Finishing off my list of the top five Sabean bust “moves” (or lack thereof) …

#2- Barry Zito

This is such an obvious bust that I almost don’t even want to insult anyone’s intelligence by explaining it.  Let’s just say that the writing was on the wall (before Sabean pulled the trigger) that Zito was not the same guy that won the AL Cy Young.  It’s beyond baffling that Sabean made a pitcher with sub-mediocre velocity the richest in MLB history at $126-million.  But SEVEN YEARS to boot?  Granted, no one could have predicted just how awful Zito was going to become.  But again, this was a move that had Giants fans scratching their heads as soon as it happened.  That $18-mil per season could’ve gone towards a lot of other gaps in this team, and it’s basically now just a write-off.  SF Chronicle Giants reporter Henry Schulman reported today that Zito was throwing BP and showing “great control.”  What’s new here?  That Zito’s throwing BP to the Giants instead of the other team?  It must be easier to spot your pitches when they’re only 72 MPH.  I hope for all of our sakes that Zito’s worst Giants years are behind him, and that somehow he can Jamie Moyer his career back into shape (i.e., learn how to be a finesse / junk pitcher with mental toughness).  Nothing would make me happier than to see the guy pull a David Copperfield and somehow get his career back on track.

And a surprise #1- NOT ONCE protecting Bonds with a big bat in the lineup

Ok, looking at Sabean’s “moves” objectively, Zito’s contract should be at the #1 spot here.  But what bothers me most as a Giants fan is the sub-mediocre offensive talent that Sabean put around Bonds in the lineup during the peak years of his career.  Look at teams like the Mets, with Wright, Beltran, Reyes and Delgado.  As a Giants fan, it’s a foreign concept to see such a star-studded offensive lineup.  And when you look back at Bonds turning freaking Jeff Kent into the NL MVP, you gotta wonder what might have been if Sabean had ever put even one legit offensive superstar into that lineup either in front of or behind Barry Bonds.  Rewind back to the early ’00’s – before Bonds’ steroid use was known.  All that was known at that time was that this guy was off the charts in his productivity.  The combination of on base percentage and power numbers was unreal.  But just look at the weakness of the guys batting before and after Bonds year after year, during the peak / twilight of his career:

2001
#2- Rich Aurilia
#3- Bonds
#4- Kent

2002
#2- Aurilia
#3- Bonds
#4- Sanders

2003
#3- Aurilia
#4- Bonds
#5- Alfonso

2004
#3- Tucker
#4- Bonds
#5- Alfonzo

2006
#3- Durham
#4- Bonds
#5- Alou

Rich freaking Aurilia batting in front of the all-time HR king all those years?  Michael freaking Tucker?  A fat and declining Edgardo freaking Alfonso batting behind him?  WTF?!  This was so frustrating to experience as a fan.

In 2003 and 2004, Bonds had 45 HRs in each year (and avg 25 doubles), and yet only 90 and 101 RBIs in each of those years, respectively.  That is amazing to think about – that a guy could have that many HRs and extra base hits and yet that relatively few RBIs when batting in the cleanup spot.

Bonds’ steroid use is a separate issue, and is really after the fact anyway.  I’ve just been disgusted as a Giants fan (in this era of huge free agent spending, big market teams) to repeatedly see the Giants NOT get a single legit super star year after year, during the peak of Bonds’ career.  The Yankees get A-Rod.  The Angels get Vlad.  The Tigers get Magglio.  The Mets get Beltran. The list goes on and on of the awesome offensive players that Sabean repeatedly did NOT get.  How is this possible, when the Giants are in a big market and consistently are hovering around the top five in MLB attendance?

It takes a real incompetent GM.

Btw, other “notable blunders” that did not make this list:

• Sidney Ponson (this guy was a disaster)
• Ryan Klesko (did Sabean lose a bet to Bruce Bochy?)
• Omar Vizquel (would have been a great pickup if the Giants were a baseball museum and not a team)
• Ray Durham (totally overpaid him based on historical performance)

Coming in at number three on the list of the top five worst Sabean moves in the last five yars, it’s another light-hitting old guy:

#3 – Dave Roberts

If you were a GM, how much would you pay for a 34-year-old leadoff hitter with a .340 OBP, a .260 Avg, 61 runs and 23 RBIs?  If you were Sabean you’d pay him $6.5 million for the effort, and call it the player’s best year so far on a three year contract.  Everyone remembers Dave Roberts’ huge SB in the 2004 ALCS.  He went on to have his best season the next year for the Padres.  Then Sabean (in typical buy-high fashion) signed him to a three-year, $18-million deal.

