Results tagged ‘ Angel Villalona ’
Sorry Giants Fans, But the Cavalry Ain’t Comin’
When my wife and I decided to pull up the stakes on our home and lives in New York City, one of the factors that led to our move to San Francisco was to grab a little piece of our Dead-head roots. Not that we’re hanging out in the Haight on a regular basis or dropping flowers off on the corner of Ashbury and Waller, but we just wanted to be a part of the city where it all began. When we began our cross-country drive, the first song she turned on was Estimated Prophet so that the echoes of the word “California” could ring in our heads as we drove towards new lives on the West Coast.
I’m reminded of this moment as I listen to an old bootleg of a show from the late 70′s and bob my head to the beat heard in another appropos Dead tune — Help on the Way! Appropos to the Giants, that is….sort of…well, maybe a month ago. Today, though, I’m not so sure. There was a time when the thoughts of Brian Sabean wheeling and dealing for another bat and maybe another arm were truly a possibility. But today, with the big names being thrown around, it doesn’t look like our fearless leader is going to be sending in reinforcements.
This could be it, Giants fans. You could be looking at exactly the same team you’re going to finish up with come season’s end. No big bats, no extra arms, nothing. And with that, comes the loss of a playoff dream — a dream that had hints of reality back in May, but today looks like nothing more than whimsical fantasy concocted in the minds of the hopeful and now despondent. Our proverbial goose is now cooked.
That’s not to say that Sabean is going to completely stand pat, but from everything that I’m seeing, hearing, reading and inferring, it doesn’t look lik ehe’s willing to do anything that will have a significant, present-day impact and keep the dream of the 2009 playoffs alive. Back in March I was hearing names like Matt Holliday and Manny Ramirez, last month it was Jermaine Dye, Nick Johnson, and maybe Carlos Delgado (if healthy), and today…? Ryan Garko? Come on, Brian. Are you serious?
The Giants finally popped up again on the trade rumor circuit, but while names like Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Roy Halladay, and Adrian Gonzalez all seem to be associated with other teams, the Giants have been linked to Garko, an under-producing, hasn’t been able to crack the lineup first baseman that is currently hitting .285 with 11 HR and 39 RBI. Compare that to Travis Ishikawa’s .269-7-30 and yes, you’ve got an improvement, but is it enough? No way.
The Giants need themselves a masher — a guy who’s going to pop them 12 to 15 homers, at the least, in this second half run. They need someone to insert into the cleanup spot so they can sandwich him with Pablo Sandoval in front and Bengie Molina behind. They need someone to instill a little bit of fear into opposing pitchers. Ryan Garko is not that man. At best, he would give us 8 to 10 HR moving from Cleveland to the cold dank air of San Francisco and would certainly not inspire anyone to avoid pitching around Bengie or the Panda. He may be a slight step up from our current situation, but he’s not going to give us even remotely the boost we need.
So who is? Who can we get that will put us over that hump that we can’t seem to get past? There are plenty of names out there, so who’s it going to be? Sadly, no one. The way things are looking….and that includes the Cardinals quick release of 3B uber-prospect Brett Wallace to the A’s for Holliday….we’re not going to be dealing anyone away. If prospects are all the rage, then we’re not doing anything despite having one of the premier prospects lists in MLB. Sabean’s just not going to give anyone up. Total mistake, and a decision that should continue to haunt us over the next few years, but that seems to be the reality.
I can understand the need/desire to hang onto a guy like Buster Posey. I’d never ask to give him up anyway considering he should and will be the heir apparent to Molina behind the dish. But the other guys should all be fair game. I know everyone’s screaming that Madison Bumgarner is the man and should be the next big thing when he arrives, but when is that going to be? At 19 and still in Double-A, he’s still a few years away from having any kind of an impact. Same with Tim Alderson. Guys like Tim Lincecum are the rarity and to think that the Giants caught lightining in a bottle not once, but twice is a bit silly. Especially when they’re needs are as pressing as they are.
