This & That

[Giants666]

Help will come next year

SAN FRANCISCO - Yes, the Giants need to add a strong hitter to their inconsistent lineup, but it’s not likely to happen. As they see the Barry Bonds Era winding down, the Giants will not give up their top young pitchers to get a hitter, especially not one on the last year of his contract.

Though the Giants like good-fielding second baseman Kevin Frandsen, who reminds some of Robby Thompson, he has no significant trade value. It’s all about pitching.

When Giants general manager Brian Sabean calls his counterparts, these names usually come up: Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Jeremy Accardo, Scott Munter and Jack Taschner.

Sabean rejected the idea of trading Cain when the young right-hander was in the minors. He certainly wouldn’t do it now, as Cain is starting to show signs of being a dominant pitcher. He’s regarded so highly that manager Felipe Alou would have yanked him after eight innings even if his no-hit bid was still alive. There was no sense in risking an arm injury to Cain, who had already thrown 131 pitches. He will have more shots at a no-hitter.

Munter and Taschner, both up last year, are at Triple-A Fresno now and pitching well.

Accardo’s fastball sometimes reaches into the high 90s. Sanchez has a deceptive motion that makes it seem he’s throwing faster than he is. Both are regarded as potential closers for the future.

The Giants aren’t going to trade any of them for a short-time fix.

The offseason will be a different matter. Sabean will have some money to play with because Ray Durham ($7 million a year) and probably Bonds ($18 million) will be gone. Their priorities in the free-agent market will be outfielders and a first baseman. Three of their current outfielders — Bonds, Steve Finley and Moises Alou — will be free agents. First base is a problem because Lance Niekro is injury-prone and hasn’t looked very good when he’s played.

Though the Giants can’t comment because of baseball’s tampering rules, there will be two free agents who top their wish list:

» Milwaukee outfielder Carlos Lee: The Giants’ park is much friendlier to right-handed power hitters than left-handers, so Lee would be a good fit. He’s hit more than 30 homers each of the last three seasons and has 23 this year in 73 games.

» Pittsburgh first baseman Sean Casey: Though Casey is a left-handed hitter, he has hit well at China Basin because he’s a line-drive hitter. He averaged .305 in eight seasons in Cincinnati before being traded and is hitting .287 with Pittsburgh this season.

Either or both of those players will help next year, but it’s no use dreaming about this year.

The Giants have dug themselves a hole because of their failure to develop hitters in the minor leagues. There’s been a series of prospects who have looked great in the minors and failed on the major league level: Damon Minor, Todd Linden, Niekro. Now, when it would be great to have a young hitter ready at Fresno, there is no one.

So, the new Giants mantra is fielding and pitching. They have to hold onto their young pitchers, no matter how painful this season may be, because they’re the hope for the future.

[love_that_reefer]

The Giants are concerned with Noah Lowry's decreased velocity.
Lowry has lost four or five mph on his fastball during his past two starts. He insists he is healthy, but the Giants are going to watch him very closely during his next start. ``We're going to look into it and see what's causing it,'' manager Felipe Alou said. ``Maybe Friday we'll talk a little bit about what's causing it. It's not his `A' stuff that we've seen in his last several starts.''

This is terrible news. Lowry has had me worried too since his strikeouts are way, way off than last year.

[Giants666]

Not good news.............hopefully it's just his mechanics, with his arm slot. Lets pray!!!

[love_that_reefer]

Giants manager Felipe Alou said Armando Benitez, who blew a save Friday, is dealing with right elbow tenderness and might return to the disabled list.
Tim Worrell is still struggling, but he'll probably be the choice to close while Benitez is out. At least he has turned in two scoreless appearances in a row. Jeremy Accardo would also be a possibility, though he's not having a great month either.

I say give it to either Sanchez or Accardo.

[Giants666]

I heard that on radio about Benitez........that's ****ing great.....it never ends with this guy. The Giants said pitch him alot and his pitching will improve, well looks like it didn't work.......Benitez's is just like ****ing Niekro when it comes to injurys.
Don't have Worrell close out games that's a bad idea, did't the Giants see what he did earlier in the year.......Let AcCardo close out games......I wouldn't want Sanchez to do it right now, just keep him in MR.