Roberts has had unforseen injuries and blah-blah-blah, but it’s impossible to explain this blunder away.  Was the guy ever really a three-year, $18-million type of leadoff hitter?  He’s a career .266 batter with more strikeouts (362) than walks (307).  Great baserunning doesn’t really help when the guy’s not on base that often.  Throw in a weak arm, and you’ve got another Sabean bust in the outfield.  Yes, Rowand was a more costly mistake.  But at least the Giants are going to get *some* offensive production out of him.  Roberts, on the other hand, is a lost cause.

Going to Giants games over the last couple of years and seeing lineup cards with Roberts and Vizquel was excruciating.  Two slapping Judy hitters in the same impotent lineup.  You can’t have three easy outs in a lineup and win games in the majors.  At least Vizquel made up for it with the glove.  Roberts has had no redeeming qualities in the two years he’s worn a Giants uniform (other than the fact that he’s a nice guy, which unfortunately doesn’t do anything to the win column).  I don’t expect this season to be any different.

Yesterday I kicked off a list of five beefs I have with Brian Sabean’s moves (or lack thereof) over the last five years.  Armando Benitez was a no-brainer at the five spot.

Continuing the count-down today is another major “buy high” blunder by the Giants’ incompetent GM:

#4- Aaron Rowand

Going into last year’s offseason, the Giants had practically zero offense.  And after Sabean’s offseason “moves”  … they still had practically zero offense in 2008, despite having inked a $60-million deal with an outfielder. How could someone who has been around baseball for as long as Sabean has think that an outfielder who in a seven year career has only hit more than 20 HRs twice and only driven in 70 runs twice is worth $12-million per season?  The median salary for the Giants last season was $650,000.  So Aaron Rowand got paid about 20-times more than that in 2008 to bat .271, drive in 70 RBIs and rack up a grand total of two stolen bases and some mediocre fielding.  Giants PR personnel insulted fans’ intelligence with their relentless lobbying to send Rowand to the All-Star game, but who were they kidding?  The guy is a tier-B talent at best.  Sabean’s just paying him tier-A money.  He’s good at that:  sitting on the sidelines for long periods of time without making any big moves, then betting the farm on mediocrity.

I am not a fan of Brian Sabean.  Not once over the last 4 seasons have the Giants fielded a well-balanced offense.  Not once (since Nen / Felix) has their bullpen been competent.  He has a predilection for putting over-the-hill veterans in multi-year deals (he caught lightening in a bottle with Galarraga and Benito, but his luck ran out a long time ago on this angle).  He often pointed towards Bonds’ long term contract and salary requirements to deflect criticism.  And in general I’ve observed him to be bristly and unaccountable when confronted with facts about his reign (while on KNBR 680).

Over the next few days, I’m looking back at five of Sabean’s “moves” (or lack thereof) that have bothered me most:

#5- Armando Benitez

In my view, this is when Sabean really started his groove of buying high.  Going into the ‘05 season, Armando Benitez was coming off of a career year (1.29 ERA, 47 saves) with Florida.  That got him three years and $21 million from Sabean, who apparently has a very short memory.  I remember watching quite a few Mets games in ’03 and seeing more than a few *spectacular* meltdowns from Benitez.  The guy may have been able to thrive on a low-pressure Marlins team, but he was an absolute mess at Shea the year before.  Sure, hindsight is 20-20, but most of the other Giants fans I knew were also wondering aloud about that signing before Benitez had thrown a single pitch in the ‘05 season.  Sure enough, he was a head case who consistently walked leadoff batters and gave up fat pitches / big home runs in save opportunities.  He also drew more boos from Giants fans than any player I can remember in recent years (even Marvin Bernard).

Go To Next:  #4, Aaron Rowand

This offseason is a heck of a lot more intriguing than the previous few offseasons for Giants fans.  The starting pitching is easily in the top 5 in the MLB (more on that in the near future).  Vizquel’s weak bat is finally out of the lineup, even if it’s being replaced by a Renteria whose career is clearly on the downslope.  The outfield may be lacking power, but the speed and batting average combination is compelling.

