Let's talk about rebuilding in honor of Matt Cain actually winning a game...

Giants: With the Barry Circus over, everyone is now moving onto what to do about next year. What? Like people want keep on debating about whether to play Klesko or Aurillia at first. McCovey Chronicles broke it down and came up with the conclusion that, essentially, it's none too pretty. There's not much in the way of money to completely rebuild, there are too many old fogies signed for next year, and the farm system is still stocked with a bunch of guys who make perfect bench warmers. On KNBR, the discussion seems to be that the Giants have two options next year: go for broke and go after the Rod or bring in one or two medium-sized boppers and retool emphasizing pitching, speed, and defense. The pitching, speed, and defense thing might work, actually, as the new kids on the team have speed and are good defensively, Rajai Davis in particular. They already have pitching so it's just a matter of bringing in one or two mildly pricey guys who are good at making contact and who can help grease the wheels for all that speed. It also makes sense because baseball wisdom goes that teams should build around what works in their home stadium and Outrageous Surcharges Stadium befits a team built around speed, defense and pitching. The only reason why the team hasn’t done it is because a certain left fielder keeps on being the very big exception to the rule. In fact, one has to wonder just how many homers he could have hit if he played in a normal stadium

And speaking of Barry Lamar, neither McCovey Chronicles nor KNBR mentioned Bonds in that equation. We think most people are now agreed that we are so over him.

After the break, the Athletics

A's- in an interview with Tim Kawakami, Moneyballs makes some vague allusions to the possibility of a rebuild/retooling/reboot. This is all due to this year being one of the worst in recent A's history. Now, in reading what he said we're not sure what he means or if he means anything other than he's open to it, but that hasn't kept people from speculating on what it all means-- bye bye Chavez and Crosby? Making lotsa trades? Reinstituting Charlie Finley's policy of encouraging players to grow facial hair? Or maybe he's just talking about some far-flung future in Fremont? We're not even sure what he's supposedly saying makes any sense. After all, the A's are now a .500 team despite the extra-ordinary amount of injuries the team has endured. If everyone was healthy, or at least not out for extended periods of time, who knows how good this team would have been? It wouldn't be any stretch of the imagination to think they'd be right in the thick of things. And you could even argue that all those injuries were a good thing in that Beane's roster juggling got rid of some dead weight (Milton Bradley) and discovered a bunch of jewels in the rough like Jack Cust. If Beane were to let this be and get full seasons out of Cust and Travis Buck (for now on to be known as Cust & Bust), this team could be loaded for next season.