3 quick things the Giants need to do

[Dry1313]

1. Start Nate Schierholtz/Trade Randy Winn or Fred Lewis next year: The guy smacked the ball around in AAA again this year, and he's impressed in his major league stints. He's a plus OF (I've seen him play a few times, with Connecticut in '06 and this year at the futures game) he's got a winner's makeup and he flat out rakes, with a .300+ MiLB AVG and a .300+ AVG in 187 MLB ABs. Why try and sign Ibanez or continue playing Fred Lewis or Randy Winn? They should deal Lewis or Winn for bullpen help, because while Schierholtz could potentially win a Batting Title, Lewis and Winn are both role players or overperforming journeymen at best.

2. Trade Bengie Moline and Start Pablo Sandoval: You think that Geovany Soto set the NL Catching market on fire? Wait until you see Sandoval. The guy has legitimate 35 HR power and he hits for high average too, although it's more realistic for him to settle at .285 while in the majors. Problem with Sandoval is that even though he has a damn good arm, there are a lot of questions about his defensive performance and how he handles pitchers. Easy enough. Hire Mike Matheny away from the Cardinals and give him a full time coaching job, whether it's bullpen coach or a special adviser. Sandoval reminds me of Jorge Posada...interesting thing about Posada is that his defense has none of the upside that Sandoval has. But when Girardi taught Jorge how to handle pitchers, the Yankees suffered nothing when Girardi left and Jorge took over catching duties. As far as Molina, dealing him to a team who needs a catcher shouldn't be a problem. An interesting fit is the Red Sox, a team who might be willing to part with Kyle Weiland, a 3rd rounder out of Notre Dame who shows a ton of upside, winning 2008 SoxProspects Rookie Of the Year and displaying some good stuff with a 90-95 FB, a plus curve and good change.

3. Don't make any outlandish signings and take one on the chin to promote within: While we've seen how this can fail with the Royals, guys like Jose Capellan, Schierholtz, Sandoval, and undoubtedly a few others are ready to be thrown in the fire. The way to success is to deal off overperforming veterans to teams with needs for decent prospects near ready with upside. Fact is, the Giants can't compete with AZ or LA right now. In two years, they can. Prepare for 2 years and maybe you'll pull a Rays and shock the world a year early.

[love_that_reefer]

1. Schierholtz will get his chance at LF or RF if Winn is traded. Lewis is not set in stone nor should he be. Nate has shown in his limited time that he belongs in the big leagues and has nothing left to prove at AAA. Main thing is to try and dump Dave Roberts on some other team. Ibanez would play first for the Giants and help in OF when needed.

2. The Giants will trade Molina but most likely at the trade deadline next year. The NL West is a winnable division so the Giants best chance to compete is with Molina who lead the Giants in HRs and RBI. Sandoval will get plenty of ABs from playing third, first and backing up Molina.

3. I agree with "outlandish" signings but the Giants do need to get good stop gap guys. The Giants have a lot of holes and not all of them can be fixed from within. You say its a fact the Giants can;t compete with AZ or LA but the West is anyone's division. The Giants need to add a starter, fix the pen and add a bat and they can definitely compete in '09. Schierholtz and Sandoval will be fixtures on the '09 Giants roster. Giants need outside help though. And Capellan has no Giant affiliation.

[Dry1313]

1. Schierholtz will get his chance at LF or RF if Winn is traded. Lewis is not set in stone nor should he be. Nate has shown in his limited time that he belongs in the big leagues and has nothing left to prove at AAA. Main thing is to try and dump Dave Roberts on some other team. Ibanez would play first for the Giants and help in OF when needed.

Schierholtz is my favorite non-Yankee. I snuck down to the first row in RF in Yankee stadium during the futures game and heckled the shit out of him. He turned around and smiled and messed around. When he came up to bat, the RF crowd went apeshit. When he left the field and wasn't coming back, he tipped his cap. We booed his replacement.

Your OF is a lot of players performing well who aren't good bona fide players IMO. Dumping Roberts won't be a problem...except that you won't get much and you'll have to chomp that salary.