I’m concerned about the bullpen, but right now I’m even more concerned about the infield.  You’ve got Pablo Sandoval at first, and it’s hard to know how to interpret his .345 avg in just 145 ABs last year (who knows what that guy’s going to do this season).    You’ve got weak-hitting Burriss and Frandsen platooning at 2B.  You’ve got an old Renteria at SS with Bocock (who batted .143 in 77 ABs  in ‘08) backing him up.  And finishing off that who’s who list of ‘infielders you’ve never heard of’ are Ryan Rohlinger (32 ABs in ‘08) and Conor Gillaspie (5 ABs in ‘08) on the depth chart at 3B.  And the re-signing of utility infielder Rich Aurilia isn’t reassuring.

The Giants apparently are not likely to land Crede.  So when you look at the free agent board, about the only quality infielder still up for grabs is Orlando Hudson.

You know exactly what you’re going to get with Hudson:  somewhere in the .280-.290 range in BA, 10 HRs, 65 RBIs and a decent number of extra base hits.  It’s hard for me to believe that those numbers wouldn’t fill some gaps for the Giants batting in the #6 position.  IMO, Sabean should grab  Hudson, then shop around Burriss for a middle reliever.

Maybe it’s harsh to call for a Giants personnel firing in only my second blog post, but Renel Brooks-Moon needs to go.  She either needs to go, or they need to turn that PA system’s volume WAY down this season.  Renel is the only female PA announcer in MLB, true – but that’s certainly not why I’m calling for her termination.  It’s not that she’s a woman … it’s that she has a terrible, piercing voice.   How someone with such an obnoxious voice could land a career as an announcer of all things is something that perhaps only Ralph Barbieri could appreciate.  I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been at a Giants game, been nursing my 5th beer (you gotta put on the beer goggles to appreciate their offense) and truly feeling “in the zone” – only to be jolted awake by one of Renel’s spastic shrieks.  There’s nothing about that woman, her voice or her delivery that is even remotely related to or condusive to baseball.  I’m not saying that the Giants should replace her with a male PA announcer either.  Pick another woman, fantastic, I’m all for it.  In fact, pick a random woman off the street – any woman – and give her Renel’s job.  And please, Bay Area media, stop giving Runel these little fluff stories where you talk about all her cutesy little Giants merchandise.  We’ve all got Giants schwag at our homes, BFD.  That is not proof that someone is good at their job.  Giants HR folks:  conduct an approval poll amongst the fans re. whether they’d like to keep Renel or get a new announcer.  I’m telling you, the stats will prove that you are torturing an otherwise captivated audience.

After meeting Jeff Gross and learning about his venture, Major League Blogging, I decided to jump on board and blog about the Giants for the ‘09 season (and hopefully beyond, if all goes well).  I think the concept of organizing authentic fan blogs for each Major League team has a lot of potential, and I can’t wait to see where this goes.  I also have a lot of strong opinions about the Giants and am hoping to meet and converse with other Giants fans via this blog.

A few miscellaneous points about me and my biases:

* I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was a huge NC State Wolfpack fan growing up (I met Jim Valvano at a Clemson / NC State football game)
* Not having a “home team” growing up, I became a big fan of the Pirates during the Van Slyke / Bonds / Bonilla years
* I later became a Cubs fan – both because of the availability of all the games on WGN / cable and because I really enjoyed watching “The Hawk” take his ABs
* I switched allegiance to the Giants when I moved to the Bay Area in 1999, and that’s where my loyalty will stay from here forward (though the last few years have been trying)
* By day, I’m the founder of ITDatabase, a research service for marketing, sales & PR pros in the Information Technology industry
* I live in Western Addition in San Francisco with my wife and 6 month old son
* I play golf at Presidio and Harding Park as much as I can – but am what you would call a “duffer” (17.9 hdcp)

I’m really looking forward to jumping in and getting started on a whole host of different issues related to the Giants.  But just off the top of my mind, some thoughts about things I am / am not interested to discuss on this blog:

* I AM interested to offer some critical analysis of Brian Sabean’s performance over the last few years
* I AM interested to occassionally visit Bonds’ legacy (and to what extent it should / should not be honored)
* I AM interested to talk about restaurants, bars and other “must visits” near AT&T Park
* I’m NOT interested to provide “homer” commentary on the Giants (Mike Krukow’s got that well-covered) … I plan to be as objective as possible
* I’m NOT interested to surface ongoing details about Bonds’ steroid case (I can’t think of anything less interesting to talk about at this point)

Send me an email (travisjohnvan@gmail.com) anytime with criticisms or suggestions.  Thanks!