The football season is headed into the home stretch. Sounds like a good time to write more about baseball.
With the signing of Barry Bonds, the Giants have their starting line-up pretty much set. Let's compare it to last year's:
This year
Dave Roberts, CF
Omar Vizquel, SS
Ray Durham, 2B
Barry Bonds, LF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Rich Aurilia, 1B
Randy Winn, RF
Bengie Molina, C
Last Year
Randy Winn, CF
Omar Vizquel, SS
Ray Durham, 2B
Barry Bonds, LF
Moises Alou, RF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Shae Hillendbrand, 1B
Eliezar Alfonzo, C
I'm not sure if that's the exact right order for either one, but its close. Lead off spot is clearly improved. Catcher probably too. RF suffers, but Alou was hurt all the time last year, so I didnt mind seeing him go. If Feliz would finally live up to his supposed potential, and Vizquel, Durham, and Aurilia have the same year as they did last year, it's not so bad.
Giants GM Brian Sabean has taken a lot of heat lately. And there is merit to it. A lot of people are saying that much of the success of the Giants from '97 to '04 was due to Asst. GM Ned Colletti. My excellent friend Sam brought up the point that before Colletti left 2 years ago, the Giants always put together a team that was better than the Dodgers. The past 2 years (and it kills me to say this) the Dodgers have had a better team than the Giants. It also just so happens that 2 years ago the Dodgers hired Ned Colletti to be their GM. But I'm still willing to give Sabean the benefit of the doubt. His strategy of getting mediocre veterans to fill holes has not worked the past 2 years, but before that it did work ok. It was bound to happen. Plus, I can admit that Barry Bonds has tied things up a bit. But consider this: if Bonds is not injured for almost the entire 2005 season, the Giants would have gone to the playoffs (the Padres won the division by winning 82 out of 162 games). That's almost no question. I would argue that if he played the whole 2005 season, he would have been better than he was in 2006. Because when he came back in 2006, he was 2 years older than he was when he last played a season, rather than the 1 year of age most people pass between seasons. And with Barry producing more in 2006, they very well may have gone to the postseason that year as well. Furthermore, if Barry is healthy in 2005, Hank Aaron's record is already broken by now. All the hype and controversy has already passed. That's one major thing that Sabean would not have to deal with this offseason. There was immense pressure from fans to bring Barry back. But if the record was already broken, there would not be as much, and Barry probably would have retired anyway. Basically my point here, is that that if Bonds wasn't hurt in 2005, Sabean would be looking a lot better.
Now, The lineup listed above will be competitive. I think it will produce more runs than last year. But, as is usually the case for almost every team every season, the season will hinge on the pitching. The Giants have 3 young starters in Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, and Johnathan Sanchez who have potential to be sweet. There's also Matt Morris, who I don't trust at all, but who could be decent. Now, say the Giants uncharacteristically spend a bunch of money on Barry Zito to replace Jason Schmidt. It looks like a pretty sweet rotation, giving the Giants a good looking squad. But if you haven't noticed, in this post I have brought up a lot of "ifs." Knowing the Giants, they never all pan out. Plus, they say Barry Zito has never missed a start, which to me, only means he's due to get hurt. But the Giants lost Jason Schmidt, one of the top arms in the game (to the Dodgers, no less). There's no way around the fact that they need to replace him.
RIP Jose Uribe.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Got 'im - On Barry Bonds, Again
Yes, sir. Barry Bonds is still a San Francisco Giant. I'm pretty pleased. Not thrilled that he's getting $16 million, based on his lack of production last year, but that's business. Everyone is getting way overpaid this year. And I'd rather overpay Barry Bonds for one year than Juan Pierre for 4 or 5 or something.
But I'm happy. The thing is, I'm only half joking when I say that if there is a god, it's Barry Bonds. Giants fans literally worship this guy. Yet non-Giants fan literally want him dead. I think it's an amazing story that a man can be so hated by the country as a whole except for one little pocket, where is unconditionally loved. Someone should write about a thesis about it. But there's no reason for the immense hatred. There is reason for dislike. He's not a media-friendly guy, and that will bring negative attention. But there are so many people who hate him so much, and this I feel is misguided. The whole steriods thing is obviously what pushed it over the edge. He was severely disliked, and this issue gave everyone--fans, media, etc.--an exuse to expand their dislike into hatred. But for you Bonds-haters out there, ask yourself one question: "What Major League Baseball rule did he break?" The answer, to our knowledge, is that he has not broken any. Maybe he took steroids. (I remind you that still no cold-hard proof has been presented to us, and that in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty. That said, I believe he did take some steroids. But that's neither here nor there). If he did - fine, throw him in jail for steroid use. While your at it Make room for Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, Brady Anderson, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, etc. And a lot more low profile players as well. For example, Rich Aurilia, who the Giants just signed for his 2nd stint with the stint, had an out-of-body season in (I think it was) 2001. Probably due to performance enhancing drugs. Also make room in jail for me and about a billion people I know who have used pot. But stop hating this man when he didn't break any of the rules MLB had in place when he allegedly took these drugs. You are using a double standard, and you suck for doing so.
