Wednesday Graph: Where Did Rowand Go?

Sorry, I know this is not the right place for this comment... but dude I have looked all over your page for a "contact me" type link and can't find it. I was going to ask you a random question that had nothing to do with your posts so as not to do what I'm doing right now. Do you accept random correspondences? If you do, great. I just can't figure out how... And if you don't, also cool. Maybe just have that up on the page somewhere so folks won't bother you like I'm doing now. P.S. Feel free to erase this post. Please.

Sorry me again. I thought my comments would post automatically but they obviously haven't, which is great. I assume you have my email address then, but if not: asdfghjklzxcvbnmqazwsxedc@yahoo.com. I'm a little drunk right now, which is why I can't stop typing. I'm from San Jose, but have lived in New England the last few years (and if you're tired of the Red Sox/Yankees bullshit, imagine having to live in it). So I just finished watching the Giants/Pads game (at home, on my computer, on a Friday night) and now want to talk all things Giants, but can't. My only hometown connections here are my brother, who has kids to deal with, and my buddy, who's a Dodgers fan. Anyway, my question is this: do you know how to get a hold of Mike Krukow, a la an email address? I looked on the Comcast Sportsnet page and found nothing. I just wanted to say two couple things to him while I was tipsy and home-sick. I can't, so I'll tell you instead: The first Giants game I ever attended (April 23, 1988) was against the Dodgers, Kruk vs. Hershiser (and Will Clark hit a home run, the first I ever saw). So, for my first big league game I got to see play an impending Cy Young-award winner, an impending WS champion, and, best of all, my idol knocked one out...

People are being so harsh on Rowand because he is having a HORRIBLE season. Panda's is merely poor. All of Rowand's numbers are red flags. Line drive rate plummeting, swings out of zone increasing hugely, etc. The salary, age and ugliest stance possibly ever add to it, but let's be clear from where most of the harshness is stemming.

Where does Brandon Belt fit into the 2011 situation? I know we are talking about a guy with 48ABs in AAA but with a good spring he seems like another fast track guy. Minors - .352 BA, 1.075 OPS No matter what I think this all spells the end of the Eugenio Velez experiment. He was interesting at age 26 but he is the ugly girl at the end of the bar at last call at age 29.

I think people are being a little harsh on Rowand because of this year in particular but Panda is getting a much easier ride because A) he is young and batted .330 last year and B) isnt making nearly as much as Rowand. Rowand was vastly over paid based on his inflated Citizen Bank numbers (Burrell can add some insight) but fans and Sabean should know this. That said I wonder how much the ball to the face on April 10th affected Rowand. What we may be losing sight of is the David Wright effect because he doesnt look comfortable and is swinging at everything. You couple that with the overpayment and horrible batting stance and it is easy to throw rotten fruit. I dont think he will ever be the 27HR 80+RBI guy but lets keep in mind that Burrell and Guillen are not under contract in 2011 which leaves the Giants with Torres and Ross. There has to be someone to fill one of the corner spots for sure and Rowand isnt going anywhere til 2013. As Chris points out there is a good chance that Rowand will make an appearance in the OF next season. Lets hope that maybe it was the facial that caused his extremely poor year.

All that money for a .227 hitter as of his last at bat. I'm glad he's sitting. The one thing that I liked that he did for us was that catch last year at the wall, saving the no-hitter for Sanchez. Thats it.

In addition, it's easier to justify playing someone with a low wOBA in CF than as a corner outfielder--in the case of Rowand, either choice is bad, of course, but corner OF worse.

Although it perhaps makes sense to play Rowand in the corners, I think this may be problematic. Rowand sees himself as a centerfielder and it will take quite some doing to move him to the corners. Much depends on if the team decides to resign Burrell, Huff, and a few others. I don't know if their will be any takers, but expect the giants may try to move him. I just do not know what they can get for him. Perhaps even less than what they received for Lewis or Frandsen. A paper plate with scraps of food on it. Of course Rowand could have a comeback year next year ala Aubrey Huff this year. But the odds of that happening with Rowand's batting approach are fairly slim. At least Huff has a decent approach at the plate.

If this was facebook I'd like this post.