Veteran Wasteland

Published by on November 25, 2006 | 3 Responses

As the Giants creep closer to signing Dave Roberts, Rich Aurilia, Mark Loretta, and possibly Dave Weathers I am already digging a bunker 30 feet beneath the earths surface. It’s not that I hate any of these players but 2007 is indeed going to be ugly. I know this as do most other fans of this team. The upcoming season looks to be full of slap hit singles, old outfielders (again), and nuclear fallout. Keep digging.

Its not anything personal against any of these players but since when did getting younger mean signing a 34 year old to play CF? Baby steps I guess. Signing Loretta before December 1st, if offered arbitration, will also cost the Giants a draft pick. Which will continue to slow the progress of a farm system that ranks as one of the worst in baseball. If anything has been show by this off season, its that the farm systems of major league teams are going to pay a bigger role than ever. The ability to replace talent from within will prove to be invaluable to teams as free agent spending becomes increasingly stupid. Keep digging.

Brian Sabean has to feel like he is the smelly kid that no one wants to hang out with. He’s offered big money to Soriano, Lee, Pierre, and Matthews Jr. with no success. It’s OK Brian, I wouldn’t want to be stuck with any of these contracts. The signing of Aurilia or Loretta makes it almost certain that Pedro Feliz is done in San Francisco which makes me muy feliz. I will always remember you Pedro for waving weekly at that low and away breaking ball. Godspeed my sweet prince.

Now that I’ve painted my Fallout-esque radiated future of destruction I will leave you with this. What would you do if you were Brian Sabean? This off season strikes me as one of duality. On one hand options exists to improve your team but on the other hand these options may prove to cost more than they are worth, crippling an organization financially to have 4 good years of Alfonso Soriano is maddening. Part of me wants to sign the expensive big names but the other half shakes his fist and mutters curse words at the mere idea. I am torn. But until the first pitch is thrown I’ll be 30 feet underground, encased in thick cement walls, and eating canned goods with Brian. Pass the beans.

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Frank
Frank

I have to say I am kind of puzzled by what Sabean is REPORTED to be doing this off season. But I think he gets a bad rap for the state of the minor league system. I think he made a calculated decision to slim down the spending on minor leaguers in order to have more to spend on major leaguers in an effort to build around Barry. I don't think he can be faulted for that. Sure, if he knew Nen would be lost, Barry would miss an entire year, Matheny, Alou, Durham and other assorted injuries, maybe he would not elect that strategy. But when you are a mid market team with the best player in baseball, trying to maximize that asset seems pretty reasonable to me. That being said, that strategy is no longer in ploay, IMO, and I would like to see signs there is a new strategy. Sure hard to tell. But I prefer the guys that are being named (Roberts, et al) to the guys who reportedly got away.

Chris
Chris

Frank, I agree with you on signing guys to fill in until we get A) Homegrown talent or B) Better FA options to play these positions. I just don't want to see any draft picks lost by signing a 35 year old utility man (Aurilia). The Giants desperately need to start rebuilding the minors. I am encouraged by what I read this morning in the San Jose Mercury News. The article talks about how the Giants are going to wait util after Dec 1st to sign Aurilia. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports...

Frank
Frank

Actually, I like this strategy (Aurelia, Roberts, et al). We certainly don/'t have enough in the minors to field a team. I would prefer keeping our young pitching. Therefore, the only alternative is older, cheaper, shorter contracts for guys to hold places until we can get more position players. The benefit of someone like Roberts or Loretta is that Linden and Frandsen will get plently of at bats and get the chance to earn starters positions. But if they fail, we are not in the position we were last year with Niekro with no alternatives. If they suceed Loretta and Winn'Roberts become bench/role players - and we are set at those positions for 08. If they fail, we still have major leaguers playing the positions, and know we cannot count on Linden/Frandsen and will have to keep looking. A good way to audition young players without completely sacrificing a season or having to trade mid season (see, Hillenbrand, Shea).