2007 Giants blog entries

January 1: $126 million would be appropriate for one of baseball's very best pitchers, not Barry Zito. I think the Giants' thought process was: we wanted a hitter, like Gary Matthews or Carlos Lee, but they cost more than we expected, so we were left with a poor team and room below our allowed payroll, so let's spend money and improve. Problem is, they paid far too much to improve likely only little. It would be better to go with the poor team and below-expected payroll, and save the money for some day when a popular homegrown star (maybe Cain a few years from now?) needs a little extra to stay put. Brian Sabean is one of the few general managers to be stupid enough to judge pitchers on their win-loss record (as he did with Matt Morris), and he can add these signings to his long list of poor decisions of recent years.


July 20: Giants beat Milwaukee 8-4. In the first inning with two outs, Bonds grounded out to second. He could have been safe at first, but anticipating that the throw would go to second, he slowly jogged to first. In the fifth with a runner at first and no outs, he popped out to second. Had the fielder let the ball drop it would have been a doubleplay, as Bonds stopped halfway to first.
In the eighth, Roberts singled down the left field line. It would have been a double but he anticipated it would be foul and didn't run. Later that inning, Kelsko doubled off the bottom of the right field wall. It probably didn't matter, but he stood at the plate watching it as he apparently thought it would be a home run. So, at least with the Giants, hustle is not required, and cases where loafing costs bases are not rare. In the cases of Roberts and Klesko this seems particularly strange, since they are marginal players.
July 21: Continuing above thread, I'll point out that today in the second inning, Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada grounded into a 3-1 out, pitcher Lincecum bobbled the ball and first and barely gained control in time for the out. Estrada would have beaten the play easily had he not come to a near complete stop 2/3 the way down the first base line.


Nov 16: Bonds indicted, Defence lawyer Mike Rains said he spoke briefly with Bonds but did not describe his reaction. At an evening news conference, he read a statement accusing federal prosecutors of "unethical misconduct" and declined to take questions.
"Every American should worry about a Justice Department that doesn't know if waterboarding is torture and can't tell the difference between prosecution on the one hand and persecution on the other," Rains said. The standard "no comment" would be much better than this self-serving condesencion. But, I do think selective enforcement is unfair. Bonds was in a tough position at the Balco testimony.