I mean, really….what does Sabean think is going to happen to the Giants over the next few years? Does he really think that Matt Cain, under contract through a 2011 club option, and Lincecum, arbitration eligible in 2011, are going to stick around and wait for these kids to develop? Does he really think he’s going to be watching a starting lineup that includes Posey, Angel Villalona and Jesus Guzman joining Sandoval and….well…..no one while Lincecum and Cain are joined by Bumgarner and Alderson? Come on. Be serious. Hoarding your prospects with the expectation that they’re all going to develop into premier major leaguers is not only moronic, but a near impossibility in this day and age.
By the time these kids are even ready for full time major league duty, that dream of the most unhittable rotation is going to be gone just as quickly as you can say “Yankee cash”. Or Red Sox dollars. Phillies greenbacks? Angel bucks? Whichever. Bottom line is that while you’re waiting on your youngsters, your present day big leaguers are going to be searching for greener pastures that have a legit committment to winning a World Series title. And can you blame them? Both Cain and Lincecum are super competitive pitchers and I don’t see either of them staying with a club based on promises. It’s the old adage that says that actions speak louder than words and unfortunately, right now, Sabean ain’t saying nothing.
Maybe things will change, Giants fans. Maybe Sabean will throw a line out to help a season that is seemingly being flushed away. I doubt it, but I don’t weant to take away all of your hope. Because with the way things are looking right now, that’s about all you’ve got.
So We Won One…Big Deal
I wish I could say that I was less cranky and less disgusted than I was yesterday, but the 5-1 victory over the Braves and the fantastic outing by Barry Zito are, once again, eclipsed by the fact that other teams are bolstering their squads to make a playoff run and I’ve barely heard anything other than Brian Sabean saying, “We’re talking to everyone right now.”
Who’s everyone? Give me some damn specifics, will ya? I woke up this morning to find that the Cardinals have now acquired Matt Holliday from the A’s for a pair of highly touted prospects and we’re off yammering about what…? That we won a game yesterday? Puh-leeeeeze!! Let’s see what happens in the series against the Rockies this weekend (the Rockies who shored up their bullpen by acquiring Rafael Betancourt from the Indians yesterday).
I gots some sad sad news for you, Giants fans. With the media coverage these days, if Sabean were really talking to people…and I mean seriously talking to people….we would have heard something. Go to ESPN.com and check out the “rumors” section. It gives you every little detail about trade possibilities, who’s available and who’s interested, and I’m sorry, but I don’t see the Giants anywhere on the page. This could be a very disheartening second half.
The bottom line is, the longer Sabean waits, the harder it’s going to be to get a deal done. Other teams are acting now and they’re acting fast. I understand that we don’t want to trade away Madison Bumgarner, but look at our system. Guys like Angel Villalona, Tim Alderson, Jesus Guzman….they might be of quality, but are they irreplaceable? No. And how many times have we seen “can’t miss” prospects turn into busts in the majors?
And I’ll tell you this, if it means scooping up Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays, then I see no problem shipping out Bumgarner. You sign Halladay to a 5 year extenson and you’re locking in the best 3 man rotation in I don’t know how long. There’s no guarantee that this 19 year old prospect is going to be the next Tim Lincecum, but you do know that Halladay is the best in the game and has a good number of years left.
Come on Sabean. Get something done. Fred Lewis, Jonathan Sanchez and Villalona for Jermaine Dye and Mark Buehrle (yes, they are shopping the man who threw a perfect game yesterday) and then Bumgarner, Alderson and Guzman for Halladay. Might sound far-fetched, but it’s a pretty good starting point, don’tcha think? And who cares if these kids amount to anything? They’ll be in Toronto and Chicago in the American League anyway. We can worry about them in the World Series in 10 years. Let’s worry about the 2009 World Series now. There’s no shame in mortgaging a chunk of the future if it means winning today.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Frustrating, isn’t it? So much potential for this team and what are we doing with it? Last night was yet another display of our ineptitude at the plate and a wasted opportunity to make up ground in the weakest of Major League divisions.
