The San Jose Mercury News reports that Omar Vizquel is on the verge of losing his starting job to Manny Burris.
The 41-year-old Vizquel is hitting just .171 on the season, and Burris is hitting .286. The Giants would stand to benefit a great deal from letting the 23-year-old see regular time instead of wasting away on the bench.
Vizquel shouldn't have even been re-signed but the SS market wasn't all that great unless you wanted to trade for it. Plus he is a great clubhouse man and was needed for the post-Bonds era. One of the greatest SS's ever must now give way towards the future. The Giants believe it or not are just seven games out of first and need production from SS. Vizquel has a OBP of just .258. He didn't hit at all last year and wasn't expecting much more this year. Burriss has a OBP of .353 and has made just two errors at short. The Giants can realistically make a run for this division. They have three starters in the top ten in strikeouts and lead the NL in stolen bases and doubles. Plus five starters are hitting .290 or better. This team should be scoring more runs than they are but aren't getting the timely hits. Most of this can be attributed to the young guys not knowing how to hit in certain situations. Giants are hitting just .224 with RISP and two outs. Things needed to change and this is just the beginning.