The Giants Lineup

It’s no secret that the Giants, on most nights struggle to hit their way out of a wet paper bag. The Giants currently rank last in runs scored (90), homeruns (14), second to last in on base percentage (.310), last in slugging percentage (.367), and the list goes on and on. Simply put, the Giants just aren’t hitting right now and, to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be much hope that the Giants will improve themselves by any large margin during the season.

The previous post made a great argument that I have to disagree with slightly. It’s true, we should have gone after Dunn. Had we been able to get him for the same 2 year deal that the Nationals did, he would be an absolute bargain and immediately become the best hitter on the Giants by a large margin. He can play left, right, and first, so we could have moved him around and still gotten time for Lewis and Winn, both of whom can play any outfield position. Ishikawa would have been relegated to a late inning defensive replacement, and would have been able to get a couple hundred at bats over the course of the season to try to adjust to major league pitching. Plus, it would have allowed the Giants to send down Velez, who serves no purpose on the Giants roster.

Where I disagree is with the signing of Hudson. He would have made the Giants better in the short term, but would have hurt the development of the team in the long term. Burriss is struggling at the plate right now but has shown the ability to hit major league pitching over a large enough sample size to suggest he can do it again. He plays great defense at second and is only 24. He’s past the point where he can develop any further in the minors and needs to see the field consistently to see whether or not he’s going to become a good hitter at the major league level. The point is that, because of when he would have been signed, Hudson would have blocked a major league ready player at a time when the Giants are trying to get significantly younger and at a time when their playoff chances are really dependant on getting a big, middle of the order bat, rather than a player like Hudson.

So, the Giants have neither Dunn nor Hudson, and are left with Ishikawa at first and Burriss at second. The more I watch Ishikawa hit, the less optimistic I am about his ability to turn it around. What I thought was patience seems now to be indecisiveness because he can’t seem to pull the trigger when he gets a good pitch to hit. Multiple times now, I’ve seen him take good fastballs on a 0-1 or 2-0 count because it either wasn’t the pitch he was looking for or he wasn’t able to make the decision to swing soon enough. I don’t know if he can turn this kind of thing around, but he’s probably running out of time to do it in.

But even if Ishikawa can turn it all around, where’s his future on the Giants? The San Jose Giants, probably the most loaded team in the minors, has our future infield on it. Buster Posey will be the starting catcher next year, and Connor Gillaspie will be the starting third baseman either next year or the year after. Kung Fu Panda Sandoval is going to move to first, and that still leaves the Giants trying to find Villalona a spot. One of those players is going to end up in the outfield, and it’s a tossup as to which one.

I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that Ishikawa gets his head right (because I don’t think it’s his swing) and becomes a very productive first baseman with a great glove and he makes it hard for the Giants to make decisions with their young players. He’s certainly got the potential to do so, but potential can only keep you on the field for so long. You have to turn it into production.

Giants 5 Dodgers 4

The only good sporting news coming out of the Bay Area last night was that the Giants beat the Dodgers, coming from behind to win by 1. Obviously I made the choice to watch the Sharks game last night and I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the replay of this one, so basically any information I could give you would come from ESPN highlights.

What I will say is that it looks like Zito is pitching a whole lot better this year than in years past. I’m not sure if that’s because of a new and improved workout regimen, or because he very clearly has no pressure on him to perform anymore because nobody anywhere expects him to pitch well. Somehow though, he’s putting up some decent numbers. Hopefully that’ll continue. I may have to stop referring to him by his alternate names, like Barry "Trade Me" Zito, or Barry "If I was a right-hander I'd be out of the league" Zito, or Barry "Sabean's Mistake" Zito. Seriously though, I don't hate the guy, he's been nothing but a positive force off the field and is, by all accounts, a great human being. It's not his fault that he's overpaid by a country mile. I just hate that the Giants are putting such a large portion of their money into a guy who pitches like a 5th starter, but is paid like an ace.

It looks like Sandoval is going to be catching every 5th day or so for Zito, by the way. I don’t have a problem with this. We need to give Molina a rest occasionally, and we need to keep Sandoval in the lineup so that he can improve. I mean, yeah, Molina is our cleanup hitter, but the fact that I even have to write that sentence shows what a sad state our batting order is in. Molina has no future on our team beyond this year, and maybe next. After that, Buster Posey will be taking his spot. So removing him from the lineup to keep Sandoval in seems to be the right move.

The Giants team this year has to be all about development for the future, and seeing what is there for you talent wise. The future of this team isn’t going to be built around Rowand, Winn, Molina or Aurelia. It’ll be around our young pitching and hitting. That’s why I think that we need to play guys like Ishikawa, Burris, Sandoval, etc… pretty much every day, regardless of their struggles, to find out what we have and to let those players develop. I’m not a manager, but common sense says that a young player is going to perform a heck of a lot better when they know that the job is theirs, and they don’t have to be looking over their shoulder every time they have an 0 – 4 day with 3 strikeouts. They’re young. It’s going to happen. 20 games isn’t a huge sample size. Give them time.

I’m not looking for a winning team this year; I’m looking for a team that’s fun to watch.