Your San Francisco Giants Go Into Hamlet Mode
SFist went to last Sunday's Giants game against the Marlins and discovered a few things. Like the unknown gem of Giants' food fare, the Sheboygan, a grease drenched, grilled to perfection brat that's totally unhealthy, totally greasy, and totally yum.
We also realized that in the midst of the dreariness of this season, all the hand-wringing about attendance might just not be necessary. Because on a beautiful, sunny, warm day, the ballpark was still packed to the rafters and you could feel what everyone else felt-- that on a day such as that, Pac Bell SBC Park is still one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth.
This week is an important week for the orange and black as next Sunday is the trading deadline (you can still make trades in August, but it's much more complicated and involves waiver wires and we have no idea what any of it means). The whole central dilemma of this season, whether a buyer or seller be, all comes down to what happens this week. The good news for the Giants is that they're playing in the worst division in baseball and the first-place Padres, currently mired in a seven game losing streak, are doing everything possible to throw the division away.
Image of pre-"Clash of the Titans" Laurence Olivier from Infospace.
How bad is it for the Friars? They tried to trade for Sir Sidney Ponson, a pitcher who still resides in that black pit of Giants fans hearts with other such notables as Sean Estes, Livo, and Marvin Bernard for his choke job in aught-three, but couldn't because the player they traded him for, Phil Nevin, refused to go. For all of the Giants flailing, they are, in fact, only 7 ½ games out of first place and one only needs to look at the team across the Bay to see how quickly a team can turn things around (and boy, does that pain a Giants fan to have to admit to). The bad news is that this is still a bad team and the proud owners of the third worst record in the National League. After getting beat pretty handily by the Braves and the Marlins, thus proving that they cannot play with the big boys, the bullpen choked up another one last night in a tough loss to Dusty.
Which brings us back to the existential dilemna facing the Giants. Nobody knows what the Giants are going to go, and that seems to include Sabean. Schmidt is rumored to be going anywhere and everywhere (it was written in the papers that Angels manager Mike Sciosca was seen with Schmidt's ESPN player page on his computer screen) while rumors also abound that any high-priced veteran can be for anyone who wants a high-priced, oft-injured vet. On the other hand, it was also rumored that prized pitching prospect, the awesomely named Merkin Valdez, was almost traded to the Rockies for mediocre pitcher Jason Jennings. And nothing gets more mediocre than mediocre pitchers on the Rockies. That is not the trade one makes if one is trying to get younger and cheaper. Luckily for the Giants (but bad for SFist's fantasy team), Jennings went down, putting the kiabosh on the whole trade.
Of course, as anyone with problems being decisive knows, it's all too easy to not make a decision. Which can be as bad of a decision as the decision you would probably make. It is not inconcievable that the Giants brain trust could be locked up in a total and complete brain freeze right now. Or, it's all part of the plan. One idea out there is that the Giants are purposely not making a decision. The theory goes that Sabean et al consider this season just a fluke and so what they want for next season is a do-over. If the general plan was to build around some aging veterans for one big final push to Win One For Barry, why blow it all up just because Barry got hurt? And Armando? And Durham and Marquis and Edgardo and Schmidt? With just a few more tweaks here and there (better pitching and better bullpen and say goodbye to J.T. and Woody), it's one more rally of the Over the Hill Gang.
Of course, it could all be just because Sabean doesn't know what to do. Who knows? But we shall find out soon.