I noticed no one's mentioned how belt hasn't come close to a hit since that last HR. The guy doesn't even make solid contact. Does that not worry anyone?

The problem is: Sabean does not understand what creates run support. Sabean completely discredits PPA and OPS with Ball Park adj., by far and away the two most important stats towards scoring runs. Sabean values vanity stats - stats writers base MVP votes on, RBIs, Batting Average, HR total, etc... In Sabean's eyes, a guy that hits 21 homeruns playing in Texas in 626 at bats has more power than a guy that hits 19 homeruns in 445 at bats playing in San Diego. Sabean doesn't get it... he never has. So more than the Zito contract, the Rowand contract, all of it... this is what's most frustrating to me - Cause when you have a core of Lincecum, Vogey, Cain, Bum, Romo, Lopez, Casilla, Wilson, Posey, Belt and Sandoval for WAY under market value and dirt cheap, plus you have a $120 million budget - with only about $30 to $35 mil of it tied up to those elite players, you should be nothing less than the '27 Yankees winning title after title. This is the PERFECT STORM that comes along maybe once a generation, a situation small market teams strive for and big market teams dream of. Yes, it's great the Giants won it all last year, but honestly, with just average offensive free agent signings, they could easily have 2-3 championships by now. Imagine if the Red Sox's or Phillies' 11 best all star level players were young and amounted to only about $35 mil in payroll... They'd be able to win 130 games a year with the free agents they could bring in.

I, too, have felt despirited by the Giants' performances, both at the player and administrative levels. Like Rory, I sort of shut down. I guess I'm just not enough of a diehard fan. The situation vis a vis Brandon Belt and his lack of playing time has especially ruined things for me. to think that it's all a matter of keeping his contract just one year longer as what occurred with Buster Posey last year is particularly ennervating. As to Liem's comments, I couldn't care less given the fact the the Giants are sold out every ballgame, are third in baseball in terms of consecutive 40,000 fans per ballgame, made the playoffs all the way to the world series which increased their earnings considerably and have gained with respect to "intangibles" as a result, all tell me that this is an ownership which cares a lot more for the bottom line and huge profits as opposed to putting a formidable team on the playng field. We need someone of the ilk (shall I say it?) of George Steinbrenner. Zito represents money poorly spent as does Aubrey Huff and several others. So it shall be. Now we should expect this team to cough up and make bids for excellent free agents such as Albert Pujols. The Giants can afford it. Let me put it this way: If I were a Giant pitcher, say Tim Linceum or Matt Cain, I'd never ever resign with the Giants. I'd go for a team which would lend me a modicum of run support to enhance my own won-lost record. 'Nuff said.

Great post. I don't blame Sabean completely for this. I think it's sort of conscious parallelism between Bochy and Sabean. Sabean knows that Bochy isn't going to play Belt. Sabean also probably doesn't view the situation as dire or clear enough to "order" Bochy to do so even if they had that sort of relationship. So, Sabean has a choice - either he can force Belt on the 25 man roster and have him sit during a time where they clearly need the whole bench or he can put a guy on the roster who is going to play while giving Belt AAA ABs. I don't agree with the choice either his made, but I think whatever blame can be laid here can be laid equally (if not more) upon Bochy.

As frustrating as Belt's case was this year, I would like to play devil's advocate and point out that limiting Belt's PT should ensure that young 1b will not be arbritration eligible until 2014-. That year represents a key milestone the Giants' FO; it's when Zito comes off the books. Some important contract dates for the Giants' key young players: Lincecum 2012(arb3), Sandoval (arb1), Cain 2013(FA), Posey 2013(arb1). Preventing Belt's arbitration from kicking in a year earlier will really help the Giants keep the other four.

You could be a Pirates fan! 18 losing seasons in a row! Who have they developed? If it was so easy everyone would do it. Why not enjoy the fact that despite injuries Sabean has put a team together that is in contention. I believe Mr. Big Head was the reason for the lack of developement in the farm system. If you think Bochy and Sabean like vetreans, Mr. Big Head could not have handeled a young stud coming up from the minors.

On the bright side, this year has helped me to regain some confidence in my baseball acumen. For years I have thought that Brian Sabean was one of the worst GM's in baseball and was shocked at how he could keep his job. Then last year everything he touched--except Jose Guillen--turned to gold and I was left to question whether I had lost my mind. The treatment of Belt this year has re-affirmed my belief that Sabean is one of the worst GM's in baseball who got unbelievably lucky. I'm glad he got lucky, but lets be honest with ourselves and admit that most of his best moves as a GM have either been Dick Tidrow (Lincecum, Cain, MadBum etc.) or pure luck (Kent, Burrell, Ross etc.). Sabean is still the awful GM that he's always been and even though they finally benched Rowand and Renteria last year, he is still in love with grizzly gamery veterans and has created an organization that is nearly incompetent at developing young hitters. In almost a decade and a half the Giants farm system has produced all of three starting position players. While I can't prove this, I have to believe that if someone who knew nothing about baseball randomly selected 20-30 hitters each year in the draft for 14 years they would have more success than Sabes and Co. have had. Part of me even hopes that if the Giants aren't going to win the World Series that they'll go ahead and take a dive this year and next so that hopefully we can finally be rid of Brian Sabean.

You are so right. Very sad decisions on the Giants part, starting with their off-season signings. Huff was lighting in a bottle. The Reds paid Renteria $1 Million dollars more than the Giants offered and instead signed Tejada Terrible for $6 Million. Sadly, Zito hasn't worked out and they still owe him almost $50 million. I think a Zito for Zambrano trade might be beneficial to both clubs. At this point they both still have potential and a waste of money for both clubs. 2012 doesn't look much better either. They are still stuck with Huff and Rowand and owe them $24 million. I have no problem paying big for for talent that produces, but it rarely happens in baseball. The Giants have joined the Angels, Yankees, Red Sox , Dodgers and Mets who have invested poorly in 30+ year old used up talent. I'm a baseball fan and a Giants fanatic and I want my money back.

You watched a movie instead of the game! Granted you watched a good movie but Vogelsong's performance was better than Pacino's. Pacino's charater reminds me of many Giant fans. Instead of "Attica" its "Belt, Belt, Belt".