Pinch of this, pinch of that

The Giants' series against the Indians this week was rather enjoyable, even if we were denied the sweep last night. It was nice to see Zito bring some good mojo in the first game of the series. That Cliff Lee kicks some major ass. I cannot hold the Giants' loss to him against them. And nice debut by Sergio Romo! Suck it, Vinnie Chulk. (Side note: are the Phillies interested in Chulk? LOL at the Phillies.)

But I do continue to be saddened by Omar Vizquel's decline at the plate. His average is down to .165. Whether it's his knee or just the inevitable result of age, he doesn't have much left offensively. Now that the sentimental Cleveland series is over, perhaps we'll be seeing more of Burriss at short. It's time to begin preparing for the future.

I want the Giants to win the series against the A's starting tonight at NetAss Stadium (that is what it's called, isn't it?). I'm tired of the A's pwnage of the Giants over the last few years. Let's get 'em!

Now, to catch up on some interesting Giants stuff around the intertubes:

The Cubs have scouted Fred Lewis, but they don't seem to be too serious at this point. I wonder who the Giants would get in return in such a scenario?

Big topic of late: Barry Bonds. The homerun god still sits at home in Beverly Hills, waiting for a job. His agent says he'll play for the league minimum. But still no takers.

I'm not sure I buy the collusion argument - owners are too concerned with making money to let someone go unsigned if they think he can help. I think it's a combination of the fact that Bonds was made the poster boy of PED abuse (even though we now know that many of the game's "stalwarts" were just as juiced) and his prickly demeanor. I don't think either reason should keep him at home, though. I'd expect he can still swing the bat a bit. With that in mind, there are a couple of opinions out there on who could benefit from the big guy:

Joe Posnanski (I love the way this guy writes) thinks that the KC Royals should sign Barry. After pointing out the obvious plus of getting him for the league minimum, he points out that

. . . as far as I know, Barry Bonds didn’t kill anybody. He didn’t assault anybody. He didn’t throw any games. He didn’t bet on any games. He didn’t get caught drinking and driving. He didn’t have any false gods, didn’t make any idols, didn’t covet any neighbors donkeys, didn’t steal, didn’t do much of anything that more or less half the other ballplayers in the game are doing. No team OWES Barry Bonds a shot, but I also think of America as a place that takes chances on people. I certainly do not see why a team couldn’t GIVE Barry Bonds a shot.

And as I've mentioned, the steroid issue isn't unique to Barry. Posnanski says "The steroid stain? Come on, there are heavy steroid users playing everywhere in baseball, and just because we don’t “know” who they are doesn’t mean anything. It’s like the old 1960s Mafia types — maybe you couldn’t convict them in court, but you sure knew they were around."

Overall, Posnanski's reasons why the Royals should sign Barry can be applied to most other teams, too.

Over on sabernomics.com, JC Bradbury makes the case is made for why the Braves should sign Bonds. Bradbury addresses the steroid issue simply - Bonds has been a good player since PED testing was instituted, and is a good player without PEDs. Can't argue with that.

For me, I thought at the time that it was the right decision for the Giants to let Barry go after last season. It was time to start building a post-Barry team. But now that management has bungled that task ("Come out and see the kids (as they ride the bench)!"), maybe the Giants should take a look at what benefit Barry might provide. He may even be good with the young guys - he was starting to do some mentoring last year. That wouldn't hurt.

Whaddya think?

Odd Ends

Oh happy day - Vinnie Chulk is gone:

The Giants purchased the contract of right-hander Sergio Romo from AA Connecticut and designated right-hander Vinnie Chulk for assignment.

W00t!

Next, I'm surprised that this didn't happen to the Giants. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners hit a grand slam against the Mets, the first grand slam by an AL pitcher in 37 years (the DH rule was instituted in 1973). I suppose we should be glad the Giants just walk opposing pitchers.

And, today the Giants play an interleague game in Cleveland for the first time. This marks the return of Omar Vizquel and Giants' broadcaster Duane Kuiper. I enjoyed Andrew Baggarly's article on the return in today's SJ Merc.

Baggarly's quotes in the article from Joe Posnanski's blog post about why he loves Duane Kuiper got me interested enough to seek out the original post. I recommend that you read it here. Just one more reason to love Kuip. He's one fantastic sonuvabitch.

And finally, as we all know, Bengie Molina is the slowest player in the history of baseball. We're not the only ones to notice. See this description of one of Bengie's at bats in KC (from the same guy who loves Kuip):

. . . Bengie Molina hit a hard ground ball into the hole between short and third, Kansas City’s Mike Aviles dove, smothered the ball, got to one knee, recited the Gettysburg Address, solved two Sodokus, took three ballroom dancing classes, grew a full beard, became fluent in French, got his Masters in finance, recorded an album of Tom Waits covers (oh no, wait, that was Scarlett), invented a practical electric car and then threw to first where he just barely threw out Molina by eight steps.

That's good stuff.

I've got two positives, and one Zito

After much time spent looking high and low, I do have two positive things to say about my team:

One: Bowker has a really nice swing, and some great potential. I like this kid.
Two: After another craptastic effort on the mound Wednesday, the Giants may skip Zito's next start.

Okay - so the second one is really just me slyly slipping my cranky pants back on (hey - I found a happy thought; I've earned it). But seriously - did you see the game Wednesday? In the top of the second, ZIto issued a lead-off walk to an American League pitcher. One who was hitless is his only two previous at-bats. That's some special kind of horrible. His entire outing lasted just two innings. I would calculate how much per inning he was paid for the suck, but that would make me very sad.

There's lots of ink (both virtual and real) being expended on Zito and his god-awful season. Let's look at the highlights, shall we?

