a sudden, it was once again a three-run deficit. [YOINK]

Then, in an exciting turn of events, the Giants got a little two-out magic when  Ray Durham (3-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs) snuck a shot over the right field wall to tie the game at five apiece. [JUMP]

Unfortunately for the guys in mismatched hats, Mike Fontenot, a lefty who weighs 160 lbs soaking wet, somehow managed to muscle a Tyler Walker fastball over the green tin roof in right to put the Cubs up by one going into the bottom of the eighth. [YOINK]

The rest, as they say, is history as the Giants four, five, and six hitters went up-n-down in the bottom of the inning, quieting the good half of the crowd.  Though a glimmer of hope did shine on a two-out, pinch-hit triple by Jose "Shrek" Castillo in the bottom of nine [JUMP], Freddie Lewis snuffed it when he struck out looking to end the game [YOINK].

This has to be one of the most frustrating losses of the season.  Just ask Kevin Correia, who looked good enough to win through 6.1 innings and still took the no-decision.  Just ask Ray-Ray who wants to win and look good doing it so he can get traded to a contender.  Just ask AaRow, who has shaved 52 points off his average in the last 26 games.  Hell, ask the whole team, as they've now lost 16 of their last 20 at home.

At least when I was growing up, I was the big brother and got to enjoy this sort of torture.  Now it seems all too painful.

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.

ReTribeUtion

Heading into last night's matchup with the red-hot Cliff Lee, it was a foregone conclusion that Matt Cain would have to bring his best game.

Alas, he did not.

Thus, Giants loseth.

What, were you expecting the offense to pick him up?

Either way, I'm inclined to agree with the local rags on this one: the Giants crapped the bed in Kansas City and could have mailed this series in.  And to their credit, they didn't.

More positivity: after getting a handie from the entire populace of Cleveland, Omar Vizquel may finally be put out to pasture (read: bench), giving way to the ever-intriguing Manny Burriss.  The former NCAA stolen base champ will spark this lineup merely by hitting better than the league-average pitcher, a good initial benchmark for a kid who was supposed to get his first cup in 2009.

Even more positivity: I like Sergio Romo, and you should too.  Although I have to admit some disappointment watching him trot out there with a little beard growth to go along with that fantastic moustache.  Let's hope he wises up and takes a cue from Jason Giambi. (Gee, I'm never going to repeat that sentence again.)

Also, as absurd as the notion may be, the Giants can actually salvage a winning month if they take two of three from the A's this weekend.

I mean, technically, it's possible.

Most importantly, coming out of this series with even a glimmer of hope regarding the future of Barry Zito is a very nice development.  You know, until he goes all Bronson Arroyo on us.

Dirty Romo

Thought I'd post a nice video Greg posted on his Defenders blog of recent call-up Sergio Romo, who replaces the departed Vinnie Chulk.

Guy's definitely got some funky arm action. It also appears that there may now be a competition for the title of the true Dirty.

Bay City Ball had a nice writeup on him recently - sounds like an intriguing middle relief option:

RHP Sergio Romo - Romo dazzles opposing hitters with a variety of pitches coming out of a variety of arm slots and angles. On a pure “stuff” level, Romo’s “stuff” isn’t off the charts, it’s rather pedestrian. He works in the upper 80’s and his curveball is an average pitch but similar to Cowart, he has amazing control that allows him to spot his pitches wherever he wants them. Toss in some deception from his pitching motion — he sort of slings the ball in a low arm slot — and you’ve got Sergio Romo. He doesn’t walk hitters — BB% of 5.1 — and despite not having a huge velocity, has never had trouble striking out hitters — K% of 29.3 in AA this year. His ‘07 line from San Jose is just ridiculous: 65.2 IP, 33 H, 9 ER, 15 BB, 104 SO. He briefly had some struggles in AA when he came off of a injury — I believe it was a knee problem — but since giving up 3 earned runs on May 31st, he’s made 5 straight strong appearances. Over those 5 appearances his line looks like this: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 SO. That’s a positively small sample but I’d like to think he’s adjusted from his injury and is back to pitching well again.