Ibanez at 1B doesn't make sense to me. If your holding onto Molina, Sandoval should start at 1B if he isn't playing C.

2. The Giants will trade Molina but most likely at the trade deadline next year. The NL West is a winnable division so the Giants best chance to compete is with Molina who lead the Giants in HRs and RBI. Sandoval will get plenty of ABs from playing third, first and backing up Molina.

Your staff is good enough, Wilson is good enough, but your pen and your IF cannot make the playoffs. It's just that simple. While Frandsen might be good, he's still worrisome coming off an injury. And I don't trust anyone else in your IF to really produce at the ML level.

3. I agree with "outlandish" signings but the Giants do need to get good stop gap guys. The Giants have a lot of holes and not all of them can be fixed from within. You say its a fact the Giants can;t compete with AZ or LA but the West is anyone's division. The Giants need to add a starter, fix the pen and add a bat and they can definitely compete in '09. Schierholtz and Sandoval will be fixtures on the '09 Giants roster. Giants need outside help though. And Capellan has no Giant affiliation.

I think that the best acquisition the Giants could make would be Jason Giambi. Put him at 1B and play him there until your top spec (name eludes me) comes up. Play Frandsen at 2B, sign Orlando Hudson and play him at SS, and play Sandoval at 3B. Rowand in CF, Schierholtz in RF, Winn in LF. That team could compete if you get good campaigns.

As far as pitching, maybe a guy like Randy Wolf for a year would be nice. Or, perhaps you sign Kerry Wood to start. I'd suggest something like that. As far as the pen, it's clear you need to keep Wilson as you CL, but what relievers are out there that fit well? I don't know...maybe Tom Gordon?

I guess we agree that the Giants might be a piece or two away from competing...but spending money on poor players is out of the question. If you can't get a guy like Hudson or Giambi, don't sign anyone at all.

[love_that_reefer]

Your OF is a lot of players performing well who aren't good bona fide players IMO. Dumping Roberts won't be a problem...except that you won't get much and you'll have to chomp that salary.

Ibanez at 1B doesn't make sense to me. If your holding onto Molina, Sandoval should start at 1B if he isn't playing C.

Rowand and Winn are established ML OFers as they both can hit and field. Lewis is the one that still has to prove himself. Sabean could swap bad salaries with a team to fill a need with Roberts. Sabean just needs to make room for someone else.

Ibanez would play first with Sandoval playing third. Molina would still catch. That would make for a lot more offense.

Your staff is good enough, Wilson is good enough, but your pen and your IF cannot make the playoffs. It's just that simple. While Frandsen might be good, he's still worrisome coming off an injury. And I don't trust anyone else in your IF to really produce at the ML level.

Which is why we will have to go outside the system to get some, not all, of the pieces we need.

I think that the best acquisition the Giants could make would be Jason Giambi. Put him at 1B and play him there until your top spec (name eludes me) comes up. Play Frandsen at 2B, sign Orlando Hudson and play him at SS, and play Sandoval at 3B. Rowand in CF, Schierholtz in RF, Winn in LF. That team could compete if you get good campaigns.

The Giants have really tried to rid themselves of the steroid cloud and bringing in Giambi would ruin that. While the Giants could sure use his offense, he is injury prone and the NL provides no DH. If the Giants signed Hudson, I would keep him and his GGs at second, Burriss at SS, Frandsen/Sandoval at third and Sandoval/Iskikawa at first if the Giants chose not to find a first baseman. I would also keep Winn in RF because he plays it so well.

As far as pitching, maybe a guy like Randy Wolf for a year would be nice. Or, perhaps you sign Kerry Wood to start. I'd suggest something like that. As far as the pen, it's clear you need to keep Wilson as you CL, but what relievers are out there that fit well? I don't know...maybe Tom Gordon?

Giants can afford better than Wolf and he looks to stay with the Astros anyway. Wood can;t start anymore and he will want a big contract. Gordon is out of the question. Giants have guys like Romo, Hinshaw and Valdez who are young and had success from the pen. There are relievers out there like Juan Cruz, Joe Biemel, Jeremy Affeldt that would be huge improvements from last year.