An excellent analysis from Jonah Freedman on SI.com last week talks about "five reasons Zito may never again be the ace the Giants were hoping he'd be." Can't say that I disagree with any of it, with the exception of one quibble. In his discussion of Zito's contract, Freedman says that none of the other teams chasing Zito was willing to match the Giants' offer. Today on the Razor and Mr. T show, Brian Sabean claimed that at least two other teams were willing to pay that much or more. I don't find that entirely believable, but there it is.

There's also been quite a bit of discussion about Zito's mechanics, of course.

Zito was quite abrupt when Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News asked him about whether he'd considered pitching from the other side of the rubber. I'm sure Zito has had lots of questions about various aspects of his delivery, and rightfully so.

Now that Rick Peterson, Zito's former pitching coach, has been fired by the Mets, folks are talking about bringing him to SF to help Zito find his former self. Technically, Peterson is still under contract with the Mets through 2009, so who knows if that would work.

And even if contractual issues weren't a factor, Buster Olney writes that Brian Sabean doesn't like the idea of the Giants bringing in Rick Peterson, saying it wouldn't be fair to Dave Righetti (from MLBTraderRumors.com - I'm too cheap to spring for ESPN Insider status). Seems to me that despite Rags' other abilities, coaching Zito doesn't seem to be his strong suit right now, and the team should welcome any help it could get.

Also check out the McCovey Chronicle's discussion of Zito, er, Tossy McDufftapper.

All in all, there's definitely something broken here. Sabean was noncommittal about what the solution might be during his program today with the Razor and Mr. T. He knows that Zito isn't performing. He and others in the Giants organization keep pointing out that Zito's bullpen sessions are great, but that he just can't seem to execute in game situations. I really don't care if Zito can throw well all by himself. He's just not getting it done come game time. And considering the huge investment the team has made in this guy, all possible solutions need to be on the table, whether this includes bringing in Peterson somehow (even if it hurts Rags' feelings), having Zito slow it down a bit in Fresno until he can translate good bullpen tossing sessions into good games, or whatever. C'mon Giants Front Office - show us some problem-solving skillz.

Nope

Nothing yet.

Wearing my cranky pants

Okay, so once more the blarg has fallen on fallow times. But this time I have a good excuse. Well, kinda.

I'm wearing cranky pants, that's why.

Here's the deal - I love my Giants. Love. Like want to marry the team and have its babies. Well, figuratively speaking, anyway. And right now the negative is just too easy pickins. I want to write about the stuff I love about the team. Once I find it.

Otherwise, I'd be writing about Bengie getting his feelings hurt ("There's no crying in baseball"), or advocating for a trade for Durham before he resorts back to complete offensive suckage to go with his brick hands. I might even make fun of Walker or Chulk (so many ways!).

Whaddya say - what kind of good stuff are you feeling about the team right now?

I'm gonna go chase down my Giants rainbow, and bring it back here as soon as I can. So I can take off my cranky pants for just an afternoon and put down something good about the team I love.

And then I'm pulling those cranky pants back on and letting loose. I'm looking at you, Jose Castillo.

Castillo vs. Feliz - the rematch

It seems that every time Jose Castillo steps up to the plate with a runner on first, I expect him to hit into a double play or strike out in some ugly way. I am not inspired by our current third baseman.

A few weeks ago, I compared Castillo to the guy he replaced, Pedro Feliz.

Some of the stats are still remarkably similar (note: all statistics were from the start of the day, not including games played on Monday). Both have 85 total bases. Castillo has 50 total hits to Feliz' 52. Castillo has hit into 11 double plays (is that all?), with Feliz laying claim to 9 (is that all?). Batting averages are both similarly mediocre: .255 and .259. OBP is close, too: .308 to .297.

The big difference offensively? Castillo has an anemic 19 RBIs, compared to Feliz' 28 (not monster numbers for certain, but better than what Castillo's putting out). And Castillo has struck out 36 times to Feliz' 20 whiffs.

And, of course, defensively Feliz is better. His FPCT/RF/ZR is .972/2.89/.816; Castillo is .950/2.65/.806. Feliz has 4 errors; Castillo has nearly double that at 7.

The Giants are woeful on offense. A middling bat such as Castillo needs to at least make up for that with stellar defense. And that's just not happening. Every now and then he gets lucky and, say, starts a triple play. But day-to-day, he's limited and not as effective as the team needs him to be.

My conclusion last time I compared the two fellas: "But despite all this, you'll never catch me wistfully wishing that we still had Happy Pete, though. I cringed every time he stepped up to the plate. At least with Castillo the expectations are extremely low, and he meets those low expectations nicely." I suppose one part is still true - I don't wish that Feliz were still with the team. But I think Castillo and the way he barely meets his low expectations are not helpful to a team that needs to develop and nurture its young talent. Other positions need to play crisply to help the rookie infielders hone their craft. Castillo is not the man for the job.

Of course, the question still remains - where do we find someone who is?

Misch not a starter

During the McCovey Chronicles Gameday thread during Pat Misch's last start, I brazenly declared that Misch was not a starter. Looks like I was right. From the Merc today:

Pat Misch, who remains winless in 10 starts and 26 career appearances, apparently will not get another chance in the rotation. Manager Bruce Bochy said he would use Thursday's travel day to skip Misch and the club would consider other candidates - Brad Hennessey, perhaps? - to take the mound when the Giants need a fifth starter again June 10.

I'm glad Bochy listened!

Hennessey looks like he's regained some confidence as a starter down in Fresno. His appearances in relief this season turned disastrous. If he is named the starter on the 10th, let's hope he's righted himself.

Stay tuned for an updated Castillo vs. Feliz!