Changes Are Needed

[love_that_reefer]

A lot of flaws were exposed in last night's 13 inning affair with the Dodgers. Ok, who am I fooling? The flaws have been there for a while but hopefully yesterday's game exposed them even further. Here are a few things the Giants need to do or at least think about.

Rich Aurilia needs to be released. He is just not cutting it and as a veteran player, he is not doing things a veteran should know to do like advancing runners. Richie is hitting .163/.213/.163 in 43 at bats. This is too pathetic for words. Aurilia is only up because he can play first but we have guys in the minors that can do that and actually hit. Its time to release Aurilia. **** hurting his feelings, he knows he is not doing well. Giants have John Bowker in AAA who can play first and the OF. It seems like he has learned to be more patient this season. He is currently hitting .317/.434/.488 with 17 walks to 13 strikeouts. Seems like he quit swinging at the first pitch every at bat. I know I have been hard on Bowker in the past but maybe he learned from his mistakes. I know Bowker is left-handed as well but Ishikawa and Bowker can take turns hitting lefties. Jesus Guzman is another possibility but think he needs more time to learn first base. Bowker could backup and be the 5th OFer getting rid of Velez which brings me to my next subject.

Send Velez down. Velez has no use on this team. He is a 5th OFer who shouldn't be in the OF and a backup IFer who can't play the infield. Velez is also hitting a lousy .133/.176/.133 and has shown no ability to hit MLB pitching in two years of chances. Kevin Frandsen should be brought up to take his place. Frandsen is currently hitting .295/.370/.402 with 3 HRs and 16 RBI. He has shown he can hit MLB pitching and has nothing to prove at the minor league level. He can play SS, 2B and 3B and has more pop in his bat than Burriss. Burriss is hot right now so I don't think anyone should mess with his streak but he could come off the bench and give Renteria a day off every now and then. Anything is better than Velez. Matt Downs could be another possibility but I feel he needs more time at AAA.

Start Nate more often. Schierholtz has shown a lot better approach at the plate in minimum at bats than Fred Lewis has shown plus Nate is the superior defender of the two. Lewis is hitting a terrible .176 with RISP and that results in just two RBI on the year. Lewis is striking out at a ridiculously high rate, 30% of his plate appearances to be exact. In 100 ABs Lewis has 2 RBI. Schierholtz has that in just 36 ABs and no consistent play whatsoever. Also when Lewis plays, he needs to be dropped in the lower half of the order. His strikeouts and lack of clutch hitting helps no one in the top half of the order. Lewis's defense has also been a problem this year taking terrible routes to cut off balls, inability to catch fly balls at times and making terrible throws. Nate is far better than Lewis in the field and should be a late inning defensive replacement at times as well. Bochy likes to take Rowand out in the double switch when it should be Lewis who goes. All in all, Nate needs more playing time and Lewis needs less until he figures out how to hit again.

So in summary: Richie needs to be cut, Bowker needs to be called up, Velez needs to be sent down, Frandsen time has come and Nate needs more playing time over Lewis. These moves could really help our offense and I think a lot considering just how bad its been.

[Saber]

The offense won't be any good no matter what this year. I think the key is just to let the kids play when their ready or when their service time is properly tweaked, and set up for 2010.

[love_that_reefer]

It might not be good but it can be better. Aurilia and Velez don't fit into the Giants future so why have them on the roster? Lewis is far from being a kid so give Nate a chance.

[Saber]

Yeah, I won't deny that not playing Fred Lewis at this point makes any sense.

[love_that_reefer]

Why doesn't it make sense?

[Saber]

There's too many negatives there. Let's try: It makes sense to play Fred Lewis. If he's ever going to do anything, it's going to be now. Giving him a couple hundred ABs to find out won't kill you. Of course, the same applies to guys like Bowker or Schierholtz. They aren't young enough to kill youself over. I'm sure they'll get their chance.

[love_that_reefer]

Too many negatives like him dragging down our offense? He has played in every game but one so what is the harm in sitting him every now and then? Too many negatives in thinking he is the future in LF and that the Giants can't do better. Lewis can still get his 200 ABs but doesn;t mean we have to play him every game.

[Saber]

No, I mean my previous post had too many negations in it. Made it harder to understand.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah it was confusing. We're on the level now.

[love_that_reefer]

One more week until two months of baseball have past and still no changes. I think this week is a big week for some on the fringe because the Giants cannot sit back and watch this offense struggle anymore. I see big changes coming after next week. Ishikawa better start playing like his job is on the line. Either rise to the occasion or prepare to sit the bench.

[GiantsFanatic]

I agree, this offense has been struggling as a whole, we need guys to start stepping up! We shouldn't be losing close as ****ing games! When our SP are pitching there asses off!

[cjkalt]

Part of the Problem is Sandoval and Molina are your 3-4 hitters... if u had any middle of the lineup it would make everyone else better

[love_that_reefer]

That and our first baseman has 0 HRs and our LFer has 4 RBI. Molina and Sandoval are the bright spots if we can call them that. Giants rarely get a timely hit.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

I think CJ's right though, Sandoval and Molina may have been somewhat of a bright spot, but they're definitely not middle of the order guys. You have got to get somebody who strikes some kind of fear in the heart of a pitcher, or maybe even just make a pitcher think twice, and Molina and Pablo Sandoval certainly do not

[love_that_reefer]

Not denying that one bit. But we also need production from key spots like our corners and corner OF spots. Not happening