It's the same issue for the "Should McGwire go to the Hall of Fame?" debate. The answer of course, is yes. I will go as far to say you are an idiot if you think not. And that's a bold statement. I just called a lot of people idiots right there. But what Baseball rule did he break? None. Fine, keep him off the first ballot to make a little anti-steroid statement and save this celebration for Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn. But there is no quesiton that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth dominated the game in the dead-ball era. Mark McGwire dominated the game in the steroid era.
There is a specific rule in the MLB rulebook that states that pitchers cannot have pine tar or any other foreign substance on their hand while pitching. Kenny Rogers did in the playoffs and World Series last year, but nothing happened to him. He broke a rule. Mark McGwire didn't.
And to close, I'd like to remind you again, as I have done before: Barry Bonds is going to break the record. It's almost a sure thing. Well, I guess that's not necessarily true. But he needs 22 HRs to break it. I'm optimistically predicting 30. Point is, he is probably going to do it. The best thing for you haters to do is to start dealing with it now. Whining about it won't do anything. Accept it. Better yet, embrace it. This is one of America's greatest records. And you are going to be alive when it's broken. It's a big deal. Love it.
But I'm happy. The thing is, I'm only half joking when I say that if there is a god, it's Barry Bonds. Giants fans literally worship this guy. Yet non-Giants fan literally want him dead. I think it's an amazing story that a man can be so hated by the country as a whole except for one little pocket, where is unconditionally loved. Someone should write about a thesis about it. But there's no reason for the immense hatred. There is reason for dislike. He's not a media-friendly guy, and that will bring negative attention. But there are so many people who hate him so much, and this I feel is misguided. The whole steriods thing is obviously what pushed it over the edge. He was severely disliked, and this issue gave everyone--fans, media, etc.--an exuse to expand their dislike into hatred. But for you Bonds-haters out there, ask yourself one question: "What Major League Baseball rule did he break?" The answer, to our knowledge, is that he has not broken any. Maybe he took steroids. (I remind you that still no cold-hard proof has been presented to us, and that in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty. That said, I believe he did take some steroids. But that's neither here nor there). If he did - fine, throw him in jail for steroid use. While your at it Make room for Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, Brady Anderson, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, etc. And a lot more low profile players as well. For example, Rich Aurilia, who the Giants just signed for his 2nd stint with the stint, had an out-of-body season in (I think it was) 2001. Probably due to performance enhancing drugs. Also make room in jail for me and about a billion people I know who have used pot. But stop hating this man when he didn't break any of the rules MLB had in place when he allegedly took these drugs. You are using a double standard, and you suck for doing so.
It's the same issue for the "Should McGwire go to the Hall of Fame?" debate. The answer of course, is yes. I will go as far to say you are an idiot if you think not. And that's a bold statement. I just called a lot of people idiots right there. But what Baseball rule did he break? None. Fine, keep him off the first ballot to make a little anti-steroid statement and save this celebration for Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn. But there is no quesiton that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth dominated the game in the dead-ball era. Mark McGwire dominated the game in the steroid era.
There is a specific rule in the MLB rulebook that states that pitchers cannot have pine tar or any other foreign substance on their hand while pitching. Kenny Rogers did in the playoffs and World Series last year, but nothing happened to him. He broke a rule. Mark McGwire didn't.
And to close, I'd like to remind you again, as I have done before: Barry Bonds is going to break the record. It's almost a sure thing. Well, I guess that's not necessarily true. But he needs 22 HRs to break it. I'm optimistically predicting 30. Point is, he is probably going to do it. The best thing for you haters to do is to start dealing with it now. Whining about it won't do anything. Accept it. Better yet, embrace it. This is one of America's greatest records. And you are going to be alive when it's broken. It's a big deal. Love it.
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