[Providence A's]

according to mlb.com gameday:

Top 6TH B:0 S:0 O:1
San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds left the game due to an injured knee.

it is his surgically repaired left knee.

[love_that_reefer]

It's not the knee that has been giving him trouble thank god. Both knees have been operated on and the left is the better of the two.

[Providence A's]

yea, Felipe said day-to-day...just like the rest of us, eh?

[Giants666]

Bonds makes early exit with ailing knee

[Giants666]

Are Bonds and Alou ever going to be in the lineup together............Maybe one day.

[Giants666]

Quick, make a change: Giants' future is now

It would be so wise and so surprising for the Giants to accept the inevitable, yank the plug on this drippy season and retool for a better and healthier tomorrow.

But no, that's not who they are, how they are nor what fantasy they choose to embrace.

No, instead on Sunday they reiterated that they only have eyes for winning this year, then went out and got walloped 10-4 at home by the A-minuses.

That would be the A's minus Eric Chavez (day off), Frank Thomas (injured), Huston Street (pitched the previous two days) and Kiko Calero (ditto).

Despite Saturday's shocking winning home run by Ray Durham, the A's still took the series, stayed atop the A.L. West, knocked the Giants back below .500 and left a trail of injured Giants in their wake.

This came a few hours after Giants General Manager Brian Sabean declared that he wasn't about to blow up the roster and restock for 2007, which is a Sabean-iac stand I could've predicted and would've debated had I been there for the pronouncement.

Brian, if you look around and can't spot the old, frail franchise destined for doom, you are the old, frail franchise destined for doom.

I must report that Barry Bonds was pulled after the second inning, apparently a precautionary move to protect his sore left knee. Shocking news, I know.

``It was not the knee,'' Manager Felipe Alou said, referring to Bonds' oft-repaired right knee. ``It was the left knee.''

Wait, is that good news or bad? And what about the condition of Bonds' right knee, side muscle, right elbow, main bank account and alleged deal with the devil?

Oh, and also the sore backs of Omar Vizquel (pulled as a precaution after the sixth) and Moises Alou, Mike Matheny's concussion and Armando Benitez's sore elbow and sour everything else?

One sign of the Giants' potential Baseball Apocalypse: The left-field replacement for Bonds was Mark Sweeney, who is 36 and not an outfielder; the shortstop replacement for Vizquel was Jose Vizcaino, who is 38 and no longer any good.

Another sign: There's nobody on the roster or in the system ready to fill either of those spots, or the expected spots in center field and first base, or spots in the rotation should Jason Schmidt leave via free agency and Matt Morris continue to wobble.

Matt Cain, no question, is one of the Giants' few bolts of youth and electricity, but he threw 131 pitches in his last outstanding start. So his off-kilter, six-walk, six-run 4 1/3-inning performance Sunday was no stunner.

I don't know if there's a sure way out of this, but there are options available to Sabean and owner Peter Magowan that they do not wish to consider. They are:

• Let it be known that Bonds won't be staying beyond the final out of 2006. Let it be known NOW AND LOUDLY. It will feel better, I swear.

Bonds has done many great things for the Giants and many not-so-great, but he's not great anymore. Keeping him around only gives the Giants unrealistic hope and drives them further toward apocalypse.

Start the unofficial goodbye tour now, no second thoughts, and let him go to the American League and be sore and grumpy over there.

• Put Schmidt on the trade market and deal him for two top-line prospects by the July 31 deadline. Schmidt's your stud, but he's going to cost $40 million or more this winter, so you should get something for him now.

• See if anybody wants Durham (doubt it) or Vizquel (maybe). Losing Vizquel would hurt, but the Giants need a shortstop of the future, and he isn't it.

• Try to trade for any of the big impending free agents or overpaid sluggers (Richie Sexson just feels like a future Giant). But you've got no young players to trade, so never mind. Wait until the off-season then, and get out the checkbook. (It gets expensive when you can't trade for good players.)

• Petition the commissioner to undo the A.J. Pierzynski deal.

