With the pitching they've got, in the park they play in this team has to have more speed and more patience. Having Posey and Sanchez back will help, but who will set the table? Torres has the speed but he absolutely lacks the patience. We need a true leadoff hitter like crazy - we need to make the opposing pitching staff work, and when we get on base we need to make him sweat. Giants do not get on base enough and do not make at bats last long enough to do either. We've got only a couple truly patient hitters (Posey being the best example. Belt will be patient as well once he learns the league and calms down), then we've got the hack-tastic Pablo Sandoval who is a very good ML hitter but that's a bat you cannot manage. When will Gary Brown be ready to assume his rightful place in CF, and what do we do about shortstop? To me, those are the big questions we've got to answer.

Just got a post from Bruce Bochy (many of you will have received the same fan letter) indicating how happy he was to be home in the warm confines of home field. I felt even more hostile as a result of reading this. Tried to reply but the format of the email did not allow me. Buttering up the fans as opposed to an honest evaluation of the Giants team and attempting to play the warmth he said he felt as opposed to indicating that he was upset at how poorly the Giants had done this year tells me, once again, how Bochy has become a working bureeaucrat as opposed to a manager determined to win. Woe to the Giants next year!

Not to belabor the point, but Sandoval just sac bunted with no out and runners on first and second. This team is clueless.

Absolutely agree with Liem, both about TV money (which I do believe dwarfs attendance revenue) and about 1B. That's about their last need, and while I don't believe Pujols or Fielder will get what's been bandied about, they'll get close enough to it, which is far more than they're worth. And, in my more conspiracy-minded moments, I think the whole extra wildcard deal is actually a way to make sure the big market teams (read: TV revenue producing) get in. I'm sure the networks were not pleased with a SF/Texas World Series last year, and I'm sure that they are not pleased at all that TB may make it and not Boston. Sabean & Bochy - I don't know. Injuries aside, were any of the position players' seasons really that surprising? They should have known better from day one. It almost takes a superhuman effort to waste what the pitching staff did this year, topped by the out-of-left-field Vogelsong as a gift. I have long seen Sabean's strategy as going after complementary players - he hasn't been bad at that, but there has to be someone to actually complement. I fear that this off-season will see a slight-above-average FA outfielder and same for SS. That just won't cut it, again. And a healthy Posey, half-rookie Belt and injury-prone Sanchez aren't enough - yes, all those guys should play every day, they're big assets, but I continue to be surprised that Sabean didn't learn from Bonds' last years that you need a complete team. I don't get that.

With the number of injuries the team has sustained this year, I'm surprised this article wasn't written a month or more ago. That the Giants even have a winning season is surprising to me.

The Giants do not play in a big ballpark (16th in capacity out of 30). They play in a top-10 TV market, but not a top-5.

Here's another perspective: The Giants are third in the major leagues in terms of consistency of attendance (over 40,000 per game). Yes, that's right, third in all the major leagues (that's twenty-eight teams). A giant game is not a "game", it's an "event" for all their fans, a "giant" event (if you can get tickets (see "scalping") as a vocation). Which means that the Giants do not need to field a good team; all the brass needs to do is to field a "team" and that's what it does do. Yes, there was the Barry Zito fiasco (about five years ago). Now, the Giants make their potential rookie stars wait until the season is well under way in order to keep them under control for an extra year (see Brandon Belt and Buster Posey). Will the Giants make a respectable bid on Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols or Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder? Not on your life. They'll keep weak hitting no longer competitive veteran Aubrey Huff until his contract runs out. When Matt Caine and Tim LIncecum are freed from Gant control, the wise thing to do would be to sign with one of the strong hitting baseball clubs which would provide their pitching prowess with run support. Watch their won-lost record significantly improve. The front office and ownership are what is wrong with San Francisco baseball!

