Photo du Jour 516
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Tiger Woods In "Serious" Condition After Car Crash
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Photos from Black Friday
SFist Interviews: John Ortved, Author of The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
In Part I, we discussed just how good the Giants would be this season. Then, when it was agreed we were looking at a .500 team, we tried to figure out how okay we were with it. Today, we try to assess blame and then make some predictions.
And away we go....
SFist: Okay, here's the next question-- if this team doesn't do well, should Sabaen take the fall or should Magowan take a measure of blame?
Also, what do you think about the recent news that the Giants tried to trade for A-Rod over the off-season and speculation that they will go.
El Lefty Malo: Magowan has to take some blame. He's the one writing the checks. I don't know to what extent he has say over smaller contracts, such Aurilia's or Dave Roberts, but he must have given Sabean the green light to sign Zito. And the Giants of recent years are a product of management's insistence on building veteran teams around Bonds. That's not just Sabean's strategy.
I hadn't heard the news about A-Rod. Were the attempts to trade for him serious, or just due diligence? Personally I don't give a shit about A-Rod's alleged prima donna behavior. He'll probably end up one of the top 20 players of all-time. If he opts out of his contract, and the Giants can figure out a way to pay him without sacrificing other aspects of their long-term plan, I say go for it.
McCovey Chronicles: At the end of last season, it was all Sabean in my mind. I thought he was just trying to wring one glass of Bondsade too many, and the veteran help he tried to surround Bonds was a decent idea with poor execution. Sabean made some offhand comments in the past months about a desire to rebuild, though, and how that wasn't realistic with the Giants' situation. I don't know what constitutes rebuilding in Sabean's mind, but it seemed like he was saying something that supported how he constructed the current variation of the Giants while also referencing the ownership-imposed limitations he was under.
Nothing will take away from the fact that Sabean hasn't bothered to find a power-hitting first baseman in the decade he's been here, and nothing will take away from the fact that the Giants haven't drafted an All-Star hitter since Top Gun came out. Sabean gets a lot of that blame, but I'm starting to come around to just how much blame there is to share.
El Lefty Malo: Hold on -- Top Gun just came out a few years ago, when I was in high sch...never mind.
This year's litmus test of the Giants' desire to rebuild: Russ Ortiz. If he has a lights-out spring, OK, fine, take a flyer on him, and even then keep him on a very short leash. But if he's just OK and makes the team, and then if he's still just OK and continues to pitch every fifth day into the summer months, it's obvious the Giant brasses have something seriously, pathologically, intrinsically wrong with them.
Grant, I like the new product idea. May I suggest a slogan:
Bondsade: When You've Got Really Big Shoes To Fill!
SFist: Okay, one last question before we wrap it up for now-- Predictions either in baseball, the division, league or both.
McCovey Chronicles: Give me: Padres, Brewers, Mets, Angels, Twins, Yankees. I really can't think of a team in the NL Central that I'm in love with, and the Brewers have zero pitching, but there's always one goofy team every year that messes all the predictions up.
It could just as easily be Giants, Cubs, Phillies, A's, Indians, Red Sox. Well, maybe not as easily, but you get my point. The only division winners I'd be comfortable dropping a twenty on would be the New York teams.
El Lefty Malo: Division winners:
Giants
Cardinals
Marlins
A's
White Sox
Red Sox
World Series winner: Giants, duh! You expect me to write anything else? I'm just superstitious enough to believe that if I don't pick the Giants, and they don't win the Series, it's all my fault.
SFist: Dodgers, Mets, Cards and Phils in the NL. In the AL, the A's, the Red Sox, the Indians, and the Yankees. Always the Yankees. As for the Indians, everyone else in that division has got in over the past three years except the Royals, so why not the Tribe? As for your wild, random, where'd they come from team, I'm going with either the Brewers, the DBacks, or the Blue Jays. And look for a Mets/Indians World Series. Just like I predicted last year.
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Until baseball season gets fired up, if you've got to get your fix of a live sporting event under the lights, look no further than Bay Meadows in San Mateo tomorrow night. CalTrain drops you off right in front. I think they have dollar beers, too.
Brewers have no pitching? Are you insane? They have the best rotation in NL Central and one of the best in the NL