That'd mean retrieving Joe Nathan (best reliever in the A.L.), Francisco Liriano (best young starter in either league) and Boof Bonser (a credible young starter). That also means erasing the $21 million deal for Benitez (oops, wouldn't need him if you had Nathan) and maybe the Morris deal.

OK, tough to accomplish that last one, even if Sabean pleads temporary insanity, which might actually be true.

So those holes are still there, and once you lay it out there next to a fine young team like the A's, you can tell that the Giants face 49er-level rebuilding. Yeah, it's that bad.

The A's are banged up and not going at full speed, but they have a host of players who will be better tomorrow and better than that the next day and much better than that two years from now.

The Giants are banged up and not going at full speed, and they will be worse and slower tomorrow. Worse than that in two days, and worse and worse . . .

[Giants666]

With all quiet on trade front, team says it will wait for Niekro

Facing dim prospects for acquiring a right-handed-batting first baseman to bolster the Giants' struggling offense, General Manager Brian Sabean indicated Sunday that Lance Niekro will have a chance to re-establish himself in the lineup once he returns from a strained-right-groin injury.

Five weeks remain before the July 31 trading deadline, so Sabean still has time to pry a hitter from another club. But, he said, ``I don't see anybody poised to want to do something imminent.''

This leaves the Giants waiting for Niekro to return from his second stay on the disabled list this season.

``It just makes it more apparent that we're going to have to give Niekro another shot,'' Sabean said. ``We're going to have to stabilize this thing from within first and see what develops afterward.''

Although Niekro is eligible for activation Tuesday, he's only 90 percent recovered and might need to play some injury-rehabilitation games before rejoining the Giants, trainer Stan Conte said.

Niekro is batting .255 overall but hit .293 between D.L. stints.

``He showed signs of coming around,'' Sabean said. ``It's prudent on our part to make sure we can get him back in there, and hopefully he can pick up where he left off.''

Pittsburgh's Craig Wilson, the Chicago Cubs' Phil Nevin and Milwaukee's Carlos Lee, who played some first base earlier in his career, are believed to be available. Right-handed-hitting outfielders considered to be on the trading block include Washington's Alfonso Soriano, who also can play second base, and Kansas City's Reggie Sanders, an ex-Giant.

• Steve Finley accomplished a personal milestone by hitting his first career home run at AT&T Park in 257 at-bats. Finley had failed to clear the barrier in 2000-04 with Arizona and the Los Angeles Dodgers. ``I figured sooner or later it was going to happen,'' said Finley, who, like most left-handed batters, has lost several potential homers to AT&T's high right-field wall and asymmetrical dimensions.

• Closer Armando Benitez remained unavailable because of what was diagnosed as a slight sprain of his right elbow. Benitez, who underwent an MRI exam Saturday, might try throwing Tuesday, after today's scheduled off-day.

``We have to wait for inflammation and stiffness to go away, but it's much better today, so that's encouraging,'' Conte said.

Sitting in front of his dressing stall with an ice pack wrapped to his elbow, Benitez refused to comment on his injury.

• Manager Felipe Alou decided to rest outfielder Moises Alou on Sunday. The elder Alou reasoned that his son, who has missed the past seven games because of back trouble, could use an outdoor pregame workout before returning to the lineup Tuesday against Texas.

• Catcher Mike Matheny, who remains sidelined by the aftereffects of a concussion, took batting practice on the field for the first time since he went on the D.L. June 1. ``We're kind of excited about having something positive to go with,'' Matheny said, although there is no timetable for when he will be activated.

**** Niekro......god damn Sabean WTF are you thinking he's not the answer at first!!!!!!!

[love_that_reefer]

The JT Snow rumors are flying around which I don't like, but is better than Niekro. Giants need to do something quick at first! There is some good news:

Mike Matheny took batting practice on Sunday for the first time since suffering a concussion in early June.
``We're kind of excited about having something positive to go with,'' Matheny said. The Giants have no timeline for when they think Matheny will be healthy enough to return to the lineup.

[Giants666]

You know what the Giants need to do.......move Pedro to first and have Kevin Frandsen play third......What do you think? That's what i'd do.

[love_that_reefer]

Anything to get some offense going.