I'd add one more to the stark contrast: Kevin Towers cut the following guys quickly: Armando Galarraga, Russell Branyan, Aaron Heilman and to a lessor degree Cody Ranson and Willy Mo Pena. Those contracts weren't for as high dollar as Tejada/Rowand, but getting bad results he acted and it paid off. 1B was in flux (as was 3B with Melvin Mora) and he kept working at it. He had Drew go down, he traded for macDonald AND picked up Hill. Hill is a big improvement over Kelly Johnson, and has torn it up. Justifying bad contracts by putting bad players in the field won't lead to championships, or even the playoffs. Joeneverleft - I've read your excellent full article on the free agents/Dusty years. I think the speed dial on the old Motorola Razr has less than half a dozen names left on it. Here's the list of longest tenured GMs Brian Sabean, Giants, 1996 Billy Beane, Athletics, 1997 Brian Cashman, Yankees, 1998 Dan O'Dowd, Rockies, 1999 Kenny Williams, White Sox, 2000 Larry Beinfest, Marlins, 2002 Dave Dombrowski, Tigers, 2002 Jim Hendry, Cubs, 2002 Doug Melvin, Brewers, 2002 Theo Epstein, Red Sox, 2002 Jon Daniels, Rangers, 2005 Andrew Friedman, Rays, 2005 Ned Colletti, Dodgers, 2005 Epstein/Daniels/Friedman are obvious young whippersnappers and Coletti replaced Billy Beane's disciple in LA. Thats the real start of the "Moneyball GM", whatever that is. The old school guys are almost gone. Actually its sort of funny how similar Beane and Sabean have become. Kevin Towers could be called old school, but he's always in-division. I'm surprised given his background that Sabean hasn't hooked up more with Brian Cashman. There was that brew-up over Buster Olney saying Sabean doesn't return calls. I think that was more Olney being salty about having no access, but Sabean's gruff no bones attitude is in the distinct minority at this point and most likely doesn't help him. I like Sabean the drafter the past few years, as priorities have shifted. But at the moment our pitching is so far ahead of the hitting talent that is here or coming its gonna take a mighty big bridge. Bridges cost money.

The reason the Giants score so few runs is they don't get on base often enough. The Yankees, for example, have regulars hitting .260 but they have OBPs of .360. When the Giants have someone hitting .220, his OBP will be .240. This is a disaster and the problem comes from top management and the lack of interest in selecting and rewarding players through the system for getting on base. Sabean just doesn't understand and the Giants are toast because of that.

I also do not want to remain pessimistic too long, but (especially after tonight's trouncing) it feels appropriate. I think last night's 6th inning truly encapsulated all that Bochy and Sabean do wrong. Sabean goes out and gets an outfielder (albeit a stud) before the deadline but doesn't upgrade at all at the catcher position. (Do I even mention the shortstop issue)? I mean, Beltran legitimately still ranks as one of the all-around best options in the outfield. But, the Giants, until the loss of Nate, did not really need an outfield upgrade. To his credit, the Giants did need a middle of the order hitter, but the move seemed less about helping the squad and more about sex appeal. Enter last night and Bochy's gaffe. Runners on first and second no out, and everybody in the stadium knew Whiteside would soon hit into a double play. To save all suspense: he did. Last year, Bochy has him bunt and either gives Cainer a chance or pinch-hits... Why wouldn't you pinch-hit with the bullpen the Gmen have? The rest of the game you documented perfectly. I have never been much of a Mustacio fan, and I'm hoping he doesn't have to manage quite as much next year. Unfortunately, that would require Sabean learning to field an offense with anyone on the right side of his career. Thanks again, guys, for another entertaining season.

I think you identified a symptom of the Giants long standing problem in your alluding to Aubrey Huff making the last out. Huff follows Rowand who followed Zito who followed Dave Roberts, Rich Aurilia, Bengie Molina, and virtually just about every old player, position or otherwise who was supposed to elevate the Giants game a notch. Contrary to some, I do think Sabean knows what it takes to make an offense tick. I just don't think he has the wherewithal and/or the relationships anymore to bring in quality players and hasn't in a long time as their long running lack of run production will attest. All the guys in front offices around the league from the 1997 to 2002 era are mostly gone and moved on. Dusty Baker, a favorite of his, primary strength was his recruiting ability, not his game-day management techniques, is no longer around to collaborate with him on his deals. Note that there have been no Ellis Burks, Andres Gallaragas, Joe Carters Shawon Dunstons and Kenny Loftons to lead the way for the younger guys since 2003. The Giants have been at the very bottom of offensive productivity since 2005. Only once (last year) have they risen above 24th in runs scored during that period. Even a healthy Posey and Sandoval are not enough, hence the desperate scrambles for Jose Guillen, Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, and the AAA ers they've brought up this year. I just don't think Sabean can get it done anymore. Not because he's dumb. But because the game has changed and the front offices have changed and his old standby pals around the league are no longer in a position to help him like they used to.