Another 2-1 loss to the Padres? Chad Gaudin? I mean, what is that? Gaudin was discarded by the weakling A’s as a throw in during the Rich Harden trade and was then cast off by the Cubs. A real talent, right? So then how is it we make yet another underachiever look like Cy Young as we leave another 14 men on base and plate a single run on 6 hits and 4 walks? I just don’t get it. Well I do, but my frustartion and angst over watching a talented team waste away might be getting the better of me.
For last night, I’ll give credit where credit is due. Jonathan Sanchez seemed to regain his form and pitched a solid game. The bullpen did as well. In an effort to jump start his bat, Aaron Rowand hit leadoff for the first time this season and responded with a 3 for 4 night. No runs scored or anything, but that’s not entirely his fault. Maybe a stolen base would have been helpful, but I guess that only happens against us these days. Regardless. I have nothing else to celebrate about last night’s performance.
So I needed some help in the latter part of the evening. I needed help to understand. I needed to know why I haven’t so much as sniffed a rumor that the Giants are looking for help. So I started to ask around. Nothing. No one had an answer from me. Every time I asked I got that same helpless look , a shrug of the shoulders, and the ever so simple. “I don’t know.”
Then I turned to a friend of mine, referred to here for the sake of anonymity as K-State, and asked my question. At first I got the shrug, but I wasn’t accepting that. I pushed K-State a little further….perhaps asking like a 5 year old who only knows the question, “Why?”
I said, “Have you seen what A-Rod’s presence has done to the Yankees lineup? Not only is he raking the ball, but the hitters surrounding him are now raking as well. All of a sudden, guys like Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui are seeing fastballs instead of junk. And what are they doing? That’s right….raking.”
Now maybe the Yankees are a tough example to follow since guys like A-Rod and Tex are huge power guys, so I just posed the simple question, “Don’t you think that if you added a big bat and stuck it in the cleanup spot in between Pablo Sandoval (who should be hitting third) and Bengie Molina (fifth), the Giants would be scoring more runs? Sandoval would see more fastballs and by the time the pitcher gets to Molina, he’s already got men on and can’t pitch around him.”
K-State agreed.
”So then why aren’t we actively looking? The time to strike is now. We could do so much more this season simply by adding the big bat.”
And then I got an answer. A terrible answer in my opinion, but seeing as how I’m only out here for 3 years and K-State’s been supporting the orange and black a lot longer than I, it might be the truth.
“I think management is enamored with our farm system. I think management sees the team doing enough to keep the fans into it and excited about possibilities, but they won’t do any kind of ‘spending’ to make the team better. They’re waiting on their minor leaguers.”
”Just awful,” I thought. Who are these minor leaguers of which he speaks? Last time I looked, we had 2 solid pitching prospects in Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner, a decent third sacker in Jesus Guzman who isn’t ready to supplant anyone on the big club, and Buster Posey. Where’s the big bat? I don’t see any of these guys banging 30 dingers, do you?
Then K-State tells me there’s some 18 year old Dominican kid who plays first base. That we’re waiting on him? He didn’t have the name for me, but I learned it was Angel Villalona, a lumbering 6’3″ 200 lb kid who turns 19 this August.
Him? We’re waiting on him? If that’s the case, Giants fans, then start writing your Congressman now and look for a city wide boycott that helps to flush out the current management structure. While Villalona may have potential, let’s keep in mind that he’s only in Class A San Jose, which is in a notoriously hitter-friendly league, and he’s only got 5 HR in 37 games. That translates to maybe a dozen HR in the bigs and if this is where his current development is at, even if he’s fast-tracked, he won’t be ready for another 2 or 3 years.
I wiped my mouth after my Chevy Chase spit take and finished my rant against waiting on this kid. I just looked at K-State in disbelief. All he could do was look back and give that all too familiar Giants fan blank stare.
Frustrated? You bet. As I’m sure most of you are as well. I just need to get Brian Sabean’s ear for 5 minutes….just 5 minutes…..and ask him what’s up, maybe throw a suggestion or two in there.
If it ever happens, I just hope that I can get more than just a shrug out of him.
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